Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism Part 5

A soul may make several attempts to advance, in spite of the dragging-back tendencies of its lower nature - but it never slips back quite as far as the place from which it started.

The souls in the higher planes, having far less attraction for earth-life, and having such excellent opportunities for advancement, naturally spend a much longer time in the Astral World, the general rule being that the higher the plane, the longer the rest and sojourn. But sooner or later the lesson is fully learned, and the soul yearns for that further advancement that can only come from the experience and action of another earth-life, and through the force of its desires (never against its will, remember) the soul is gradually caught in the current sweeping on toward rebirth, and becoming drowsy, is helped toward the plane of the room of slumber and, then falling into the soul-slumber it gradually "dies" to the Astral World, and is reborn into a new earth-life in accordance to its desires and tastes, and for which it is fit at that particular stage of its development. It does not fully awaken upon physical birth, but exists in a dreamy state of gradual awakening during the years of early childhood, its awakening being evidenced by the gradual dawning of intelligence in the child whose brain keeps pace with the demands made upon it. We will go more into detail regarding this matter, in the succeeding chapters.

All of these things, your guide has pointed out to you, and he has shown you examples of all the things we have just mentioned. You have met and talked with friends and loved ones who have pa.s.sed out of the body and occupy some of the planes through which you have pa.s.sed. You have noticed with wonder that these souls acted and spoke as if their life was the only natural one, and in fact seemed to think that you had come to them from some outside world. You also noticed that while those on each plane were more or less acquainted with the planes beneath them, they often seemed in total ignorance of those above them - except in the case of those on the higher planes who had awakened to a conscious realization of what it all meant, and knew that they were merely in a cla.s.s working their way upward. Those on the lower planes seemed more or less unconscious of the real meaning of their existence, not having awakened to the conscious spiritual stage. You also noticed how few changes these souls seemed to have undergone, how very little more they seemed to know about things spiritual and occult than when on earth. You also noticed on the lower planes an old friend, who in earth-life, was a p.r.o.nounced materialist, who did not seem to realize that he was "dead" and who believed that, by some catastrophe of nature, he had been transported to some other planet or physical world, and who was as keen as ever for his argument that "death ended all," and who flew into a rage with the visitors from the higher spheres who told him whom they were and from whence they came, calling them rogues and imposters, and demanding that they show him something of their claimed "higher spheres" if they were realities. He claimed that their sudden appearances and disappearances were simply the physical phenomena of the new planet upon which they were living. Pa.s.sing away from him in the midst of his railing at you for agreeing with the "imposters" and "visionaries," who, to use his expression, were "little better than the spiritualists of the old world," you sadly asked your guide to take you to the highest spheres. Your guide smiled and said, "I will take you as far as you can go," and then took you to a plane which so fitted in with your desires, aspirations, tastes, and development, that you begged him to allow you to remain there, instead of taking you back to earth, as you felt that you had reached the "seventh heaven" of the Astral World. He insisted upon your return, but before starting told you that you were still in one of the sub-planes of the comparatively lower planes. You seemed to doubt his words, and like the materialist asked to be shown the greater things. He replied, "No, my son, you have progressed just as far as your limitations will allow - you have reached that part of the 'other life' which will be yours when you part with the body, unless you manage to develop still more and thus pa.s.s into a higher grade thus far you may go but no farther. You have your limitations, just as I have mine, still farther on. No soul may travel beyond its spiritual boundaries."

"But," continued your guide, "beyond your plane and beyond mine are plane after plane, connected with our earth, the splendors of which man cannot conceive. And there are likewise many planes around the other planets of our chain - and there are millions of other worlds - and there are chains of universes just as there are chains of planets - and then greater groups of these chains - and so on greater and grander, beyond the power of man to imagine - on and on and on and on, higher and higher to inconceivable heights. An infinity of infinities of worlds are before us.Our world and our planetary chain and our system of suns, and our systems of solar systems, are but as grains of sand on the beach."

"Then what am I - poor mortal thing - lost among all this inconceivable greatness," you cried. "You are the most precious thing - a living soul," replied your guide, "and if you were destroyed the whole system of universes would crumble, for you are as necessary as the greatest part of it - it cannot do without you - you cannot be lost or destroyed - you are part of it all, and are eternal.

"And beyond all of this of which you have told me," you cried, "what is there, and what is the center of it all?" Your guide's face took on a rapt expression. "THE ABSOLUTE," he replied.

And when you reached your physical body again - just before your guide faded away - you asked him, "How many million miles away from Earth have we been, and how long were we gone?" He replied, "You never left the Earth at all - and your body was left alone but a moment of time - time and s.p.a.ce belong not to the Astral world."

THE ELEVENTH LESSON.

BEYOND THE BORDER.

