Spirituality

Sanjay Mohindroo

Explore The Kybalion’s seven keys and their ties to Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian thought. Journey through legend and living wisdom.

A Tapestry of Ancient Wisdom

In an age of discovery, five scholars sat in candlelit halls. They leaned over scrolls. They shared tales of lost temples and distant sages. Their names are now legend. Yet their work lives on in The Kybalion. This work lifts seven keys. Those keys open doors in many traditions. Here, we trace those keys. We see links to Hindu thought, Buddhist insight, and Christian faith. We feel the pulse of history. We meet the minds that shaped our view of mind itself.

The Kybalion’s Seven Keys

I. Mind Is All


The universe lives in the mind. Thought creates form.


II. Mirror Laws


As above, so below. Patterns repeat at every level.


III. Ever-Moving Force


Nothing rests. Everything shakes with life.


IV. Opposite Ends


Hot and cold share one scale. Good and ill match in degree.


V. Eternal Swing


Life flows in cycles. Joy and sorrow trade places.


VI. Every Act Has Roots


No event is a chance. Cause gives birth to effect.


VII. Masculine and Feminine


Every force holds both lean and yield.

Each principle guides a seeker to shape mind and fate.

A Brush with Hindu Truth

Long before The Kybalion, sages met in Indian courts.
They spoke of Brahman, the One Mind in all.
They taught non-duality. They said the self and cosmos share one root.
That mirrors the Kybalion call of Mentalism.

Backstory:
In the 8th century, Adi Shankara roamed temple towns. He debated scholars at Benares. He held only one truth: “Atman is Brahman.” Crowds gasped at his proof. His calm words changed minds.

Key Link:

•   Mentalism and Advaita: Mind is all. No split stands.

•   Polarity and Dvaita: Even dual paths lead back to oneness.

Echoes in Buddhist Insight

In the Buddha’s day, seekers walked through forests.
They found mind shapes form and vice versa.
They named this dependent origination.

Anecdote:
At the First Council under King Ashoka (circa 250 BCE), monks recited the Buddha’s words. They declared that no act stands alone. One voice rang out: “All springs from causes.” That hall felt the Principle of Cause and Effect in its heart.

Connections:

•   Cause and Effect = Karma’s weave.

•   Rhythm = Life’s breath, in and out.

•   Vibration = Mantra’s pulse in prayer beads.

Reflections in Early Christianity

Long ago, in Alexandria’s light, Christian thinkers met.
They read Plato, Hermetic scrolls, and Gospel words.

Pico’s Gathering:
In 1486, Florence, Pico della Mirandola invited minds.
He brought Jews, Christians, Muslims, and “Hermetic priests.”
They spoke of a truth older than all faiths.
They saw “as above, so below” in scripture and stars.

Highlights:

·      Correspondence in the Body of Christ: Micro and macro unite.

·      Gender principle in creation: God speaks in an active word, the Word breathes life.

·      Mental transmutation in prayer: Faith shapes reality.

The Legendary Assembly

From Egypt’s sands to Renaissance halls, a line of seekers spread wings.

·      Hermes Trismegistus: Myth or man? He wrote of the Emerald Tablet. His words passed from Alexandria to Italy.

·      Marsilio Ficino: He stole away to translate Hermetic books at Villa Medici. His lamp burned until dawn.

·      Giovanni Pico: He penned 900 theses on unity. He claimed all truth stems from one source.

·      Helena Blavatsky: In 1875 New York, she spun tales of hidden masters. She wove Hermetic lines into Theosophy.

·      William Atkinson: He sat in a Chicago lodge. He wrote The Kybalion. He used “Three Initiates” as mask.

Together, their ideas form a chain. Each link glints in varied lights.

Bridging Traditions

Hinduism & Kybalion

•   Shared view: Mind in all.

•   Chakra and vibration: Sound and form.

•   Maya and polarity: Illusion and truth entwine.

Buddhism & Kybalion

•   Karma echoes Cause and Effect.

