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ANNIE Besant
Chicago.
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TWO LECTURES
SECOND EDITION
CO., E.C.
LTD.,
Amen
Corner,
LONDON,
903.
Digitized by
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2008
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^oul
PART
I.
THESE
two lectures might better perhaps be described as one lecture in two parts, for I am really going to try and give you in the two
of the
soul.
There
really
is
is
so
much
means, as to how he
is
thought
could
to
in
it
the light of
Theosophy.
turns your
;
whole view of the purpose of the Universe and if the growth of the Soul were better understood than
it
asked as to
we should not hear the continual questions why there should be a Universe at all, and why there should be manifestation why, if everything comes out of One and goes back to One
is,
;
2054971
again,
why
turn
this
The whole
it
of these questions
on
misunderstanding, or
is
I
on lack of
to the clearing
up of
am
going to address
make
the
origin of the
individual
clear, I must ask you to come back with me to the time when the human race was evolving, but when as yet the individual had not come into existence. Come back to what you know, in Theosophical literaYou may remember ture, as the first Race of man.
that
according
to the teachings
which you
first
find in
The
Secret Doctrine
and
world
its
Race had
is
said to have
The
Pitris, or ancestors,
who
afforded the
first
first
matrix for
humanity,
to evolve
who
give the
man was
Pitris
those are
I it
Into
in detail,
but
the traces of
present time.
that
You must be
;
Moon upon
and, above
the
all,
Earth
is
you
may
notice that
it
is
all
great
find
physiological periods.
The
fact that
you
still
many
millions of years
should make it at least not surprising to you when you read in ancient books that there is a causal relation between the Moon and the Earth, and between the ancestors of humanity and forms of
living beings
who
gone by.
Now,
these
Lunar
Pitris that
it is
Race of man might develop, came to the Earth, this Earth on which we are now, which is the central globe in the ring of globes, and they came to it so
far as
trouble about
it
to-night
first
for the
time, but
am
ignoring the
three Rounds.
When
they
the
The
reason
in
passing
why
come
before
we know,
is
have any
vital energies at
any
electrical or
mena
of
life
and of chemical
the
presence of ether.
together physical
So that
it is
not possible to
draw
call
may
and so
to
draw
together,
every physical
molecule has
envelope of
it
ether,
and
is
is
by
means
these life-forces
able
to
During the
physical body
first
was
built
called Nature-Spirits,
who made
of
man, the tabernacle of flesh, as it is sometimes Out of the first Race evolved the second, entitled.
and out of the second evolved the third. No break, nothing that would be called a new creation, but
definite
and
sequential
evolution.
The
materials
used
in these
far as
their
of enor-
we
are
considering.
Races to the
When
evolving, slowly
and gradually through almost incalculable periods of time, the animal development took place that is, the development of the physical and astral bodies went on during the first and second
;
as
Races, and in the third that of the body of sensation, you know it in yourselves and in the lower
from without. Your outside body receives contacts from the external universe,
it
these
modified parts
we
call
the
organ
in the
body, while
But you are aware that the senseit answers by way of vibraits
tion to
any vibration of
to
it
own
comes
from without,
is
perceives.
inwards
in a
way
of the astral
body
and
this action
shows
itself
always by the
passing of electrical
this third
into
body that
am now
speaking
of,
the body
of sensation.
You may have a break between the we call feeling, between the
10
and what we
all
call
sight.
The power
of sight, the
that
of course,
why
it
Now,
we.
You
feel,
find
it
in the
they
appetites.
They feel, and not only do but they show emotions, passions and You will see the passion of anger in
;
you
will find
all
all
together,
may
describe these
it
"body
of sensation" or, as
desire."
I
is
body of
As you
is is
are a
Lodge
of students,
may
venture to
This body
spoken of as the
Kama
body,
Kama
;
Rupa, which
only the Sanskrit for " desire body " and I use the name because I want in a moment to quote a
Kama
it is
occurs.
In the
animal
it is
developed.
Now,
in
contains within
itself
which evolution is to proceed. Take what stage of evolution you like in the outer world, and you will always find that at any stage there is a germ which,
II
if it
new
individual.
This
germ evolution proceeds. You may take vegetable, you may take animal, you may take man, take what you like always you will find that, if an individual is to be produced, a germ will be present which is to form Part helper only; and part-helper of his growth. this is always present in what is called the passive
and
b)^
side of Nature.
You remember
that
if
and the first appearance of Logos is often spoken of as being Spirit-Matter, in order to give the two great poles of existence between which all organization takes place. Two characteristics mark those two poles. One of them is active, and the other is passive; one of them is positive, the other is negative one of them is that which gives impulse, the other is that which gives form and these two are
these in the Second
;
Right
in
union
of
these
two
There must
always
be the
11
You may
call
them,
if
you
like,
male and
call
may
them,
Now,
which
let
me remind you
is
Moon
This,
originally,
I
to
Kama.
it
say,
is
found
animal just as
is
in
man, and you need to keep that in mind. In that Kama or desire which builds a body with the power of sensation, the power of not only answer-
ing to
feeling
outside
it
into
lies
Con-
is simply the power to respond comes from outside and when to that power of response there is added feeling, then you get what we may call the " germ of mind " not mind, but its germ, the negative side of mind in which and by means of which mind may evolve.
sciousness in
germ
to a vibration that
If for a
moment you
lower animals
you will see a startling difference between the wild and the domesticated. You will find in the domesticated animal very
call
much more
of
and
for
we go
on.
