This article is in a sense, a continuation of the prior one. The title is not alarmist or in fact, anything new. It has been insinuated if not even explicitly stated by different authors, such as the signature "Rene Guenon". In fact, Guenon himself noticed the, at first glance, strange behaviour of those with a legitimate "spiritual realization", such as Sri Aurobindo Ghose, but upon some reflection, Ghose's behaviour, such as his sanctioning of evolution in the modern sense isn't even shocking.
To understand this, it is necessary to comprehend why Guenon said that a theoretical understanding is indispensable as a preparation for metaphysical knowledge. It is also necessary to know the manner in which a being is able to assume multiple states, at least inasmuch as they are manifested states and not the supreme state of being. Lastly, it is necessary to understand that, in amplitude (the horizontal development of a being's possibilities within some demarcated domain of manifested reality) and in exaltation (the vertical super-imposition of these multiple states in a hierarchical fashion), the human being in any era outside a Satya-Yuga usually has some kind of flaw, however slight or pronounced.
With regards to that last statement, it is easy to see for instance, that "spiritual masters" are not typically endowed with properly developed physiques. Their bodies may be weak and ill-defined, but this does not in any way rob them of their permanent "inner realization". Guenon himself had such an under-developed body, that he couldn't even stand up for a few months. Were they born however in a Satya-Yuga era, even their bodies would be developed in a harmonious way, that is in perfect resonance with their inner-perfection. This imbalance and imperfection extends to the realm of ideas and so on as well. Thus, just because someone has metaphysical knowledge, it does not mean that they are fit to offer advice on any matter and it also does not mean that their cosmic-expression as a being is even at the average level, let alone above it. It would simply mean that, should they chose to modify their cosmic-expression, from the spiritual all the way down to the bodily level, they would do so from a "higher vantage point". That said, it seems that for some beings, this fact remains unrecognized, even if they really have attained some degree of knowledge. Sri Aurobindo is such an example. Others include Gopi Krishna, Inayat Khan, Frithjof Schuon, Saint Yves D'alveydre, etc. All these men indeed attained varying degrees of knowledge but this did not excuse them from falling prey to the confused ideas of their time. They did not even think that whatever it is they were "seeing" on the inside did not automatically, and without any further effort, render them infallible and so they wrote many tracts of utter syncrentic nonsense that mixed fragmented traditional ideas with the chaotic rumblings of exoteric religion, modern science in all its forms, as well as the "humanitarianism" of their time.
The Multiple States of the Being
Guenon's book of the same heading is very illuminating on this subject. Here is a very concise tract that expresses the fact that simply attaining "spiritual knowledge" does not mean the being in question is in full awareness or possession of its other states distinctively (of course it would possess them by "super-addition" in principle) and hence communication from one state to another may not always be congruent and harmonious:
...The being's activity in these two different orders, intellectual and mental, can become so dissociated as to make them completely independent of each other as far as their respective manifestations are concerned even while being exercised simultaneously; but we mention this only in passing, since further development of this subject would inevitably require that we forsake the strictly theoretical point of view to which we intend to limit ourselves at present...
[The Multiple States of the Being, Chapter 9, "The hierarchy of individual faculties", page 53] .
The quoted tract is part of a larger chapter that briefly explains the differences in the individual modalities of a being, viz., corporeal and subtle, the subtle being divided into the mental, emotional and certain other "prolongations". This was done for the purpose of demonstrating in relatable terms, the theory of the multiple states of the being. That is, the individual faculties are a reduced image of the multiple states of the being that are extra-individual and Guenon intended to show this by highlighting the hierarchy within the individual state. In doing so however, he also demonstrated that a being can exercise intellectual activity in a way that is dissociated from mental activity. But what can be deducted from that?
Wouldn't it mean, in part at least, that simply because someone has attained a spiritual state (intellectual) it does not mean that this attainment is harmonized with the prior mental state that he already more or less effectively possessed? That for this being in question, his mental state can still be haphazard and instead of becoming influenced by the inner spiritual illumination, it is still influenced by whatever external conditions exist around it?
