http://www.scribd.com/doc/36323304/Rene-Guenon-The-Lord-of-the-World
Chapter 8
THE SUPREME
CENTRE CONCEALED
DURING THE
KALI-YUGA
AGARTTHA, it is said, did not always exist
underground,
and will not
always remain so. A time will come when, according to Ossendowski's report,
'the people ofAg h a rti will come out of their caves and appear on the surface of the earth'.1 Before its
disappearance from the visible world, the centre bore another name since'Agarttha'', which means
'ungraspable' or 'inaccessible' (and also 'inviolable' as it is
Salem, the 'abode of peace'), would not yet
have become
appropriate. Ossendowski dates its withdrawal underground
as 'more than six thousand years ago', which turns out, given a reasonable approximation,
to correspond to the beginning of theK ali-Yuga or 'Black Age', the 'Iron Age'
of the ancient West, which is the last of the four periods into which theM anvantara is divided.2 Its
reappearance should therefore coincide with the ending of this same period.
Reference has already been made to something that is lost
or hidden, reported in all traditions, and which is represented by different
symbols; in a general sense this loss tallies exactly with the conditions of
humanity during theK ali-Yuga. The current period is one of occlusion and
confusion,3 its conditions
1 These are the final words of a prophecy that the 'Lord
of the World' is said to
have made in
1890, when he appeared at the monastery of Narabanchi.
2 TheM a n va n ta ra , or era of aM anu, also calledM a h a -Y u g a ,
comprises fourY u g a s
or secondary
periods:K rita-Y uga (or Satya-Yuga), Treta-Yuga, Dwapara-Yuga and
Kali-Yuga, which are identifiable with the 'age
of gold', the 'age of silver', the 'age
of
bronze', and the 'age of iron', respectively, of the Graeco-Latin antiquity. In
the succession of these periods there is a kind of progressive materialization
resulting from the gradual distancing from the Principle which necessarily
accompanies the development of the cyclic manifestation in the corporeal world,
starting from the 'primordial state'.
3 The beginning of this age is, in biblical symbolism,
represented by the Tower of
Babel and the
'confusion of tongues'. One could quite logically think that the fall
and the flood
correspond to the end of the two first ages; but, in reality, the
46
Lord of the
World
are such that
initiatory knowledge must remain hidden for as long as they endure, hence the
nature of the 'Mysteries' of historical antiquity (which does not even reach
back to the beginning of this period)4 and the secret societies of all
peoples. Such organizations provide an effective initiation only where an
authentic traditional doctrine still exists, offering but a shadow when the
spirit of the doctrine no longer vivifies the symbols that are merely its
external representation;
this happens when for different reasons the conscious connection with the
supreme spiritual centre of the world is finally broken. This loss of a direct
and effective link with the supreme centre is the most significant aspect of
the loss of a tradition and that which particularly affects secondary or
dependent centres.
It is important to realize that we should be talking of
something that is hidden rather than truly lost, because it is not lost to
everybody but still possessed in its entirety, albeit by a very few. This gives
rise, of course, to the possibility for others to rediscover it, provided they
search in the proper manner, which is to say that their intention must be directed
in such a way that, through the harmonious vibrations it awakens, it enables an
effective spiritual communication to be made with the Supreme Centre,5 through the law
of 'concordant actions and reactions'.6 In all traditional forms
starting-point
of the Hebraic tradition does not correspond to the beginning of the
Manvantara. It must not be
forgotten that the cyclic laws apply to different degrees,
for periods not
of the same extent, which also sometimes encroach on one another; hence the
complications which, at first sight, may seem inextricable and which can in
effect be resolved only by considering the order of hierarchic subordination of
the corresponding
traditional centres.
4 It appears that notice has never been properly taken of
the fact that historians
find it
practically impossible in almost all cultures to establish an unquestionable
chronology for
everything anterior to the sixth century before the Christian era.
