The Initiation Procedure Within the Great Pyramid
of Giza, Egypt:
Original Theosophy Challenges the Mausoleums-Dogma of the Egyptologists
Part I
Abhinyano
The old and worn out dogma of the technical and agnostic
Egyptologists, namely that the Great Pyramid was primarily built to
be the tomb for the mummy of a pharaoh, is being attacked today by
many researchers as just too simplistic and as being a blind. Indeed,
it was a blind when Herodotus, the Father of History, said in his
Histories that the Great Pyramid was built by the pharaoh Cheops (Kufu),
to be his mausoleum. As we are going to see, this Pyramid was already
very ancient when Cheops was king in Egypt. Thus he could not have
built it. H.P. Blavatsky offers the more esoteric explanation of the
purpose of the Great Pyramid in Isis Unveiled:
But, Herodotus did not tell all, although he knew that the real purpose
of the pyramid was very different from that which he assigns to it.
[Herodotus was forbidden to say what he knew, because he had given
the Sodalian Oath of Silence]. . . . Internally, [the Pyramid] was
a majestic fane, in whose sombre recesses were performed the Mysteries,
and whose walls had often witnessed the initiation-scenes of members
of the royal family. The porphyry sarcophagus, which Professor Piazzi
Smyth, Astronomer Royal of Scotland, degrades into a corn-bin, was
the baptismal font, upon emerging from which, the neophyte [the man
of Sorrow] was "born again," and became an adept. (Vol.I,
p.519)
In case HPB is for some not an authority, we Theosophists
would point to the beautiful work The Phoenix by Manly P. Hall, in
which the initiation procedure is also described, and the famous book,
Secrets of the Great Pyramid by Peter Tompkins; he devotes chapter
XX to the Egyptian Mysteries and their initiations.
Actually, our own Original Literature, which includes
Isis Unveiled, The Secret Doctrine, especially Volume III, The Mahatma
Letters, The Voice of the Silence and Dr. Taimni's The Science of
Yoga, based upon the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, offer the one and only
key to the esoteric interpretation of the initiation- procedure, and
also to the understanding of the famous Book of the Gates and the
Book Am-Tuat with their mysterious illustrations, in which, indeed,
the Egyptian Secret Doctrines of the "Path of liberation from
the bonds of matter and the flesh" and the "sailing over
the River of Samsara to the Other Shore" can be found.
The Book of the Gates has its equivalent in the Pratyeka-Yana—the
"Path of Liberation for one alone"—works describing
the gaining of Buddhahood for self alone, as the Pratyeka Buddhas
do. The Am-Tuat book shows the path the Buddhas of Compassion prefer.
In The Voice of the Silence it is called the "Amrita Yana",
the "Secret Path". The Bodhisattvas and Arhats follow this
path of self-sacrifice by renouncing Nirvana. They go back to the
Living after they have reached the threshold of Nirvana because they
wish to "contribute toward man's salvation by influencing them
to follow the Good Law, i.e., lead them on the Path of Righteousness"
(The Voice of The Silence, p.95). We have a beautiful but extremely
serious example of such a self-sacrifice in the retreat of Master
Kuthumi, which was actually his last trial of the Mysteries or Royal
Yoga, taking place in an old tower near an old Lamasery "within
whose bosom have gestated generations of Bodhisatwas" (The Mahatma
Letters, p.219). After becoming himself a Bodhisattva, he came back
to the Living, and he said:
My Brother—I have been on a long journey after supreme knowledge,
I took a long time to rest. Then, upon coming back, I had to give
all my time to duty, and all my thoughts to the Great Problem [of
enlightening and helping mankind]. (Mahatma Letters, p.264)
This "last trial", in an Egyptian setting,
shall now be explained in detail, as it was and is universal and international.
The illustrations of the Book of Gates and the Am-Tuat
Book depict—in a very veiled way—the "travel" of a neophyte through the once famous initiation-schools of Abydos,
Busiris, Denderah, Saqqara, Giza and Sais, in which he was being trained
by priests in the discipline of Royal Yoga to achieve the following:
[The individuality of the neophyte, in order] to run successfully
its seven-fold downward and upward course has to assimilate to itself
the eternal life-power residing but in the seventh [principle: Atma;
in Egypt: Atmu or Asar-Osiris] and then blend the three (fourth [Kama],
fifth [Manas], and seventh [Atma]) into one—the sixth [Buddhi].
