I had mentioned that one of the names of Viṣṇu in the Viṣṇu Sahasranāma is Aśvattha, the Fig Tree.
This is the 824th Name.
A few days back I revisited Madam Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky’s magnum opus, The Secret
Doctrine.
She gives a good description of the Aśvattha (page 536):
‘“Accurately understanding the great tree
·
of which the unperceived
(Occult nature, the root of all) is the sprout from the seed (Parabrahmam)
·
which consists of the
understanding (Mahat, or the universal intelligent Soul) as its trunk,
·
the branches of which are
the great egoism,
·
in the holes of which are
the sprouts, namely, the senses,
·
of which the great
(Occult, or invisible) elements are the flower-bunches,
·
the gross elements (the
gross objective matter), the smaller boughs, which are always possessed of
leaves, always possessed of flowers . . . .
·
which is eternal and the
seed of which is the Brahman (the deity);
and cutting it with that excellent sword –
knowledge (secret wisdom) – one attains immortality and casts off birth and
death.”
This is the Tree of Life, the Asvattha tree, only after the cutting of which the slave of life and death, MAN, can be emancipated.’
As far as I understand, this is one interpretation of the Fig-Tree.
There are said to be others.
I’m not sure if this is
comparable to the “Tree of Life” of the Biblical
Garden of Eden.
I should clarify that
I don’t always agree with Blavatsky – she is
not even meant to be agreed with – she hasn’t written in such a way as to be agreed with.
She tends to sensationalize, mystify, & tantalize way too much: one can get it, that she is trying to sound very mysterious, that she possesses an immense treasure-house of knowledge which she cannot possibly share with the vulgar masses, the wretched hoi-polloi, and that all she can do is keep exciting our curiosity with all sorts of intriguing hints & allusions, with repeated references to the greatest Mysteries and their Masters.
It can start grating on the nerves after a while.
We do understand that Ancient texts have several layers of esoteric, philosophical, even {so-called} “magical” meaning.
We do understand that the Ancient world had Mystery-Schools and Initiates, who possessed a knowledge now lost to the world, and upon which all known sacred scriptures, and great cultural legends & myths, are built.
We do know that the overwhelming majority of people do not understand them correctly, and probably, sharing all the deepest secrets of the olden wisdom is bound to lead to its profanation, dissolution, corruption, and abuse.
But it is not appropriate to keep telling people, almost in every paragraph and page, that they are underprivileged, unworthy morons permanently cut off from all access to the true spirit of ancient sacred & esoteric literature, and are at the mercy of Masters who know Everything.
All said & done, she is undoubtedly fascinatingly erudite, does have knowledge of the Ancient, Esoteric Wisdom,
and has many priceless insights strewn throughout her works.
But I neither agree with her, or with anyone who’s written in English, on everything: indeed, on many points.