13
If
across
man
at
all,
you
will
find
in
it
plenty of
;
but
you
little
will find in
it
comparatively
little
reasoning,
judgment,
little
tion
or unless
and outer object, unless the object be present, some craving of the organism gives an
Food,
for instance, being within
if it is
impulse to action.
cause
movement towards
the
or
the
it
make
But you do not get in the wild animal much of what you may call " ideal action," action without an impulse which comes from bodily
necessities,
;
or
is,
from
you have not there present much of object that what we know as mind, of which the lowest and
earliest manifestations are
an outer object and an inner sensation and the power of recalling that connection and acting upon
it
the
qualities
recol-
At
have
the
have
got the
as
far
as
development of Kama,
the stage in
in w'hich is
if
germ
of mind,
which,
there
is
to
be a higher
H
evolution,
given.
The
passive
Spirit,
Divine
could not by
this stage
the
this
it
now,
if
you
like, as
Now,
moment
an analogy from lower Nature. Let me ask any of you who happen to be botanists and probably all of you know enough of botany to follow the illus-
to take what is called the ovule of a plant, which develops into a seed left to itself that ovule which is in the female organ will never be anything more than an ovule: it will simply wither up and perish. But it contains within it all the nourish-
tration
that
will
if
But an
indi-
the ovule itself; it needs a stimulus which comes from the contents of the male organ of the plant, the pollen, and if that pollen throws out a minute
cell
15
be given, and an individual will result v/hich will develop for a time within this ovule which has now become the seed, and after a time will show
will
marks characteristic of
its
parents
but
it
will sepalife
and carry on
on
its
own account, having its own root, its own stem, and The starting-point of that is the its own leaves.
junction of the two microscopic
their nature
tilizing
;
cells,
differing in
the
one
the
other receptive,
passive,
nutrient
Now we
which
characterized
is
as lunar
It
the side of
form, and
it is
may
side again,
and that
it
all
thing else in
up in answer to this impulse from without, thus showing its characteristic as the
are set receptive or female side.
Now,
in past
going on
in the
were developed as we develop minds now, and their process of development will be clearer when you
follow the process of development
amongst
ourselves.
The minds
i6
verses, that passed into Nirvana, that passed out of
Nirvana again
other books.
at the
in
of " Sons of
because
describes
most
saHent
characteristic.
They
name
of
Kumaras, which
means
;
" youths,"
sometimes they are called Solar Pitris but I prefer to take the name most often used in The Secret
Doctrine, where, of course,
you get
it
in the Sanskrit
Sons of the
gence.
Now, what
is
Intelligence
Intelligence
is
working
in a particular
between the external Universe and itself. It^ is a thing of slow growth it is made by experience it
; ;
is
evolved,
it
Intelligence
tacts,
and of the working of life on the contacts so that you never can get Intelhgence apart from organism. You have something which may be called
the
Supreme
Life, but
it is
a mistake to speak of
It
then as Intelligence;
It
is
and
far
thing that
we
call
thought.
Thought always
consists
17
in
this
linking
togetlier
of the
external
and the
internal, of
making
ideal links
hence images
gence
is
ideas, as we
call
only developed
manifesting Itself as
by the
Spirit
in
the
in
English
our
in
tongue
Atma philosophy by
that
is
the
familiar
name
own
the
thus
manifesting
Itself
subtlest form,
we
call
Intelli-
gence
is, all
in
a past age so
as these great
these
mighty Spiritual
had accom-
plished what
we are aiming at now. They are the successful men of past ages, who have developed into perfect men, perfect Intelligences, and now are, so to speak, co-operating in the building of a new race, co-operating in the production of a new humanity. But up to the point at which we are
they had taken no part
in
had
been going on
form.
the
to
come
a second line,
sometimes Pillars of Light, and so on These, coming down to the Earth when the Tabernacles
called
;
were ready to receive Them, came to give the necessary impulse in order that at this point of junction a
new
You remember
volume of The
at
They have been said lately by Mr. Coleman modern productions but they were never found out in modern writings until Madame
Man.
to be purely
;
to return to
You will find it said that when these Sons of Mind came down, " from their own Rupa they filled the Kama." That is why I was obliged to trouble
you with
particular
filled
this
word, because
:
wanted
to quote that
From their own Rupa they Coming down to animal-man they threw part of Their own nature into him, filling the Kama wherein the germ of sensation and feeling had been evolved, and They contributed to And so again in one that the spark of intelligence. " Some projected of those same Stanzas it is said The more careful readers amongst you a spajrk." may remember it is said " Some entered. Those who entered became Arhats." Those are the great Teachers of Humanity in the earlier days of
Stanza
the
"
Kama."
our Race
the
fifth
19
third
and a
half.
