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The Universal Belief in Them
1.
It is one of the most
beautiful characteristics of Theosophy that it gives back to people in a more
rational form everything which was really useful and helpful to them in the
religions which they have outgrown. Many who have broken through the chrysalis
of blind faith, and mounted on the wings of reason and intuition to the freer,
nobler mental life of more exalted levels, nevertheless feel that in the
process of this glorious gain a something has been lost - that in giving up the
beliefs of their childhood they have also cast aside much of the beauty and the
poetry of life.
2.
If,
however, their lives in the past have been sufficiently good to earn for them
the opportunity of coming under the benign influence of Theosophy, they very
soon discover that even in this particular there has been no loss at all, but
an exceeding great gain - that the glory and the beauty and the poetry are
there in fuller measure than they had ever hoped before, and no longer as a
mere pleasant dream from which the cold light of common-sense may at any time
rudely awaken them, but as truths of nature which will bear investigation -
which become only brighter, fuller and more perfect as they are more accurately
understood.
3.
A
marked instance of this beneficent action of Theosophy is the way in which the
invisible world (which, before the great wave of materialism engulfed us, used
to be regarded as the source of all living help) has been restored by it to
modern life. All the charming folk-lore of the elf, the brownie and the gnome,
of the spirits of air and water, of the forest, the mountain and the mine, is
shown by it to be no more meaningless superstition, but to have a basis of
actual and scientific fact behind it. Its answer to the great fundamental
question “If a man die, shall he live again?” is equally definite and
scientific, and its teaching on the nature and conditions of the life after
death throws a flood of light upon much that, for the Western world at least,
was previously wrapped in impenetrable darkness.
4.
It
cannot be too often repeated that in this teaching as to the immortality of the
soul and the life after death, Theosophy stands in a position totally different
from that of ordinary religion. It does not put forward these great truths
merely on the authority of some sacred book of long ago; in speaking of these
subjects it is not dealing with pious opinions , or metaphysical speculations,
but with solid, definite facts, as real and as close to us as the air we
breathe or the houses we live in - facts of which many among us have constant
experience - facts among which lies the daily work of some of our students, as
will presently be seen.
5.
Among
the beautiful conceptions which Theosophy has restored to us stands pre-eminent
that of the great helpful agencies of nature. The belief in these has been
world-wide from the earliest dawn of history, and is universal even now outside
the narrow domains of Protestantism, which has emptied and darkened the world
for its votaries by its attempt to do away with the natural and perfectly true
idea of intermediate agents, and reduce everything to two factors of man and
deity - a device whereby the conception of deity has been infinitely degraded,
and man has remained unhelped.
6.
A
moment’s thought will show that the ordinary view of providence - the
conception of an erratic interference by the central power of the universe with
the result of his own decrees - would imply the introduction of partiality into
the scheme, and therefore of the whole train of evils which must necessarily
follow upon its heels. The Theosophical teaching, that a man can be thus
specially helped only when his past actions have been such as to deserve this
assistance, and that even then the help will be given through those who are
comparatively near his own level, is free from this serious objection; and it
furthermore brings back to us the older and far grander conception of an
unbroken ladder of living beings extending down from the Logos Himself to the
very dust beneath our feet.
7.
In
the East the existence of the invisible helpers has always been recognized,
though the names given and the characteristics attributed to them naturally
vary in different countries; and even in Europe we have had the old Greek
stories of the constant interference of the gods in human affairs, and the
Roman legend that Castor and Pollux led the legions of the infant republic in
the battle of Lake Regillus. Nor did such a conception die out when the
classical period ended, for these stories have their legitimate successors in
medieval tales of saints who appeared at critical moments and turned the
fortune of war in favour of the Christian hosts, or of guardian angels who
sometimes stepped in and saved a pious traveler from what would otherwise have
been certain destruction.
9.
Some Modern Instances
10.
EVEN in
this incredulous age, and amidst the full whirl of our nineteenth-century
civilization, in spite of the dogmatism of our science and the deadly dullness
of our Protestantism, instances of intervention inexplicable from the
materialistic standpoint may still be found by anyone who will take the trouble
to look for them; and in order to demonstrate this to the reader I will briefly
epitomize a few of the examples given in one or other of the recent collections
of such stories, adding thereto one or two that have come within my own notice.
11.
One
very remarkable feature of these more recent examples is that the intervention
seems nearly always to have been directed towards the helping or saving of
children.
12.
An
interesting case which occurred in
13.
The
mother of the child, it seems, was a friend or relative of the landlady of the
house, and had left the little creature in her charge for the night, because
she was herself obliged to go down to Colchester on business. It was not until
everyone else had been rescued, and the whole house was wrapped in flame, that
the landlady remembered with a terrible pang the trust that had been confided
to her. It seemed hopeless then to attempt to get at the garret where the child
had been put to bed, but one of the firemen heroically resolved to make the
desperate effort, and, after receiving minute directions as to the exact
situation of the room, plunged in among the smoke and flame.
14.
He
found the child, and brought him forth entirely unharmed; but when he rejoined
his comrades he had a very singular story to tell. He declared that when he
reached the room he found it in flames, and most of the floor already fallen;
but the fire had curved round the room towards the window in an unnatural and
unaccountable manner, the like of which in all his experience he had never seen
before, so that the corner in which the child lay was wholly untouched,
although the very rafters of the fragment of floor on which his little crib
stood were half burnt away. The child was naturally very much terrified, but
the fireman distinctly and repeatedly declared that as at great risk he made
his way towards him he saw a form like an angel - here his exact words are
given - something “all gloriously white and silvery, bending over the bed and
smoothing down the counterpane.” He could not possibly have been mistaken about
it, he said, for it was visible in a glare of light for some moments, and in
fact disappeared only when he was within a few feet of it.
15.
Another
curious feature of this story is that the child's mother found herself unable
to sleep that night down in Colchester, but was constantly harassed by a strong
feeling that something was wrong with her child, insomuch that at last she was
compelled to rise and spend some time in earnest prayer that the little one
might be protected from the danger which she instinctively felt to be hanging
over him. The intervention was thus evidently what a Christian would call an
answer to a prayer; a Theosophist, putting the same idea in more scientific
phraseology, would say that her intense outpouring of love constituted a force
which one of our visible helpers was able to use for the rescue of her child
from a terrible death.
16.
A
remarkable case in which children were abnormally protected occurred on the
banks of the
17.
The
boatman, who saw the accident, sprang forward to try to save them, and he
noticed that they were floating high in the water “in quite an unnatural way,
like,” as he said, and moving quietly towards the bank. This was all that he
and the nurse saw, but the children each declared that “a beautiful person, all
white and shining,” stood beside them in the water, held them up and guided
them to the shore. Nor was their story without corroboration, for the bargeman's
little daughter, who ran up from the cabin when she heard the screams of the
nurse, also affirmed that she saw a lovely lady in the water dragging the two
children to the bank.
18.
Without
fuller particulars than the story gives us, it is impossible to say with
certainty from what class of helpers this “angel” was drawn; but the
probabilities are in favour of its having been a developed human being
functioning in the astral body, as will be seen when later on we deal with this
subject from the other side, as it were - from the point of view of the helpers
rather than the helped.
19.
A
case in which the agency is somewhat more definitely distinguishable is related
by the well-known clergyman, Dr John Mason Neale. He states that a man who had
recently lost his wife was on a visit with his little children at the country
house of a friend. It was an old, rambling mansion, and in the lower part of it
there were long, dark passages, in which the children played about with great
delight. But presently they came upstairs very gravely, and two of them related
that as they were running down one of these passages they were met by their
mother, who told them to go back again, and then disappeared. Investigation
revealed the fact that if the children had run but a few steps farther they
would have fallen down a deep uncovered well which yawned full in their path,
so that the apparition of their mother had saved them from almost certain
death.
20.
In
this instance there seems no reason to doubt that the mother herself was still
keeping a loving watch over her children from the astral plane, and that (as
has happened in some other cases) her intense desire to warn them of the danger
into which they were so heedlessly rushing gave her the power to make herself
visible and audible to them for the moment - or perhaps merely to impress their
minds with the idea that they saw and heard her. It is possible, of course,
that the helper may have been someone else, who took the familiar form of the
mother in order not to alarm the children; but the simplest hypothesis is to
attribute the intervention to the action of the ever-wakeful mother-love
itself, undimmed by the passage through the gates of death.
21.
This
mother-love, being one of the holiest and most unselfish of human feelings, is
also one of the most persistent on higher planes. Not only does the mother who
finds herself upon the lower levels of the astral plane, and consequently still
within touch of the earth, maintain her interest in and her care for her
children as long as she is able to see them; even after her entry into the
heaven-world these little ones are still the most prominent objects in her
thought, and the wealth of love that she lavishes upon the images which she
there makes of them is a great outpouring of spiritual force which flows down
upon her offspring who are still struggling in this lower world, and surrounds
them with living centres of beneficent energy which may not inaptly be
described as veritable guardian angels. An illustration of this will be found in
the sixth of our Theosophical manuals, page 38.
22.
Not
long ago the little daughter of one of our English bishops was out walking with
her mother in the town where they lived, and in running heedlessly across a
street the child was knocked down by the horses of a carriage which came
quickly upon her round a corner. Seeing her among the horses’ feet, the mother
rushed forward, expecting to find her very badly injured, but she sprang up
quite merrily, saying, “Oh, mamma, I am not at all hurt, for something all in
white kept the horses from treading upon me, and told me not to be afraid.”
23.
A
case which occurred in Buckinghamshire, somewhere in the neighborhood of
Burnham Beeches, is remarkable on account of the length of time through which
the physical manifestation of the succouring agency seems to have maintained
itself. It will have been seen that in the instances hitherto given the
intervention was a matter of but a few moments, whereas in this a phenomenon
was produced which appears to have persisted for more than half an hour.
24.
Two
of the little children of a small farmer were left to amuse themselves while
their parents and their entire household were engaged in the work of
harvesting. The little ones started for a walk in the woods, wandered far from
home, and then managed to lose their way. When the weary parents returned at
dusk it was discovered that the children were missing, and after enquiring at
some of the neighbours’ houses the father sent servants and labourers in
various directions to seek for them.
25.
Their
efforts were, however, unsuccessful, and their shouts unanswered; and they had
reassembled at the farm in a somewhat despondent frame of mind, when they all
saw a curious light some distance away moving slowly across some fields towards
the road. It was described as a large globular mass of rich golden glow, quite
unlike ordinary lamplight; and as it drew nearer it was seen that the two
missing children were walking steadily along in the midst of it. The father and
some others immediately set off running towards it; the appearance persisted
until they were close to it, but just as they grasped the children it vanished,
leaving them in the darkness.
26.
The
children's story was that after night came on they had wandered about crying in
the woods for some time, and had at last lain down under a tree to sleep. They
had been roused, they said, by a beautiful lady with a lamp, who took them by
the hand and led them home; when they questioned her she smiled at them, but
never spoke a word. To this strange tale they both steadily adhered, nor was it
possible in any way to shake their faith in what they had seen. It is
noteworthy, however, that though all present saw the light, and noticed that it
lit up the trees and hedges which came within its sphere precisely as an
ordinary light would, yet the form of the lady was visible to none but the
children.
28.
A Personal Experience
29.
ALL
the above stories are comparatively well known, and may be found in some of the
books which contain collections of such accounts - most of them in Dr Lee’s More
Glimpses of the World Unseen; but the two instances which I am now about to
give have never been in print before, and both occurred within the last ten
years - one to myself, and the other to a very dear friend of mine, a prominent
member of the Theosophical Society, whose accuracy of observation is beyond all
shadow of doubt.
30.
My
own story is a simple one enough, though not unimportant to me, since the
interposition undoubtedly saved my life. I was walking one exceedingly wet and
stormy night down a quiet back street near Westbourne Grove, struggling with
scant success to hold up an umbrella against the savage gusts of wind that
threatened every moment to tear it from my grasp, and trying as I laboured
along to think out the details of some work upon which I was just then engaged.
31.
With
startling suddenness a voice which I know well - the voice of an Indian teacher
- cried in my ear “Spring back!” and in mechanical obedience I started
violently backwards almost before I had time to think. As I did so my umbrella,
which had swung forward with the sudden movement, was struck from my hand and a
huge metal chimney pot crashed upon the pavement less than a yard in front of
my face. The great weight of this article, and the tremendous force with which
it fell, make it absolutely certain that but for the warning voice I should
have been killed on the spot; yet the street was empty, and the voice was that
of one whom I knew to be seven thousand miles away from me, as far as the
physical body was concerned.
32.
Nor
was this the only occasion upon which I received assistance of this supernormal
kind, for in early life, long before the foundation of the Theosophical
Society, the apparition of a dear one who had recently died prevented me from
committing what I now see would have been a serious crime, although by the
light of such knowledge as I then had it appeared not only a justifiable but
even a laudable act of retaliation. Again, at a later date, though still before
the foundation of this Society, a warning conveyed to me from a higher plane
amid most impressive surroundings enabled me to prevent another man from
entering upon a course which I now know would have ended disastrously, though I
had no reason to suppose so at the time. So it will be seen that I have a
certain amount of personal experience to strengthen my belief in the doctrine
of invisible helpers, even apart from my knowledge of the help that is
constantly being given at the present time.
33.
The
other case is a very much more striking one. One of our members, who gives me
permission to publish her story, but does not wish her name mentioned, once
found herself in very serious physical peril. Owing to circumstances which need
not be detailed here, she was in the very centre of a dangerous street fracas,
and seeing several men struck down and evidently badly hurt close to her, was
in momentary expectation of a similar fate, since escape from the crush seemed
quite impossible.
34.
Suddenly
she experienced a curious sensation of being whirled out of the crowd, and
found herself standing quite uninjured and entirely alone in a small bye-street
parallel with the one in which the disturbance had taken place. She still heard
the noise of the struggle, and while she stood wondering what on earth had
happened to her, two or three men who had escaped from the crowd came running
round the corner of the street, and on seeing her expressed great astonishment
and pleasure, saying that when the brave lady so suddenly disappeared from the
midst of the fight they had felt certain that she had been struck down.
35.
At
the time no sort of explanation was forthcoming, and she returned home in a
very mystified condition; but when at a later period she mentioned this strange
occurrence to Madame Blavatsky she was informed that, her karma being such as
to enable her to be saved from her exceedingly dangerous position, one of the
Masters had specially sent some one to protect her in view of the fact that her
life was needed for the work.
36.
Nevertheless
the case remains a very extraordinary one, both with regard to the great amount
of power exercised and the unusually public nature of its manifestation. It is
not difficult to imagine the modus operandi; she must have been lifted
bodily over the intervening block of houses, and simply set down in the next
street; but since her physical body was not visible floating in the air, it is
also evident that a veil of some sort (probably of etheric matter) must have
been thrown round her while in transit.
37.