In these lessons we have not attempted to force upon the student any conception of the truth which did not appeal to him, or which did not harmonize with his own conception. We grant to all the liberty of their own convictions, preferring that they should accept only such of the Yogi teachings as may appeal to them, letting the rest pa.s.s by as not being needed just at that time. We merely state the Yogi's conception of the matter, as simply and plainly as we are able, that the student may understand the theory - whether or not it appeals to him as truth is a matter with which we have no concern. If it is true, then it is true, no matter what the student may think of it, and his belief or unbelief does not change matters. But, the Yogis do not hold to the idea that anyone is to be punished for unbelief, nor is one to be rewarded for belief - they hold that belief and unbelief are not matters of the will, but of the growth of understanding, therefore it is not consistent with justice to suppose that one is rewarded or punished for belief or unbelief.The Yogis are the most tolerant of people.They see good, and truth, in all forms of belief, and conceptions of truth, and never blame any for not agreeing with them. They have no set creeds, and do not ask their followers to accept as a matter of course all that they teach. Their advice to students is: "Take what appeals to you, and leave the rest - tomorrow come back and take some of what you have rejected today, and so on, until you receive all we have to give you - do not force yourself to accept unpalatable truths, for when the time comes for you to receive them they will be pleasant to your mental taste - take what you please, and leave what you please - our idea of hospitality does not consist in forcing unpalatable things upon you, insisting that you must eat them to gain our favor, or that you will be punished for not liking them - take your own wherever you find it; but take nothing that is not yours by right of understanding; and fear not that anything that belongs to you may be withheld." With this understanding we proceed with our lesson - a most important one When the Ego leaves the body, at the moment of what we call Death, it leaves behind it the lower principles, and pa.s.ses onward to states which will be considered by us presently. It leaves behind, first, the physical body. This physical body, as we have told you in the First Lesson, is composed of millions of tiny cells - little lives having a bit of mind or intelligence, under control of the central mind of the man; having also a supply of prana, or vital force, and a material casing or body, the sum of which little bodies makes the whole body of the man. We have devoted a chapter of our book upon "Hatha Yoga" to the consideration of these little lives, and we must refer the student to that book for fuller particulars of their life and work. When the death of the man occurs - when the Ego leaves its material sheath which it has used for the period of that particular "life," the cells separate and scatter, and that which we call decay sets in. The force which has held these cells together is withdrawn, and they are free to go their own way and form new combinations. Some are absorbed into the bodies of the plants in the vicinity, and eventually find themselves forming parts of the body of some animal which has eaten the plant, or a part of some other man who has eaten the plant or the meat of the animal which had eaten the plant. You will, of course, understand that these little cell - lives have nothing to do with the real soul or Ego of the man - they are but his late servants, and have no connection with his consciousness. Others of these atoms remain in the ground for some time, until taken up by some other form of living thing which needs nourishment. As a leading writer has said, "Death is but an aspect of life, and the destruction of one material form is but a prelude to the building up of another."

From the moment that the Ego leaves the physical body, and the influence of the commanding mind is withdrawn from the cells and the cell groups, disorder reigns among them. They become a disorganized army, rushing hither and thither, interfering with each other - jostling and pushing each other - even fighting each other, their only object being to get away from the crowd - to escape from the general confusion. During the life of the body their main object is to work together in harmony, under the orders of their officers - after the death of the body their only object seems to separate and each go its own way. First the groups separate one from the other - then each group breaks up into smaller groups-and so on until each individual cell becomes freed from its fellows, and goes its own way, or where it is called by some form of life needing it. As a writer on the subject has said, "The body is never more alive when it is dead; but it is alive in its units, and dead in its totality."

When the Ego departs from the physical body, at the moment of death, the Prana being no longer under control of the central mind, responds only to the orders of the individual atoms or their groups, which have formed the individual body, and as the physical body disentegrates and is resolved into its original elements, each atom takes with it sufficient Prana to maintain its vitality, and to enable it to form new combinations, the unused Prana returning to the great universal storehouse, from which it came.

When the Ego leaves the body, at the moment of death, it carries with it the Astral Body as well as the higher principles. This astral body, you will remember, is the exact counterpart of the physical body, but is composed of a finer quality of matter, and is invisible to the ordinary vision, but may be plainly seen by clairvoyant or astral sight, and may therefore be sometimes seen by persons under certain psychic conditions. Clairvoyants describe the parting of the Astral Body from the Physical Body as most interesting.

They describe it as rising from the physical body, like a cloud of thin luminous vapor, but being connected with the physical body by a slender, silken, vapory cord, which cord becomes thinner and thinner until it becomes invisible to even the fine clairvoyant vision, just before it breaks entirely. The Astral Body exists some time after the physical death of the man, and under certain circ.u.mstances it becomes visible to living persons, and is called a "ghost." The Astral Body of a dying person is sometimes projected by an earnest desire and may become visible to relatives or friends with whom the dead man is in sympathy.

After a time, differing in various cases, as we will see later on, the Astral Body is discarded by the Ego, and it in turn begins to disintegrate. This discarded Astral Body is nothing more than a corpse of finer material, and is what occultists know as an "astral sh.e.l.l." It has no life or intelligence, when thus discarded, and floats around in the lower astral atmosphere, until it is resolved into its original elements. It seems to have a peculiar attraction toward its late physical counterpart, and will often return to the neighborhood of the physical body and disintegrate with it. Persons of psychic sight, either normal or influenced by fear or similar emotions, frequently see these astral sh.e.l.ls floating around graveyards, over battlefields, etc., and are often mistaken for the "spirits" of departed people, whereas they are no more the person than is the physical corpse beneath the ground. These astral sh.e.l.ls may be "galvanized" into a semblance of life by coming into contact with the vitality of some "medium," the prana of the latter animating it, and the sub-conscious mentality of the medium causing it to manifest signs of life and partial intelligence. At some of the seances of the mediums these astral sh.e.l.ls are materialized by means of the vitality of the medium, and talk in a stupid, disconnected way with those around, but it is not the person himself talking, but a mere sh.e.l.l animated by the life principle of the medium and the "circle," and acting and talking like an automaton. There are, of course, other forms of spirit return, which are far different, but those investigating spiritualistic phenomena should beware of confounding these astral sh.e.l.ls with the real intelligence of their deceased friends. And now let us return to the Ego, which has left the physical body.

While the Ego, encased in its Astral body, is slowly pa.s.sing out of the Physical Body, the whole life of the person from infancy to old age, pa.s.ses before his mental vision. The memory gives up its secrets, and picture after picture pa.s.ses in swift succession before the mind, and many things are made plain to the departing soul - the reason of many things is discovered, and the soul sees what it all means - that is, it understands its whole life just complete, because it sees it as a whole. This is in the nature of a vivid dream to the dying individual, but it leaves a deep impress, and the memories are recalled and made use of at a later period, by the soul. Occultists have always urged that the friends and relatives of a dying person should maintain quiet and calm around him, that he may not be disturbed by conflicting emotions, or distracting sounds.

The soul should be allowed to go on its way in peace and quiet, without being held back by the wishes or conversation of those around him.

So the Ego pa.s.ses on, and out from the body. To where? Let us say here that the future states of the soul, between incarnations, have nothing to do with places - it is a matter of "states" not of places. There are numerous places of existence, and all interpenetrate each other, so that a given s.p.a.ce may contain intelligences living on several different planes, those living on the lower planes not being conscious of the existence and presence of those living on the higher ones. So get the idea of "place" out of your minds - it is all a matter of "states," or "planes."

