Subject: APOLLONIUS 5 THE REAL CHRIST

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Apollonius the Nazarene
Part 5:
Events in the life of Apollonius of Tyana
Apollonius' Visit to the Brahman Sages of the Himalauas
as recorded in "The Life of Apollonius of Tyana" by his biographer, Philo=
stratus

By: Dr. R. W. Bernard, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

=A0

Apollonius's attention was then drawn to India, the fountain-head of Wisd=
om. Five centuries previously, Pythagoras had brought some of the Himalay=
an wisdom to Greece. But its memory had almost vanished. The world was in=
 need of a new emissary of the eastern masters. Apollonius believed that =
he was called to perform such a mission; and so he set out, accompanied o=
nly by his friend and disciple, Damis, on the long and perilous trip to t=
he Himalayas, following the same route formerly traversed by Pythagoras w=
hen he traveled to India on a similar mission five hundred years before. =


This was revealed to Apollonius at a half-abandoned temple of Daphnaean A=
pollo some distance from Antioch, where a peasant-priest brought him the =
temple treasure, which had been preserved by tradition, handed down from =
father to son. This consisted of some sheets of copper on which were figu=
res and diagrams. The priest had zealously preserved them till that momen=
t; awaiting the arrival of the man worthy to receive this gift. =


While engaged in his early morning devotions in the light of the rising s=
un, the priest gave Apollonius the copper sheets, which, as a Pythagorean=
, he was able to decipher as a record of his Master's journey to India, i=
ncluding the deserts and high mountains to be crossed before he reached t=
he river in which elephants disport themselves. He also saw before him a =
description of the exact spot which he had to reach (in trans-Himalayan T=
ibet), and of the monastery among the thousands of monasteries in the Far=
 East where, five centuries previously, Pythagoras had studied at the fee=
t of the same Masters who were soon to become his teachers. =


For Apollonius was to become their new western emissary, as Pythagoras ha=
d been five centuries previously.*

(*Apollonius was to be the last western emissary of the Masters of the Fa=
r East for many centuries. After him the door was shut. The Neo-Pythagore=
an, Plotinus, two centuries later, tried in vain to follow in his steps a=
nd reach India together with the armies of the Emperor Gordianus, but was=
 compelled to turn back. It was not until a few centuries ago that the Ma=
sters found their next great emissary in Conte St. Germain (Francis Bacon=
), who, like Apollonius, retired to the Himalayas after his passing from =
the eyes of the world.) =


Reaching the little town of Mespila, which had once been Ninevah, Apollon=
ius met his future traveling companion and disciple, Damis, who immediate=
ly was attached to him and remained with him as his follower tbroughout h=
is life. Apollonius accepted him as his guide to take him to Babylon, sin=
ce Damis said he knew the way there perfectly, and boasted, too, of knowi=
ng the languages spoken in the countries through which they would have to=
 pass: To this Apollonius smiled and replied that he himself knew all lan=
guages spoken by men and understood their silence as well. =


(Damis was later to realize that he also possessed knowledge of the langu=
age of birds, and could read the great characters, against the blue of th=
e sky, formed by the trajectory of their flight. It is claimed that it wa=
s from the Arabian philosophers that Apollonius learned to understand the=
 speech of animals.) =


Apollonius's chief public work was that of religious reform, involving th=
e abolition of animal sacrifices, which he replaced by bloodless offering=
s that involved the death of no living being. The following incident is c=
ited concerning his teachings of kindness to animals, which constituted t=
he basis of his opposition to animal sacrifices and his advocacy of veget=
arianism, =


When he reached Babylon, after refusing to do obeisance to the golden ima=
ge of the king, the latter, who knew him already by repute, called him an=
d, about to sacrifice a white horse to the sun, he asked Apollonius to ac=
company him. Apollonius refused, replying, "You, O King, sacrifice in you=
r own manner, and give me leave to sacrifice in mine." Then, having throw=
n frankincense on the flame, and uttered a prayer to the god, he departed=
, so as to have no share in an offering of blood. When the king invited h=
im to join him in hunting the animals of his park, he expressed disapprov=
al of the pleasure taken in hunting and killing of wild animals kept for =
sport. =


After they had spent some time with the magi of Babylon and conversed wit=
h them, the two travelers, Apollonius and Damis, climbed mountains whose =
summits were veiled in the clouds. Unaffected by the gradual unfolding of=
 their snowy immensities, Apollonius said "When the soul is without blemi=
sh it can rise far above the highest mountains." (into the higher spiritu=
al planes). They crossed the Indus and came across kings clothed in white=
 who despised ostentation. One evening, on a lonely river bank, they came=
 on a brass stele inscribed with the words; "Here Alexander halted." =