If it
be objected that whatever can hide physical matter must itself be physical, and
therefore visible, it may be replied that by a process familiar to all occult
students it is possible to bend rays of light (which, under all conditions at
present known to science, travel only in straight lines unless refracted) so
that after passing round an object they may resume exactly their former course;
and it will at once be seen that if this were done such an object would to all
physical eyes be absolutely invisible until the rays were allowed to resume
their normal course. I am fully aware that this one statement alone is
sufficient to brand any remarks as nonsense in the eyes of the scientist of the
present day, but I cannot help that; I am merely stating a possibility in
nature which the science of the future will no doubt one day discover, and for
those who are not students of occultism the remark must wait until then for its
justification.
38.
The
process, as I say, is comprehensible enough to anyone who understands a little
about the more occult forces of nature; but the phenomenon still remains an
exceedingly dramatic one, while the name of the heroine of the story, were I
permitted to give it, would be a guarantee of its accuracy to all my readers.
39.
Another
recent instance of interposition, less striking, perhaps, but entirely
successful, has been reported to me since the publication of the first edition
of this book. A lady, being obliged
40.
to
undertake a long railway journey alone, had taken the precaution to secure an
empty compartment; but just as the train was leaving the station, a man of
forbidding and villainous appearance sprang in and seated himself at the other
end of the carriage. The lady was much alarmed, thus to be left alone with so
doubtful a character, but it was too late to call for help, so she sat still
and commended herself earnestly to the care of her patron saint.
41.
Soon
her fears were redoubled, for the man arose and turned toward her with an evil
grin, but he had hardly taken one step when he started back with a look of the
most intense astonishment and terror. Following the direction of his glance,
she was startled to see a gentleman seated directly opposite to her, gazing
quietly but firmly at the baffled robber - a gentleman who certainly could not
have entered the carriage by any ordinary means. Too much awed to speak, she
watched him as though fascinated for a full half-hour; he uttered no word, and
did not even look at her, but kept his eyes steadily upon the villain, who
cowered trembling in the furthest corner of the compartment. The moment that
the train reached the next station, and even before it came to a standstill,
the would-be thief tore open the door and sprang hurriedly out. The lady,
deeply thankful to be rid of him, turned to express her gratitude to the
gentleman, but found only an empty seat, though it would have been impossible
for any physical body to have left the carriage in the time.
42.
The
materialization was in this case maintained for a longer period than usual, but
on the other hand it expended no force in action of any kind - nor indeed was
it necessary that it should do so, as its mere appearance was sufficient to
effect its purpose.
43.
But
these stories, all referring as they do to what would commonly be called
angelic intervention, illustrate only one small part of the activities of our
invisible helpers. Before, however, we can profitably consider the other
departments of their work it will be well that we should have clearly in our
minds the various classes of entities to which it is possible that these
helpers may belong. Let that, then, be the portion of our subject to be next
treated.
45.
The Helpers
46.
HELP,
then, may be given by several of the many classes of inhabitants of the astral
plane. It may come from devas, from nature-spirits, or from those whom we call
dead, as well as from those who function consciously upon the astral plane
during life - chiefly the adepts and their pupils. But if we examine the matter
a little more closely we shall see that though all the classes mentioned may,
and sometimes do, take a part in this work, yet their shares in it are so
unequal that it is practically left almost entirely to one class.
47.
The
very fact that so much of this work of helping has to be done either upon or
from the astral plane goes far in itself towards explaining this. To anyone who
has even a faint idea of what the powers at the command of an adept really are,
it will be at once obvious that for him to work upon the astral plane would be
a far greater waste of energy than for our leading physicians or scientists to
spend their time in breaking stones upon the road.
48.
The
work of the adept lies in higher regions - chiefly upon the arűpa levels of the
devachanic plane or heaven-world, where he may direct his energies to the
influencing of the true individuality of man, and not the mere personality
which is all that can be reached in the astral or physical world. The strength
which he puts forth in that more exalted realm produces results greater, more
far-reaching and more lasting than any which can be attained by the expenditure
of even ten times the force down here; and the work up there is such as he
alone can fully accomplish, while that on lower planes may be at any rate to
some extent achieved by whose feet are yet upon the earlier steps of the great
stairway which will one day lead them to the position where he stands.
49.
The
same remarks apply also in the case of the devas. Belonging as they do to a
higher kingdom of nature than ours, their work seems for the most part entirely
unconnected with humanity; and even those of their orders - and there are some
such - which do sometimes respond to our higher yearnings or appeals, do so on
the mental plane rather than on the physical or astral, and more frequently in
the periods between our incarnations than during our earthly lives.
50.
It
may be remembered that some instances of such help were observed in the course
of investigations into the subdivisions of the devachanic plane which were
undertaken when the Theosophical manual on the subject was in preparation. In
one case a deva was found teaching the most wonderful celestial music to a
chorister; and in another one of a different class was giving instruction and
guidance to an astronomer who was seeking to comprehend the form and structure
of the universe.
51.
These
two were but examples of many instances in which the great deva kingdom was
found to he helping onward the evolution and responding to the higher
aspirations of man after death; and there are methods by which, even during
earth-life, these great ones may be approached, and an infinity of knowledge
acquired from them, though even then such intercourse is gained rather by
rising to their plane than by invoking them to descend to ours.
52.
In
the ordinary events of our physical life the deva very rarely interferes -
indeed, he is so fully occupied with the far grander work of his own plane that
he is probably scarcely conscious of this; and though it may occasionally
happen that he becomes aware of some human sorrow or difficulty which excites
his pity and moves him to endeavour to help in some way, his wider vision
undoubtedly recognizes that at the present stage of evolution such interpositions
would in the vast majority of cases be productive of infinitely more harm than
good.
53.
There
was indubitably a period in the past - in the infancy of the human race - when
it was much more largely assisted from outside than is at present the case. At the
time when all its Buddhas and Manus, and even its more ordinary leaders and
teachers, were drawn either from the ranks of the deva evolution or from the
perfected humanity of a more advanced planet, any such assistance as we are
considering in this treatise must also have been given by these exalted beings.
But as man progresses he becomes himself qualified to act as a helper, first on
the physical plane and then on higher levels; and we have now reached a stage
at which humanity ought to be able to provide, and to some slight extent does
provide, invisible helpers for itself, thus setting free for still more useful
and elevated work those beings who are capable of it.
54.
It
becomes obvious then that such assistance as that to which we are here
referring may most fitly be given by men and women at a particular stage of
their evolution; not by the adepts, since they are capable of doing far grander
and more widely useful work, and not by the ordinary person of no special
spiritual development, for he would be unable to be of any use. Just as these
considerations would lead us to expect, we find that this work of helping on
the astral and lower mental planes is chiefly in the hands of the pupils of the
Masters - men who, though yet far from the attainment of adeptship, have
evolved themselves to the extent of being able to function consciously upon the
planes in question.
55.
Some
of these have taken the further step of completing the links between the
physical consciousness and that of the higher levels, and they therefore have
the undoubted advantage of recollecting in waking life what they have done and
what they have learnt in those other worlds; but there are my others who,
though as yet unable to carry their consciousness through unbroken, are
nevertheless by no means wasting the hours when they think they are asleep, but
spending them in noble and unselfish labour for their fellow-men.
56.
What
this labour is we will proceed to consider, but before we enter upon that part
of the subject we will refer to an objection which is very frequently brought
forward with regard to such work, and we will also dispose of the comparatively
rare cases in which the agents are either nature-spirits or men who have cast
off the physical body.
57.
People
whose grasp of Theosophical ideas is as yet imperfect are often in doubt as to
whether it is allowable for them to try to help some one whom they find in
sorrow or difficulty, lest they should interfere with the fate which has been
decreed for him by the absolute justice of the eternal law of karma. “The man
is in his present position,” they say in effect, “because he has deserved it;
he is now working out the perfectly natural result of some evil which he has
committed in the past; what right have I to interfere with the action of the
great cosmic law by trying to ameliorate his condition, either on the astral
plane or the physical.
58.
Now
the good people who make such suggestions are really, however unconsciously to
themselves, exhibiting the most colossal conceit, for their position implies
two astounding assumptions; first, that they know exactly what another man’s
karma has been, and how long it has decreed that his sufferings shall last; and
secondly, that they - the insects of a day - could absolutely override the
cosmic law and prevent the due working-out of karma by any action of theirs. We
may be well assured that the great kârmic deities are perfectly well able to
manage their business without our assistance, and we need have no fear that any
steps we may take can by any possibility cause them the slightest difficulty or
uneasiness.
59.
If a
man’s karma is such that he cannot be helped, then all our well-meant efforts
in that direction will fail, though we shall nevertheless have gained good
karma for ourselves by making them. What the man’s karma has been is no
business of ours; our duty is to give help to the utmost of our power, and our
right is only to the act; the result is in other and higher hands. How can we
tell how a man’s account stands? For all we know he may just have exhausted his
evil karma, and be at this moment at the very point where a helping hand is
needed to give relief and raise him out of his trouble or depression; why
should not we have the pleasure and privilege of doing that good deed as well
as another? If we can help him, then that fact of itself shows that he
has deserved to be helped; but we can never know unless we try. In any case the
law of karma will take care of itself, and we need not trouble ourselves about
it.
60.
The
cases in which assistance is given to mankind by nature-spirits are few. The
majority of such creatures shun the haunts of man, and retire before him,
disliking his emanations and the perpetual bustle and unrest which he creates
all around him. Also, except some of their higher orders, they are generally
inconsequent and thoughtless - more like happy children at play under
exceedingly favourable physical conditions than like grave and responsible
entities. Still it sometimes happens that one of them will become attached to a
human being, and do him many a good turn; but at the present stage of its
evolution this department of nature cannot be relied upon for anything like
steady co-operation in the work of invisible helpers. For a fuller account of
the nature-spirits the reader is referred to the fifth of our Theosophical
manuals.
61.
Again,
help is sometimes given by those recently departed - those who are still
lingering on the astral plane, and still in close touch with earthly affairs,
as (probably) in the above-mentioned case of the mother who saved her children
from falling down a well. But it will readily be seen that the amount of such
help available must naturally be exceedingly limited. The more unselfish and
helpful a person is, the less likely is he to be found after death lingering in
full consciousness on the lower levels of the astral plane, from which the
earth is most readily accessible. In any case, unless he were an exceptionally
bad man, his stay within the realm whence alone any interference would be
possible would be comparatively short; and although from the heaven-world he
may still shed benign influence upon those whom he has loved on earth, it will
usually be rather of the nature of a general benediction than a force capable
of bringing about definite results in a specific case, such as those which we
have been considering.
62.
Again,
many of the departed who wish to help those whom they left behind, find
themselves quite unable to influence them in any way, since to work from one
plane upon an entity on another requires either very great sensitiveness on the
part of that entity, or a certain amount of knowledge and skill on the part of
the operator. Therefore, although instances of apparitions shortly after death
are by no means uncommon, it is rare to find one in which the departed person
has really done anything useful, or succeeded in impressing what he wished upon
the friend or relation whom he visited. There are such cases, of course - a
good many of them when we come to put them all together; but they are not numerous
compared to the great number of ghosts who have succeeded in showing
themselves. So that but little help is usually given by the dead - indeed, as
will presently be explained, it is far more common for them to be themselves in
need of assistance than to be able to accord it to others.
63.
At
present, therefore, the main bulk of the work which has to be done along these
lines falls to the share of those living persons who are able to function
consciously on the astral plane
65.
The Reality of Superphysical Life
66.
IT
seems difficult for those who are accustomed only to the ordinary and somewhat
materialistic lines of thought of the nineteenth century, to believe in and
realize fully a condition of perfect consciousness apart from the physical
body. Every Christian, at any rate, is bound by the very foundations of his
creed to believe that he possesses a soul; but if you suggest to him the
possibility that that soul may be a sufficiently real thing to become visible
under certain conditions apart from the body either during life or after death,
the chances are ten to one that he will scornfully tell you that he does not
believe in ghosts, and that such an idea is nothing but an anachronistic
survival of an exploded medieval superstition.
67.
If,
therefore, we are at all to comprehend the work of the band of invisible
helpers, and perchance ourselves to learn to assist in it, we must shake
ourselves free from the trammels of contemporary thought on these subjects, and
endeavour to grasp the great truth (now a demonstrated fact to many among us)
that the physical body is in simple truth nothing but a vehicle or vesture of
the real man. It is put off permanently at death, but it is also put off
temporarily every night when we go to sleep - indeed the process of falling
asleep consists in this very action of the real man in his astral vehicle
slipping out of the physical body.
68.
Again
I repeat, this is no mere hypothesis or ingenious supposition. There are many
among us who are able to perform (and do perform every day of their
lives) this elementary act of magic in full consciousness - who pass from one
plane to the other at will; and if that is clearly realized, it will become
apparent how grotesquely absurd to them must appear the ordinary unreasoning
assertion that such a thing is utterly impossible. It is like telling a man
that it is impossible for him to fall asleep, and that if he thinks he has ever
done so he is under a hallucination.
69.
Now
the man who has not yet developed the link between the astral and physical
consciousness is unable to leave his denser body at will, or to recollect most
of what happens to him while away from it; but the fact nevertheless remains
that he leaves it every time he sleeps, and may be seen by any trained clairvoyant
either hovering over it or wandering about at a greater or less distance from
it, as the case may be.
70.
The
entirely undeveloped person usually floats close above his physical body,
scarcely less asleep than it is, and comparatively shapeless and inchoate, and
it is found that he cannot be drawn away from the immediate neighbourhood of
that physical body without causing serious discomfort which would in fact
awaken it. As the man evolves, however, his astral body grows more definite and
more conscious, and so becomes a fitter vehicle for him. In the case of the
majority of intelligent and cultured people the degree of consciousness is
already very considerable, and a man who is at all spiritually developed is as
fully himself in that vehicle as in this denser body.
71.
But
though he may be fully conscious on the astral plane during sleep, and able to
move about on it freely if he wishes to do so, it does not yet follow that he
is ready to join the band of helpers. Most people at this stage are so wrapped
up in their own train of thought - usually a continuation of some line taken up
in waking hours - that they are like a man in a brown study, so much absorbed
as to be practically entirely heedless of all that is going on about them. And
in many ways it is well that this is so, for there is much upon the astral
plane which might be unnerving and terrifying to one who had not the courage
born of full knowledge as to the real nature of all that he would see.
72.
Sometimes
a man gradually rouses himself out of this condition - wakes up to the astral
world around him, as it were; but more often he remains in that state until
someone who is already active there takes him in hand and wakens him. This is,
however, not a responsibility to be lightly undertaken, for while it is
comparatively easy thus to wake a man up on the astral plane, it is practically
impossible, except by a most undesirable exercise of mesmeric influence, to put
him to sleep again. So that before a member of the band of workers will thus
awaken a dreamer, he must fully satisfy himself that the man’s disposition is
such that he will make good use of the additional powers that will then be put
into his hands, and also that his knowledge and his courage are sufficient to
make it reasonably certain that no harm will come to him as a result of the
action.
73.