The Great Teachers Those who Humanity under their care, and
Those
who
absokitely
entered
into
developed
Intelligencies
;
were
of the past
the
the Great
who came in order that this infant Humanity might be guarded and protected and helped in its earlier stages. With Them, so far as ordinary Humanity is concerned, we need not deal They entered in and took these bodies as Their vehicles. But They also, some of Them, projected
Teachers
the spark which
fell
into the
essence
filled
it.
Now
is
man
is
no soul
in
man
the
full
Soul
and so on.
capable of
this
is
often called, or
is
achieving
is
not
there.
;
Remember how
has
in
it
that phrase
used sometimes
in itself,
it it
although
virtue of
of Mind,
Who
Man may
20
will."
in
may remember,
The Occult
be to teach
if
man
may
that
he
may become
is
immortal
mortal,
he
will,
im-
but
in
that
he
achieve
?
immortality.
Immortal
not in
its
Yes
built
but
intelligence has to be
For up by
this
slow degrees
by
it
which
has
it
works
successfully,
it
acquires
up into
that
lies
in front of
not be achieved.
For
is
immortality
to
may
shall
experiences
compounded does not last that which is compounded will be at some time disintegrated only The individual begins at this the unit persists. He will weave into point, and he is a compound. his own existence all these endless experiences, and
:
will
But
this
21
has in
itself
everything that
the conditions of
and
How
By
stages of
pilgrimage
it
which
will
make
Having achieved
it
individuality by
which
then
extracts as
multiplicity,
it
and
it
beyond
words because
at
least
this
its
own
and while
it
may
it
be said to lose
we know
it,
gains something
which
is
far greater.
it
Without
individuality,
final
But here
is
the
beginning point
deal of stress
and that
is
on that
want
to lay a
good
in
it
the
Ego which
now
the
germ be
fertilised, is
22
in
existence
before
that
fertilisation
it
takes place.
exists,
because there
;
but the
Ego does
It is
You
But
will
forgive
me
so
this is
and where
;
much
confusion in thought
I
and
minds
is
it
it,
is
am
in
may have
clearly in your
this
that individuals
begin in each
Manvantara
the
the Universe
individuals
in
comes
be
existence
it
in
is
order that
may
it
born, that
maintained
existence in order
that individuals
may
passes
out of manifestation
dividuals
harvest
is
who
called
Nirvana, to re-emerge
if
new Universe
as
Sons of Mind,
in
the
where
There are other intermediate stages, points failure may come in, and where evolution may
it
'^3
fallen, as
them
it
to
ceased.
The
tions
failures
pioneers of another.
out of consideration,
is
harvest
of
every
Universe
evolved
who have
have
unity
out
of
diversity,
and
thus
and see what kind of an entity this is at its origin. And I think I will throw in here a very, very brief digression, which will make it a more living thing to
you.
Now we
will
come
germ of mind,
Suppose
will
it,
and suppose
have
animal
will
if
for generations,
you
handed on
the
have
these
you
;
handed on a very
find greater
definite
heredity
and
and greater
that
intelligence, as
it
may
be
called, evolving.
Now, supposing
you
take
a puppy,
and
it
H
continually with yourselves, and you do not permit
it
it
you keep
Some
it is
the result
The
is
result
it
You
it
will develop in
it
a limited reason
;
you
will
develop in
a limited
memory
you
will develop in
a limited judgment.
of
in
?
They
it
upon
of the
human
intelligence.
To
mind in you to some extent plays the part which the Son of Mind plays to Humanity; and thrown out
from the comparatively developed Intelligence in
man, these
influence,
rays,
these energetic
raj'S
of mental of the
vitalize
the
germ
in
the
Kama
as
it
artificially,
were, an
Now
more
first
say that,
in
may
realise
clearl}^
Let
does
me
it.
is
human
being
is
who
25
process, in fact very often both are exceedingly the
worse, and
stimulation
artificial
it is
this over-
of the
forcing of a mental
fitted, for
body
basis,
is
not yet
and
in
which
its
it
is
artificial
and probably to
existence.
But
it
is
well to
remember
in
is
that there
;
is
no such
is
thing as a break
sequential, and
it
nature
every evolution
possible
to
therefore
it
force
be unwise.*
digression, let
little
me
my
infant Soul, to
whom
is
will give
name
of the
very much, as
^6
baby
is
as regards his
faculties.
Of
faculties
not a
real
The want
;
of knowis
new-born baby
simply
the brain
new, and
it
takes
some
little
is
there,
when you
Ego
itself is in
which has thus been formed at this junction of the two lines, and which I call the baby Ego, is absolutely ignorant. It has no mind, it has no thought, it has nothing more than the
this entity
Now
sensations
it
gets from
Kama
it
we
?
call
perception.
