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diff --git a/57292-0.txt b/57292-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..519918e --- /dev/null +++ b/57292-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2480 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57292 *** + + + + + + + + + ++-------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's note: | +| | +|Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | +| | +|The Publisher updated some of the text of the | +|Book List by hand, indicating those which were | +|out of print. | +|The original text has been retained. | +| | ++-------------------------------------------------+ + + +ECHOES FROM THE ORIENT + +A BROAD OUTLINE OF THEOSOPHICAL DOCTRINES + +BY +WILLIAM Q. JUDGE +[OCCULTUS] + +SECOND POINT LOMA EDITION + +THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY +POINT LOMA, CALIFORNIA +1910 + + +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, +in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. +BY WILLIAM Q. JUDGE. + +[Illustration: Logo] + +THE ARYAN THEOSOPHICAL PRESS +Point Loma, California + + +DEDICATED TO + +HELENA PETROVNA BLAVATSKY + +WITH LOVE + +AND GRATITUDE + +BY + +THE AUTHOR + + + + +TO THE READER + + +Echoes from the Orient was written by Mr. Judge sixteen years ago (1890) +as a series of papers for a well known periodical. The author wrote +under the name of "_Occultus_," as it was intended that his personality +should be hidden until the series was completed. The value of these +papers as a popular presentation of Theosophical teaching was at once +seen and led to their publication in book form. As Mr. Judge wrote in +his "Antecedent Words" to the earlier edition: + +"The restrictions upon the treatment of the subject growing out of the +popular character of the paper in which they were published precluded +the detail and elaboration that would have been possible in a +philosophical or religious periodical. No pretense is made that the +subject of Theosophy as understood in the Orient has been exhaustively +treated, for, believing that millions of years have been devoted by the +sages who are the guardians of Theosophical truth to its investigation, +I think no one writer could do more than to repeat some of the echoes +reaching his ears." + +The reader should remember that the scope and influence of the +Theosophical Movement have since that time (1890) greatly expanded, the +work of THE UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD AND THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY now reaching +nearly every country in the world. + +Point Loma, California, 1906 + + + + +ECHOES FROM THE ORIENT. + + + + +I. + + +What appears to the Western mind to be a very strange superstition +prevails in India about wonderful persons who are said to be of immense +age, and who keep themselves secluded in places not accessible to the +ordinary traveler. So long has this been current in India that the name +applied to these beings is well known in the Sanskrit language: +"Mahâtma," a compound of two words, _maha_, great, and _âtma_, soul. The +belief in the existence of such persons is not confined to the ignorant, +but is shared by the educated of all castes. The lower classes look upon +the Mahâtmas as a sort of gods, and think most of their wonderful powers +and great age. The pundits, or learned class, and educated Hindus in +general, have a different view; they say that Mahâtmas are men or souls +with unlimited knowledge of natural laws and of man's history and +development. They claim also that the Mahâtmas--or Rishees, as they +sometimes call them--have preserved the knowledge of all natural laws +for ages, not only by tradition among their disciples, but also by +actual records and in libraries existing somewhere in the many +underground temples and passages in India. Some believers assert that +there are also stores of books and records in secluded parts all over +that part of Thibet which is not known to Europeans, access to them +being possible only for the Mahâtmas and Adepts. + +The credence given to such a universal theory grows out of an old Indian +doctrine that man is a spiritual being--a soul, in other words--and +that this soul takes on different bodies from life to life on earth in +order at last to arrive at such perfect knowledge, through repeated +experience, as to enable one to assume a body fit to be the +dwelling-place of a Mahâtma or perfected soul. Then, they say, that +particular soul becomes a spiritual helper to mankind. The perfected men +are said to know the truth about the genesis of worlds and systems, as +well as the development of man upon this and other planets. + +Were such doctrines held only in India, it would be natural to pass the +subject by with this brief mention. But when it is found that a large +body of people in America and Europe hold the same beliefs, it is +interesting to note such an un-Western development of thought. The +Theosophical Society was founded in New York in 1875, with the avowed +object of forming a nucleus for a Universal Brotherhood, and its +founders state that they believe the Indian Mahâtmas directed them to +establish such a society. Since its foundation it has gained members in +all countries, including people of wealth as well as those in moderate +circumstances, and the highly cultured also. Within its ranks there +flourish beliefs in the Mahâtmas of India and in Reïncarnation and its +twin doctrine, Karma. This last holds that no power, human or divine, +can save one from the consequences of acts performed, and that in this +life we are experiencing the results due to us for all acts and thoughts +which were ours in the preceding incarnation. + +This has brought out a large body of literature in books and magazines +published in the United States, England, India, and elsewhere. +Newspapers are published in the interest of the new-old cult in the +vernacular of Hindûstan and also in old Ceylon. Even Japan has its +periodicals devoted to the same end, and to ignore so wide-spread a +movement would bespeak ignorance of the factors at work in our +development. When such an eminent authority as the great French savant, +Emile Burnouf, says that the Theosophical movement must be counted as +one of the three great religious influences in the world to-day, there +is no need of an excuse for presenting its features in detail to readers +imbued with the civilization of the West. + + + + +II. + + +In my former paper I merely hinted at the two principal doctrines +promulgated by the Theosophical Society; it is well now to notice the +fact that the Society itself was organized amid a shout of laughter, +which at intervals ever since has been repeated. Very soon after it +launched forth it found a new member in a Bavarian gentleman, Baron +Henry Louis de Palm, who not long thereafter died and obligingly left +his body to be cremated. + +The funeral was held at Masonic Hall, New York city, and attracted +widespread attention from both press and public. It was Theosophical in +its character, and while conducted with befitting dignity in view of the +solemnity of the occasion, was along distinctly original lines. All this +of course, drew forth satire from the press, but served the purpose of +gaining some attention for the young Society. Its history since then has +been remarkable, and it is safe to say that no other similar body in +this century has drawn to itself so much consideration, stirred up such +a thinking among people on mystical subjects, and grown so rapidly amid +the loudest derision and against the fiercest opposition, within the +short space of fifteen years. + +While the press has been sneering and enemies have been plotting, the +workers in the Society have established centers all over the world, and +are to-day engaged persistently in sending out Theosophical literature +into every nook and corner of the United States. A glance at the +Theosophical map shows a line of Branches of the Society dotting a strip +of this country which reaches from the city of New York to the Pacific +Coast; at either end this belt spreads out to take in Boston and New +Orleans in the East and San Francisco and San Diego in the West; while +near the middle of the continent there is another accumulation of +centers. This is claimed to be strictly and mystically Theosophical, +because at each end of the magic line of effort and at its central point +there is an accumulation of nucleï. It is a fact that the branches of +the Society in America are rapidly running up into the first hundred. +For some little time there existed in Washington a Branch of the Society +called the Gnostic, but it never engaged in any active work. After it +had been once incontinently dissolved by its president, who thereafter +withdrew, leaving the presidency in the hands of another, the governing +body of the American Theosophists formally dischartered the Gnostic, and +its members joined other Branches. There is, however, to-day a +Washington Branch named boldly after the much lauded and belittled Mme. +H. P. Blavatsky, while the Theosophical map shows an accumulation of +influences in Washington that point to an additional Branch, and inquiry +in official quarters discloses the fact that the matter is already +mooted. + +The Theosophical map of which I have spoken is a curiosity, an anomaly +in the nineteenth century. Few of the members are allowed to see it; but +those who are say that it is a register of the actual state, day by day, +of the whole United States Section--a sort of weather map, with areas of +pressure and Theosophical humidity in all directions. Where a Branch is +well founded and in good condition, the spot or sensitive surface shows +clearness and fixity. In certain places which are in a formative +condition there is another appearance symptomatic of a vortex that may +soon bring forth a Branch; while, wherever the principle of +disintegration has crept into an existing organization, there the +formerly bright and fixed spots grow cloudy. By means of this map, those +who are managing the real growth of the movement can tell how it is +going and aid it intelligently. Of course all this sounds ridiculous in +our age; but, whether true or false, there are many Theosophists who +believe it. A similar arrangement would be desirable in other branches +of our civilization. + +The grand theories of the Theosophists regarding evolution, human races, +religions and general civilization, as well as the future state of man +and the various planets he inhabits, should engage our more serious +attention; and of these I propose to speak at another time. + + + + +III. + + +The first Echo from the burnished and mysterious East which reverberated +from these pages sounded the note of Universal Brotherhood. Among the +men of this day such an idea is generally accepted as vague and utopian, +but one which it will do no harm to subscribe to; they therefore quickly +assent, and as quickly nullify the profession by action in the opposite +direction. For the civilization of to-day, and especially of the United +States, is an attempt to accentuate and glorify the individual. The +oft-repeated declaration that any born citizen may aspire to occupy the +highest office in the gift of the nation is proof of this, and the +Mahâtmas who guard the truth through the ages while nations are +decaying, assert that the reaction is sure to come in a relapse into the +worst forms of anarchy. The only way to prevent such a relapse is for +men to really practice the Universal Brotherhood they are willing to +accept with the tongue. These exalted beings further say that all men +are--as a scientific and dynamic fact--united, whether they admit it or +not; and that each nation suffers, on the moral as well as the physical +plane, from the faults of all other nations, and receives benefit from +the others also even against its will. This is due to the existence of +an imponderable, tenuous medium which interpenetrates the entire globe, +and in which all the acts and thoughts of every man are felt and +impressed, to be afterward reflected again. Hence, say the Adepts, the +thoughts or the doctrines and beliefs of men are of the higher +importance, because those that prevail among people of a low character +are just as much and as easily reflected upon the earth as are the +thoughts and beliefs of persons occupying a higher plane of culture. + +This is a most important tenet, if true; for, with the aid of the +discoveries just now admitted by science respecting hypnotism, we are at +once able to see that an enormous hypnotizing machine is about. As this +tenuous medium--called by the men of the East "Akàsa" and by the +mediæval philosophers the "Astral Light"--is entirely beyond our +control, we are at the mercy of the pictures made in it and reflected +upon us. + +If to this we add the wonderfully interesting doctrine of Reïncarnation, +remembering also that the images made in the Astral Light persist for +centuries, it is at once seen that upon returning again to earth-life we +are affected for good or evil by the conduct, the doctrine and the +aspirations of preceding nations and men. Returning here now, for +instance, we are moved, without our knowledge, by the impressions made +in the Astral Light at the time when the Indians, the Spaniards and the +harsh Puritans lived upon the earth. The words of the immortal +Shakspere-- + + + The evil that men do lives after them; + The good is oft interrèd with their bones, + + +receive a striking exemplification under this doctrine. For, as the evil +thoughts and deeds are the more material and therefore more firmly +impacted into the Astral Light, while the good, being spiritual, easily +fade out, we are in effect at the mercy of the evil done. And the Adepts +assert that Shakspere was, unconsciously to himself, inspired by one of +their own number. I shall refer again to this branch of the subject. The +scheme of evolution put forth by these beings and their disciples is so +broad, deep and far-reaching as to stagger the ordinary mind. It takes +in with ease periods of years running up into trillions and +quadrillions. It claims that man has been on earth for millions of years +more than science yet is willing to admit. It is not bound by the narrow +scheme of biblical chronologists, nor startled by the magnificent age of +civilizations which disappeared long ago. The keepers of this doctrine +say that they and their predecessors lived in those older times, and +have preserved not only the memory of them, but also complete records. +These records, moreover, are not merely on perishable paper and palm +leaf, but on imperishable stone. They point to such remains as the +statues twenty-seven feet high found on Easter Island; to rows of +gigantic statues in Asia, that by their varying heights show the gradual +diminution of human stature, which kept pace with other degenerations; +and, to crown all, they say that they possess to-day in the East the +immense and well guarded collections of records of all sorts. Not only +are these records said to relate to the physical history of man, but +also to his astral and spiritual evolution. + +Before closing this paper, I can only indicate one of their basic +doctrines in the scheme of evolution. That is, that the evolution of the +inner, astral form of man came first in order, and continued for an +immense number of years before his physical structure was built up +around it. This, with other portions of the doctrine, is vital and will +aid much in an understanding of the complex questions presented to us +by the history of the human race, both that which is known and that +which is still resting on conjecture. + + + + +IV. + + +The records to which in my last paper I referred, as having been kept by +the Adepts and now in the possession of their present representatives +and successors--Adepts also--relate not only to the birth of planets in +this solar system, but also to the evolution and development of man, +through the various kingdoms of nature, until he reaches the most +perfect condition which can be imagined. The evolution of the human +being includes not only the genesis of his mortal frame, but, as well, +the history of the inner man, whom they are accustomed to call the real +one. + +This, then, brings us to a very interesting claim put forward