Coming into the land of elephants, (India), nomads offered Apollonius dat=
e wine, which he refused, though he did not forbid Damis to take it, just=
 as he did not refuse him to eat flesh, not wishing to impose his will on=
 his disciple; however, he himself abstained from both. =


Coming to the court of Phroates, King of Taxila, Apollonius was hospitabl=
y received by this vegetarian emperor who led a Pythagorean life except f=
or his mild use of wine. When he tried to argue with Apollonius concernin=
g the benefits of the moderate use of wine, saying that it promotes restf=
ul sleep, Apollonius, defended his water-drinking, saying it preserves th=
e soul untroubled and makes true divination (clairvoyance) through dreams=
 possible, with which wine interferes. =


Following the course of the Ganges, they climbed more hills and mountains=
 (the Himalayas), and when they were eighteen days' march from the Ganges=
, they saw in the middle of a plateau (Tibet) high in the mountains, the =
home of the wise men, which had the same elevation as the Acropolis at At=
hens. A strange fog hovered over the place, and on the rocks surrounding =
it were the imprints of men who appeared to have fallen in an attempt to =
scale the heights, for an almost perpendicular ascent was necessary at th=
is point. =


Then a young Indian approached the travelers, and coming over to Apolloni=
us, speaking in perfect Greek, he told him to halt and follow him upwards=
, saying the Masters were expecting their arrival and had commanded him t=
o go to receive the visitors. Apollonius and Damis were then led by their=
 guide towards the community of Brahman sages dwelling on the Himalayan h=
eights, whose chief was IARCHUS, a great Buddhist religious reformer. Phi=
lostratus described these sages as "Brahmans who dwell on the earth, and =
yet are not on the earth; in places fortified, and yet without walls; and=
 who possess nothing and yet all things.* =


(*From de Beauvoir Preiaulaux, in his "The Indian Travels of Apollonius o=
f Tyana," we gather the following facts about these Brahmans , whom he de=
scribes as a race superior to the rest of mankind. He writes: "The Brahma=
n's education began even in his mother's womb. During the period of gesta=
tion she was soothed by song and chants in praise of continence, which in=
 proportion as they won her pleased attention, beneficially influenced he=
r future offspring. After the child's birth, and as it grew in years, it =
was passed from one preceptor to another, until it was old enough to beco=
me an auditor of the philosophers. These lived frugally, abstained from a=
nimal food and women, and in a grove outside the city spent their days in=
 earnest discourse, communicating their knowledge to all who chose to lis=
ten. But in their presence, the novice was not permitted to speak, or spi=
t, under the penalty of one day's banishment from their society. At the a=
ge of thirty-seven, his student life cease!
!
!
d. =


"The mountain Brahmans subsist on fruit and cow's curd with herbs. The ot=
hers live on the fruit trees which are found in plenty near the river and=
 which afford an almost constant succession of fresh fruits, and, should =
these fail, on the self-sown wild rice that grows there. To eat any other=
 food, or even touch animal food, they held to be the height of impiety a=
nd uncleanliness. Each man has his own cabin, and lives as much as he can=
 by himself, and spends the day and the greater part of the night in hymn=
s and prayers to the gods....") =


(According to Damis, the Brahmans used the earth as a couch, but first st=
rewed it with choice grasses. They walked, too, in the air; Damis saw the=
m. He saw too, the fire which they drew from the sun's rays, while they w=
orshipped the solar orb. Among their other miraculous powers were the cap=
acity to cover themselves with clouds at will, and to get what they wante=
d at a moment's notice [yogic practices which yield `siddhis' or supernat=
ural powers -- utilizing undiscovered laws of nature]. Damis describes th=
ese marvelous men as being strict vegetarians, who lived exclusively on f=
ruits and vegetables. =


They were attired in a sleeveless one-piece linen dress; wearing no mater=
ial of animal origin. They wore their hair long, which custom they explai=
ned on the basis of the physiological and psychological benefits which th=
ey considered the hair to impart to the brain. Just as the skin absorbs a=
nd transmits solar energy to the body as a whole, so they believed that t=
he hair performs a similar function in relation to the brain, for which r=
eason they exposed their long hair to the sun as often as possible, hopin=
g thus to absorb as much as possible of the ultraviolet solar rays so pow=
erful at the high altitude where they dwelt.) =


