The Rudolf Steiner Archive

19. The Yoga Path, Christian Gnostic Initiation, and Rosicrucian Esotericism

[ 1 ] Through initiation, human beings are enabled to gain knowledge of higher worlds. It consists of an intimate process of development of our soul. The paths to this vary from person to person, but the truth is the same everywhere. Once you stand on the summit of a mountain, you have a clear view in all directions. But it would be utter nonsense if we did not want to take the nearest path from the point where we are to reach the summit. The same is true of initiation. When we have reached our goal and truly attained the clear view of knowledge, this knowledge is the same for everyone.

[ 2 ] However, it is not good for a person to follow a path of development other than the one that is appropriate to their nature. Actually, there should be a special path of initiation for each person. But all paths can be traced back to three different types: the path of yoga, Christian Gnostic initiation, and Christian Rosicrucian initiation. One of these three different paths can therefore be followed. They are different because there are three types of people. Among Europeans, there are only a few who can follow the Oriental path of yoga. Therefore, it is generally not right for Europeans to follow the path of yoga. This is because people in the Orient live in a completely different climate, under a completely different sunlight. Anatomy cannot easily prove the difference between Orientals and Europeans, but there is a profound psychological and spiritual difference between them, and this must be taken into account, since inner development has a profound effect on the psychological and spiritual nature of human beings. The finer structure of the Hindu brain is not perceptible to the anatomist. But if one expected of Europeans what one can expect of Indians, one would ruin them. One can prescribe certain practices for Indians that are of no use to Europeans or even harm them. Above all, the path of yoga places a basic demand on the student, without the fulfillment of which it is impossible to follow this path. It requires the strict authority of a teacher, a so-called guru. Those who wish to follow it must submit to the guru's instructions in every detail of their lives. Apart from that, the Indian path of yoga is almost impossible to follow unless one breaks away from one's external circumstances. It is necessary to take a wide variety of external measures to support the prescribed exercises. If one has certain experiences that make an impression on the emotional world, this will have a profound influence when one undergoes inner occult development. That is why the Oriental yoga student must ask the guru about all the details of life. If one wants to make any changes in life, one must let the guru show the way. Thus, the path of yoga is one that requires absolute submission to the guru. One must learn to see with the eyes of the guru and learn to feel as he does. One cannot walk this path without deep trust, without perfect love, combined with unrestricted trust and unconditional devotion that transcends everything else.

[ 3 ] In the Christian Gnostic path, there is only one great teacher, the central guru. What is required is faith in Christ Jesus himself, not just in his teachings. The Christian Gnostic disciple must be able to believe that in Christ Jesus the only high divine individuality was incarnated, an individuality that cannot be compared to any other, even the highest individuality. All other individualities began on this earth at a lower level and then ascended, such as Buddha, Hermes, Zoroaster, Pythagoras, so that their spiritual form is the result of many previous incarnations. This is not the case with Christ Jesus. He cannot be compared to any other individuality, to anything else on earth. Without this belief, it would not be possible to follow the purely Christian Gnostic path.

[ 4 ] A third path is the Christian Rosicrucian one. Here, the teacher is the advisor, who preferably limits his advice to the measures of spiritual development itself. This spiritual development must be arranged in such a way that it has a profound influence on the life of the individual. A teacher must always be present at the initiation. There is no such thing as a serious initiation without a teacher. Anyone who claimed otherwise would be saying something as foolish as someone who considered the birth of a child possible without the cooperation of both sexes. Initiation is a spiritual fertilization process. If this were not brought about in the dual relationship between teacher and student, it would even be a harmful process.