The soul after pa.s.sing out of the body, if left undisturbed by emphatic calls from those whom it has left behind (and which calls may consist of violent manifestations of grief, and earnest demands for the return of the departed one on the part of some loved one, or from someone to whom the deceased person was bound by ties of duty) falls into a semi-conscious state - a blissful, peaceful, happy, restful state - a dream of the soul. This state continues for some time (varying in individuals as we shall see) until the astral sh.e.l.l falls from it, and floats off in the astral atmosphere, and until the lower portions of that etherealized matter which confines the lower portions of the mind gradually dissolves and also drops from the soul, leaving it possessed of only the higher portions of its mentality.

The man of low spiritual development, and consequently of a larger degree of animal nature, will part with but little of his mind-body, and soon reaches the highest of which he has been mentally and spiritually capable in his earth-life. The man of high spiritual attainment, will gradually "shed" much of his mental-body, until he has thrown off all except the highest portions developed in his earth life. Those between the two mentioned types will act according to their degree of spiritual attainment, of course. Then, when the last possible remnant of the lower mentality has dropped from the soul, it awakes, as it pa.s.ses on to states which will be described a little later on in this lesson. It will be seen that the man of gross mentality and spiritual development will stay in the dreamlike state but a short time, as the process of casting off of sheaths is a comparatively simple one, requiring but little time. And it likewise will be seen that the man who has reached a high degree of spiritual development, will rest for a longer period, as he has much more to get rid of, and this discarded material of the mind drops from him like the leaves of a rose, one after the other, from the outer to the inner.

Each soul awakens when it has discarded all that it can (or rather all that will drop from it) and when it has reached the highest state possible to it.

Those who have made material spiritual progress during the earth-life just past, will have much useless and outgrown matter to discard, while the one who has neglected his opportunities, and dies about as he was born, will have but little to throw off, and will awaken in a very short time. Each rests until the highest point of unfoldment has manifested itself. But before going on further, let us stop a moment to say that both the sinking into the restful state, and the soundness and continuance of it may be interfered with by those left in the earth life. A soul which has "something on its mind" to communicate, or which is grieved by the pain of those who have been left behind (especially if it hears the lamentations and constant call for its return) will fight off the dreamy state creeping over it, and will make desperate efforts to return. And, likewise, the mental calls of those who have been left behind, will disturb the slumber, when it has been once entered into, and will cause the sleeping soul to rouse itself and endeavor to answer the calls, or at least will partially awaken it and r.e.t.a.r.d its unfoldment. These half-awake souls often manifest in spiritualistic circles. Our selfish grief and demands often cause our loved ones who have pa.s.sed much pain and sorrow and unrest, unless they have learned the true state of affairs before they have pa.s.sed out, and refuse to be called back to earth even by those they love. Cases are known to occultists where souls have fought off the slumber for years in order to be around their loved ones on earth, but this course was unwise as it caused unnecessary sorrow and pain to both the one who had pa.s.sed on, and those who had remained on earth.

We should avoid delaying the process of those who have pa.s.sed on - let them sleep on and rest, awaiting the hour of their transformation. It is like making them die their death several times in succession - those who truly love and understand avoid this - their love and understanding bids them let the soul depart in peace and take its well earned rest and gain its full development. This period of soul-slumber is like the existence of the babe in its mother's womb - it sleeps that it may awaken into life and strength.

Before pa.s.sing on to the awakening, however, we think it proper to state that it is only the soul of the person who has died a natural death which sinks at once (if not disturbed) into the soul-slumber. Those who die by "accident," or who are killed - in other words, those who pa.s.s out of the body suddenly, find themselves wide-awake and in full possession of the mental faculties for some time. They often are not aware that they have "died," and cannot understand what is the matter with them. They are often fully conscious (for a short time) of life on earth, and can see and hear all that is going on around them, by means of their astral faculties. They cannot imagine that they have pa.s.sed out of the body, and are sorely perplexed. Their lot would be most unhappy for a few days, until the sleep overtook them were it not for the Astral Helpers, who are souls from the higher states of existence, who gather around them and gently break to them the news of their real condition offer them words of comfort and advice, and "take care" of them until they sink into the soul-slumber just as a tired child sinks to sleep at night. These helpers never fail in their duty, and no one who pa.s.ses out suddenly is neglected, be he or she "good" or "bad," for these Helpers know that all are G.o.d's children and their own brothers and sisters. Men of high spiritual development and powers have been known to pa.s.s out of their physical bodies temporarily (by means of their Astral Bodies) for the purpose of giving aid and advice in times of great catastrophes, or after a great battle, when immediate a.s.sistance and advice are needed. At such times, also, some of the higher intelligences in the scale of spiritual evolution descend from their lofty states and appearing as men give words of encouragement and the benefit of their wisdom. This not only in civilized countries but in all parts of the world, for all are akin. Many who have reached the high stages of spiritual development, and who have advanced far beyond the rest of the particular race-group to which they belong, and who have earned a longer stay in the higher states, awaiting the progress of their brothers, devote themselves to this and similar tasks, voluntarily relinquishing their earned rest and happiness for the good of their less fortunate brethren. Persons dying in the way of which we have spoken, of course, gradually fall into the slumber of the soul, and the process of the casting off of the confining sheaths goes on just as in cases of those dying a "natural" death.