Those who succeed in doing so become Buddhs [Buddhas], Dyan-Chohans
[Dhyani Buddhas, Dharmakayas, Jivanmuktas, Nirvanis; in Egypt: Khepe-Ras],
etc. The chief object of our struggles and initiations is to achieve
this union while yet on this earth. Those who will be successful have
nothing to fear of during the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds. But
this is a mystery. Our beloved K.H. [Kuthumi] is on his way to the
goal—the highest of all beyond as on this sphere. (Mahatma Letters,
p.78)
Thus after many years of preparation and many tests
in those Mystery schools (which we would call today: space-centers),
the last , but also the most dangerous trial of the neophyte, called
Afu-Ra, was about to take place within the King's Chamber of the Great
Pyramid. In The Secret Doctrine we read:
In Egypt . . . with much pomp, the candidates [for initiation] were
escorted to the Great Pyramid and passed thereinto out of sight. .
. . In Egypt, the entranced neophyte [being in the Yoga-state of Dhyana]
was placed in an empty sarcophagus [of the King's Chamber] in the
Pyramid, where the initiatory rites took place. (SD III, p.272)
But before this last trial occurred, let us follow first
the path the neophyte had to take through the passages and chambers
of the Pyramid. After the decision was made by the hierophants that
the candidate was ready to be initiated, he was led into the Pyramid.
Down the "Descending Passage", he entered into the "Pit",
cut into solid rock deep under this great temple of initiation. This
"Pit" was in a very chaotic, uneven and unfinished state;
it contained only vermin, debris, dust and bats. Symbolically, the
"Pit" stood for the "infernal region", hell and
Kama-dhatu (the physical world of this inferior planet of imperfect
bodies, only interested in sensuous gratification and lusts, fun,
and excitement, controlled by the Law of the Jungle, by selfishness,
struggle for survival and eternal strife). As a result this hell was
full of pain, suffering, misery, bestiality and death. It is the Karma
of man to be incarnated into this "Pit" (or condition) many
times, to go through the "circle of necessity" and this
"Valley of Thorns and Tears", but, unfortunately, he has
only earned for himself a vehicle, a very imperfect form, with an
animal-sexual physiology, a desire and lust-principle (Kama) and a
selfish, quite often destructive and malicious mind, which if not
checked will lead him onto the "Left-hand Path", which often
results in his own annihilation as a moral, ethical, responsible,
mental and spiritual being.
This condition of things will last till man's spiritual [and mental]
intuitions are fully opened, and this will not be until we fairly
cast off our thick coats of Matter; until we begin acting from within,
instead of ever following impulses from without, impulses produced
by our [imperfect and limited] physical senses and gross selfish body.
(SD I, p.706)
And the Buddha says:
"There exists . . . a ‘heroic effort' (viryam) in man; there
exists the possibility of a ‘successful exertion' (utsaha) aimed
at the disengaging of man from the [always painful] vortex of rebirths—providing
he strives wholeheartedly for this end." (Philosophies of India,
p.266)
And this is exactly what our neophyte, now in the "Pit" under the Pyramid, is trying to do.
First he must find the way out of this miserable state
of pain, suffering, craving, attachment to physical things and bodies,
and of ignorance and greed. He was determined to escape from that
universal manifold of transient enticement, lust, malice and illusion.
He stepped out of the "Pit", and his left hand found in
the wall of the Descending Passage an opening to a very narrow tunnel,
which the Egyptologists have named the "Wellshaft", but
actually do not know what it is for. Of course, they offer some vague
theories. This "Wellshaft"—also cut through solid rock—has
very smooth walls and was steep. The neophyte must climb up and through
this tunnel. He used his hands, knees, toes, elbows and hips to move
up, but his heavy body dragged him down again and again. Soon his
body was bleeding and aching. The air in the narrow tunnel was low
in oxygen, and he breathed laboriously. This painful, agonizing ascent
through this narrow passage was the reason that the Original Christians
and Gnostics—who still knew about the initiation procedure within
the Pyramid—formed the term "the suffering Chrestus",
the "Man of Sorrow"—and we see this terrible struggle
of the neophyte in the cross-carrying Jesus when he went through the
via dolorosa (which is the equivalent of the "Wellshaft")
suffering, bleeding, sweating, falling down due to the heaviness of
the cross (which has in this case a Phallic meaning). The neophyte
had to take himself off this phallic cross, otherwise he would not
advance upon the "Path of Enlightenment" and towards the
liberation from the bonds of matter and flesh. Thus the Golgotha story
never took place in Jerusalem. Half way up the tunnel the ascent ceases
to be as difficult, because the "Wellshaft" becomes less
steep, and the neophyte can move ahead much faster. Finally, at the
end of the tunnel, the passage was enclosed with rectangular stones,
and the grooves offered him a hold for his fingers. At this point
he saw a light coming from above. It was the torchlight of the hierophants
trying to help him. A few more strong efforts and the neophyte emerged
from the tunnel at the lowest point of the Great Gallery.