And so saying he told Apollonius who his father was, his mother, all that=
 happened to him at Aegae, and how Damis joined him, and what they had sa=
id and done on the journey; and he related this so distinctly and fluentl=
y, that he might have been a companion of their route. Apollonius, greatl=
y astonished, asked him how he knew all this. =


"In this knowledge," he answered, "You are not wholly wanting, and where =
you are deficient, we will instruct you, for methink it not well to keep =
secret what is worthy of being known especially from you, Apollonius -- a=
 man of most excellent memory. And memory, you must know, is of the gods =
the one we most honor. =


"But how do you know my nature?" asked Apollonius. =


"We," he answered, "see into the very soul, tracing out its qualities by =
a thousand signs. But as midday is at hand, let us to our devotions in wh=
ich you also may, if you will take part."* =


[*The Indian yogic science is not based on outer "sun" worship. The yogi =
meditates on the inner "sun" or inner spiritual light which can be seen b=
y the "third eye" between and behind the two eyebrows, which reveals itse=
lf when the attention is held steadily fixed at this inner centre (ajna c=
hakra) within the astral body. The outer sun, symbolic of the inner spiri=
tual splendour within, is only an outer symbol of devotion to the inner s=
piritual light (Naad, Word or Logos)]. =


Apollonius then asked Iarchus what opinion the Brahmans held of themselve=
s, and was told that they held themselves to be "gods" [advanced spiritua=
l beings] because they were good men, who knew all things because they fi=
rst knew themselves." Iarchus then told Apollonius his former lives, stat=
ing that in his [former] incarnation he was an Egyptian sailor. =


The Brahmans then undressed and took a bath, after which they put garland=
s on their heads around their long hair, and proceeded to the temple, int=
ent on their hymns. There (quoting Damis's account), standing round in a =
circle, with Iarchus as their leader, they beat the ground with their sta=
ves, till bellying like a wave, it sent them up into the air about two cu=
bits; and they then sang a hymn, very like the paeon of Sophocles sung at=
 Athens to Aesculapius. They then descended to earth."* (*According to Ph=
ilostratus, the Brahmans levitate at will in the air "not for the sake of=
 vain glory, but to be nearer their Sun God," to whom they pray.) =


When Apollonius asked the Brahmans whether, since they knew everything, w=
hether they knew themselves, they replied in Socratic fashion, We know ev=
erything just because we begin by knowing ourselves, for no one of us wou=
ld be admitted to this philosophy unless he first knew himself." When Apo=
llonius inquired of Iarchus whether the cosmos was composed of Four eleme=
nts, the latter replied that it was made not of four but of five, the fif=
th being the ether. There is, said the Indian sage, "the ether, which we =
must regard as the stuff of which gods are made, for just as mortal creat=
ures inhale the air, so do immortal and divine natures inhale the ether."=
 =


On an occasion when he was praising Apollonius for his devotion to mystic=
 lore, Iarchus said, "My great friend Apollonius, those who take pleasure=
 in divination [clairvoyance--a byproduct of the awakening of dormant lat=
ent spiritual powers in the average man] are rendered divine thereby and =
contribute to the salvation of mankind." =


The word "salvation" embraced for Iarchus both spiritual and physical hea=
lth, for he declared that among the many blessings which the art of divin=
ation conferred upon mankind, the gift of healing was the most important,=
 and to this art of divination he emphatically attributed "the credit of =
discovering simples which healed the bites of venomous creatures, and in =
particular of using the virus itself as a cure for many diseases. For I d=
o not think" he added, "that men without the forecasts of a prophetic wis=
dom, would ever have ventured to mingle with medicines that save life, th=
ose deadly of poisons." =


Thus we see Iarchus instructing his student, Apollonius of Tyana, in the =
science of medicine, as he instructed him in astrology and other sciences=
=2E Reville, in his "Apollonius of Tyana, the Pagan Christ of the Third C=
entury," writes as follows concerning the Brahmans: "They worshipped fire=
, which they boasted had been brought down directly from the.sun...With h=
is own eyes, Damis saw these sages rise up into the air to the height of =
two cubits, without any extraneous support and without any trickery whats=
oever. The wise men do not live in houses, and when it rains they summon =
a cloud and shelter under it. They wear their hair long, have white mitre=
s on their heads, and are clothed in linen garments, woven from a peculia=
r kind of flax which is only lawful for themselves to gather. Their prodi=
gious wisdom overwhelmed even Apollonius, who was not frequently astonish=
ed. They are in possession of absolute science; they know at once the pas=
t history of every one they see; they can an!
!
!
swer all questions. When asked, "Who are you?" they answer, We are `god.'=
 Why? Because we are virtuous." [See "The Life and Teachings of the Maste=
rs of the Far East" by Baird T. Spalding, in 5 volumes, for a detailed ac=
count of the advanced spiritual sciences practised by the Himalayan yogic=
 adepts of India and Tibet]. =


