A SERIES OF
Lessons
in Gnani Yoga
THE
NINTH LESSON METEMPSYCHOSIS.
As we have said in our last lesson,
while the Yogi Teachings throw an
important light upon the Western
theory of Evolution, still there is
a vital difference between the
Western scientific teachings on the
subject and the Eastern theories and
teachings. The Western idea is that
the process is a mechanical,
material one, and that "mind" is a
"by-product" of Matter in its
evolution. But the Eastern Teachings
hold that Mind is under, back of,
and antecedent to all the work of
Evolution, and that Matter is a
"by-product" of Mind, rather than
the reverse.
The Eastern Teachings hold that
Evolution is caused by Mind
striving, struggling, and pressing
forward toward fuller and fuller
expression, using Matter as a
material, and yet always struggling
to free itself from the confining
and retarding influence of the
latter. The struggle results in an
Unfoldment, causing sheath after
sheath of the confining material
bonds to be thrown off and
discarded, as the Spirit presses
upon the Mind, and the Mind moulds
and shapes the Matter. Evolution is
but the process of birth of the
Individualized Spirit, from the web
of Matter in which it has been
confined. And the pains and
struggles are but incidents of the
spiritual parturition.
In this and following lessons we
shall consider the "Spiritual
Evolution, of the race--that is the
Unfoldment of Individualized
Spirit--just as we did the subject
Physical Evolution in the last two
lessons.
We have seen that preceding
Spiritual Evolution, there was a
Spiritual Involution. The Yogi
Philosophy holds that in the
Beginning, the Absolute meditated
upon the subject of Creation, and
formed a Mental Image, or
Thought-Form, of an Universal
Mind--that is, of an Universal
Principle of Mind. This Universal
Principle of Mind is the Great Ocean
of "Mind-Stuff" from which all the
phenomenal Universe is evolved. From
this Universal Principle of Mind,
proceeded the Universal Principle of
Force or Energy. And from the
latter, proceeded the Universal
Principle of Matter.
The Universal Principle of Mind was
bound by Laws imposed upon it by the
mental-conception of the
Absolute--the Cosmic Laws of Nature.
And these laws were the compelling
causes of the Great Involution. For
before Evolution was possible,
Involution was necessary. We have
explained that the word "involve"
means "to wrap up; to cover; to
hide, etc." Before a thing can be
"evolved," that is "unfolded," it
must first be "involved," that is
"wrapped up." A thing must be _put
in_, before it may be taken out.
Following the laws of Involution
imposed upon it, the Universal
Mental Principle involved itself in
the Universal Energy Principle; and
then in obedience to the same laws,
the latter involved itself in the
Universal Material Principle. Each
stage of Involution, or
_wrapping-up_, created for itself
(out of the higher principle which
in being involved) the wrapper or
sheath which is to be used to
wrap-up the higher principle. And
the higher forms of the Material
Principle formed sheaths of lower
forms, until forms of Matter were
produced far more gross than any
known to us now, for they have
disappeared in the Evolutionary
ascent. Down, down, down went the
process of Involution, until the
lowest point was reached. Then
ensued a moment's pause, preceding
the beginning of the Evolutionary
Unfoldment.
Then began the Great Evolution. But,
as we have told you, the Upward
movement was distinguished by the
"Tendency toward Individualization."
That is, while the Involuntary
Process was accomplished by
Principles as Principles, the Upward
Movement was begun by a tendency
toward "splitting up," and the
creation of "individual forms," and
the effort to perfect them and build
upon them higher and still higher
succeeding forms, until a stage was
reached in which the Temple of the
Spirit was worthy of being occupied
by Man, the self-conscious
expression of the Spirit. For the
coming of Man was the first step of
a higher form of Evolution--the
Spiritual Evolution. Up to this time
there had been simply an Evolution
of Bodies, but now there came the
Evolution of Souls.
And this Evolution of Souls becomes
possible only by the process of
Metempsychosis (pronounced
_me-temp-si-ko-sis_) which is more
commonly known as Reincarnation, or
Re-embodiment.