Such
awakening so performed will put a man in a position to join if he will the band
of those who help mankind. But it must be clearly understood that this does not
necessarily or even usually bring with it the power of remembering in the
waking consciousness anything which has been done. That capacity has to be
attained by the man for himself, and in most cases it does not come for years
afterwards - perhaps not even in the same life. But happily this lack of memory
in the body in no way impedes the work out of the body; so that, except for the
satisfaction to a man of knowing during his waking hours upon what work he has
been engaged during his sleep, it is not a matter of importance. What really matters
is that the work should be done - not that we should remember who did it.
75.
A Timely Intervention
76.
VARIED
as is this work on the astral plane, it is all directed to one great end - the
furtherance, in however humble a degree, of the processes of evolution.
Occasionally it is connected with the development of the lower kingdoms, which
it is possible slightly to accelerate under certain conditions. A duty towards
these lower kingdoms, elemental as well as animal and vegetable, is distinctly
recognized by our adept leaders, since it is in some cases only through
connection with or use by man that their progress takes place.
77.
But
naturally by far the largest and most important part of the work is connected
with humanity in some way or other. The services rendered are of many and
various kinds, but chiefly concerned with man’s spiritual development, such
physical interventions as are recounted in the earlier part of this book being
exceedingly rare. They do, however, occasionally take place, and though it is
my wish to emphasize rather the possibility of extending mental and moral help
to our fellow-men, it will perhaps be well to give two or three instances in
which friends personally known to me have rendered physical assistance to those
in sore need of it, in order that it may be seen how these examples from the
experience of the helpers gear in with the accounts given by those who have
received the supernormal aid - such stories, I mean, as those which are to be
found in the literature of so-called “supernatural occurrences.”
78.
In
the course of the recent rebellion in Matabeleland one of our members was sent
upon an errand of mercy which may serve as an illustration of the way in which
help upon this lower plane has occasionally been given. It seems that one night
a certain farmer and his family in that country were sleeping tranquilly in
fancied security, quite unaware that only a few miles away relentless hordes of
savage foes were lying in ambush maturing fiendish plots of murder and rapine.
Our member’s business was in some way or other to arouse the sleeping family to
a sense of the terrible danger which so unexpectedly menaced them, and she
found this by no means an easy matter.
79.
An
attempt to impress the idea of imminent peril upon the brain of the farmer
failed utterly, and as the urgency of the case seemed to demand strong
measures, our friend decided to materialize herself sufficiently to shake the
housewife by the shoulder and adjure her to get up and look about her. The
moment she saw that she had been successful in attracting attention she
vanished, and the farmer’s wife has never from that day to this been able to
find out which of her neighbours it was who roused her so opportunely, and
thus saved the lives of the entire family, who but for this mysterious
intervention would undoubtedly have been massacred in their beds half an hour
later; nor can she even now understand how this friend in need contrived to
make her way in, when all the windows and doors were found so securely barred.
80.
Being
this abruptly awakened, the housewife was half inclined to consider the warning
a mere dream; however, she arose and looked around just to see that all was
right, and fortunate it was that she did so, for though she found nothing amiss
indoors she had no sooner thrown open a shutter than she saw the sky red with a
distant conflagration. She at once roused her husband and the rest of the
family, and owing to this timely notice they were able to escape to a place of
concealment near at hand just before the arrival of the horde of savages, who
destroyed the house and ravaged the fields indeed, but were disappointed of the
human prey which they had expected. The feelings of the rescuer may be imagined
when she read in the newspaper some time afterwards an account of the
providential deliverance of this family.
82.
The “Angel Story.”
83.
ANOTHER
instance of intervention on the physical plane which occurred a short time ago
makes a very beautiful little story, though this time only one life was saved.
It needs, however, a few words of preliminary explanation. Among our band of
helpers here in Europe are two who were brothers long ago in ancient Egypt, and
are still warmly attached to one another. In this present incarnation there is
a wide difference in age between them, one being advanced in middle life, while
the other was at that time a mere child in the physical body, though an ego of
considerable advancement and promise. Naturally it falls to the lot of the
elder to train and guide the younger in the occult work to which they are so
heartily devoted, and as both are fully conscious and active on the astral
plane they spend most of the time during which their grosser bodies are asleep
in labouring together under the direction of their common Master, and giving to
both living and dead such help as is within their power.
84.
I
will quote the story of the particular incident which I wish to relate from a
letter written by the elder of the two helpers immediately after it occurrence,
as the description there given is more vivid and picturesque than any account
in the third person could possibly be.
85.
“We
were going about quite other business, when Cyril suddenly cried, ‘What’s
that?’ for we heard a terrible scream of pain or fright. In a moment we were on
the spot, and found that a boy of about eleven or twelve had fallen over a
cliff on to some rocks below, and was very badly hurt. He had broken a leg and
an arm, poor fellow, but what was still worse was a dreadful cut in the thigh,
from which blood was pouring in a torrent. Cyril cried, ‘Let us help him quick,
or he’ll die!’
86.
“In
emergencies of this kind one has to think quickly. There were clearly two
things to be done; that bleeding must be stopped, and physical help must be
procured. I was obliged to materialize either Cyril or myself, for we wanted
physical hands at once to tie a bandage, and besides it seemed better that the
poor boy should see someone standing by him in his trouble. I felt that
while undoubtedly he would be more at home with Cyril than with me, I should
probably be more readily able to procure help than Cyril would, so the division
of labour was obvious.
87.
“The
plan worked capitally. I materialized Cyril instantly (he does not know yet how
to do it for himself), and told him to take the boy’s neckerchief and tie it
round the thigh, and twist a stick through it. ‘Won’t it hurt him terribly?
said Cyril; but he did it, and the blood stopped flowing. The injured
boy seemed half unconscious, and could scarcely speak, but he looked up at the
shining little form bending so anxiously over him, and asked, ‘Be you an angel,
master?’ Cyril smiled so prettily, and replied, ‘No, I’m only a boy, but I’ve
come to help you;’ and then I left him to comfort the sufferer while I rushed
off to the boy’s mother, who lived about a mile away.
88.
“The
trouble I had to force into that woman's head the conviction that something was
wrong, and that she must go and see about it, you would never believe; but at
last she threw down the pan she was cleaning, and said aloud, ‘Well, I don’t
know what’s come over me, but I must go and find the boy.’ When she once
started I was able to guide her without much difficulty, though at the time I
was holding Cyril together by will-power, lest the poor child's angel should
suddenly vanish from before his eyes.
89.
“You
see, when you materialize a form you are changing matter from its natural state
into another - temporarily opposing the cosmic will, as it were; and if you
take your mind off it for one half-second, back it flies into its original
condition like a flash of lightning. So I could not give more than half my
attention to that woman, but still I got her along somehow, and as soon as she
came round the corner of the cliff I let Cyril disappear; but she had seen him,
and now that village has one of the best-attested stories of angelic
intervention on record!
90.
“The
accident happened in the early morning, and the same evening I looked in
(astrally) upon the family to see how matters were going on. The poor boy’s leg
and arm had been set, and the great cut bandaged, and he lay in bed looking
very pale and weak, but evidently going to recover in time. The mother had a
couple of neighbours in, and was telling them the story; and a curious tale it
sounded to one who knew the real facts.
91.
“She
explained, in very many words, how she couldn’t tell what it was, but something
came over her all in a minute like, making her feel something had happened to
the boy, and she must go out and see after him; how at first she thought
it was nonsense, and tried to throw off the feeling, ‘but it warn’t no use -
she just had to go.’ She told how she didn’t know what made her go round by
that cliff more than any other way, but it just happened so, and as she turned
round the corner there she saw him lying propped up against a rock, and
kneeling beside him was the ‘beautifullest child ever she saw, dressed all in
white and shining, with rosy cheeks and lovely brown eyes;’ and how he smiled
at her ‘so heavenly like,’ and then all in a moment he was not there, and at
first she was so startled she didn’t know what to think; and then all at once
she felt what it was, and fell on her knees and thanked God for sending one of
his angels to help her poor boy.
92.
“Then
she told how when she lifted him to carry him home she wanted to take off the
handkerchief that was cutting into his poor leg so, but he would not let her,
because he said the angel had tied it and said he was not to touch it; and how
when she told the doctor this afterwards he explained to her that if she had
unfastened it the boy would certainly have died.
93.
“Then
she repeated the boy’s part of the tale - how the moment after he fell this
lovely little angel came to him (he knew it was an angel because he knew
there had been nobody in sight for half a mile round when he was at the top of
the cliff just before - only he could not understand why it hadn’t any wings,
and why it said it was only a boy) - how it lifted him against the rock and
tied up his leg, and then began to talk to him and tell him he need not be
frightened, because somebody was gone to fetch mother, and she would be there
directly; how it kissed him and tried to make him comfortable, and how its
soft, warm, little hand held his all the time, while it told him strange,
beautiful stories which he could not clearly remember, but he knew they were
very good, because he had almost forgotten he was hurt until he saw his mother
coming; and how then it assured him he would soon be well again, and smiled and
squeezed his hand, and then somehow it was gone.
94.
“Since
then there has been quite a religious revival in that village! Their minister
has told them that so signal an interposition of divine providence must have
been meant as a sign to them, to rebuke scoffers and to prove the truth of holy
scripture and of the Christian religion - and nobody seems to see the colossal
conceit involved in such an astonishing proposition.
95.
“But
the effect on the boy had been undoubtedly good, morally as well as physically;
by all accounts he was a careless enough young scamp before, but now he feels
‘his angel’ may be near him at any time, and he will never do or say anything
rough or coarse or angry, lest it should see or hear. The one great desire of
his life is that some day he may see it again, and he knows that when he dies
its lovely face will be the first to greet him on the other side.”
96.
A
beautiful and pathetic little story, truly. The moral dawn from the occurrence
by the village and its minister is perhaps somewhat of a non sequitur;
yet the testimony to the existence of at least something beyond this material
plane must surely do the people more good than harm, and after all the mother’s
conclusion from what she saw was a perfectly correct one, though more accurate
knowledge would probably have led her to express it a little differently.
97.
An
interesting fact afterwards discovered by the investigations of the writer of
the letter throws a curious side-light upon the reasons underlying such
incidents. It was found that the two boys had met before, and that some
thousands of years ago the one who fell from the cliff had been the slave of
the other, and had once saved his young master’s life at the risk of his own,
and had been liberated in consequence; and now, long afterwards, the master not
only repays the debt in kind, but also gives his former slave a high ideal and
an inducement to morality of life which will probably change the whole course
of his future evolution. So true is it that no good deed ever goes unrewarded
by karma, however tardy it may seem in its action - that
98.
Though
the mills of God grind slowly
99.
Yet
they grind exceeding small;
100.
Though with patience stands
He waiting
101.
With
exactness grinds He all.
103.
The Story of a Fire
104.
ANOTHER
piece of work done by the same boy Cyril furnishes an almost exact parallel to
some of the stories from the books which I have given in earlier pages. He and
his older friend, it seems, were passing along in the prosecution of their
usual work one night, when they noticed the fierce glare of a big fire below
them, and promptly dived down to see if they could be of any use.
105.
It
was a great hotel which was in flames, a huge caravanserai on the edge of a
great lake. The house, many stories in height, formed three sides of a square
round a sort of garden, planted with trees and flowers, while the lake formed
the fourth side. The two wings ran right down to the lake, the big bay windows
which terminated them almost projecting over the water, so as to leave only
quite a narrow passage-way under them at the two sides.
106.
The
front and wings were built round inside wells, which contained also the
lattice-work shafts of the lifts, so that when once the fire broke out, it
spread with almost incredible rapidity, and before our friends saw it on their
astral journey all the middle floors in each of the three great blocks were in
flames. Fortunately the inmates - except one little boy - had already been
rescued, though some of them had sustained very serious burns and other
injuries.
107.
This
little fellow had been forgotten in one of the upper rooms of the left wing,
for his parents were out at a ball, and knew nothing of the fire, while
naturally enough no one else thought of the lad till it was far too late. The
fire had gained such a hold on the middle floors of that wing that nothing
could have been done, even if anyone had remembered him, as his room faced on
to the inner garden which has been mentioned, so that he was completely cut off
from all outside help. Besides, he was not even aware of his danger, for the
dense, suffocating smoke had so gradually filled the room that his sleep had
grown deeper and deeper, till he was all but stupefied.
108.
In
this state he was discovered by Cyril, who seems to be specially attracted
towards children in need or danger. He first tried to make some of the people
remember the boy, but in vain; and in any case it seemed scarcely possible that
they could have helped him, so that it was soon evident that this was merely a
waste of time. The older helper then materialized, Cyril, as before, in the
room, and set him to work to awaken and rouse up the more than half-stupefied
child. After a good deal of difficulty this was accomplished to some extent,
but the boy remained in a half-dazed, semi-conscious condition through all that
followed, so that he needed to be pushed and pulled about, guided and helped at
every turn.
109.
The
two boys first crept out of the room into the central passage which ran through
the wing, and then, finding that the smoke and the flames beginning to come
through the floor made it impassable for a physical body, Cyril got the other
boy back into the room again and out of the window on to a stone ledge, about a
foot wide, which ran right along the block just below the windows. Along this
he managed to guide his companion, half balancing himself on the extreme edge
of the ledge, and half floating on air, but always placing himself outside of
the other, so as to keep him from dizziness and prevent him from feeling afraid
of a fall.
110.
Towards
the end of the block nearest the lake, in which direction the fire seemed less
developed, they climbed in through an open window and again reached the
passage, hoping to find the staircase at that end still passable. But it, too,
was full of flame and smoke; so they crawled back along the passage, Cyril
advising his companion to keep his mouth close to the ground, till they reached
the latticed cage of the lift running down the long well in the centre of the
block.
111.
The
lift of course was at the bottom, but they managed to clamber down the lattice
work inside the cage till they stood on the roof of the elevator itself. Here
they found themselves blocked, but luckily Cyril discovered a doorway opening
from the cage of the lift on to a sort of entresol just above the ground
floor. Through this they reached a passage, which they crossed, the little boy
being half-stifled by the smoke; then they made their way through one of the
rooms opposite, and finally, clambering out of the window, found themselves on
the top of the veranda which ran along in front of the ground floor, between it
and the garden.
112.
There
it was easy enough to swarm down one of the pillars and reach the garden
itself; but even there the heat was intense, and the danger, when the walls
should fall, very considerable. So Cyril tried to conduct his charge round the
end first of one, then of the other wing; but in both cases the flames had
burst through, and the narrow, overhung passages were quite impassable. Finally
they took refuge in one of the pleasure boats which were moored to the steps of
the quay at the side of the garden next the lake, and, casting loose, rowed out
on to the water.
113.
Cyril
intended to row round past the burning wing and land the boy whom he had saved;
but when they got some little way out, they fell in with a passing lake
steamer, and were seen - for the whole scene was lit up by the glare of the
burning hotel, till everything was as plain as in broad daylight. The steamer
came alongside the boat to take them off; but instead of the two boys they had
seen, the crew found only one - for his older friend had promptly allowed Cyril
to slip back into his astral form, dissipating the denser matter which had made
for the time a material body, and he was therefore now invisible.