•   Nirvana mirrors mental freedom.

•   Sangha meets Hermetic brotherhood.

Christianity & Kybalion

•   Logos meets Mentalism: The Word is mind.

•   Communion and Correspondence: Heaven and earth meet at the table.

•   Prayer and Transmutation: Will shapes the world.

Scenes from a Lost Salon

Imagine a grand room in 1500s Rome. Candles glow on frescoed walls.
Pico stands by a marble bust of Hermes. He reads a line.
“All is mind,” he says. A cardinal nods. A poet steals a glance.
They pass notes. They dream of building bridges across faiths.
This scene lives in every pulse of The Kybalion.

Critical Voices and Praise

Some scholars call The Kybalion a clever mix.
They note echoes of 19th-century science.
They warn: It is not a true ancient scroll.

Yet seekers still praise its power.
They use their keys in daily life.
They map its laws on city streets.

The Kybalion Today

In yoga studios, instructors name their laws.
In mindfulness apps, devotion meets Correspondence and Rhythm.
In church groups, members cite Mentalism and Cause and Effect.
Online, hashtags light up in threads:

#HermeticWisdom guides my morning prayer.
#KybalionKeys shape my week’s plan.

A Journey Across Faiths and Time

Step into a grand hall filled with light. Scholars gather to share ancient truths. Their voices echo across faiths and eras. They shaped a lore that still guides us today. This post brings them back to life. We will explore how The Kybalion mirrors Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian thought. We will meet the legends who drove these ideas. We will feel their passion and purpose. Join this journey. Share your thoughts. Ignite a vibrant discussion.

The Age of Discovery: A Gathering of Minds

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Western occultism bloomed. In London and Chicago, thinkers met in secret. They were seekers of hidden truths. They probed ancient texts, seeking universal laws. Figures like Helena Blavatsky and Samuel Mathers led Theosophy and the Golden Dawn. W.W. Atkinson, a New Thought pioneer, shaped The Kybalion. These scholars met at salons and lodges. They shared ideas, wrote letters, and debated by candlelight. Their work changed how the West saw the East. They wove threads from Hindu Upanishads, Buddhist sutras, and Christian scripture. Their names now echo in spiritual halls. Their legacy lives on in modern seekers.

Helena Blavatsky: Theosophy’s Visionary

Helena Blavatsky co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She claimed access to hidden masters. She taught that all religions spring from one source. She popularized “as above, so below.” She linked Hermetic law to Hindu karma. She sought to unite science, religion, and philosophy. Her writings, like Isis Unveiled, ignited Western interest in Eastern thought. Her salons in New York and London buzzed with debate. Guests included Nobel laureates and explorers. They pressed her on Eastern teachings and secret lore. She replied with clarity and flair. Her charisma drew many into Theosophy.

Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers: The Ritual Magician

Samuel Mathers co-founded the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1888. He translated key Hermetic texts. He introduced Qabalah and Egyptian rituals to Western occultists. His ceremonies blended drama and mysticism. Seekers reenacted alchemical processes on stage. Mathers believed symbols held real power. He taught that labor in ritual awakened inner sight. His work influenced modern Wicca and chaos magic. He mentored A. Crowley, shaping Thelema’s early phase. His style was formal but vibrant. His workshops felt like ancient temples.

William Walker Atkinson: The Mind Pioneer

William W. Atkinson wrote as "Three Initiates" in 1908. He taught that the mind shapes reality. He drew on Theosophy and New Thought. His book The Kybalion distilled Hermetic laws into seven clear principles. His tone was direct and practical. He urged readers to master their thoughts. His audience spanned from office workers to artists. He wrote more than 100 books on mind power. His ideas fueled the law-of-attraction teachings we know today. He spoke at Masonic lodges, sharing mental transmutation tips. He mixed Eastern philosophy with Western science. His legacy echoes in modern self-help and metaphysical schools.

The Seven Pillars of Hermetic Wisdom

The Kybalion meets Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity—ancient wisdom fused into one rich, soul-stirring narrative.