It becomes necessary at this point
to call your attention to the
general subject of Metempsychosis,
for the reason that the public mind
is most confused regarding this
important subject. It has the most
vague ideas regarding the true
teachings, and has somehow acquired
the impression that the teachings
are that human souls are re-born
into the bodies of dogs, and other
animals. The wildest ideas on this
subject are held by some people.
And, not only is this so, but even a
number of those who hold to the
doctrine of Reincarnation, in some
of its forms, hold that their
individual souls were once the
individual souls of animals, from
which state they have evolved to the
present condition. This last is a
perversion of the highest Yogi
Teachings, and we trust to make same
plain in these lessons. But, first
we must take a look at the general
subject of Metempsychosis, that we
may see the important part it has
played in the field of human thought
and belief.
While to many the idea of
Metempsychosis may seem new and
unfamiliar, still it is one of the
oldest conceptions of the race, and
in ages past was the accepted belief
of the whole of the civilized race
of man of the period. And even
today, it is accepted as Truth by
the majority of the race
The almost universal acceptance of
the idea by the East with its
teeming life, counterbalances its
comparative non-reception by the
Western people of the day. From the
early days of written or legendary
history, Metempsychosis has been the
accepted belief of many of the most
intelligent of the race. It is found
underlying the magnificent
civilization of ancient Egypt, and
from thence it traveled to the
Western world being held as the
highest truth by such teachers as
Pythagoras, Empedocles, Plato,
Virgil and Ovid. Plato's Dialogues
are full of this teaching. The
Hindus have always held to it. The
Persians, inspired by their learned
Magi, accepted it implicitly. The
ancient Druids, and Priests of Gaul,
as well as the ancient inhabitants
of Germany, held to it. Traces of it
may be found in the remains of the
Aztec, Peruvian and Mexican
civilizations.
The Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece,
the Roman Mysteries, and the Inner
Doctrines of the Cabbala of the
Hebrews all taught the Truths of
Metempsychosis. The early Christian
Fathers; the Gnostic and Manichaeans
and other sects of the Early
Christian people, all held to the
doctrine. The modern German
philosophers have treated it with
the greatest respect, if indeed they
did not at least partially accept
it. Many modern writers have
considered it gravely, and with
respect. The following quotations
will give an idea of "how the wind
is blowing" in the West:
"Of all the theories respecting the
origin of the soul, Metempsychosis
seems to me the most plausible and
therefore the one most likely to
throw light on the question of a
life to come."--_Frederick H.
Hedge._
"It would be curious if we should
find science and philosophy taking
up again the old theory of
metempsychosis, remodelling' it to
suit our present modes of religious
and scientific thought, and
launching it again on the wide ocean
of human belief. But stranger things
have happened in the history of
human opinions."--James Freeman
Clarke.
"If we could legitimately determine
any question of belief by the number
of its adherents, the ---- would
apply to metempsychosis more fitly
than to any other. I think it is
quite as likely to be revived and to
come to the front as any rival
theory."--_Prof. Wm. Knight_.
"It seems to me, a firm and
well-grounded faith in the doctrine
of Christian metempsychosis might
help to regenerate the world. For it
would be a faith not hedged around
with many of the difficulties and
objections which beset other forms
of doctrine, and it offers distinct
and pungent motives for trying to
lead a more Christian life, and for
loving and helping our
brother-man."--_Prof. Francis
Bowen_.
"The doctrine of Metempsychosis may
almost claim to be a natural or
innate belief in the human mind, if
we may judge from its wide diffusion
among the nations of the earth, and
its prevalence throughout the
historical ages."--_Prof. Francis
Bowen_.