114.
A
careful search was made, of course, but no trace of the second boy could be
found, and so it was concluded that he must have fallen overboard and been
drowned just as they came alongside. The child who had been rescued fell into a
dead faint as soon as he was safe on board, so they could get no information
from him, and when he did recover, all he could say was that he had seen the
other boy the moment before they came alongside, and then knew nothing more.
115.
The
steamer was bound down the lake to a place some two days’ sail distant, and it
was a week or so before the rescued boy could be restored to his parents, who
of course thought that he had perished in the flames, for though an effort was
made to impress on their minds the fact that their son had been saved, it was
found impossible to convey the idea to them, so it may be imagined how great
was the joy of the meeting.
116.
The
boy is still well and happy, and is never weary of relating his wonderful
adventure. Many a time he has regretted that the kind friend who saved him
should have perished so mysteriously at the very moment when all the danger
seemed over at last. Indeed, he has even ventured to suggest that perhaps he didn’t
perish after all - that perhaps he was a fairy prince; but of course this idea
elicits nothing but tolerant smiles of superiority from his elders. The kârmic
link between him and his preserver has not yet been traced, but no doubt there
must be one somewhere.
118.
Materialization and Repercussion
119.
ON
meeting with a story such as this, students often enquire whether the invisible
helper is perfectly safe amidst these scenes of deadly peril - whether, for
example, this boy who was materialized in order to save another from a burning
house was not himself in some danger - whether his physical body would not have
suffered in any way by repercussion if his materialized form had passed through
the flames, or fallen from the high ledge on the edge of which he walked so
unconcernedly. In fact, since we know that in many cases the connection between
a materialized form and a physical body is sufficiently close to produce
repercussion, might it not have occurred in this case?
120.
Now
this subject of repercussion is an exceedingly abstruse and difficult one, and
we are by no means yet in a position fully to explain its very remarkable
phenomena; in order to understand the matter perfectly, it would probably be
necessary to comprehend the laws of sympathetic vibration on more planes than
one. Still, we do know by observation some of the conditions which permit its
action, and some which definitely exclude it, and I think we are warranted in
saying that it was absolutely impossible here.
121.
To
see why this is so we must first remember that there are at least three
well-defined varieties of materialization, as anyone who has at all an extended
experience of spiritualism will be aware. I am not concerned at the moment to
enter upon any explanation as to how these three varieties are respectively
produced, but am merely stating the indubitable fact of their existence.
122.
There
is the materialization which, though tangible, is not visible to ordinary
physical sight. Of this nature are the unseen hands which so often clasp one’s
arm or stroke one’s face at a séance, which sometimes carry physical
objects through the air or make raps upon the table - though of course both
these latter phenomena may easily be produced without a materialized hand at
all.
123.
There
is the materialization which though visible is not tangible - the spirit-form
through which one’s hand passed as through empty air. In some cases this
variety is obviously misty and impalpable, but in others its appearance is so
entirely normal that its solidity is never doubted until some one endeavours to
grasp it.
124.
There
is the perfect materialization which is both visible and tangible - which not
only bears the outward semblance of your departed friend but shakes you
cordially by the hand with the very clasp that you know so well.
125.
Now
while there is a good deal of evidence to show that repercussion takes place
under certain conditions in the case of this third kind of materialization., it
is by no means so certain that it can occur with the first or second class. In
the case of the boy-helper it is probable that the materialization would not be
of the third type, since the greatest care is always taken not to expend more
force than is absolutely necessary to produce whatever result may be required,
and it is obvious that less energy would be used in the production of the more
partial forms which we have called the first and second classes. The
probability is that only the arm with which the boy held his little companion
would be solid to the touch, and that the rest of his body, though looking
perfectly natural, would have proved far less palpable if it had been tested.
126.
But,
apart from this probability, there is another point to be considered. When a
full materialization takes place, whether the subject be living or dead,
physical matter of some sort has to be gathered together for the purpose. At a
spiritualistic séance this matter is obtained by drawing largely upon
the etheric double of the medium - and sometimes even upon his physical body
also, since cases are on record in which his weight has been very considerably
decreased while manifestations of this character were taking place.
127.
This
method is employed by the directing entities of the séance simply
because when an available medium is within reach it is very much the easiest
way in which a materialization can be brought about; and the consequence is
that the very closest connection is thus set up between that medium and the
materialized body, so that the phenomenon which (although very imperfectly
understanding it) we call repercussion, occurs in its clearest form. If, for
example, the hands of the materialized body be rubbed with chalk, that chalk
will afterwards be found on the hands of the medium, even though he may have
been all the time carefully locked up in a cabinet under circumstances which
absolutely preclude any suspicion of fraud. If any injury be inflicted upon the
materialized form, that injury will be accurately reproduced upon the
corresponding part of the medium’s body: while sometimes food of which the
spirit-form has partaken will be found to have passed into the body of the
medium - at least that happened in one case at any rate within my own
experience.
128.
It
would be far otherwise, however, in the case which we have been describing.
Cyril was thousands of miles from his sleeping physical body, and it would
therefore be quite impossible for his friend to draw etheric matter from it,
while the regulations under which all pupils of the great Masters of Wisdom
perform their work of helping man would assuredly prevent him, even for the
noblest purpose, from putting such a strain upon any one else’s body. Besides,
it would be quite unnecessary, for the far less dangerous method invariably
employed by the helpers when materialization seems desirable would be ready to
his hand - the condensation from the circumambient ether, or even from the
physical air, of such an amount of matter as may be requisite. This feat,
though no doubt beyond the power of the average entity manifesting at a séance,
presents no difficulty to a student of occult chemistry.
129.
But
mark the difference in the result obtained. In the case of the medium we have a
materialized form in the closest possible connection with the physical body,
made out of its very substance, and therefore capable of producing all the
phenomena of repercussion. In the case of the helper we have indeed an exact
reproduction of the physical body, but it is created by a mental effort out of
matter entirely foreign to that body, and is no more capable of acting upon it
by repercussion than an ordinary marble statue of the man would be.
130.
Thus
it is that a passage through the flames or a fall from a high window-ledge
would have had no terrors for the boy-helper, and that on another occasion a member
of the band, though materialized, was able without any inconvenience to the
physical body to go down in a sinking vessel (see page 77).
131.
In
both the incidents of his work that have been described above, it will have
been noticed that the boy Cyril was unable to materialize himself, and that the
operation had to be performed for him by an older friend. One more of his
experiences is worth relating, for it gives us a case in which by intensity of
pity and determination of will he was able to show himself - a case
somewhat parallel to that previously related of the mother whose love enabled
her somehow to manifest herself in order to save her children's lives.
132.
Inexplicable
as it may seem, there is no doubt whatever of the existence in nature of this
stupendous power of will over matter of all planes, so that if only the power
be great enough, practically any result may be produced by its direct
action, without any knowledge or even thought on the part of the man exercising
that will as to how it is to do its work. We have had plenty of evidence
that this power holds good in the case of materialization, although ordinarily
it is an art which must be learnt just like any other. Assuredly an average man
on the astral plane could no more materialize himself without having previously
learnt how to do it than the average man on this plane could play the violin
without having previously learnt it; but there are exceptional cases, as will
be seen from the following narrative.
134.
The Two Brothers
135.
This story
has been told by a pen of far greater dramatic capability than mine, and with a
wealth of detail for which I have here no space, in The Theosophical Review
of November, 1897, page 229. To that account I would refer the reader, since my
own description of the case will be a mere outline, as brief as is consistent
with clearness. The names given are of course fictitious, but the incidents are
related with scrupulous accuracy.
136.
Our dramatis
personae are two brothers, the sons of a country gentleman - Lancelot, aged
fourteen, and Walter, aged eleven - very good boys of the ordinary healthy,
manly type, like hundreds of others in this fair realm, with no obvious psychic
qualifications of any sort, except the possession of a good deal of Celtic
blood. Perhaps the most remarkable feature about them was the intensity of the
affection that existed between them, for they were simply inseparable - neither
would go anywhere without the other, and the younger idolized the elder as only
a younger boy can.
137.
One unlucky
day Lancelot was thrown from his pony and killed, and for Walter the world
became empty. The child's grief was so real and terrible that he could neither
eat not sleep, and his mother and nurse were at their wits’ end as to what to
do for him. He seemed deaf alike to persuasion and blame; when they told him
that grief was wicked, and that his brother was in heaven, he simply answered
that he could not be certain of that, and that even if it were true, he knew
that Lancelot could no more be happy in heaven without him than he could on
earth without Lancelot.
138.
Incredible
as it may sound, the poor child was actually dying of grief, and what made the
case even more pathetic was the fact that, all unknown to him, his brother
stood at his side all the time, fully conscious of his misery, and himself
half-distracted at the failure of his repeated attempts to touch him or speak
to him.
139.
Affairs
were still in this most pitiable condition on the third evening after the
accident, when Cyril’s attention was drawn to the two brothers - he cannot tell
how. “He just happened to be passing,” he says; yet surely the will of the
Lords of Compassion guided him to the scene. Poor Walter lay exhausted yet
sleepless - alone in his desolation, so far as he knew, though all the time his
sorrowing brother stood beside him. Lancelot, free from the chains of the
flesh, could see and hear Cyril, so obviously the first thing to do was to
soothe his pain with a promise of friendship and help in communicating with his
brother.
140.
As
soon as the dead boy’s mind was thus cheered with hope, Cyril turned to the
living one, and tried with all his strength to impress upon his brain the
knowledge that his brother stood beside him, not dead, but living and loving as
of yore. But all his efforts were in vain; the dull apathy of grief so filled
poor Walter’s mind that no suggestion from without could enter, and Cyril knew
not what to do. Yet so deeply was he moved by the sad sight, so intense was his
sympathy and so firm his determination to help in some way or other at any cost
of strength to himself, that somehow (even to this day he cannot tell how) he
found himself able to touch and speak to the heart-broken child.
141.
Putting
aside Walter’s questions as to who he was and how he came there, he went
straight to the point, telling him that his brother stood beside him, trying
hard to make him hear his constantly repeated assurances that he was not dead,
but living and yearning to help and comfort him. Little Walter longed to
believe, yet hardly dared to hope; but Cyril’s eager insistence vanquished his
doubts at last, and he said, “Oh! I do believe you, because you’re so kind; but
if I could only see him, then I should know, then I should be quite
sure; and if I could only hear his voice telling me he was happy, I shouldn’t
mind a bit his going away again afterwards.”
142.
Young
though he was at the work, Cyril knew enough to be aware that Walter’s wish was
one not ordinarily granted, and was beginning regretfully to tell him so, when
suddenly he felt a Presence that all the helpers know, and though no word was
spoken it was borne in upon his mind that instead of what he had meant to say,
he was to promise Walter the boon his heart desired. “Wait till I come back,”
he said, “and you shall see him then.” And then - he vanished.
143.
That
one touch from the Master had shown him what to do and how to do it, and he
rushed to fetch the older friend who had so often helped him before. This older
man had not yet retired for the night, but on hearing Cyril’s hurried summons,
he lost no time in accompanying him, and in a few minutes they were back at
Walter’s bedside. The poor child was just beginning to believe it all a lovely
dream, and his delight and relief when Cyril reappeared were beautiful to see.
Yet how much more beautiful was the scene a moment later, when, in obedience to
a word from the Master, the elder man materialized the eager Lancelot, and the
living and the dead stood hand in hand once more!
144.
Now
in very truth for both the brothers had sorrow been turned into joy
unspeakable, and again and again they both declared that now they should never
feel sad any more, because they knew that death had no power to part them. Nor
was their gladness damped even when Cyril explained carefully to them, at his older
friend’s suggestion, that this strange physical reunion would not be repeated,
but that all day long Lancelot would be near Walter, even though the latter
could not see him, and every night Walter would slip out of his body and be
consciously with his brother once more.
145.
Hearing
this, poor weary Walter sank to sleep at once and proved its truth, and was
amazed to find with what hitherto unknown rapidity he and his brother could fly
together from one to another of their old familiar haunts. Cyril thoughtfully
warned him that he would probably forget most of his freer life when he awoke
next day; but by rare good fortune he did not forget, as so many of us
do. Perhaps the shock of the great joy had somewhat aroused the latent psychic
faculty which belongs to the Celtic blood; at any rate he forgot no single
detail of all that had happened, and next morning he burst upon the house of
mourning with a wondrous tale which suited it but ill.
146.
His
parents thought that grief had turned his brain, and, since he is now the heir,
they have been watching long and anxiously for further symptoms of insanity,
which happily they have not found. They still think him a monomaniac on this
point, though they fully recognize that his “delusion” has saved his life; but
his old nurse (who is a Catholic) is firm in her belief that all he says is
true - that the Lord Jesus, who was once a child himself, took pity on that
other child as he lay dying of grief, and sent one of His angels to bring his
brother back to him from the dead as a reward for a love which was stronger
than death. Sometimes popular superstition gets a good deal nearer to the heart
of things than does educated skepticism!
147.
Nor
does the story end here, for the good work begun that night is still
progressing, and none can say how far the influence of that one act may ramify.
Walter’s astral consciousness, once having been thus thoroughly awakened,
remains in activity; every morning he brings back into his physical brain the
memory of his night’s adventures with his brother; every night they meet their
dear friend Cyril, from whom they have learned so much about the wonderful new
world that has opened before them, and the other worlds to come that lie higher
yet. Under Cyril’s guidance they also - the living and the dead alike - have
become eager and earnest members of the band of helpers; and probably for years
to come - until Lancelot’s vigorous young astral body disintegrates - many a
dying child will have cause to be grateful to these three who are trying to
pass on to others something of the joy that they have themselves received.
148.
Nor
is it to the dead alone that these new converts have been of use, for they have
sought and found some other living children who show consciousness on the
astral plane during sleep; and one at least of those whom they have thus
brought to Cyril has already proved a valuable little recruit to the children's
band, as well as a very kind little friend down here on the physical plane.
149.
Those
to whom all these ideas are new sometimes find it very difficult to understand
how children can be of any use in the astral world. Seeing, they would say,
that the astral body of a child must be undeveloped, and the ego thus limited
by childhood on the astral as well as the physical plane, in what way could
such an ego be of use, or be able to help towards the spiritual, mental and
moral evolution of humanity, which we are told is the chief concern of the
helpers?
150.
When
first such a question was asked, shortly after the publication of one of these
stories in our magazine, I sent it to Cyril himself, to see what he would say
to it, and his answer was this:
151.
“It
is quite true, as the writer says, that I am only a boy, and know very little
yet, and that I shall be much more useful when I have learnt more. But I am
able to do a little even now, because there are so many people who have learnt
nothing about Theosophy yet, though they may know very much more than I do
about everything else. And you see when you want to get to a certain place, a little
boy who knows the way can do more for you than a hundred wise men who don’t
know it.”
152.
