Now that I'm well acquainted with the teachings of your lineage on a wide range of esoteric matters, I've been wondering where the teachings on on death, the afterlife, karma, and rebirth, are originally sourced from. That is, if we're trace this back to a time and place prior to late 19th and early 20th century European and American occult scene.
I've also done a fairly comprehensive survey of the world's great religions and philosophies. My working theory as of now is that what modern western occult philosophy has to say about the aforementioned topics is mostly sourced from Raja/Kriya Yoga lineages, or perhaps just broader Hindu teachings. As one example, when I read what the famous Yoga guru Paramahansa Yogananda had to say about karma and rebirth, the teachings come very close to the things you regularly say. He advanced the idea that the individual soul's development is an evolutionary process (we see nothing like this in Buddhism's take on the matter, among other systems I've come across). As a second example, I had a couple teachers years ago who taught very similar things on karma and rebirth. I found out later that they are disciples of a fairly well known (in those circles) Kriya guru. And of course there's the Theosophical Society who advanced similar views and this clearly rubbed off on a lot of occultists from that period onward.
I'm mostly convinced that any teachings on karma and rebirth from antiquity did not survive anywhere in Europe or the Middle East, thanks to 1500+ years of Abrahamic hegemony; though with the possible exception being underground Manichean groups like the Paulicians, Bogomils, and Cathars. But those movements were thoroughly stamped out of existence by the high middle ages. The only possible survival of anything from that tradition might be a few Cabala-practicing Jewish rabbis (who later influenced Renaissance Hermeticism) who might have interacted with those groups at some point, but that seems like quite a stretch.
So my question is, what is your take on this matter? Might my Yoga (or some Eastern source) theory be accurate or do you think the source of Occult Philosophy's teachings on death, the afterlife, karma, and rebirth has a native Western source?
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branchandroot
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Date: 2023-03-13 08:40 pm (UTC)I've also done a fairly comprehensive survey of the world's great religions and philosophies. My working theory as of now is that what modern western occult philosophy has to say about the aforementioned topics is mostly sourced from Raja/Kriya Yoga lineages, or perhaps just broader Hindu teachings. As one example, when I read what the famous Yoga guru Paramahansa Yogananda had to say about karma and rebirth, the teachings come very close to the things you regularly say. He advanced the idea that the individual soul's development is an evolutionary process (we see nothing like this in Buddhism's take on the matter, among other systems I've come across). As a second example, I had a couple teachers years ago who taught very similar things on karma and rebirth. I found out later that they are disciples of a fairly well known (in those circles) Kriya guru. And of course there's the Theosophical Society who advanced similar views and this clearly rubbed off on a lot of occultists from that period onward.
I'm mostly convinced that any teachings on karma and rebirth from antiquity did not survive anywhere in Europe or the Middle East, thanks to 1500+ years of Abrahamic hegemony; though with the possible exception being underground Manichean groups like the Paulicians, Bogomils, and Cathars. But those movements were thoroughly stamped out of existence by the high middle ages. The only possible survival of anything from that tradition might be a few Cabala-practicing Jewish rabbis (who later influenced Renaissance Hermeticism) who might have interacted with those groups at some point, but that seems like quite a stretch.
So my question is, what is your take on this matter? Might my Yoga (or some Eastern source) theory be accurate or do you think the source of Occult Philosophy's teachings on death, the afterlife, karma, and rebirth has a native Western source?