"When Christianity first swept over
Europe, the inner thought of its
leaders was deeply tinctured with
this truth. The Church tried
ineffectually to eradicate it, but
in various sects it kept sprouting
forth beyond the time of Erigina and
Bonaventura, its mediaeval
advocates. Every great intuitional
soul, as Paracelsus, Boehme, and
Swedenborg, has adhered to it. The
Italian luminaries, Giordano Bruno
and Campanella. embraced it. The
best of German philosophy is
enriched by it. In Schopenhauer,
Lessing, Hegel, Leibnitz, Herder,
and Fichte, the younger, it is
earnestly advocated. The
anthropological systems of Kant and
Schelling furnish points of contact
with it. The younger Helmont, in _De
Revolutione Animarum_, adduces in
two hundred problems all the
arguments which may be urged in
favor of the return of souls into
human bodies according to Jewish
ideas. Of English thinkers, the
Cambridge Platonists defended it
with much learning and acuteness,
most conspicuously Henry More; and
in Cudsworth and Hume it ranks as
the most rational theory of
immortality.
Glanvil's Lux Orientalis devotes a
curious treatise to it. It
captivated the minds of Fourier and
Leroux. Andre Pezzani's book on _The
Plurality of the Soul's Lives_ works
out the system on the Roman Catholic
idea of expiation."--E.D. WALKER, in
"_Re-Incarnation, a Study of
Forgotten Truth_."
And in the latter part of the
Nineteenth Century, and this the
early part of the Twentieth Century,
the general public has been made
familiar with the idea of
Metempsychosis, under the name of
Re-incarnation, by means of the
great volume of literature issued by
The Theosophical Society and its
allied following. No longer is the
thought a novelty to the Western
thinker, and many have found within
themselves a corroborative sense of
its truth. In fact, to many the mere
mention of the idea has been
sufficient to awaken faint shadowy
memories of past lives, and, to
such, many heretofore unaccountable
traits of character, tastes,
inclinations, sympathies, dislikes,
etc., have been explained.
The Western world has been made
familiar with the idea of the
re-birth of souls into new bodies,
under the term of "Re-incarnation,"
which means "a re-entry into flesh,"
the word "incarnate" being derived
from the words "_in_," and
"_carnis_," meaning flesh--the
English word meaning "to clothe with
flesh," etc. The word
Metempsychosis, which we use in this
lesson, is concerned rather with the
"passage of the soul" from one
tenement to another, the "fleshly"
idea being merely incidental.
The doctrine of Metempsychosis, or
Re-incarnation, together with its
accompanying doctrine, Karma, or
Spiritual Cause and Effect, is one
of the great foundation stones of
the Yogi Philosophy, as indeed it is
of the entire system of systems of
Oriental Philosophy and Thought.
Unless one understands
Metempsychosis he will never be able
to understand the Eastern Teachings,
for he will be without the Key. You
who have read the _Bhagavad Gita_,
that wonderful Hindu Epic, will
remember how the thread of Re-Birth
runs through it all.
You remember the words of Krishna to
_Arjuna_: "As the soul, wearing this
material body, experienceth the
stages of infancy, youth, manhood,
and old age, even so shall it, in
due time, pass on to another body,
and in other incarnations shall it
again live, and move and play its
part." "These bodies, which act as
enveloping coverings for the souls
occupying them, are but finite
things--things of the moment--and
not the Real Man at all. They perish
as all finite things perish--let
them perish." "As a man throweth
away his old garments, replacing
them with new and brighter ones,
even so the Dweller of the body,
having quitted its old mortal frame,
entereth into others which are new
and freshly prepared for it. Weapons
pierce not the Real Man, nor doth
the fire burn him; the water
affecteth him not, nor the wind
drieth him nor bloweth him away. For
he is impregnable and impervious to
these things of the world of
change--he is eternal, permanent,
unchangeable, and
unalterable--Real."
This view of life gives to the one
who holds to it, an entirely
different mental attitude. He no
longer identifies himself with the
particular body that he may be
occupying, nor with any other body
for that matter. He learns to regard
his body just as he would a garment
which he is wearing, useful to him
for certain purposes, but which will
in time be discarded and thrown
aside for a better one, and one
better adapted to his new
requirements and needs. So firmly is
this idea embedded in the
consciousness of the Hindus, that
they will often say "My body is
tired," or "My body is hungry," or
"My body is full of energy," rather
than that "I am" this or that thing.
