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of ascent may similarly be divided into various stages in an innumerable number of ways. And, in order to astertain whether the very last stage reached by Eastern adepts in higher or lower than the last stage conceived by Mr. Oxley he ought to examine carefully the characteristics of our last stage, instead of merely comparing the number of stages without knowing anything about the basis of our division. I beg to submit that the existence of any state or condition beyond the Shodasanthum (sixteenth state) emntioned in my review is altogether inconceivable. For, it is the Thureeya-kala which is Nishkala; it is the Grand Nothing from which is evolved, by the operation of the external law, every existence, whether physical, astral, or spiritual; it is the condition of Final Negation—the Maha Sunyam, the Nirvana of the Buddhists. It is not the blazing star itself, but it is the condition of perfect unconciousness of the entity thus indicated, as well as of the "Sun," which is supposed to be beyond the said star.
The learned author next points out that there cannot be any difficulty or objection "to accepting as a possibility, that the actual author of Mahabharata should put in, not an objective, but a subjective, appearance in London, or elsewhere if he chose so to-do." Quite true; but he will never choose to do so. And consequently, when such subjective appearance is stated to have taken place, very strong grounds will be required to support it. So far as I can see, all the evidence is against the said statement. Subjective appearances like these are generally very deceptive. The mischievous pranks of Pisachams or elementals may be often mistaken for the subjective appearances of solar angles or living adepts. The author's statement about the supposed astral visits of "the venerable Koot-Hoomi" is now contradicted by Koot-Hoomi's chela under the orders of his Master. Unfortunately, Busiris has no chela in human form to contradict Mr. Oxley's statements. But the account of Koot-Hoomi's visits will be sufficient to show how very easily the learned author may be deceived by devils and elementals, or by his own uncontrolled imagination. I
