The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

32 HISTORY OF INITIATION
and trinity of the godhead; the management of the
consecrated fire, and the holy rites of morning, noon,
35
and evening. He was then clothed in a linen garment
36
without seam a cord was j
put over his right ear as a
medium of purification, and he was placed under the
exclusive care of a Brahmin, who was thence termed his
spiritual guide, to be instructed in the necessary qualifications
for the Second Degree. He was inured to hardships,
suffered the infliction of rigid penances 37 until he
attained the age of twenty years ; was restricted from
all indulgences, whether carnal or intellectual, and
passed the whole of his time in prayer and ablution.38
He was taught to preserve the purity of his body, which
was figuratively termed the city with nine gates,
in
39
which the soul is imprisoned, by avoiding external
40
defilements; to eat becomingly; and was instructed in
all those minuter ceremonies which were adapted to
every act of his future life, and by the use of which he
was to be distinguished from the uninitiated. Much of
his time was devoted to the study of the sacred books;
for a competent knowledge of the institutions, cere-
monies, and traditions of religion, were an essential
qualification for another Degree.
When he had attained the specified age,
if he were
found, on examination, to have made due progress in the
he was admitted
mythological lore of the First Degree,
to enter on the probationary ceremonies for the Second,
which was called Gerishth. 41 Here his austerities were
doubled he ; was obliged to support life by soliciting
charity ; his days were passed in prayer, ablutions and
sacrifice, and his nights in the study of Astronomy and
;
when exhausted nature demanded repose, he stretched
his body under the first tree, 42 snatched a short sleep, and
33 Ordin. of Menu. . Sir. TV. Jones. "Works, vol. iii., p. 92.
36 Maur. Ind. Ant., vol. v., p. 969.
37 These penances were indeed rigid,
if Mr. Maurice be correct in
his
information, for he says, (Ind. Ant., vol. iv., p, 574, in
nota,) that
the candidates were plunged in alternate baths of fire and water !
38
Ayeen Akbery. Maur. Ind. Ant., vol. ii., p. 346.
Bhagvat Geeta, p. 48. The nine gates
are the avenues of
evacuation, as the nose, mouth, ears, &c.
10 A phrase meaning, literally, a total abstinence from animal food
41
Maur. Ind.
Ant., vol.
v., p. 972.
42 Ayeen Akbery. vol. iii., p. 219.