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A SERIES OF
Lessons
in Gnani Yoga
THE
TENTH LESSON SPIRITUAL
EVOLUTION.
One of the things that repel many
persons who have had their attention
directed to the subject of
Metempsychosis for the first time, is
the idea that they have evolved as a
soul from individual lowly forms, for
instance that they have at one time been
an individual plant, and then an
individual animal form, and then an
individual higher animal form, and so on
until now they are the particular
individual human form contemplating the
subject. This idea, which has been
taught by many teachers, is repellent to
the average mind, for obvious reasons,
and naturally so, for it has no
foundation in truth.
While this lesson is principally
concerned with the subject of the
Spiritual Evolution of the human soul,
since it became a human soul, still it
may be as well to mention the previous
phase of evolution, briefly, in order to
prevent misconception, and to dispel
previously acquired error.
The atom, although it possesses life and
a certain degree of mind, and acts as an
individual temporarily, has no permanent
individuality that reincarnates. When
the atom is evolved it becomes a centre
of energy in the great atomic principle,
and when it is finally dissolved it
resolves itself back into its original
state, and its life as an individual
atom ceases, although the experience it
has gained becomes the property of the
entire principle. It is as if a body of
water were to be resolved into millions
of tiny dew-drops for a time, and each
dew-drop was then to acquire certain
outside material in solution. In that
case, each dew-drop when it again
returned to the body of water, would
carry with it its foreign material,
which would become the property of the
whole. And subsequently formed dew-drops
would carry in their substance a
particle of the foreign matter brought
back home by the previous generation of
dewdrops, and would thus be a little
different from their predecessors. And
this process, continuing for many
generations of dew-drops, would
ultimately cause the greatest changes in
the composition of the successive
generations.
This, in short, is the story of the
change and improving forms of life. From
the atoms into the elements; from the
lower elements into those forming
protoplasm; from the protoplasm to the
lower forms of animal life; from these
lower forms on to higher forms--this is
the story. But it is all a counterpart
of the dew-drop and the body of water,
until the human soul is evolved.
The plants and the lower forms of animal
life are not permanent individual souls,
but each family is a _group-soul_
corresponding to the body of water from
which the dew-drop arose. From these
family group-souls gradually break off
minor groups, representing species, and
so on into sub-species. At last when the
forms reach the plane of man, the
group-soul breaks itself up into
_permanent individual souls_, and true
Metempsychosis begins. That is, _each
individual human soul becomes a
permanent individual entity_, destined
to evolve and perfect itself along the
lines of spiritual evolution.
And from this point begins our story of
Spiritual Evolution.
The story of Man, the Individual, begins
amidst humble surroundings. Primitive
man, but little above the level of the
lower animals in point of intelligence,
has nevertheless that distinguishing
mark of
Individuality--"Self-Consciousness,"
which is the demarkation between Beast
and Man. And even the lowest of the
lowest races had at least a "trace" of
this Self-Consciousness, which made of
them individuals, and caused the
fragment of the race-soul to separate
itself from the general principle
animating the race, and to fasten its
"I" conscious upon itself, rather than
upon the underlying race-soul, along
instinctive lines. Do you know just what
this Self-Consciousness is, and how it
differs from the Physical Consciousness
of the lower animals? Perhaps we had
better pause a moment to consider it at
this place.
