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A PANORAMIC VIEW OF ESOTERIC AND ARCANE

RELIGIONS ACROSS THE WORLD


Vijay Srinath Kanchi
Librarian & Asst. Professor, Department of Philosophy
Moolji Jaitha College, Jalgaon, 425002 Maharashtra, India
&
Dr. Sunil V.Salunke
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy,
Dayanand College, Latur -412513

ABSTRACT
Religions are faith based systems, whose object is to provide didactics to human beings to lead their lives in a specific
way in the social set up and hold certain beliefs in respect of the Creator, soul, after life and other supra-mundane and
transcendental ideas. Religions are often supported and buttressed by corresponding philosophies that provide a
knowledge base to the religious super structure. While religions deal with the what aspect of human life and
experiences, philosophies on the other hand try to address the inquisitive why aspect of the human mind and provide
answers to the questions relating to human existence and experiences in a reasonable and rational way. Thus the religious
edifice of faith is erected on the foundations of knowledge based philosophies.
However interestingly many religions have certain offshoots that are directly based on mystic knowledge but remained
predominantly as fringe elements initiating only select members into their fold. They differ from the mainstream
religions on their emphasis on experiential wisdom rather than faith. Some of these religious sub-sects acted as esoteric
groups trying to preserve the original knowledge in the pristine form. For example, Christian Gnostics, Islamic Sufis and
Jewish Kabbalahs as well as Hasidics of Orthodox Judaism represent knowledge oriented communities among the
Semitic religions. Similarly, eastern religions have wisdom tradition, Siddha sect, Nath sect, Theosophical society,
Suddha Dharma Mandala, and many Tibetan Buddhist schools who claim to preserve the unbroken original wisdom of
the ancients. On the other hand there have been many secret societies that ran parallel to the mainstream religions such as
Freemasons and the Illuminati who enjoyed robust following throughout the ages. This paper explores the knowledge
based religions of east and west including the secret societies and underscores the significance of knowledge in religions
across the globe and how they strived to preserve their wisdom across the time line. The paper deals with some of the
less known aspects of mainstream religions and their offshoots and tries to bring to the fore the esoteric doctrines held by
them which are often kept obscured from the views of rustic and uninitiated.
KEYWORDS

Arcane Religions, esoteric philosophies, Semitic religions, eastern religions, Vajrayana, Kabbalah, Hasidism.

1. INTRODUCTION
Human world is broadly driven by two systems faith based and knowledge based systems. Religion,
one of the most powerful influencing forces shaping the society, is a faith based system. On the other hand
philosophy is a knowledge based system that provides logical explanations to the views adopted by its
corresponding religious counterpart. Science which only made its inroads just over four hundred years ago is
the latest entrant into the fold of knowledge based systems yet is commanding very great influence on the
contemporary society. While religions deal with the what aspect of human life and experiences,
philosophies on the other hand try to address the inquisitive why aspect of the human mind and provide
answers to the questions relating to human existence and experiences in a reasonable and rational way.
Science, the other dimension of human inquisitiveness is concerned more with the how of human inquiry
and tries to understand how everything in the universe acts the way it does.

