Jul 19, 2017

Human Ethics and Earthquakes

The Secret Connection Between Human
Psychology and the Geological Cycles of the Earth

Damodar K. Mavalankar


A scene showing results from the 2015 earthquake in Nepal



An Editorial Note:

The following article is reproduced from “The Theosophist” magazine, India, September 1885 edition, p. 285. Signed “K.D.M.”, the text was most likely written by Damodar K. Mavalankar (D.K.M., or K.D.M.), who was a close assistant to Helena Blavatsky.  Original title: “Earthquakes”.

In an article published in 1933, the North American theosophist C. J. Ryan corroborates the idea of Damodar’s authorship.[1] It must be said that in September 1885 Damodar had already gone to live in one of the Ashrams of the Masters of the Wisdom.[2] His note on earthquakes was published a few months after he left India abandoning  the visible aspects of the theosophical movement. Helena Blavatsky had left India for good a few months before him: she went to Europe in March 1885.

The importance of this short article is great in the 21st century. Every aspect of human life is magnetic, and so is the process of geological and planetary life in general. The direct relation between microcosm and macrocosm is inevitable. The Kundalini of each individual is connected to the planetary Kundalini. Therefore, the article by Damodar does not examine earthquakes only. It also explains the correspondence between the average level of ethics in human beings and the periodical change in the magnetic poles, and in the central axis of our planet.

(Carlos Cardoso Aveline)


Human Ethics and Earthquakes

Damodar K. Mavalankar

The theories now put forth by the scientists as regards the cause of earthquakes are not satisfactory.

The Hindus have a superstition that the great snake Basuki carries the earth on its head, and when the earth becomes heavy with sins, this snake moves its head and this is the cause of earthquakes.

If we try to go to the bottom of this superstition we may get a glimpse of what was believed by the ancients as the cause of earthquakes.

According to the Tantrik yoga philosophy the earth is sustained by a force named Kundalini shakti, this force is the life of the earth. This force is symbolically represented by a snake entwined in 3½ coils round the linga-sharira of the earth. In the microcosm, this force is a state of strain producing a current that moves along a spiral path. [3]

According to Professor Maxwell, electricity is a state of strain in the luminiferous ether, and all the phenomena of the magnetic force are observed when electricity flows along a spiral coil.

From these it may strike one’s mind that what is called magnetism in modern science is one form of the Kundalini shakti of the Hindu yogis.

It is a fact proved by the scientists that this earth is a large magnet. And I think that the internal disturbance in the earth’s magnetism is symbolically represented in the superstition above alluded to as regards the cause of earthquakes.

Modern scientific men can see no connection between the cause of earthquakes and events on the mental plane of the earth. But when they understand that there is no such thing as accident in this universe, that every event which appears to us as accident, is the effect of a force on the mental plane, then they will be able to understand why the superstitious Hindus look upon earthquakes as the effect of accumulated sins committed by men. [4]

The superstition of the Hindus properly understood means this: That the accumulated effect of the bad Karmas of men on the earth, impressed in the astral fire, is to produce a change in the position of the centre of the force which is earth’s life. This centre of force, known by the Hindus as Padma or Chakra, is the head of Basuki. When the earth, to sustain its own life, requires to change the position of the centre of its active life, a disturbance in the internal magnetism of the earth is produced, amongst other phenomena earthquakes occur, just as nervous tremors occur in a man’s body. [5]

Only one who is an adept in the knowledge of all departments of natural forces can say how far this view of the Hindus is correct. Let the reader seek the help of such a one to clear his doubts, and when I have said this I have nothing more to say.

(K.D.M.)

NOTES:

[1] “Scientific Notes and News”, by C. J. Ryan, in “The Theosophical Path”, October 1933, p. 220. (CCA)

[2] See letter 29 in “Letters From the Masters of the Wisdom - First Series” (TPH) and the commentaries to it. (CCA)

[3] Linga-sharira - the third principle of human consciousness, the astral structure which supports and gives a form to the principle of vitality. See in our websites the second half of the article “The Seven Principles of Consciousness”. The idea of “three and a half coils” is symbolic. “Three and a half” is the half of seven. Sky and the Earth, or the divine and the terrestrial, combined, have seven levels of consciousness. “Three and a half” indicates the intermediate point and the link between heaven and earth. The relation between the higher and the lower, or spirit and matter, must be well-balanced. It is ultimately regulated in every inch by the stern eternal Law, and each mistake gets corrected in due time.  (CCA)

[4] Human greed causes environmental devastation and periodical climate changes. (CCA)

[5] A change in the axis of the planet. (CCA)

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The annotated article above was published in the May 2016 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pp. 9-10, and the editorial notes were expanded in January 2019.

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In September 2016,  after a careful analysis of the state of the esoteric movement worldwide, a group of students decided to form the Independent Lodge of Theosophists. Two of the priorities adopted by the ILT are learning from the past and building a better future.

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