for the +Wisdom Religion, that it pretends to throw light not only upon man's +emotions and mental faculties, but also upon his pre-natal and +post-mortem states, both of which are of the highest interest and +importance. Such questions as, "Where have I come from?" and, "What +shall be my condition after death?" trouble and confuse the minds of all +men, ignorant or cultured. Priests and thinkers have, from time to time, +formulated theories, more or less absurd, as to those pre-natal and +post-mortem states, while the Science of to-day laughs in derision at +the idea of making any inquiry into the matter whatever. Theologians +have offered explanations, all of which relate only to what they suppose +will happen to us after death, leaving entirely out of view and wholly +unanswered the natural question, "What were we before we were born +here?" And, taking them on their own ground, they are in a most +illogical position, because, having once postulated immortality for the +soul--the real man--they cannot deny immortality in either direction. +If man is immortal, that immortality could never have had a beginning, +or else it would have an end. Hence their only escape from the dilemma +is to declare that each soul is a special creation. But this doctrine of +a special creation for each soul born upon the earth, is not dwelt upon +or expounded by the priests, inasmuch as it is deemed better to keep it +discreetly in the background. + +The Wisdom Religion, on the other hand, remains logical from beginning +to end. It declares that man is a spiritual being, and allows of no +break in the chain of anything once declared immortal. The Ego of each +man is immortal; "always was existent, always will be, and never can be +nonexistent;" appearing now and again, and reäppearing, clothed in +bodies on each occasion different, it only appears to be mortal; it +always remains the substratum and support for the personality acting +upon the stage of life. And in those appearances as mortal, the +questions mooted above--as to the pre-natal and post-mortem states--are +of vital interest, because knowledge or ignorance concerning them alters +man's thought and action while an actor on the stage, and it is +necessary for him to know in order that he may so live as to aid in the +grand upward sweep of the evolutionary wave. + +Now the Adepts have for ages pursued scientific experimentation and +investigation upon those lines. Seers themselves of the highest order, +they have recorded not only their own actual experiences beyond the veil +of matter, on both sides, but have collected, compared, analyzed and +preserved the records of experiences of the same sort by hundreds of +thousands of lesser seers, their own disciples; and this process has +been going on from time immemorial. Let Science laugh as it may, the +Adepts are the only true scientists, for they take into account every +factor in the question, whereas Science is limited by brain-power, by +circumstance, by imperfection of instruments, and by a total inability +to perceive anything deeper than the mere phenomena presented by matter. +The records of the visions and experiences of the greater and lesser +seers, through the ages, are extant to-day. Of their mass, nothing has +been accepted except that which has been checked and verified by +millions of independent observations; and therefore the Adepts stand in +the position of those who possess actual experimental knowledge of what +precedes the birth of the Ego in a human form, and what succeeds when +the "mortal coil" is cast away. + +This recording of experiences still goes on; for the infinity of the +changes of Nature in its evolution permits of no stoppage, no "last +word," no final declaration. As the earth sweeps around the sun, it not +only passes through new places in its orbit, but, dragged as it is by +the sun through his greater orbit, involving millions of millions of +years, it must in that larger circle enter upon new fields in space and +unprecedented conditions. Hence the Adepts go farther yet and state +that, as the phenomena presented by matter to-day are different from +those presented a million years ago, so matter will in another million +of years show different phenomena still. Indeed, if we could translate +our sight to that time, far back in the past of our globe, we could see +conditions and phenomena of the material world so different from those +now surrounding us that it would be almost impossible to believe we had +ever been in such a state as that then prevailing. And the changes +toward the conditions that will prevail at a point equally remote in +advance of us, in time, and which will be not less than those that have +occurred, are in progress now. Nothing in the material world endures +absolutely unchanged in itself or its conditions, even for the smallest +conceivable portion of time. All that _is_, is forever in process of +_becoming_ something else. This is not mere transcendentalism, but is +an old established doctrine called, in the East, "the doctrine of the +constant, eternal change of atoms from one state into another." + + + + +V. + + +The ancient doctrine of the constant, eternal change of every atom from +state to state, is founded upon, or rather grows out of, another which +postulates that there is no such thing as dead matter. At every +conceivable point in the universe there are lives; nowhere can be found +a spot that is dead; and each life is forever hastening onward to higher +evolution. To admit this, we must of course grant that matter is never +perceived by the eye or through any instrument. It is but the phenomena +of matter that we recognize with the senses, and hence, say the sages, +the thing denominated "matter" by us is an illusion. Even the protoplasm +of the schools is not the original matter; it is simply another of the +phenomena. This first original matter is called by Paracelsus and others +primordial matter, the nearest approach to which in the Eastern school +is found in the Sanskrit word _mulaprakriti_. This is the root of +matter, invisible, not to be weighed, or measured, or tested with any +instrument of human invention. And yet it is the only real matter +underlying all the phenomena to which we erroneously give its name. But +even it is not dead, but full of the lives first referred to. + +Now, bearing this in mind, we consider the vast solar system, yet vast +only when not compared with the still greater aggregation of stars and +planets around it. The great sidereal year covered by the sun in going +through the twelve signs of the zodiac includes over 25,000 mortal years +of 365 days each. While this immense circuit is being traversed, the sun +drags the whole solar system with him around his own tremendous orbit, +and we may imagine--for there are no observations on the point--that, +while the 25,000 years of travel around the zodiac have been passing, +the solar system as a whole has advanced along the sun's own orbit only +a little distance. But after millions of years shall have been consumed +in these progresses, the sun must bring his train of planets to stellar +space where they have never been before; here other conditions and +combinations of matter may very well obtain--conditions and states of +which our scientists have never heard, of which there never has been +recorded one single phenomenon; and the difference between planetary +conditions then and now will be so great that no resemblance shall be +observed. + +This is a branch of cyclic law with which the Eastern sages are +perfectly familiar. They have inquired into it, recorded their +observations, and preserved them. Having watched the uncountable lives +during cycles upon cycles past, and seen their behavior under different +conditions in other stellar spaces long ago left behind, they have some +basis upon which to draw conclusions as to what will be the state of +things in ages yet to come. + +This brings us to an interesting theory offered by Theosophy respecting +life itself as exhibited by man, his death and sleep. It relates also to +what is generally called "fatigue." The most usual explanation for the +phenomenon of sleep is that the body becomes tired and more or less +depleted of its vitality and then seeks repose. This, says Theosophy, is +just the opposite of the truth, for, instead of having suffered a loss +of vitality, the body, at the conclusion of the day, has more life in it +than when it waked. During the waking state the life-waves rush into the +body with greater intensity every hour, and, we being unable to resist +them any longer than the period usually observed, they overpower us and +we fall asleep. While sleeping, the life waves adjust themselves to the +molecules of the body; and when the equilibrium is complete we again +wake to continue the contest with life. If this periodical adjustment +did not occur, the life current would destroy us. Any derangement of the +body that tends to inhibit this adjustment is a cause of sleeplessness, +and perhaps death. Finally, death of the body is due to the inequality +of the contest with the life force; it at last overcomes us, and we are +compelled to sink into the grave. Disease, the common property of the +human race, only reduces the power of the body to adjust and resist. +Children, say the Adepts, sleep more than adults, and need earlier +repose, because the bodily machine, being young and tender, is easily +overcome by life and made to sleep. + +Of course, in so short an article, I cannot elaborate this theory; but, +although not probably acceptable now to Science, it will be one day +accepted as true. As it is beginning to be thought that electricity is +all-pervading, so, perhaps, ere long it will be agreed that life is +universal even in what we are used to calling dead matter. + +As, however, it is plain to any observant mind that there seems to be +more or less intelligence in the operations of this life energy, we +naturally approach another interesting Theosophical doctrine as to the +beings and hierarchies directing this energy. + + + + +VI. + + +While studying these ancient ideas, we may as well prepare ourselves to +have them clash with many long-accepted views. But since Science has +very little save conjecture to offer when it attempts to solve the great +problems of genesis and cosmo-genesis, and, in the act of denying old +dogmas, almost always starts with a hypothesis, the Theosophist may feel +safe. In important matters, such as the heat of the sun or the history +of the moon there is no agreement between scientists or astronomers. +Newton, Pouillet, Zöllner, Secchi, Fizeau, Waterston, Rosetti, and +others all differ about the sun, the divergence between their estimates +of its heat being as high as 8,998,600 degrees. + +If we find the Adepts stating that the moon is not a mass thrown off +from the earth in cooling, but, on the contrary, is the progenitor of +this globe, we need not fear the jeers of a Science that is as uncertain +and unsafe in many things as it is positive. + +Had I to deal only with those learned men of the schools who abide by +the last utterance from the mouths of the leaders of Science, I should +never attempt the task of speaking of the beings and hierarchies who +guide the lives of which I wrote in my last. My pen would drop from a +hand paralyzed by negations. But the spiritual beliefs of the common +people will still be in vogue when the learned materialist has passed +away. The great Immanuel Kant said: "I confess I am much disposed to +assert the existence of immaterial natures in the world, and to place my +own soul in the class of these beings. It will hereafter, I know not +where nor when, yet be proved that the human soul stands, even in this +life, in indissoluble connection with all immaterial natures in the +spirit world, that it reciprocally acts upon these, and receives +impressions from them." And the greater number of men think so also. + +That there are hierarchies ruling in the universe is not a new idea. It +can be easily found to-day in the Christian Church. The early fathers +taught it, St. Paul spoke of it, and the Roman Catholic Church has it +clearly now in the Book of Ritual of the Spirits of the Stars. The four +archangels who guard the four cardinal points represent the groups of +rulers in the ancient system, or the heads of each group. In that system +the rulers are named Dhyan Chôhans. Although the Theosophical philosophy +does not postulate a personal God, whether extra- or intra-cosmic, it +cannot admit that Nature is left unaided in her work, but asserts that +the Dhyan Chôhans aid her, and are constantly occupied in directing the +all-pervading life in its evolutionary movement. Mme. Blavatsky, +speaking on this subject in her _Secret Doctrine_, quotes from the old +_Book of Dzyan_ thus: + +"An army of the Sons of Light stands at each angle, the Lipika in the +middle wheel." + +The four angles are the four quarters, and the "middle wheel" is the +center of space; and that center is everywhere, because as space is +illimitable, the center of it must be wherever the cognizing +consciousness is. And the same author, using the _Disciple's Catechism_, +writes: + +"What is it that ever is? Space, the Anupadaka. What is it that ever +was? The germ in the Root. What is it that is ever coming and going? The +great Breath. Then there are three eternals? No, the three are one. That +which ever is is one; that which ever was is one; that which is ever +being and becoming is also one; and this is space." + +In this parentless and eternal space is the wheel in the center where +the Lipika are, of whom I cannot speak; at the four angles are the Dhyan +Chôhans, and doing their will among men on this earth are the +Adepts--the Mahâtmas. The harmony of the spheres is the voice of the +Law, and that voice is obeyed alike by the Dhyan Chôhan and the +Mahâtma--on their part with willingness, because they are the law; on +the part of men and creatures because they are bound by the adamantine +chains of the law which they do not understand. + +When I said that nothing could be spoken about the Lipika, I meant that, +because of their mysterious nature and incomprehensible powers, it is +not possible to know enough to say anything with either sense or +certainty. But of the Dhyan Chôhans and the Adepts we may know +something, and are often given, as it were, tangible proof of their +existence. For the Adepts are living men, using bodies similar to ours; +they are scattered all over the earth in all nations; they know each +other, but not according to mere forms and Masonic signs of recognition, +unless we call natural, physical, and astral signs Masonic. They have +times when they meet together and are presided over by some among their +number who are more advanced in knowledge and power than the rest; and +these higher Adepts again have their communications, at which that One +who presides is the highest; from these latter begins the communication +with the Dhyan Chôhans. All in their several degrees do that work which +pertains to their degree, and although only to the Highest can be +ascribed any governance or guidance of nature and mankind, yet the very +least occupies an important place in the whole scheme. Freemasons and +the numerous mock-Rosicrucians of the day will probably not unanimously +accept this view, inasmuch as these Adepts have not submitted to their +ritual; but that there has always been a widespread--and, if you please, +a sometimes sneaking--belief in such beings and orders, is not difficult +to discern or prove. + + + + +VII. + + +An old argument for the existence of an extra-cosmic--a personal--God, +is this very intelligence that appears to pervade nature, from which the +conclusion is drawn that there is a being who is the intelligent +director. But Theosophy does not admit any such God, for he is neither +necessary nor possible. There are too many evidences of implacability in +the operations of nature for us to be able for very long to cherish the +notion of a personal God. We see that storms will rage and overwhelm +good and bad together; that earthquakes have no respect for age, sex or +rank, and that wherever a natural law has to act it will do so +regardless of human pain or despair. + +The Wisdom Religion in postulating hierarchies such as those I have +previously referred to, does