[ 5 ] The Indian path of yoga distinguishes seven stages. But they do not always follow one another in the same order. The stages that are listed can be mixed in a certain way. It is not necessary to go through the first to seventh stages in sequence. It may be that one is encouraged to anticipate something from the seven stages and then, depending on one's individuality, be given an exercise that corresponds to a completely different stage. Perhaps the student will go through this in a few years, perhaps in a few months. When asked how long it takes to be initiated, Subba Row said: It can take seventy incarnations or seven incarnations; for some it takes seven years, for others seven months or only seven days or even only seven hours. — It depends entirely on the spiritual maturity that a person has already attained. Spiritual maturity comes more quickly to some, more slowly to others. It depends on karma. One may well ask how it is that a certain person does not stand out, even though he was spiritually very advanced in a previous existence. Perhaps there are obstacles in his physical and mental constitution. It is mainly the task of the teacher to remove these obstacles. The external physiognomy of a person in ordinary life is not decisive. A previous initiation may lie deeply hidden in the soul and not emerge only because of some obstacles.

[ 6 ] The first stage of Indian yoga training is Yama. This means something like abstention, non-action. The Indian understands this to mean: do not kill, do not lie, do not steal, do not indulge in excess, do not covet. But if we want to delve deeper into what Indians mean by this, we must take it in its entirety. For example, even if we become vegetarians, we have not yet broken the habit of killing. Our life is not possible without killing. Even by breathing, we kill by exhaling carbon dioxide. If the green plant cover of the earth did not continuously absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, humans and animals could not live. Part of yoga practice consists of breaking this habit of killing. Indians consider this point very important. They would also view numerous chains of events in our social life today as falling under the concept of stealing. Each of us has to earn money in some way. Many conditions are necessary for us to obtain this money. When we buy a skirt, we cannot know whether human blood is attached to it. People think little about how they are connected in social contexts and are jointly responsible for what they do. If you take things seriously, then you have to feel responsible for what happens through you.

[ 7 ] The best way to help your fellow human beings is to become free of needs. Those who become free of needs help their fellow human beings more than philanthropists do. For example, if you don't write unnecessary letters, you may save some people from having to climb many stairs. It is a great mistake to believe that you are helping people by making greater demands on them and thus creating more work. You do not increase what people need in the slightest by giving them work. Under the complicated circumstances prevailing in Europe, it is becoming increasingly difficult to do the things required by the Orientals in order to follow the path of yoga. In a country where there are no banks, where cultural conditions can be overlooked, one can follow the path of yoga in its strict form.

[ 8 ] The second is Nyana, the cultivation of ritual. The Indian path of yoga demands that people have a ritual, that they combine the teaching with a cult. Everyone who follows the path of yoga is strictly required to follow a ritual. One must have things visible before one's eyes in actions. Just as in art it is important to express oneself in external objects, so in this initiation it is important that things are presented in ritual.

[ 9 ] The third is asana, the alignment of the human posture with certain currents in the cosmos. Where people still had a feeling for such things, for example, the main altar in cult buildings was always built facing east. With the refined organization of the Indians, the direction in which it stands is important. There is indeed a different current from north to south than from east to west. In yoga initiation, the posture of the body is important because the Oriental body is much softer and is much more affected when it assumes a certain position. If Europeans wanted to follow the Oriental path of yoga, they would have to do all these things.

[ 10 ] The fourth is pranayama, the rhythmic regulation of the breathing process. This is easiest to understand when we remember that, in the present circumstances, human beings kill through their breath. The teacher gives the student the instruction: You should regulate your breathing process according to the rules given to you by the teacher for at least a certain period of time. If one were to examine the breath, one would see that the exhaled air of a yoga student has a completely different composition, a completely different carbon dioxide content than that of an ordinary person. As a result, it is true that by regulating the breathing process, he actually influences the future development of the earth. Constant dripping wears away the stone. You cannot see this from one day to the next. But it adds up and, over long periods of time, will mean something very specific.