Religion relies on a set of dogmas and preconceived ideas which it imposes on its adherents. Religion
also provides the dos and donts for social living and has great bearing on the customs and practices of that
community. Religion offers certain beliefs about the creator, rights and wrongs, soul, after life, and mans
relationship with god and nature. Often religions bank on scriptures that codify and offer injunctions on
human conduct. There are twelve classical world religions: Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism,
Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism. Barring Hinduism, Taoism
and Shintoism, all other major religions owe their origin to some or other extraordinary personality who acts
as a connecting link between the empirical world and the invisible other world. Apart from these major
branches of religions there are many other minor streams such as Paganism and Shamanism. Paganism refers
to a set of the ancient religions usually based on reverence of nature. Often derided and decried by
Abrahamic religions as heresy these pagan religions have deities, gods and goddesses, some of them
advocating feminine principle in place of a male god as the Creator or the Supreme Being. African and South
American countries have many shamanistic traditions which believe in communication with gods, spirits and
departed souls through specific rituals. For many religions the cause, nature, and purpose of the phenomenal
world we empirically witness requires a superhuman agency or agencies, and advocate devotional and
ritualistic observances to propitiate Him. While from a larger perspective almost all religions seem to believe
in God as the Supreme Creator, there are many atheistic traditions and cults who believe that god or gods are
man-made constructs and that such concepts have no valid grounding. Religions also lay a moral code
governing the conduct of human affairs1. The locus of faith lies in the verbal testimony of a prophet and the
scriptural injunctions that are transmitted from generations to generation. Since a child is born into a
religion, he inherits a world view compatible to the religion he is born in and he looks at every aspect of his
experience from the prism of his perspective. Often some religions bar freedom to question the dogmas held
in high esteem by the religion and the followers have no choice but to religiously follow the dictums. Faith
relies on revelations received by persons believed to be of extraordinary caliber and teachings of such
teachers are revered as final truths.
Knowledge, the other driving factor of human civilizations, has different layers. Data of any kind whether sensory, factual numerical or statistical - is the lowest rung in the hierarchy of a knowledge system.
When data is organized and contextualized it becomes information. This information when applied to
solving problems is called knowledge. But every knowledge comes with dichotomy. Same thing or idea will
be held both as valid and invalid, right and wrong at different times and places. Wisdom, next in the
hierarchy which is a product of knowledge coupled with experience provides the discerning ability to judge
and choose the right alternative. The hierarchy of knowledge structure does not end there. There are more
rungs to this ladder of experience. Above the level of wisdom is intuitive knowledge that allows certain class
of adepts among the humans to know things intuitively with less reliance on senses than other human beings.
The acme of this knowledge structure is the revelation. At this highest point the true essence of all
phenomena gets reveals by itself to the knower and this unmediated direct experience of the reality is the
most uncontaminated pristine form of reality. It is at the point of unmediated revelation that the two
knowledge and faith based systems converge and become a unitary subjective realization.
Faith and knowledge have always been the two most potent driving forces of humanity. Religions are
often supported and buttressed by corresponding philosophies that provide a knowledge base to the religious
super structure. Thus the religious edifice of faith is erected on the foundations of knowledge based
philosophies.

2. RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY: THEISTIC OR SPIRITUALISTIC?


But what is the subject matter of both philosophy and religion? When we closely look from a
reductionist perspective they boil down into two aspects. Be it philosophy or religion man is always
perplexed by the ever changing reality that he experiences in front of his eyes. A butterfly unfurls itself from
an altogether different looking insect, which in turn comes out from a minuscule egg which has no
resemblance to it. This ontogenesis of an egg into insect and then into a butterfly is a transformation that is a
matter of great awe to any thinking being. Yet there is an underlying non changing aspect connecting these
egg - insect - butterflies because of which despite such radical transformation the organism is identified as
the same single entity. We look very different when we are young, we are different when we grow up and