It
may be added that when a child had been awakened upon the astral plane the
development of the astral body would proceed so rapidly that he would very soon
be in a position upon that plane but little inferior to that of the awakened
adult, and would of course be much in advance, so far as usefulness is
concerned, of the wisest man who was as yet unawakened. But unless the ego
expressing himself through the child-body possessed the necessary qualification
of a determined yet loving disposition, and had clearly manifested it in his
previous lives, no occultist would take the very serious responsibility of
awakening him upon the astral plane. When, however their karma is such that it
is possible for them to be thus aroused, children very often prove most
efficient helpers, and throw themselves into their work with a whole-souled
devotion which is very beautiful to see. And so is fulfilled once more the
ancient prophecy “a little child shall lead them.”
153.
Another
question that suggests itself to one’s mind in reading this last story of the
two brothers is this: Since Cyril was somehow able to materialize himself by
sheer force of love and pity and strength of will, is it not strange that
Lancelot, who had been trying so much longer to communicate, had not succeeded
in doing the same thing.
154.
Well,
there is of course no difficulty in seeing why poor Lancelot was unable to
communicate with his brother, for that inability is simply the normal condition
of affairs, the wonder is that Cyril was able to materialize himself,
not that Lancelot was not. Not only, however, was the feeling probably
stronger in Cyril’s case, but he also knew exactly what he wanted to do - knew
that such a thing as materialization was a possibility, and had some general
idea as to how it was done - while Lancelot naturally knew nothing of all this
then, though he does now.
156.
Wrecks and Catastrophes
157.
SOMETIMES
it is possible for members of the band of helpers to avert impending
catastrophes of a somewhat larger order. In more than one case when the captain
of a vessel has been carried unsuspecting far out of his course by some unknown
current or through some mistaken reckoning, and has thereby run into serious
danger, it has been possible to prevent shipwreck by repeatedly impressing upon
his mind a feeling that something was wrong; and although this generally comes
through into the captain’s brain merely as a vaguely warning intuition, yet if
it occurs again and again he is almost certain to give it some attention and
take such precautions as suggest themselves to him.
158.
In
one case, for example, in which the master of a barque was much nearer in to
the land than he supposed, he was again and again pressed to heave the lead,
and though he resisted this suggestion for some time as being unnecessary and
absurd, he at last gave the order in a somewhat hesitating way. The result
astounded him, and he at once put his vessel about and stood off from the
coast, though it was not until morning came that he realized how very close he
had been to an appalling disaster.
159.
Often,
however, a catastrophe is kârmic in its nature, and consequently cannot be
averted; but it must not therefore be supposed that in such cases no help can
be given. It may be that the people concerned are destined to die, and
therefore cannot be saved from death; but in many cases they may still be to
some extent prepared for it, and may certainly be helped upon the other side
after it is over. Indeed, it may be definitely stated that wherever a great
catastrophe of any kind takes place, there is also a special sending of help.
160.
Two
recent cases in which such help was given were the sinking of the Drummond
Castle off Cape Ushant, and the terrible cyclone which devastated the city
of St Louis in America. On both these occasions a few minutes’ notice was
given, and the helpers did their best to calm and raise men's minds, so that
when the shock came upon them it would be less disturbing than it might
otherwise have been. Naturally, however, the greater part of the work done with
the victims in both these calamities was done upon the astral plane after they
had left their physical bodies; but of this we shall speak later.
161.
It is
sad to relate how often when some catastrophe is impending the helpers are
hindered in their kindly offices by wild panic among those whom the danger
threatens - or sometimes, worse still, by a mad outburst of drunkenness among
those whom they are trying to assist. Many a ship has gone to her doom with
almost every soul on board mad with drink, and therefore utterly incapable of
profiting by any assistance offered either before death or for a very long time
afterwards.
162.
If it
should ever happen to any of us to find ourselves in a position of imminent
danger which we can do nothing to avert, we should try to remember that help is
certainly near us, and that it rests entirely with ourselves to make the
helper’s work easy or difficult. If we face the danger calmly and bravely,
recognizing that the true ego can in no way be affected by it, our minds will
then be open to receive the guidance which the helpers are trying to give, and
this cannot but be best for us, whether its object be to save us from death or,
when that is impossible, to conduct us safely through it.
163.
Assistance
of this latter kind has not infrequently been given in cases of accidents to
individuals, as well as of more general catastrophes. It will be sufficient to
mention one example as an illustration of what is meant. In one of the great
storms which did so much damage around our coasts a few years ago, it happened
that a fishing boat was capsized far out at sea. The only people on board were
an old fisherman and a boy, and the former contrived to cling for a few minutes
to the overturned boat. There was no physical help at hand, and even if there
had been in such a raging storm it would have been impossible for anything to
be done, so that the fisherman knew well enough that there was no hope of escape,
and that death could only be a question of a few moments. He felt a great
terror at the prospect, being especially impressed by the awful loneliness of
that vast waste of waters, and he was also much troubled with thoughts of his
wife and family, and the difficulties in which they would be left by his sudden
decease.
164.
A
passing helper seeing all this endeavoured to comfort him, but finding his mind
too much disturbed to be impressionable, she thought it advisable to show
herself to him in order to assist him the better. In relating the story
afterwards she said that the change which came over the fisherman's face at
sight of her was wonderful and beautiful to see; with the shining form standing
upon the boat above him he could not think that an angel had been sent to
comfort him in his trouble, and therefore he felt that not only would he
himself be carried safely through the gates of death, but his family would
assuredly be looked after also. So, when death came to him a few moments later,
he was in a frame of mind very different from the terror and perplexity which
had previously overcome him; and naturally when he recovered consciousness upon
the astral plane and found the “angel” still beside him he felt himself at home
with her, and was prepared to accept her advice as regards the new life upon
which he had entered.
165.
Some
time later the same helper was engaged in another piece of work of very similar
character, the story of which she has since told as fellows: “You remember that
steamer that went down in the cyclone at the end of last November; I betook
myself to the cabin where about a dozen women had been shut in, and found them
wailing in the most pitiful manner, sobbing and moaning with fear. The ship had
to founder - no aid was possible - and to go out of the world in this state of
frantic terror is the worst possible way to enter the next. So in order to calm
them I materialized myself, and of course they thought I was an angel, poor
souls; they all fell on their knees and prayed me to save them, and one poor
mother pushed her baby into my arms imploring me to save that at least. They
soon grew quiet and composed as we talked, and the wee baby went to sleep
smiling, and presently they all fell asleep peacefully, and I filled their
minds with thoughts of the heaven-world, so that they did not wake up when the
ship made her final plunge downwards. I went down with them to ensure their
sleeping through the last moments, and they never stirred as their sleep became
death.”
166.
Evidently
in this case, too, those who were thus helped had not only the enormous
advantage of being enabled to meet death calmly and reasonably, but also the
still greater one of being received on its farther shore by one whom they were
already disposed to love and trust - one who thoroughly understood the new
world in which they found themselves, and could not only reassure them as to
their safety, but advise them how to order their lives under these much altered
circumstances. And this brings us to the consideration of one of the largest
and most important departments of the work of invisible helpers - the guidance
and assistance which they are able to give to the dead.
168.
Work Among the Dead
169.
IT is
one of the many evils resulting from the absurdly erroneous teaching as to
conditions after death which is unfortunately current in our western world,
that those who have recently shaken off this mortal coil are usually much
puzzled and often very seriously frightened at finding everything so different
from what their religion had led them to expect. The mental attitude of a large
number of such people was pithily voiced the other day by an English general,
who three days after his death met one of the band of helpers whom he had known
in physical life. After expressing his great relief that he had at last found
someone with whom he was able to communicate, his first remark was: “But if I
am dead, where am I? For if this is heaven I don’t think much of it; and if it
is hell, it is better than I expected.”
170.
But
unfortunately a far greater number take things less philosophically. They have
been taught that all men are destined to eternal flames except a favoured few
who are superhumanly good; and since a very small amount of self-examination
convinces them that they do not belong to that category, they are but
too often in a condition of panic terror, dreading every moment that the new
world in which they find themselves may dissolve and drop them into the
clutches of the devil, in whom they have been sedulously taught to believe. In
many cases they spend long periods of acute mental suffering before they can
free themselves from the fatal influence of this blasphemous doctrine of
everlasting punishment - before they can realize that the world is governed,
not according to the caprice of a hideous demon who gloats over human anguish,
but according to a benevolent and wonderfully patient law of evolution, which
is absolutely just indeed, but yet again and again offers to man opportunities
of progress, if he will but take them, at every stage of his career.
171.
It
ought in fairness to be mentioned that it is only among what are called
protestant communities that this terrible evil assumes its most aggravated
form. The great Roman Catholic Church, with its doctrine of purgatory,
approaches much more nearly to a conception of the astral plane, and it devout
members at any rate realize that the state in which they find themselves
shortly after death is merely a temporary one, and that it is their business to
endeavour to raise themselves out of it as soon as may be by intense spiritual
aspiration, while they accept any suffering which may come to them as necessary
for the wearing away of the imperfections in their character before they can
pass to higher and brighter regions.
172.
It
will thus be seen that there is plenty of work for the helpers to do among the
newly dead, for in the vast majority of cases they need to be calmed and
reassured, to be comforted and instructed. In the astral, just as in the physical
world, there are many who are but little disposed to take advice from those who
know better than they; yet the very strangeness of the conditions surrounding
them renders many of the dead willing to accept the guidance of those to whom
these conditions are obviously familiar; and many a man’s stay on that plane
has been considerably shortened by the earnest efforts of this band of
energetic workers.
173.
Not,
be it understood, that the karma of the dead man can in any way be interfered
with; he has built for himself during life an astral body of a certain degree
of density, and until that body is sufficiently dissolved he cannot pass on
into the heaven-world beyond; but he need not lengthen the period necessary for
that process by adopting an improper attitude.
174.
All
students ought clearly to grasp the truth that the length of a man’s astral
life after he has put off his physical body depends mainly upon two factors -
the nature of his past physical life, and his attitude of mind after what we
call death. During his earth life he is constantly influencing the building of
matter into his astral body. He affects it directly by the passions, emotions
and desires which he allows to hold sway over him; he affects it indirectly by
the action upon it of his thoughts from above, and of the details of his
physical life - his continence or his debauchery, his cleanliness or his
uncleanliness, his food and his drink - from below.
175.
If by
persistence in perversity along any of these lines he is so stupid as to build for
himself a coarse and gross astral vehicle, habituated to responding only to the
lower vibrations of the plane, he will find himself after death bound to that
plane during and long and slow process of that body's disintegration. On the
other hand if by decent and careful living he gives himself a vehicle mainly
composed of finer material, he will have very much less post-mortem
trouble and discomfort, and his evolution will proceed much more rapidly and
easily.
176.
This
much is generally understood, but the second great factor - his attitude of
mind after death - seems often to be forgotten. The desirable thing is for him
to realize his position on this particular little arc of his evolution - to
learn that he is at this stage withdrawing steadily inward towards the plane of
the true ego, and that consequently it is his business to disengage his
thoughts as far as may be from things physical, and to fix his attention more
and more upon those spiritual matters which will occupy him during his life in
the heaven-world. By doing this he will greatly facilitate the natural astral
disintegration, and will avoid the sadly common mistake of unnecessarily
delaying himself upon the lower levels of what should be so temporary a
residence.
177.
But
many of the dead very considerably retard the process of dissolution by
clinging passionately to the earth which they have left; they simply will not
turn their thoughts and desires upward, but spend their time in struggling with
all their might to keep in full touch with the physical plane, thus causing
great trouble to any one who may be trying to help them. Earthly matters are
the only ones in which they have had any living interest, and they cling to
them with desperate tenacity even after death. Naturally as time passes on they
find it increasingly difficult to keep hold of things down here, but instead of
welcoming and encouraging this process of gradual refinement and
spiritualization they resist it vigorously by every means in their power.
178.
Of
course the mighty force of evolution is eventually too strong for them, and
they are swept on in its beneficent current, yet they fight every step of the
way, thereby not only causing themselves a vast amount of entirely unnecessary
pain and sorrow, but also very seriously delaying their upward progress and
prolonging their stay in astral regions to an almost indefinite extent. In
convincing them that this ignorant and disastrous opposition to the cosmic will
is contrary to the laws of nature, and persuading them to adopt an attitude of
mind which is the exact reversal of it, lies a great part of the work of those
who are trying to help.
179.
It
happens occasionally that the dead are earthbound by anxiety - anxiety
sometimes about duties unperformed or debts undischarged, but more often on
account of wife or children left unprovided for. In such cases as this it has
more than once been necessary, before the dead man was satisfied to pursue his
upward path in peace, that the helper should to some extent act as his
representative upon the physical plane, and attend on his behalf to the
settlement of the business which was troubling him. An illustration taken from
our recent experience will perhaps make this clearer.
180.
One
of the band of pupils was trying to assist a poor man who had died in one of
our western cities, but found it impossible to withdraw his mind from earthly
things because of his anxiety about two young children whom his death had left
without means of support. He had been a working man of some sort, and had been unable
to lay by any money for them; his wife had died some two years previously and
his landlady, though exceedingly kindhearted and very willing to do anything in
her power for them, was herself far too poor to be able to adopt them, and very
reluctantly came to the conclusion that she would be obliged to hand them over
to the parish authorities. This was a great grief to the dead father, though he
could not blame the landlady, and was himself unable to suggest any other
course.
181.
Our
friend asked him whether he had no relative to whom he could entrust them, but
the father knew of none. He had a younger brother, he said, who would certainly
have done something for him in this extremity, but he had lost sight of him for
fifteen years, and did not even know whether he was living or dead. When last
heard of he had been apprenticed to a carpenter in the north, and he was then
described as a steady young fellow who, if he lived, would surely get on.
182.
The
clues at hand were certainly very slight, but since there seemed no other
prospect of help for the children, our friend thought it worth while to make a
special effort to follow them up. Taking the dead man with him he commenced a
patient search after the brother in the town indicated; and after a great deal
of trouble they were actually successful in finding him. He was now a master
carpenter in a fairly flourishing way of business - married, but without
children though earnestly desiring them, and therefore apparently just the man
for the emergency.
183.
The
question now was how the information could be conveyed to this brother.
Fortunately he was found to be so far impressionable that the circumstances of
his brother’s death and the destitution of his children could be put vividly
before him in a dream, and this was repeated three times, the place and even
the name of the landlady being clearly indicated to him. He was immensely
impressed by this recurring vision, and discussed it earnestly with his wife,
who advised him to write to the address given. This he did not like to do, but
was strongly inclined to travel down into the west country, find out whether
there was such a house as that which he had seen, and if so make some excuse to
call there. He was a busy man, however, and he finally decided that he could
not afford to lose a day’s work for what after all might well prove to be
nothing but the baseless fabric of a dream.
184.
The
attempt along these lines having apparently failed, it was determined to try
another method, so one of the helpers wrote a letter to the man detailing the
circumstances of his brother’s death and the position of the children, exactly
as he had seen them in his dream. On receipt of this confirmation he no longer
hesitated, but set off the very next day for the town indicated, and was received
with open arms by the kind-hearted landlady. It had been easy enough for the
helpers to persuade her, good soul that she was, to keep the children with her
for a few days on the chance that something or other would turn up for them,
and she has ever since congratulated herself that she did so. The carpenter of
course took the children back with him and provided them with a happy home, and
the dead father, now no longer anxious, passed rejoicing on his upward journey.