[ 11 ] The Rosicrucian teacher also allows the rhythmicization of the breathing process to be carried out at a specific time. What does the breathing process do? The physical human being is inconceivable without plants. We breathe in oxygen, which is combined with carbon in the lungs, and we breathe out carbon dioxide. Plants do exactly the opposite. A continuous cycle takes place between humans on the one hand and plants on the other. In distant times, humans will develop an organ within themselves that can do what plants do today. They will be able to process carbon dioxide within themselves. This will be made possible by an organ through which humans will separate carbon from oxygen and combine it with themselves. What we today take in with food to build up the body, we will then consciously accomplish within ourselves. In this way, we will transform carbon dioxide back into oxygen. This process is actually promoted by the rhythmization of the breathing process. In the 14th century, this was taught in detail in the Rosicrucian schools. Through the betrayal of some of these secrets, much of this has found its way into popular literature. An 18th-century text mentions something about the philosopher's stone. What is written there is literally correct. However, the writer himself probably did not know what it was really about. The whole human being must change if he is to accomplish what the plant now accomplishes for him. His physical body will then itself become carbon, but it will not be black carbon, nor will it be hard diamond, which is merely the symbol for the philosopher's stone. The philosopher's stone is understood to be that body which is transparent, into which the other organs are integrated. It will consist of a mass of jelly-like carbon, similar to egg white. Human beings are on a path that will one day lead them to this wonderful glory. The rhythmic breathing that leads to this is called alchemy. The philosopher's stone is called Lapis philosophorum. The man who wrote about it did not himself know what he was writing.

[ 12 ] The fifth stage of the yoga path is pratyahara. It consists of being able to suppress the impressions of the outer senses. We must realize what our actual soul world is and leave out everything that has invaded us from outside. Most of what humans think has come into them from outside. If a person is able to consciously devote themselves to their inner thoughts, if they can make themselves blind and deaf to their surroundings while remaining inwardly alert, if they can have a thought without reflecting on the outside world, then their sleep will be filled with dreams, then they are practicing pratyahara.

[ 13 ] On the sixth stage, one must not only completely absorb what the eyes can see and the ears can hear, but also suppress inner images that arise from the soul itself. After removing everything from the soul that has entered it through life, one places an idea within the soul. This is given by the guru. These can be ideas such as those contained in the first four teachings of “Light on the Path.” The best soul contents are those that a special teacher can give you.

[ 14 ] After such soul content has been effective for a while, you let it go without losing consciousness. You then still have the function of spiritual life as such, without the content of thought. Once this seventh stage is reached, the spiritual world enters into us. This state is called samadhi.

[ 15 ] Just like the path of yoga, the training of Christian gnosis also has seven stages. This method already takes into account a somewhat coarsened body and is particularly geared towards the world of feelings and sensations. The Christian teacher must guide the student's world of feelings and sensations. The seven stages of Christian initiation are: first, the washing of the feet; second, the flagellation; third, the crowning with thorns; fourth, the crucifixion; fifth, the mystical death on the cross; sixth, the burial; seventh, the ascension.

[ 16 ] It is best to go through these seven stages by describing how the relationship between teacher and student unfolds. The teacher says to the student, for example: Look at the plant! It takes root and grows in the mineral kingdom. When it turns to the mineral kingdom, it should say to it: I owe my existence to you, only through you can I live — I thank you! — Likewise, the animal should say to the plant kingdom: I owe my existence to you, only through you can I live. And when human beings look at the nature around them and the people who are still below them, a similar feeling must permeate their souls. No higher level can develop and be reached without the lower levels being there. That is why people who are in a higher social position must also descend to those below them and thank them. Christ Jesus indicated this in the washing of feet by bending down to his disciples and washing their feet. The student on the first stage of Christian initiation must be completely imbued with this feeling of gratitude toward everything below him. What he achieves will manifest itself in two symptoms. First, he will see himself in an astral vision in the situation of the foot washing. This happens to everyone who goes through this correctly. Second, he will have a feeling as if water were washing around his feet.

[ 17 ] On the second stage, the student must learn to endure all the sufferings of life that are constantly happening around him. He must stand upright, even when he has to endure the greatest pain. The symptom is that in the astral vision he sees himself being scourged and feels something like needle pricks in various places on his body.

