Today, gold and separativeness, materialism and selfishness are in conflict with spiritual
energy and with the spirit of cooperation or understanding fusion. EXT 83.
Gold is a symbol of the material nature, which must be consecrated to the service of God
and of man. BC 73.
The third aspect demonstrates as concretized energy and this we call Money. It is literally
gold and this is the externalized symbol of that which is created by the bringing together of spirit and matter upon the physical
plane. EA 244.
Gold, the thing that today seems to be the very life-blood of the people, must be consecrated
to the Christ. BC 74.
Let the fires of divinity burn out all dross. Let the pure gold emerge. Give me the gold
of living love to shower upon the sons of men. DINA1 481.
Again, gold is the symbol which today governs man's desires whether national, economic
or religious; it is connected with this sign and this is one of the indications that today the conflict in the world economic
situation is based upon the upwelling of desire. In an esoteric way, therefore - quoting from a very ancient book of prophecy:
"The golden eye of Taurus points the way to those who likewise see. That which is gold
will some day, too, respond, passing from East to West in that dire time when the urge to gather gold shall rule the lower
half (i.e., the personality aspect of men and of nations - A.A.B.). The search for gold, the search for golden light divine,
directs the Bull of Life, the Bull of Form. These two must meet; and meeting, clash. Thus vanishes the gold..." EA 379.
Some Tabulations on the Rays:
References to the Secret Doctrine.
Ray I - Will or Power
The logoic plane. Divine Purpose or Will.
Metal: Gold. EP1 418.
The paradise of Indra is resplendent with a thousand suns; that of Siva (Saturn), is in
the northeast; his throne is formed of lapis-lazuli and the floor of heaven is of fervid gold. "When he sits on the throne
he blazes with fire up to the loins." IU2 234.
The divine first principle of logoic fire. Burning "fervid Gold" JPC.
The word hiranya in this mantram must be translated "divine light"--mystically a symbol
of knowledge; analogically the alchemists used the term "sublimated gold" for "light," and hoped to compose the objective
metal out of its rays. The two words, hiranya-garbha, taken together, mean, literally,
the "radiant bosom," and, when used in the Vedas, designate the first principle, in whose bosom, like gold in the bosom of
the earth, rests the light of divine knowledge and truth, the essence of the soul liberated from the sins of the world. Caves
And Jungles. HPB.
Paraphrasing the sentence, we will say that the great achievements of the days of old
are known to posterity only by their effects. If one takes a book on alchemy, and sees in it the speculations on gold and
light by the brothers of the Rosie Cross, he will find himself certainly startled, for the simple reason that he will not
understand them at all.
"The Hermetic gold," he may read, "is the outflow of the sunbeam, or of light suffused
invisibly and magically into the body of the world. Light is sublimated gold, rescued magically by invisible stellar attraction,
out of material depths. Gold is thus the deposit of light, which of itself generates. Light in the celestial world is subtile,
vaporous, magically exalted gold, or 'spirit of flame.' Gold draws inferior natures in the metals, and intensifying and multiplying,
converts into itself. IU1 511. HPB.
Radioactivity is the action of the stored up energy of light, as is also the
reflecting property of gold, which imparts much of its value to that metal. This property of reflection is Prana . or life-essence
. held in suspension in grosser material. TT1 55. Hilarion.
GOLD
The gas destructive to the planet is disclosed. It is contained in pure gold. One must
keep it back.
Naturally stones and metals mostly bind men with the bottoms of the planet and become
nests of contagion. The widespread worship of gold has compelled us to pay attention to it. By the means of complicated research,
attempts were made to apply the action of gold to various manifestations of Cosmic forces.
There is no doubt that this metal was especially saturated with powerful light emissions.
And the gold veins transmit the astral light to the bottoms of earth. Hence, if the astral world is well-ordered, the role
of gold may even be beneficent. But precisely this conductor can become a fuse to the explosion. One may imagine how easily
this metal can transmit the brown gas which is made dense by the horror of the astral world. And the spirit will make its
appearance as an exploder and an Impetus for volcanos. Eastern Crossroads. Agni Yoga.
Motivating all these conquerors was lust for gold, lust for land, lust for power, lust
for personal triumph. EXT 184.
Purely physical may that devotion be, centered in flesh, in lust for gold, in possessions
concrete. He bends all his energies to the search for the satisfaction of that concrete form and thereby learns. TWM 263.