we look altogether differently in our old age yet there is an underlying unchanging principle underneath all
these changes because of which we get our identity. A seed is very different from the tree which sprouts
from it; yet the tree and the seed are two aspects of one unchanging entity underlying both those
manifestations. Bertrand Russell said "there is obviously some reason in which I am the same person as I was
yesterday, and, to take an even more obvious example if I simultaneously see a man and hear him speaking,
there is some sense in which the 'I' that sees is the same as the 'I' that hears."2 Philosophers called the outward
ever changing world as phenomenon and the underlying unchanging substance as the noumenon. This
invisible yet vital link called noumenon is viewed as the immanent God, the controller and sustainer and the
same when looked at the individual level is called the subject who experiences the phenomenon.
The relationship of phenomenon and the noumenon has been the matter of great interest to both
philosophies and religions. However religions are bespoken institutions to cater to a particular group or
community of individuals at a given time and place. They are customized to cover the maximum extent of
people as is possible and hence take an average persons intellect as the measure and profess what is the right
thing to do. Hence they provide a path that is well suited for the spiritual elevation of most of the members
of that community in a simple way. In this process theism takes precedence over spiritualism as man is more
susceptible to authority figures rather than be a lamp unto himself. They do not elaborate on philosophizing
and intellectualizing the phenomenon-noumenon relationship; instead advocate faith in and fear of god. The
world-god relationship is easier for a layman to follow than the subject-object relationship to understand.
Thus though invariably every religion is spiritualistic at the core surprisingly they wield the theistic outlook
so as to cover maximum number of people. The irony is that many philosophies realized that they do not
require a cosmological constant called god to explain away all the aspects of phenomenon and noumenon.
Classical Samkhya, Yoga, Purva Mimamsa, Buddhism, Jainism, Shintoism, Taoism are firmly rooted in
spiritualism yet are firmly atheistic. For these philosophies god has no role to play as the creator, sustainer
and destroyer and introduction of god is a redundant and superfluous notion. An immanent spirit that is
devoid of all qualities and features yet which is witness to everything and an ever changing world is all that is
there here. But paradoxically most of the religions project themselves as theistic and emphasize less on
spirituality where as their philosophies are basically atheistic and spiritualistic.
From the transcendental point of view advaita Vedanta also views iSwara as illusory. Buddhism
superficially may look like a philosophy rejecting the notion of permanent soul but at a deeper level the
shunya or vignana of Mahayana is no different from the qualityless nondual Brahman of advaita Vedanta.
However like the Hinayanis Hume also held that whenever he looked into consciousness, he perceived that
there was nothing except fleeting mental states and concluded that the supposed "permanent ego" is nonexistent. A close inspection of Mahayana and Vajrayana schools would reveal that the Theravada doctrine of
anatta staunchly held by Southeast Asian countries and Sri Lanka is a misinterpretation of the true teachings
of the Buddha. When we look at the relationship between religion and philosophy from the perspective of
phenomenon and noumenon we realize that religion is the changing outer structure whose inner core is the
philosophy which is eternal and unchanging.
Knowledge of the noumenon through realization and experience is a rare thing and very few people
merit such a realization at any given time. A person experiencing such mystical reality is far superior to both
religious zealots and philosophical pundits. But their wisdom is inaccessible to the ordinary and is prone to
misinterpretation, ridicule and sometimes even persecution. To save themselves from such predicament they
remained predominantly as fringe elements initiating only select members into their fold.
Interestingly many religions have such offshoots that are directly based on mystic knowledge. Some of
these religious sub-sects acted as esoteric groups trying to preserve the original knowledge in the pristine
form. For example, Christian Gnostics, Islamic Sufis and Jewish Kabbalahs as well as Hasidics of Orthodox
Judaism represent knowledge oriented communities among the Semitic religions. Similarly, eastern religions
have wisdom tradition, Siddha sect, Nath sect, Theosophical society, Suddha Dharma Mandala, and many
Tibetan Buddhist schools who claim to preserve the unbroken original wisdom of the ancients. On the other
hand there have been many secret societies that ran parallel to the mainstream religions such as Freemasons
and the Illuminati who enjoyed robust following throughout the ages. There have been religious sects all
through the history which are directly built upon the unbroken legacy of realization. These sects are not faith
based systems but are firmly rooted in the knowledge which is an outcome of direct realization. The core
group of these sects comprises even today of realized beings and it is on their sheer spiritual strength that
their long chain of unbroken tradition survives.

This paper explores the knowledge based religions of east and west including the secret societies and
underscores the significance of knowledge in religions across the globe and how they strived to preserve their
wisdom across the time line. The paper deals with some of the less known aspects of mainstream religions
and their offshoots and tries to bring to the fore the esoteric doctrines held by them which are often kept
obscured from the views of rustic and uninitiated.

3. ARCANE SECTS OF THE WEST


In terms of number of adherents, Christianity is by far the largest religion of the world. It has evolved
from Jewish religion with the teachings of Jesus Christ that had profound influence on the people of
Jerusalem 2000 years ago. According to Hegel, Christianity is a successful effort to establish harmony
between eternal and destructible, human and God, creation and creator, idealism and materialism.
Christianity abundantly deals with the concept of what is sin and what is vice? Christianity is predominantly
an ethical religion that rotates round morality. The teachings of Jesus promote forgiveness, sacrifice,
sympathy, pardoning, cordiality and many such benevolent attitudes.

