The end or goal is knowledge, and action is the path which leads to it. "Perform thou the proper action; action is superior to inaction. Fools say, and not the wise, that renunciation and right performance of action are different. He who practices one perfectly receives the fruit of both," says the Bhagavad Gita.

Right performance of action is "yoga." This term comes from the Sanskrit root meaning "to join," to which we may also trace the noun "yoke." Thus, without doing violence either to sense or to language, Jesus' words, just quoted, might be rendered, "My yoga is easy."

Yoga leads to experimental union of the person with the Absolute. The religious leaders of the world-Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Paul, Mohammed—all had this experience. Yoga aims to enable us to share their certainty. "The teachers of the science of yoga," says Vivekananda, "declare that religion is not only based upon the experience of ancient times but that no man can be religious until he has had the same perceptions himself. Yoga is the science which teaches us how to get these perceptions."

In practice, yoga resolves itself into the control of the physical and mental manifestations of Prana, which is the very force that the Hebrew typified by the ox. In agreement with other teachers who have experimented with this force, the yogis recognize its quality.

They call its two currents "ida" and "pingala." These are the white and black oxen, and the adept who masters them can do mighty works of power. Hence the object of all the exercises is to combine the two currents in rhythmic and harmonious activity. Success in this work is thus described by Vivekananda in "Raja Yoga":

"When the yogi becomes perfect there will be nothing in nature not under his control. All the powers of nature will obey him as his slaves, and when the ignorant see these powers of the yogi, they call them miracles."

On the assumption, then, that it represents a yoke, the primitive sign for Vau implies union and service, is an em

blem of religion, and suggests a direct experience of life's occult phases which transforms ordinary men into adepts.

Similar implicits are connected with the letter name. In dealing with these we leave the precarious foothold of assumption for a firm basis of fact, since there is no doubt about the meaning of the word "Vau." It is the Hebrew for "nail."

A more appropriate symbol for union would be hard to find. Nails, moreover, denote a special kind of union. For whether they be used to make boxes or to build houses, to fasten the parts of a toy or to join the timbers of a ship, they always combine several parts into a coherent whole. Every nail, as a sign of carpentry, building, and architecture suggests construction and organization.

As a symbol for mental action, therefore, Vau must indicate a process which results in the production of more or less permanent mental structures-in the formation of systems of thought or belief. Precisely this kind of mentation originated the propositions of the Secret Doctrine.

The same kind of thinking found artistic expression in architecture; and the art of building, as the servant of religion, has preserved all the important symbols and measurements of the sacred science. He who has a key to the geometrical basis of religious architecture, may assure himself, not only of the antiquity but also of the accuracy of the Hidden Wisdom.

Another set of implicits for Vau is derived from the practice of using nails as hooks. Thus employed, a nail represents a means whereby the support, aid, or influence of a superior power is communicated to something dependent. Religion, which claims to enable man to avail himself of the aid, support, and power of God, is such a means.

A nail used as a hook is also a perfect symbol for yoga. A leading tenet of yoga philosophy is that personality is absolutely dependent upon Purusha, the real Self. Thus every mental exercise described by Patanjali and other masters of yoga is intended to overcome the illusion of personal inde

pendence. The perfect yogi says with Jesus, "Of myself I can do nothing;" for he knows that his personality is no more than a vehicle through which the One Self manifests its omnipotence.

No more; but also and emphatically, no less. The adept's certainty that his personality is a manifesting center of omniscient and omnipotent Spirit is what enables him to perform his works of power. By the nail of yoga he hangs suspended from the One, confident in his knowledge of that which supports him.

This notion of union is implied in every thought suggested by Vau. Among the links in this chain of related ideas are, affinity, agreement, harmony, conformity, and the like. Conformity brings to mind system and precedent; and to transmit system and precedent from generation to generation requires instruction which involves communication and agreement between teacher and pupils. Thus Vau is a sign for revelation, definition, explanation, and interpretation. As a symbol for a phase of human consciousness, therefore, it corresponds to Intuition.