When the soul has cast off the confining sheaths, and has reached the state for which it is prepared by its earth-lives, including that gained by development in the last earth-life, it pa.s.ses immediately to the plane in the Astral World for which it is fitted, and to which it is drawn by the Law of Attraction. Now the Astral World, in all of its stages and planes, is not a "place" but a state, as we have before stated. These planes interpenetrate and those dwelling on one plane are not conscious of those dwelling on another, nor can they pa.s.s from one plane to another, with this exception those dwelling on a higher plane are able to see (if they desire) the planes below them in the order of development, and may also visit the lower planes, if they desire to do so. But those on the lower planes are not able to either see or visit the higher planes. This is not because there is a "watchman at the gate," or anything of that sort (for there can be no "gate" to a plane or state) but from the same reason that a fish is not able to soar above the water into the air like a bird - its nature does not permit it to do so. A soul having another soul toward which it is attached by some old tie, and finding that soul on a lower plane than itself, is able to visit the less developed soul and aid it in its development by advice and instruction, and to thus prepare it for its next incarnation so that when the two shall meet again in earth-life the less developed soul will have grown far nearer to its higher brother - or sister - soul, and may thereafter go hand in hand throughout life, or lives. This, of course, providing the less developed soul is willing to be instructed. Souls after reaching a certain degree of development are quite willing to be instructed when out of the body (as above stated) as they are freed from the distracting influences of earth-life, and are more open to the help of the Spirit. The Yogi teaching goes so far as to state that in rare cases, the helping soul may even bring his lower brother to such a state that he is enabled to throw off some of the lower mental principles which have clung to him after his awakening, and which kept him in a certain plane, and thus enable him to pa.s.s on to the next higher plane.

But this is rare, and can only happen when the soul has been nearly but not quite able to throw off the confining sheath, unaided.

The lower planes of the Astral World are filled with souls of a gross, undeveloped type, who live lives very similar to those lived on earth. In fact they are so closely connected with the material plane, and are so attracted to it, that they are so conscious of much that goes on in it, that they may be said to be living on the material Plane, and only prevented from active partic.i.p.ation in it by a thin veil which separates them from their own kind in the body. These souls hang around the old scenes of their earthly degradation, and often influence one of their kind who is under the influence of liquor and who is thereby open to influences of this nature. They live their old lives over again in this way, and add to the brutality and degradation of the living by their influences and a.s.sociation.

There are quite a number of these lower planes, as well as the higher planes, each containing disembodied souls of the particular cla.s.s belonging to it. These lower plane souls are in very close contact with the material plane, and are consequently the ones often attracted to seances, where the medium and sitters are on a low plane. They masquerade as the "spirits" of friends of visitors, and others, often claiming to be some well known and celebrated personages. They play the silly pranks so often seen at seances, and take a particular delight in such things, and "general devilment," if permitted to do so. They are not fit company for people on the higher plane, whether they be embodied or disembodied.

These lower plane souls spend but little time in the disembodied state, and are strongly attracted by the material life, the consequence being that they are filled with a great desire to reincarnate, and generally spend but little time between two incarnations. Of course, when they are reborn they are attracted to, and attracted by, parents of the same tendencies, so that the surroundings in their new earth-life will correspond very closely to those of their old one. These crude and undeveloped souls, as well as the souls of the savage races, progress but slowly, making but a trifling advance in each life, and having to undergo repeated and frequent incarnations in order to make even a little progress.

Their desires are strong for the material, and they are attracted to and by it - the Spirit's influences exerting but a comparatively slight attraction upon them. But even these make some progress - all are moving forward if even but a little.

The souls on each of the succeeding higher planes, of course, make more rapid progress each earth-life, and have fewer incarnations, and a much longer time between them. Their inclinations and tastes being of a higher order, they prefer to dwell on in the higher places of disembodied life, thinking of and contemplating the higher teachings, aided as they are by the absence from material things and encouraged by the rays of the Spiritual Mind beating down upon them, helping their unfoldment. They are able to prepare themselves for great progress in this way, and often spend centuries on the higher planes, before reincarnating. In some cases where they have advanced far beyond their race, they spend thousands of years in the higher planes, waiting until the race grows up to, render their rebirth attractive, and in the meantime they find much helpful work to do for less developed souls.

But sooner or later, the souls feel a desire to gain new experiences, and to manifest in earth-life some of the advancement which has come to them since "death," and for these reasons, and from the attraction of desires which have been smoldering there, not lived out or cast off, or, possibly influenced by the fact that some loved soul, on a lower plane, is ready to incarnate and wishing to be incarnated at the same time in order to be with it (which is also a desire) the souls fall into the current sweeping toward rebirth, and the selection of proper parents and advantageous circ.u.mstances and surroundings, and in consequence again fall into a soul-slumber, gradually, and so when their time comes they "die" to the plane upon which they have been existing and are "born" into a new physical life and body. A soul does not fully awaken from its sleep immediately at birth, but exists in a dream-like state during the days of infancy, its gradual awakening being evidenced by the growing intelligence of the babe, the brain of the child keeping pace with the demands made upon it. In some case the awakening is premature, and we see cases of prodigies, child-genius, etc., but such cases are more or less abnormal, and unhealthy. Occasionally the dreaming soul in the child half-awakes, and startles us by some profound observation, or mature remark or conduct.

Much of this process of preparing for reincarnation is performed by the soul unconsciously, in obedience to its inspirations, and desires, as it really has not grown to understand what it all means; and what is before it, and is being swept along by the Law of Attraction almost unconsciously. But after souls attain a certain degree of development, they become conscious of the process of reincarnation, and are thereafter conscious of past lives, and preceding a rebirth may take a conscious part in selecting the environments and surroundings. The higher they rise in the scale, the greater their conscious power, and choice.

It will readily be seen that there are planes upon planes of disembodied existence. The Yogi Philosophy teaches that there are Seven Great Planes (sometimes spoken of by uneducated Hindus as the "seven heavens"), but each great plane has seven subdivisions, and each subdivision has seven minor divisions, and so on.

It is impossible for us to begin to describe the nature of the higher astral life. We have no words to describe it, and no minds to comprehend it.

Life on the lower planes is very similar to earth-life, many of the inhabitants seeming to think that it is a part of the earth, and, not realizing that they are freed from earthly limitations, imagine that fire can burn them, water can drown them, etc. They live practically on the earth amidst its scenes. Above these are planes whose inhabitants have higher ideas and lives - and so on and on and on, until the bliss of the higher planes cannot be comprehended by man today. In some of the intermediate planes, those who are fond of music indulge to the utmost their love for it - artists their love for their art, intellectual workers pursue their studies - and so on, along these lines. Above these are those who have awakened spiritually and have opportunities for developing themselves, and gaining knowledge. Above these are states of which we cannot dream. And; yet remember this, even these highest planes are but parts of the high Astral Plane, which plane is but one of the lower ones of the Universe, and above that comes plane after plane of existence. But why speak of this, friends - we cannot undertake to master the problem of higher mathematics, when we scarcely know how to add two figures together. But all this is for us - all for us - and we cannot be robbed of our inheritance.