From this, spiritual realization can have certain consequences on the being's other states and these consequences can be listed as:
1. Even if a being attains some kind of spiritual realization, it does not mean that this attainment is radiated outwards fully. Thus, for example, one's mind may be more or less the same and would still be influenced by the ideas around it, even after a real inner realization.
2. A being might experience a partial outward radiation of its inner spiritual illumination.
3. A being might experience such an intense outward radiation of its inner spiritual illumination, that even its corporeal elements are "transfigured".
4. A being might experience a complete "subtilization" and rarefaction of its cosmic expression and so its body might disappear for example; it might be absorbed even up to a spiritual state, or even its entire spiritual state might "disappear" into the metaphysical.(As a technique, this is called agneyi-yoga-dharana, the technique instrumented by Sri Krishna for example, when he left this earth.)
5. A being might illuminate its cosmic environment to a degree, based on its inner spiritual realization. This would be in a way, a partial renewal and a return to Satya-Yuga-era conditions where everything was in strict harmony with a transcendent principle (that principle for our world is Universal Man).
(In one of his most biased and manipulative books, Guenon highlights some of these possibilities. See Perspectives on Initiation, chapter 42, Transmutation and Transformation) .
Points 3 through 5 could happen at the same time. Note also that I used the word "might" intentionally because usually, it is very rare for a being born in the Kali Yuga to not only realize itself through knowledge, i.e. realize itself as Universal Man, but to also fully "absorb" all its cosmic elements into a metaphysical state and then, express itself outwards once more with a renewed invigouration, "transfiguring" both its entire cosmic elements and the cosmic environment around it.
Of the many beings born into this world, those that have at least attained a spiritual state of knowledge have, to varying degrees, manifested possibilities connected to these listed points. This partial manifestation however is nothing compared to what Satya-Yuga-Man manifested effortlessly. They are the imperfect remnants of an ancient state that man once knew and must know again. In those days, there were no "accidents" in the guenonian sense, there was only Man in all His glory, in a non-fragmented, non-compounded way, a being of perfect transcendence, a transcendence that fluidly flowed from within Himself to all that was around Him. By this, I do not mean individual man, but Universal Man and so, the gods as well, bowed down before Him.
Environmental Tinges
Ordinarily, even one's body is initially mainly influenced by one's environment. By their heredity, the characteristics of their land, their diet and so on. This is also true for their psychic elements, to a point. Thus when people like Sri Aurobindo, born into British-occupied India, inundated by a mixture of British education on the one hand, and traditional Hindu teachings on the other, create a chimerical doctrine of an evolution in the modern sense, mixed with the stages of sadhana as taught especially by the Veda, it should not be all that shocking. Here are some of the qualms Guenon had with Sri Aurobindo:
...What is perhaps more serious at the bottom is that this introduction is heavily affected by "evolutionary" conceptions; we will cite only two or three characteristic sentences in this regard: “Until now, mortality has been the guiding principle of life on earth; it will be replaced by the awareness of immortality. Evolution has come about through struggles and suffering; henceforth it will be a spontaneous, harmonious and happy flowering ... Man is already over a million or two years old; it is fully time for him to allow himself to be transformed into a being of higher order. " How can such statements be reconciled with the slightest notion of the traditional doctrine of cycles, and more particularly with the fact that we are now in the darkest period of Kali-Yuga?...
[Studies on Hinduism, René Guénon, ed. Traditional Editions, 1968, page 179]
"...The conclusions alone are expressed, and the reasoning on which they are based remains understood; words suggest it, but do not communicate it openly to the mind. " This is perfectly correct and we believe, moreover, that there is, in this way of proceeding, something which is inherent in the very nature of the traditional teaching in question, Shrî Aurobindo considers however that "a such a method is no longer applicable for modern thought ”; but does this deserve concessions, when, as it is specifically modern, it is too manifestly incapable of receiving and understanding any traditional teaching whatsoever?...
[Studies on Hinduism, René Guénon, ed. Traditional Editions, 1968, page 181]
To sum it up, one rant that I found particularly funny:
...Also in the same review (June 1945 issue) an article published under the signature of Shrî Aurobindo caused us painful astonishment; we only say under his signature, because, until further notice, we refuse to believe that it is really his, and we we prefer to assume that this is only an "arrangement", so to speak, due to the initiative of some ill-advised disciple. Indeed, this article, entitled The Society and Spirituality, contains little more than deplorable "progressive" banalities, and, if there were not a few Sanskrit terms here and there, it would give quite exactly the impression of a sermon by some "liberal Protestant" pastor imbued with all modern ideas! But, to tell the truth, we have been asking ourselves for a long time what the role of Shrî Aurobindo himself can be in everything that appears under his name...