As "V" or "U" Vau corresponds to the second letter of the sacred word AUM. In view of the fact that "A" the ox, is the first letter of the mystic syllable, this indicates a significant progression of ideas; first, the "A" or sign of the cosmic energy; second, the "V" denoting the means for controlling that energy, and a method for revealing the secret of control; and third, the "M" which, as will be shown in Chapter XIV, stands for the synthesis or manifestation, whereby the potency of the Supreme Reality is actualized in the phenomenal world.

The second letter in AUM also represents Vishnu, whose eighth avatar, Krishna, revealed the principles of yoga to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. To Hindus, therefore, as well as to Hebrews, the letter "V" suggests revelation; and that revelation is really Intuition-instruction imparted by the Higher Self-is directly stated by the Gita, when it makes Krishna declare, "I am the Ego seated in the hearts of men."

In a lecture on the Vedas, Max Mueller says:

"The name for revelation in Sanskrit is 'Sruti,' which means hearing, and this title distinguishes the Vedic hymns, and at a later time the Brahmanas also, from all other works, which, however sacred and authoritative to the Hindu mind, are admitted to have been composed by human authors."

The Bible relates that the Lord spoke to Moses, called Samuel in the night, and made Himself known to Elijah by a "still, small voice." When Jesus declared, "As I hear, I judge," he testified that his consciousness of the Divine Presence was an auditory perception. On the road to Damascus, Paul heard a Voice that not only changed the whole course of his life, but, through that change in him, worked a transformation that has affected the lives of all mankind. Mohammedans believe that the greater part of the Koran was dictated to the Prophet by Gabriel, whose presence was usually announced by the sound of a bell. Swedenborg writes of things heard in Heaven. Theosophists prepare themselves for instruction by the Voice of Silence.

Thus hearing, which unites mankind by the bonds of language, is also the link between the Divine Mind and its human expressions. Vau, sign of union and of revelation, is therefore made the symbol of hearing in the Sepher Yetzirah.

Hindu philosophy teaches that the subtle principle of hearing is Akasha, which is the root of all matter. "Everything that has form, everything that is the result of compounds, is evolved out of this Akasha. It is the Akasha that becomes the air, that becomes the liquids, that becomes the solids; it is the Akasha that becomes the sun, the earth, the moon, the stars, the comets; it is the Akasha that becomes the body, the animal body, the plants, every form that we see, everything that can be sensed, everything that exists. It itself cannot be perceived; it is so subtle that it is beyond all ordinary perception; it can only be seen when it has become gross, has taken form. At the beginning of creation there is

only this Akasha; at the end of the cycle the solids, the liquids and the gases all melt into the Akasha again, and the next creation similarly proceeds out of this Akasha.”—(Vivekananda, "Raja Yoga," page 29.)

As the all-pervading Tattva, Akasha is the link between all forms. It connects all the bodies in the universe, as nails hold together the planks in a building. This uniting principle, remember, is the source of the sense of hearing. Thus the Hindu, as well as the Hebrew, conception of that sense is adequately symbolized by Vau.

Astronomically Vau corresponds to Taurus, the ox or bull. This reminds us that Vau is probably the "yoke." Taurus rules the neck and throat. The neck implies both union and support, because it joins the head, containing the higher centres of the cosmic energy, to the body, wherein thought is transformed into action. Thought, morever, is unuttered speech; the words that embody it are formed in the throat; and their proper formation depends almost wholly upon hearing.

The Sephirotic path assigned to Vau is Triumphant and Eternal Intelligence, "the delight of glory, and the paradise of pleasure prepared for the just." It is the third emanation from the Illuminating Intelligence of Chokmah, which it joins to the Measuring, Cohesive, or Receptacular Intelligence of Chesed. (See diagram in Chapter I.)

"Triumphant" and "Eternal," in very truth, is the mental state which is the goal of yoga. The perfect yogi triumphs over the illusions of personal existence, and conquers the limitations of environment which restrict the freedom of ordinary men. His knowledge of truth liberates him from the shackles of circumstance. His knowledge is eternal, for it is identical with the self-consciousness of Purusha, the changeless and everlasting. Hindus call this knowledge "Bliss Absolute," and Kabbalists merely expand the Hindu definition when they say this path is "the delight of glory and the paradise of pleasure."

This experimental knowledge of the Supreme Reality