Theos-Talk Archives (February 2002 Message tt00266)

Adelasie,what you qoute below is only a small fraction from what I 
send,including the responses of Steve.

I do not know why you selectivly and out of context quote only this 
small portion , but if you are willing to go back and add together 
what I posted on this matter on theos-talk , I'l be glad to have a 
discussion with you about it. 
The way you choose to present it now however is a distortion, since 
it is only a fraction of the quotes and the remarks from first Steve 
(who started it on Daniel Caldwells invitation) added to by me, also 
on Daniel's invitation or schall we call chalenge.

All these mails can be viewed and copied at: 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/

by clicking the end Nov.and early Dec. posts.
Brigitte

--- In theos-talk@y..., "adelasie" <adelasie@s...> wrote:
> Dear Steve and/or Brigitte,
> 
> Last week I asked for references to support a statement made by 
Steve 
> to the effect that HPB said that she and the Masters 
used "botanical 
> substances." I find the following quote to be the only thing 
offered 
> of HPB's writings with page numbers, to allow one to look it up, 
and 
> thanks for that.
> 
> "This way of obtaining oracles was practiced in the
> highest antiquity. In India, this sublime lethargy is
> called 'the sacred sleep of ***' It is an oblivion
> into which the subject is thrown by certain magical
> processes, supplemented by draughts of the juice of
> the soma. The body of the sleeper remains for several
> days in a condition resembling death, and by the power
> of the adept is purified of its earthliness and made
> fit to become the temporary receptacle of the
> brightness of the immortal Augoeides. ... The sleeper
> takes no note of the lapse of time, but upon
> awakening, after four or five days of trance, imagines
> he has slept but a few moments." (Isis 1.357-8)
> 
> The paragraph continues:
> 
> "What his lips utter he will never know; but as it is the spirit 
> which directs them they can pronounce nothing but divine truth. For 
> the time being the poor helpless clod is made the shrine of the 
> sacred presence, and converted into an oracle a thousand times more 
> infallible than the asphyxiated Pythoness of Delphi; and, unlike 
her 
> mantic frenzy, which was exhibited before the multitude, this holy 
> sleep is witnessed only within the sacred precinct by those few of 
> the adepts who are worthy to stand in the presence of the ADONAI."
> 
> This is an account of a practice which obtained in ancient times in 
> India, in which a person is purified and made ready to accept the 
> spirit of the god for the purposes of speaking divine truth to 
those 
> who have the right to hear. 
> 
> How does this passage support the statement that was made, to the 
> effect that HPB and the Masters used "botanical substances?" It 
would 
> seem that the work of the founders of theosophy in the 19th century 
> was very different from what is described here.
> 
> I am interested to understand what connection you see.
> 
> Adelasie