3.1 Esoteric Christianity: The Christian Gnosticism:


However apart from this orthodox Christianity there were Christian Gnostics who strayed from this
mainstream image and held other esoteric and often intricate ideas that resemble the spiritual traditions of the
east. The Christian Gnosticism was condemned many times as heresy by the orthodox and the early Catholic
Church synods. The early history of Gnostic Christianity was much obscured until the discovery of Nag
Hammadi codex in Egypt in 1945 which unveiled some startling revelations about the early Christianity. The
Gnostic Gospel is a collection of about 52 ancient texts based upon the teachings of several spiritual leaders,
written from the 2nd to the 4th century AD3. Apart from the four popular and canonical gospels of
Christianity Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - some gospels rejected as apocryphal by the church fathers
such as gospels of Peter, Mary Magdalene, Philips, etc., were in vogue during the advent of early
Christianity. Akhmim codex discovered in 1896 contained Gospel of Mary. Gospel of Truth and Gospel of
the Lord also dispel many wrong views we presently hold of Christianity and throw light on expunged texts.
These gospels of Gnostics including that of Thomas and Judas seem to throw a very different picture of life
and times of Jesus than what is popularly propagated. Some of these Gospels project the juvenile Christ as
an irritable person and as one who is dismayed at his own supernatural powers. It is worth noting that
Thomas, whose gospel is one of the chief Gnostic gospels, is among the twelve apostles of Jesus who
travelled to India and reached the Kerala coast in the first century AD.
The word gnostic is a derivative from the Greek word gnosis, which means knowledge and wisdom.
This term is often used in Greek philosophy as more or less synonymous with the English words
enlightenment, insight and may be understood as the intuitive process of knowing oneself. It may be
pointed out that the Greek philosopher Pythagoras and his chain of disciples held views that are very similar
to the spiritual traditions of India. Spiritual schools flourished in ancient India and Greek with full vigor, their
influence spreading all across the world. Hippolytus, who was a Greek speaking Christian in Rome (c. 225),
writes about Indian Brahmins and their tradition as among the sources of heresy:
There is . . . among the Indians a heresy of those who philosophize among the Brahmins,
who live a self-sufficient life, abstaining from (eating) living creatures and all cooked food .
. . They say that God is light, not like the light one sees, nor like the sun nor fire, but to
them God is discourse, not that which finds expression in articulate sounds, but that of
knowledge (gnosis) through which the secret mysteries of nature are perceived by the
wise4.
Gnosticism was a reaction against the synods of the church whose representation of life of Jesus was
disapproved by the knowledgeable Jews of that time who followed the wisdom tradition that was more
spiritualistic and less theistic. These early Christian Gnostics professed that salvation lies not in faith in the
Christ but in finding the answers to spiritual questions within. Monoimus, a gnostic teacher who lived in the
2nd century AD in the Arab world, says:

Omitting to seek after God, and creation, and things similar to these, seek for Him from
(out of) thyself, and learn who it is that absolutely appropriates (unto Himself) all things in
thee, and says, "My God my mind, my understanding, my soul, my body." And learn from
whence are sorrow, and joy, and love, and hatred, and involuntary wakefulness, and
involuntary drowsiness, and involuntary anger, and involuntary affection; and if you
accurately investigate these (points), you will discover (God) Himself, unity and plurality,
in thyself, according to that tittle, and that He finds the outlet (for Deity) to be from
thyself5.
Some scholars such as Elaine Pagels argue that Gnosticism blends teachings attributed to Jesus Christ
with teachings found in Eastern traditions. Pagels notes that unlike Orthodox Jews and Christians who insist
that humanity and its creator are separated by an unfathomable chasm, gnostics maintain that self-knowledge
is knowledge of God and that the self and the divine are identical. He further points out that:
the "living Jesus" of these texts speaks of illusion and enlightenment, not of sin and
repentance, like the Jesus of the New Testament. Instead of coming to save us from sin, he
comes as a guide who opens access to spiritual understanding. But when the disciple attains
enlightenment, Jesus no longer serves as his spiritual master: the two have become equal-even identical. Does not such teaching -the identity of the divine and human, the concern
with illusion and enlightenment, the founder who is presented not as Lord, but as spiritual
guide sound more Eastern than Western? 6
Chisholm Hugh in 1910, in his essay on Gnosticism in Encyclopaedia Britannica: a dictionary of arts,
sciences, literature and general information writes quite shockingly that the Old Testament was absolutely
rejected by the Gnostics and take up an inconsistent attitude towards Jewish antiquity and the Old Testament.
He rationalizes this as probable reaction to the opposition to the Gnostic movement by the Church and
maintains that the growing Christian Church, in quite a different fashion from Paul, laid stress on the literal
authority of the Old Testament, and interpreted (it), resulting in the involuntary reaction upon it (by the)
Gnosticism7
Denounced as heresy by the orthodox Christians and buried, and banned for nearly 2000 years these
Gnostic gospels contain exotic doctrines whose suppressing was probably critical for the survival of early
Christianity in the way the Christian Church liked. Gnosticism considers three categories of men spiritual,
material and animal called pneumatic, psychics and hylics. The pneumatics or the highest order of souls
escape the doom of the material world through the innate Sophias divine spark. Gnostics, like the other
western mystical traditions such as Kabbalah and Sufism maintain that a divine spark of the god is
imprisoned within the body. The purpose of life is to enable this divine spark to be released from its captivity
in matter and reestablish its connection with or simply return to God who is perceived as being the source of
the Divine Light8.
It is important to recall that the Neoplatonism that rose in 3rd century AD also was a mystic school
professing idealistic monism combined with elements of polytheism that resembles in many ways to the
pagan traditions of eastern world. Their roots could be traced to the wisdom tradition that seemed to have
covered the whole world whose emphasis was more on know thyself rather than on know the lord god. The
influence of Hindu and Buddhist concepts during the formative years of Christianity cannot be discounted.