And this consciousness, once
attained, gives to one a sense of
strength, security and power unknown
to him who regards his body as
himself. The first step for the
student who wishes to grasp the idea
of Metempsychosis, and who wishes to
awaken in his consciousness a
certainty of its truth, is to
familiarize himself with the idea of
his "I" being a thing independent
and a part from his body, although
using the latter as an abiding place
and a useful shelter and instrument
for the time being.
Many writers on the subject of
Metempsychosis have devoted much
time, labor and argument to prove
the reasonableness of the doctrine
upon purely speculative,
philosophical, or metaphysical
grounds. And while we believe that
such efforts are praiseworthy for
the reason that many persons must be
first convinced in that way, still
we feel that one must really feel
the truth of the doctrine from
something within his own
consciousness, before he will really
believe it to be truth. One may
convince himself of the logical
necessity of the doctrine of
Metempsychosis, but at the same time
he may drop the matter with a shrug
of the shoulders and a "still, who
knows?" But when one begins to feel
within himself the awakening
consciousness of a "something in the
past," not to speak of the flashes
of memory, and feeling of former
acquaintance with the subject, then,
and then only, does he begin to
believe.
Many people have had "peculiar
experiences" that are accountable
only upon the hypothesis of
Metempsychosis. Who has not
experienced the consciousness of
having _felt the thing
before_--_having thought it some
time in the dim past? Who has not
witnessed new scenes that appear
old, very old? Who has not met
persons for the first time, whose
presence awakened memories of a past
lying far back in the misty ages of
long ago? Who has not been seized at
times with the consciousness of a
mighty "oldness" of soul?
Who has not heard music, often
entirely new compositions, which
somehow awakens memories of similar
strains, scenes, places, faces,
voices, lands, associations and
events, sounding dimly on the
strings of memory as the breezes of
the harmony floats over them? Who
has not gazed at some old painting,
or piece of statuary, with the sense
of having seen it all before? Who
has not lived through events, which
brought with them a certainty of
being merely a repetition of some
shadowy occurrences away back in
lives lived long ago? Who has not
felt the influence of the mountain,
the sea, the desert, coming to them
when they are far from such
scenes--coming so vividly as to
cause the actual scene of the
present to fade into comparative
unreality. Who has not had these
experiences--we ask_?
Writers, poets, and others who carry
messages to the world, have
testified to these things--and
nearly every man or woman who hears
the message recognizes it as
something having correspondence in
his or her own life. Sir Walter
Scott tells us in his diary: "I
cannot, I am sure, tell if it is
worth marking down, that yesterday,
at dinner time, I was strangely
haunted by what I would call the
sense of preexistence, viz., a
confused idea that nothing that
passed was said for the first time;
that the same topics had been
discussed and the same persons had
stated the same opinions on them.
The sensation was so strong as to
resemble what is called the mirage
in the desert and a calenture on
board ship." The same writer, in one
of his novels, "Guy Mannering,"
makes one of his characters say:
"Why is it that some scenes awaken
thoughts which belong as it were, to
dreams of early and shadowy
recollections, such as old Brahmin
moonshine would have ascribed to a
state of previous existence. How
often do we find ourselves in
society which we have never before
met, and yet feel impressed with a
mysterious and ill-defined
consciousness that neither the scene
nor the speakers nor the subject are
entirely new; nay, feel as if we
could anticipate that part of the
conversation which has not yet taken
place."
Bulwer speaks of "that strange kind
of inner and spiritual memory which
so often recalls to us places and
persons we have never seen before,
and which Platonists would resolve
to be the unquenched consciousness
of a former life." And again, he
says: "How strange is it that at
times a feeling comes over us as we
gaze upon certain places, which
associates the scene either with
some dim remembered and dreamlike
images of the Past, or with a
prophetic and fearful omen of the
Future. Every one has known a
similar strange and indistinct
feeling at certain times and places,
and with a similar inability to
trace the cause." Poe has written
these words on the subject: "We walk
about, amid the destinies of our
world existence, accompanied by dim
but ever present memories of a
Destiny more vast--very distant in
the bygone time and infinitely
awful. We live out a youth
peculiarly haunted by such dreams,
yet never mistaking them for dreams.
