What source does Rudolf Steiner draw upon in formulating a contemporary path of knowledge – which every human being can follow to develop organs for perceiving higher worlds?

Steiner’s numerous descriptions of this path of knowledge are typically based on four attributes, the third of which comprises six qualities related to the heart chakra. In How to Know Higher Worlds – one of his earliest descriptions – he writes:

In spiritual science four attributes are spoken of, which the human being must acquire on the so-called probationary path, to ascend to higher knowledge. The first of these is the capacity, in thinking, to distinguish the true from semblance, truth from mere opinion. The second attribute is the correct valuation of truth and reality as opposed to appearance. The third attribute consists in the practice of the six qualities mentioned previously: control of thinking, control of action, perseverance, tolerance, faith, and composure. The fourth is the love of inner freedom. [1]

A few pages later, he adds:

One sees from this that the instructions that come from spiritual science work decisively, deeply into our innermost human nature. And the instructions about the above four attributes are just such instructions. They are to be found in one form or another in all worldviews that reckon with the spiritual world. [2]

What are the worldviews Steiner is referring to here? What traditions is he drawing from?

In the spring of 1905, around the same time Steiner first publishes the above words [3], a series of theosophical lectures by Annie Besant, titled The Path of Discipleship [4], is made available to him through a newly published German translation.

In one of these lectures, Besant describes four qualifications for initiation [5] and refers to Adi Shankara, the 8th century Advaita Vedanta initiate.

Shankara, whom H.P. Blavatsky praises as “the greatest of the Esoteric masters of India” [6], spoke of these same four qualifications in the Vivekachudamani [7] and Tattva Bodhi [8]: 

What are the four-fold qualifications?

The capacity to discriminate between the permanent and the impermanent,

dispassion to the enjoyment of the fruits of one’s actions here and hereafter,

the group of six [virtues] beginning with sama

and the yearning for liberation.

A few verses later, the six virtues are defined:

What is sama? It is control or mastery over the mind.

What is dhama? It is the control of the external sense organs such as the eyes etc.

What is uparama or uparati? It is the strict observance of one own’s dharma {duty}.

What is titiksha? It is endurance of heat and cold, pleasure and pain etc.

What is the nature of shraddha? Faith in the words etc., of the guru and Vedanta {scriptures} is shraddha.

What is samadhana? It is the single pointedness of the mind.

These descriptions correspond fairly closely to the four attributes Steiner provides in How to Know Higher Worlds, including his list of six qualities: “control of thinking, control of action, perseverance, tolerance, faith, and composure.”

So, it seems reasonable to assume that Shankara’s works were known to Steiner, who used Hindu traditions as a starting point in developing his contemporary path of higher knowledge.

– T. Michael Cox, 08 June 2023

— NOTES

[1] In der Geisteswissenschaft wird von vier Eigenschaften gesprochen, welche sich der Mensch auf dem sogenannten Prüfungspfade erwerben muß, um zu höherer Erkenntnis aufzusteigen. Es ist die erste davon die Fähigkeit, in den Gedanken das Wahre von der Erscheinung zu scheiden, die Wahrheit von der bloßen Meinung. Die zweite Eigenschaft ist die richtige Schätzung des Wahren und Wirklichen gegenüber der Erscheinung. Die dritte Fähigkeit besteht in der – schon im vorigen Kapitel erwähnten Ausübung der sechs Eigenschaften: Gedankenkontrolle, Kontrolle der Handlungen, Beharrlichkeit, Duldsamkeit, Glaube und Gleichmut. Die vierte ist die Liebe zur inneren Freiheit. (GA010, 145-146, English translation TMC).

[2] Man sieht hieraus, daß die Vorschriften, welche von der Geisteswissenschaft ausgehen, tief in die innerste Menschennatur hinein bestimmend wirken. Und die Vorschriften über die vier genannten Eigenschaften sind solche Vorschriften. Sie finden sich in der einen oder der anderen Form in allen mit der Geisteswelt rechnenden Weltanschauungen. (GA010, 148, English translation TMC).

[3] In «Lucifer-Gnosis», the monthly newsletter of the German Theosophical Society.

[4] Besant’s original English lectures, delivered at the 20th anniversary of the Theosophical Society at Adyar, Chennai [formerly Madras], India, on 27, 28, 29, and 30 December 1895, are available here: https://archive.org/details/pathtodisciplesh022128mbp.

Steiner published an article reviewing these lectures in «Lucifer-Gnosis», May 1905 (GA034, 520ff.)

[5] The fourfold qualifications – sādhana catuștayam – are named explicitly in Sanskrit in the third lecture by Besant as: viveka, vairāgya, shatsampatti, and mumukṣā.

[6] The Secret Doctrine, Volume I, 86.

[7] Vivekacūḍāmaṇi [Crest-Jewel of Discrimination] verses 18-30. This treatise is attributed to Shankara but may have been composed by his followers as late as the 13th century. An English translation is available here: https://shlokam.org/texts/vivekachudamani-18-30.

[8] Tattva Bodha [Knowledge of Truth, Awakening to Reality]. Again, Shankara’s authorship is disputed. An English translation with audio version is available here: https://shlokam.org/texts/tattvabodha-verses/.

[9] According to a French Vedānta scholar by the name of Yogananda, Shankara compiled the four qualifications “from different passages of the Upanishads such as the Mundaka, Brihadaranyaka and other Upanishads.” From an undated interview for Integral Yoga Magazine: https://integralyogamagazine.org/the-jnana-yoga-of-adi-shankara/.