How
will
that link be
made
The
way
which
object.
it
Let us say that the body, by the mouth, comes upon an external object which gives rise to a pleasant sensation of taste something which is
27
sweet.
already,
it
it.
The animal
and
in the
body
will
will
go towards
will
it
which
little
pleasurable, but
first
momentary
sensation and at
impact on
this
germ
mind
At
last there
set
up
in this
baby Ego by
sation,
and
it
will thus
make
This
in-
what
is
and you
mind when this perception has been repeated over and over and over and over again, it will be remembered,
have
in
perception the
activity of the
baby by these repeated contacts, and repeated pleasurable sensations, and repealed connections between the object and the sensation,
Built up in this
at
last
;
memory
the idea
will
is
develop, which
is
the
ideal
contact
built out of a
number
of these
sensations.
And
faculty of the
be evolved by
28
these constant experiences
;
and
I
it
will take a
long
life.
time evolving
I
perhaps a whole
it
life,
or part of a
cannot measure
it
off;
but
will
want you
to realise
that
is
a thing
which
take a considerable
memory
will
time
which
it
Soul
so
little
developed
that
which their view of the world is quite different in Some of the the morning and in the evening.
lowest aborigines in Australia in
whom
the spark
in
whom
it
and grown, are on record as having so little memory remember through the course of a whole day, and blankets given away in the evening will be clung to because the night has begun and the night is cold. But when the next morning comes round and the immediate use for the blanket is over, and while they do not want the blanket they do want food the food is an immediate want, but the blanket
won't be wanted
sufficiently
till
evening
remember
day
is
after the
29
is
when
The
sunset of yesterday
so to speak, a past
memory through
part with
their
the
night
therefore, they
trifle
it
will
in
the
in the
a
I
most striking
illustration
it,
of the baby
if
may
so
call
of the
and no English government will be able keep them alive, because their work is done. race dies when it is of no more use to the Soul
A
it
becomes
the Soul
sterile
is
when
its
purpose
in the evolution of
over.
For
Universe exist
more Souls
so
of
any use to them, it becomes I do not mean when it is helped to disappears. disappear by the superior races, though that is often
the case
;
and gradually
but even
it
if
it
to dis-
appear rapidly,
on
its
own
it.
upon
It is
more
use, therefore
it
does not
continue.
That
illustration
is
may
give you
the spark
in
30
Memory will
it
when
is
present conducing to
more rapid growth, because the moment that this baby remembers past experiences it is then beginning to accumulate a little store which will impel it
to action without impulse
from without.
It
wall
to seek experiences.
it
it
has
memory can
as
it
in itself
of judg-
for action.
Let
It
me
chose before.
Of course, some tastes will be was pleasurable. unpleasant, and those will be marked off as painful, So that the Ego will get, as it to be avoided. begins to remember, two classes of things in the outer world; one labelled in its own mind if I may call it mind at this stage: "pleasure; to be sought, and the other labelled " painful to be followed " to be avoided, to be run away from, to be escaped."
And
at
to be
It will
31
Going out
into contact
it
comes
and
to
depend on
desires
whether
it
repeat because
gives
it
pleasure, or something
it
which
it
it
gives
pain.
This
is
it
In this
way
;
accumulates these
thing more
that
it
it
world
has
it
come
into
is
and that
will find
it
some things
and
that
if it
Memory
that
of course
wanted is same thing comes from the same object under the same circumstances and when sufficient of these
to
notice
always the
pain, there
is
the
throws
pain,
it
back, as
it
feels as
32
these things
which are
to be followed,
and
are
which are pleasure-giving, are " good " which only means at
things which
first
harmonious
a law of pleasure
itself if it
it
and
will
which
it
must adapt
wants to
be wise to
in
can do
will
accommodate
itself to
the law.
This observation of
will
adapt
itself to
fortably.
Law, and of the need to if it is to live at all comAnd then a little more will come as the
these laws
;
experience goes on
by giving pleasure and goes on by giving pain most confusing experience. Let us cling to our The body of our baby Ego eats and pleasure taste.
is
makes the body go on It then finds that by eating till it eats too much. repeating this gratification pain has come where and it It makes its body ill there was pleasure.
felt
;
because of this
it
gets a
new view
out
that
the
gratification of this
able works
into
which began
able aches
;
in flavour
may end
most uncomfort-
may
33
it
will
know
as
This very
begins to
and
it
its
idea of law,
sequential ex-
perience of different
realise that
it
outside contacts
object
in
itself
it
learns that
is
it
is
which
pleasure-giving or pain-
giving, but
some
between
itself
great advance
and
that
itself,
times giving the other. So that the idt-a of pleasure and pain, in this further experience of our baby Ego, will go on into the relationships that itself sets up
And
it
were, a
it
will
realise that
can
can persist
in pleasure
depend on
there
its
And
be learned.
for to-night,
And
must leave
far as
my
baby Ego
having reached as
34
recognition
of
relations,
therefrom
evolution
of
which
recognizes
mental
say
these
faculties
We
in
cannot
how much
be
made
lives
early lives
probably
at
many
one of would be
In
needed to arrive
order to
take
make our study complete in outline, let us him at the end of his first life, to see the
Let us
for
his pilgrimage
and passing
the
On
the
we
will leave
him
to take
him up
35
PART
II.