As memories we know them. During our
youth the distinctness is too clear
to deceive us even for a moment. But
the doubt of manhood dispels these
feelings as illusions."
Home relates an interesting incident
in his life, which had a marked
effect upon his beliefs, thereafter.
He relates that upon an occasion
when he visited a strange house in
London he was shown into a room to
wait. He says: "On looking around,
to my astonishment everything
appeared perfectly familiar to me. I
seemed to recognize every object. I
said to myself, 'What is this? I
have never been here before, and yet
I have seen all this, and if so,
then there must be a very peculiar
knot in that shutter.'" He proceeded
to examine the shutter, and much to
his amazement the knot was there.
We have recently heard of a similar
case, told by an old lady who
formerly lived in the far West of
the United States. She states that
upon one occasion a party was
wandering on the desert in her part
of the country, and found themselves
out of water. As that part of the
desert was unfamiliar even to the
guides, the prospect for water
looked very poor indeed. After a
fruitless search of several hours,
one of the party, a perfect stranger
to that part of the country,
suddenly pressed his hand to his
head, and acted in a dazed manner,
crying out "I know that a water-hole
is over to the right--this way," and
away he started with the party after
him. After a half-hour's journey
they reached an old hidden
water-hole that was unknown even to
the oldest man in the party. The
stranger said that he did not
understand the matter, but that he
had somehow experienced a sensation
of _having been there before_, and
knowing just where the water-hole
was located. An old Indian who was
questioned about the matter,
afterward, stated that the place had
been well known to his people who
formerly travelled much on that part
of the desert; and that they had
legends relating to the "hidden
water-hole," running back for many
generations. In this case, it was
remarked that the water-hole was
situated in such a peculiar and
unusual manner, as to render it
almost undiscoverable even to people
familiar with the characteristics of
that part of the country. The old
lady who related the story, had it
direct from the lips of one of the
party, who regarded it as "something
queer," but who had never even heard
of Metempsychosis.
A correspondent of an English
magazine writes as follows: "A
gentleman of high intellectual
attainments, now deceased, once told
me that he had dreamed of being in a
strange city, so vividly that he
remembered the streets, houses and
public buildings as distinctly as
those of any place he ever visited.
A few weeks later he was induced to
visit a panorama in Leicester
Square, when he was startled by
seeing the city of which he had
dreamed. The likeness was perfect,
except that one additional church
appeared in the picture. He was so
struck by the circumstance that he
spoke to the exhibitor, assuming for
the purpose the air of a traveller
acquainted with the place, when he
was informed that the church was a
recent erection." The fact of the
addition of the church, seems to
place the incident within the rule
of awakened memories of scenes known
in a past life, for clairvoyance,
astral travel, etc., would show the
scene as it was at the time of the
dream, not as it had been years
before.
Charles Dickens mentions a
remarkable impression in his work
"Pictures from Italy." "In the
foreground was a group of silent
peasant girls, leaning over the
parapet of the little bridge,
looking now up at the sky, now down
into the water; in the distance a
deep dell; the shadow of an
approaching night on everything. If
I had been murdered there in some
former life I could not have seemed
to remember the place more
thoroughly, or with more emphatic
chilling of the blood; and the real
remembrance of it acquired in that
minute is so strengthened by the
imaginary recollection that I hardly
think I could forget it."