[Ibid., pages 267-268]
(Note that the above extracts are gotten from a book that is written in French.)
Here, we see Guenon at pains, trying to incorporate Sri Aurobindo into his rigid traditional-framework, but as the years go by, it becomes painfully obvious that Sri Aurobindo is affected by the environment around him to a degree. This of course does not mean that Sri Aurobindo was entirely incorrect, it just means that he created his own chimera. It is also interesting that those who would make Guenon an idol do the same thing, excusing some of his own errors, such as his errors regarding buddhism, blaming them not on Guenon's own bias, but rather, on those around him giving him incorrect data on the subject. Guenon does the same with Sri Aurobindo, refusing to see any error in him and ascribing modernity solely to his disciples.
It is the same thing with Saint Yves D'alveydre. After somehow making contact with the mysterious "Hardji Shariff", allegedly, a direct representative of Agartha and of the Lord of the World himself, he still could not rid himself of the conditioning of his Christian environment and of the intense bias he had within him for European tendencies. Thus in his "Archeometer", he literally and not symbolically, places Christ and the Christian tradition at the top and at the center of all things. This caused a subsequent and polite withdrawal of Hardji Shariff, which only worsened Saint Yves' condition, after which he descended into childish practices, such as "astral projection", where he believed that he somehow gained entrance into Agartha and the description given of Agartha by him is really just a mixture of the technological advancements of his contemporary European society, the bewilderment that Europeans had of certain species of animals they had never seen before (causing Saint Yves' to describe things like a two-headed turtle...) and of course, moralistic, humanitarian, degenerated Christianity. I am not saying that Saint Yves didn't see anything in his "astral travels", but the modalities of his individual state were so affected by his direct environment, that whatever he saw was thus sullied by their impurity.
As for Inayat Khan and Gopi Krishna, these 2 are at the bottom of the barrel, especially the latter. Inayat Khan, once again, influenced by the environment around him, created something that paralleled the League of Nations, the "Universal Sufi Brotherhood", in the most profane sense. The "democratic ideal", where qualification is abolished and esoteric teachings are indiscriminately given to all is the main flaw with Inayat Khan's perspective. Gopi Krishna is yet another person who experienced something, but could not understand what it was and thus reduced it to nothing more than a biological phenomenon. According to Gopi Krishna, there is a biological substance within man which, once released, flows through the nerves and this causes "spiritual enlightenment". I don't even know where to start with the grotesque nature of such a concept, but the most obvious thing is that Gopi Krishna, inundated by the modern science of his time, sought to reduce spirituality to a corporeal phenomenon, so strong was this inundation that even though he might have experienced some sort of inner transmutation, it was all rendered incommunicable by the immense conceptual impurity that he carried within himself.
(A comment on one of the articles on this blog -admittedly, not the best of articles, since it was part of a series that was written in an impromptu manner, with a semi-serious attitude- pointed out that using the works of an African by the name of Credo Mutwa was suspicious, since he aligned himself to a degree with David Icke. This present article however should show that even though Credo was to a degree, influenced by the impurity around him, that did not in any way destroy any truths he was able to convey. The same could be said for Frithjof Schuon.)
Thus we see that spiritual realization, an inward thing, can be communicated outwardly in ways that are not at all in harmony with it. If the being in question does not purify itself, it risks perpetuating error when it comes to expressing whatever it is that it has realized from within.
Given all this, Sri Aurobindo and others were bound to make the mistakes they made. But it goes further than that, the entire Indu-territory was bound to fall entirely, so much so that it does not even exist today. This was due in part, to the vedic-brahmanic monopoly over that society which created an immense proclivity to inaction on the part of yogis, gurus and the rest, rendering them useless against foreign intrusion.