YOU
I
remember that last week we left what called the baby Ego having passed through
will
Now
take
in
spoke of his
few
first
I
because
wanted
up
for
moments
the posi-morteui
it
states
order that
we
life
might have as
were before us
the
upon
the
earth, the
life
life
beyond
life
death, the
in the
Devachanic state
the
the
a
of
Soul
properly so-called,
life.
intellectual
and
intelligent
Those three
pilgrimage
divisions
of
the
completing
single
bearing
we
36
When, however,
of last
this
germinal
Ego
that
spoke
week passes for the first time through the gateway of death, it has exceedingly little material
for these stages that
lie
gateway.
called
The
first
stage
that
translating
remember
;
the term
the
is
You
in
will
that desire
place
called,
Theosophical books,
still
Kama Loka
that
is,
a place
inhabited by Souls
body that we studied last week. The Ego in this body dwells there for a time but not only the Ego of man. It is the place where these bodies of sensation and desire survive the physical and the astral bodies so that you have there these desire or
Human
at
Soul.
is
there will be in
Kama
or
anything
element of Mind.
Kama Loka
and
all
be for a conis
that
he will do there
as
the
life
plane
which
which has been led on the physical has been led upon earth has been in
The
37
life
there
is
is
simply a
is
result
from the
upon
it
earth.
life
Nothing new
which there
is
introduced into
is
in
a
is
And
or
this
automatic action, as we
of sensation.
may
call
it,
is
one of the
Kamic body,
body
up habits of the physical body, especially habits which are connected with the passions and with the
emotions.
The
lies in
the
body of sensation with its peculiarly strong automatic tendencies. Those are impressed on the outer
body, although, of course, the habit of repetition
the physical body will also
in
come
in to
some
extent.
When
state
it
this
body of
desire, just as
left
The
cannot
plane
it
body away from the physical cannot carry the astral body out of the
physical
;
it
land of
as
it
38
has worn
it
it
to escape
when
desire,
life
it
of earth
then
it
its
work
all
is
higher aspirations,
appetite, everything
which
is
is
intellectual as distinall
guished
from what
as
passional,
the
higher
in
them
this
element of mind
passion
the
lower element of
these,
this
on into
higher world.
And
during
its
earth-life
it
experiences, and of experiences of the higher emotions, of the artistic faculties, in fact,
and so on
everything,
Under-
which has
to
can use
faculty.
for the
Still,
development, as
it
were, of mental
it
has
acquired during
first life
in
What
?
will
be
its
It
will
be to
39
extract
from
these
separated mental
to
experiences
their 'essence,
and
it
working upon
mental
when
is
when
it
it
fresh experiences,
when
through which experiences can alone be collected, the work of the Soul is then to take up the mental
images remaining from these experiences, and, working on them, to take out of
in the
them their essence. Just same way that a chemist might take a number of chemical elements, might throw them into a crucible, and then, purifying them from dross, might extract the elements themselves and combine them
in the crucible
;
it
were
ability,
the Soul
by the alchemy of
it
own mental
from them
essence
it
it
their
essence,
it,
and
it
then
part of
taking that
itself,
assimilates
makes
works
I
into
its
own
nature, or
and so begins to
is
make
real
garment
of the
Soul, which
the
40
character
when
is
it
comes back
it
to earth.
Ever3'thing
thing that
born, as
we
the
it is
we
call Devachan in our Theosophical literature, which simply means the land of bliss. As I say, then,
in
little
but for the Soul to work upon in this blissful land when it comes back, even after this first period is completed, and comes to be born for the second time upon earth, it will have what it did not have at the beginnmg a little germ of mental faculty. That is the small result in faculty which it has brought back by working on the few experiences that it accumulated during
its
previous
in
life.
It will start,
then, at
its
it
a certain
advantage
;
this
second period of
tools,
pilgrimage
it
will
start
with certain
as
were, ready
for itself
made
to its hand,
which
in
it
has fashioned
Soul
it
a nascent
memory, with
and
it
come
41
Through
this
this
life,
then, again
it
it
will pass,
having
has a
little
mental faculty
to go
upon which
it
can increase.
its
As
it
goes on
experiences increase,
power
So that we now speak of the mind, or, as we call it, Manas the word from which our own word man is derived, and which really means the thinker, the
man
powers
are, will
that this
Ego now
ments
this
it
belongs to
its
comes from
to observe,
and
to
compare, and to
make record
in order that
first all
of
it
its
them up
At
may
action by them.
working the images of past experiences. So that, to take up the illustration that I used last week of taste, when
there
is
which
it
knows
will
b}'
guarded against
42
were the
that
result of over-gratification
will
of taste.