We have recently met two people in
America who had very vivid memories
of incidents in their past life. One
of these, a lady, has a perfect
horror of large bodies of water,
such as the Great Lakes, or the
Ocean, although she was born and has
lived the greater part of her life
inland, far removed from any great
body of water, She has a distinct
recollection of falling from a large
canoe-shape vessel, of peculiar
lines, and drowning. She was quite
overcome upon her first visit to the
Field Museum in Chicago, where there
were exhibited a number of models of
queer vessels used by primitive
people. She pointed out one similar
in shape, and lines, to the one she
remembers as having fallen from in
some past life.
The second case mentioned is that of
a married couple who met each other
in a country foreign to both, on
their travels. They fell in love
with each other, and both have felt
that their marriage was a reunion
rather than a new attachment. The
husband one day shortly after their
marriage told his wife in a rather
shamed-faced way that he had
occasional flashes of memory of
having held in his arms, in the dim
past, a woman whose face he could
not recall, but who wore a strange
necklace, he describing the details
of the latter. The wife said
nothing, but after her husband had
left for his office, she went to the
attic and unpacked an old trunk
containing some odds and ends,
relics, heirlooms, etc., and drew
from it an old necklace of peculiar
pattern that her grandfather had
brought back from India, where he
had lived in his younger days, and
which had been in the family ever
since. She laid the necklace on the
table, so that her husband would see
it upon his return. The moment his
eyes fell upon it, he turned white
as death, and gasped "My God!
_that's the necklace!_"
A writer in a Western journal gives
the following story of a Southern
woman. "When I was in Heidelberg,
Germany, attending a convention of
Mystics, in company with some
friends I paid my first visit to the
ruined Heidelberg Castle. As I
approached it I was impressed with
the existence of a peculiar room in
an inaccessible portion of the
building. A paper and pencil were
provided me, and I drew a diagram of
the room even to its peculiar floor.
My diagram and description were
perfect, when we afterwards visited
the room. In some way, not yet clear
to me, I have been connected with
that apartment. Still another
impression came to me with regard to
a book, which I was made to feel was
in the old library of the Heidelberg
University. I not only knew what the
book was, but even felt that a
certain name of an old German
professor would be found written in
it. Communicating this feeling to
one of the Mystics at the
convention, a search was made for
the volume, but it was not found.
Still the impression clung to me,
and another effort was made to find
the book; this time we were rewarded
for our pains. Sure enough, there on
the margin of one of the leaves was
the very name I had been given in
such a strange manner. Other things
at the same time went to convince me
that I was in possession of the soul
of a person who had known Heidelberg
two or three centuries ago."
A contributor to an old magazine
relates, among other instances, the
following regarding a friend who
remembers having died in India
during the youth of some former
life. He states: "He sees the
bronzed attendants gathered about
his cradle in their white dresses:
they are fanning him. And as they
gaze he passes into unconsciousness.
Much of his description concerned
points of which he knew nothing from
any other source, but all was true
to the life, and enabled me to fix
on India as the scene which he
recalled."
While comparatively few among the
Western races are able to remember
more than fragments of their past
lives, in India it is quite common
for a man well developed spiritually
to clearly remember the incidents
and details of former incarnations,
and the evidence of the awakening of
such power causes little more than
passing interest among his people.
There is, as we shall see later, a
movement toward conscious
Metempsychosis, and many of the race
are just moving on to that plane. In
India the highly developed
individuals grow into a clear
recollection of their past lives
when they reach the age of puberty,
and when their brains are developed
sufficiently to grasp the knowledge
locked up in the depths of the soul.
In the meantime the individual's
memory of the past is locked away in
the recesses of his mind, just as
are many facts and incidents of his
present life so locked away, to be
remembered only when some one
mentions the subject, or some
circumstance serves to supply the
associative link to the apparently
forgotten matter.
Regarding the faculty of memory in
our present lives, we would quote
the following from the pen of Prof.
William Knight, printed in the
Fortnightly Review. He says: "Memory
of the details of the past is
absolutely impossible. The power of
the conservative faculty, though
relatively great, is extremely
limited. We forget the larger
portion of experience soon after we
have passed through it, and we
should be able to recall the
particulars of our past years,
filling all the missing links of
consciousness since we entered on
the present life, before we were in
a position to remember our
ante-natal experience. Birth must
necessarily be preceded by crossing
the river of oblivion, while the
capacity for fresh acquisition
survives, and the garnered wealth of
old experience determines the amount
and character of the new."