not thereby outline a personal God. The +difference between the personal God--say Jehovah for one--and the Lipika +with the hosts of the Dhyan Chôhans, is very great. Law and order, good +sense, decency and progress are all subservient to Jehovah, sometimes +disappearing altogether under his beneficent sway; while in the Wisdom +Religion the Dhyan Chôhans can only follow the immutable laws eternally +traced in the Universal Mind, and this they do intelligently, because +they are in fact men become gods. As these eternal laws are +far-reaching, and as Nature herself is blind, the hierarchies--the hosts +at the angles--have to guide the evolutionary progress of matter. + +In order to grasp the doctrine better, let us take one period of +manifestation such as that we are now in. This began millions of +millions of years ago, succeeding a vast period of darkness or +hibernation. It is called Chaos in the Christian scheme. And preceding +that period of sleep there were eternally other periods of activity or +manifestation. Now, in those prior periods of energy and action the same +evolutionary progress went on, from and out of which came great +beings--men perfected and become what to us are gods, who had aided in +countless evolutions in the eternal past. These became Dhyan Chôhans and +took part in all succeeding evolutions. Such is the great goal for a +human soul to strive after. Before it the paltry and impossible rewards +of the Christian heaven turn to dross. + +The mistake must not be made of confining these great evolutionary +periods and the beings spoken of, to our miserable earth. We are only in +the chain. There are other systems, other spaces where energy, +knowledge and power are exercised. In the mysterious Milky-Way there are +spots vast in size and incomprehensibly distant, where there is room for +many such systems as ours; and even while we now watch the assemblage of +stars, there is some spot among them where the vast night of death is +spreading remorselessly over a once fair system. + +Now these beings, under the sway of the law as they are, seem perhaps to +be sometimes implacable. Occasions are met where to mortal judgment it +would seem to be wise or just to save a city from destruction, or a +nation from decay, or a race from total extinction. But if such a fate +is the natural result of actions performed or a necessary step in the +cyclic sweep, it cannot be averted. As one of the Masters of this noble +science has written: + +"We never pretended to be able to draw nations in the mass to this or +that crisis in spite of the _general drift of the world's cosmic +relations_. The cycles must run their rounds. Periods of mental and +moral light and darkness succeed each other as day does night. The major +and minor yugas must be accomplished _according to the established order +of things_. And we, borne along on the mighty tide, can only modify and +direct some of its minor currents. If we had the powers of the imaginary +personal God, and the immutable laws were but toys to play with, then, +indeed, might we have created conditions that would have turned this +earth into an Arcadia for lofty souls." + +And so in individual cases--even among those who are in direct relations +with some Adept--the law cannot be infringed. Karma demands that such +and such a thing should happen to the individual, and the greatest God +or the smallest Adept cannot lift a finger to prevent it. A nation may +have heaped up against its account as a nation a vast amount of bad +Karma. Its fate is sure, and although it may have noble units in it, +great souls even who are Adepts themselves, nothing can save it, and it +will "go out like a torch dipped in water." + +Such was the end of ancient Egypt, of whose former glory no man of this +day knows aught. Although to us she appears in the historical sky as a +full-risen sun, she yet had her period of growth, when mighty Adepts sat +upon the throne and guided the people. She gradually reached a high +point of power and then her people grew material; the Adepts retired; +pretended Adepts took their place, and gradually her glory waned until +at last the light of Egypt became darkness. The same story was repeated +in Chaldea and Assyria and also upon the surface of our own America. +Here a great, a glorious civilization once flourished, only to disappear +as the others did; and that a grand development of civilization is +beginning here again is one of the operations of the just and perfect +law of Karma to the eye of the Theosophist, but one of the mysterious +workings of an irresponsible providence to those who believe in a +personal God who giveth the land of other men to the good Christian. The +development of the American nation has a mysterious but potent +connection with the wonderful past of the Atlanteans, and is one of +those great stories outlined in the book of fate by the Lipika to whom I +referred last week. + + + + +VIII. + + +Among the Adepts the rise and fall of nations and civilizations are +subjects which are studied under the great cyclic movements. They hold +that there is an indissoluble connection between man and every event +that takes place on this globe, not only the ordinary changes in +politics and social life, but all the happenings in the mineral, +vegetable and animal kingdoms. The changes in the seasons are for and +through man; the great upheavals of continents, the movements of immense +glaciers, the terrific eruptions of volcanoes, or the sudden +overflowings of great rivers, are all for and through man, whether he be +conscious of it or present or absent. And they tell of great changes in +the inclination of the axis of the earth, past and to come, all due to +man. + +This doctrine is incomprehensible to the Western nineteenth century, for +it is hidden from observation, opposed to tradition and contradicted by +education. But the Theosophist who has passed beyond the elementary +stages knows that it is true nevertheless. "What," says the worshipper +of Science, "has man got to do with the Charleston earthquake, or with +the showers of cosmic dust that invade our atmosphere? Nothing." + +But the Adept, standing on the immeasurable height where centuries lie +under his glance, sees the great cycles and the lesser ones rolling +onward, influenced by man and working out their changes for his +punishment, reward, experience and development. + +It is not necessary now to try to make it clear how the thoughts and +deeds of men effect any changes in material things; that I will lay down +for the present as a dogma, if you please, to be made clear later on. + +The great subject of cycles has been touched upon, and brings us close +to a most fascinating statement made by the Theosophical Adepts. It is +this, that the cycles in their movement are bringing up to the surface +now, in the United States and America generally, not only a great glory +of civilization which was forgotten eleven thousand or more years ago, +but also the very men, the monads--the egos, as they call them--who were +concerned so many ages since in developing and bringing it to its final +lustre. In fact, we of the nineteenth century, hearing of new +discoveries and inventions every day, and dreaming of great advances in +all arts and sciences, are the same individuals who inhabited bodies +among the powerful and brilliant as well as wicked, Atlanteans, whose +name is forever set immortal in the Atlantic Ocean. The Europeans are +also Atlantean monads; but the flower, so to speak, of this revival or +resurrection, is and is to be on the American continent. I will not say +the United States, for mayhap, when the sun of our power has risen +again, there may be no United States for it to rise upon. + +Of course, in order to be able to accept in any degree this theory, it +is essential that one should believe in the twin Theosophical doctrines +of Karma and Reïncarnation. To me it seems quite plain. I can almost see +the Atlanteans in these citizens of America, sleepy, and not well aware +who they are, but yet full of the Atlantean ideas, which are only +prevented from full and clear expression by the inherited bodily and +mental environment which cramps and binds the mighty man within. This +again is Nemesis-Karma that punishes us by means of these galling +limitations, penning up our power and for the time frustrating our +ambition. It is because, when we were in Atlantean bodies, we did +wickedly, not the mere sordid wicked things of this day, but high deeds +of evil such as by St. Paul were attributed to unknown spiritual beings +in high places. We degraded spiritual things and turned mighty powers +over nature to base uses; we did _in excelsis_ that which is hinted at +now in the glorification of wealth, of material goods, of the individual +over the spiritual and above the great Man--Humanity. This has now its +compensation in our present inability to attain what we want or to +remove from among us the grinding-stones of poverty. We are, as yet, +only preparers, much as we may exalt our plainly crude American +development. + +Herein lies the very gist of the cycle's meaning. It is a preparatory +cycle with much of necessary destruction in it; for, before +construction, we must have some disintegration. We are preparing here in +America a new race which will exhibit the perfection of the glories +that I said were being slowly brought to the surface from the long +forgotten past. This is why the Americas are seen to be in a perpetual +ferment. It is the seething and bubbling of the older races in the +refining-pot, and the slow coming up of the material for the new race. +Here, and nowhere else, are to be found men and women of every race +living together, being governed together, attacking nature and the +problems of life together, and bringing forth children who combine, each +one, two races. This process will go on until in the course of many +generations there will be produced on the American continents an +entirely new race; new bodies; new orders of intellect; new powers of +the mind; curious and unheard-of psychic powers, as well as +extraordinary physical ones; with new senses and extensions of present +senses now unforeseen. When this new sort of body and mind are +generated--then other monads, or our own again, will animate them and +paint upon the screen of time the pictures of 100,000 years ago. + + + + +IX. + + +In dealing with these doctrines one is compelled now and then to greatly +extend the scope and meaning of many English words. The word "race" is +one of these. In the Theosophical scheme, as given out by the sages of +the East, seven great races are spoken of. Each one of these includes +all the different so-called races of our modern ethnology. Hence the +necessity for having seven great root-races, sub-races, family races, +and countless offshoot races. The root-race sends off sub-races, and +these divide into family groups; all, however, being included in the +great root-race then undergoing development. + +The appearance of these great root-races is always just when the world's +development permits. When the globe was forming, the first root-race was +more or less ethereal and had no such body as we now inhabit. The +cosmic environment became more dense and the second race appeared, soon +after which the first wholly disappeared. Then the third came on the +scene, after an immense lapse of time, during which the second had been +developing the bodies needed for the third. At the coming of the fourth +root-race it is said that the present human form was evolved, although +gigantic and in some respects different from our own. It is from this +point--the fourth race--that the Theosophical system begins to speak of +man as such. + +The old book quoted by Mme. Blavatsky has it in this wise: + +"Thus two by two on the seven zones the third race gave birth to the +fourth;" and, + +"The first race on every zone was moon-colored; the second, yellow, like +gold; the third, red; the fourth, brown, which became black with sin." + +Topinard, in his _Anthropology_, gives support to this, as he says that +there are three fundamental colors in the human organism--red, yellow +and black. The brown race, which became black with sin, refers to the +Atlantean sorcerer race of which I spoke in my last; its awfully evil +practices, both mental and physical, having produced a change in the +color of the skin. + +The evolution of these seven great races covers many millions of years, +and it must not be forgotten that when the new race is fully evolved the +preceding race disappears, as the monads in it have been gradually +reïncarnated in the bodies of the new race. The present root-race to +which we belong, no matter what the sub-race or family we may be in, is +the fifth. It became a separate, distinct and completely-defined race +about one million years ago, and has yet many more years to serve before +the sixth will be ushered in. This fifth race includes also all the +nations in Europe, as they together form a family race and are not to +be divided off from each other. + +Now, the process of forming the foundation, or great spinal column, for +that race which is to usher in the sixth, and which I said is now going +on in the Americas, is a slow process for us. Obliged as we are by our +inability to judge or to count except by relativity, the gradual coming +together of nations and the fusion of their offspring over and over +again so as to bring forth something new in the human line, is so +gradual as to seem almost without progress. But this change and +evolution go on nevertheless, and a very careful observer can see +evidences of it. One fact deserves attention. It is the inventive +faculty displayed by Americans. This is not accorded much force by our +scientists, but the Occultist sees in it an evidence that the brains of +these inventors are more open to influences and pictures from the astral +world than are the brains of the older nations. Reports have been +brought to me by competent persons of children, boys and girls, who were +born with most abnormal faculties of speech, or memory or otherwise, and +some such cases I have seen myself. All of these occur in America, and +many of them in the West. There is more nervousness here than in the +older nations. This is accounted for by the hurry and rush of our +civilization; but such an explanation really explains nothing, because +the question yet remains, "Why is there such hurry and push and change +in the United States?" Such ordinary arguments go in a circle, since +they leave out of sight the fundamental reason, so familiar to the +Theosophist, that it is human evolution going on right before our eyes +in accordance with cyclic laws. + +The Theosophical Adepts believe in evolution, but not that sort which +claims an ape as our ancestor. Their great and comprehensive system is +quite able to account for rudimentary muscles and traces of organs +found complete only in the animal kingdom without having to call a +pithecoid ape our father, for they show the gradual process of building +the temple for the use of the divine Ego, proceeding ceaselessly, and in +silence, through ages upon ages, winding in and out among all the forms +in nature in every kingdom, from the mineral up to the highest. This is +the real explanation of the old Jewish, Masonic and archaic saying that +the temple of the Lord is not made with hands and that no sound of +building is heard in it. + + + + +X. + + +It is well now to say, more definitely than I have as yet, a few words +of the two classes of beings, one of which has been much spoken of in +Theosophical literature, and also by those on the outside who write of +the subject either in seriousness or in ridicule. These two classes of +exalted personages are the Mahâtmas and Nirmânakâyas. + +In respect to the Mahâtmas, a great many wrong notions have currency, +not only with the public, but as well with Theosophists in all parts of +the world. + +In the early days of the Theosophical Society the name Mahâtma was not +in use here, but the title then was "Brothers." This referred to the +fact that they were a band of men who belonged to a brotherhood in the +East. The most wonderful powers and, at times, the most extraordinary +motives were attributed to them by those who believed in their +existence. + +They could pass to all parts of the world