So
now you
have
this
double element.
And
remember
mind
is
increasing,
more
to
or less stationary.
life,
life
and
in
each
life
in
hold
it
prisoner
them
into faculties,
it
action will be
less
and
less directed
Now, understanding
I
think, to trace, so
will
and you
in
land, will
that
is,
whether
it
will
grow
43
rapidly, or will
much
delayed.
You
how
the Soul
may
how
from without
the Soul will
law,
may
make
overbear, say, a
comparatively
;
and then
and
will suffer.
How
we
when
Is
it
Is
it
a matter for
Think
it
way
in
which
wider view of
fall,
life
will regard
sin.
any
dis-
any
Sin
is
harmony with
So long as the law is not understood desire will constantly be drawing the
law.
it
striking
it
on the law
it
will feel
make
law
or suppose that,
suffi-
the external
object
is
then
of
wrong-doing
a necessary stage in
education.
44
For the pain that results from the wrong-doing will add to the store of experience that the Soul is gradually accumulating, and will make it stronger
against the temptation in
suffering
the
future
by
this
new
which
it
So that
who
see
from
life
to life
looking at
it,
fall
will
when it comes into a similar position in the And there is no more reason for extreme
I
the child
If the
child
is
feel
sorrow
for the
go into a state
that these
She
will
know
know
that
every tumble
45
Now,
it
that
is
not a callous
;
way
of looking at things;
is
a wise
way
many
things
Calmness, which
this
is
characteristic
vision
comes from
wider
which
see effects,
come.
One
Soul
is is
we want
this
to realise as
to the principles at
work
in
pilgrimage of the
that
which
birth.
it
back to
Every desire that you have for something down here survives death, remains behind you in the
transition state until
you return
for re-incarnation,
to re-birth as soon as
you have
blissful
periences of the
mind whieh you work upon in that the Universe. So to speak, when the body
it
drops from
materials for
46
rrif.^ntal
forces
onward, where
it
has to work
is
in
the
region of ideas.
When
its
store
exhausted, then
Ego
all
the mental
power, and
it
is
to re-incarnation,
all
and attached
Now,
that
I
why
mention
this is
hear so
many
people
"
I
when they
don't
are dealing
to
want
come
you do you are making these desire links to things on the physical and on the kamic planes. So long as you want anything which the world can give you your Ego does want to come
of no use having a theory that
not want to
come
back,
if
want
it
or not.
come back whether you think you The fact that it desires something
is
the outcome
in
The
;
brain which
it
not
come back
it
will
go to
which
tiredness which
makes people
say,
don't
want
47
to
come back,"
is
have made an impression upon it, and so on. The real desire is shown by the attachment to the things
of earth, by the wish for one thing or another, the
wish for ease, the wish for pleasure, the wish for
social consideration, the
the
wish
for
everything
men's and
women's
this
brim
at the in
is
present time.
way
to
For persons who are full of desire say, " I don't want to come back,"
They simply to show a lack of understanding. must come back until there is nothing here which
has the slightest attraction for them.
here attracts them,
When
nothing
when
praise
when they do
mind
whether
people
side
when they do
call
not mind whether they are what happy or unhappy, when the whole out-
life is an absolute matter of indifference, when nothing can shake their peace or bring the slightest ruffle of any kind over the emotional nature, then
that Soul
is
ready to go on
slightest influence,
long
Manas
itself
does not
make
these links
it
makes
48
makes them where the comes in, but not abstract thinking, which is its own special by pure work that is to say, it is Manas pure and simple
it
which makes links bringing us back to re-birth, it is Kama- Manas, which is the form of Manas working
amongst the great masses of people to-day. Manas itself, which comes out now and again in absolutely abstract thinking, does not make links which draw
to re-birth.
effort
all intellectual
here
Kama-Manas, most
intellectual effort
have
in
it
As to the way in which it works it works by what we may call the creative power of thought. The whole world is the outcome of the Divine Thought. Everything which we know as phenomenal is the mere outside appearance which has in it the inner and living reality of thought. All outside appearance is but the form which the thought takes for expression on these lower planes; and the whole Universe is nothing more than a Divine Thought in manifestation. That Divine, that God-like element is in man, and it works through Manas and is the The more of that there is in the creative elem.ent.
:
49
activity of a person the
in the world.
more
is
he a creative energy
itself
form.
Every
made
in
your mental
constantly
a thought
which
is
becomes stronger and stronger and more and more fixity and the
motives of your thoughts will be the
life
of the
around you.
If you refer to a letter in The Occult WorU, written by Master K. H. to Mr. Sinnett, you will see that he points out that when a thought goes out and takes
form
it is vivified or entered into by an Elemental, and the character of the Elemental will be according to the character of the thought, and according to the
If the
thought
for
instance, directed
to
human
good
for
it,
then
it
will
is
be helped
of a
from outside by
this Elemental,
which
and a pure type, and the thought will be a force good, reacting on the person who has thought
and reacting on
sphere of
his
all
those
who come
\\ithin
the
influence.