The lower animals are of course
conscious of the bodies, and their
wants, feelings, emotions, desires,
etc., and their actions are in response
to the animating impulses coming from
this plane of consciousness. But it
stops there. They "know," but they do
not "know that they know"; that is, they
have not yet arrived at a state in which
they can think of themselves as "I," and
to reason upon their thoughts and mental
operations. It is like the consciousness
of a very young child, which feels and
knows its sensations and wants, but is
unable to think of itself as "I," and to
turn the mental gaze inward. In another
book of these series we have used the
illustration of the horse which has been
left standing out in the cold sleet and
rain, and which undoubtedly feels and
knows the unpleasant sensations arising
therefrom, and longs to get away from
the unpleasant environment. But, still,
he is unable to analyze his mental
states and wonder whether his master
will come out to him soon, or think how
cruel it is to keep him out of his warm
comfortable stable; or wonder whether he
will be taken out in the cold rain again
tomorrow; or feel envious of other
horses who are indoors; or wonder why he
is kept out cold nights, etc., etc. In
short, the horse is unable to think as
would a reasoning man under just the
same circumstances. He is aware of the
discomfort, just as would be the man;
and he would run away home, if he were
able, just as would the man. But he is
not able to pity himself, nor to think
about his personality, as would a
man--he is not able to wonder whether
life is worth the living, etc., as would
a man. He "knows" but is not able to
reflect upon the "knowing."
In the above illustration, the principal
point is that the horse does not "know
himself" as an entity, while even the
most primitive man is able to so
recognize himself as an "I." If the
horse were able to think in words, he
would think "feel," "cold," "hurt,"
etc., but he would be unable to think "I
feel; I am cold; I am hurt," etc. The
thought "I" would be missing.
It is true that the "I" consciousness of
the primitive man was slight, and was
but a degree above the Physical
Consciousness of the higher apes, but
nevertheless it had sprung into being,
never again to be lost. The primitive
man was like a child a few years old--he
was able to say "I," and to think "I."
_He had become an individual soul._
And this individual soul inhabited and
animated a body but little removed from
that of an ape. But this new
consciousness began to mould that rude
body and the ascent was begun. Each
generation showed a physical improvement
over that of the preceding one,
according to the lines of physical
evolution, and as the developing soul
demanded more perfect and developed
bodies the bodies were evolved to meet
the demand, for the mental demand has
ever been the cause of the physical
form.
The soul of the primitive man
reincarnated almost immediately after
the death of the physical body, because
the experiences gained were mostly along
the lines of the physical, the mental
planes being scarcely brought into play,
while the higher and spiritual faculties
were almost entirely obscured from
sight. Life after life the soul of the
primitive man lived out in rapid
succession. But in each new embodiment
there was a slight advance over that of
the previous one. Experience, or rather
the result of experiences, were carried
over, and profited by. New lessons were
learned and unlearned, improved upon or
discarded. And the race grew and
unfolded.
After a time the number of advancing
souls which had outstripped their
fellows in progress became sufficiently
large for sub-races to be formed, and so
the branching off process began. In this
way the various races and types were
formed, and the progress of Mankind
gained headway. At this point we may as
well consider the history of the Races
of Mankind, that we may see how the
great tide-wave of Soul has ever pressed
onward, marking higher and still higher
stages of progress, and also how the
various minor waves of the great wave
pushed in and then receded, only to be
followed by still higher waves. The
story is most interesting.
The Yogi Teachings inform us that the
Grand Cycle of Man's Life on the Earth
is composed of Seven Cycles, of which we
are now living in the third-seventh part
of the Fifth Cycle. These Cycles may be
spoken of as the Great Earth Periods,
separated from each other by some great
natural cataclysm which destroyed the
works of the previous races of men, and
which started afresh the progress called
"civilization," which, as all students
know, manifests a rise and fall like
unto that of the tides.
Man in the First Cycle emerged from a
gross animal-like state into a condition
somewhat advanced. It was a slow
progress, but nevertheless a distinct
series of advances were made by the more
progressive souls who passed over on to
the Second Cycle, embodying themselves
as the ruling races in the same, their
less progressive brothers incarnating in
the lower tribes of the Second Cycle. It
must be remembered that the souls which
do not advance during a Cycle
reincarnate in the next Cycle among the
lower races. So that even in this Fifth
Cycle we have remnants of the previous
cycles, the lives of the members of
which give us an idea of what life in
the earlier cycles must have been.