Another startling evidence of the
proof of Metempsychosis is afforded
us in the cases of "infant
prodigies," etc., which defy any
other explanation. Take the cases of
the manifestation of musical talent
in certain children at an early age,
for instance. Take the case of
Mozart who at the age of four was
able to not only perform difficult
pieces on the piano, but actually
composed original works of merit.
Not only did he manifest the highest
faculty of sound and note, but also
an instinctive ability to compose
and arrange music, which ability was
superior to that of many men who had
devoted years of their life to study
and practice. The laws of
harmony--the science of commingling
tones, was to him not the work of
years, but a faculty born in him.
There are many similar cases of
record.
Heredity does not explain these
instances of genius, for in many of
the recorded cases, none of the
ancestors manifested any talent or
ability. From whom did Shakespeare
inherit his genius? From whom did
Plato derive his wonderful thought?
From what ancestor did Abraham
Lincoln inherit his
character--coming from a line of
plain, poor, hard-working people,
and possessing all of the physical
attributes and characteristics of
his ancestry, he, nevertheless,
manifested a mind which placed him
among the foremost of his race. Does
not Metempsychosis give us the only
possible key? Is it not reasonable
to suppose that the abilities
displayed by the infant genius, and
the talent of the men who spring
from obscure origin, have their root
in the experiences of a previous
life?
Then take the cases of children at
school. Children of even the same
family manifest different degrees of
receptivity to certain studies. Some
"take to" one thing, and some to
another. Some find arithmetic so
easy that they almost absorb it
intuitively, while grammar is a hard
task for them; while their brothers
and sisters find the exact reverse
to be true. How many have found that
when they would take up some new
study, it is almost like recalling
something already learned. Do you
student, who are now reading these
lines take your own case. Does not
all this Teaching seem to you like
the repetition of some lesson
learned long ago? Is it not like
remembering something already
learned, rather than the learning of
some new truth? Were you not
attracted to these studies, in the
first place, by a feeling that you
had known it all before, somewhere,
somehow? Does not your mind leap
ahead of the lesson, and see what is
coming next, long before you have
turned the pages? These inward
evidences of the fact of
pre-existence are so strong that
they outweigh the most skillful
appeal to the intellect.
This intuitive knowledge of the
truth of Metempsychosis explains why
the belief in it is sweeping over
the Western world at such a rapid
rate. The mere mention of the idea,
to many people who have never before
heard of it, is sufficient to cause
them to recognize its truth. And
though they may not understand the
laws of its operation, yet deep down
in their consciousness they find a
something that convinces them of its
truth. In spite of the objections
that are urged against the teaching,
it is making steady headway and
progress.
The progress of the belief in
Metempsychosis however has been
greatly retarded by the many
theories and dogmas attached to it
by some of the teachers. Not to
speak of the degrading ideas of
re-birth into the bodies of animals,
etc., which have polluted the spring
of Truth, there are to be found many
other features of teaching and
theory which repel people, and cause
them to try to kill out of the minds
the glimmer of Truth that they find
there. The human soul instinctively
revolts against the teaching that it
is bound to the wheel or re-birth,
_willy-nilly_, compulsorily, without
choice--compelled to live in body
after body until great cycles are
past. The soul, perhaps already sick
of earth-life, and longing to pass
on to higher planes of existence,
fights against such teaching. And it
does well to so fight, for the truth
is nearer to its hearts desire.