50
which
is
And supposing
that
whom
them and, so to speak, encircle them with a proAnd it is a real thing tective and aiding power. that every good and kind thought that you have of
a person, every wish for their benefit, every desire
for their happiness, is
as
it
whom
you have directed it as a protective agency, warding off danger and drawing good towards that person
to
whom
in
this angel of
your thought.
evil
them the element of hate, of revenge, of draw to themselves from the outer world Elementals which increase this energy. So
have
passion
those
is
an
may
injure
him
any part of
his
body or mind.
and
strike
you to your own injury. Suppose, however, that the person has, what most people have, some little
51
fault
in
himself which
may make
evil
thought attaches
some
Therefore
is
it
that everything
which
is
directed
towards a person
and
A thought
of revenge
or of anger which
is
And
it,
person
who
does
of the person
for
who
the greater
is
their
crime
In this
thought-forms, then
Elementals,
working back upon the Soul that generates them, as well as working in the outer world these go on
;
it were, moulded into faculty and coming back, the physical body is moulded by way of the astral to manifest this character, which has taken to itself, by means of these thought-forms, certain definite shapes. So that it is perfectly true that the outer body of a person will show something
spoke, being, as
then,
of his character.
That body
is
physically built on
the
aggregated
thought-forms
which
have
been
52
spoke of into
and
these,
mould the shaping of the outer body. And it is perfectly true that when you are dealing with the general shape of the brain you will have
forms, will
that brain developed in certain regions, according to
Ego
it
that
is
inhabits
it.
The
mistake
is
to suppose that
;
makes the tenant it is the tenant who builds the tabernacle. So that while you have the two correlated the one to the other we must not begin at the wrong end, and believe that the master-builder
is
made by
which,
his
house
in
in his
coming incarnation, he
have to
live.
One other point as regards our back-coming Ego. You will notice I am not tracing him life by life. I
am
Ego
come back
;
into
That
will
depend
life
upon the
he caused
upon earth according to the happiness or misery he caused upon earth in a past incarnation, so will be the circumstances in which he will find himself when he comes back to earth. Suppose, for instance, that a man whose influence
53
him on every
side.
That
it
is
a distinct
that
will
govern the
life.
numSow-
sowing pain
If
in
he will reap
much
If
physical misery in
much mental
come
in
distress
and
in
Mind,
They
are fixed
when he
fair certainty,
which have to grow up each after Over these he has no power they are has got to live amongst them.
;
own
kind.
there,
and he
is
not a good
man
who
amongst people,
find a
he
will
next incarna-
tion.
You may
54
will
You have
between these
his
own
sions rather, if I may call them so according to what he has sown upon earth will be his harvest upon earth when he returns. So that all these
they will
come back
him
as environment, as circumstances.
I
Now
lecture
come
to
my
next point.
am
somewhat rapidly from one subject to another. The next point at which I must make a moment's pause is on our Ego when he has become more experienced.
He
is
youth
he
is
a mature
Ego and he
is
becoming
wise.
With
this
wisdom
of his he
and more faculty, he is bringing back more and more memory, he will make for himself instruments which will be able to express greater and greater capacity, and a time will come in this pilgrimage of his in which his constant efforts to impress on these lower
tabernacles his
own
ever-lengthening
memory of past
55
His
will
tell
con-
What we
call the
memory
;
of the
it
Soul expressing
in
the
lower nature
nature
feels
"
You And
not
will
challenge
it,
The authority lies in the Soul, which is trying it is using its to make the lower nature go its way own past experience to prevent the lower nature
;
its
mis-
And
it
is
and constantly the lower nature does not hear. all the clatter and jangle of the body in which
living
it
is
finds
it
is
very difficult to
make
its
voice
speaking out of
its
memory. And if you think that you will see how it is that con-
"You ought
to
do."
The reason
that
it
56
as to action
is
is still
a limited
experience.
is
The
why
it
it is
always imperative
is
A man
make, and if want of expeIf you obey it, when it blunders you will rience. gain the lacking experience and you will suffer more if you do not obey it. By following some other rule which is not the rule of your own inner
faulty because of the
;
Self,
speaking from
its
own
law,
obeying an
without,
Soul.
is
external
which, speaking
from
is developed by experience, not by and an outer law, however good it may be, does not, being a compulsory power, add to the inner forces of the Soul therefore is it of compara-
The Soul
;
compulsion
of conscience, even
when
let
the conscience
faulty.
Now
mature,
taking that,
getting wiser.
