Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction: Thirty red pills from Hermes Trismegistus
- Aren't we Living in a Disenchanted World?
- Esotericism, That's for White Folks, Right?
- Surely Modern Art is not Occult? It is Modern!
- Is it True that Secret Societies are Trying to Control the World?
- Numbers are Meant for Counting, Right?
- Wasn't Hermes a Prophet of Christianity who Lived Long Before Christ?
- Weren't Early Christians up Against a Gnostic Religion?
- The Imagination… You Mean Fantasy, Right?
- Weren't Medieval Monks Afraid of Demons?
- What does Popular Fiction have to do with the Occult?
- Isn't Alchemy a Spiritual Tradition?
- Music? What does that have to do with Esotericism?
- Why all that Satanist Stuff in Heavy Metal?
- Religion can't be a Joke, Right?
- Isn't Esotericism Irrational?
- Rejected Knowledge…: So you mean that Esotericists are the Losers of History?
- The Kind of Stuff Madonna Talks about – that's not Real Kabbala, is it?
- Shouldn't Evil Cults that Worship Satan be Illegal?
- Is Occultism a Product of Capitalism?
- Can Superhero Comics Really Transmit Esoteric Knowledge?
- Are Kabbalistic Meditations all about Ecstasy?
- Isn't India the Home of Spiritual Wisdom?
- If People Believe in Magic, isn't that just Because they aren't Educated?
- But what does Esotericism have to do with Sex?
- Is there such a Thing as Islamic Esotericism?
- Doesn't Occultism Lead Straight to Fascism?
- A Man who Never Died, Angels Falling from the Sky…: What is that Enoch Stuff all about?
- Is there any Room for Women in Jewish Kabbalah?
- Surely Born-again Christianity has Nothing to do with Occult Stuff like Alchemy?
- Bibliography
- Contributors to this Volume
- Index of Persons
- Index of Subjects
Isn't India the Home of Spiritual Wisdom?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction: Thirty red pills from Hermes Trismegistus
- Aren't we Living in a Disenchanted World?
- Esotericism, That's for White Folks, Right?
- Surely Modern Art is not Occult? It is Modern!
- Is it True that Secret Societies are Trying to Control the World?
- Numbers are Meant for Counting, Right?
- Wasn't Hermes a Prophet of Christianity who Lived Long Before Christ?
- Weren't Early Christians up Against a Gnostic Religion?
- The Imagination… You Mean Fantasy, Right?
- Weren't Medieval Monks Afraid of Demons?
- What does Popular Fiction have to do with the Occult?
- Isn't Alchemy a Spiritual Tradition?
- Music? What does that have to do with Esotericism?
- Why all that Satanist Stuff in Heavy Metal?
- Religion can't be a Joke, Right?
- Isn't Esotericism Irrational?
- Rejected Knowledge…: So you mean that Esotericists are the Losers of History?
- The Kind of Stuff Madonna Talks about – that's not Real Kabbala, is it?
- Shouldn't Evil Cults that Worship Satan be Illegal?
- Is Occultism a Product of Capitalism?
- Can Superhero Comics Really Transmit Esoteric Knowledge?
- Are Kabbalistic Meditations all about Ecstasy?
- Isn't India the Home of Spiritual Wisdom?
- If People Believe in Magic, isn't that just Because they aren't Educated?
- But what does Esotericism have to do with Sex?
- Is there such a Thing as Islamic Esotericism?
- Doesn't Occultism Lead Straight to Fascism?
- A Man who Never Died, Angels Falling from the Sky…: What is that Enoch Stuff all about?
- Is there any Room for Women in Jewish Kabbalah?
- Surely Born-again Christianity has Nothing to do with Occult Stuff like Alchemy?
- Bibliography
- Contributors to this Volume
- Index of Persons
- Index of Subjects
Summary
To answer that question, let me begin with a quotation. It comes from an American stage magician, Claude Alexander, and was published in 1924:
The Orient has always been looked upon as the Great Fount of Inner Knowledge; and as the original Home of the Mysteries … In the Orient of today, however, the Ancient Wisdom is still treasured, and the Secret Doctrines are still taught – but by the few, and to the few. In certain carefully guarded circles, among the sages and seers of the Orient, one who knows how to give “the right knock” will be admitted to fellowship, and will be given the teaching to which he is entitled by reason of his attainment along certain lines.
Writing his tract on Hindu magic at the height of his popularity in 1924, Alexander identified India as the land of ancient occult knowledge. He felt that the Vedas were the original sources of esoteric teachings. He argued that by practising oriental magic one could master clairvoyance and telepathic power. In making such claims, he was just a later addition to the long list of Western Orientalists and occultists who had already perceived India as the land of ancient sages, the home of age-old spiritual wisdom. Alexander's works were preceded by Friedrich Schlegel's Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier (On the Language and Wisdom of the Indians, 1808), Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia (1879), Friedrich Max Müller's The Sacred Books of the East (1879), and of course H.P. Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine (1888), among others.
This understanding of India as the storehouse of spiritual wisdom is a modern phenomenon – and yet the matter is not straightforward or easy. Are we dealing with nothing but a stereotypical Romantic view typical of modern Western society, or is there more at stake? In fact, the question cannot be answered by a simple “yes” or “no.” To get a clearer picture, we have to understand how this image of India as a land of spiritual knowledge developed. I will focus on two major points: firstly, why India's image as a spiritual and enchanted land is a picture of the imagination, and secondly, how India became a site of contestation between two different streams of thought. I will pay particular attention to the case of the Theosophical Society and its romanticisation of India.
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- Hermes ExplainsThirty Questions about Western Esotericism, pp. 191 - 197Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2019