The Yogi Teachings give us but little
information regarding the people of the
First and Second Cycles, because of the
low state of these ages. The tale, if
told, would be the story of the
Cave-dweller, and Stone-age people; the
Fire-peoples, and all the rest of
savage, barbarian crew; there was but
little trace of anything like that which
we call "civilization," although in the
latter periods of the Second Cycle the
foundations for the coming civilizations
were firmly laid.
After the cataclysm which destroyed the
works of Man of the Second Cycle, and
left the survivors scattered or
disorganized, awaiting the touch of the
organizing urge which followed shortly
afterward, there dawned the first period
of the Third Cycle. The scene of the
life of the Third Cycle was laid in what
is known to Occultists as Lemuria.
Lemuria was a mighty continent situated
in what is now known as the Pacific
Ocean, and parts of the Indian Ocean. It
included Australia, Australasia, and
other portions of the Pacific islands,
which are in fact surviving portions of
the great continent of Lemuria, its
highest points, the lower portion having
sunk beneath the seas ages and ages ago.
Life in Lemuria is described as being
principally concerned with the physical
senses, and sensual enjoyment, only a
few developed souls having broken
through the fetters of materiality and
reached the beginnings of the mental and
spiritual planes of life. Some few
indeed made great progress and were
saved from the general wreck, in order
to become the leaven which would lighten
the mass of mankind during the next
Cycle. These developed souls were the
teachers of the new races, and were
looked upon by the latter as gods and
supernatural beings, and legends and
traditions concerning them are still
existent among the ancient peoples of
our present day. Many of the myths of
the ancient peoples arose in this way.
The Yogi traditions hold that just prior
to the great cataclysm which destroyed
the races of the Second Cycle, there was
a body of the Chosen Ones which migrated
from Lemuria to certain islands of the
sea which are now part of the main land
of India. These people formed the
nucleus of the Occult Teachings of the
Lemurians, and developed into the Fount
of Truth which has been flowing ever
since throughout the successive periods
and cycles.
When Lemuria passed away, there arose
from the depths of the ocean the
continent which was to be the scene of
the life and civilization of the Fourth
Cycle--the continent of Atlantis.
Atlantis was situated in a portion of
what is now known as the Atlantic Ocean,
beginning at what is now known as the
Caribbean Sea and extending over to the
region of what is now known as Africa.
What are now known as Cuba and the West
Indies were among the highest points of
the continent, and now stand like
monuments to its departed greatness.
The civilization of Atlantis was
remarkable, and its people attained
heights which seem almost incredible to
even those who are familiar with the
highest achievements of man in our own
times. The Chosen Ones preserved from
the cataclysm which destroyed Lemuria,
and who lived to a remarkably old age,
had stored up within their minds the
wisdom and learning of the races that
had been destroyed, and they thus gave
the Atlanteans an enormous
starting-advantage. They soon attained
great advancement along all the lines of
human endeavor. They perfected
mechanical inventions and appliances,
reaching far ahead of even our present
attainments. In the field of electricity
especially they reached the stages that
our present races will reach in about
two or three hundred years from now.
Along the lines of Occult Attainment
their progress was far beyond the dreams
of the average man of our own race, and
in fact from this arose one of the
causes of their downfall, for they
prostituted the power to base and
selfish uses, and Black Magic.
And, so the decline of Atlantis began.
But the end did not come at once, or
suddenly, but gradually. The continent,
and its surrounding islands gradually
sank beneath the waves of the Atlantic
Ocean, the process occupying over 10,000
years. The Greeks and Romans of our own
Cycle had traditions regarding the
sinking of the continent, but their
knowledge referred only to the
disappearance of the small
remainder--certain islands--the
continent itself having disappeared
thousands of years before their time. It
is recorded that the Egyptian priests
had traditions that the continent itself
had disappeared nine thousand years
before their time. As was the case with
the Chosen Ones of Lemuria, so was it
with the Elect of Atlantis, who were
taken away from the doomed land some
time prior to its destruction. The few
advanced people left their homes and
migrated to portions of what are now
South America and Central America, but
which were then islands of the sea.