Sri Aurobindo and others had a sense of respect for the materialistic technological advancement, cleanliness, structured dissemination of information, longevity and "easy" way of life that the westerner enjoyed. Of course he would not explicitly admit this, but it can be seen for example, in his desire to incorporate modern elements into the teachings of his ancestors. He wanted for instance, to prove that he could take the "advanced" theory of evolution in a different direction and in this, prove Hindu superiority over modern western ideas. Seeing all that he saw around him, he could not rid himself of the sense of humiliation, bitterness and hesitant admiration for a clearly superficially superior modern force. He could not let it go and purify himself of these deep-seated thoughts and feelings, in spite of his spiritual realization. (Sri Aurobindo spent 14 years in Britain, from the age of 7 to the age of 21, living mostly with a clergy-man by the name of Mr. Drewett and it is probably here that all sorts of modern seeds were planted inside him. It is curious that Guenon did not look into Aurobindo's background even in a cursory sense, since Guenon did the same for those he was hostile to, such as Blavatsky).
All this would not have happened had there been a manifest use of action, in the supernatural sense, against the new invaders into their territory. It could even have been a "breaking away" of sorts, where efforts could have been made to recognize the errors of excessive inaction and a neglect of possibilities exercised in so called "inferior" domains. Had this happened, things like this could have been avoided:
...while it is true that restrictions were formerly applied to the diffusion of certain sorts of knowledge, there is no longer any reason to observe them nowadays, because (the phrase that follows must be quoted word for word so that no suspicion of exaggeration can arise) 'the general level of culture has been raised, and the spirit of man has been made ready to receive the integral teaching.' Here may be seen as clearly as possible the confusion between traditional teaching and profane instruction, the latter being described by the word 'culture', which has become one of its most frequent designations in our day...There is good reason to wonder how a Hindu (for it is a Hindu who was quoted above) can be completely ignorant of our present position in the Kali- Yuga, and can go so far as to say that 'the time has come when the whole system of the Vedanta can be set forth to the public; for the most elementary knowledge of cyclic laws compels the conclusion that the time is less favorable than it ever was...
[The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, chapter 12, "The Hatred of Secrecy", pages 83-84] .
A big reason such a Hindu would even deign to say that was due to the factors this article and the prior one touched on. A sense of begrudging admiration for a superficially superior society. Guenon acts as if human beings ought to ignore completely the changes and the environment around them. That they should be fully inward and neglect their body (just like he did) and also their minds to a degree. So the Hindus were just supposed to ignore and remain unaffected by the changes around them and to cling on to their traditions, even when these traditions were visibly failing them, unable to adequately resist modern intrusion.
According to Guenon, the eastern children (such as Sri Aurobindo) while growing up should have ignored the challenge presented to them by both the western children and the adults. They should have ignored the material wealth and glamour, the cleanliness of western society, the many books covering a broad range of subjects, the materialistic technological western advancements of the time, such as the photograph, radio, televisions, cars, electricity, they should have ignored the military weaponry, the modern medicine and so on; they should have ignored all these things and faithfully clung onto the theoretical superiority of their ancestral traditions, even while being heavily bombarded by all these encroachments. (This was the case especially of Dr. Krishna Dhan Ghose, Sri Aurobindo's father, who totally abandoned his ancestral traditions, seeing as they had failed not only him, but his people, many of who were dying of diseases like malaria. Modern medicine however helped ease this situation, where yogis, gurus, sadhus and the like completely ignored it, being content to spend hours meditating naked in caves, while their people were assaulted by all sorts of crises...).
It is clear that Guenon's infatuation with an intensely rigid "traditional" outlook made him almost blind to many things that he shouldn't have dismissed, since how is a being supposed to live and develop if it fully ignores the environment around it? Were the easterners that he was so fond of, supposed to just ignore everything and cling on to their traditions, even when the representatives of these traditions had long abandoned them and refused to intervene in any way? In fact, Guenon was aware of this abandonment, since this is what he said about the Egyptian Coptic tradition:
...I would add in this connection that the desired cessation of an initiatory transmission is not an absolutely exceptional thing; currently, some initiations are precisely on the verge of being extinguished following a decision not to transmit them to anyone, for reasons which are related to the conditions of the cyclical period in which we are; In particular, I know of a case here among the Copts...