185.
Since
some Theosophical writers have felt it their duty to insist in vigorous terms
upon the evils so frequently attendant upon the holding of spiritual séances,
it is only fair to admit that on several occasions good work similar to that of
the helper in the case just described has been done through the agency of a
medium or of some one present at a circle. Thus, though spiritualism has too
often detained souls who but for it would have attained speedier liberation, it
must be set to the credit of its account that it has also furnished the means
of escape to others, and thus opened up the path of advancement for them. There
have been instances in which the defunct has been able to appear unassisted to
his relatives or friends and explain his wishes to them; but these are
naturally rare, and most souls who are earth-bound by anxieties of the kind
indicated can satisfy themselves only by means of the services of the medium or
the conscious helper.
186.
Another
case very frequently encountered on the astral plane is that of the man who
cannot believe that he is dead at all. Indeed, most people consider the very
fact that they are still conscious to be an absolute proof that they have not
passed through the portals of death; somewhat of a satire this, if one thinks
of it, on the practical value of our much vaunted belief in the immortality of
the soul! However they may have labeled themselves during life, the great
majority of those who die, in this country at any rate, show themselves by
their subsequent attitude to have been to all intents and purposes materialists
at heart; and those who on earth have honestly called themselves so are often
no more difficult to deal with than others who would have been shocked at the
very name.
187.
A
very recent instance was that of a scientific man who, finding himself fully
conscious, and yet under conditions differing radically from any that he had
ever experienced before, had persuaded himself that he was still alive, and
merely the victim of a prolonged and unpleasant dream. Fortunately for him
there happened to be among the band of those able to function upon the astral
plane a son of an old friend of his, a young man whose father had commissioned
him to search for the departed scientist and endeavour to render him some
assistance. When after some trouble the youth found and accosted him, he
frankly admitted that he was in a condition of great bewilderment and
discomfort, but still clung desperately to his dream hypothesis as on the whole
the most probable explanation of what he saw, and even went so far as to suggest
that his visitor was nothing but a dream-figure himself!
188.
At
last, however, he so far gave way as to propose a kind of test, and said to the
young man, “If you are, as you assert, a living person, and the son of my old
friend, bring me from him some message that shall prove to me your objective
reality.” Now although under all ordinary conditions of the physical plane the
giving of any kind of phenomenal proof is strictly forbidden to the pupils of
the Masters, it seemed as though a case of this kind hardly came under the
rules; and therefore, when it had been ascertained that there was no objection
on the part of higher authorities, an application was made to the father, who
at once sent a message referring to a series of events which had occurred before
the son’s birth. This convinced the dead man of the real existence of his young
friend, and therefore of the plane upon which they were both functioning; and
as soon as he felt this established, his scientific training at once reasserted
itself, and he became exceeding eager to acquire all possible information about
this new region.
189.
Of
course the message which he so readily accepted as evidence was in reality no
proof at all, since the facts to which it referred might have been read from
his own mind or from the records of the past by any creature possessed of
astral senses! But his ignorance of these possibilities enabled this definite
impression to be made upon him, and the Theosophical instruction which his
young friend is now nightly giving to him will undoubtedly have a stupendous
effect upon his future, for it cannot but greatly modify not only the
heaven-state which lies immediately before him, but also his next incarnation
upon earth.
190.
The
main work, then, done for the newly dead by our helpers is that of soothing and
comforting them - of delivering them when possible from the terrible though
unreasoning fear which but too often seizes them, and not only causes them much
unnecessary suffering, but retards their progress to higher spheres - and of enabling
them as far as may be to comprehend the future that lies before them.
191.
Others
who have been longer on the astral plane may also receive much help, if they
will but accept it, from explanations and advice as to their course through its
different stages. They may, for example, be warned of the danger and delay
caused by attempting to communicate with the living through a medium, and
sometimes (though rarely) an entity already drawn into a spiritualistic circle
may be guided into higher and healthier life. Teaching thus given to persons on
this plane is by no means lost for though the memory of it cannot of course be
directly carried over to the next incarnation, there always remains the real
inner knowledge, and therefore the strong predisposition to accept it
immediately when heard again in the new life.
192.
A
rather remarkable instance of service rendered to the dead was the first
achievement of a very recent recruit to the band of helpers - one who is hardly
as yet a fully-fledged member. This young aspirant had not long before lost an
aged relation for whom he had felt an especially warm affection; and his
earliest request was to be taken by a more experienced friend to visit her in
the hope that he might be of some service to her. This was done and the effect
of the meeting of the living and the dead was very beautiful and touching. The
older person’s astral life was already approaching its end, but a condition of
apathy, dullness and uncertainty prevented her from making any immediate
progress.
193.
But
when the boy, who had been so much to her in earth-life, stood once more before
her and dissolved by the sunlight of his love the grey mist of depression which
had gathered around her, she was aroused from her stupor; and soon she
understood that he had come in order to explain to her her situation, and to
tell her of the glories of the higher life toward which her thoughts and
aspirations ought now to be directed. But when this was fully realized, there
was such an awakening of dormant feeling in her and such an outrush of devoted
affection towards her earnest young helper, that the last fetters which bound
her to the astral life were broken, and that one great outburst of love and
gratitude swept her forthwith into the higher consciousness of the heaven-world.
Truly there is no greater and more beneficent power in the universe than that
of pure, unselfish love.
195.
Other Branches of the Work
196.
BUT
turning back again now from the all-important work among the dead to the
consideration of the work among the living, we must briefly indicate a great
branch of it, without a notice of which our account of the labours of our
invisible helpers would indeed be incomplete, and that is the immense amount
which is done by suggestion - by simply putting good thoughts into the minds of
those who are ready to receive them.
197.
Let
there be no mistake as to what is meant here. It would be perfectly easy - easy
to a degree which would be quite incredible to those who do not understand the
subject practically - for a helper to dominate the mind of any average man, and
make him think just as he pleased, and that without arousing the faintest
suspicion of any outside influence in the mind of the subject. But, however
admirable the result might be, such a proceeding would be entirely
inadmissible. All that may be done is to throw the good thought into the
person’s mind as one among the hundreds that are constantly sweeping through
it; whether the man takes it up, makes it his own, and acts upon it, depends
upon himself entirely. Were it otherwise, it is obvious that all the good karma
of the action would accrue to the helper only, for the subject would have been
a mere tool, and not an actor - which is not what is desired.
198.
The
assistance given in this way is exceedingly varied in character. The
consolation of those who are suffering or in sorrow at once suggests itself, as
does also the endeavour to guide toward the truth those who are earnestly
seeking it. When a person is spending much anxious thought upon some spiritual
or metaphysical problem, it is often possible to put the solution into his mind
without his being at all aware that it comes from external agency.
199.
A
pupil too may often be employed as an agent in what can hardly be described
otherwise than as the answering of prayer; for though it is true that any
earnest spiritual desire, such as might be supposed to find its expression in
prayer, is itself a force which automatically brings about certain results, it
is also a fact that such a spiritual effort offers an opportunity of influence
to the Powers of Good, of which they are not slow to take advantage; and it is
sometimes the privilege of a willing helper to be made the channel through
which their energy is poured forth. What is said of prayers is true to an even
greater extent of meditation, for those to whom this higher exercise is a
possibility.
200.
Besides
these more general methods of help there are also special lines open only to
the few. Again and again such pupils as are fitted for the work have been employed
to suggest true and beautiful thoughts to authors, poets, artists and
musicians; but obviously it is not every helper who is capable of being used in
this way.
201.
Sometimes,
though more rarely, it is possible to warn persons of the danger to their moral
development of some course which they are pursuing, to clear away evil
influences from about some person or place, or to counteract the machinations
of black magicians. It is not often that direct instruction in the great truths
of nature can be given to people outside the circle of occult students, but
occasionally it is possible to do something in that way by putting before the
minds of preachers and teachers a wider range of thought or a more liberal view
of some question than they would otherwise have taken.
202.
Naturally
as an occult student progresses on the Path he attains a wider sphere of
usefulness. Instead of assisting individuals only, he learns how classes,
nations and races are dealt with, and he is entrusted with a gradually
increasing share of the higher and more important work done by the adepts
themselves. As he acquires the requisite power and knowledge he begins to wield
the greater forces of the mental and the astral planes and is shown how to make
the utmost possible use of each favourable cyclic influence. He is brought into
relation with those great Nirmânakâyas who are sometimes symbolized as the
Stones of the Guardian Wall, and he becomes - at first of course in the very
humblest capacity - one of the and of their almoners, and learns how those
forces are dispersed which are the fruit of their sublime self-sacrifice. Thus
he rises gradually higher and higher until, blossoming at length into
adeptship, he is able to take his full share of the responsibility which lies
upon the Masters of Wisdom, and to help others along the road which he has
trodden.
203.
On
the mental plane the work differs somewhat, since teaching can be both given
and received in a much more direct, rapid and perfect manner, while the
influences set in motion are infinitely more powerful, because acting on so
much higher a level. But (though it is useless to speak of it in detail at
present, since so few of us are yet able to function consciously upon this
plane during life) here also - and even higher still - there is always plenty
of work to be done, as soon as ever we can make ourselves capable of doing it;
and there is certainly no fear that for countless ćons we shall ever find
ourselves without a career of unselfish usefulness open before us.
205.
The Qualifications Required
206.
HOW,
it may be asked, are we to make ourselves capable of sharing in this great
work? Well, there is no mystery as to the qualifications which are needed by
one who aspires to be a helper; the difficulty is not in learning what they
are, but in developing them in oneself. To some extent they have been already
incidentally described, but it is nevertheless as well that they should be set
out fully and categorically.
207.
Single-mindedness. The first requisite is that we shall have
recognized the great work which the Masters would have us do, and that it shall
be for us the one great interest in our lives. We must learn to distinguish not
only between useful and useless work, but between the different kinds of useful
work, so that we may each devote ourselves to the very highest of which we are
capable, and not fritter away our time in labouring at something which, however
good it may be for the man who cannot yet do anything better, is unworthy of
the knowledge and capacity which should be ours as Theosophists. A man who
wishes to be considered eligible for employment on higher planes must begin by
doing the utmost that lies in his power in the way of definite work for
Theosophy down here.
208.
Of course
I do not for a moment mean that we are to neglect the ordinary duties of life.
We should certainly do well to undertake no new worldly duties of any sort, but
those which we have already bound upon our shoulders have become a kârmic
obligation which we have no right to neglect. Unless we have done to the full
the duties which karma has laid upon us we are not free for the higher work.
But this higher work must nevertheless be to us the one thing really worth
living for - the constant background of a life which is consecrated to the
service of the Masters of Compassion.
209.
Perfect
self-control. Before we
can be safely trusted with the wider powers of the astral life, we must have
ourselves perfectly in hand. Our temper, for example, must be thoroughly under
control, so that nothing that we may see or hear can cause real irritation in
us, for the consequences of such irritation would be far more serious on that
plane than on this. The force of thought is always an enormous power, but down
here it is reduced and deadened by the heavy physical brain-particles which it
has to set in motion. In the astral world it is far freer and more potent, and
for a man with fully awakened faculty to feel anger against a person there
would be to do him serious and perhaps even fatal injury.
210.
Not
only do we need control of temper, but control of nerve, so that none of the
fantastic or terrible sights that we may encounter may be able to shake our
dauntless courage. It must be remembered that the pupil who awakens a man upon
the astral plane incurs thereby a certain amount of responsibility for his
actions and for his safety, so that unless his neophyte had courage to stand
alone the whole of the older worker’s time would be wasted in hovering round to
protect him, which it would be manifestly unreasonable to expect.
211.
It is
to make sure of this control of nerve, and to fit them for the work that has to
be done, that candidates are always made, now as in days of old, to pass what
are called the tests of earth, water, air and fire.
212.
In
other words, they have to learn with that absolute certainty that comes not by
theory, but by practical experience, that in their astral bodies none of these
elements can by any possibility be hurtful to them - that none can oppose any
obstacle in the way the work which they have to do.
213.
In
this physical body we are fully convinced that fire will burn us, that water
will drown us, that the solid rock forms an impassable barrier to our progress,
that we cannot with safety launch ourselves unsupported into the ambient air.
So deeply is this conviction ingrained in us that it costs most men a good deal
of effort to overcome the instinctive action which follows from it, and to
realize that in the astral body the densest rock offers no impediment to their
freedom of motion, that they may leap with impunity from the highest cliff, and
plunge with the most absolute confidence into the heart of the raging volcano
or the deepest abysses of the fathomless ocean.
214.
Yet
until a man knows this - knows it sufficiently to act upon his knowledge
instinctively and confidently - he is comparatively useless for astral work,
since in emergencies that are constantly arising he would be perpetually
paralyzed by imaginary disabilities. So he has to go through his tests, and
through many another strange experience - to meet face to face with calm
courage the most terrifying apparitions amid the most loathsome surroundings -
to show in fact that his nerve may be thoroughly trusted under any and all of
the varied groups of circumstances in which he may at any moment find himself.
215.
Further,
we need control of mind and of desire; of mind, because without the power of
concentration it would be impossible to do good work amid all the distracting
currents of the astral plane; of desire, because in that strange world to
desire is very often to have, and unless this part of our nature were well
controlled we might perchance find ourselves face to face with creations of our
own of which we should be heartily ashamed.
216.
Calmness.
This is another most
important point - the absence of all worry and depression. Much of the work
consists in soothing those who are disturbed, and cheering those who are in
sorrow; and how can a helper do that work if his own aura is vibrating with
constant fuss and worry, or grey with the deadly gloom that comes from
perpetual depression? Nothing is more hopelessly fatal to occult progress or
usefulness than our nineteenth century habit of ceaselessly worrying over
trifles - of eternally making mountains out of molehills. Many of us simply
spend our lives in magnifying the most absurd trivialities - in solemnly and
elaborately going to work to make ourselves miserable about nothing.
217.
Surely
we who are Theosophists ought, at any rate, to have got beyond this stage of
irrational worry and causeless depression; surely we, who are trying to acquire
some definite knowledge of the cosmic order, ought by this time to have
realized that the optimistic view of everything is always nearest to the divine
view, and therefore to the truth, because only that in any person which is good
and beautiful can by any possibility be permanent, while the evil must by its
very nature be temporary. In fact, as Browning said, “the evil is null, is
naught, is silence implying sound,” while above and beyond it all “the soul of
things is sweet, the Heart of Being is celestial rest.” So They who know
maintain unruffled calm, and with Their perfect sympathy combine the joyous
serenity which comes from the certainty that all will at last be well; and
those who wish to help must learn to follow Their example.
218.
