Prof

The term "Prof" is a modern abbreviation derived from "Profound," suggesting depth and great learning. Its context in Blavatsky's text points to the Sanskrit term "Pundit," meaning a learned scholar or a sage, particularly in Hindu philosophy and law. The original Sanskrit roots are less directly tied to "Prof" but are embedded in the concept of profound knowledge.

Max Midler calls it. Only the most learned of the Brahman Pundits can read the Vcdas in their original. It is urged that Colchrooke found the date 1400 ii.c. corroborated absolutely by a pas.sage 336 THEUSOl'lIKAL wliifli 1k' discovn-rd, aiul wliicli is based on astronoinifal ilata. But if. as shown nnaiiinioiisly by all tiic Orientalists and tlie Hindu Pundits also, that (a) tho Vnlas an- not a sinj^U- work, nor yet any one of tho separate Vcdas; but that eacli Veda, and almost every hymn and division of the latter, is the jiroduetion of various authors; and that (b) these have been written (whether as sruti, "revelation", or not) at various periods of the ethnolofrieal evolution of the Indo-Aryan raee, then — what does Mr. Colebrooke's discovery jjrove? Simply that the Vcdus were f'nudh/ ari-aufred and compiled fourteen centuries liefore our era; but this interferes in no way with their anti(piity. (^uite the revers*^ : for, as an offset to Mr. Colebrooke's passajre, there is a learned article, written on purely astronomical data by Krishiui Shastri Godbole (of Bombay), which proves as absolutely and on the same evidence that the Vedas must have been taujrht at least 25,000 years ago. (See Thcosophist. Vol. II., p. 288 ct .sv 7.. Au-r.. 1881.) This statement is, if not supported, at any rate not contradicted by what Prof. Cowell says in Appendix VII., of Elphinstone's Ilistori/ of India: "There is a difference in age between the various hymns, which are now unitcMl in their present form as the Sanhita of the Rifj-Vcda; but we have no data to eleterminc their relative antiquity, and purely subjective criticism, apart from solid data, has so often failed in other instances, that we can trust but little to any of its inferences in such a recently opened field of research as Sanskrit literature. [Not a fourth part of the Vaidik literature is as yet in print, and very little of it has been translated into English (1866).] The still unsettled eoutroversies about the Homeric poems may well warn us of being too confident in our judgments regarding th( yet earlier hymns of the Rig-Veda. . . . When we examine these hymns . . . they are deeply interesting for the history of the human mind, belonging as they do to a much older phase than the poems of Homer or Hesiod." The Vedic writings are all classified in two great divisions, exoteric and esoteric, the former being called Karma-Kanda, "division of actions or works'', and the Jndna-Knnda, "division of (divine) kno

The term "Prof," as invoked by Blavatsky, offers a curious lens through which to view the transmission of ancient wisdom. It is less a formal academic title and more an acknowledgment of a profound intellectual and spiritual attainment, particularly within the Brahmanical tradition. The Pundit, the embodiment of this "Prof," is not simply a repository of facts but an interpreter, a cartographer of time and authorship within texts as vast and layered as the Vedas.

Mircea Eliade, in his exploration of shamanism and archaic techniques of ecstasy, often highlighted the role of the initiated individual as a mediator between worlds, a keeper of sacred knowledge that transcends ordinary human understanding. The Pundit, in this light, is such a mediator, decoding the astronomical data embedded in ancient hymns, a practice that connects the celestial movements to the terrestrial and the temporal. This is not unlike the alchemists or astrologers of the West, who sought cosmic correspondences and divine blueprints within the very fabric of the universe.

The challenge Blavatsky presents, through the reference to Colebrooke and Godbole, is to understand how profound knowledge is accrued and validated. It is not a simple matter of dating a text, but of appreciating its evolutionary journey, its composite authorship, and the intellectual traditions that shaped its reception. This resonates with Carl Jung's concept of the collective unconscious, where ancient archetypes and mythic patterns persist and are reinterpreted across generations. The Pundit, through his deep study, taps into this reservoir, drawing meaning from the echoes of distant minds.

The notion of "profundity" itself is a call to look beyond the surface, to recognize that the most significant truths are often veiled, requiring dedicated study and a refined intuition to apprehend. It suggests that true wisdom is not easily acquired, but is the fruit of a sustained engagement with the perennial questions of existence, as articulated through the intricate grammar of sacred languages and the silent language of the stars. The Pundit, therefore, is an exemplar of this patient, rigorous pursuit of understanding, a testament to the enduring human quest for meaning.