Getting wiser
it
wants
to escape
from
and
of deaths of
It
which
beginning to get a
so often that
it
little tired.
it
has accumu-
57
lated a great deal of experience,
in the
it.
can give
repeat
has gathered
why
?
want
to
its
experience of them
The
taste
has dis;
and as
attract,
this Soul
in
will be a
number
of things
the
and that
These things
be
and
it
will
of the mind,
Devachanic
lation
in
on which it is going to work. So that the life Devachan will be longer and longer, the Soul
working out these greater stores which it carries with it from this earthly life. Coming back then again, having had these long Devachanic interludes,
it
comes back
with
this
ever
increasing
become
feebler
and
feebler.
Its
knowledge enables
links
pass,
it
refuses
to
back
58
to earth so long as they last.
Instead of setting up
creates
great
numbers of
these,
it
only thought-
intellect,
which do not
to
these
And
may
in
break
ways
by
it
knowledge
the
way
described
or also
may
break them by
that mightier
we
say
and
draw the desires upwards, purifying them as they ascend. So that at last all the lower element of desire which is for the lower self will be got rid of, and there will be present only the desire to work because the work is useful, to work because the work is duty, to work because others need the service, and so on.
which
is
in
desire
burning up of desire
of
life
which
is
to
become
its
The time
it
will
come
in the
growth of
Ego when
will realize
59
which
is
worth having.
it
By knowledge, by
devotion,
or by both
What
when
then will
estabIt
to be lived,
it
it is
?
no new links
life,
to bring
back to birth
in
may
to
be a very active
employed constantly
is
working
amongst men
and not back to
for
it
men
which causes
this link
In desire,
birth.
of
no desire
suppose every
it
performed
;
performed because
it is it
is
done
performed,
the
Ego concerns
no more about
suppose
it
performed there
in
is
it
is
it
because
that
it
it
wants
to serve
and therefore must discharge perfectly everything which the law deis
mands
which
of
it
it
the world in
then,
result
may
desirable, or
6o
law, beeause you recognise yourself as part of the
All,
the law.
that,
if
everyif
done because
it
is
duty,
you
no link
is
part of the
made in the doing of the action you are One and the All and That cannot be
;
bound by these
of the Soul.
I
the
full
that
order to
make
them
It
act, until
is
where action
reached by
cannot be
recognition,
it
cannot be
;
is
desirable
it
can
which makes
all
it
really
fundamentally indifferent to
So long as there
nature
is
attraction, that
It
is
is
needed
for the
performance of duty.
only
when
the lower
man
will
lead a
life
may
flow from
is
reached, he has
6i
him save
an end.
burnt up
the great
Individual
when that is done, Karma for Karma of the Universe is at Karma for him is burnt up,
in these fires of
which prevent him establishing any links with the earth, and he therefore makes no fetters which bind
him
to
the wheel
of birth
and of death.
The
means
life,
burning up of
Karma
and
like a sacrifice
it is
Let
me
show you
how
life.
this
change may
occur
in
There may be a thing which will bring suffering. The Soul which is nearing its liberation is willing to accept that suffering which still it feels; it throws the
suffering
on to the
altar of devotion
the
fire
of devo-
tion burns
joy in up the suffering, and the Soul But that suffering is not lost it is changed its gift. in the fire, and it becomes spiritual energy, which the Great Lodge can use for the helping of man
feels
;
Masters
spiritual
is
is
changed by that
fire
of devotion into
There
is
called vicarious
atonement
have
the
Churches
sometimes
but
the
62
sacrifice of a j^reat Soul,
offers
it
which bears
suffering
and
it
shall be
changed
The
Being
comes which you hear so much. has a right to choose, and it may either
life,
or
it
may
in order
that
it
may
directly help
in the
freeing of other
That is, of course, the Great Renunciation of which every now and then you catch glimpses in
Souls.
that
it
is
it is
free,
but
may choose
It is
by renunciation of
to earth, but
its
right to go on.
not
it
bound
by a voluntary renunciation
this
Where
its
pilgrimage,
where stage
has purified
when
it
has
when
it
63
Soul,
when
it
sake of humanity,
when
it
man
until
the cycle of
humanity
is
to describe.
when
this
new
manifestation,
the beginning of a
new Manvantara approaches, then Soul which had achieved its liberation comes
as a
forth
Son of Mind,
in its
in
generate mind in a
of that humanity
new humanity,
infancy,
Teacher
in
its
guide
and higher.
in
described, which
went on by
which made
ness in
by
it
to be an Intelligence
of the
brain
its
such
worked
through
the
compound
64
it
which
it
extracts
it is
being a unit
it
is
incapable of
disintegration,
for ever
immortal
achieved
to
its
it
Universes
of the
come
one
of the
in
Workers, one
God
work
&
Co.,
The Country
Press,
Bradford; and
3,
Amen
This book
is
DUE
on the
last
SEP 2
;:
OCT
207?
3EP
186ffl
TOT5 rD-uw:
yiARaOlS
/^.f?/?rrr
'ifC
2?
JUN23
4W
^^^c?
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m W
WOV
4 1975
TO
ftUC
OECl
^
1Q7C
..
.to
J&il(77'
3 1158
00208 0165
AA