These people have left their traces of
their civilization and works, which our
antiquaries are discovering to-day.
When the Fifth Cycle dawned (our own
cycle, remember) these brave and
advanced souls acted as the
race-teachers and became as "gods" to
those who came afterward. The races were
very prolific, and multiplied very
rapidly under the most favorable
conditions. The souls of the Atlanteans
were pressing forward for embodiment,
and human forms were born to supply the
demand. And now begins the history of
our own Cycle--the Fifth Cycle.
But before we begin a consideration of
the Fifth Cycle, let us consider for a
moment a few points about the laws
operating to cause these great changes.
In the first place, each Cycle has a
different theatre for its work and
action. The continent of Lemuria was not
in existence during the Second Cycle,
and arose from the ocean bed only when
its appointed time came. And, likewise
the continent of Atlantis reposed
beneath the waves while the Lemurian
races manifested during the Third Cycle,
rising by means of a convulsion of the
earth's surface to play its part during
its own period--the Fourth Cycle--only
to sink again beneath the waves to make
way for the birth of the Fifth Cycle
with its races. By means of these
cataclysms the races of each Cycle were
wiped out when the time came, the few
Elect or Chosen ones, that is those who
have manifested the right to live on,
being carried away to some favorable
environment where they became as leaven
to the mass--as "gods" to the new races
that quickly appear.
It must be remembered, however, that
these Chosen Ones are not the only ones
saved from the destruction that
overtakes the majority of the race. On
the contrary a few survivors are
preserved, although driven away from
their former homes, and reduced to
"first principles of living" in order to
become the parents of the new races. The
new races springing from the fittest of
these survivors quickly form sub-races,
being composed of the better adapted
souls seeking reincarnation, while the
less fit sink into barbarism, and show
evidences of decay, although a remnant
drags on for thousands of years, being
composed of the souls of those who have
not advanced sufficiently to take a part
in the life of the new races. These
"left-overs" are in evidence in our own
times in the cases of the Australian
savages, and some of the African tribes,
as well as among the Digger Indians and
others of similar grade of intelligence.
In order to understand the advance of
each race it must be remembered that the
more advanced souls, after passing out
of the body, have a much longer period
of rest in the higher planes, and
consequently do not present themselves
for reincarnation until a period quite
late when compared with the hasty
reincarnation of the less advanced souls
who are hurried back to rebirth by
reason of the strong earthly attachments
and desires. In this way it happens that
the earlier races of each Cycle are more
primitive folk than those who follow
them as the years roll by. The soul of
an earth-bound person reincarnates in a
few years, and sometimes in a few days,
while the soul of an advanced man may
repose and rest on the higher planes for
centuries--nay, even for thousands of
years, until the earth has reached a
stage in which the appropriate
environment may be afforded it.
Observers, unconnected with Occultism,
have noted certain laws which seem to
regulate the rise and fall of
nations--the procession of ruling races.
They do not understand the law of
Metempsychosis that alone gives the key
to the problem, but nevertheless they
have not failed to record the existence
of the laws themselves. In order to show
that these laws are recognized by
persons who are not at all influenced by
the Occult Teachings, we take the
liberty of quoting from Draper's
"History of the Intellectual Development
of Europe."
Dr. Draper writes as follows: "We are,
as we often say, the creatures of
circumstances. In that expression there
is a higher philosophy than might at
first appear. From this more accurate
point of view we should therefore
consider the course of these events,
recognizing the principle that the
affairs of men pass forward in a
determinate way, expanding and unfolding
themselves. And hence we see that the
things of which we have spoken as if
they were matters of choice, were in
reality forced upon their apparent
authors by the necessity of the times.
