by Theodore Illion

“Compared with the total population of Tibet, which probably amounts to a couple of millions, the number of the wise Tibetans is exceedingly small. It is certainly much lower than one thousand.”

I asked him: Do you think you are great?

He smiled. “Nothing is high and nothing is low, my friend. All is relative. I am not greater than the bird or the worm. Only life goes on. The form is immaterial.”

(These wise men, the real ‘hermits’, do not live in isolation except from time to time, they do not meditate in dark cells, nor practise austerities, nor make people afraid, nor make parade of occult powers. They can only say to people who approach them: “The horrible sufferings of the world are due to the delusion that selfishness is necessary for happiness . . . The impulse to change one’s life must come from within . . . If life does not give you something, life knows that you would misuse it, or that you need suffering for the moment . . . The greatest catastrophe that could come to most people would be the instant satisfaction of all their desires…”)

These real hermits eat very little, but they declare they never make an effort to abstain from food . . . They seem to be so spiritual from within that they are seldom hungry . . .

“The power to read other people’s thoughts,” said the hermit, “came on all by itself. I broke down my self-centeredness, and when I reached from within a state of consciousness which would never permit me to take advantage of my capacity to read other people’s thoughts, I could read them. I never used exercises . . . if egocentrical people could penetrate into the private thoughts of others, the world would become still more terrible than it is at present . . . As powers increase there must be an increase in love and compassion . . .”

(Real Tibetan saints are moral because they want to be moral, and their non-indulgence is natural and effortless… This is different from an artificially subdued sensuality of the so-called saint who is ‘holy’ for selfish reasons… These real hermits do not judge others… They have very few pupils, or none… They make light of everything that is strained or artificial…

(The less one takes an egocentrical view of life, the less one divides everything in life into the “I” and the “non-I”, the more one is relaxed psychically, and then physical relaxation automatically follows. The more egocentrical we are, the more we keep soul and body in a state of tension. If we take life in terms of having instead of terms of being, the perpetual state of wanting to gain something puts us into a state of cramp, both psychically and physically… The real Tibetan saints do not want to have anything… any more than one wants to have a sunset or possess music…)

The remarkable resistance to cold of the real saints of Tibet is a consequence of a perfect psychical and physical relaxation due to their non-egocentrical conception of life . . . The so-called saints also achieve this mastery over cold, but their methods are very dangerous even for Tibetans, and usually suicidal for the white person.

The real saints seem to be able to master the forces of Nature; the false saints do this to a slight degree, but the work is harmful and exhausting… There are undoubtedly some psychical phenomena in Tibet, but they are few and far between . . . I saw flying lamas only on two occasions… Their hands and feet swung to and fro like a pendulum. The speed at which they progressed was amazing… The lama about ten yards distant from me did not appear to be out of breath… he appeared to be in a state of trance. (Note by Editor: Mme. David-Neel describes the lung-gom-pa as sitting cross-legged in the air and skimming rapidly over the tops of the low brush. On other occasions they are seen to touch the ground lightly every few yards. The speed of progress is between 15 and 20 miles per hour) . . .

With regard to the dark occultists of Tibet… it is beyond doubt that they can work harm, but they have to choose their victims carefully. “It is a fact recognized by all occultists that an absolutely unselfish and fearless man cannot be hurt by adverse influences.” Such an influence bounces back and injures the sender. (Note: Unfortunately, such model humans are scarce; moreover, it is necessary that even such persons be in excellent mental and physical health, if they are to automatically repel both magnetic and telepathic attacks. Ed.)

It is quite certain that some of the real hermits who appear to be about 35 years of age, are at least a hundred, and many are reputed to be five or six hundred years old, tho of this there is no proof.

“It is not fasting that keeps me young,” said this hermit. “I eat little because I am practically never hungry. The moment you make an effort to remain young, you get older. If you make an effort to keep something, you are afraid to lose it. And fear poisons a man… And an elixir of eternal youth would only make the world worse. Lengthening people’s lives without changing their hearts would only increase disorder and suffering in the world… No, I am not happy, because of the endless Calvary of the masses of humanity… Yet life is worth living. We can be sign posts for humanity… There is no harm in riches if you do not cling to them. Contempt for them comes of itself, once you have understood life… The first step is to understand one’s self… Examine all your motives with brutal frankness… A new conception of life is necessary all over the world. Unless we create it, both the East and West are doomed… There may be gigantic upheavals, tho nothing is definitely determined as yet. Beware of people who think they are good. In most cases we are worst when we imagine we are good…”

“As long as we live we must seek. Life would have no meaning if there was anything certain. You cannot find truth. The moment you have your truth, it is no longer truth… Never be satisfied with yourself… There is one guiding principle, it is Love. There is one dreadful pitfall, spiritual arrogance – to misuse the Light by feeling superior, and so sinning against your true Self…”

With these last words, says Illion, the hermit vanished from his sight. We point out here the deep unity of esoteric teaching of both East and West – and also the warning and prescience of vast disaster to come, unless spiritual reconstruction can be effected – a warning now being repeated by ten thousand tongues throughout the civilizations of the West.

Excerpt from In Secret Tibet

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