in the twinkling of an eye. +Across the great distance that India is from here they could precipitate +letters to their friends and disciples in New York. Many thought that if +this were done it was only for amusement; others looked at it in the +light of a test for the faithful, while still others often supposed +Mahâtmas acted thus for pure love of exercising their power. The +Spiritualists, some of whom believed that Mme. Blavatsky really did the +wonderful things told of her, said that she was only a medium, pure and +simple, and that her Brothers were familiar spooks of séance rooms. +Meanwhile the press in general laughed, and Mme. Blavatsky and her +Theosophical friends went on doing their work and never gave up their +belief in the Brothers, who after a few years came to be called +Mahâtmas. Indiscriminately with Mahâtma the word Adept has been used to +describe the same beings, so that we have these two titles made use of +without accuracy and in a misleading fashion. + +The word Adept signifies proficiency, and is not uncommon, so that, when +using it, some description is necessary if it is to be applied to the +Brothers. For that reason I used Theosophical Adepts in a previous +paper. A Mahâtma is not only an Adept, but much more. The etymology of +it will make the matter clearer, the word being strictly Sanskrit, from +_mahâ_, great, and _âtmâ_, soul--hence Great Soul. This does not mean a +noble-hearted man merely, but a perfected being, one who has attained to +the state often described by mystics and held by scientific men to be an +impossibility, when time and space are no obstacles to sight, to action, +to knowledge or to consciousness. Hence they are said to be able to +perform the extraordinary feats related by various persons, and also to +possess information of a decidedly practical character concerning the +laws of nature, including that mystery for science--the meaning, +operation and constitution of life itself--and concerning the genesis of +this planet as well as the races upon it. These large claims have given +rise to the chief complaint brought forward against the Theosophical +Adepts by those writers outside of the Society who have taken the +subject up--that they remain, if they exist at all, in a state of cold +and selfish quietude, seeing the misery and hearing the groans of the +world, yet refusing to hold out a helping hand except to a favored few; +possessing knowledge of scientific principles, or of medicinal +preparations, and yet keeping it back from learned men or wealthy +capitalists who desire to advance commerce while they turn an honest +penny. Although, for one, I firmly believe, upon evidence given me, in +all that is claimed for these Adepts, I declare groundless the complaint +advanced, knowing it to be due to a want of knowledge of those who are +impugned. + +Adepts and Mahâtmas are not a miraculous growth, nor the selfish +successors of some who, accidentally stumbling upon great truths, +transmitted them to adherents under patent rights. They are human beings +trained, developed, cultivated through not only a life but long series +of lives, always under evolutionary laws and quite in accord with what +we see among men of the world or of science. Just as a Tyndall is +greater than a savage, though still a man, so is the Mahâtma, not +ceasing to be human, still greater than a Tyndall. The Mahâtma-Adept is +a natural growth, and not produced by any miracle; the process by which +he so becomes may be to us an unfamiliar one, but it is in the strict +order of nature. + +Some years ago a well-known Anglo-Indian, writing to the Theosophical +Adepts, queried if they had ever made any mark upon the web of history, +doubting that they had. The reply was that he had no bar at which to +arraign them, and that they had written many an important line upon the +page of human life, not only as reigning in visible shape, but down to +the very latest dates when, as for many a long century before, they did +their work behind the scenes. To be more explicit, these wonderful _men_ +have swayed the destiny of nations and are shaping events to-day. +Pillars of peace and makers of war such as Bismarck, or saviors of +nations such as Washington, Lincoln and Grant, owe their elevation, +their singular power, and their astonishing grasp upon the right men +for their purposes, not to trained intellect or long preparation in the +schools of their day, but to these very unseen Adepts, who crave no +honors, seek no publicity and claim no acknowledgment. Each one of these +great human leaders whom I have mentioned had in his obscure years what +he called premonitions of future greatness, or connection with stirring +events in his native land. + +Lincoln always felt that in some way he was to be an instrument for some +great work, and the stray utterances of Bismarck point to silent hours, +never openly referred to, when he felt an impulse pushing him to +whatever of good he may have done. A long array of instances could be +brought forward to show that the Adepts have made "an ineffaceable mark +upon diverse eras." Even during the great uprising in India that +threatened the English rule there, they saw long in advance the +influence England and India would have in the affairs of the world +through the very psychic and metaphysical changes of to-day, and often +hastened to communicate, by their own occult and wonderful methods, the +news of successes for English arms to districts and peoples in the +interior who might have risen under the stimulus of imaginary reports of +English disasters. At other times, vague fears were spread instantly +over large masses of the Hindûs, so that England at last remained +master, even though many a patriotic native desired another result. But +the Adepts do not work for the praise of men, for the ephemeral +influence of a day, but for the future races and man's best and highest +good. + + + + +XI. + + +For an exhaustive disquisition upon Adepts, Mahâtmas and Nirmânakâyas, +more than a volume would be needed. The development illustrated by them +is so strange to modern minds and so extraordinary in these days of +general mediocrity, that the average reader fails to grasp with ease the +views advanced in a condensed article; and nearly everything one would +say about Adepts--to say nothing of the Nirmânakâyas--requiring full +explanation of recondite laws and abstruse questions, is liable to be +misunderstood, even if volumes should be written upon them. The +development, conditions, powers, and function of these beings carry with +them the whole scheme of evolution; for, as said by the mystics, the +Mahâtma is the efflorescence of an age. The Adepts may be dimly +understood to-day, the Nirmânakâyas have as yet been only passingly +mentioned, and the Mahâtmas are misconceived by believers and deniers +alike. + +But one law governing them is easy to state and ought not to be +difficult for the understanding. They do not, will not, and must not +interfere with Karma; that is, however apparently deserving of help an +individual may be, they will not extend it in the manner desired if his +Karma does not permit it; and they would not step into the field of +human thought for the purpose of bewildering humanity by an exercise of +power which on all sides would be looked upon as miraculous. Some have +said that if the Theosophical Adepts were to perform a few of their +feats before the eyes of Europe, an immense following for them would at +once arise; but such would not be the result. Instead of it there would +be dogmatism and idolatry worse than have ever been, with a reaction of +an injurious nature impossible to counteract. + +Hypnotism--though by another name--has long been known to them. The +hypnotic condition has often aided the schemes of priests and churches. +To compel recognition of true doctrine is not the way of these sages, +for compulsion is hypnotism. To feed a multitude with only five loaves +would be easy for them; but as they never act upon sentiment but +continually under the great cosmic laws, they do not advance with +present material aid for the poor in their hands. But, by using their +natural powers, they every day influence the world, not only among the +rich and poor of Europe and America, but in every other land, so that +what does come about in our lives is better than it would have been had +they not had part therein. + +The other class referred to--Nirmânakâyas--constantly engage in this +work deemed by them greater than earthly enterprises: the betterment of +the soul of man, and any other good that they can accomplish through +human agents. Around them the long-disputed question of Nirvâna +revolves, for all that they have not been distinctly considered in it. +For, if Max Müller's view of Nirvâna, that it is annihilation, be +correct, than a Nirmânakâya is an impossibility. Paradoxically speaking, +they are in and out of that state at one and the same time. They are +owners of Nirvâna who refuse to accept it in order that they may help +the suffering orphan, Humanity. They have followed the injunction of the +_Book of the Golden Precepts_: "Step out from sunlight into shade, to +make more room for others." + +A greater part is taken in the history of nations by the Nirmânakâyas +than anyone supposes. Some of them have under their care certain men in +every nation who from their birth are destined to be great factors in +the future. These they guide and guard until the appointed time. And +such protégés but seldom know that such influence is about them, +especially in the nineteenth century. Acknowledgment and appreciation of +such great assistance are not required by the Nirmânakâyas, who work +behind the veil and prepare the material for a definite end. At the same +time, too, one Nirmânakâya may have many different men--or women--whom +he directs. As Patanjali puts it, "In all these bodies one mind is the +moving cause." + +Strange, too, as it may seem, often such men as Napoleon Buonaparte are +from time to time helped by them. Such a being as Napoleon could not +come upon the scene fortuitously. His birth and strange powers must be +in the order of nature. The far-reaching consequences going with a +nature like his, unmeasurable by us, must in the eastern Theosophical +philosophy be watched and provided for. If he was a wicked man, so much +the worse for him; but that could never deter a Nirmânakâya from turning +him to his uses. That might be by swerving him, perchance, from a path +that would have plunged the world into depths of woe and been made to +bring about results in after years which Napoleon never dreamed of. The +fear of what the world might think of encouraging a monster at a certain +point never can deter a sage who sees the end that is best. And in the +life of Napoleon there are many things going to show at times an +influence more powerful than he could grapple. His foolhardy march to +Moscow was perhaps engineered by these silent campaigners, and also his +sudden and disastrous retreat. What he could have done had he remained +in France, no present historian is competent to say. The oft-doubted +story of the red letter from the Red Man just when Napoleon was in a +hesitating mood, may have been an encouragement at a particular +juncture. "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad." Nor will +the defeat at Waterloo be ever understood until the Nirmânakâyas give +their records up. + +As a change in the thought of a people who have been tending to gross +atheism is one always desired by the Sages of the Wisdom Religion, it +may be supposed that the wave of spiritualistic phenomena resulting now +quite clearly in a tendency back to a universal acknowledgment of the +soul, has been aided by the Nirmânakâyas. They are in it and of it; they +push on the progress of a psychic deluge over great masses of people. +The result is seen in the literature, the religion and the drama of +to-day. Slowly but surely the tide creeps up and covers the once dry +shore of Materialism, and, though priests may howl, demanding "the +suppression of Theosophy with a firm hand," and a venal press may try to +help them, they have neither the power nor the knowledge to produce one +backward ripple, for the Master hand is guided by omniscient +intelligence propelled by a gigantic force, and--_works behind the +scene_. + + + + +XII. + + +There have been so many secret societies during the Christian era, by +whom claims were made to knowledge of nature's secret laws, that a +natural question arises: "In what do the Theosophic Eastern Sages differ +from the many Rosicrucians and others so often heard of?" The old +bookshelves of Germany are full of publications upon Rosicrucianism, or +by pretended and genuine members of that order, and to-day it is not +uncommon to find those who have temerity enough to dub themselves +"Rosicrucians." + +The difference is that which exists between reality and illusion, +between mere ritualism and the signs printed by nature upon all things +and beings passing forever up the road to higher states of existence. +The Rosicrucian and Masonic fraternities known to history rely upon +outward signs and tokens to indicate the status in the order of their +members, who, without such guarantees, are only uninitiated outsiders. + +But the Sages we speak of, and their disciples, carry with them the +indelible mark and speak the well-known words that show they are beings +developed under laws, and not merely persons who, having undergone a +childish ordeal, are possessed of a diploma. The Adepts may be called +rugged oaks that have no disguise, while the undeveloped man dabbling in +Masonic words and formulas is only a donkey wearing a lion's skin. + +There are many Adepts living in the world, all of whom know each other. +They have means of communication unknown to modern civilization, by +using which they can transmit to and receive from each other messages at +any moment and from immense distances, without using any mechanical +means. We might say that there is a Society of Adepts, provided that we +never attach to the word "society" the meaning ordinarily conveyed by +it. It is a society which has no place of meeting, which exacts no dues, +which has no constitution or by-laws other than the eternal laws of +nature; there are no police or spies attached to it and no complaints +are made or received in it, for the reason that any offender is punished +by the operation of law entirely beyond his control--his mastery over +the law being lost upon his infringing it. + +Under the protection and assistance and guidance of this Society of +Adepts are the disciples of each one of its members. These disciples are +divided into different degrees, corresponding to the various stages of +development; the least developed disciples are assisted by those who are +in advance of them, and the latter in a similar manner by others, until +the grade of disciple is reached where direct intercourse with the +Adepts is possible. At the same time, each Adept keeps a supervisory eye +upon all his disciples. Through the agency of the disciples of Adepts +many effects are brought about in human thought and affairs, for from +the higher grades are often sent those who, without disclosing their +connection with mysticism, influence individuals who are known to be +main factors in events about to occur. + +It is claimed that the Theosophical Society receives assistance in its +growth and the spreading of its influence from the Adepts and their +accepted disciples. The history of the Society would seem to prove this, +for unless there were some hidden but powerful force operating for its +advantage it would have long ago sunk into obscurity, destroyed by the +storm of ridicule and abuse to which it has been subjected. Promises +were made, in the early history of the Society, that assistance would at +all times be rendered, and prophecies were hinted that it would be made +the target for vilification and the object of opposition. Both +prophecies have been fulfilled to the letter. + +In just the same way as a polished diamond shows the work which gives it +value and brilliancy, so the man who has gone through probation and +teaching under the Adepts carries upon his person the ineffaceable +marks. To the ordinary eye untrained in this department, no such +indications are visible; but those who can