There is no soul longing that does
not carry with it the prophecy of
its own fulfillment, and so it is in
this case. It is true that the soul
of one filled with earthly desires,
and craving for material things,
will by the very force of those
desires be drawn back to earthly
re-birth in a body best suited for
the gratification of the longings,
desires and cravings that it finds
within itself. But it is likewise
true that the earth-sick soul is not
compiled to return unless its own
desires bring it back. Desire is the
key note of Metempsychosis, although
up to a certain stage it may operate
unconsciously. The sum of the
desires of a soul regulate its
re-birth. Those who have become
sickened of all that earth has for
them at this stage of its evolution,
may, and do, rest in states of
existence far removed from earth
scenes, until the race progresses
far enough to afford the resting
soul the opportunities and
environments that it so earnestly
craves.
And more than this, when Man reaches
a certain stage, the process of
Metempsychosis no longer remains
unconscious, but he enters into a
conscious knowing, willing passage
from one life to another. And when
that stage is reached a full memory
of the past lives is unfolded, and
life to such a soul becomes as the
life of a day, succeeded by a night,
and then the awakening into another
day with full knowledge and
recollection of the events of the
day before. We are in merely the
babyhood of the race now, and the
fuller life of the conscious soul
lies before us. Yea, even now it is
being entered into by the few of the
race that have progressed
sufficiently far on the Path. And
you, student, who feel within you
that craving for conscious re-birth
and future spiritual evolution, and
the distaste for, and horror of, a
further blind, unconscious re-plunge
into the earth-life--know you, that
this longing on your part is but an
indication of what lies before you.
It is the strange, subtle, awakening
of the nature within you, which
betokens the higher state. Just as
the young person feels within his or
her body strange emotions, longings
and stirrings, which betoken the
passage from the child state into
that of manhood or womanhood, so do
these spiritual longings, desires
and cravings betoken the passage
from unconscious re-birth into
conscious knowing Metempsychosis,
when you have passed from the scene
of your present labors.
In our next lesson we shall consider
the history of the race as its souls
passed on from the savage tribes to
the man of to-day. It is the history
of the race--the history of the
individual--your own history,
student--the record of that through
which you have passed to become that
which you now are. And as you have
climbed step after step up the
arduous path, so will you, hereafter
climb still higher paths, but no
longer in unconsciousness, but with
your spiritual eyes wide open to the
Rays of Truth pouring forth from the
great Central Sun--the Absolute.
Concluding this lesson, we would
quote two selections from the
American poet, Whitman, whose
strange genius was undoubtedly the
result of vague memories springing
from a previous life, and which
burst into utterances often not more
than half understood by the mind
that gave them birth. Whitman says:
"Facing West from California's
shores, Inquiring, tireless, seeking
what is yet unfound, A, a child,
very old, over waves, toward the
house of maternity, the land of
migrations, look afar, Look off the
shores of my Western sea, the circle
almost circled: For starting
Westward from Hindustan, from the
vales of Kashmere, From Asia, from
the north, from God, the sage, and
the hero, From the south, from the
flowery peninsulas and spice
islands, Long having wandered since,
round the earth having wandered, Now
I face home again, very pleased and
joyous. (But where is what I started
for so long ago? And why is it yet
unfound?)"
* * * * *
"I know I am deathless.
I know that this orbit of mine
cannot be swept by a carpenter's
compass; And whether I come to my
own to-day, or in ten thousand or
ten million years,
I can cheerfully take it now or with
equal cheerfulness can wait."
* * * * *
"As to you, Life, I reckon you are
the leavings of many deaths. No
doubt I have died myself ten
thousand times before."
* * * * *
"Births have brought us richness and
variety, and other births have
brought us richness and variety."
* * * * *
And this quotation from the American
poet N.P. Willis:
"But what a mystery this erring
mind?
It wakes within a frame of various
powers
A stranger in a new and wondrous
world.
It brings an instinct from some
other sphere,
For its fine senses are familiar
all,
And with the unconscious habit of a
dream
It calls and they obey.
The priceless sight
Springs to its curious organ, and
the ear
Learns strangely to detect the
articulate air
In its unseen divisions, and the
tongue
Gets its miraculous lesson with the
rest,
And in the midst of an obedient
throng
Of well trained ministers, the mind
goes forth
To search the secrets of its new
found home."