3.2 Kabbalah: The Jewish Mysticism:


Judaism is one of the oldest religions of the world. It is the mother religion for Christianity and Islam.
The roots of all these three Semitic religions are traced to the patriarch Abraham and hence these religions
are also called Abrahamic religions. Jews, Christians and Muslims are descendants of Abraham. According
to these Abrahamic religions, the individual, God, and nature are highly separate from each other. They
believe in a judging, paternal, fully external god to which the individual and nature are subordinate. One
seeks salvation or transcendence not by meditation, contemplating the natural world or via philosophical
speculation, but by seeking to please God or to comply (such as obedience with God's wishes or his law) and

see divine revelation as outside of self, nature, and custom. In these Abrahamic religions, not only are
humans not a part of nature, but nature and the Earth are subordinate to humans. In fact, humans are
explicitly instructed to "rule over," and to "subdue" the Earth9. Moses another important figure in all these
three religions entered into an agreement with god on biblical Mount Sinai bordering Egypt. Jews believe
that they are gods chosen people and that they have a unique link with god through a covenant that promises
to protect them and make them the dominant race on earth. There is a mystic tradition named Kabbalah in
Judaism whose approach to the concepts of God, nature and soul are different from the Orthodox Judaism.
The term Kabbalah literally means received tradition. It is a transmission of esoteric aspects of Torah,
the sacred Jewish scripture from generations to generations. Torah and Talmud are the two important
scriptures of Judaism. Though Kabbalah seems to have emerged in the 12th century AD in Europe, it is
connected in an unbroken chain, to the ancient Merkabah mysticism. The main text of Kabbalah tradition is
Zohar. Christian Cabala and its occult version Hermetic Qabalah also trace their roots to the mystic
traditions, esoteric and magical societies and teachings. Kabbalah teachings explain the relation between Ein
Sof or the unchanging, all pervasive, eternal principle and the finite empirical universe which is created by
the God. It aims to address the ontological issues of existence, teach the relation between universe and man
and enable him to attain spiritual realization through proper understanding. Kabbalists strongly believe that
the Hebrew Bible and other rabbinic literature such as Torah have many concealed dimensions which can
only be understood in the right communion of enlightened individuals. There are four levels of
understanding the Torah text called pardes, formed by the initial letters of four styles of interpretation and
understanding viz., Peshat, Remez, Derash and Sod. Peshat refers to the literal meaning which is
comprehended by ordinary individuals while reading the sacred text at superficial level. Repeated readings
will enable him to understand the allegorical meaning called Remez of the sacred text. His understanding
reaches deeper levels upon proper meditation and inquiry which is called Derash. However the secret inner
meanings known as Sod will be revealed only to a chosen few who accrued sufficient merit to receive the
transmissions in the pristine form. Talmudic doctrine forbids the public teaching of esoteric doctrines and
warns of their dangers. One anecdote symbolically refers to the dangers "Four men entered pardesthe first
one looked and died; the second looked and went mad; the third one destroyed the plants; and only the last
one entered in peace and departed in peace10."
According to the traditional understanding, Kabbalah dates from Eden. Talmudic Judaism prescribes
proper protocol for teaching this wisdom. In Tractate Hagigah, Ch.2, it warns Rabbis to teach the mystical
creation doctrines only to one student at a time. It maintains that the story of creation depicted in Genesis is
full of allegories and symbols and Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and
Evil and the Tree of Life, as well as the interaction of these supernatural entities with the Serpent and the
forbidden fruit are esoteric way of explaining the nature of God and mysteries of creation11. The Jewish
mysticism employs a secret symbol - a 72 letter name of God for meditation. Shemhamphorasch is a
mystical name of God in Kabbalah.
Unlike the traditional God of Abrahmic religion who is projected as the Supreme Ruler of the universe
and man as eternally different and subservient to Him, the ecstatic tradition of Meditative Kabbalah strives to
achieve a mystical union with God. There is another Magico-theurgical tradition of Practical Kabbalah that
endeavors to alter both the Divine realms and the world, involving white-magical acts, and was censored by
kabbalists for only those completely pure of intent.
All the arcane societies both in east and west maintain that the sacred texts have multiple layers of
meaning that are revealed depending on the subjective merit. Adding to that these texts are believed to have
been written in twilight language or sandhya bhasha with an intention to conceal the real meaning from the
inept. Their chief concern is to enable spiritual realization of the practitioner. However in that process of
realizing unitary nature of the universe and finding oneself everywhere, a practitioner unwittingly comes
across and attains many supra-mundane powers which shall be protected from the misuse by the
unscrupulous. For example, Boustrophedon was a technique used by ancient Greeks in which alternate lines
are to be read from left to right and then from right to left, the alternate lines being written in reverse text.