First presented in The Kybalion, the seven principles aim to unlock mental mastery. They speak in simple aphorisms. Each rings true across faiths.

1. Mentalism: The All Is Mind

The Kybalion begins with the idea that everything is mental. It claims the universe itself lives within the mind. This mirrors Hindu Maya, the cosmic illusion woven by Brahman. It echoes Buddhist shunyata, the void that gives rise to form. It recalls the Gospel of John, where the Logos births creation. It reminds us that thoughts shape our world. W.W. Atkinson urged readers to test this in their lives. He told them to flip fear to courage with a thought. His students in Chicago reported vivid shifts overnight. They stood by street corners and changed their mood with a word.

2. Correspondence: As Above, So Below

Next comes the famous axiom: "As above, so below; as below, so above." This idea appears in Egyptian tablets. It reappears in the Bhagavad Gita’s teaching on microcosm and macrocosm. It surfaces in Zen koans that point to hidden mirrors between body and cosmos. It lives in Christian mystics like Meister Eckhart, who spoke of the spark of God in each soul. The Golden Dawn held rituals under this banner. They drew mirrors in chalk to show inner and outer planes. They asked initiates to align their rituals with cosmic rhythms.

3. Vibration: Everything Moves

Everything vibrates. Nothing rests.

That’s not just Hermetic poetry. It’s physics. But long before quantum mechanics danced onto the stage, Hermeticists were already whispering this truth.

The Kybalion teaches that everything, from thought to stone, has its frequency. You attract what you match. Atkinson’s readers practiced this consciously. Some said they shifted their “mental pitch” to break habits, improve health, or calm their minds. It wasn’t magic; it was intention, amplified.

In Hinduism, this principle echoes through the concept of spanda—the divine vibration. Tantric texts speak of the universe pulsing from the heart of Shiva, creating waves of existence. Om, the sacred sound, embodies this primal vibration. Chant it, and you don’t just make noise—you align with the heartbeat of the cosmos.

In Buddhism, everything is in constant change. Anicca, impermanence, is a core truth. Vibration here isn’t metaphorical. It describes how form is transient, never still. Tibetan monks understood this. Their chanting isn't just prayer—it’s tuning the soul.

In Christianity, this principle shows up more subtly. Think of the “Word” that made flesh in John 1:1. That Logos is vibration, too. Sound as creation. Faith, in this view, is vibration aligned with divine truth.

#EverythingVibrates #EnergyIsReal #MindAndMatter

4. Polarity: Everything Has Its Opposite

Hot and cold. Love and hate. Light and dark.

Each pair exists on a single spectrum. That’s the law of polarity. And once you grasp it, you gain leverage. You can slide your state by degrees. Hate can be tuned into love, fear into courage. You don’t need to flip the world. You just shift your place on the line.

Atkinson made this practical. He urged readers to mentally reframe negative emotions. Turn rejection into redirection. See anger as misused energy. People swore by it. One letter, found in an old New Thought archive, tells of a man who overcame depression by practicing this daily. He called it his “mental dimmer switch.”

In Hinduism, the duality of Shiva and Shakti isn’t about opposition—it’s about complement. Destruction births creation. Male balances female. Day serves night. The poles serve each other.

Buddhism plays with polarity, too. Samsara and Nirvana aren't separate places. They're different perceptions of the same experience. Enlightenment flips the lens.

Christian mystics understood polarity as well. The Desert Fathers meditated on inner demons to discover divine grace. Julian of Norwich wrote, “Sin is behovely,” meaning even wrongness serves rightness. In Christ’s suffering, joy is born.

#PolarityPrinciple #ShiftYourState #LightAndShadow

5. Rhythm: The Tide That Moves All

Inhale. Exhale. Rise. Fall. Everything flows.

Rhythm is law. It governs breath, seasons, moods, economies, and empires. When you feel “off,” the rhythm has swung. The key is not to resist, but to ride. Like a surfer, balance on the curve.