see describe them as being +quite prominent and wholly beyond the control of the bearer. For this +reason that one who has progressed, say, three steps along the way, will +have three marks, and it is useless to pretend that his rank is a step +higher, for, if it were, then the fourth mark would be there, since it +grows with the being's development. Now, as these signatures cannot be +imitated or forged, the whole inner fraternity has no need for +concealment or signs. No one can commit a fraud upon or extract from +them the secrets of higher degrees by having obtained signs and +pass-words out of a book or in return for the payment of fees, and none +can procure the conferring of any advancement until the whole nature of +the man exactly corresponds to the desired point of development. + +In two ways the difference between the Adept fraternity and the worldly +secret societies can be seen--in their treatment of nations and of +their own direct special disciples. Nothing is forced or depends upon +favor. Everything is arranged in accordance with the best interests of a +nation, having in view the cyclic influences at any time prevailing, and +never before the proper time. When they desire to destroy the chains +forged by dogmatism, they do not make the error of suddenly appearing +before the astonished eyes of the people; for they know well that such a +course would only alter the dogmatic belief in one set of ideas to a +senseless and equally dogmatic adherence to the Adepts as gods, or else +create in the minds of many the surety that the devil was present. + + + + +XIII. + + +The training of the disciple by the teachers of the school to which the +Theosophical Adepts belong is peculiar to itself, and not in accord with +prevailing modern educational ideas. In one respect it is a +specialization of the pilgrimage to a sacred place so common in India, +and the enshrined object of the journey is the soul itself, for with +them the existence of soul is one of the first principles. + +In the East the life of man is held to be a pilgrimage, not only from +the cradle to the grave, but also through that vast period of time, +embracing millions upon millions of years, stretching from the beginning +to the end of a Manvantara, or period of evolution, and as he is held to +be a spiritual being, the continuity of his existence is unbroken. +Nations and civilizations rise, grow old, decline and disappear; but the +being lives on, spectator of all the innumerable changes of environment. +Starting from the great All, radiating like a spark from the central +fire, he gathers experience in all ages, under all rulers, civilizations +and customs, ever engaged in a pilgrimage to the shrine from which he +came. He is now the ruler and now the slave; to-day at the pinnacle of +wealth and power, to-morrow at the bottom of the ladder, perhaps in +abject misery, but ever the same being. To symbolize this, the whole of +India is dotted with sacred shrines, to which pilgrimages are made, and +it is the wish of all men in that so-called benighted land to make such +a journey at least once before death, for the religious duties of life +are not fully performed without visiting such sacred places. + +One great reason for this, given by those who understand the inner +significance of it, is that the places of pilgrimage are centers of +spiritual force from which radiate elevating influences not perceptible +to the pig-sticking, wine-drinking traveller. It is asserted by many, +indeed, that at most of the famous places of pilgrimage there is an +Adept of the same order to which the Theosophical Adepts are said to +belong, who is ready always to give some meed of spiritual insight and +assistance to those of pure heart who may go there. He, of course, does +not reveal himself to the knowledge of the people, because it is quite +unnecessary, and might create the necessity for his going elsewhere. +Superstitions have arisen from the doctrine of pilgrimages, but, as that +is quite likely to come about in this age, it is no reason why places of +pilgrimage should be abolished, since, if the spiritual centers were +withdrawn, good men who are free from superstition would not receive the +benefits they now may have. The Adepts founded these places in order to +keep alive in the minds of the people the soul idea which modern Science +and education would soon turn into agnosticism, were they to prevail +unchecked. + +But the disciple of the Adept knows that the place of pilgrimage +symbolizes his own nature, shows him how he is to start on the +scientific investigation of it and how to proceed, by what roads and in +which direction. He is supposed to concentrate into a few lives the +experience and practice which it takes ordinary men countless +incarnations to acquire. His first steps, as well as his last, are on +difficult, often dangerous places; the road, indeed, "winds up hill all +the way," and upon entering it he leaves behind the hope for reward so +common in all undertakings. Nothing is gained by favor, but all depends +upon his actual merit. As the end to be reached is self-dependence with +perfect calmness and clearness, he is from the beginning made to stand +alone, and this is for most of us a difficult thing which frequently +brings on a kind of despair. Men like companionship, and cannot with +ease contemplate the possibility of being left altogether to themselves. +So, instead of being constantly in the company of a lodge of +fellow-apprentices, as is the case in the usual worldly secret society, +he is forced to see that, as he entered the world alone, he must learn +to live there in the same way, leaving it as he came, solely in his own +company. But this produces no selfishness, because, being accompanied by +constant meditation upon the unseen, the knowledge is acquired that the +loneliness felt is only in respect to the lower, personal, worldly self. + +Another rule that this disciple must follow is that no boasting may be +indulged in on any occasion, and this gives us the formula that, given a +man who speaks of his powers as an Adept or boasts of his progress on +the spiritual planes, we can be always sure he is neither Adept nor +disciple. There have been those in the Theosophical Society who gave out +to the world that they were either Adepts in fact or very near it, and +possessed of great powers. Under our formula it follows that they were +mere boasters, with nothing behind their silly pretensions but vanity +and a fair knowledge of the weakness as well as the gullibility of human +nature; upon the latter they play for either their profit or pleasure. +But, hiding themselves under an exterior which does not attract +attention, there are many of the real disciples in the world. They are +studying themselves and other human hearts. They have no diplomas, but +there resides in them a consciousness of constant help and a clear +knowledge of the true Lodge which meets in real secrecy and is never +found mentioned in any directory. Their whole life is a persistent +pursuit of the fast-moving soul which, although appearing to stand +still, can distance the lightning; and their death is only another step +forward to greater knowledge through better physical bodies in new +lives. + + + + +XIV. + + +Looking back into the past the nineteenth-century historian finds his +sight speedily striking a mist and at last plunging into inky darkness. +Bound down in fact by the influence of a ridiculous dogmatism which +allows only some six thousand years for man's life on earth, he is +unwilling to accept the old chronologies of the Egyptians or Hindûs, +and, while permitting the assumption of vast periods for geological +changes, he is staggered by a few millions of years more or less when +they are added to the length of time during which humanity has peopled +the globe. The student of Theosophy, however, sees no reason why he +should doubt the statement made by his teachers on this subject. He +knows that the periods of evolution are endless. These are called +Manvantaras, because they are between two Manus, or, two men. + +These periods may be called waves whose succession has no cessation. +Each grand period, including within it all the minor evolutions, covers +311,040,000,000,000 human years; under a single Manu the human years +come and go, 306,720,000 in number, and the lesser yugas--or ages--more +immediately concerning us, comprise of solar years 4,320,000. During +these solar revolutions the human races sweep round and round this +planet. Cave-dwellers, lake-dwellers and those of a neolithic or any +other age appear and disappear over and over again, and in each of those +we who now read, write and think of them were ourselves the very Egos +whose past we are trying to trace. + +But, going deep into geological strata, the doubt of man's existence +contemporaneously with the plesiosaurus arises because no fossil _genus +homo_ is discovered in the same stratum. It is here that the theories of +the Theosophist come in and furnish the key. Those hold that before man +developed any physical body he clothed himself with an astral form; and +this is why H. P. Blavatsky writes in her _Secret Doctrine_: "it teaches +the birth of the _astral_ before the _physical_ body, the former being +the model for the latter." At the time of the huge antediluvian animals +they absorbed in their enormous bodies so much of the total quantity of +gross matter available for frames of sentient beings that the astral man +remained without a corporeal frame, as yet unclothed "with coats of +skin." For this reason he could exist in the same place with those huge +birds and reptiles without fear. Their massive proportions inspired him +with no terror, and by their consumption of food there was no lessening +of his sustenance. And, therefore, being of such a composition that he +left no impression upon mud or plastic rock, the death of one astral +body after another left no fossil and no mark to be unearthed by us in +company with the very beasts and birds which were his contemporaries. + +Man was all this time acquiring the power to clothe himself with a dense +frame. He threw off astral bodies one after another, in the ceaseless +pursuit, each effort giving him a little more density. Then he began to +cast a shadow, as it were, and the vast, unwieldy animal world--and +others as well--felt more and more the draughts made upon it by the +coming man. As he thickened they grew smaller, and his remains could not +be deposited in any stratum until such time as he had grown to +sufficient hardness. But our modern anthropologists have not yet +discovered when that was. They are ready enough to make definite +statements, but, learned as they are, there are surprises awaiting them +not so far off. + +While, therefore, our explorers are finding, now and then, the remains +of animals and birds and reptiles in strata which show an age far +greater than any assigned to the human race, they never come upon human +skeletons. How could man leave any trace at a stage when he could not +press himself into the clay or be caught by soft lava or masses of +volcanic dust? I do not mean, however, to say that the period of the +plesiosaurus is the period of the man of astral body devoid of a +material one. The question of exact period may well be left for a more +detailed account; this is only to point to the law and to the +explanation for the non-appearance of man's remains in very early +geologic strata. But the Theosophic Adepts insist that there are still +in the earth bony remains of man, which carry his first appearance in a +dense body many millions of years farther back than have yet been +admitted, and these remains will be discovered by us before much time +shall have rolled away. + +One of the first results of these discoveries will be to completely +upset the theory as to the succession of ages, as I may call it, which +is given and accepted at the present time, and also the estimation of +the various civilizations that have passed from the earth and left no +trace except in the inner constitution of ourselves--for it is held that +_we are those very persons_, now in different bodies, who so long ago +lived and loved and died upon the planet. We began to make Karma then +and have been under its influence ever since, and it seems fitting that +that great doctrine should be taken up at another time for a more +careful examination. + + + + +XV. + + +The Oriental doctrine of reward and punishment of the human Ego is very +different from the theological scheme accepted throughout Christendom, +since the Brahmins and Buddhists fix the place of punishment and +compensation upon this earth of ours, while the Christian removes the +"bar of God" to the hereafter. We may not profitably stop to argue upon +logic with the latter; it will be sufficient to quote to them the words +of Jesus, St. Matthew, and the Psalmist. "With what measure ye mete, it +shall be measured unto you again," said Jesus; and Matthew declares that +for every word, act, and thought we shall have to answer, while David, +the royal poet, sang that those who serve the Lord should never eat +beggar's bread. We all know well that the first two declarations do away +with the vicarious atonement; and as for the Jewish singer's notion, it +is negatived every day in any city of either hemisphere. + +Among the Ceylonese Buddhists the name of the doctrine is Kamma; with +the Hindûs it is Karma. Viewed in its religious light, it "is the good +and bad deeds of sentient beings, by the infallible influence or +efficacy of which those beings are met with due rewards or punishment, +according as they deserve, in any state of being."[A] When a being dies, +he emits, as it were, a mass of force or energy, which goes to make up +the new personality when he shall be reïncarnated. In this energy is +found the summation of the life just given up, and by means of it the +Ego is forced to assume that sort of body among those appropriate +circumstances which together are the means for carrying out the decrees +of Karma. + +Hence hell is not a mythical place or condition after death in some +unknown region specially set apart by the Almighty for the punishment of +his children, but is in very truth our own globe, for it is on the +earth, in earth-lives experienced in human bodies, that we are punished +for bad deeds previously done, and meet with happiness and pleasure as +rewards for old merit. + +When one sees, as is so common, a good man suffering much in his life, +the question naturally arises, "Has Karma anything to do with it, and is +it just that such a person should be so afflicted?" For those who +believe in Karma it is quite just, because this man in a previous life +must have done such acts as deserve punishment now. And, similarly, the +wicked man who is free from suffering, happy and prosperous, is so +because in a previous existence he had been badly treated by his fellows +or had experienced much suffering. And the perfect justice of Karma is +well illustrated in his case because, although now favored by fortune, +he, being wicked, is generating causes which, when he shall be reborn, +will operate then to punish him for his evil-doing now. + +Some may suppose that the Ego should be punished after death, but such a +conclusion is not logical. For _evil deeds committed here on the +objective plane could not with any scientific or moral propriety be +punished on a plane which is purely subjective_. And such is the reason +why so many minds, both of the young and old, have rejected and rebelled +against the doctrine of a hellfire in which they would be eternally +punished for commission of sin on earth. Even when unable to formulate +the reason in metaphysical terms, they instinctively knew that it would +be impossible to remove the scene of compensation from the very place +where the sin and confusion had been done and created. When the +disciples of Jesus asked him if the man who was born blind was thus +brought into the world for some sin he had committed they had in mind +this doctrine of Karma, just as all the Hindûs and Buddhists have when +they see some of their fellows crippled or deformed or deprived of +sight. + +The theory above hinted at of the person at death throwing out from +himself the new personality, so to speak, ready to await the time when +the Ego should return to earth seeking a new body, is a general law that +operates in a great many other instances besides the birth or death of a +being. It is that which is used by the Theosophists to explain the +relations between the moon and the earth. For, as the moon is held by +them to be the planet on which we lived before reaching the earth and +before there was any such earth whatever; and that, when our so-called +satellite came to die, all the energy contained in it was thrown out +into space, where in a single vortex it remained until the time came for +that energy to be again supplied with a body--this earth--so the same +law prevails with men, the single units in the vast aggregate which is +known among advanced Theosophists as the great Manu. Men being, as to +their material envelope, derived from the moon, must follow the law of +their origin, and therefore the Buddhist priest says, as quoted: "At the +death of a being nothing goes out from him to the other world for his +rebirth; but by the efficacy--or, to use a more figurative expression, +by the ray--of influence which Kamma emits, a new being is produced in +the other world very identical with the one who died away," for in this +"new being" is held all the life of the deceased. The term "being," as +applied to it may be taken by us with some qualification. It is more +properly a mass of energy devoid of conscience and crowded with desires +of the person from whom it emanated; and its special province is to +await the return of the individuality and form for that the new body in +which it shall suffer or enjoy. Each man is therefore his own creator +under the great Cosmic laws that control all creations. A better term in +place of "creation" is "evolution," for we, from life to life, are +engaged in evolving out of the material provided in this _Manvantara_ +new bodies at every turn of the wheel of rebirth. The instruments we use +in this work are desire and will. Desire causes the will to fix itself +on objective life; in that plane it produces force and out of that comes +matter in its objective form. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[A] The Rev. T. P. Terunnanse, High-Priest at Dodanduwa, Ceylon. + + + + +XVI. + + +Very many Western people say that this Oriental doctrine of Karma is +difficult to understand, being fit only for educated and thoughtful +persons. But in India, Ceylon and Burmah, not to mention other Asiatic +countries, the whole mass of the people accept and seem to understand +it. The reason for this lies probably in the fact that they also firmly +believe in Reïncarnation, which may be said to be the twin doctrine to +Karma. Indeed, the one cannot be properly considered without keeping the +other in view, for Karma--whether as punishment or reward--could have no +actual or just operation upon the Ego unless the means for its operation +were furnished by Reïncarnation. + +Our deserts are meted out to us while we are associating in life with +each other, and not while we are alone, nor in separateness. If being +raised to power in a nation or becoming possessed of wealth is called a +reward, it would lose all value were there no people to govern and no +associated human beings with and upon whom we could spend our wealth and +who might aid us in satisfying our manifold desires. And so the law of +Reïncarnation drags us into life again and again, bringing with us +uncounted times the various Egos whom we have known in prior births. +This is in order that the Karma--or causes--generated in company with +those Egos may be worked out, for to take us off separately into an +unknown hell, there to receive some sort of punishment, or into an +impossible serio-comic heaven to meet our reward, would be as impossible +as unjust. Hence, no just-hanged murderer absolved by priest or praising +Jesus can escape. He, together with his victim, must return to this +earth, each to aid the other in adjusting the disturbed harmony, during +which process each makes due compensation. With this doctrine we restore +justice to her seat in the governance of men, for without it the legal +killing of the murderer after condemnation is only a half remedy, since +no provision is made by the State for the being hurled out of the body +nor for the dependants he may have left behind, and, still further, +nothing is done for those who in the family of the murderer survive him. + +But the Theosophical sages of all ages push the doctrine of Karma beyond +a mere operation upon incarnated men. They view all worlds as being +bound together and swayed by Karma. As the old Hindû book, the +_Bhagavad-Gîtâ_, says, "all worlds up to that of Brahmâ are subject to +Karma." Hence it acts on all planes. So viewing it, they say that this +world as it is now conditioned is the actual result of what it came to +be at the beginning of the _pralaya_ or grand death which took place +billions upon billions of years ago. That is, the world evolves just as +man does. It is born, it grows old, it dies, and it is reïncarnated. +This goes on many times, and during those incarnations it suffers and +enjoys in its own way for its previous evolutions. For it the reward is +a greater advance along the line of evolution, and the punishment is a +degraded state. Of course, as I said in a former article, these states +have man for their object and cause, for he is the crown of all +evolution. And, coming down from the high consideration of great cosmic +spaces and phenomena, the Theosophist is taught to apply these laws of +Karma and Reïncarnation to every atom in the body in _especial_ and +apart from the total Karma. Since we are made up of a mass of lives, our +thoughts and acts affect those atoms or lives and impress them with a +Karma of their own. As the Oriental thinkers say, "not a moment passes +without some beings coming to life in us, acquiring Karma, dying, and +being reïncarnated." + +The principal divisions of Karma are three in number. One sort is that +now operating in the present life and body, bringing about all the +circumstances and changes of life. Of this we see illustrations every +day, with now and then strange climaxes which throw upon the doctrine +the brightest light. One such is immortalized in India by a building +erected by the favored son of fortune, as we would say, and thus it came +about. A Rajah had a very strange dream, so affecting that he called +upon his soothsayers for interpretation. They said that their horoscopes +showed he was required next day to give an immense sum of money to the +first person he should see after awaking, their intention being to +present themselves at an early hour. Next day the King arose unusually +early, stepped to his window, threw it open, and there before him was a +chandalah sweeping up the dirt. To him he gave a fortune, and thus in a +moment raised him to affluence from abject poverty. The chandalah then +built a huge building to commemorate his sudden release from the +grinding chains of poverty. + +Another class of Karma is that which is held over and not now in +operation because the man does not furnish the appropriate means for +bringing it into action. This may be likened to vapor held in +suspension in the atmosphere and not visible to the eye, but which will +fall as rain upon the earth the moment conditions are ripe. + +The last chief class is that Karma which we are making now, and which +will be felt by us in future births. Its appropriate symbol is the arrow +shot forward in the air by the archer. + + + + +XVII. + + +The spirit is not affected by Karma at any time or under any +circumstances, and so the Theosophical Adepts would not use the terms +"cultivation of the Spirit." The Spirit in man, called by them +_Ishwara_, is immutable, eternal and indivisible--the fundamental basis +of all. Hence they say that the body and all objects are impermanent and +thus deluding to the soul whenever they are mistaken for reality. They +are only real on and for this plane and during the time when the +consciousness takes them up here for cognition. They are therefore +relatively real and not so in an absolute sense. This can easily be +proved from dreams. In the dream state we lose all knowledge of the +objects which while awake we thought real and proceed to suffer and +enjoy in that new state. In this we find the consciousness applying +itself to objects partaking of course of the nature of the experiences +of the waking condition, but at the same time producing the sensations +of pleasure and pain while they last. Let us imagine a person's body +plunged in a lethargy extending over twenty years and the mind +undergoing a pleasant or unpleasant dream, and we have a life just of +that sort, altogether different from the life of one awake. For the +consciousness of this dreamer the reality of objects known during the +waking state is destroyed. But as material existence is a necessary evil +and the one in which alone emancipation or salvation can be obtained, it +is of the greatest importance and hence Karma which governs it and +through whose decrees emancipation may be reached must be well +understood and then be accepted and obeyed. + +Karma will operate to produce a deformed or deficient body, to give in a +good body a bad disposition or _vicè versâ_; it will cause diseases, +hurts or annoyances, or bring about pleasures and favorable situations +for the material frame. So we sometimes find with a deformed or +disagreeable body a most enlightened and noble mind. In this case the +physical Karma is bad and the mental good. + +This leads us to the sort of Karma that works upon the mental plane. At +the same time that an unfavorable Karmic cause is showing forth in the +physical structure another and better sort is working out in the mind +and disposition or has eventuated in conferring a mind well balanced, +calm, cheerful, deep, and brilliant. Hence we discover a purely physical +as compared with an entirely mental Karma. Purely physical would be that +resulting, say from a removal from the ground of fruit peel which might +otherwise cause some unknown person to fall and be hurt. Purely mental +might be due to a life spent in calm, philosophical thought and the +like. + +There is in one of the Hindû books a strange sentence respecting this +part of the subject, reading: "Perfection of body or superhuman powers +are produced by birth or by herbs or by incantations, penances, or +meditations." + +Among mental afflictions esteemed as worse than any bodily hurt or loss +is that Karma from a preceding life which results in obscurity of such a +character that there is a loss of all power to conceive of the reality +of Spirit or the existence of soul--that is, materialism. + +The last field of operation for this law may be said to be the psychical +nature. Of this in America we have numerous examples in mediums, +clairvoyants, clairaudients, mind-readers, hysteriacs, and all sorts of +abnormal sensitives. There could be no clairvoyant according to the +Oriental scheme if the person so afflicted, using as I think the proper +term, had not devoted much of previous lives to a one-sided development +of the psychical nature resulting now in powers which make the possessor +an abnormality in society. + +A very strange belief of the Hindûs is that one which allows the +possibility of a change of state by a mortal of such a character that +the once man becomes a _Deva_ or lesser god. They divide nature into +several departments, in each of which are conscious powers or entities +called _Devas_, to put it roughly. Yet this is not so far apart from the +ideas of some of our best scientific men who have said there is no +reason why in each ray of the spectrum there may not be beings to us +unseen. Many centuries ago the Hindû thinker admitted this, and pushing +further on declared that a man might through a certain sort of Karma +become one of these beings, with corresponding enjoyment and freedom +from care, but with the certainty, however, of eventually changing back +again to begin the weary round of birth over again. + +What might be called the doctrine of the nullification of Karma is an +application in this department of the well-known law in physics which +causes an equilibrium when two equal forces oppose each other. A man may +have in his Karmic account a very unpleasant cause and at the same time +a cause of opposite character. If these come together for expression at +the same time they may so counteract each other as that neither will be +apparent and the equilibrium is the equivalent of both. In this way it +is easy to understand the Biblical verse: "Charity covereth a multitude +of sins," as referring to the palliative effect of charitable deeds as +opposed to deeds of wickedness, and giving a reason for the mediæval +knight devoting some of the years of his life to almsgiving. + +In the _Bhagavad-Gîtâ_, a book revered by all in India, the highest +place is given to what is called _Karma-Yôga_ or the Religion of the +Performance of Works and Duty, and there it is said: "He who, unattached +to the fruits of his actions, performs such actions as must be done, is +both renouncer and devotee; not he who kindles no sacrificial fires and +performs no ceremonies. He who remains inert, restraining the organs of +action, and pondering with his heart on objects of sense, is called a +false pietist of bewildered soul. But he who, restraining his senses by +his heart and being free from interest in acting, undertakes active +devotion through the organs of action, is praiseworthy." + + + + +XVIII. + + +That the doctrine of Karma is unjust, unsympathetic, and fatalistic has +been claimed by those who oppose it, but such conclusions are not borne +out by experience among those races who believe in it, nor will the +objections stand a close examination. The Hindûs and Buddhists +thoroughly believe in Karma, convinced that no one but themselves +punishes or rewards in this or any life, yet we do not find them cold or +unsympathetic. Indeed, in the relations of life it is well known that +the Hindû is as loving and tender as his American brother, and there are +as many instances of heroic self-sacrifice in their history as in ours. +Some go further than this and say that the belief in Karma and +Reïncarnation has made the Hindû more gentle in his treatment of men and +animals than are the Europeans, and more spiritual in his daily life. +Going deeper into their history, the belief in Karma is found side by +side with material works of great magnitude, and whose remains to this +day challenge our wonder, admiration, and respect; it is doubtful +whether we could ever show such triumphs over nature as can be seen at +any time in the rock-cut temples of Hindustan. So it would appear that +this doctrine of ours is not likely to produce bad or enervating effects +upon the people who accept it. + +"But," says an objector, "it is fatalism. If Karma is Karma, if I am to +be punished in such and such a manner, then it will come about so +whether I will or not, and hence I must, like the Turk, say 'Kismet,' +and do nothing." Now, although the Mohammedan doctrine of Kismet has +been abused as fatalism, pure and simple, it was not so held by the +Prophet nor by his greatest disciples, for they taught that it was law +and not fate. And neither is Karma amenable to this objection. In the +minds of those who, having vaguely apprehended Karma as applying to one +life only, do not give the doctrine its true majestic, endless sweep, +fatalism is the verdict. When, on the other hand, each man is seen as +the fashioner of the fate for his next fleeting earth personality, there +can be no fatality in it, because in his own hand is the decree. He set +in motion the causes which will inevitably have certain results. Just as +easily he could have made different causes and thus brought about +different results. + +That there are a repellant coldness and want of tenderness in a doctrine +which thus deals out inflexible justice and compels us to forever lose +our friends and beloved relatives, once death has closed the door, is +the feeling of a few who make sentiment their rule in life. But while +sentiment and our own wishes are not the guiding laws of nature, there +is no reason even on the sentimental ground for this objection; it is +due to a partial knowledge of the doctrine which, when fully known, is +found to be as