THE TWELFTH LESSON.

SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION.

The beautiful doctrine of Spiritual Evolution, that gem in the diadem of the Yogi Philosophy is sadly misunderstood and misinterpreted, even by many who are its friends. The ma.s.s of uninformed people confuse it with the crudest ideas of the ignorant races of Asia and Africa - believe that it teaches that the souls of men descend into the bodies of the lower animals after death. And under the guise of high teachings regarding Reincarnation, many promulgate theories holding that the soul of man is bound to the wheel of human rebirth, and must live in body after body whether it will or not - until certain great cycles are past, when the race moves on to another planet. All of these misconceptions, however, are based upon the real truth - they are the truth, but not the whole truth. It is true that the soul of a brutal, selfish, b.e.s.t.i.a.l man, after death, will be drawn by the force of its own desires toward rebirth in the body of some of the lower and more beast-like races of man - it has failed in its cla.s.s work, and has been sent back to a lower grade. But the soul that has once reached the stage of even primitive Manhood, never can sink back into the plane of lower animal life. As b.e.s.t.i.a.l as it may be, it still has acquired something that the animal lacks, and that something it can never lose. And likewise, although the race - as a race - must wait until certain periods are reached before it may move onward, yet the individual who has risen beyond the need of immediate rebirth, is not compelled to reincarnate as a man of the present stage of development, but may wait until the race "catches up" to him, as it were, when he may join it in its upward swing, the intervening period being spent either in the higher planes of the Astral World or in conscious temporary sojourn in other material spheres, helping in the great work of the evolution of all Life.

And, so far from the spiritually awakened Man being compelled to suffer continuous involuntary rebirths, he is not reborn except with his own consent and desire, and with a continuance of consciousness - this continuance of consciousness depending upon the spiritual attainment reached. Many who read these lines are partially conscious of their past existences in the flesh, and their attraction to this subject is due to that semi-consciousness and recognition of the truth. Others, now in the flesh, have varying degrees of consciousness, reaching, in some cases, a full recollection of their past lives. And, rest a.s.sured, dear student, that when you reach a certain stage of spiritual awakening (and you may have reached it even now) you will have left behind you unconscious rebirth, and, after you have pa.s.sed out of your present body and after a period of spiritual rest - you will not be reborn, until you are ready and willing, and you will then carry with you a continuous recollection of all that you choose to carry with you into your new life. So cease this fretting about forced rebirth, and stop worrying about your fancied loss of consciousness in future lives.

Spiritual attainment is slow and arduous, but every inch gained is so much further on, and you can never slip back, nor lose the slightest part of what you've gained.

Even those who are reborn, unconsciously, as are the majority of the race, are not actually reborn against their will or desire. On the contrary, they are reborn because they desire it - because their tastes and desires create longings that only renewed life in the flesh can satisfy, and, although they are not fully conscious of it, they place themselves again within the operation of the Law of Attraction, and are swept on to a rebirth, in just the surroundings best calculated to enable them to exhaust their desires, and satisfy their longings - these desires and longings thus dying a natural death, and making way for higher ones.

So long as people earnestly desire material things - the things of the flesh and the material life, and are not able to divorce themselves from such things at will - just so long will they be drawn toward rebirth that these desires may be gratified or satisfied. But when one has, by experience in many lives, learned to see things as they are, and to recognize that such things are not a part of his real nature, then the earnest desire grows less and finally dies, and that person escapes from the operation of the Law of Attraction, and need not undergo rebirth until some higher desire or aspiration is appealed to, as the evolution of the race brings new eras and peoples. It is as if one were to soar away up above the atmosphere of the earth - beyond the sphere of the earth's attraction - and would then wait until the earth revolved beneath him and he saw, far below, the spot which he wished to visit, when all he would have to do would be to allow himself to sink until the force of gravity exerted by the earth would draw him to the desired place.

The idea of compulsory rebirth is horrible to the mind of the average man, and rightly so, for it violates his intuitive sense of the justice and truth of this great law of Life. We are here because we wished to be - in obedience to the Law of Attraction, operating in accordance with our desires and aspiration - yes, often, longings - after our departure from our last fleshly tenement, and the period of rest which always follows a life. And we will never be anywhere else, or in any other life, unless by reason of that same law, called into effect in the same manner. It is quite true, that the period between lives gives us an opportunity to receive the higher knowledge of the Spirit more clearly than when disturbed by material things, but even with this additional aid, our desires are often sufficiently strong to cause us to reject the gentle promptings of the Spirit, as to what is best for us (just as we do in our everyday lives) and we allow ourselves to be caught up in the current of desire, and are swept onward toward rebirth in such conditions as to allow us to manifest and express, those desires and longings. Sometimes, the Spirit's voice influences us to a degree, and we are born in conditions representing a compromise between the Spirit's teaching and the grosser desires, and the result is often a life torn with conflicting desires and restless longings - but all this is a promise of better conditions in the future.

When one has developed so far as to be open to the influence of the Spiritual Mind in his physical life, he may rest a.s.sured that his next choice of rebirth will be made with the full approval and wisdom of that higher part of his mind, and the old mistakes will be obviated.

As a general statement of truth, we may say that those who actually feel within them that consciousness of having always existed and of being intended for an endless existence, need fear nothing on the score of future unconscious rebirths. They have reached the stage of consciousness in which, henceforth, they will be aware of the whole process of the future incarnations, and will make the change (if they wish to) just as one changes his place of residence, or travels from one country to another. They are "delivered" from the necessity of the unconscious rebirth, from blind desire, which has been their portion in the past, and which is the lot of the majority of the race.

And now after this long preamble, let us see what Spiritual Evolution, as taught by the Yogis, really means.