3.3 SUFISM: THE MYSTIC ISLAMIC TRADITION

Islam, ever since it was founded by Prophet Muhammad in the desert lands of Arabia became one of the
fastest spreading religions across the world through the power of sword, coercion and voluntary acceptance.
Today it is projected as the fastest growing religion in the world. Though the literal meaning of Islam is
peace, unfortunately it has become a victim of hijacking by a section which believes in terrorism and thus
bringing wrong name to a religion that wields its sway over 20% of population of the world. Islam has a very
spiritual inner core which is revealed by the great Sufi saint tradition. This mystical dimension, some argue
is the true teaching of Islam. Sufis draw their lineage through different orders called turuqs which are formed
around deeply spiritual and devoted personalities who are connected through a long chain all the way back to
the Prophet Muhammad. Sufis consider themselves to be the original true proponents of this pure original
form of Islam and are opposed to Wahhabi and Salafi sects. Sufism emphasizes on attaining perfection in
propitiation of and devotion toward the almighty. For Sufis, worship is highest form of action as well as
meditation. In one of the hadiths perfection of worship called Ihsan is beautifully narrated: "Ihsan is to
worship Allah as if you see Him; if you can't see Him, surely He sees you12. Classical Sufi scholars have
defined Sufism as "a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else
but God or as a science through which one can know how to travel into the presence of the Divine, purify
one's inner self from filth, and beautify it with a variety of praiseworthy traits13. Traditionally Sufis
practiced repetition of sacred names of the almighty called dhikr, and were staunch adherents to asceticism.
Mansoor al Hallaj a Persian mystic of Sufi tradition was executed on the charges of heresy when he
proclaimed Anal Haq meaning I am the Truth (God). He is also renowned for his very meaningful poetry
that claimed I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart; I asked, Who are You? He replied, You14.
Traditional Islamists unable to understand the depth of his experiential wisdom mistook him as claiming
divinity and condemned him for his purported blasphemous behavior. Sufism, like other mystic and esoteric
groups, imposes restrictions on sharing the mystical experiences with masses and the uninitiated as the
common man is long way to go before he understands and appreciates the non-dual and monistic truth.

3.4 Hasidism of Orthodox Judaism:


Hasidism fundamentally relies on the mystic traditions that ran as undercurrents throughout the history of
Judaism. Founded by Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov in the 18th century AD in the Eastern Europe, it professes
immanence of divine in everything.
Hasidism advocates realization of this divinity everywhere and
establishing a personal connection with the divine. It is in a way revolution against the excessive Rabbidom
that plagued the Judaism.

4. ARCANE SECTS OF THE EAST


If there is a land on earth that reached the zenith in spiritualism, carried that traditions for millennia
together and has been the motherland for three important religions that truly are torchbearers to others in their
quest for spiritual realization, it is none other than India. Spiritualism is the life and blood of people of this
region. The wisdom of the ancient seers was recorded in the Vedas and Upanishads which emphasized on the
realization of the indwelling soul that qualifies every experience of ours. Meditation is held in high esteem
and techniques for the attainment of highest state of being were articulated and systematized in Yoga sutras.
The people of this land have very rich tradition and their civilization is the oldest, if not one of oldest, in the
world. Sanatana Dharma (improperly coined as Hinduism), Buddhism and Jainism are the three important
religions with robust philosophies that thrived on this wonderful world influencing laymen as well as the
sages for thousands of years. Art, science and philosophy thrived in full vigor and until 14th century AD
India was the most sought after destination for the traders across the globe. Nalanda, Takshasila,
Vikramasila were some of the illustrious universities which every intellectual dreamt to be part of if not at
least pay a visit to. With the invasion by the foreign plunderers and ransackers who were bent upon
destroying the intellectual property of this land and looting its riches, a great deal of ancient knowledge and
wisdom was destroyed. Bhaktiyar Khalji and his hordes claimed to have set ablaze the Nalanda University
that burned for six months! Such was the wealth of treatises that Nalanda once housed. With the advent of

such unpropitious conditions, a need was felt to preserve the sacred knowledge and wisdom in cryptic way
aloof from the marauding bands.