The Brahmans were furnished with everything they needed as a spontaneous =
gift of the earth, partaking of fresh vegetables and fruits in season whi=
ch were brought to them by their countrymen dwelling below them. During h=
is repast with the Brahman sages and their king, Apollonius and Damis wer=
e amazed to observe that the food was brought to their tables by self-mov=
ing tripods, while automata served as cup-bearers; these mechanical robot=
 waiters making the use of human servants unnecessary.* =


[*Atlantean technology is known to be secretly stored in underground cave=
rns beneath the Potala at Lhasa, and in the many other caves that network=
 underneath the sedimentary structures of the Himalayan mountains. Here w=
e a have a demonstration of some of the lost technology being displayed, =
two thousand years before our supposedly advanced technological age]. =


Apollonius observed his teacher, Iarchus, perform miracles identical with=
 those purported to have been performed by the New Testament messiah, suc=
h as, driving evil spirits out of a woman who was possessed, curing a cri=
pple, restoring sight to a blind man and restoring a man with paralyzed h=
ands to health. He had a high degree of clairvoyance, could see at any di=
stance, beheld both past and future, and could tell the past lives of tho=
se he met. =


Reville notes that Apollonius studied astrology and the science of divina=
tion under Iarchus, for these sessions were secret and to them Damis was =
not admitted, nor would Apollonius reveal to him the esoteric knowledge t=
hen imparted to him by his Himalayan teacher. [Advanced astrology can rev=
eal the dates and times of previous incarnations of an individual; it is =
an exact science when properly understood and applied. The popular versio=
n commonly available today is but an enfeebled version of the true astrol=
ogy, which reveals the inner outworkings of the karmic wheel, which balan=
ces all causes with corresponding effects.] =


During his stay among the Brahman sages, Apollonius was instructed by his=
 Master in the basic doctrines of reformed Buddhism, of which movement Ia=
rchus was the recognized leader, who had fled to his far-off Himalayan re=
treat to escape persecution by the established Brahman priesthood of Indi=
a. Apollonius carried westward the Buddhist teachings which he received f=
rom Iarchus in the form of certain Buddhist gospels, otherwise known as t=
he DIEGESIS or the ORIGINAL GOSPEL, which he translated and rewrote, adap=
ting it to the language and psychology of his native land. =


Among the ESSENES he found the first converts to this new doctrine, the g=
ospel of Chrishna; and those who followed these teachings (the Essenian T=
herapeuts, who were otherwise known as NAZARENES) subsequently became kno=
wn as the first Christians. On his departure Iarchus gave Apollonius Seve=
n rings named after the seven planets, one of which was to be worn on one=
 day of the week; these seven rings would, he said, impart health and lon=
g life. Before parting, Iarchus prophesied that Apollonius would, even du=
ring his life, attain the honors of a divinity. =


Thus for several months Apollonius lived among men who were `gods' in hum=
an form, and from them he learned spiritual wisdom which he was destined =
to later bring back to the west as the basis of a new religion (Christian=
ity) of which he was to be the founder. It was from Iarchus that he recei=
ved the mission that was to send him wandering all his life among the tem=
ples of the Mediterranean countries, for the purpose of restoring the anc=
ient mysteries to their former purity. =


When he left his Brahman master, Apollonius had certain assurance that he=
 would thereafter be in constant telepathic communication with him and re=
ceive his guidance and instruction wherever he may be--which later actual=
ly was the case.* =


(*On this subject, Magre, speaking of the Inner Voice on which Apollonius=
 always relied for guidance, writes: "We shall never know to what order t=
he spirit-guide of Apollonius belonged; whether the being who advised him=
 took on a form as chaste as himself and as beautiful as the statue of th=
e gods which he liked to contemplate, or whether the voice came from a di=
stant Master who wished to see his pupil carry out the mission with which=
 he entrusted him. =


"I shall continue to speak to you as though you were present," Apollonius=
 had said as he left his Indian Masters. =


"Was it their words that he heard at a distance? Did he by divine inspira=
tion receive the influx of their wise thoughts? The man to whom he gave t=
he name of Iarchus must have brought the consolation of distant support t=
o the untiring traveler, the wandering mystic.") =


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