I intend to speak a few words about the hands, for there is more occult teaching hidden
in these words than is apparent on the surface. In one of the old books, available for the instruction of disciples these
words are found:
"The armed hand is an empty hand and this protects its possessor from the accusations
of his enemies. It is a hand freed from the taint of the four symbolic evils -gold, lust, the dagger, and the finger of enticement."
TWM 575.
The race has reached a point wherein the men of good intention, of some real understanding
and owning a measure of freedom from the love of gold (symbolic way of speaking of the glamor of materiality) are turning
their desire to their duty, their responsibilities, their effects upon others, and to their sentimental understanding of the
nature of love. GLAM 76.
Many errors have been accumulated in the course of thousands of years. People began to
measure good by a gold standard. Men, carrying gold and precious stones into the temple, assured themselves that these represented
the world's best attainments.
People filled themselves with false concepts about treasures; they remembered the legend
about gold as the source of evil, but they hastened to transform it into a fairy tale. The history of mankind reveals repeated
revolts against gold.
Each great Teacher has manifested himself an insurgent against gold, and people have hastened
to kill each daring rebel against their cherished idol. Indeed, I do not speak of a lump of gold itself but of the entire
horror which surrounds it. AUM 324.
The Mother of the World said, "Verily, people will find bread and trade in the plains,
but when gold will pollute the plains whither shall go the pure in spirit to gather strength? Either let them have wings,
or let them have mountains, in order to escape from gold." FW2 5.
Is it possible to prefer the
superficial over the
spirituality
of Truth?
My friends! Hasten past the
first steps, that, purified,
you
may ascend to the glory of your nation.
And if I offer you allurements
of gold, or flowers,
or jewels refuse.
Why choose the allurements of
the superficial,
when
you can have wisdom? LOMG1 13.
Daringly raise your shield. I ask one thing: not to weaken your strength with gold. My
Teaching does not like gold. LOMG2 11.
With the end of the reign of the Calf of Gold will come the most terrible revolutions
that have shaken the earth-for, according to the power and greatness of the usurper of the prerogatives
of God will be the destructive force arrayed against it, and the worship of the Golden Calf is responsible for more evil than
all other causes combined. TT1 19. Hilarion.
Now smothered in the stress of the daily struggle for life, forced upon
them, either through their own desires or ambitions, or from the fires of fierce competition
which have swallowed up the realization of the laws of justice and equity; or, still worse, from
thirst for 'the power that gold alone seems capable of imparting. They have lost the power of seeing that there is but one
answer to all the burning questions of the hour; one solution to the problems now concerning labor and capital, masses and
classes . and that is . love. TT1 42.
You have been told at different times that discouragement, illness, bereavement, loss of confidence
in yourselves and others, suicidal tendencies, and despair, are often brought on by continued exposes of
unwise or unworthy teachers, and above all by the unnatural thirst for material gold, which crushes out all human feeling
and leaves only a grim harvest of abnormality, hidden by a mask of supposed virtue and Self-importance. All these sad effects
of ignorance separate you from each other, and from the Higher Self, and life becomes a terro, and, so far as you can
see, the gift of a fiendish, instead of a beneficent Power. TT1 197.
We believe that San Francisco Bay is practically the crater of an extinct volcano, as
are some of the beds of our eastern lakes and bays. The fires are yet smoldering thousands of feet below the waters of the
bay, and we have reason to believe that said bay section is the center of all earthquake disturbances on the Pacific Coast.
Nature, or Nature's God, has sent forth warning after warning preceding every great calamity, but man will not heed, or he
is so entrapped and enwrapped by his earthly Gods, he cannot escape.
If Humanity has any one great lesson to learn from this natural catastrophe, it is that
there surely does exist a great necessity for preparing a center of industry on right lines, and under right protection. Until
we acknowledge and act upon this, no center in the world is safer than another. We have been begged and pleaded with and threatened
that we might see this.
To one who can observe the Karmic causes of given effects, it is not difficult to see even from an interior standpoint,
why the city of San Francisco should have been so visited. Consider the psychic forces generated in that city as a result
of the gold fever. These were crimes committed by hordes of people who have found refuge there after being driven from other
countries for evil deeds, crimes committed as a result of the thirst for gold. All such force combining with the force of
fiery metallic elementals hungry for action, must inevitably precipitate such catastrophes. If we persist in doing the same
things, thinking the same thoughts as we always have done and thought, it will not matter where we are, destruction will overtake
us. If we would follow the advice of the Masters, go back to the land, live in normal, natural ways, construct our business
centers aright, Nature would work with and for us instead of against us. TT2 283. Hilarion.
“Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!
Bright and yellow, hard and cold,
Molten, graven, hammered and rolled,
Heavy to get, light to hold,
Hoarded, bartered, bought and sold,
Stolen, borrowed, squandered, doled,
Spurned by the young, but hugged by the old,
To the verge of the church yard mould;
Price of many a crime untold.
Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!
Good or bad a thousand fold!
How widely its agencies vary,
To save - to ruin – to curse –
to bless –
As oven its minted coins express:
Now stamped with the image of good Queen Bess,
And now of a bloody Mary.”
Poem from Miss Kilmansegg: Her Moral,
by English poet
Thomas Hood (1799-1845). www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/poem
The World on the Eve
The world in 1848 was poised to rush
to California. A remarkable coincidence of worldwide events and conditions set the stage: political instability and revolution,
class tensions and social unrest, economic depression and repression. Add widespread drought and famine to the mix, and suddenly
there were tens of thousands of people around the world primed to emigrate from their homelands to almost anywhere. The Old
World seemed faded and chaotic, and the New World appeared bright with limitless prospects and promise.
California offered a destination, an
irresistible temptation. A golden carrot was dangled in front of the world's nose. California Gold . . . free for the taking!
This Mother Lode of gold suddenly seemed a compelling answer to the problems of those tumultuous times. The world responded,
and rushed to California.
The Lure of Gold
Gold! Gold fever! The Golden State. Good as gold. Golden
anniversary. Gold medal. The Golden years. Solid gold Cadillac. Go for the gold . . .
In almost all cultures around the world
throughout history, gold has been valued and sought as a precious metal: gold as a mineral, gold as a commodity, gold as a
precious object.
It has been a symbol of power, wealth and success. It has provoked greed
and lust. It has been hoarded. It has launched expeditions and wars.
The discovery
of gold at Sutter's Mill on January 24, 1848, and the frenzied rush to California of gold seekers from around the world. This
restless tide of diverse humanity invaded California seeking to change their lives and fortunes.
But gold certainly was valued by the colonizers and immigrants who had begun to settle
in the region. Those lucky few who were already in northern California in the spring and summer of 1848, or who could get
to the gold fields quickly, were frequently rewarded with remarkably rich harvests of gold nuggets. Enormous fortunes could
be made in a few weeks. Gold fever spread like a rampant epidemic. www.museumca.org/goldrush/fever06
"Gold is as common here in Dawson as iron is in Juneau. Everybody has money. There seems
to be no limit to this district, and they are striking new diggings every few days of a hundred miles around, and stampedes
are the rage. Men with packs on their backs, breaking for some new creek or new discovery, are met at every turn. Some are
leaving good pay bound for something that promises better, and in this way the country is being explored and prospected. I
have built a shop 12 by 20 feet, consisting of a tent drawn over a frame of scantling, and am doing well, working sixteen
hours a day, and with all the work I can do. For making a half-ounce ring out of Klondike gold they pay me $25. This is the
greatest gold camp on record."
In July
1897, reporters from around the world gathered at Seattle's port as a steamship carrying passengers from Canada's frozen wasteland
arrived. Word was out that many aboard had struck it rich and were carrying home sacks -- even crates -- of gold. Dubbing
them "kings of the Klondike," stories about the prospectors made headlines around the world, setting off an epidemic of gold
fever that would bring more than 100,000 people through some of the most grueling physical labor and extreme weather conditions
in an effort to "get rich quick." James Kite. www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/gold/greetings.html
The Australian Gold Rush
It is this early flowering of a national identity that makes any study of
the gold rush days so intriguing. It is also true to say that the idealisation of goldfield life excludes or overlooks the
squalor, greed, crime, self-interest and racism that were part and parcel of the times.
The night too quickly passes
And we are growing old,
So
let us fill our glasses
And toast the Days of Gold;
When finds of wondrous treasure
Set all the South ablaze,
And
you and I were faithful mates
All through the roaring days.
(The Roaring Days, 1889)
Gold frenzy
Ophir was
home to more than 1000 prospectors just four months after Hargraves discovery. Gold fever gripped the nation and the colonial
authorities responded by appointing 'Commissioners of Land' to regulate the diggings and collect licence fees for each 'claim'.
Racism
There were campaigns to oust the Chinese from the goldfields. The motivation
was based on racism and fear of competition for dwindling amounts of easily found gold as the Chinese were known as untiring
workers. www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/goldrush/
JPC. March 2006.
Jeremy Condick. jpcondick@ntlworld.com