The Kybalion says rhythm can be neutralized. You anticipate the swing and stay steady. Advanced students practiced emotional rhythm control. They wouldn’t get overly high with success, nor crash with failure. They became “mental athletes.”

In Hindu thought, rhythm is seen in Lila—the cosmic play. Shiva dances the universe into motion. Every gesture, a beat. Every movement, part of the cycle.

Buddhism observes rhythmic cycles of rebirth. But the goal isn’t to break rhythm—it’s to stop clinging. Nirvana is peace beyond the push and pull.

Christianity, through its liturgical year, moves with sacred rhythm. Lent, Easter, Pentecost—each a season of the soul. The Psalms throb with rhythm: grief, hope, grief, joy.

#RhythmOfLife #CosmicDance #SacredCycles

6. Cause and Effect: Nothing Just Happens

“Chance” is an illusion. Every effect has a cause. Every cause creates an effect.

Atkinson urged readers to become causes, not victims. He taught self-mastery, where thought becomes the prime mover. People trained their minds like soldiers. They journaled triggers, reframed narratives, and re-scripted habits. It was spiritual engineering.

Hindu karma is the ultimate cause-and-effect law. Every deed, thought, or word plants a seed. The Bhagavad Gita teaches right action without clinging to results. It’s not about control—it’s about awareness.

Buddhism refines this into dependent origination. Nothing arises alone. Every thought is a link in a chain. You break the chain by seeing it.

In Christianity, “you reap what you sow” is a central teaching. But grace enters here too. Cause and effect are softened by mercy. The Prodigal Son is welcomed home. Justice and compassion meet.

#KarmaInAction #BeTheCause #EveryActCounts

7. Gender: Creative Force in All Things

All things have gender. Not physical sex, but creative polarity—active and receptive, assertive and yielding.

The Kybalion says every person has both principles inside. Mastery comes from balance. Men are encouraged to embrace intuition. Women, to trust their logic. This wasn’t gender-bending ideology—it was spiritual wholeness.

Hinduism embodies this in Ardhanarishvara—Shiva and Shakti fused into one being. The masculine and feminine energies are divine and equal.

In Buddhism, Avalokiteshvara (compassion) appears male in India, but transforms into Guan Yin (female) in China. The divine shifts to match the heart of the culture. Gender is a fluid expression of timeless love.

Christianity subtly reflects this, too. The Holy Spirit is often called “she” in early Aramaic. Sophia, divine wisdom, is feminine. Jesus balanced fierce will with gentle mercy.

#DivineBalance #MasculineAndFeminine #SpiritualWholeness

Eternal Echoes: The Kybalion Across Religions

The Kybalion wasn’t created in a vacuum. It was a revival. A remix. A retelling of truths already whispered in temples, forests, and deserts. When you compare its principles with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity, you don’t find contradiction—you find harmony.

These teachings weren’t owned by one people. They rose wherever humans asked the big questions.

Let’s walk into those sacred spaces. Let’s listen.

In the Temples of India: Hermetics Meets Vedanta

You’d be hard-pressed to read The Kybalion and not hear echoes of Advaita Vedanta. The Hindu idea that the self (Atman) is not separate from the divine (Brahman) parallels the Hermetic “All is Mind.”

In both, the world is not real in a material sense. It’s a projection, a dream, a vibration within the field of consciousness.

The Upanishads tell us, “As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm”—the same message as “As above, so below.”

Where The Kybalion speaks of mental transmutation, Hindu yogis speak of sankalpa—the power of intention to rewrite karma. Where Hermetic law teaches inner alchemy, the Vedic system offers the chakra path—a climb from base instincts to divine union.

Both systems emphasize self-mastery, inner work, and harmony with universal law.

#VedantaVibes #InnerAlchemy #MindIsBrahman

In the Silence of the Monastery: The Hermetic Buddha

Buddhism shares much with Hermeticism, though its tone is starker. Where Hermeticists say, “Master your mind,” Buddhists say, “Empty it.”