4.1 Esotericism in Sanatana Dharma:


Esotericism runs in myriad forms and ways in Sanatana Dharma (henceforth referred as Hinduism for
brevity and convenience). Hinduism views the whole creation as stratified; we exist in a specific stratum of
the universe based on our spiritual elevation and unfoldment. Knowledge is passed on by the Gurus
depending on the subjective merit. A person is not considered eligible to understand the mystic revelations
of Upanishads unless he undergoes rigorous discipline for twelve years each in Samkhya, Yoga and Nyaya so
as to train his mind to meditate with unbroken focus. Thus the Upanishadic and Vedic truths are not meant
for the laity and the ordinary. Further, before the advent of Kaliyuga it was stated that Veda Vyasa divided
the unitary body of Veda into four which soon branched out into an extensive forest. According to third
chapter of third book of Vishnu Purana, Vyasa observing the limited perseverance, energy, and application of
mortals, makes the Veda fourfold, to adapt it to their capacities15. It seems highly probable that the fourfold
division of Veda was a method of encryption, just as a jigsaw puzzle where, unless the broken pieces are
joined together in the right way the actual picture does not emerge. The hint that Veda mantras are to be
recited taking one from each Veda in a definite order and not linearly, is suggested in the practice of yagna.
The practice of yagna is deeply codified practiceand is not a mere ritual; it is meant to hint the sequencing of
particular mantras from different Vedas which would reveal the true image of the Veda. The gopatha
brahmana of Atharva veda possibly contains the key for decrypting the Vedas. Without this actual and
complete picture, all the mantras of Vedas look merely as eulogies to appease the deities, a mistaken view
held by many western Indologists.
Secondly, the real transmission of esoteric knowledge is always carried out through the guru-sishya
lineage and through personal contact. It is only after assessing and evaluating the merit of a disciple for a
considerable period of time that the guru would initiate him into the deeper truths.
Another interesting aspect is the belief in the existence of some arcane groups deep in the Himalayas. The
idea that some esoteric masters of ancient wisdom who are enlightened beings, entrusted with the job of
preserving the sacred ancient knowledge are working tirelessly for the evolution of humanity, seated in an
undisclosed location in Himalayas was first promoted by Madam Helena Blavatsky in 1880. Her ground
breaking work The Secret Doctrine described several adepts or masters such as Master Kuthumi (K.H.),
Master M (Morya) etc., who were claimed to be in touch with some well known Britishers of that time such
as A.O. Hume the founder of Indian National Congress and another Alfred P. Sinnett. The Theosophical
Society founded by Madam Blavatsky and her associates brought to the limelight some insight into the
purported arcane communities living in Tibet and other remote corners of Himalaya and promoted a doctrine
called the intelligent evolution of all existence which unlike the Darwinian theory is a process that is
unfolded based on an intelligent design and plan of higher being/beings. Theosophists advanced teleological
objectives to evolution and argued that once the humanity is ripe and eligible to receive, the arcane wisdom
of ancients would be revealed to it.
Suddha Dharma Mandala another esoteric group with affinity to Theosophical Society also made some
explosive revelations in early 1920s by publishing Vimana Sastra purported to be written by Sage
Bharadwaja and Gobila Samhita that describes the existence of supra-human beings in Himalayas. Srinivasa
Sastry and Subramanya Sastri belonging to Suddha Dharma Mandala also published Bhagavad Gita with 745
slokas as against the existing 700 sloka one with 26 chapters in place of 18 chapters. They pointed out that in
the Bhishma Parva of Mahabharata the epilogue declares that bhagavad Gita is of 745 slokas and claimed
that many such original texts are hidden deep in Himalayas which contain the original knowledge. A lot of
articles were published in The Theosophist a publication of The Theosophical Society of India from Adayar
that discussed these arcane subjects.