[ 18 ] The third stage is the attainment of the ability to endure the most sacred things we know being showered with ridicule and scorn. The teacher tells the student: If you can endure the mockery of what is most sacred to you and still stand up for it, then you are capable of wearing the crown of thorns. The student will experience a special kind of headache when he has reached this stage.

[ 19 ] At the fourth stage, he must learn to regard the body as something completely external, to carry the body around as we otherwise carry an instrument, a hammer, or some other tool. In some schools, students learn to speak of their bodies in such a way that they say: My body is going through the door – and so on. At this stage, the person concerned sees himself crucified in astral vision. He receives the stigmata of Christ on his hands and feet and on the right side of his body. At the moment of his meditation and concentration, red stigmata appear.

[ 20 ] The fifth stage is mystical death. At this stage, the person experiences a veil between themselves and the rest of the world, like a black curtain. Then they experience inwardly all that can be bad in the world. Descending into hell is mystical death. Then a vision shows this curtain being torn apart.

[ 21 ] At the sixth stage, one then gains a feeling as if everything else were one's own body. One then becomes united with the earth. This is the burial.

[ 22 ] The seventh stage, the resurrection, cannot be described in words. Those who experience such feelings within themselves gain insight into the spiritual world.

[ 23 ] The third type of initiation is the Rosicrucian, which has been present in Europe since the 14th century. It focuses primarily on strengthening and fortifying the inner will. While Oriental training emphasizes thinking and Christian Gnostic training emphasizes feeling, Rosicrucian training is directed toward the development of the will. The stages of this training are: first, study; second, imagination; third, learning occult scriptures; fourth, the rhythmization of life; fifth, learning to understand the correspondence between microcosm and macrocosm; sixth, contemplation or immersion in the macrocosm; seventh, godliness.

[ 24 ] Study requires that the student have the patience to gain certain concepts about the world. First, he must receive teachings from his teacher. For example, he must study devotedly what elementary theosophy can offer him as teachings. He must try to penetrate these teachings as best he can. The patient acquisition of concepts is necessary for anyone who wants to ascend higher. This requires a certain training of the mind, an accustoming to living and weaving in the pure element of thought. For those who want to attain Rosicrucian initiation and train the mind, books such as “The Philosophy of Freedom” and “Truth and Science” have been written . It is important to overcome the difficulties, which for some are insurmountable, to pursue the thought and to recognize how one thought necessarily follows from another. In Oriental training, strict submission to the guru is required. In Christian Gnostic training, the student must place Christ at the center of his striving. In Christian Rosicrucian training, the teacher stands by him as a friend and advisor.

[ 25 ] In the higher realms, it is much easier to stumble, so one must have inner security. In ordinary life, life itself puts us in our place. Sometimes life corrects our mistakes in a terrible way. This correction does not occur when one ascends to the higher worlds. That is why in Oriental training one must see with the eyes of the guru and feel through him. The European teacher serves as an advisor. When ascending to the higher worlds, however, one needs another guideline. In the astral world, perceptions are completely different from those in the physical world; likewise, in the devachanic world, a new world of perceptions opens up to us. In terms of impressions, the three worlds are very different. But one thing is the same in all of them: logical thinking. This can be a reliable guide for us on the astral plane and the devachanic plane. If one has learned to think logically through study, one can also help oneself on the astral and devachanic planes. However, the logic of the physical plane no longer applies to the buddhic plane.