5What we have just said allows us to interpret the
following words of the Gospels
in a very precise sense: 'Seek and ye shall find; ask and
ye will receive; knock and it will be opened to you.' Here one must naturally
refer to the indications we have already given concerning the 'right intention'
and 'good will'; the explanation of the expression Pax in terra hominibus bonae voluntatis [Peace on Earth to men of good will] is easily seen in this context.
6This expression has been borrowed from the Taoist
doctrine; in addition we here
understand the word 'intention' in a sense very exactly
that of the Arabicniyah, which is usually translated thus, and this moreover conforms to the
Latin etymology (fromin -te n d
e re , 'tending towards').
The Supreme
Centre
47
this right
intention is always symbolically represented generally by a ritual orientation,
properly directed towards some spiritual centre that - whatever it may be - is
always but a reflection of the true 'Centre of the World'.7 However, the
further theK ali-
Yuga progresses, the more difficult it
becomes to attain unity
with this centre, which in its turn becomes more and more
closed and concealed; at the same time those secondary centres that represent
it externally become rarer;8 yet when this period finishes the
tradition will of necessity be manifested again in its entirety, for the
beginning of eachM anvantara coincides with the end of the preceding one, thus implying the
inevitable return of the 'primordial state' for humanity on earth.9
In Europe, every consciously established link with the
centre through the medium of orthodox organizations is now broken, as has been
the case for several centuries. This severance was gradual, completed in
various successive stages rather than at once.10 The first of
these breaks occurred at the beginning of the fourteenth century, at which time
one of the principal roles of the Orders of Chivalry was to make a direct
connection between East and West. The importance of such a link will be readily
understood when it is recalled that the centre has always, at least in
'historical' times, been depicted as being situated in the Orient. After the
destruction of the Order of the Templars, the liaison was maintained in a less
overt fashion by the Rosicrucians, or those to whom this name was afterwards
given.11 The Renaissance and the Reformation
7In Islam, this orientation(q
ib la h ) is as it were the materialization,
if we may use
this
expression, of intention(n iy a h ). The orientation of Christian churches is another
particular case
which is essentially connected to the same idea.
8 Only a relative exteriorization is of course meant, as
these secondary centres
have themselves
been more or less strictly closed since the beginning of theK a li-Y u g a .
9This is the manifestation of the celestial Jerusalem,
which is, in connection with
the cycle which
is ending, the same thing as is the Terrestrial Paradise in connection
with the cycle
which is beginning, as explained in L'Esoterisme de Dante.
10 In the same way, from a wider point of
view, there are degrees for humanity
in the
remoteness from the primordial centre, and it is to these degrees that the
distinction of
the differentYugas corresponds.
11 Here again we must refer to our study L'Esoterisme de Dante, where we have given
all the
necessary supporting information.
48
Lord of the
World
marked another critical phase, after which, as Saint-Yves
appears to suggest, the complete and final rupture coincided with the treaties
of Westphalia which ended the Thirty Years War in 1648. It is a remarkable fact
that several writers have agreed that the true Rosicrucians left Europe shortly
after the Thirty Years War to retire into Asia: it may be recalled that the
Rosicrucian adepts numbered twelve like the members of
Agarttha's inner circle; both, therefore, complied with the
constitution
common to so many other spiritual centres
formed in the
image of the supreme centre.
Since that last period, the store of effective initiatory
knowledge has not been truly kept by any western organiza tion. According to
Swedenborg, the 'lost Word' must hence forth be sought among the Sages of
Tibet and of Tartary, where the mysterious 'Mount of Prophets' of
Anne-Catherine Emmerich's vision is also set. The fragmentary information that
Madame Blavatsky was able to gather on this subject- without fully
understanding its true significance - gave birth to her conception of the
'Great White Lodge', which we should call not an image, but quite simply a
caricature or imaginary parody, ofAgarttha.12
12 Those who understand the considerations set forth here
will see as a clear
consequence why
we cannot possibly take seriously the many pseudo-initiatory organizations born
in the contemporary West: not one of them, if subjected to a rather rigorous
examination, could provide the slightest proof of 'regularity'.
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