4.2 Vajrayana: The Arcane Tibetan Buddhism

A few hundred years after the mahaparinirvana of Gautama Buddha, a schism broke out in Buddhism that
resulted in the separation of Mahayanis from the Theravada elders. Even the Theravada Buddhists further
broke down into twenty schools of Vaibhashika and Soutrantika sects. Mahayanis held that the Theravadis
only emphasized the literal meaning of the Buddhas teaching and its intended meaning is completely lost by
them and dubbed them as Hinayanis. Thus the outer and inner meaning of Buddhism came into existence
more than two thousand years ago.
The arcane and ineffable nature of higher levels of knowledge can be appreciated from the Buddhas
statements to his disciples when he said What can be said I have said to you, and what cannot be said, I have
given to Mahakashyapa who received the non-verbal transmission of esoteric wisdom from the Buddha
which culminated into the present day Zen Buddhism. Thus truly, Zen Buddhism is the real arcane wisdom
of Buddhism.
The Buddhist teachings found their way to different countries in the first and second centuries itself
which became a blessing in disguise. Kumarajiva a Buddhist monk carried several hundred Buddhist texts
into China and translated them into Chinese. But for these Chinese texts, some of the important Buddhist
wisdom would have been lost forever as several of the original Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist texts were lost in
the Islamic invasion of India and the animosity of practitioners of native Vedic religion which resulted in the
wiping out of Buddhism from India. As though foreseeing into the future of the imminent and impending
danger lurking, in the eighth century AD several illustrious Buddhist monks such as Shantarakshita and
Kamalasila travelled to Tibet on the request of the Tibetan king Trisong Detsen and carried into Tibet several
hundreds of Buddhist texts. Padmasambhava, the reverential master of Tibet is known to have hidden several
hundred texts called termas under trees, rocks, lakes and even in the sky. These termas are revealed on the
prophesied date to the eligible. Tibetan Buddhism is a beautiful amalgamation of native Bon religion, Hindu
tantric practices with the arcane Buddhist wisdom. In fact, if there is any secret and arcane wisdom
preserved in its pristineness it is nowhere but in the Tibet. The yogic and tantric practices exercised in the
caves by the adepts are kept hidden from the world and it is believed that even today there are several yogis
who master the techniques of parakaya pravesha, clairvoyance, telepathy, telekinesis and many other arcane
practices.

5. OTHER ARCANE SCHOOLS AND SECRET SOCIETIES


Mention is to be made at least as a passing reference to some of the most influential secret societies that
wielded much power, operating as the fringe groups throughout the history of mankind without which any
work on esotericism would be incomplete. These secret societies such as the Illuminati and the Free
Masonry influenced and shaped the human world from the background. There are other arcane schools
swearing allegiance to Satan and even extra terrestrials. The rise of Briton from the 16 th century onward,
dominating the world political scenario and the subsequent rise of America its ally and the establishment of
English culture as the dominating force of mankind in the present and the preceding centuries, are attributed
to the invisible hand that is at work in shaping the human civilization. Alice Bailey was a strong advocate of
this view. Many new age believers hold that some arcane groups are at work whose timely interventions
have saved the humanity from atomic wars and other man-made catastrophes many times in the past. They
hold the view that the world is slowly transiting into Aquarian age that ushers into a better human world. The
Gnostic beings are in the offing.

6. CONCLUSION
Human world has always been fighting ignorance and struggling its way into knowledge. However the
whole of the mankind at no point of time has been ripe enough to realize, save alone experience, the true
eternal wisdom and only a select few at any given time in the history of humanity progressed far beyond their
peers and attained transcendental wisdom. They enshrined the eternal truths in their philosophies and erected
different religious edifices for the benefit of ordinary beings based on such philosophies. However those
philosophies and religions lose their sheen over a period of time and only a handful of serious practitioners
among the millions of their adherents become the true guardians of the eternal yet unfathomable truths.

Mindful of the misuse and mockery of the profound truths embedded at the core of these religions by the
uninitiates, these handful adepts restrict the unfettered dissemination the arcane wisdom among the general
public and thus the esoteric groups come into being. When closely observed, all the esoteric schools
emphasize on the realization of noumena and discount and discourage the human tendency to give undue
importance to the phenomenal world. Their teaching seems to be one that the subjective me is the
immanent and transcendental reality in its pristine form, the realization of which is the summum bonum of
human life.

7. REFERENCES
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/. Retrieved 26 September 2015
2. http://www.buddhanet.net/nutshell09.htm. Retrieved 26 September 2015
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic_Gospels. Retrieved 26 September 2015
4. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/pagels.html.
5. Book VIII, chapter VIII from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 5. Edited by Alexander Roberts
http://www.gnosis.org/library/hyp_refut8.htm Retrieved 26 September 2015
6. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/pagels.html.
7. Chisholm, Hugh, Encyclopaedia Britannica: a dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information, Volume
12, p 157, 1910
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Spark Retrieved 27 September 2015.
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions#cite_note-36 Retrieved 27 September 2015.
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah#cite_ref-26 Retrieved 27 September 2015.
11. Artson, Bradley Shavit. From the Periphery to the Centre: Kabbalah and the Conservative Movement, United
Synagogue Review, Spring 2005, Vol. 57 No. 2
12. Shaikh Muhmmad bin Jamil Zeno, The Pillars of Islam & Iman - And What Every Muslim Must Know About His
Religion, Darussalam, 1996 ISBN 9789960897127
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism#cite_ref-3. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansur_Al-Hallaj. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
15. The Vishnu Purana, translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, 1840, http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp077.htm
Retrieved 27 September 2015.

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