A Search in Secret Egypt The works of Dr Brunton In chronological order A SEARCH IN SECRET INDIA THE SECRET PATH A SEARCH IN SECRET EGYPT A MESSAGE FROM ARUNACHALA A HERMIT IN THE HIMALAYAS THE QUEST OF THE OVERSELF THE INNER REALITY INDIAN PHILOSOPHY AND MODERN CULTURE THE HIDDEN TEACHING BEYOND YOGA THE WISDOM OF THE OVERSELF THE SPIRITUAL CRISIS OF MAN PAUL BRUNTON B. I. PUBLICATIONS Bombay * Calcutta • Oelhi • Madras B. PUBLICATIONS Head Office : 54, Ja th, NEW DELHI-110001. Regional Offices: 18, Lansdowne Road, BOMBAY-400039 13, Govt. Place East, CALCUTTA-700069 13, Darvaganj, NEW DELHI-110002 35, Mount Road, MADRAS-600002 First published 1935 Sixteenth impression 1958 i,;Sepo^n|£r|s^02d«|| Third impression 1974 Fourth impression 1977 F?rct T-nt\iAr* ec-htion 1977 This edition has been published m India by arrangement wtin M's.RIDER AND COMPANY 3 Fitzroy Square, London W1P 6JD. PRINTED IN INDIA PUBLISHED BY K. P CHURAMANI FOR B I. PUBLICATIONS, 54, JANPATH, NEW DELHI-110001, AND PRINTED BY K. I . SACHDEV SKYLARK PRINTERS, 11355, ID-GAH ROAD, NEW DELHI-110055 Dedication to His Highness Prince Ismail Daoud Three men drove out of Cairo one beautiful spring night and chatted for an hour near the Great Pyramid. One of them was Your Highness, another was the Ambassador of a certain Oriental Power, while the third was the Scribe of these notes of travel and thought. Your Highness made the remark that it would be difficult to find in present-day Egypt any traces of the unusual spiritu¬ ality or strange Magic which lure me from land to land in their quest. On several other occasions you repeated the same opinion. Despite that, I persisted with my search and found a few things which I deemed likely to interest the people of the West. If I offer them to your Highnes s also, it is because I venture to hope that you will glean from them a further glimpse of the faith that holds me, and perhaps understand a little better why I hold it. And I offer the dedication of this record, too, as an insignificant token of my pleasure in that personal regard which subsists, irrespective of intellectual differences, between us. Finally, let these pages stand as a tribute to Egypt, the country whose modern face you know so well and whose ancient fames attract me so much. If I may be permitted to revise the old Roman phrase, I should add: “He who has once drunk Nile water, must ever be a friend to those who dwell on that mighty river's banks." Contents I. A Night with the Sphinx ii II. The Desert Guardian 22 III. The Pyramid 36 IV. A Night inside the Great Pyramid 57 V. With a Magician of Cairo 79 VI. Wonder-working by Hypnotism 97 VII. An Interview with Egypt’s Most Famed Fakir 115 VIII. In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful 127 IX. An Interview with the Spiritual Head of the Muhammedans 142 X. In the Peace of Old Abydos 157 XI. The Innermost Rite of Egyptian Temples 168 XII. The Ancient Mysteries 182 XIII. In the Temple of Dcnderah 195 XIV. Karnak Days 210 XV. Karnak Nights 225 XVI. With Egypt’s Most Famed Snake-charmer 238 XVII. I Become a Snake-charming Dervish 251 XVIII. I Meet an Adept 264 XIX. The Tombs: an Adept’s Solemn Message 277 Epilogue 285