Apollonius of Tyana the Nazarene
by Dr. R. W. Bernard (1964)
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia

Part 6: Apollonius Leaves Iarchus and Returns to Greece

Thus Apollonius departed from his master and teacher. And is it not possible that just as the name of Apollonius, in the New Testament, was changed to that of Jesus, so Iarchus became his "Father," while the Brahmans dwelling on the heights of the Himalayas became "angels in heaven"? As a farewell gift, the Brahman sages, on the threshold of their valley of mediation, gave Apollonius and Damis camels on which to cross India westward to the Red Sea, where they continued their journey by water.

Apollonius returned to Greece from India to accomplish the same mission that Pythagoras had done before him, namely, to carry westward the Wisdom of the East, for which his predecessor won only persecution, ending in the burning of the Pythagorean meeting-house in which Pythagoras and his disciples were assembled.*

(*Indicating that on his departure from the Brahmans, Apollonius considered himself as their emissary to accomplish in Greece what their last student, Pythagoras, had done five centuries previously, Mrs. St. Clair Stoddard writes, "Thus he conceived it to be his mission to restore to the Greeks something of the ancient wisdom of Pythagoras. And at the conclusion of these travels he was indeed abundantly endowed with occult (spiritual) wisdom which powerfully enforced his own supernormal gifts and on returning to Greece he was regarded as a divine person."

That Apollonius considered himself as continuing the work that Pythagoras had initiated five centuries previously is indicated by his statement to the spirit of Achilles, in which he referred to Pythagoras as "my spiritual ancestor.")

On his way home, Apollonius sent the following letter to Iarchus:
"Iarchus and the other sages, from Apollonius, greetings: I came to you by land; with your aid I return by sea, and might have returned even by air -- such is the wisdom you have imparted to me."*
(* de Beauvoir Priaulaux, in his "The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana," written in 1873, comments as follows on this statement: "Easy and pleasant as this mode of travel [air] is thought to be, Apollonius had recourse to it but once -- on that memorable occasion when about midday he disappeared before the tribunal of Domitian, and the same evening met Damis at Ciachaerchia.")

"Even among the Greeks I shall not forget these things, and shall still hold commerce with you -- or I have indeed vainly drunk of the cup of Tantalus. Farewell, ye best philosophers."

According to another translation, Apollonius's letter read as follows:
"I came to you by land and ye have given me the sea, rather, by sharing with me your wisdom, ye have given me power to travel through heaven. These things will I bring back to the mind of the Greeks, and I will hold converse with you as though ye were present, if it be that I have not drunk of the cup of Tantalus in vain."*
(*From Iarchus, his master, Apollonius received the "cup of Tantalus," symbolizing the wisdom which it was his mission to bring back to Greece as Pythagoras had done before him. Tantalus is fabled to have stolen the cup of nectar from the gods; this was the "amrita," the ocean of immortality and wisdom of the Hindus.)

Mead in his "Apollonius of Tyana," makes the following comment on this quotation: "It is evident from these cryptic sentences that the 'sea' and the 'cup of Tantalus' are identical with the 'wisdom' which had been imparted to Apollonius -- a wisdom which he was to bring back once more to the memory of the Greeks. He thus clearly states that he returned from India with a distinct mission and with the means to accomplish it, for not only had he drunk of the ocean of wisdom in that he has learnt the Brahma Vidya* from their lips, but he has also learnt how to converse with them though his body be in Greece and their bodies in India." [*Brahma Vidya: the knowledge of Brahman or God, the universal spiritual Consciousness which creates, sustains and permeates the entire cosmos].


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