If the neophyte had decided to be initiated into the "Lesser Mysteries"—he was taken into the (so called)
Queen's Chamber (actually a misnomer). HPB explains the difference
between the Lesser Mysteries and the GREATER MYSTERIES in The Secret
Doctrine:
These belonged to the Lesser Mysteries, whose followers were called
Mystai (the veiled), seeing that they were allowed to perceive things
only through a mist, as it were "with the eyes closed";
while the Initiates or "Seers" of the Greater Mysteries
were called Epoptai (those who see things unveiled). (SD III, p.448)
Elsewhere, HPB says more about the Lesser Mysteries
and gives an exoteric description of the ritual:
The coffin, or sarcophagus, of Osiris [Ausar, Asar, Asar-hapi, Serapis],
killed [symbolically] by Typhon [Apap, Mara, Apophis, Devil], was
brought in and placed in the middle of the Hall of the Dead, with
the Initiates all around it and the candidate nearby. The latter was
asked whether he had participated [symbolically] in the murder, and
notwithstanding his denial, and after sundry and very hard trials,
the Initiator feigned to strike him on the head with a hatchet; he
was thrown down, swathed in bandages like a mummy, and wept over.
Then came lightning and thunder, the supposed corpse was surrounded
with fire, and was finally raised. (SD III, p.285)
Let us follow now a candidate for the Greater Mysteries
on his way to achieve the state of a Khepe-Ra, Dharmakaya, Planetary
Spirit, and a Divine Astronaut. The candidate was either a member
of the Royal family, a priest of the inner circle of the Hierophants
(pronounced: hee-erophants), or a neophyte of an occult brotherhood
and ascetic order.
The initiators and the candidate were still standing
at the exit of the "Wellshaft" (via dolorosa) out of which
the latter just had emerged. The way the company was taking now is
entirely different. The neophyte noticed that the hierophants were
using holes in the wall of the Great Gallery and grooves in the wall
directly in front of them. They climbed up and over the wall and asked
the candidate to do the same. The company was now actually in the
Great Gallery proper and moved up in the same way as to climb a mountain.
(Nota bene, the pyramid was always called a "mountain",
leading to the gods in heaven, vide the Mount of Olives, the Calvary
mountain in the New Testament).
At the summit of the steep Great Gallery, there existed
a very large stone, called the "Great Step". The Initiator
now asked the candidate to step upon this stone, stay there for a
few minutes and wait. Why? It was known that this "Great Step" possessed a very occult and magical significance in such a way that
a person who stood on it for a while was being subjected to some magic
radiation, coming from an unknown direction. It has been documented
that many sensitive tourists have felt these occult rays. When standing
on this large stone to rest for a few minutes after the steep climb,
a feeling that the heart is about to burst is not uncommon, despite
the fact that the individual may be very fit. Tremors in the hands
and arms like in Parkinson's disease have also been observed. In the
case of our candidate these rays had the task of showing him any physical,
moral and spiritual weaknesses, if such tendencies were still present
in him. Only neophytes with iron nerves and high moral and spiritual
qualities could succeed at this dangerous last trial.
One of the reasons for such secrecy may be the undoubtedly serious
difficulties and hardships of chelaship, and the dangers attending
Initiation. The modern candidate has, like his predecessor of old,
to either conquer or die; when, which is still worse, he does not
lose his reason. There is no danger to him who is true and sincere,
and, especially, unselfish. For he is thus prepared beforehand to
meet any temptation.
"He, who fully recognised the power of his immortal
spirit, and never doubted for one moment its omnipotent protection,
had naught to fear. But woe to the candidate in whom the slightest
physical fear—sickly child of matter—made him lose sight
and faith in his own invulnerability. He who was not wholly confident
of his moral fitness to accept the burden of these tremendous secrets
was doomed [to suffer the grand mal of epilepsy]." — Isis
Unveiled, ii, p.119. (SD III, p.311)
The hierophants, knowing all this, waited patiently until the candidate
made up his mind to go forward in the direction of the square opening
into the antechamber and portcullis, leading to the King's Chamber,
or, if he should feel some fear or moral weakness and wanted to turn
back, then they would stoically accept his decision and the entire
company would leave the pyramid—the initiation of this neophyte
being over for the time being.