Knowledge. To be of use the man must at least have
some knowledge of the nature of the plane on which he has to work, and the more
knowledge he has in any and every direction the more useful he will be. He must
fit himself for this task by carefully studying Theosophical literature; for he
cannot expect those whose time is already so fully occupied to waste some of it
in explaining to him what he might have learnt down here by taking the trouble
to read the books. No one who is not already as earnest a student as his
capacities and opportunities permit, need begin to think of himself as a
candidate for astral work.
219.
Unselfishness. It would seem scarcely needful to assist
upon this as a qualification, for surely everyone who has made the least study
of Theosophy must know that while the slightest taint of selfishness remains in
a man, he is not yet fit to be entrusted with higher powers, not yet fit to
enter upon a work of whose very essence it is that the worker should forget
himself but to remember the good of others. He who is still capable of selfish
thought, whose personality is still so strong in him that he can allow himself
to be turned aside from his work by feelings of petty pride or suggestions of
wounded dignity - that man is not yet ready to show the selfless devotion of
the helper.
220.
Love. This, the last and greatest of the
qualifications, is also the most misunderstood. Most emphatically it is not
the cheap, namby-pamby backboneless sentimentalism which is always overflowing
into vague platitudes and gushing generalities, yet fears to stand firm for the
right lest it should be branded by the ignorant as “unbrotherly.” What is
wanted is the love which is strong enough not to boast itself, but to
act without talking about it - the intense desire for service which is ever on
the watch for an opportunity to render it, even though it prefers to do so
anonymously - the feeling which springs up in the heart of him who has realized
the great work of the Logos, and having once seen it, knows that for him there
can be in the three worlds no other course but to identify himself with it to
the utmost limit of his power - to become, in however humble a way, and at
however great a distance, a tiny channel of that wondrous love of God which,
like the peace of God, passeth man’s understanding.
221.
These
are the qualities toward the possession of which the helper must ceaselessly
strive, and of which some considerable measure at least must be his before he
can hope that the Great Ones who stand behind will deem him fit for full
awakening. The ideal is in truth a high one, yet none need therefore turn away
disheartened, nor think that while he is still but struggling toward it he must
necessarily remain entirely useless on the astral plane, for short of the
responsibilities and dangers of that full awakening there is much that may
safely and usefully be done.
222.
There
is hardly one among us who would not be capable of performing at least one
definite act of mercy and good will each night while we are away from our
bodies. Our condition when asleep is usually one of absorption in thought, be
it remembered - a carrying on of the thoughts that have principally occupied us
during the day, and especially of the last thought in the mind when sinking
into sleep. Now if we make that last thought a strong intention to go and give
help to some one whom we know to be in need of it, the soul when freed from the
body will undoubtedly carry out that intention, and the help will be given.
There are several cases on record in which, when this attempt has been made,
the person thought of has been fully conscious of the effort of the would-be
helper, and has even seen his astral body in the act of carrying out the
instructions impressed upon it.
223.
Indeed,
no one need sadden himself with the thought that he can have no part nor lot in
this glorious work. Such a feeling would be entirely untrue, for every one who
can think can help. Nor need such useful action be confined to our hours of
sleep. If you know (and who does not?) of some one who is in sorrow or
suffering, though you may not be able consciously to stand in astral form by
their bedside, you can nevertheless send them loving thoughts and earnest good
wishes; and be well assured that such thoughts and wishes are real and living
and strong - that when you so send them they do actually go and work your will
in proportion to the strength which you have put into them. Thoughts are
things, intensely real things, visible enough to those whose eyes have been
opened to see, and by their means the poorest man may bear his part in the good
work of the world as fully as the richest. In this way at least, whether we can
yet function consciously upon the astral plane or not, we all can join, and we
all ought to join, the army of invisible helpers.
224.
But
the aspirant, who definitely desires to become one of the band of astral
helpers who are working under the direction of the great Masters of Wisdom,
will make his preparation part of a far wider scheme of development. Instead of
merely endeavouring to fit himself for this particular branch of their service,
he will undertake with high resolution the far greater task of training himself
to follow in their footsteps, of bending all the energies of his soul to attain
even as they have attained, so that his power of helping the world may not be
confined to the astral plane, but may extend to those higher levels which are
the true home of the divine self of man.
225.
For
him the path has been marked out long ago by the wisdom of those who have
trodden it in days of old - a path of self-development which sooner or later
all must follow, whether they choose to adopt it of their own free will, or to
wait until, after many lives and an infinity of suffering, the slow, resistless
force of evolution drives them along it among the laggards of the human family.
But the wise man is he who eagerly enters upon it immediately, setting his face
resolutely toward the goal of adeptship, in order that, being safe for ever
from all doubt and fear and sorrow himself, he may help others into safety and
happiness also. What are the steps of this Path of Holiness, as the Buddhists
call it, and in what order they are arranged, let us see in our next chapter.
227.
The Probationary Path
228.
EASTERN
books tell us that there are four means by which a man may be brought to the
beginning of the path of spiritual advancement: 1. By the companionship of
those who have already entered upon it. 2. By the hearing or reading of
definite teaching on occult philosophy. 3. By enlightened reflection; that is
to say, that by sheer force of hard thinking and close reasoning he may arrive
at the truth, or some portion of it, for himself. 4. By the practice of virtue,
which means that a long series of virtuous lives, though it does not
necessarily involve any increase of intellectuality, does eventually develop in
man sufficient intuition to enable him to grasp the necessity of entering upon
the path, and show him in what direction it lies.
229.
When,
by one or another of these means, he has arrived at this point, the way to the
highest adeptship lies straight before him, if he chooses to take it. In
writing for students of occultism it is hardly necessary to say that at our
present stage of development we cannot expect to learn all, or nearly all,
about any but the lowest steps of this path; whilst of the highest we know
little but the names, though we may get occasional glimpses of the
indescribable glory which surrounds them.
230.
According
to the esoteric teachings these steps are grouped in three great divisions:
231.
The
probationary period, before any definite pledges are taken, or initiations (in
the full sense of the word) are given. This carries a man to the level necessary
to pass successfully through what in Theosophical books is usually called the
critical period of the fifth round.
232.
The
period of pledged discipleship, or the path proper, whose four stages are often
spoken of in Oriental books as the four paths of holiness. At the end of this
the pupil obtains adeptship - the level which humanity should reach at the
close of the seventh round.
233.
What
we may venture to call the official period, in which the adept takes a definite
part (under the great Cosmic Law) in the government of the world, and holds a
special office connected therewith, Of course every adept - every pupil even,
when once definitely accepted, as we have seen in the earlier chapters - takes
a part in the great work of helping forward the evolution of man; but those
standing on the higher levels take charge of special departments, and
correspond in the cosmic scheme to the ministers of the crown in a well-ordered
earthly state. It is not proposed to make any attempt in this book to treat of
this official period; no information about it has ever been made public, and
the whole subject is too far above our comprehension to be profitably dealt
with in print. We will confine ourselves therefore to the two earlier
divisions.
234.
Before
going into details of the probationary period it is well to mention that in
most of the Eastern sacred books this stage is regarded as merely preliminary,
and scarcely as part of the path at all, for they consider that the latter is
really entered upon only when definite pledges have been given. Considerable
confusion has been created by the fact that the numbering of the stages
occasionally commences at this point, though more often at the beginning of the
second great division; sometimes the stages themselves are counted, and
sometimes the initiations leading into or out of them, so that in studying the
books one has to be perpetually on one’s guard to avoid misunderstanding.
235.
This
probationary period, however, differs considerably in character from the
others; the divisions between its stages are less decidedly marked than are
those of the higher groups, and the requirements are not so definite or so
exacting. But it will be easier to explain this last point after giving a list
of the five stages of this period, with their respective qualifications. The
first four were very ably described by Mr Mohini Mohun Chatterji in the first
Transaction of the London Lodge, to which readers may be referred for fuller
definitions of them than can be given here. Much exceedingly valuable
information about them is also given by Mrs. Besant in her books The Path of
Discipleship and In the Outer Court.
236.
The
names given to the stages will differ somewhat, for in those books the Hindu
Sanskrit terminology was employed, whereas the Pâli nomenclature used here is
that of the Buddhist system; but although the subject is thus approached from a
different side as it were, the qualifications exacted will be found to be
precisely the same in effect even when the outward form varies. In the case of
each word the mere dictionary meaning will first be given in parentheses, and
the explanation of it which is usually given by the teacher will follow. The
first stage, then is called among Buddhists.
237.
Manodvâravajjana
(the opening of the doors of the mind, or perhaps escaping by the door of the
mind) - and in it the candidate acquires a firm intellectual conviction of the
impermanence and worthlessness of mere earthly aims. This is often described as
learning the difference between the real and the unreal; and to learn it often
takes a long time and many hard lessons. Yet it is obvious that it must be the
first step toward anything like real progress, for no man can enter
whole-heartedly upon the path until he has definitely decided to “set his
affection upon things above, not on things on the earth,” and that decision
comes from the certainty that nothing on earth has any value as compared with
the higher life. This step is called by the Hindus the acquirement of Viveka or
discrimination, and Mr. Sinnett speaks of it as the giving allegiance to the
higher self.
238.
Parikamma
(preparation for action) - the stage in which the candidate learns to do the
right merely because it is right, without considering his own gain or loss
either in this world or the future, and acquires, as the Eastern books put it,
perfect indifference to the enjoyment of the fruit of his own actions. This
indifference is the natural result of the previous step; for when the neophyte
has once grasped the unreal and impermanent character of all earthly rewards,
he ceases to crave for them; when once the radiance of the real has shone upon
the soul, nothing below that can any longer be an object of desire. This higher
indifference is called by the Hindus Vairâgya.
239.
Upachâro
(attention or conduct) - the stage in which what are called “the six
qualifications” (the Shatsampatti of the Hindus) must be acquired. These are
called in Pâli:
a.
Samo (quietude) - that purity and calmness
of thought which comes from perfect control of the mind - a qualification
exceedingly difficult of attainment, and yet most necessary, for unless the
mind moves only in obedience to the guidance of the will it cannot be a perfect
instrument for the Master’s work in the future. This qualification is a very
comprehensive one, and includes within itself both the self-control and the
calmness which were described in chapter xiv. as necessary for astral work.
b.
Damo (subjugation) - a similar mastery
over, and therefore purity in, one’s actions and words - a quality which again
follows necessarily from its predecessor.
c.
Uparti (cessation) - explained as
cessation from bigotry or from belief in the necessity of any act or ceremony
prescribed by a particular religion - so leading the aspirant to independence
of thought and to a wide and generous tolerance.
d.
Titikkhâ (endurance or forbearance) - by
which is meant the readiness to bear with cheerfulness whatever one’s karma may
bring upon one, and to part with anything and everything worldly whenever it
may be necessary. It also includes the idea of complete absence of resentment
for wrong, the man knowing that those who do him wrong are but the instruments
of his own karma.
e.
Samâdhâna (intentness) - one-pointedness
involving the incapability of being turned aside from one’s path by temptation.
This corresponds very closely with the single-mindness spoken of in the
previous chapter.
f.
Saddhâ (faith) - confidence in one’s
Master and oneself: confidence, that is, that the Master is a competent
teacher, and that, however diffident the pupil may feel as to his own powers,
he has yet within him that divine spark which when fanned into a flame will one
day enable him to achieve even as his Master has done.
240.
Anuloma
(direct order or succession, signifying that its attainment follows as a
natural consequence from the other three) - the stage in which is acquired that
intense desire for liberation from earthly life, and for union with the
highest, which is called by the Hindus Mumukshatva.
241.
Gotrabhű
(the condition of fitness for initiation); in this stage the candidate gathers
up, as it were, his previous acquisitions, and strengthens them to the degree necessary
for the next great step, which will set his feet upon the path proper as an
accepted pupil. The attainment of this level is followed very rapidly by
initiation into the next grade. In answer to the question, “Who is the
Gotrabhű?” Buddha says, “The man who is in possession of those conditions upon
which the commencement of sanctification immediately ensues - he is the
Gotrabhű
242.
The
wisdom necessary for the reception of the path of holiness is called
Gotrabhű-gńâna.
243.
Now that
we have hastily glanced at the steps of the probationary period, we must
emphasize the point to which reference was made at the commencement - that the perfect
attainment of these accomplishments and qualifications is not expected at this
early stage. As Mr. Mohini says, “If all these are equally strong, adeptship is
attained in the same incarnation.” But such a result is of course extremely
rare. It is in the direction of these acquirements that the candidate must
ceaselessly strive, but it would be an error to suppose that no one has been
admitted to the next step without possessing all of them in the fullest
possible degree. Nor do they necessarily follow one another in the same
definite order as the later steps; in fact, in many cases a man would be
developing the various qualifications all at the same time - rather side by
side than in regular succession.
244.
It is
obvious that a man might easily be working along a great part of this path even
though he was quite unaware of its very existence, and no doubt many a good
Christian, many an earnest freethinker is already far on the road that will
eventually lead him to initiation, though he may never have heard the word
occultism in his life. I mention these two classes especially, because in every
other religion occult development is recognized as a possibility, and would
certainly therefore be intentionally sought by those who felt yearnings for
something more satisfactory than the exoteric faiths.
245.
We
must also note that the steps of this probationary period are not separated by
initiations in the full sense of the word, though they will certainly be
studded with tests and trials of all sorts and on all planes, and may be
relieved by encouraging experiences, and by hints and help whenever these may
safely be given. We are apt sometimes to use the word initiation somewhat
loosely, as for example when it is applied to such tests as have just been
mentioned; properly speaking it refers only to the solemn ceremony at which a
pupil is formally admitted to a higher grade by an appointed official, who in
the name of the One Initiator receives his plighted vow, and puts into his
hands the new key of knowledge which he is to use on the level to which he has
now attained. Such an initiation is taken at the entrance to the division which
we shall next consider, and also at each passage from any one of its steps to
the next.
247.
The Path Proper
248.
IT is
in the four stages of this division of the path that the ten Samyojana, or
fetters which bind man to the circle of rebirth and hold him back from Nirvâna,
must be cast off. And here comes the difference between this period of pledged
discipleship and the previous probation. No partial success in getting rid of
these fetters is sufficient now; before a candidate can pass on from one of the
steps to the next he must be entirely free from certain of these clogs;
and when they are enumerated it will be seen how far-reaching this requirement
is, and there will be little cause to wonder at the statement made in the sacred
books that seven incarnations are sometimes required to pass through this
division of the path.
249.
Each
of these four steps or stages is again divided into four: for each has (1) its
Maggo, or way, during which the student is striving to cast off the fetters;
(2) its Phala (result or fruit) when he finds the results of his action in so
doing showing themselves more and more; (3) its Bhavagga or consummation, the
period when, the result having culminated, he is able to fulfil satisfactorily
the work belonging to the step on which he now firmly stands; and (4) its
Gotrabhű, meaning, as before, the time when he arrives at a fit state to
receive the next initiation. The first stage is:
250.
