Page:A Collection of Esoteric Writings.djvu/256

242 (4.)The female characters that figure in the story are the following:—

It must be noticed here that the 2nd and the 3rd are identical. Speaking of the fair woman of the City, whom he met apparently for the first time, Sensa says that as he gazed into her tender eyes it seemed to him that he knew her well and that her charms were familiar to him. It is clear from this statement that this lady is no other than the young girl who ran about the temple with him.

Prakriti, say the Hindu philosophers, has three qualities, Satwa, Rajas and Tamas. The last of these qualities is connected with the grosser pleasures and passions experienced in Sthulasarira. Rajoguna is the cause of the restless activity of the mind, while Satwaguna is intimately associated with the spiritual intelligence of man, and with his higher and noble aspirations. Maya, then, makes its appearance in this story in three distinct forms. It is Vidya, spiritual intelligence, which is represented by the Lady of the White Lotus. It is the Kwan-yin and the Pragna of the Buddhist writers. She represents the light or the aura of the Logos, which is wisdom, and she is the source of the current of conscious life or Chaitanyam. The young girl above referred to is the Mind of man, and it is by her that Sensa is led gradually into the presence of the dark goddess, set up in the holy of the holies for adoration by the priesthood whom we have above described.

The dark goddess herself is Avidya. It is the dark side of human Nature. It derives its life and energy from the passions and desires of the human soul. The ray of life and wisdom, which originally emanated from the Logos and which has acquired a distinct individuality of its own when the