But in truth they should be considered
as the presentation of a certain phase
of life which nations in their onward
course sooner or later assume. To the
individual, how well we know that a
sober moderation of action, an
appropriate gravity of demeanor,
belonging to the mature period of life,
change from the wanton willfulness of
youth, which may be ushered in, or its
beginnings marked by many accidental
incidents; in one perhaps by domestic
bereavements, in another by the loss of
fortune, in a third by ill-health. We
are correct enough in imputing to such
trials the change of character; but we
never deceive ourselves by supposing
that it would have failed to take place
had these incidents not occurred. There
runs an irresistible destiny in the
midst of these vicissitudes. There are
analogies between the life of a nation,
and that of an individual, who, though
he may be in one respect the maker of
his own fortunes, for happiness or for
misery, for good or for evil, though he
remains here or goes there as his
inclinations prompt, though he does this
or abstains from that as he chooses, is
nevertheless held fast by an inexorable
fate--a fate which brought him into the
world involuntarily, so far as he was
concerned, which presses him forward
through a definite career, the stages of
which are absolutely
invariable,--infancy, childhood, youth,
maturity, old age, with all their
characteristic actions and
passions,--and which removes him from
the scene at the appointed time, in most
cases against his will. So also is it
with nations; the voluntary is only the
outward semblance, covering but hardly
hiding the predetermined. Over the
events of life we may have control, but
none whatever over the law of its
progress. There is a geometry that
applies to nations an equation of their
curve of advance. That no mortal man can
touch."
This remarkable passage, just quoted,
shows how the close observers of history
note the rise and fall of the tides of
human race progress, although ignorant
of the real underlying causing energy or
force. A study of the Occult Teachings
alone gives one the hidden secret of
human actions and throws the bright
light of Truth upon the dark corners of
phenomena.
At the beginning of the Fifth Cycle
(which is the present one), there were
not only the beginnings of the new races
which always spring up at the beginning
of each new cycle and which are the
foundations for the coming races which
take advantage of the fresh conditions
and opportunities for growth and
development--but there were also the
descendants of the Elect Saved from the
destruction of Atlantis by having been
led away and colonized far from the
scene of danger. The new races were the
descendant of the scattered survivors of
the Atlantean peoples, that is, the
common run of people of the time. But
the Elect few were very superior people,
and imparted to their descendants their
knowledge and wisdom. So that we see at
the beginning of the Fifth Cycle hordes
of new, primitive people in certain
lands, and in other places advanced
nations like the ancestors of the
Ancient Egyptians, Persians, Chaldeans,
Hindus, etc.
These advanced races were old
souls--advanced souls--the progressed
and developed souls of Ancient Lemuria
and Atlantis, who lived their lives and
who are now either on higher planes of
life, or else are among us to-day taking
a leading part in the world's affairs,
striving mightily to save the present
races from the misfortunes which
overtook their predecessors.
The descendants of the people were the
Assyrians and Babylonians. In due time
the primitive new races developed and
the great Roman, Grecian, and
Carthaginian peoples appeared. Then came
the rise of other peoples and nations
down to the present time. Each race or
nation has its rise, its height of
attainment, and its decline. When a
nation begins to decline it is because
its more advanced souls have passed on,
and only the less progressive souls are
left. The history of all nations show
the truth of the Occult the term. Men
are forsaking old ideals, creeds and
dogmas, and are running hither and
thither seeking something they feel to
be necessary, but of the nature of which
they know nothing. They are feeling the
hunger for Peace--the thirst for
Knowledge--and they are seeking
satisfaction in all directions.
This is not only the inevitable working
of the Law of Evolution, but is also a
manifestation of the power and love of
the great souls that have passed on to
higher planes of existence, and who have
become as angels and arch-angels. These
beings are filled with the love of the
race, and are setting into motion
influences that are being manifest in
many directions, the tendency of which
are to bring the race to a realization
of its higher power, faculties, and
destiny.