full of opportunity for the exercise of what is dear to +the heart as any other theory of life. The same law that throws us into +life to suffer or enjoy, as may be deserved, decrees that the friends +and the relatives who are like unto each other must incarnate together, +until by reason of differentiation of character they cannot under any +law of attraction remain in company. Not unless and until they become +different do they separate from each other. And who would wish to be +eternally tied to the side of uncongenial relatives or acquaintances +merely because there was an accident of birth! + +For our aid also this law works well and ceaselessly. "Those whom you +help will help you in other lives," is the declaration. In ages past +perhaps we knew those who long since have passed up to greater heights. +The very moment in the long series of incarnations we come near to where +they are pursuing their pilgrimage, they at once extend assistance, +whether that be on the material or moral planes. And it makes no +difference whether one or the other is aware of who is assisting or who +is being assisted. Inflexible law guides the current and brings about +the result. Thus the members of the whole human family reciprocally act +on one another, forced into it by a law which is as kind as it is great, +which turns the contempt we bore in the past into present honor and +opportunity to help our fellows. + +There is no favoritism possible in nature; no man has any privilege or +gift which he has not deserved, either as a reward or a compensation. +Looking at the present life spread before our limited vision, we may see +perhaps no cause why there should be any such reward to an unworthy man, +but Karma never errs and will surely repay. And it not only rewards, but +to it solely belong those compensations which we with revenge attempt to +mete out. It is with this in view that the holy writ of the Christians +says, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay," for so surely as one hurts +another so is the certainty of Karma striking the offender;--but let +the injured one beware that he does not desire the other punished, for +by Karma will he be punished also. So from all this web of life and +ceaselessly revolving wheel, Karma furnishes the escape and the means of +escape, and by reïncarnation we are given the time for escape. + + + + +XIX. + + +In the Egyptian _Book of the Dead_, chapter x describes the place where, +after death, disembodied souls remain in different degrees of +perfection. Some are shown as taking wheat three cubits high, while +others are only permitted to glean it--"he gleaned the fields of +Aanroo." Thus some enjoy the perfection of spiritual bliss, while others +attain only to minor degrees in that place or state where divine justice +is meted out to the soul. + +Devachan is the land of reward; the domain of spiritual effects. The +word spiritual here refers to disembodiment; it must only be used as +relative to our material existence. The Christian demonstrates this fact +by the material _entourage_ of his heaven. In the _Secret Doctrine_, H. +P. Blavatsky says: "Death itself is unable to deliver man from it +[Karma], since death is simply the door through which he passes to +another life on earth, after a little rest on its threshold--Devachan." +Devachan, then, is the threshold of life. In the Hindû system it is +etymologically the place of the gods, Indra's heaven. Indra is the +regent of heaven, who gives to those who can reach his realm +long-enduring gifts of happiness and dominion. The _Bhavagad-Gîtâ_ says: +"After enjoying felicity for innumerable years in the regions of Indra, +he is born again upon this earth." + +For the purpose of this article, we assume that the entire man, minus +the body, goes into Devachan. This, however, is not so. The +_post-mortem_ division of our sevenfold constitution given by Theosophy +is exact. It exhibits the basis of life, death and reïncarnation. It +shows the composite being, man, in analogy with that other composite +being, nature. Both are a unity in diversity. Man, suspended in nature, +like her, divides and reünites. This sevenfold division will be treated +in a future article. + +Devachan, being a state of prolonged subjective happiness after the +death of the body, is plainly the heaven of the Christian, but with a +difference. It is a heaven made scientifically possible. Heaven itself +must accord with the divine laws projected into nature. As sleep is a +release from the body, during which we have dreams, so death is a +complete separation and release, after which in Devachan we dream until, +on being again incarnated in a new body on earth, we come once more into +what we call waking existence. Even the human soul would weary of the +ceaseless round of rebirths, if some place or state were not provided in +which rest could be obtained; in which germinating aspirations, +restricted by earth-life, could have their full development. No energy +can be annihilated, least of all a psychic energy; these must somewhere +find an outlet. It is found in Devachan; this realization is the rest of +the soul. Its deepest desires, its highest needs are there enjoyed. +There every hope blooms out in full and glorious flower. To prolong this +blissful state, Hindû books give many incantations and provide +innumerable ceremonies and sacrifices, all of them having for end and +aim a long stay in Devachan. The Christian does precisely the same. He +longs for heaven, prays that he may go there, and offers up to his God +such propitiatory rites and acts as seem best to him, the only +difference being that he does not do it half so scientifically as the +Hindû. The Hindû is also more vivid in his conception of this heaven +than the Christian is. He postulates many places or conditions adapted +to the energic and qualitative differences between souls. Kama-loka and +other states are where concrete desires, restricted by life in the body, +have full expression, while in Tribûvana the abstract and benevolent +thinkers absorb the joys of lofty thought. The orthodox heaven has no +such proviso. It also ignores the fact that a settled monotony of +celestial existence would exhaust the soul--would be stagnation, not +growth. Devachanic life is development of aspiration, passing through +the various stages of gestation, birth, cumulative growth, downward +momentum and departure to another condition, all rooted in joy. There is +nothing in the mere fact of death to mould a soul anew. It is a group of +psychic energies, and heaven must have something in common with these, +or why should it gravitate there? Souls differ as men do. In Devachan +each one receives that degree of bliss which it can assimilate; its own +development determines its reward. The Christian places all the snuffy +old saints as high as other holy souls, sinking genius to the level of +the mediocre mass, while the Hindû gives infinite variety of occupation +and existence suited to grave and gay, the soul of genius or of poetry. +No one sits in undesired seats, nor sings psalms he never liked, nor +lives in a city which might pall upon him if he were forever compelled +to walk its pearly streets. The laws of cause and effect forbid that +Devachan should be monotonous. Results are proportionate to antecedent +energies. The soul oscillates between Devachan and earth-life, finding +in each conditions suited to its continuous development, until, through +effort, it reaches a perfection in which it ceases to be the subject of +the laws of action and reäction, becoming instead their conscious +co-worker. + +Devachan is a dream, but only in the sense in which objective life can +be called such. Both last until Karma is satisfied in one direction, and +begins to work in the other. The Devachanee has no idea of space or +time except such as he makes for himself. He creates his own world. He +is with all he ever loved, not in bodily companionship, but in one to +him real, close and blissful. When a man dies, the brain dies last. Life +is still busy there after death has been announced. The soul marshals up +all past events, grasps the sum total, the average tendency stands out, +the ruling hope is seen. Their final aroma forms the keynote of +Devachanic existence. The lukewarm man goes neither to heaven nor hell. +Nature spews him out of her mouth. Positive conditions, objective or +subjective, are only reached through positive impulsion. Devachanic +distribution is governed by the ruling motive of the soul. The hater +may, by reäction, become the lover, but the indifferent have no +propulsion, no growth. + + + + +XX. + + +It is quite evident to the unprejudiced inquirer that Christian priests +for some reason or other studiously ignore the composite nature of man, +although their great authority, St. Paul, clearly refers to it. He spoke +of body, soul, and spirit, they only preach of body and soul; he +declared we had a spiritual body, they remain misty as to the soul's +body and cling to an absurd resurrection of the material casket. It +became the duty of Theosophists to draw the attention of the modern mind +once more to the Oriental division of man's constitution, for through +that alone can an understanding of his state before and after death be +attained. The division laid down by St. Paul is threefold, the Hindû one +is of a sevenfold character. St. Paul's is meant for those who require +broad outlines, but do not care to inquire into details. Spirit, soul, +and body, however, include the whole seven divisions, the latter being a +more complete analysis; and it is suspected by many deep thinkers that +Paul knew the complete system but kept it back for good reasons of his +own. + +An analysis of body discloses more than mere molecular structure, for it +shows a force or life or power that keeps it together and active +throughout its natural period. Some writers on Theosophical subjects, +dealing more or less accurately with the Eastern system, have called +this _Prâna_ or _Jîva_; others, however, call it _Prâna_ alone, which +seems more appropriate, because the human aspect of the life force is +dependent upon _Prâna_, or _breath_. + +The _spirit_ of St. Paul may be taken for our purposes to be the +Sanskrit _Âtmâ_. Spirit is universal, indivisible, and common to all. In +other words, there are not many spirits, one for each man, but solely +one spirit which shines upon all men alike, finding as many +souls--roughly speaking--as there are beings in the world. In man the +spirit has a more complete instrument or assemblage of tools with which +to work. This spiritual identity is the basis of the philosophy; upon it +the whole structure rests; to individualize spirit, assigning to each +human being his own spirit, particular to him and separate from the +spirit of any other man, is to throw to the ground the whole Theosophic +philosophy, will nullify its ethics and defeat its object. + +Starting then with _Âtmâ_--spirit--as including the whole, being its +basis and support, we find the Hindû offering the theory of sheaths or +covers of the soul or inner man. These sheaths are necessary the moment +evolution begins and visible objects appear, so that the aim of the soul +may be attained in conjunction with nature. In this way, through a +process which would be out of place here, a classification is arrived at +by means of which the phenomena of life and consciousness may be +explained. + +The six vehicles used by the spirit and by means of which the Ego gains +experience are: + +_Body_, as a gross vehicle. + +_Vitality_, or _Prâna_. + +_Astral Body_, or _Linga Sharîra_. + +_Animal Soul_, or _Kâma Rûpa_. + +_Human Soul_, or _Manas_. + +_Spiritual Soul_, or _Buddhi_. + +The _Linga Sharîra_ is needed as a more subtle body than the corporeal +frame, because the latter is in fact only stupid, inert matter. _Kâma +Rûpa_ is the body, or collection, of desires and passions; _Manas_ may +be properly called the mind, and _Buddhi_ is the highest intellection +beyond brain or mind. It is that which discriminates. + +At the death of the body, _Prâna_ flies back to the reservoir of force; +the astral body dissipates after a longer period and often returns with +_Kâma Rûpa_ when aided by certain other forces to séance-rooms, where it +masquerades as the deceased, a continual lie and ever-present snare. The +human and the spiritual soul go into the state spoken of before as +_Devachan_ or heaven, where the stay is prolonged or short according to +the energies appropriate to that state generated during earth-life. When +these begin to exhaust themselves the Ego is gradually drawn back to +earth-life, where through human generation it takes up a new body, with +another astral body, vitality, and animal soul. + +This is the "wheel of rebirth," from which no man can escape unless he +conforms to true ethics and acquires true knowledge and consciousness +while living in a body. It was to stop this ceaselessly revolving wheel +that Buddha declared his perfect law, and it is the aim of the true +Theosophist to turn his great and brilliant "Wheel of the Law" for the +healing of the nations. + + + + +XXI. + + +High in the esteem of the Hindû stands the serpent, both as a symbol and +a creature. Moving in a wavy line, he figures the vast revolution of the +Sun through eternal space carrying the rapidly whirling Earth in her +lesser orbit; periodically casting his skin, he presents a visible +illustration of renewal of life or reïncarnation; coiling to strike, he +shows the working of the law of Karma-Nemesis which, with a basis in our +actions, deals an unerring blow. As a symbol with tail in mouth, forming +a circle, he represents eternity, the circle of necessity, all-devouring +Time. For the older Initiates he spoke to them also of the astral light +which is at once devilish and divine. + +Probably in the whole field of Theosophic study there is nothing so +interesting as the astral light. Among the Hindûs it is known as Akâsa, +which can also be translated as æther. Through a knowledge of its +properties they say that all the wonderful phenomena of the Oriental +Yogis are accomplished. It is also claimed that clairvoyance, +clairaudience, mediumship, and seership as known to the Western world +are possible only through its means. It is the register of our deeds and +thoughts, the great picture gallery of the earth, where the seer can +always gaze upon any event that has ever happened, as well as those to +come. Swimming in it as in a sea are beings of various orders and also +the astral remains of deceased men and women. The Rosicrucians and other +European mystics called these beings Sylphs, Salamanders, Gnomes, +Undines, Elementals; the Hindû calls them Gandharbhas or celestial +musicians, Yakshas, Rakshâsas and many more. The "spooks" of the +dead--mistaken by Spiritualists for the individuals who are no +more--float in this Akâsic substance, and for centuries have been known +to the mystical Hindû as Bhûta, another name for devil, or Pisâcha, a +most horrible devil; neither of them any more than the cast-off +soul-body nearest earth, devoid of conscience and only powerful for +evil. + +But the term "astral light," while not new, is purely of Occidental +origin. Porphyry spoke of it when referring to the celestial or +soul-body, which he says is immortal, luminous, and "star-like;" +Paracelsus called it the "sidereal light;" later it grew to be known as +astral. It was said to be the same as the _anima mundi_ or soul of the +world. Modern scientific investigators approach it when they speak of +"luminiferous ether" and "radiant matter." The great astronomer, Camille +Flammarion, who was a member of the Theosophical Society during his +life, speaks of the astral light in his novel _Uranie_ and says: "The +light emanating from all these suns that people immensity, the light +reflected through space by all these worlds lighted by these suns, +_photographs_ throughout the boundless heaven the centuries, the days, +the moments as they pass.... From this it results that the histories of +all the worlds are travelling through space without dispersing +altogether, and that all the events of the past are present and live +evermore in the bosom of the infinite." + +Like all unfamiliar or occult things the astral light is difficult to +define, and especially so from the very fact that it