[ 26 ] Die zweite Stufe der Rosenkreuzerschulung ist die Imagination. Diese soll bei dem europäischen Schüler nicht übereilt angestrebt werden, weil er leicht straucheln kann. Der Mensch muß lernen, ein moralisches Verhältnis zu den Dingen einzugehen. Man hat in allen vergänglichen Dingen ein Gleichnis für ein Ewiges zu sehen. Schauen wir in diesem Sinne die Natur an, so wird beispielsweise die Herbstzeitlose für uns das Sinnbild für eine einsame Wesenheit, die in Melancholie aufwärtsstrebt. Das Veilchen ist dann ein Symbol für etwas, was in anspruchsloser, ruhiger Schönheit sein Dasein erfüllt. Jeder Stein regt in uns Gedanken an - er ist ein Gleichnis für etwas, was dahintersteht. Dadurch wird die Welt um uns reicher. Die Dinge verraten uns ihr innerstes Wesen. Die eine Blume wird dann zur Träne, durch welche die Erde ihr Leid ausspricht, die andere zum Ausdruck der Freude. Betrachten wir etwa ein Reiskörnchen, so können wir beobachten, wie eine kleine Flamme daraus hervorwächst. Die kleine Flamme wird zum Bilde für das, was nachher als Halm daraus emporsprießt.

[ 27 ] Thirdly, there comes a stage where a whole spiritual world emerges from all beings. Their spiritual essence, their spiritual content, hovers above things. The entire astral world becomes visible. One then finds oneself as if in the middle of ocean waves and has the experience of swimming in a sea. One sees how the color of a tulip stands out and recognizes that it forms the garment of an astral being. At this third stage, the student learns occult writing. If we really want to live in the astral world, we must know occult writing. In the world, many things are built according to the figure of the vortex, for example:

[ 28 ] We find this spiral both in the Orion Nebula and in the design of living beings. Human and animal embryos have a spiral shape in an earlier stage. One part represents the physical, the other part, which winds its way into it, represents the astral. The dawn of a new stage in human history is also symbolized by the sign of two intertwined vortices. This is the zodiac sign of Cancer. When the post-Atlantean epoch began after the demise of ancient Atlantis with the primordial Indian subrace, the sun rose in the zodiac sign of Cancer at the beginning of spring. If one is familiar with occult writings, one learns to orient oneself in the astral world.

[ 29 ] The fourth stage is learning the rhythm of life. The student is instructed to regulate their breathing in a certain way. Everything in nature proceeds rhythmically. Every plant blooms rhythmically at the same time. Rhythm can also be observed in the animal kingdom. Animals are only capable of fertilization at certain times of the year. In humans, however, the rhythm descends into chaos. Humans must create a new rhythm for their lives. For many people, there is only a forced rhythm. In general, there is no voluntary rhythm in humans. The Rosicrucians must ensure that life is rhythmic. Rhythm is brought into the breathing process through the special instructions of the teacher.

[ 30 ] The fifth is learning the correspondence between the microcosm and the macrocosm. There is a certain bond between humans and all things in the world around them. In ordinary humans, this only comes out in the love between the two sexes, in the feeling of how one finds in the other exactly what is related to them, familiar to them, what belongs to them. However, much is based on this mysterious relationship between the world and human beings. For example, it is based on Paracelsus' discovery of how certain plants relate to human beings. He also learned about the relationship of other substances to human beings through this ability. He called a cholera patient an arsenicus because arsenic causes the same symptoms in healthy people as those seen in a cholera patient. One can have a personal relationship, a loving relationship with all things in a purely spiritual sense. This requires special practice. One can achieve this by following very specific instructions. If you think of a certain word at the point between your eyebrows above the bridge of your nose, after a while you will come to realize a very specific process in the world. By thinking of the inside of the eye, you gain knowledge of the nature of the sun, of the processes that took place when the sun and earth still formed one celestial body. Through another exercise, one recognizes what the moon is spiritually, or what state the earth was in eighteen million years ago.

[ 31 ] Then follows immersion in the correspondence between microcosm and macrocosm. By concentrating on the point between the eyebrows above the root of the nose, one can penetrate into the time when the ego entered into human beings. Then the human being grows with his consciousness into the macrocosm. He must practice this for a specific period of time and thus grow into all things, whether they are far or near.

[ 32 ] Seventh follows the stage of godliness, where one outgrows the limited physical shell and is able to live with the macrocosm.

[ 33 ] The teachings are given to the student according to the occult findings of his being. When the student has gone through these stages in real experience, he has reached the summit of knowledge of higher worlds.