[Letter to Goffredo Pistoni, March 26, 1950]
Here, we see Guenon admit that the representatives of different traditions were basically abandoning everyone, a case similar to what the Rosicrucians did for example, towards the end of the medieval era, when they retired to "Asia minor" after failing to resuscitate western esotericism (this retirement has been described as a case of the "absorption of a secondary tradition back into the primordial tradition"). This basically means that even those who had "higher possibilities" stood the risk of receiving nothing, or, if they received it, it would not be without many impurities (Jacob Boehme is an example of this, that Guenon cites). On the one hand, modern tendencies were spreading in all domains of life, that affected both the bodily and mental states of men and on the other hand, anything that could offer an effective resistance to these tendencies was gradually retreating. Thus the Hindu, even if he had great possibilities within himself, would most likely receive nothing that would enable him to actualize them; rather, he would be bombarded by whatever it is that animates the modern spirit to no end. It is strange that even though it is Guenon telling us all of this, his bias for the eastern man is so strong, that he believes such outcomes would somehow spare a Hindu...simply because he is a Hindu!
There are many other cases that could be cited, such as the case of Sri Yutekswar, but the few cited ones should suffice to showcase that inasmuch as man is a tripartite being within the cosmos and a transcendent being beyond it, his environment can have a debilitating effect on him, if he does not harmonize it with his inner perfection. Thus while "spiritual masters" may have attained an inner realization, this does not make them infallible and it also means that there could be all sorts of deviations. It is also why Guenon is correct when he states that a theoretical preparation for a significant realization is usually indispensable. This is so as to at least avoid any conceptual errors that might still persist even after some kind of inner realization (of course, Guenon himself suffered from his own bias, erroneously representing the concept of Power). The only time a perfect theoretical preparation is unnecessary, is if a being from its metaphysical state unapologetically "descends" into the cosmos in a way that maintains complete harmony throughout all its manifested states and hence avoids conceptual error, among other errors.
Ironic outcomes
Secondly, on the other hand, the modern spirit has brought about many conveniences and positive changes that were overlooked by the "traditional" spirit. The biggest one, is an open-mindedness towards a variety of concepts and new information, as well as the ease of access towards books and materials that would have been "black-listed" and their authors gathered round and executed. The only reason Guenon could even write what he wrote is because he lived in a liberal French environment. A catholic French environment would have given him the same fate suffered by Jacques de Molay...
These 2 simple observations show that bowing down sheepishly to institutions, religions, organizations, hierarchies, gods, devils and so on without in any way realizing the truth or at least seeking it is a sure way to fail in one's journey towards Universal Man. Listening to people or entities simply because they possess titles, affiliations or a cult of personality, among other things will only further add a yoke to one's neck. The only superiority it gives is a sort of possession, where one feels superior based on an affiliation with something they don't even understand, that appeals to the "collectivist" inclination within them. The hoardes of "guenonians"are an example of this, but perhaps some of them can break free of the stupefaction suffered from aping as opposed to consciously and intelligently assimilating concepts.
Purification
By purification, it is of course not meant anything moralistic. Conceptually, it means the conveying of concepts in a way that is devoid of environmental adaptation as much as possible. Guenon is an example of someone that has done this. To relay the truth in all its purity, regardless of those it may offend or the systemic-structures it may inadvertently challenge. It would be a purely "technical" exposition whose audience no doubt would be extremely small, given the present conditions. As strange as this may seem, it means the destruction of all "traditions", inasmuch as they are adaptations of something that transcends them and is far purer than they could ever be. If "tradition" has become just a set of structures, monopolies, titles and affiliations, then it has become nothing more than a tight shackle one must either avoid or break free from.
For instance, anyone acquainted with Guenon's work knows the three main qualitative divisions of the cosmos: spiritual, psychic and corporeal (with a 4th infra-psychic state that is beneath the corporeal and the metaphysical state being beyond the other 4 and hence transcendent) and this is an example of a concept relayed as directly as possible, without much symbolism involved. Compare this to the manner such concepts are taught in various traditions, such as the Abrahamic ones, with language employed that firstly makes it seem that these traditions monopolize these concepts and everyone else is automatically wrong and secondly, descriptions that are immensely tinged with the environment such traditions unfolded in (the Islamic paradise for example, with 72 virgin babes and many young servant boys just sounds like something out of the Arabian desert. Such a description, even if it is known to be symbolic to a degree is simply too environment-specific and the "veiled language" risks overshadowing whatever essential concept is being conveyed).