The Yogi Philosophy teaches that Man has always lived and always will live.

That that which we call Death is but a falling to sleep to awaken the following morning.That Death is but a temporary loss of consciousness.

That life is continuous' and that its object is development, growth, unfoldment. That we are in Eternity Now as much as we ever can be. That the Soul is the Real Man, and not merely an appendage or attachment to his physical body, as many seem to regard it. That the Soul may exist equally well out of the body as in it, although certain experience and knowledge may be obtained only by reason of a physical existence - hence that existence.

That we have bodies now, just because we need them - when we have progressed beyond a certain point, we will not need the kind of bodies we have now, and will be relieved of them. That on the grosser planes of life far more material bodies than ours were occupied by the soul - that on higher planes the soul will occupy finer bodies. That as we live out the experiences of one earth life, we pa.s.s out of the body into a state of rest, and after that are reborn into bodies, and into conditions, in accordance with our needs and desires.That the real Life is really a succession of lives-of rebirths, and that our present life is merely one of a countless number of previous lives, our present self being the result of the experiences gained in our previous existences.

The Yogi Philosophy teaches that the Soul has existed for ages, working its way up through innumerable forms, from lower to higher, - always progressing, always unfolding. That it will continue to develop and unfold, through countless ages, in many forms and phases, but always higher and higher. The Universe is great and large, and there are countless worlds and spheres for its inhabitants, and we shall not be bound to earth one moment after we are fitted to move on to higher spheres and planes. The Yogis teach that while the majority of the race are in the unconscious stage of Spiritual Evolution, still there are many awakening to the truth, and developing a spiritual consciousness of the real nature and future of Man, and that these spiritually awakened people will never again have to go through the chain of continued unconscious rebirth, but that their future development will be on a conscious plane, and that they will enjoy to the full the constant progression and development, instead of being mere p.a.w.ns on the chessboard of Life.The Yogis teach that there are many forms of life, much lower than Man - so much lower that we cannot conceive of them. And that there are degrees of life so far above our present plane of development that our minds cannot grasp the idea. Those souls who have traveled over the Path which we are now treading - our Elder Brothers - are constantly giving us their aid and encouragement, and are often extending to us the helping hand - although we recognize it not. There are in existence, on planes beyond our own, intelligences which were once men as are we, but who have now progressed so far in the scale that compared with us they are angels and archangels - and we shall be like unto them sometime.

The Yogi Philosophy teaches that YOU who are reading these lines, have lived many, many lives. You have lived in the lower forms of life, working your way up gradually in the scale. After you pa.s.sed into the human phase of existence you lived as the caveman, the cliff dweller, the savage, the barbarian; the warrior, the knight; the priest; the scholar of the Middle Ages; - now in Europe; now in India; now in Persia; now in the East; now in the West. In all ages, - in all climes-among all peoples - of all races - have you lived, had your existence, played your part, and died. In each life have you gained experiences; learned your lessons; profited by your mistakes; grown, developed and unfolded. And when you pa.s.sed out of the body, and entered into the period of rest between incarnations, your memory of the past life gradually faded away, but left in its place the result of the experiences you had gained in it. Just as you may not remember much about a certain day, or week, twenty years ago, still the experiences of that day or week have left indelible traces upon your character, and have influenced your every action since - so while you may have forgotten the details of your previous existences, still have they left their impress upon your soul, and your everyday life now is just what it is by reason of those past experiences.

After each life there is sort of a boiling down of the experiences, and the result - the real result of the experience - goes to make up a part of the new self - the improved self - which will after a while seek a new body into which to reincarnate. But with many of us there is not a total loss of memory of past lives - as we progress we bring with us a little more of consciousness each time - and many of us today have occasional glimpses of remembrance of some past existence. We see a scene for the first time, and it seems wonderfully familiar, and yet we cannot have seen it before. There is sort of a haunting memory which disturbs. We may see a painting - some old masterpiece - and we feel instinctively as if we had gazed upon it away in the dim past, and yet we have never been near it before. We read some old book, and it seems like an old friend, and yet we have no recollection of ever having seen it in our present life. We hear some philosophical theory, and we immediately "take to it," as if it were something known and loved in our childhood. Some of us learn certain things as if we were relearning them and indeed such is the case. Children are born and develop into great musicians, artists, writers or artisans, from early childhood, even though their parents possessed no talents of the kind. Shakespeares spring from the families whose members possess no talents, and astonish the world. Abraham Lincolns come from similar walks of life, and when responsibility is placed upon them show the greatest genius. These and many similar things can be explained only upon the theory of previous existence. We meet people for the first time, and the conviction is borne upon us, irresistibly, in spite of our protests, that we have known them before - that they have been something to us in the past, but when, oh! when? Certain studies come quite easy to us, while others have to be mastered by hard labor. Certain occupations seem the most congenial to us, and no matter how many obstacles are placed in the way, we still work our way to the congenial work. We are confronted with some unforeseen obstacle, or circ.u.mstances call for the display of unusual power or qualities on our part, and lo! we find that we have the ability to perform the task. Some of the greatest writers and orators have discovered their talents "by accident." All of these things are explained by the theory of Spiritual Evolution. If heredity is everything, how does it happen that several children of the same parents differ so widely from each other, from their parents, and from the relations on both sides of the house? Is it all heredity or reversion? Then pray tell us from whom did Shakespeare inherit - to whom did he revert? Argument after argument might be piled up to prove the reasonableness of rebirth, but what would it avail? Man might grasp it intellectually and admit that it was a reasonable working hypothesis, but what intellectual conception ever gave peace to the soul gave it that sense of reality and truth that would enable it to go down in the valley of the shadow of death without faltering, with a smile on its face? No! such certainty comes only from the light which the Spiritual Mind sheds upon the lower mental faculties. The intellect may arrange the facts, and deduce a course of action from them, but the soul is satisfied only with the teachings of the Spirit, and until it receives them must feel that unrest and uncertainty that comes when the intellect unfolds and asks that mighty question "Why?" which it by itself cannot answer.

