above Beta Persei, Medusa: not serpents, but lovely woman’s
hair. I’m content. So with this issue, our net estate: to have
become, like the noted music of our tongue, these silent, visible
signs; to be the tale I tell to those with eyes to see and
understanding to interpret; to raise you up forever and know
that our story will never be cut off, but nightly rehearsed as
long as men and women read the stars… I’m content. Till
tomorrow evening love.
‘Goodnight.’
Goodnight. Goodnight.”
2. Page 303, the flashing of whose rays they instantly
caught and returned… The image that is woven in this and
the next paragraph is derived from a mixture of influences, the
principal ones being those of Indra’s Net and the Dance of Shiva.
The former refers to the Northern Buddhist tradition, based on the
‘The Entrance into the Realm of Reality’ chapter of the Avatamsaka
Sūtra, of all the beings of the universe existing like jewels strung
together in a vast net: multi‐dimensional and as immeasurable as
the cosmos. Each jewel is not only connected to all others, but it
also reflects in its surface the characteristics of all the other jewels
in the infinite net — it is the principle of intrinsic interrelatedness
of all beings and all things.
In the words of Sir Charles Eliot:
“In the Heaven of Indra, there is said to be a network of
pearls, so arranged that if you look at one you see all the others
reflected in it. In the same way each object in the world is not
merely itself but involves every other object and in fact IS
everything else. In every particle of dust, there are present Buddhas
without number.” Interestingly, this image bears a striking resemblance
to some models of the universe espoused by modern physicists, notably
the ‘Hadron Bootstrap’ theory.
The latter influence on this passage is a Hindu tradition,
representing the universe as the embodiment of Shiva Natarāja —
he is the cosmic dancer whose music and movement is all creatures
and all worlds. From the tireless stream of divine energy the cosmos
is seen to flow in endless, graceful re‐enactment.
3. Page 304 other systems which formed themselves into
chains of systems; and beyond these yet other chains, and
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rings of chains, and spheres upon spheres of chain‐rings…
Once again K.G. seems to have been somewhat prophetic in his
imaginative flourishes:
“Galaxies are bound by gravity to form clusters of 20
to several thousand – 3‐30 million light years across…
Chains of a dozen or so galaxy clusters are linked loosely by
Gravity and make up superclusters, which can be up to 200 million
light years in extent. Superclusters in turn are arranged in broad
sheets and filaments, separated by voids of about 100 million light
years across. The sheets and voids form a network that permeates
the entire observable universe.” (‘Universe,’ p. 27, Martin Rees ed.,
DK Ltd.)
The Andromeda galaxy, was the first celestial object to be
recognized as being separate from the Milky Way, our own galaxy.
This was established in 1929, by Edwin Hubble, 23 years after KG
wrote this passage. The Andromeda galaxy is 2.5 million light years
away and is the furthest distance that can be seen by the naked eye.
Page 304,
that which was harmony of movement here
appeared… to be a harmony of sound… The mysterious
sound mentioned in this passage — sometimes referred to as
Brahmā‐nāda, ‘The Nāda Sound’ or ‘The Sound of Silence’ —
has been the subject of many theories and beliefs over the
centuries. The listening to it can be cultivated as a profound
form of meditation practice. Some current books which deal
with it are: ‘The Path to the Deathless,’ by Ajahn Sumedho
(Amaravatī), ‘The Way of Inner Vigilance,’ by Salim Michael
(Signet), and ‘The World is Sound: Nada Brahma — music and
the landscape of consciousness,’ by Joachim Ernst Berendt
(Destiny).
There is also an interesting saying by Plotinus, the ancient
Greek philosopher: “All music, based upon melody and rhythm,
is the earthly representative of heavenly music.”
4. Page 305, The One whose immeasurable brightness
permeated all the gods of the stars… This image comes
both from the Hindu as well as the Buddhist tradition; for
example, in Bk. 5 of the Katha Upanishad it says: “From His
light all these give light, and His radiance illumines all creation.”
(See also Chapter 37, note §4).
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5. Page 305, the original forms of all that… ceaselessly
comes into being and passes away… We’re back in Europe
again now; the reference to ‘original forms’ is suggestive of the
philosophy of Plato:
“According to Plato, each type of sensible entity (a just
act, a rocking chair, one of anything) ‘reflects’ or ‘participates
in’ an independently existing Form which is an immutable,
eternal and apprehensible entity that is the essence of the entity
or quality in question (justice, chairness, the number one). The
changeless Forms are objects of knowledge, whereas sensible
entities are objects of opinion. Plato first mentions the ‘Theory
of Forms’ in ‘The Symposium,’ he argues for and uses the Theory
in the ‘Phædo,’ and also utilises it in ‘The Republic.’”
6. Page 306, And this eternity was a delusion… In the
Buddhist scriptures the brahmā gods are often represented as
being pure and radiant but also subject to considerable delusion
and conceit.
Mahā‐Brahmā (represented in these chapters with the
title ‘The Hundred‐thousandfold Brahmā’) his ministers and his
retinue actually only occupy the three lowest of the twenty
brahmā heavens — a fact that The Great One is unaware of, his
belief being that he is both eternal and The Supreme.
There is a good example of this tendency of the brahmā
gods to get lost in the sense of their own perfection in the discourse
called the Brahma‐nimantanika Sutta (‘Discourse on the Invitation
of a Brahmā’) M 49. The root delusion about their state of being,
echoed by Kāmanīta in his assumption about the stars on page
299, is expressed as: “This is permanent, this is everlasting, this
is eternal, this is total, this is not subject to passing away; for
this neither is born nor ages nor dies, nor passes away nor
reappears, and beyond this there is no escape.” (M 49.2).
The same incident is also described at §4 of the
‘Collection on Brahmās,’ at S 6.4. In dealing with this situation
the Buddha employs the same insight as voiced by Vāsitthī on
page 298 (see Chapter 37, note §1, also Chapter 36, note §10).
These delusions of eternality and omniscience arise
because, although the brahmās have been born like all other
beings, their lifespan is so long that they mistake their state of
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