However, if the candidate felt strong enough to win
the battle, the victory giving him enlightenment and liberation from
the bonds of matter and the body—so that he could "successfully
sail over the River of Samsara to the Other Shore," to the threshold
of the "Watery Abyss," the Ocean of Immortality, Nirvana,
Kaivalya, Moksha, SPACE—then he would go forward and enter the
quadrangular hole in front of him. The priests had already opened
the portcullis by means only known to them. This ingenious portcullis
consisted of four granite-plugs, sealing the entrance to the King's
Chamber. Thus the entire company of initiators and neophyte entered
the great Sanctum Sanctorum, the most mysterious, occult and holiest
adytum of initiation into the Mysteries of the entire Middle East—with
its sarcophagus, in which the deification of the neophyte would take
place, if he would be successful in this last and very dangerous trial.
First the candidate would be loosely bound to a Tau
(or Ankh) cross. Why? Again it is The Secret Doctrine, where the researcher
can find the esoteric meaning:
Now, the primordial system, the double glyph that underlies the idea
of the cross, is not of "human invention," for Cosmic Ideation
and the spiritual representation of the Divine Ego-man are at its
basis. Later, it expanded into the beautiful idea adopted by, and
represented in, the Mysteries, that of regenerated man, the mortal,
who, by crucifying the man of flesh and his [sexual] passions on the
Procrustean bed of torture, became reborn as an Immortal [emphasis
mine]. Leaving the body, the animal-man, behind him, tied on the Cross
of Initiation like an empty chrysalis, the Ego-Soul [Manas per se
and Buddhi-Manas] became as free as a butterfly. (SD II, p.592)
This is the esoteric interpretation of the man nailed to the cross,
where even the nails take on a phallic meaning, the cross being an
ancient symbol. The "crucifixion" in the Golgatha-story
of the New Testament had the same idea, as it was plagiarized from
the Egyptian Mysteries (most of the teachings in the New Testament
being taken from these Mysteries as the Alexandrian Library with its
many exoteric and esoteric papyri existed close by, and thereby provided
material for the "think tank" of the Secret Service of the
Zealots). After this symbolical, but important procedure, by which
the neophyte had to take himself off the cross, he was asked to step
into the empty sarcophagus and lay down. Now the last trial proper
began.
The neophyte was a master of the discipline of Royal
Yoga, which he had learned at the Mystery schools of Abydos, Busiris,
and Saqqara, and he promptly went into the state of Dhyana (contemplation).
When he was at the fourth division of the "Realm of the Unconscious"
(the autonomic brain and nerve system or as the Theosophists call
it: the "Astral plane"):
[T]he Egyptian Hierophant [the Initiator] evoked and guided Chemnu,
the "lovely spectre," the female Frankenstein-creation of
old, raised for the torture and test of the soul-power of the candidate
for initiation, simultaneously with the last agonising cry of his
terrestrial [sexual] nature. (SD III, p.28)
Chemnu was tragically depicted as the sinister female "Dweller
of the Threshold" in the famous work of Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton,
Zanoni, a book valued highly by learned Theosophists and Esotericists.
Bulwer-Lytton "must have got the idea from some Eastern Initiate"
(SD III, p.525). This "Dweller" forced the failing neophyte
Glyndon into the state of the "Grand Mal" (mal comes from
the Latin word malum — evil, bad) of Epilepsy.
But our neophyte had been tested many times during his
stay in the Mystery schools by the priests who had ordered some lovely
girls in their temple-service to try to tempt the candidate. Knowing
that it would be the end of the initiation-training if he would fall
to temptation, he resisted their advances. Thus the neophyte in trance
rejected the "lovely spectre" Chemnu by his will and strong
Yoga-concentration, and Chemnu faded away from his realm of the Unconscious
(Astral plane), disappearing for good.
Next the initiator created lovely scenes of a harmonious
family-life in front of the inner eye of the candidate, but the latter
was not interested. Then he was tempted—if he was a son of the
Pharaoh—on whether he would be able to decline the offer of the
King to be a Co-Regent and the field marshal of an army. Furthermore,
he noticed that the most beautiful women of Egypt desired to be his
concubines. But by knowing the fact that all too often power was being
misused to the detriment of the people, he refused the proposition.
He was then given the chance to become the main priest
of a temple. During his studies at the Mystery-schools, he had learned
that some priests turned to the Left Path and used black magic for
selfish and evil purposes, i.e. for the acquisition of money and influence.
