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of being confronted with the spiritual in substance,
but with the purely spiritual, is face to face with
Ahriman. According to Sankhya philosophy, spirit
and matter are in balance in the Rajas condition,
they sway to and fro, first matter is above, then
spirit, at one time matter weighs down the scales,
then spirit. If this condition is to lead to initiation,
it must lead in the sense of the old Yoga to a direct
overcoming of Rajas, and lead into Sattva. To us it
does not yet lead into Sattva, but to the
commencement of another battle-the battle with
what is Luciferic.
And now the course of our considerations leads us
to Purusha, which is only hinted at in Sankhya
philosophy. Not only do we hint at it, we place it
right in the midst of the field of the battle against
Ahriman and Lucifer: one soul-nature wars against
another. In Sankhya philosophy Purusha is seen in
immense perspective; but if we enter more deeply
into that which plays its part in the nature of the
soul, not as yet distinguished between Ahriman
and Lucifer; then in Sattva, Rajas and Tamas we
only find the relation of the soul to material
substance. But considering the matter in our own
sense, we have the soul in its full activity, fighting
and struggling between Ahriman and Lucifer. That
is something which, in its full greatness can only
be considered through Christianity. According to
the old Sankhya teaching Purusha remains still
undisturbed: it describes the condition which
arises when Purusha clothes itself in Prakriti. We
enter the Christian age and in that which underlies
esoteric Christianity and we penetrate into Purusha
itself, and describe this by taking the trinity into
consideration: the soul, the Ahrimanic, and the
Luciferic. We now grasp the inner relationship of
the soul itself in its struggles. That which had to
come was to be found in the transition in the
fourth epoch, that transition which is marked
through the Mystery of Golgotha. For what took
place then? That which occurred in the transition
from the third to the fourth epoch was something
which can be described as a mere change of form;
but now it is something which can only be
described by the transition from Prakriti into
Purusha itself, which must be so characterised that
we say:  We feel how completely Purusha has
emancipated itself from Prakriti, we feel that in
our innermost being.
Man is not only torn away from the ties of blood,
but also from Prakriti, from everything external,
and must inwardly have done with it. Then comes
the Christ-Impulse. That is, however, the greatest
transition which could take place in the whole
evolution of the earth. It is then no longer merely a
question of what might be the conditions of the
soul in relation to matter, in Sattva, Rajas and
Tamas, for the soul no longer has merely to
overcome Tamas and Rajas to raise itself above
them in Yoga, but has to fight against Ahriman and
Lucifer, for it is now left to itself. Hence the
necessity to confront that which is presented to us
in that mighty Poem  the Bhagavad Gita  that
which was necessary for the old times-with that
which is necessary for the new.
That sublime Song, the Bhagavad Gita, shows us
this conflict. There we are shown the human soul.
It dwells in its bodily part, in its sheaths. These
sheaths can be described. They are that which is in
a constant state of changing form. The soul in its
ordinary life lives in a state of entanglement, in
Prakriti, In Yoga it frees itself from that which
envelopes it, it overcomes that in which it is
enwrapped, and enters the spiritual sphere, when it
is quite free from its coverings. Let us compare
with this that which Christianity, the Mystery of
Golgotha, first brought. It is not here sufficient
that the soul should merely make itself free. For if
the soul should free itself through Yoga, it would
attain to the vision of Krishna. He would appear in
all his might before it, but as he was before
Ahriman and Lucifer obtained their full power.
Therefore a kind divinity still conceals the fact that
beside Krishna  who then becomes visible in the
sublime way described in our last lecture  on his
left and on his right there stand Ahriman and
Lucifer. With the old clairvoyance that was still
possible, because man had not yet descended into
matter; but now it can no longer be the case. If the
soul were now only to go through Yoga it would
meet Ahriman and Lucifer and would have to enter
into battle with them. It can only take its place
beside Krishna when it has that ally Who fights
Ahriman and Lucifer; Tamas and Rajas would not
suffice. That ally, however, is Christ. Thus we see
how that which is of a bodily nature freed itself
from the body, or one might also say, that which is
bodily darkened itself within the body, at the time
when Krishna, the Hero, appeared. But, on the
other hand, we see that which is still more
stupendous; the soul abandoned to itself and face
to face with something which is only visible in its
own domain in the age in which the Mystery of
Golgotha occurred.
I can well imagine, my dear friends, someone
saying:  Well, what could be more wonderful than
when the highest ideal of man, the perfection of
mankind, is placed before our eyes in the form of
Krishna!  There can be something higher  and
that it is which must stand by our side and
permeate us when we have to gain this humanity,
not merely against Tamas and Rajas, but against
the powers of the spirit. That is the Christ. So it is
the want of capacity to see something greater still,
if one is determined to see in Krishna the highest
of all. The preponderating force of the Christ-
Impulse as compared with the Krishna-Impulse is
expressed in the fact that in the latter we have
incarnated in the whole human nature of Krishna,
the Being which was incarnated in him. Krishna
was born, and grew up, as the son of Visudeva; but
in his whole manhood was incorporated,
incarnated, that highest human impulse which we
recognise as Krishna. That other Impulse, which
must stand by our side when we have to confront
Lucifer and Ahriman (which confrontation is only
now beginning, for all such things, for instance, as
are represented in our Mystery Dramas, will be
understood psychically by future generations), that
other Impulse must be one for which mankind as
such, is at first too small, an Impulse which cannot
immediately dwell even in a body such as one
which Zarathustra can inhabit, but can only dwell
in it when that body itself has attained the height [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]