THE SEVEN PORTALS
posed to shifting breeze, the jet will flicker and the quivering
flame cast shades deceptive, dark and ever-changing, on the
Soul’s white shrine.
This familiar phrase is usually interpreted to mean the
mere keeping of the mind free from invading thoughts. It
has also that secret significance at which we have several
times already hinted.
These unfortunate poetic images again bewilder us.
Blavatsky’s constant use of the word “Soul” without defini-
tion is very annoying. These verses 63 and 64 must be
taken as dealing with a state preliminary to the attainment
of this Fifth Gate. If the lance shakes in the hand of the
warrior, whatever the cause, the result is fumbling and
failure.
64. And then, O thou pursuer of the Truth, thy Mind-
Soul will become as a mad elephant, that rages in the jungle.
Mistaking forest trees for living foes, he perishes in his
attempts to kill the ever-shifting shadows dancing on the
wall of sunlit rocks.
This verse explains the state of the mind which has failed
in the Abyss—the student becomes insane.
65. Beware, lest in the care of Self thy Soul should lose
her foothold on the soil of Deva-knowledge.
66. Beware, lest in forgetting SELF, thy Soul lose o’er
its trembling mind control, and forfeit thus the due fruition
of its conquests.
These two verses seem to mean that any attention to Self
would prevent one crossing the Abyss, while in the event of
any inattention to Self the mind would revolt. In other
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