As we have said in other places, one of
the greatest difficulties in the way of
the seeker after Truth in his
consideration of the question of
Spiritual Evolution is the feeling that
rebirth is being forced upon him,
without any say on his part, and against
his desires. But this is far from being
correct. It is true that the whole
process is according to the Great Law,
but that Law operates through the force
of Desire and Attraction. The soul is
attracted toward rebirth by reason of
its desire or rather the essence of its
desires. It is reborn only because it
has within itself the desire for further
experience, and opportunity for
unfoldment. And it is reborn into
certain environments solely because it
has within itself unsatisfied desires
for those environments, etc. The process
is just as regular and scientific as is
the attraction of one atom of matter for
another.
Each soul has within itself certain
elements of desire and attraction, and
it attracts to itself certain conditions
and experiences, and is in turn
attracted by these things. This is the
law of life, in the body and out of it.
And there is no injustice in the law it
is the essence of justice itself, for it
gives to each just what is required to
fill the indwelling desires, or else the
conditions and experiences designed to
burn out the desires which are holding
one back, and the destruction of which
will make possible future advancement.
For instance, if one is bound by the
inordinate desire for material wealth,
the Law of Karma will attract him to a
rebirth in conditions in which he will
be surrounded by wealth and luxury until
he becomes sickened with them and will
find his heart filled with the desire to
flee from them and toward higher and
more satisfying things. Of course the
Law of Karma acts in other ways, as we
shall see in our next lesson--it deals
with one's debts and obligations, also.
The Law of Karma is closely connected
with Metempsychosis, and one must be
considered in connection with the other,
always.
Not only is it true that man's rebirths
are in strict accordance with the law of
Attraction and Desire, but it is also
true that after he attains a certain
stage of spiritual unfoldment he enters
into the conscious stage of rebirth, and
thereafter he is reborn consciously and
with full foreknowledge. Many are now
entering into this stage of development,
and have a partial consciousness of
their past lives, which also implies
that they have had at least a partial
consciousness of approaching rebirth,
for the two phases of consciousness run
together.
Those individuals of a race who have
outstripped their fellows in spiritual
unfoldment, are still bound by the Karma
of the particular race to which they
belong, up to a certain point. And as
the entire race, or at least a large
proportion of it, must move forward as a
whole, such individuals must needs wait
also. But they are not compelled to
suffer a tiresome round of continued
rebirths amid environments and
conditions which they have outgrown. On
the contrary, the advanced individual
soul is allowed to wait until the race
reaches its own stage of advancement,
when it again joins in the upward
movement, in full consciousness,
however. In the interim he may pass his
well earned rest either on some of the
higher planes of rest, or else in
conscious temporary sojourn in other
material spheres helping in the great
work as a Teacher and worker for Good
and Spiritual Evolution among those who
need such help. In fact there are in the
world to-day, individual souls which
have reached similar stages on other
planets, and who are spending their rest
period here amidst the comparatively
lower Earth conditions, striving to lift
up the Earth souls to greater heights.
So long as people allow themselves to
become attached to material objects, so
long will they be reborn in conditions
in which these objects bind them fast.
It is only when the soul frees itself
from these entangling obstructions that
it is born in conditions of freedom.
Some outgrow these material attachments
by right thinking and reasoning, while
others seem to be compelled to live them
out, and thus outlive them, before they
are free. At last when the soul realizes
that these things are merely incidents
of the lower personality, and have
naught to do with the real
individuality, then, and then only, do
they fall from it like a wornout cloak,
and are left behind while it bounds
forward on The Path fresh from the
lighter weight being carried.
The Yogi Philosophy teaches that Man
will live forever, ascending from higher
to higher planes, and then on and on and
on. Death is but the physical symbol of
a period of Soul Rest, similar to sleep
of the tired body, and is just as much
to be welcomed and greeted with thanks.
Life is continuous, and its object is
development, unfoldment and growth. We
are in Eternity now as much as we ever
shall be. Our souls may exist out of the
body as well as in it, although bodily
incarnation is necessary at this stage
of our development. As we progress on to
higher planes of life, we shall
incarnate in bodies far more ethereal
than those now used by us, just as in
the past we used bodies almost
incredibly grosser and coarser than
those we call our own to-day.