As most who begin their journey are fallen beings to varying degrees, (that is, they are not performing descending realization, but ascending realization), the very first purification ought to be conceptual. To possess the necessary aptitudes to understand certain teachings in a way that is devoid of attachment to their environment. In this way, exposed to the correct data, there would be fewer if not zero subjective reactions. The issue then, is of access to the correct type of concepts and techniques that enable one to realize this transcendent reality.
Following a proper understanding of this, an application is necessary, but one that is not so "bifurcated" such as that presented by Guenon for instance. By that, I mean one that does not go out of its way to contrast "contemplation" to "action", since as explained in the prior article, these 2 are simply aspects of the same thing, which is Power (Shakti). The end result would be a being that is as reality itself: simultaneously transcendent and immanent and also, beyond that simultaneity. In guenonian terms it would be: The Principle of non-being and being as transcending them both and also, non-being as transcending being and then, being, from its central point, transcending and permeating all things up to our specific point of terminus (the corporeal state being the terminus for us, but really, it must permeate the state we have that is beneath corporeality as well, the infra-psychic state). This is Universal Man.
Conclusion
Conceptual errors needn't exist, even in the worst phases of the Kali Yuga. It is still possible to maintain proper theoretical fidelity to the Truth, even if one cannot fully realize it in practice, if anything, due to the restrictive cyclic conditions one may find oneself in. However, due to a multitude of factors, many environmental, these errors can creep into the mind of even one who has achieved a significant inner realization, especially if this one refuses to "purify" his relatively outer components, such as his mind, by consciously radiating this realization outwards.
As for the other type of external errors, given the fallen cosmic environment, they can only be mitigated to a certain degree. Only in the next Satya-Yuga can they be fully done away with. While Tradition simply means the preservation of the means of communication with and realization of the super-human transcendent principle and is connected to the idea of transmission, which is the passing down of these means from one generation to another, I would much rather use the generic term "technique" when referring to these means. This is because, especially within the milieu of those well acquainted with Guenon's works, there has arisen an almost impassable "initiatic bureaucracy", where the word "tradition" simultaneously invokes a sense of helplessness and an insurmountable dependency on "initiatic organizations" as defined by Guenon to accomplish anything at all. The truth is however, what Guenon described was only one way of approaching transformative realities and there are other ways that he did not consider or go on into, as has been partly shown in the prior article, due in part, to his own bias.
The unconscious belief that simply because someone has attained a spiritual degree, it means they cannot be harmful and that they should be listened to in a sheepish way ought to be done away with. Sri Aurobindo is an example of someone who in spite of his inner accomplishment bore certain errors externally, such as his conceptual error regarding "evolution" and his ignorance regarding the process of manifestation, which really is inseparably connected to the concept of cosmic cycles (since to manifest is simply to "expand" in a spiral, cyclic way, whether the expansion in question is that of an entire world or that of a being that would exist within such a world). The signature "Rene Guenon" is also an example of someone who undoubtedly is unparalleled in the esoteric domain, but nonetheless had one bias, that against Power.
Since Aurobindo's errors have already been corrected by the corpus of Rene Guenon, not much more is needed to be done to correct his work, though practically, the outcome of Sri Aurobindo's teachings are almost zero. However, I have yet to see a full explanation and correction of Guenon's one and only error regarding Power. The prior article is a cursory attempt at this and in order to help those who have truly assimilated his work, in the future, a full exposition may be provided, not only to do with theory, but with a technique that once applied, will bring forth veritable results.
(Note: Mircea Eliade's estimation of the 2 was completely inverted, Sri Aurobindo was affected negatively by the erosive influences of his time, unlike Guenon. Of course, Eliade is barely worth considering, given that he seems to have accomplished nothing both internally and externally, his only value being that of an erudite-researcher, the consequence of which is the provision of data from archaic eras, most of which is misinterpreted and marred by profane "academic" stupidities.)