The only answer to the query "Is rebirth a fact," is "Does your soul recognize it as such?" Until the soul feels of itself that the theory is true - because it coincides with that inner conviction, there is no use in arguing the matter.

The soul must recognize it for itself - must answer its own question. It is true that the presentation of the theory (we call it a "theory" although the Yogis know it is a fact) will awaken memories in the mind of some - may give them the courage to consider as reasonable the half-formed thoughts and queries which had floated around in their minds for years - but that is all it can do. Until the soul grasps and "feels" the truth of rebirth, it must wander around working on the subconscious plane of life, having rebirth forced upon it by its own desires and longings, losing consciousness to a great extent. But after the soul has begun to "feel" the truth, it is never the same, it carries with it memories of the past, sometimes faint and sometimes clear - and it begins to manifest a conscious choice in the matter of rebirth. Just as does the plant work on the sub-conscious plane, and the animal on a semi-conscious plane and the man on the gradually increasing planes of consciousness, so does man gradually evolve from the sub-conscious stage of rebirth, on to the semiconscious plane, and then on and on, increasing his consciousness from time to time, until he lives on the conscious plane, both in his physical life, and during the rest period, and in the new birth.

There are men among us today (few, it is true, but many more than most people imagine) who are fully conscious of the past existences, and who have been so since early childhood, only that their days of infancy were pa.s.sed in a dreamlike state, until their physical brains were sufficiently developed to enable the soul to think clearly. In fact, many children seem to have a dim consciousness of the past, but fearing the comments of their elders, learn to stifle these bits of remembrance until they fail to evoke them.

Those who have not awakened to the truth of rebirth, cannot have it forced upon them by argument, and those who "feel" the truth of it do not need the argument. So we have not attempted to argue the matter in this short presentation of the theory. Those who are reading this lesson are attracted toward the subject by reason of interest awakened in some past life, and they really feel that there must be some truth in it, although they may not as yet have arrived at a point where they can fully a.s.similate it.

Many of those upon whom the truth of the proposition is borne home by their inmost feelings or fragmentary recollections evince a disinclination to fully accept it. They fear the idea of being reborn without their consent or knowledge. But as we have stated to them, this is a groundless fear, for, if they are really beginning to "feel" the truth of rebirth, their period of sub-conscious manifestation on that plane is pa.s.sing away.

Many say that they have no desire to live again, but they really mean that they would not like to live just the same life that they have - of course not, they do not want the same experiences over again - but if there is a single thing in life that they would like; a single position they would like to fill; a single desire that they feel needs to be satisfied in order to make them happy, then they do really want to live again to secure the missing thing.

They are here because they wanted to be here - or had desires which cried for satisfaction - and they will live again in just the circ.u.mstances needed to gratify their desires or wishes, or that are likely to give them the necessary experience for higher spiritual growth.

To the student of this subject of Spiritual Evolution, a great world of interesting facts open itself. Light is thrown upon history and the progress of mankind, and a most fascinating field of research is presented. We must resist the temptation to go into this branch of the subject, as it would lead us in attractive paths which we are forbidden to take up in these elementary lessons owing to the lack of s.p.a.ce. We may find room, however, to say a little about these matters.

The earth is one of a chain of planets, belonging to our solar system, all of which are intimately connected with the others in this great law of Spiritual Evolution. Great waves of life sweep over the chain, carrying race after race along the chain, from one planet to another. Each race stays on each planet for a certain period, and then having developed, pa.s.ses on to the planet next highest in the scale of evolution, finding there conditions best suited for its development. But this progress from planet to planet is not circular it resembles a spiral, circling round and round and yet rising higher with each curve.

Let us suppose a soul dwelling upon any of the planets of our planetary chain, in a comparatively undeveloped state of spiritual growth - occupying a low place in the scale of evolution. The soul gains the experiences coming to it in that stage, in a number of incarnations, and then is swept away toward the next highest planet in the chain, together with the rest of its particular race, and is reincarnated there. In this new home it occupies a plane distinctly in advance of the one occupied in the last one - its entire race forming the nucleus of a new race there, some being pioneers while the others follow after. But still this advanced stage (as compared with its stage on the planet just left behind it) may be much lower in the scale of progress than other races dwelling on the same planet with it. Some of the races, lowest in the point of evolution on this earth, may have been much nearer the highest stage of development on the last planet inhabited by them, and still they have progressed greatly by the change - the highest on a lower planet perhaps being less highly developed than the lowest on one farther along the planetary chain. Many of the races that formerly inhabited the Earth, traces of whom we occasionally find, have pa.s.sed on to a higher stage of development. History shows us that race after race came to the front in the earth's development played their part upon the stage of action - and then pa.s.sed on where? The occult philosophies furnish the missing link of explanation.

And our race has grown from the stone - age stage - and still further back - and will continue to progress - and will then pa.s.s on, making way for some newer race which may be even now sending out pioneers from some other planet.

This does not mean, necessarily, that each race that history tells us of has pa.s.sed from the earth. On the contrary, occultists know that some, and in fact most of the races known to history, have incarnated in some of the races today. The confusion is explained by the fact that each race has several sub-races, which really belong to the main race. For instance, occultists know that the ancient Egyptians - he Romans - the Greeks - the Atlanteans - the ancient Persians, etc., etc., are now living on this earth - that is the souls which formerly incarnated in these races, are now incarnated in some of the modern races.

But there are other races - prehistoric races - which have pa.s.sed away from the earth's attraction entirely, and have gone on to the higher planes of action in the higher planets. There are a number of planets lower in the scale of progress than our earth, and there are several higher, toward which we are moving. There are of course, other solar systems - other chains of suns - other sub-Universes (if we may be pardoned for using the term), and all this is ahead of every soul, no matter how lowly or how humble.

Our race, at present, is going through a most important period of evolution.