Life is far more than a thing of
three-score and ten years--it is really
a succession of such lives, on an
ascending scale, that which we call our
personal self to-day being merely the
essence of the experiences of countless
lives in the past.
The Soul is working steadily upward,
from higher to higher, from gross to
finer forms and manifestations. And it
will steadily work for ages to come,
always progressing, always advancing,
always unfolding. The Universe contains
many worlds for the Soul to inhabit, and
then after it has passed on to other
Universes, there will still be
Infinitude before it. The destiny of the
Soul of Man is of wondrous promise and
possibilities--the mind to-day cannot
begin to even dream of what is before
the Soul. Those who have already
advanced many steps beyond you--those
Elder Brethren--are constantly extending
to you aid in many directions. They are
extending to you the Unseen Hand, which
lifts you over many a hard place and
dangerous crossing--but you recognize it
not except in a vague way. There are now
in existence, on planes infinitely
higher than your own, intelligences of
transcendent glory and magnificence--but
they were once Men even as you are
to-day. They have so far progressed upon
the Path that they have become as angels
and archangels when compared with you.
And, blessed thought, even as these
exalted ones were once even as you, so
shall you, in due course of Spiritual
Evolution, become even as these mighty
ones.
The Yogi Philosophy teaches that You who
are reading these lines have lived many
lives previous to the present one. You
have lived in the lower forms, and have
worked your way arduously along the Path
until now you are reaching the stage of
Spiritual Consciousness in which the
past and future will begin to appear
plain to you for the first time. You
have lived as the cave-man--the
cliff-dweller--the savage--the
barbarian. You have been the
warrior--the priest--the Medieval
scholar and occultist--the prince--the
pauper. You have lived in Lemuria--in
Atlantis--in India--in Persia--in
Egypt--in ancient Rome and Greece--and
are now playing your part in the Western
civilization, associating with many with
whom you have had relations in your past
lives.
In closing this lesson, let us quote
from a previous writing from the same
pen that writes this lesson:
"Toward what goal is all this Spiritual
Evolution tending? What does it all
mean? From the low planes of life to the
highest--all are on The Path. To what
state or place does The Path lead? Let
us attempt to answer by asking you to
imagine a series of millions of circles,
one within the other. Each circle means
a stage of Life.
The outer circles are filled with life
in its lowest and most material
stages--each circle nearer the Centre
holds higher and higher forms--until Men
(or what were once Men) become as gods.
Still on, and on, and on. does the form
of life grow higher, until the human
mind cannot grasp the idea. But what is
the Centre? The MIND of the entire
Spiritual Body--the ABSOLUTE! And we are
traveling toward that Centre!"
And again from the same source:
"But beyond your plane, and beyond mine,
are plane after plane, connected with
our earth, the splendors of which man
cannot conceive. And there are likewise
many planes around the other planets of
our chain--and there are millions of
other worlds--and there are chains of
universes just as there are chains of
planets--and then greater groups of
these chains--and so on greater and
grander beyond the power of man to
imagine--on and on and on and on--higher
and higher--to inconceivable heights. An
infinity of infinities of worlds are
before us. Our world and our planetary
system and our system of suns, and our
system of solar systems, are but as
grains of sand on the beach of the
mighty ocean. But then you cry, 'But
what am I--poor mortal thing--lost among
all this inconceivable greatness?' The
answer comes that You are that most
precious thing--a living soul. And if
you were destroyed the whole system of
universes would crumble, for you are as
necessary as the greatest part of it--it
cannot do without you--you cannot be
lost or destroyed--you are a part of it
all, and are eternal. 'But,' you ask,
'beyond all of this of which you have
told me, what is there--what is the
Centre of it All?' Your Teacher's face
takes on a rapt expression--a light not
of earth beams forth from his
countenance. '_THE ABSOLUTE_!' he
replies.
Mind
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