But the root goal is the same: freedom from suffering through understanding the laws of existence.

The Kybalion’s Law of Rhythm matches Buddhism’s dependent origination. Nothing stays. Everything flows. To resist the tide is to suffer. But to ride it, ah, that’s liberation.

Even Mentalism, the idea that thought shapes reality, finds a home here. The Buddha taught: “All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”

Buddhism just takes it further. It says there is no eternal self behind the thought. Even the “thinker” is a dance of causes and conditions.

Where The Kybalion empowers through self-knowing, Buddhism liberates through no-self knowing. But both meet at the point of mindfulness, awareness, and compassion.

#BuddhaAndTheKybalion #MentalMastery #FlowWithTheTide

In the Pews and Cathedrals: Hermetics in Christianity

You might think Hermeticism and Christianity would clash.

Not so fast.

Dig past dogma and you find mystics—Julian of Norwich, Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avila—whose words shimmer with Hermetic insight.

Take the opening of John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word.” That’s Logos. Vibration. Mentalism.

Jesus often taught through paradoxes: “The last shall be first.” “Lose your life to find it.” This reflects the Law of Polarity. He turned cause and effect into grace. He invited people to transmute hatred into forgiveness. Alchemy of the heart.

The Kybalion speaks of the divine mind. Christianity calls it the Spirit. The Hermetic “All” becomes the Christian “Father.” The practices may differ, but the invitation is the same: inner transformation.

Even the idea of gendered energy shows up. God is both King and Nurturer. Christ is Lion and Lamb. Balance lives at the heart of the Gospel.

#ChristianMystics #LogosAndLight #AlchemyOfGrace

The Hidden Legacy: From Temples to TikTok

Here’s the twist most don’t see:

The Kybalion didn’t vanish into dusty shelves. It shapeshifted.

Its ideas moved underground during the Enlightenment. Then surfaced in secret societies. Then slipped into self-help books, yoga classes, TED talks, and YouTube manifesting coaches.

You’ve heard its language before.

“Raise your vibration.”
“Change your mindset, change your life.”
“As within, so without.”

That’s Hermeticism in street clothes.

Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret? Built on Mentalism and Vibration.
Joe Dispenza’s meditations? Wrapped in Cause and Effect and Mental Transmutation.
Even Stoic revivalism today nods toward The Kybalion’s mental control.

But the heart of this work is not a trend. It’s true. And it endures because it works.

The Scholars Behind the Curtain: Carriers of Ancient Fire

Let’s honor the legends who kept the flame alive.

·      W.W. Atkinson, the voice behind “The Three Initiates,” gave us a bridge. He made Hermeticism digestible. A bookshop mystic who changed lives.

·      Paul Foster Case, a Golden Dawn initiate, built on The Kybalion’s skeleton to form Builders of the Adytum—a school that still teaches inner alchemy.

·      Manly P. Hall, author of The Secret Teachings of All Ages, wove Hermetics into Christian mysticism and Egyptian theology.

·      And before them? Plato, Plotinus, Pythagoras—Greek minds steeped in Egyptian wisdom.

These were not gurus. They were guides. They gave us maps. But the path? That’s yours to walk.

#HiddenMasters #KeepersOfWisdom #InnerWorkIsThePath

Time to Step Into the Circle

The Kybalion isn’t just a book. It’s an invitation.

An invitation to see the sacred laws behind every breath, thought, and action. To realize you are not separate from life—you are life, expressing itself.

Whether you chant mantras, sit in zazen, or pray in a chapel, these truths are yours. You’ve been using them all along.

Now, with awareness, you can use them better.

Start with one principle. Try it for a week. Watch what shifts.

Then come back. Share what changed.

Let’s talk not just about what’s possible, but what’s already happening.

Because the circle of seekers is wide, and there’s room for you.

We stand at a crossroads.
Our minds form our world.
What law moves you today?
Which key unlocks your path?
Share your thoughts below.