It is pa.s.sing from the unconscious stage of spiritual development, into the conscious stage. Many have already attained their conscious stage, and many more are awakening to it. The whole race will ultimately have it, this being precedent to their moving on. This gradual awakening to spiritual consciousness, is what is causing all this unrest in the world of thought, this breaking away from old ideals and forms - this hunger for the truth this running to and fro after new truths, and old truths restated. It is a critical period in the history of the race, and many hold that it implies a possible division of the race into two sub-races, one of whom will be possessed of spiritual consciousness, and will move on ahead of the remaining sub-race of slower brothers, who must work up by degrees. But the race will again be united, before it finally pa.s.ses on from the earth, as it is bound together by the Law of Spiritual Cause and Effect. We are all interested in each other's progress - not only because we are brothers but because our own soul must wait until the whole race develops. Of course the more rapidly developed soul does not have to be reincarnated simply because its slower brother has to do so. On the contrary the highly developed soul spends a long period of waiting on the higher planes of the Astral World while its slower brother works out his evolution in repeated births, the sojourn in the higher planes giving the developed soul great happiness and benefit, as explained in other lessons. Many of these "waiting souls," however, choose to sacrifice their well earned rest, by coming back to earth to help and uplift their brethren, either in the form of Astral Helpers, or even by a deliberate and conscious rebirth (which is not needed for their development) they deliberately taking on the body of flesh, with all its burdens, in order to a.s.sist their weaker brothers toward the goal.

The great teachers of the races, have been largely composed of these self-sacrificing souls, who voluntarily "renounced heaven" for the love of their fellow man. It is very hard to imagine what a great sacrifice this is - this coming back to a comparatively low developed civilization, from a high plane of spiritual development. It is like Emerson doing missionary work among the Bushmen.

Toward what goal is all this evolution tending? What does it all mean? From the low forms of life, to the highest - all are on The Path. To what place or state does The Path lead? Let us attempt to answer by asking you, to imagine a series of millions of circles one within the other. Each circle means a stage of life. The outer circles are filled with life in its lowest and most material stages, each circle nearer the center holding higher and higher forms - until men (or what were men) become as G.o.ds. Still on, and on, does the form of life grow higher, until the human mind cannot grasp the idea. And what is in the center? The brain of the entire Spiritual Body - The Absolute - G.o.d!

And we are traveling toward that center!

THE THIRTEENTH LESSON.

SPIRITUAL CAUSE AND EFFECT.

Life is the constant acc.u.mulation of knowledge, the storing up of the result of experiences. The law of cause and effect is in constant operation, and we reap what we sow - not as a matter of punishment, but as the effect following the cause. Theology teaches us that we are punished for our sins, but the higher knowledge shows us that we are punished by our mistakes instead of for them. The child who touches the hot stove is punished by reason of the act itself, not by some higher power for having "sinned." Sin is largely a matter of ignorance and mistake. Those who have reached the higher plane of spiritual knowledge have borne upon them such a convincing knowledge of the folly and unwisdom of certain acts and thoughts, that it becomes almost impossible for them to commit them. Such persons do not fear there is some superior being waiting to strike them to the earth with a mighty club for doing certain things, simply because that intelligence has laid down an apparently arbitrary law forbidding the commission of the act.

On the contrary they know that the higher intelligences are possessed of nothing but intense love for all living creatures, and are willing and ready to always help them, so far as is possible under the workings of the law. But such persons recognize the folly of the act, and therefore refrain from committing it - in fact, they have lost the desire to commit it. It is almost exactly parallel to the example of the child and the stove. A child who wants to touch the stove will do so as soon as he finds an opportunity, notwithstanding the commands of the parent, and in spite of threatened punishment. But let that child once experience the pain of the burn, and recognize that there is a close connection between a hot stove and a burnt finger, and it will keep away from the stove. The loving parent would like to protect its child from the result of its own follies, but the child-nature insists upon learning certain things by experience, and the parent is unable to prevent it. In fact, the child who is too closely watched and restrained, usually "breaks out" later in life, and learns certain things by itself. All that the parent is able to do is to surround the child with the ordinary safeguards, and to give it the benefit of his wisdom, a portion of which the child will store away - and then trust to the law of life to work out the result.

And so the human soul is constantly applying the test of experience to all phases of life - pa.s.sing from one incarnation to another, constantly learning new lessons, and gaining new wisdom. Sooner or later it finds out how hurtful certain courses of action are - discovers the folly of certain actions and ways of living, and like the burnt child avoids those things in the future. All of us know that certain things "are no temptation to us," for we have learned the lesson at some time in some past life and do not need to relearn it - while other things tempt us sorely, and we suffer much pain by reason thereof. Of what use would all this pain and sorrow be if this one life were all? But we carry the benefit of our experience into another life, and avoid the pain there. We may look around us and wonder why certain of our acquaintances cannot see the folly of certain forms of action, when it is so plain to us - but we forget that we have pa.s.sed through just the same stage of experience that they are now undergoing, and have outlived the desire and ignorance - we do not realize that in future lives these people will be free from this folly and pain, for they will have learned the lesson by experience, just as have we.

It is hard for us to fully realize that we are what we are just by the result of our experiences. Let us take one single life as an example. You think that you would like to eliminate from your life some painful experience, some disgraceful episode; some mortifying circ.u.mstances; but have you ever stopped to think that if it were possible to eradicate these things, you would, of necessity, be forced to part with the experience and knowledge that has come to you from these occurrences. Would you be willing to part with the knowledge and experience that has come to you in the way mentioned? Would you be willing to go back to the state of inexperience and ignorance in which you were before the thing happened? Why, if you were to go back to the old state, you would be extremely likely to commit the same folly over again. How many of us would be willing to completely wipe out the experiences which have come to us? We are perfectly willing to forget the occurrence, but we know that we have the resulting experience built into our character, and we would not be willing to part with it, for it would be taking away a portion of our mental structure. If we were to part with experience gained through pain we would first part with one bit of ourselves, and then with another, until at last we would have nothing left except the mental sh.e.l.l of our former self.

But, you may say, of what use are the experiences gained in former lives, if we do not remember them - they are lost to us. But they are not lost to you - they are built into your mental structure, and nothing can ever take them away from you - they are yours forever. Your character is made up not only of your experiences in this particular life, but also of the result of your experiences in many other lives and stages of existence. You are what you are today by reason of these acc.u.mulated experiences - the experiences of the past lives and of the present one.