Sotâpatti
or Sohan. The pupil who has attained this level is spoken of as the Sowani or
Sotâpanna - “he who has entered the stream, - “because from this period, though
he may linger, though he may succumb to more refined temptations and turn aside
from his course for a time, he can no longer fall back altogether from spirituality
and become a mere worldling. He has entered upon the stream of definite higher
human evolution, upon which all humanity must enter by the middle of the next
round, unless they are to be left behind as temporary failures by the great
life-wave, to wait for further progress until the next chain of worlds.
251.
The
pupil who is able to take this initiation has therefore already outstripped the
majority of humanity to the extent of an entire round of all our seven planets,
and in doing so has definitely secured himself against the possibility of
falling out of the stream in the fifth round. He is consequently sometimes
spoken of as “the saved” or “the safe one.” It is from a misunderstanding of
this idea that there arises the curious theory of salvation promulgated by a
certain section of the Christian community. The “ćonian salvation” of which
some of its documents speak is not, as has been blasphemously supposed by the
ignorant, from eternal torture, but simply from wasting the rest of this ćon or
dispensation by falling out of its line of progress. This also is the meaning,
naturally, of the celebrated clause in the Athanasian Creed, “Whosoever will be
saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith” (See The
Christian Creed, p.91). The fetters which he must cast off before he can
pass into the next stage are:
252.
Sakkâyaditthi
- the delusion of self.
253.
Vichikichchhâ
- doubt or uncertainty.
254.
Sîlabbataparâmâsa
- superstition.
255.
The
first of these is the “I am I” consciousness, which as connected with the personality
is nothing but an illusion, and must be got rid of at the very first step of
the real upward path. But to cast off this fetter completely means even more
than this, for it involves the realization of the fact that the individuality
also is in very truth one with the All, that it can therefore never have any
interests opposed to those of its brethren, and that it is most truly
progressing when it most assists the progress of others.
256.
For
the very sign and seal of the attainment of the Sotâpatti level is the first
entrance of the pupil into the plane next above the mental - that which we
usually call the buddhic. It may be - nay, it will be - the merest touch of the
lowest sub-plane of that stupendously exalted condition that the pupil can as
yet experience, even with his Master’s help; but even that touch is something
that can never be forgotten - something that opens a new world before him, and
entirely revolutionizes his feelings and conceptions. Then for the first time,
by means of the extended consciousness of that plane, he truly realizes the
underlying unity of all, not as an intellectual conception merely, but as a
definite fact that is patent to his opened eyes; then first he really knows
something of the world in which he lives - then first he gets some slight
glimpse of what the love and compassion of the great Masters must be.
257.
As to
the second fetter, a word of caution is necessary. We who have been trained in
European habits of thought are unhappily so familiar with the idea that a blind
unreasoning adhesion to certain dogmas may be claimed from a disciple, that or
hearing that occultism considers doubt as an obstacle to progress, we
are likely to suppose that it also requires the same unquestioning faith from
its followers as modern superstitions do. No idea could be more certainly
false.
258.
It is
true that doubt (or rather uncertainty) on certain questions is a bar to
spiritual progress, but the antidote to that doubt is not blind faith (which is
itself considered as a fetter, as will presently be seen) but the certainty of
conviction founded on individual experiment or mathematical reasoning. While a
child doubted the accuracy of the multiplication table he would hardly acquire
proficiency in the higher mathematics; but his doubts could be satisfactorily
cleared up only by his attaining a comprehension, founded on reasoning or
experiment, that the statements contained in the table are true. He believes
that twice two are four, not merely because he has been told so, but because it
has become to him a self-evident fact. And this is exactly the method, and the
only method, of resolving doubt known to occultism.
259.
Vichikichchhâ
has been defined as doubt of the doctrines of karma and reincarnation, and of
the efficacy of the method of attaining the highest good by this path of
holiness; and the casting off of this Samyojana is the arriving at absolute
certainty, based either upon personal first-hand knowledge or upon reason, that
the occult teaching upon these points is true.
260.
The
third fetter to be got rid of comprehends all kinds of unreasoning or mistaken
belief, all dependence on the efficacy of outward rites and ceremonies to
purify the heart. He who would cast it off must learn to depend upon himself
alone, not upon others, nor upon the outer husk of any religion.
261.
The
first three fetters are in a coherent series. The difference between
individuality and personality being fully realized, it is then possible to some
extent to appreciate the actual course of reincarnation, and so as to dispel
all doubt on that head. This done, the knowledge of the spiritual permanence of
the true ego gives rise to reliance on one’s own spiritual strength, and so
dispels superstition.
262.
II.
Sakadâgâmî. The pupil who has entered upon this second stage is spoken of as a
Sakridâgâmin - “the man who returns but once” - signifying that a man who has
reached this level should need but one more incarnation before attaining
arahatship. At this step no additional fetters are cast off, but the pupil is
occupied in reducing to a minimum those which still enchain him. It is,
however, usually a period of considerable psychic and intellectual advancement.
263.
If
what are commonly called psychic faculties have not been previously acquired,
they must be developed at this stage, as without them it would be impossible to
assimilate the knowledge which must now be given, or to do the higher work for
humanity in which the pupil is now privileged to assist. He must have the
astral consciousness at his command during his physical waking life, and during
sleep the heaven-world will be open before him - for the consciousness of a man
when away from his physical body is always one stage higher than it is while he
is still burdened with the house of flesh.
264.
III.
Anâgâmi. The Anâgâmin (he who does not return) is so called because, having
reached this stage, he ought to be able to attain the next one in the life he
is then living. He enjoys, while moving through the round of his daily work,
all the splendid possibilities of progress given by the full possession of the
priceless faculties of the heaven-world, and when he leaves his physical
vehicle at night he enters once more into the wonderfully-widened consciousness
that belongs to the buddhi. In this step he finally gets rid of any lingering
remains of the two fetters of
265.
Kâmarâga
- attachment to the enjoyment of sensation, typified by earthly love, and
266.
Patigha
- all possibility of anger or hatred.
267.
The
student who has cast off these fetters can no longer be swayed by the influence
of his senses either in the direction of love or hatred, and is free from
either attachment to or impatience of physical plane conditions.
268.
Here
again we must guard against a possible misconception - one with which we
frequently meet. The purest and noblest human love never dies away - is never
in any way diminished by occult training; on the contrary, it is increased and
widened until it embraces all with the same fervour which at first was lavished
on one or two. But the student does in time rise above all considerations
connected with the mere personality of those around him, and so is free
from all the injustice and partiality which ordinary love so often brings in
its train.
269.
Nor
should it for a moment be supposed that in gaining this wide affection for all
he loses the especial love for his closer friends. The unusually perfect link
between Ânanda and the Buddha, as between S. John and Jesus, is on record to
prove that on the contrary this is enormously intensified; and the tie between
a Master and his pupils is stronger far than any earthly bond. For the
affection which flourishes upon the path of holiness is an affection between
egos, and not merely between personalities; therefore it is strong and
permanent, without fear of diminution or fluctuation, for it is that “perfect
love which casteth out fear.”
270.
IV.
Arahat (the venerable, the perfect). On attaining this level the aspirant
constantly enjoys the consciousness of the buddhic plane, and is able to use
its powers and faculties while still in the physical body; and when he leaves
that body in sleep or trance he passes at once into the unutterable glory of
the nirvânic plane. In this stage the occultist must cast off the last remains
of the five remaining fetters, which are:
271.
Rűparâga
- desire for beauty of form or for physical existence in a form, even including
that in the heaven-world.
272.
Arűparâga
- desire for formless life
273.
Mâno
- pride.
274.
Uddhachcha
- agitation or irritability.
275.
10.Avijjâ
- ignorance.
276.
On
this we may remark that the casting off of Rűparâga involves not only getting
rid of desire for earthly life, however grand or noble that life may be, and
astral or devachanic life, however glorious, but also of all liability to be
unduly influenced or repelled by the external beauty or ugliness of any person
or thing.
277.
Arűparâga
- desire for life either in the highest and formless planes of the heaven-world
or in the still more exalted buddhic plane -would be merely a higher and less
sensual form of selfishness, and must be cast off just as much as the lower.
Uddhachcha really means “liability to be disturbed in mind,” and a man who had
finally cast off this fetter would be absolutely unruffled by anything whatever
that might happen to him - perfectly impervious to any kind of attack upon his
dignified serenity.
278.
The
getting rid of ignorance of course implies the acquisition of perfect knowledge
- practical omniscience as regards our planetary chain. When all the fetters
are finally cast off the advancing ego reaches the fifth stage - the stage of
full adeptship - and becomes.
279.
V.
Asekha, “the one who has no more to learn,” again as regards our planetary
chain. It is quite impossible for us to realize at our present level what this
attainment means. All the splendor of the nirvânic plane lies open before the
waking eyes of the adept, while when he chooses to leave his body he has the
power to enter upon something higher still - a plane which to us is the merest
name. As Professor Rhys Davids explains, “He is now free from all sin; he sees
and values all things in this life and their true value; all evil being rooted
from his mind he experiences only righteous desires for himself and tender pity
and regard and exalted love for others.”
280.
To
show how little he has lost the sentiment of love, we read in the Metta Sutta
of the state of mind of one who stands at this level: “As a mother loves, who
even at the risk of her own life protects her only son, such love let there be
toward all beings. Let goodwill without measure prevail in the whole world,
above, below, around, unstinted, unmixed with any feeling of differing or
opposing interests. When a man remains steadfastly in this state of mind all the
while, whether he be standing or walking, sitting or lying down, then is come
to pass the saying which is written, ‘Even in this life has holiness been
found.’ “
282.
What Lies Beyond
283.
BEYOND
this period it is obvious that we can know nothing of the new qualifications
required for the still higher levels which yet lie before the perfect man. It
is abundantly clear, however, that when man has become Asekha he has exhausted
all the possibilities of moral development, so that further advancement for him
can only mean still wider knowledge and still more wonderful spiritual powers.
We are told that when man has thus attained his spiritual majority, whether in
the slow course of evolution or by the shorter path of self-development he
assumes the fullest control of his own destinies and makes choice of his future
line of evolution among seven possible paths which he sees opening before him.
284.
Naturally
at our present level we cannot expect to understand much about these, and the
faint outline of some of them which is all that can be sketched in for us
conveys very little to the mind, except that most of them take the adept
altogether away from our earth-chain, which no longer affords sufficient scope
for his evolution.
285.
One
path is that of those who, as the technical phrase goes, “accept Nirvâna.”
Through what incalculable ćons they remain in that sublime condition, for what
work they are preparing themselves, what will be their future line of
evolution, are questions upon which we know nothing; and indeed if information
upon such points could be given it is more than likely that it would prove
quite incomprehensible to us at our present stage.
286.
But
this much at least we may grasp - that the blessed state of Nirvâna is not, as
some have ignorantly supposed, a condition of blank nothingness, but on the
contrary of far more intense and beneficent activity; and that ever as man
rises higher in the scale of nature his possibilities become greater, his work
for others ever grander and more far-reaching, and that infinite wisdom and
infinite power mean for him only infinite capacity for service, because they
are directed by infinite love.
287.
Another
class chooses a spiritual evolution not quite so far removed from humanity, for
though not directly connected with the next chain of our system it extends
through two long periods corresponding to its first and second rounds, at the
end of which time they also appear to “accept Nirvâna,” but at a higher stage
than those previously mentioned.
288.
Others
join the deva evolution, whose progress lies along a grand chain consisting of
seven chains like ours, each of which to them is as one world. This line of
evolution is spoken of as the most gradual and therefore the least arduous of
the seven courses; but though it is sometimes referred to in the books as
“yielding to the temptation to become a god.” it is only in comparison with the
sublime height of renunciation of the Nirmânakâya that it can be spoken of in
this half-disparaging manner, for the adept who chooses this course has indeed
a glorious career before him, and though the path which he selects is not the
shortest, it is nevertheless a very noble one.
289.
Yet
another group are the Nirmânakâyas - those who, declining all these easier
methods, choose the shortest but steepest path to the heights which still lie
before them. They form what is poetically termed the “guardian wall,” and, as The
Voice of the Silence tells us, “protect the world from further and far
greater misery and sorrow,” not indeed by warding off from it external evil
influences, but by devoting all their strength to the work of pouring down upon
it a flood of spiritual force and assistance without which it would assuredly
be in far more hopeless case than now.
290.
Yet
again there are those who remain even more directly in association with
humanity, and continue to incarnate among it, choosing the path which leads
through the four stages of what we have called above the official period; and
among these are the Masters of Wisdom - those from whom we who study Theosophy
have learnt such fragments as we know of the mighty harmony of evolving Nature.
But it would seem that only a certain comparatively small number adopt this
course - probably only so many as are necessary for the carrying on of this
physical side of the work.
291.
In
hearing of these different possibilities, people sometimes exclaim rashly that
there could of course be no thought in a Master’s mind of choosing any but that
course which most helps humanity - a remark which greater knowledge would have
prevented them from making. We should never forget that there are other
evolutions in the solar system besides our own, and no doubt it is necessary
for the carrying out of the vast plan of the Logos that there should be adepts
working on all the seven lines to which we have referred. Surely the choice of
the Master would be to go wherever his work was most needed - to place his
services with absolute selflessness at the disposal of the Powers in charge of
this part of the great scheme of evolution.
292.
This
then is the path which lies before us, the path which each one of us should be
beginning to tread. Stupendous though its heights appear we should remember
that they are attained but gradually and step by step, and that those who now
stand near the summit once toiled in the mire of the valleys, even as we are
doing. Although this path may at first seem hard and toilsome, yet ever as we
rise our footing becomes firmer and our outlook wider, and thus we find
ourselves better able to help those who are climbing beside us.
293.
Because
it is at first thus hard and toilsome to the lower self, it has sometimes been
called by the very misleading title of “the path of woe;” but, as Mrs. Besant
has beautifully written, “through all such suffering there is a deep and
abiding joy, for the suffering is of the lower nature, and the joy of the
higher.” When the last shred of the personality is gone all that can thus
suffer has passed away, and in the perfected Adept there is unruffled peace and
everlasting joy. He sees the end toward which all is working, and rejoices in
that end, knowing that earth’s sorrow is but a passing phase in human
evolution.
294.
“That
of which little has been said is the profound content which comes from being on
the path, from realizing the goal and the way to it, from knowing that the
power to be useful is increasing, and that the lower nature is being gradually
extirpated. And little has been said of the rays of joy which fall upon the
path from loftier levels, the dazzling glimpses of the glory to be revealed,
the serenity which the storms of earth cannot ruffle. To any one who has
entered on the path all other ways have lost their charm, and its sorrows have
a keeper bliss than the best joys of the lower world.” (Vâhan, vol. v., No.
12.)
295.
Let
no man therefore despair because he thinks the task too great for him; what man
has done man can do, and just in proportion as we extend our aid to those whom
we can help, so will those who have already attained be able in their turn to
help us. So from the lowest to the highest we who are treading the steps of the
path are bound together by one long chain of mutual service, and none need feel
neglected or alone, for though sometimes the lower flights of the great
staircase may be wreathed in mist, we know that it leads up to happier regions
and purer air, where the light is always shining.
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