EXPLANATIONS, INSIGHTS, AND HINTS FROM H. P. BLAVATSKY
AND OTHER SOURCES
From “The Voice of The Silence” translated by HPB from the Book of the Golden Precepts
“He who would hear the voice of Nada [i.e. literally meaning “sound”/”tone”/”vibration”/”resonance” in Sanskrit], “the Soundless Sound,” and comprehend it, he has to learn the nature of Dhâranâ.” (p. 1)
HPB’s explanatory comments:
“The “Soundless Voice,” or the “Voice of the Silence.” Literally perhaps this would read “Voice in the Spiritual Sound,” as Nada is the equivalent word in Sanskrit, for the Sen-sar term.”
“Dhâranâ, is the intense and perfect concentration of the mind upon some one interior object, accompanied by complete abstraction from everything pertaining to the external Universe, or the world of the senses.”
“Before thou set’st thy foot upon the ladder’s upper rung, the ladder of the mystic sounds, thou hast to hear the voice of thy inner GOD [“The Higher SELF.”] in seven manners.” (p. 9)
“There is but one road to the Path; at its very end alone the “Voice of the Silence” can be heard.” (p. 15)
“And now, rest ‘neath the Bodhi tree, which is perfection of all knowledge, for, know, thou art the Master of SAMADHI — the state of faultless vision.
“Behold! thou hast become the light, thou hast become the Sound, thou art thy Master and thy God. Thou art THYSELF the object of thy search: the VOICE unbroken, that resounds throughout eternities, exempt from change, from sin exempt, the seven sounds in one, the
VOICE OF THE SILENCE.” (p. 21-22, page numbers for original edition)
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“. . . the one – ‘the silent voice‘ (meaning Avalokiteswara).” (HPB or an anonymous Initiate, “Sakya Muni’s Place in History”)
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From “Tibetan Teachings” by H. P. Blavatsky
“. . . the divine Voice of the Self, known as Kwan-yin.”
Guan: Perceiver/Watcher/Observer
Yin: Voice/Sound
“Kwan-yin. This divine power was finally anthropomorphized by the Chinese Buddhist ritualists into a distinct double-sexed deity with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes, and called Kwan-shai-yin Bodhisatwa, the Voice-Deity, but in reality meaning the voice of the ever-present latent divine consciousness in man; the voice of his real Self, which can be fully evoked and heard only through great moral purity.”
“. . . the “Voice” or the “Word” that is universally diffused, the “Sound” which is eternal. It has the same mystical meaning as the Vâch of the Brâhmans.”
“Kwan-yin is the Vâchîshvara or Voice-Deity of the Brâhmans. Both proceed from the same origin as the Logos of the neo-platonic Greeks; the “manifested deity” and its “voice” being found in man’s Self, his conscience; Self being the unseen Father, and the “voice of Self” the Son; . . .”
“Both Vâchîshvara and Kwan-yin had, and still have, a prominent part in the Initiation Rites and Mysteries in the Brâhmanical and Buddhist esoteric doctrines.”
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From “An Unpublished Discourse of Buddha” by H. P. Blavatsky
“. . . the “holy voice” . . .
“. . . the divine voice of Self or the “Spirit-voice” in man.”
“It is the Buddhist “daimon”-voice of Socrates.”
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“The esoteric philosophy, or rather theosophy of Gautama Buddha and Sankaracharya prove and give means to every man to ascertain the undeniable presence of a living God in man himself – whether one believes in or calls his divine indweller Avalokiteswara, Buddha, Brahma, Krishna, Jehovah, Bhagwan, Ahura-mazda, Christ, or by whatever name – there is no such God outside of himself. . . .
“Man [has] the capacity to perceive this Divine presence, and hear the “voice” of that only manifested deity, the murmurings of the Eternal Vach, called by the Northern and Chinese Buddhist Avalokiteswara and Kwan-Shai-yin, and by the Christians – Logos.” (HPB, “Theosophical Articles and Notes” p. 88)
“This connects Vâch and Sephira with the goddess Kwan-Yin, the “merciful mother,” the divine VOICE of the soul even in Exoteric Buddhism; and with the female aspect of Kwan-Shai-yin, the Logos, the verbum of Creation, and at the same time with the voice that speaks audibly to the Initiate, according to Esoteric Buddhism. Bath Kol, the filia Vocis, the daughter of the divine voice of the Hebrews, responding from the mercy seat within the veil of the temple is — a result.” (HPB, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 431)
“. . . he who understands symbolical imagery, and hears the voice of SELF WITHIN SELF . . .” (HPB, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 2, p. 640)
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From “Light on The Path” recorded by Mabel Collins from the Master Hilarion
(According to HPB, this book is partly derived from or inspired by the Book of the Golden Precepts)
“Out of the silence that is peace a resonant voice shall arise. And this voice will say, It is not well; thou hast reaped, now thou must sow. And knowing this voice to be the silence itself thou wilt obey.
“Thou who art now a disciple, able to stand, able to hear, able to see, able to speak, who hast conquered desire and attained to self-knowledge, who hast seen thy soul in its bloom and recognized it, and heard the voice of the silence, go thou to the Hall of Learning and read what is written there for thee.” (p. 9)
“Once having passed through the storm and attained the peace, it is then always possible to learn, even though the disciple waver, hesitate and turn aside. The voice of the silence remains within him, and though he leave the path utterly, yet one day it will resound and rend him asunder and separate his passions from his divine possibilities. Then with pain and desperate cries from the deserted lower self he will return.” (p. 21)
“To hear the voice of the silence is to understand that from within comes the only true guidance.” (p. 22)
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“Just as paying heed and attention to conscience and obeying its dictates saves us from falling prey to the voice of flesh, so on the other hand, putting our mind en rapport with great and noble ideas, and especially with the Laws of Nature, which are just, infallible, and unalterable, we are drawn towards the higher voice of our Heart, the voice of the Soul, the voice of the God within us.” (B. P. Wadia, “The Science of Prayer,” “The Theosophical Movement” April 1932)
“The Voice of the Silence [is] the heart consciousness.” (Julia Keightley, “The Fire-Self,” “The Path” April 1894)
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“The ever unknowable and incognizable Karana alone, the Causeless Cause of all causes, should have its shrine and altar on the holy and ever untrodden ground of our heart — invisible, intangible, unmentioned, save through “the still small voice” of our spiritual consciousness. Those who worship before it, ought to do so in the silence and the sanctified solitude of their Souls; making their spirit the sole mediator between them and the Universal Spirit, their good actions the only priests, and their sinful intentions the only visible and objective sacrificial victims to the Presence.” (H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 280)
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Numerous other articles on this site expand, elaborate on, and clarify this basic theme, such as There Is No God Apart From Man, The Logos, The Logoi, and The Seven Highest Beings, The Monad and The Ego are an Eternal Triad, The Heart, Sakshi: The Unchanging Inner Witness, Alaya – The Universal Soul, and The Raja Yoga of Theosophy. The article “The Voice of The Silence” – An Authentic Buddhist Text provides valuable evidence for the oft-doubted genuineness and legitimacy of this profound book.
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