Volume 5, Issue 9, page 10


By Rev. JACOB IRISTY
OT MANY in the Christian world have yet
gotten their eyes opened sufficiently
to see that the "Holy Bible" is a clever compilation of ancient fables and
dramas, compiled from scrolls prepared
by master dramatists and poets.

It was all a base plot, conceived by clever
men and indirectly financed by the Roman taxpayers.

In the Fourth Century AD, a group of crafty
bishops persuaded Constantine the Great to believe it was possible to rule the religious
life of his people as well as their political
life. He craved more power, and their arguments easily convinced him it could be done.

So, the bishops compiled a book from the
ancient scrolls, called it the infallible
" Word of God", and used it to scare people and
rule the nation.

The trick was a booming success, but exceedingly costly. It required the slaughter of
more than 70,000,000 persons, produced the
fall of the Roman Empire, and ushered in a
period of intellectual darkness that lasted
more than a thousand years.

In the last century unprejudicea investigators have unearthed overwhelming evidence to
prove that the Bible is a book of
1. Fables factualized
2. Allegories literalized
3. Symbols personalized
4. Drama historialized.
First of all, to ascribe the biblical
books to any certain set of authors, as the
makers of the Bible did, is to trespass on the
ground of sheer folly and base falsehood. In
the common sense of term, the books of the
Bible never were "written" at all. No set of
men ever sat down and composed them out of
their thoughts, observations, experiences, and
knowledge. What the ancient scrolls actually
contained were t h e outlines of ancient tradition and legend, formulated by the accumulated wisdom of ancient sages, covering t he
observations and experiences of mankind for
hundreds of thousands of years.

Out of that wisdom there came forth those
set formulations of cosmic data, cosmic laws,
and moral codes that have survived the test of
time, and still stand as scientific commitments. For that accumulated wisdom presents
in fable, fiction, parable, allegory, symbol,
and dramatic poetry the substantial facts of
life, collected and correlated by the ancient
sages .

And furthermore, the work in its entirety
is so profound that 1,600 years of the most
consecrated effort of modern men to fathom it
has left its esoteric meaning still unrevealed.

But the time of increasing knowledge has
come when persistent workers and unprejudiced
investigators are slowly tearing the deceptive
mask of literary disguise from the face of the
ancient scriptures.
rt comes as a startling surprise for one to
discover that what has been gratuitously assumed to be the product of primitive naivete
and heathenish superstition is now seen to be
the variegated cloak of a recondite wisdom.
Not only do the strange symbols and ridiculous
allegories bear the impress of genius competent to portray cosmic facts in comic figures
and ludicrous fables, but these ancient authors
register an equal skill in their artful concealment. The employment by the sages of the
(PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 12)
n
e
TBE PRACTICE OP YOGA -- 90 pages,
mimeo, ,f2. Beath Research,
Nokelumne Bill, Calif.

We Westerners are pikers in
our search for the Ultimate
Reality, the Uncaused Cause.
For a few deductible items off
our income tax, we cau incarcerate ourselves in ill-fitting finery, give up our radios
and T-V for a few hours Sunda3
mornings (there are no Westernf
or give-away programs on the
air at this time anyway) for e
few self-righteous moments it
the church of ow choice, and
learn all about Adam, Eve, and
"salvation".

Not so the poor Indian. He
has six possible philosophies,
any ope of which goes so much
deeper into the subject than
Christianity that o u r ^o st
learned collection-plate artist must shudder at the idea
of the work entailed should he
contemplate the practice of
Yoga, which is only one of the
six. It is said that some of
10
the advanced Yogis of India
are able to live hundreds of
years, and one might surmise
that they need that long, or
longer, if they are to do much
with this intricate search into what Man has su successfully
managed to forget.

Originally, the writer of
"The Practice of Yoga" reports ,
there were 14 different branches of Yoga, and lists 12 of
them, with a brief synopsis of
what each is about. Also, some
of the exercises are given,
but it isn't suggested anyone
try mastering them all -- nor
even several of them. Start
with one or two -- those you
particularly like -- and make it
a daily habit to do them until
they become as natural as wiggling your ears (if you are an
ear wiggler). After you've become adept at one or two, you
can add to your repertoire.

Eventually -- if you can find
enough hours in a day and
enough days in what you've decided will be the rest of your
lifetime -- you even may get to
the point where you can handle
the so-called "Lost Word", Om,
with all its creative manifestations. But that's part of
The ABERREE
Mantra Yoga, and you're not
supposed to advance that far
from the mere perusal of a basic study book. Of course, if
you're a genius who can master
his body, and every cell in it,
without the help of an experienced Yoga teacher, don't let
this reviewer's few words of
skepticism invalidate you.
"The Practice of Yoga" has
made no effort to detail the
philosophy, or even any one
facet of the philosophy. But
it does try to give a thumbnail sketch of what you do,
don't do, and how you do. Even
with pictures. Also there's
enough promise of what Yoga
can do for those who practice
it that even the most disillusioned pilgrim to the ^any
American "isms" and "ics" may
want to squat awhile and try
some of the exercises, from
which you have seven to pick:
Relaxation, postures, control
of breath, withdrawal of sensory perceptions, concentration, contemplation, and meditation. Maybe you can find one
of these easier, and more productive, than trying to be
"three feet behind your head",
if anyone still does. - - A.R.

JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1959