The Equinox (Volume I, Number IV)

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING The first veil against which we must warn the aspirant is the entanglement of language, of words and of names. The merest tyro will answer, “of course you need not explain to me that, ifI call a thing ‘A’ or ‘B,’ it makes no difference to that thing in itself.” And yet not only the tyro, but many of the astutest philosophers have fallen into this snare, and not only once but an hundred times; the reason being that they have not remained silent* about that which can only be “known” and not “believed in,” and that which can never be named without begetting a duality (an untruth), and conse- quently a whole world of illusions. It is the crucifixion of every would-be Saviour, this teaching of a truth under the symbol of a lie, this would-be explanation to the multitude of the unexplainable, this passing off on the “canaille” the strumpet of language (the Consciously Known) in the place of the Virgin of the World (the Consciously Unknown). + No philosophy has ever grasped this terrible limitation so firmly as the Vedanta. “ All experimental knowledge, the four Vedas and the whole series of empirical science, as they are enumerated in Chandogya, 7. 1. 2-3, are ‘nama eva,’ ‘mere name.’” t+ As the Rig Veda says, ‘They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garut- man. To what is One, sages give many a title: they call it Agni, Yama, MAtirisvan.”§ * The highest men are calm, silent and unknown. They are the men who really know the power of thought; they are sure that, even if they go into a cave and close the door and simply think five true thoughts and then pass away, these five thoughts of theirs will live through eternity. (Vivekananda, “Karma Yoga,” Udbodhan edition, pp. 164, 165.) + Or the Unconsciously Known. t Deussen, 27d, p. 76. § “Rigveda” (Griffiths), i. 164. 46. “You may call the Creator of all things 55