He knew about the black-magic blood cults of past civilizations (Atlantis),
where priests as selfish and wicked "Initiates of the Left Path"
acquired unlawful knowledge of dealing with the spiriti elementorum
et terrae and had made an alliance, a "covenant" with them.
Some of these idols were the Priests' own "thought-creations."
But in order to maintain this "covenant," these black magic-priests
had to feed those idols with the blood of humans and animals, which
were ritually slaughtered in a very cruel way without stunning. Horror-stricken
the neophyte declined this proposal and all the other temptations
which the initiator created in front of his "inner eye"
on the Astral plane, in order to test his attachment to physical life
and things and see if a "thirst for Life" (Tanha, Trishna,
Abhinivesha) still existed in him.
These tests were relatively easy, and the candidate
passed them without much difficulty. But the worst and most dangerous
test was still to come. The initiator, as a hierophant of "WHITE
MAGIC", would not do the following examination himself, but gave
this dirty work to some Nubian black-magician in their service. Here
is what Master Kuthumi says about this dangerous phase of the initiation-procedure:
[W]e—leave [the test] to our menials—the dugpas [Red Caps,
Shammars] at our service, by giving them carte blanche for the time
being, and with the sole object of drawing out the whole inner nature
of the chela, most of the nooks and corners of which, would remain
dark and concealed for ever, were not an opportunity afforded to test
each of these corners in turn. Whether the chela wins or loses the
prize—depends solely of himself. (Mahatma Letters, p.232)
This terrible test has been described exoterically and
veiled in many old scriptures, even here in America, where it can
be found in the famous Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Mayans. The
Gilgamesh Epos has it; it can be read intuitively in the New Testament.
Here are some paragraphs of the probation of Gautama Buddha during
the yogic state of Dhyana, taken from The Gospel of Buddha by Paul
Carus:
The Holy One directed his steps to that blessed Bodhi-tree beneath
whose shade he was to accomplish his search. [Bodhi: Buddhi or Bodhicitta;
Gautama is about to practice his daily Yoga-contemplation, going deep
into the divisions of the Realm of the Unconscious or Astral plane].
. . .
When he sat down the heavens resounded with joy and
all living beings were filled with good cheer.
Mara [Apap, Apophis, Devil] alone, lord of the five
desires, bringer of death and enemy of truth, was grieved and rejoiced
not. With his three daughters, Tanha [thirst for life in physical
bodies, ignorance, craving for things and bodies and sensual contact
with them, spiritual blindness], Raga [lust, desire, addiction, fun,
excitement, clinging to a life of festivities, parties, desiring a
political, military, business, science or church-career] and Arati
[hatred, revenge, vendetta, fanaticism, persecution of others, war,
killing], the tempters, and with his host of evil demons, he went
to the place [in the Realm of the Unconscious, Astral plane], where
the great samana sat. But Sakyamuni heeded him not.
Mara uttered fear-inspiring threats. . . . But the
Blessed One under the Bodhi-tree remained calm and feared not. The
Enlightened One knew that no harm could befall him.
The three daughters of Mara tempted the Bodhisatta,
but he paid no attention to them, and when Mara saw that he could
kindle no desire in the heart of the victorious samana, he ordered
all the evil spirits at his command to attack him and overawe the
great muni. [Mara wanted to throw Gautama into the state of the ‘Grand
Mal of Epilepsy'].
But the Blessed One watched them as one would watch
the harmless games of children. All the fierce hatred of the evil
spirits was of no avail. The flames of hell became wholesome breezes
of perfume, and the angry thunderbolts were changed into lotus-blossoms.
When Mara saw this, he fled away with his army from
the Bodhi-tree. . . .
"As the rays of the sun drown the darkness of
the world, so he who perseveres in his search will find the truth
and the truth will enlighten him." (The Gospel of Buddha, pp.36-39)
One can see, that such a victory can only be achieved
by mastering the discipline of Royal Yoga. The inner concentration
of the Higher Consciousness (Buddhi, Prajna, Bodhicitta, the Horus,
Krishna and Christos-consciousness) in the state of Dhyana creates
such a powerful accumulation of solar energy (nuclear energy, Fohat,
Daiviprakriti, Phlogiston, Akasha) that it acts as an impenetrable
fortress. Thus the army of Mara (Apap), the spectres, evil Khus, elementaries,
buthas, and pisachas could not defeat Gautama, who then passed this
terrible last trial and became a Buddha.
[Continued in next issue with a look at the Three Vestures,
the passing of the WORD, the Egyptian Philosopher Kings, and the antiquity
of the Pyramids themselves.]
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