is called "light." +It is not the light as we know it, and neither is it darkness. Perhaps +it was said to be a light because when clairvoyants saw by means of it, +the distant objects seemed to be illuminated. But as equally well +distant sounds can be heard in it, heavy bodies levitated by it, odors +carried thousands of miles through it, thoughts read in it, and all the +various phenomena by mediums brought about under its action, there has +been a use of the term "light" which while unavoidable is none the less +erroneous. + +A definition to be accurate must include all the functions and powers +of this light, but as those are not fully known even to the mystic, and +wholly _terra incognita_ for the scientist, we must be content with a +partial analysis. It is a substance easily imagined as imponderable +ether which, emanating from the stars, envelopes the earth and permeates +every atom of the globe and each molecule upon it. Obeying the laws of +attraction and repulsion, it vibrates to and fro, making itself now +positive and now negative. This gives it a circular motion which is +symbolized by the serpent. It is the great final agent, or prime mover, +cosmically speaking, which not only makes the plant grow but also keeps +up the diastole and systole of the human heart. + +Very like the action of the sensitive photographic plate is this light. +It takes, as Flammarion says, the pictures of every moment and holds +them in its grasp. For this reason the Egyptians knew it as the +Recorder; it is the Recording Angel of the Christian, and in one aspect +it is Yâma, the judge of the dead in the Hindû pantheon, for it is by +the pictures we impress therein that we are judged by Karma. + +As an enormous screen or reflector the astral light hangs over the earth +and becomes a powerful universal hypnotizer of human beings. The +pictures of all acts good and bad done by our ancestors as by ourselves, +being ever present to our inner selves, we constantly are impressed by +them by way of suggestion and go then and do likewise. Upon this the +great French priest-mystic, Éliphas Lévi, says: "We are often astonished +when in society at being assailed by evil thoughts and suggestions that +we would not have imagined possible, and we are not aware that we owe +them solely to the presence of some morbid neighbor; this fact is of +great importance, since it relates to the manifestation of +conscience--one of the most terrible and incontestable secrets of the +magic art.... So diseased souls have a bad breath, and vitiate the +moral atmosphere; that is to say, they mingle impure reflections with +the astral light which penetrates them, and thus establish deleterious +currents." + +There is also a useful function of this light. As it preserves the +pictures of all past events and things, and as there is nothing new +under the sun, the appliances, the ideas, the philosophy, the arts and +sciences of long buried civilizations are continually being projected in +pictures out of the astral into the brains of living men. This gives a +meaning not only to the oft-recurring "coïncidence" of two or more +inventors or scientists hitting upon the same ideas or inventions at +about the same time and independently of each other, but also to other +events and curious happenings. + +Some self-styled scientists have spoken learnedly of telepathy, and +other phenomena, but give no sufficient reason in nature for +thought-transference or apparitions or clairvoyance or the hundred and +one varieties of occurrences of an occult character noticed from day to +day among all conditions of men. It is well to admit that thought may be +transferred without speech directly from one brain to another, but how +can the transference be effected without a medium? That medium is the +astral light. The moment the thought takes shape in the brain it is +pictured in this light, and from there is taken out again by any other +brain sensitive enough to receive it intact. + +Knowing the strange properties of the astral plane and the actual fate +of the sheaths of the soul spoken of in another article, the +Theosophical Adepts of all times gave no credit to pretended returning +of the dead. Éliphas Lévi learned this well and said: "The astral light +combining with ethereal fluids forms the astral phantom of which +Paracelsus speaks. This astral body being freed at death, attracts to +itself and preserves for a long time, by the sympathy of likeness, the +reflection of the past life; if a powerfully sympathetic will draws it +into the proper current it manifests itself in the form of an +apparition." But with a sensitive, abnormally constituted person +present--a medium, in other words, and all of that class are nervously +unbalanced--the strong will is not needed, for the astral light and the +living medium's astral body recall these soulless phantoms, and out of +the same reservoir take their speech, their tones, their idiosyncrasies +of character, which the deluded devotees of this debasing practice are +cheated into imagining as the returned self of dead friend or relative. + +Yet all I have referred to here are only instances of a few of the +various properties of the astral light. So far as concerns our world it +may be said that astral light is everywhere, interpenetrating all +things; to have a photographic power by which it grasps pictures of +thoughts, deeds, events, tones, sounds, colors, and all things; +reflective in the sense that it reflects itself into the minds of men; +repellant from its positive side and attractive from the negative; +capable of assuming extreme density when drawn in around the body by +powerful will or by abnormal bodily states, so that no physical force +can penetrate it. This phase of its action explains some facts +officially recorded during the witchcraft excitement in Salem. It was +there found that although stones and other flying objects came toward +the possessed one they always fell as it were from the force of gravity +_just at the person's feet_. The Hindû Yogi gives evidence of a use of +this condensation of the astral light when he allows arrows and other +projectiles to be thrown at him, all of them falling at his feet no +matter how great their momentum, and the records of genuine +Spiritualistic phenomena in the United States furnish similar +experiences. + +The astral light is a powerful factor, unrecognized by science, in the +phenomenon of hypnotism. Its action will explain many of the problems +raised by Binet, Charcot and others, and especially that class in which +two or more distinct personalities seem to be assumed by the subject, +who can remember in each only those things and peculiarities of +expression which belong to that particular stratum of their experience. +These strange things are due to the currents in the astral light. In +each current will be found a definite series of reflections, and they +are taken up by the inner man, who reports them through speech and +action on this plane as if they were his own. By the use of these +currents too, but unconsciously, the clairvoyants and clairaudients seem +to read in the hidden pages of life. + +This light can therefore be impressed with evil or good pictures, and +these are reflected into the subconscious mind of every human being. If +you fill the astral light with bad pictures, just such as the present +century is adept at creating, it will be our devil and destroyer, but if +by the example of even a few good men and women a new and purer sort of +events are limned upon this eternal canvas, it will become our Divine +Uplifter. + + + + +_There is no Religion Higher than Truth_ + +THE UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD AND THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY + +_Established for the benefit of the people of the earth and all +creatures_ + + +OBJECTS + +This BROTHERHOOD is a part of a great and universal movement which has +been active in all ages. + +This Organization declares that Brotherhood is a fact in Nature. Its +principal purpose is to teach Brotherhood, demonstrate that it is a fact +in Nature and make it a living power in the life of humanity. + +Its subsidiary purpose is to study ancient and modern religions, +science, philosophy and art; to investigate the laws of Nature and the +divine powers in man. + +THE UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD AND THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, founded by H. P. +Blavatsky at New York, 1875, continued after her death under the +leadership of the co-founder, William Q. Judge, and now under the +leadership of their successor, Katherine Tingley, has its Headquarters +at the International Theosophical Center, Point Loma, California. + +This Organization is not in any way connected with nor does it endorse +any other societies using the name of Theosophy. + +THE UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD AND THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, welcomes to +membership all who truly love their fellow men and desire the +eradication of the evils caused by the barriers of race, creed, caste or +color, which have so long impeded human progress; to all sincere lovers +of truth and to all who aspire to higher and better things than the mere +pleasures and interests of a worldly life, and are prepared to do all in +their power to make Brotherhood a living energy in the life of humanity, +its various departments offer unlimited opportunities. + +The whole work of the Organization is under the direction of the Leader +and Official Head, Katherine Tingley, as outlined in the Constitution. + + * * * + +Do not fail to profit by the following: + +It is a regrettable fact that many people use the name of Theosophy and +of our Organization for self-interest, as also that of H. P. Blavatsky +the Foundress, to attract attention to themselves and to gain public +support. This they do in private and public speech and in publications, +also by lecturing throughout the country. Without being in any way +connected with the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD AND THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, in +many cases they permit it to be inferred that they are, thus misleading +the public, and many honest inquirers are hence led away from the truths +of Theosophy as presented by H. P. Blavatsky and her successors, William +Q. Judge and Katherine Tingley, and practically exemplified in their +Theosophical work for the uplifting of humanity. + + + + +THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD LEAGUE + +Founded in 1897 by Katherine Tingley + + +ITS OBJECTS ARE: + +1. To help men and women to realize the nobility of their calling and +their true position in life. + +2. 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Judge) .15 + +INCIDENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT (Joseph H. +Fussell). 24 pages, royal 8vo .15 + +LIFE AT POINT LOMA, THE. Some notes by Katherine Tingley, Leader and +Official Head of the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD AND THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. .15 + +Reprinted from _Los Angeles Post_, Dec., 1902 + +KATHERINE TINGLEY, HUMANITY'S FRIEND; A VISIT TO KATHERINE TINGLEY (by +John Hubert Greusel); A STUDY OF RÂJA YOGA AT POINT LOMA (Reprint from +the San Francisco _Chronicle_, January 6th, 1907). + +The above three comprised in a pamphlet of 50 pages, published by the +Woman's Theosophical Propaganda League, Point Loma .15 + +ECHOES FROM THE ORIENT (W. Q. Judge); cloth .50 +Paper .25 + +21 valued articles, giving a broad outline of the Theosophical +doctrines, written for the newspaper-reading public. + +ERRORS OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE, SOME OF THE. Criticism by H. P. Blavatsky +and W. Q. Judge .15 + +HYPNOTISM: THEOSOPHICAL VIEWS ON. (40 pp.) .15 + +NIGHTMARE TALES. (H. P. Blavatsky). _Newly illustrated by R. Machell._ A +collection of the weirdest tales ever written down. They contain +paragraphs of the profoundest mystical philosophy. Cloth .60 +Paper .35 + +THE PLOUGH AND THE CROSS. A Story of New Ireland (William Patrick +O'Ryan); 12mo, 378 pages, illustrated, Cloth 1.00 + + +OCCULTISM, STUDIES IN + +(H. P. Blavatsky). Pocket size, 6 vols., cloth; per set 1.50 + +Vol. 1. Practical Occultism. Occultism _vs._ the Occult Arts. The +Blessing of Publicity. .35 + +Vol. 2. Hypnotism. Black Magic in Science. Signs of the Times .35 + +Vol. 3. Psychic and Noetic Action .35 + +Vol. 4. Kosmic Mind. Dual Aspect of Wisdom .35 + +Vol. 5. Esoteric Character of the Gospels .35 + +Vol. 6. Astral Bodies. Constitution of the Inner Man .35 + + +THEOSOPHICAL MANUALS + +ELEMENTARY HANDBOOKS FOR STUDENTS + +Price, each, paper .25; cloth .35 + +No. 1. Elementary Theosophy. + +No. 2. The Seven Principles of Man. + +No. 3. Karma. + +No. 4. Reincarnation. + +No. 5. Man After Death. + +No. 6. Kâmaloka and Devachan. + +No. 7. Teachers and Their Disciples. + +No. 8. The Doctrine of Cycles. + +No. 9. Psychism, Ghostology, and the Astral Plane. + +No. 10. The Astral Light. + +No. 11. Psychometry, Clairvoyance, and Thought-Transference. + +No. 12. The Angel and the Demon. (2 vols., 35c. each) + +No. 13. The Flame and the Clay. + +No. 14. On God and Prayer. + +No. 15. Theosophy: the Mother of Religions. + +No. 16. From Crypt to Pronaos. (An Essay on the Rise and Fall of Dogma) + +No. 17. Earth. (Its Parentage; its Rounds and Its Races) + +No. 18. Sons of the Firemist. (A Study of Man) + + +THE PATH SERIES + +SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR INQUIRERS IN THEOSOPHY + +ALREADY PUBLISHED + +No. 1. THE PURPOSE OF THE UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD AND THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY +.05 + +No. 2. THEOSOPHY GENERALLY STATED (W. Q. Judge) .05 + +No. 3. MISLAID MYSTERIES (H. Coryn, M. D.) .05 + +No. 4. THEOSOPHY AND ITS COUNTERFEITS .05 + +No. 5. SOME PERVERTED PRESENTATIONS OF THEOSOPHY (H. T. Edge, B. A.) .05 + +Thirty copies $1.00; 100 copies $3.00 + + +LOTUS GROUP LITERATURE + +LOTUS LIBRARY FOR CHILDREN + +_Introduced under the direction of Katherine Tingley_ + +1. THE LITTLE BUILDERS AND THEIR VOYAGE TO RANGI (R. N.) .50 + +2. THE COMING OF THE KING (Machell); cloth, gilt edges .35 + +LOTUS SONG BOOK. Fifty original songs with copyrighted music .50 + +LOTUS SONG--"The Sun Temple"--_with music_ .15 + + +THEOSOPHICAL PERIODICALS + +CENTURY PATH. Illustrated weekly, Edited by Katherine Tingley + +A Magazine devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, the Promulgation of +Theosophy, and the Study of Ancient and Modern Ethics, Philosophy, +Science, and Art + +Year $4.00 Single copy .10 + +Write for a sample copy to + +NEW CENTURY CORPORATION + +Point Loma, California, U. S. A. + +RÂJA YOGA MESSENGER. _Illustrated._ Monthly. Yearly subscription .50 + +Unsectarian publication for Young Folk, conducted by a staff of pupils +of the Râja Yoga School at Lomaland. Address Master Albert G. Spalding, +Business Manager, RÂJA YOGA MESSENGER, Point Loma, California. + +INTERNATIONAL THEOSOPHICAL CHRONICLE. _Illustrated._ Monthly. Yearly +subscription, postpaid 1.00 + +The Theosophical Book Co., 18 Bartlett's Buildings Holborn Circus, +London, E. C. + +THEOSOPHIA. _Illustrated._ Monthly. Yearly subscription, postpaid 1.50 + +Universella Broderskapets Förlag, Box 265, Stockholm 1, Sweden. + +UNIVERSALE BRUDERSCHAFT. _Illustrated._ Monthly. Yearly subscription, +postpaid 1.50 + +J. Th. Heller, Vestnertorgraben 13, Nürnberg, Germany + +LOTUS-KNOPPEN. _Illustrated._ Monthly. Yearly subscription, postpaid .75 + +A. Goud, Steentilstraat 40, Groningen, Holland + +Subscriptions to the above four Magazines may be secured also through +the Theosophical Publishing Co., Point Loma, California. + + +Neither the editors of the above publications, nor the officers of the +UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD AND THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, or of any of its +departments, receive salaries or other remuneration. + +All profits arising from the business of the Theosophical Publishing +Co., are devoted to Humanitarian Work. All who assist in this work are +directly helping that Cause. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Echoes From The Orient, by Wiliam Q. Judge + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 57292 *** |