The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

50 HISTORY OF INITIATION.
philosophy veiled under the impervious
shade of hiero-
glyphical symbols ; unintelligible to the profane, and
intended to lead them into a maze of error, from which
it was difficult to extract a single idea which bore any
resemblance to the original
truth. These symbols were
publicly displayed in their temples, beaming streams of
light to the initiated; while to the profane they were
but an obscure mass of unintelligible darkness.
Here the initiation ended, and the candidate was
allowed to marry, and bring up his family. His third
probation, or Banperisth, commenced when his children
were all capable of providing for themselves, and he was
of the troubles and vexations of active life. He
weary
returned with his wife into the recesses of the forest ;
renounced all other society; lived in the open air,; ate
only vegetables ; practised every
kind of ablution known
in his caste; used all the daily prayers without any
omission, and occupied himself principally in sacrificing
to the gods. 31 Arid from this point of time he was said
to be twice born, 32 and was considered as a being of a
superior order.33
The fourth degree was believed to impart an extreme
portion of merit to the intrepid sage who possessed
courage enough to undertake the performance of its
duties. After being formally installed by an assembly
of his caste, he was solemnly bound by oath to the
following observances: to rub his whole body every
morning with ashes ; to avoid the company of women ; to
wear heavy and inconvenient clogs, made of wood ; to
subsist entirely on alms; to renounce the world and all
his former connections, and to exercise himself in inces-
sant contemplation. This, added to an endless catalogue
of other duties, penances, and mortifications, was believed
capable of transforming the happy Sannyase 54 into the
divine nature, 35 and to secure him a residence amongst
the celestial gods. 36
31 Maur. Ind. Ant., vol. v., p. 977.
v* Valmic.
^
Ramayun, p. 90. This corresponds with the regeneration
of the mysteries of Greece and Rome. ^
Ibid., p. 95.
34 The word Sannyase means a total abstraction from all worldly
things. (Bhagvat Geeta, p. 143.)
35 Ordin. of Menu. Sir W. Jones. Works, vol. iii., p. 461.
36
"Higher worlds," say the Ordinances of Menu, "are illumi uminated