LIVING THE LIFE
Letters
21 22 23
24 25 26
27 28 29
30 31
LIVING THE LIFE
The work you have planned out for the others seems good, for they should be helped as much as possible. If others are not trained to take hold, the necessary help and education will be minus, should anything happen to us; it is also the study and preparation on the part of beginners that will make them more efficient as propagandists. But let their initiative work as much as possible; suggest and adjust when necessary. Why not begin by taking the three fundamental propositions of the Secret Doctrine? For upon these the whole system hinges. Get them all grounded in these. The first thing to make clear is the impossibility of the ordinary conception of a personal or separative God; then the importance of realizing the Self as all in all; then the law of periodicity with all its applications—“the world’s eternal ways”; and reincarnation by analogy. After the Fundamentals, they might take up the Ocean, chapter by chapter, getting grounded in question and answer. Explain that the object is to formulate for themselves, and thus make their understanding good. If they are helped, they should get themselves in a position where they can best help others. This is the way to learn and know.
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It is difficult to help individuals as such, especially where all the strength is needed for a general effort. It is quite easy to be drawn into this helping of individuals by our sympathies, and sometimes we do things that are not helps at all, although perhaps a pleasure to both giver and receiver. Wisdom is required in any case; sometimes “jolts instead of johnnie-cake” are needed. I have met much of all kinds of people and have learned some discretion in the treatment of them. You in your position will also meet them and will have to deal with them—for their good, so far as the general good permits and wisdom dictates.
That is an interesting phenomenon you speak of where a brain injury made the man forget his name, and able to do some-thing he was unable to do before. It was the same man, of course; his lapse of memory did not alter that fact at all. Neither did the other fact, that he was under the new condition able to play billiards, change the man; the brain instrument by the injury had one door opened and another shut. If he was able to play billiards actually and never played before in his life, I should say that such an one had done so in some previous life, which the injury gave access to. The previous life, also, must have been comparatively recent because that game in its present form is not very old. We have to remember that every man has a vast store of capacities, behind the nature we see, gained in past lives. Anybody’s capacity is governed by the particular Karma of that life, permitting the expression of only a portion of his acquired knowledge and capacity. There are many lives where the tastes, desires, and capacities change entirely without any brain injury, showing that one set of Karmic causes is expended and another set ensues. In any and all cases, what is in expression is from the store of experience of the past, for no one can do anything that is not related to past experience, whether in this life or some other one. Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun, meaning, I think, that whatever is done, flows from what has been done. There is no other knowledge than that which comes from experience, “experience” being considered in its widest sense.
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The Saptarishis are not very well explained anywhere, though there are certain things said about them that might give an idea, such as: “they are intimately connected with the present age— the Dark Kali Yuga;” “they mark the time and duration of our septenary life-cycle;” “they mark the time and the periods of Kali-Yuga, the age of sin and sorrow;” “they are as mysterious as their supposed seven wives, the Pleiades, of whom only one— the hidden one—has proved virtuous.” Speaking of the constellation of the Great Bear, H. P. B. makes the remark that these Rishis are the informing souls of the stars mentioned, and that they lie across the loins of the constellation (her underlining) and that they are the Seven elemental powers—the Rupa Devas. There is a hint, too, that they are connected with generation.
From it all I judge that there is a class of beings that have not been and will not be men in this Manvantara; they are of seven different degrees, not connected with man as a septenary being, although they are with the cycle of Kali Yuga. These cycles must be in a general way determined by man as to their nature, which is what the Star Rishis respond to in particular. It would seem that all the sex vagaries that come up in various directions, and the many visions and “communications” of “Masters” spoken of by persons so thinking are of that nature. You know it is said that very little information was given out about the elementals for the reason that the mind, by directing the consciousness, can segregate the various planes and arouse the elementals to action in relation to the Thinker. Sex ideas strongly held and attempted to be “spiritualized" as the saying is—might easily, I can conceive, attract beings of that nature which would assume the coloring of one thinking in that relation, adding to the main point of attraction—generation—anything that would serve to keep the close contact. Being elemental they respond to their own peculiar stimuli, without any sense of responsibility— not knowing man’s nature. The safe road is the one pointed out by the Messengers: you remember H. P. B. said, “Beware of the path of the Star Rishis.”
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Well, Companions, keep on with well-doing; our work is needed badly, and while there are few to listen, we serve the many through the few. Love to you and best of success every where.
Letter Twenty-Two
There is compensation everywhere and for everything; only, as we look for results, we do not, at once perceive the compensation at times and at the moment. Business, being a contest of interests, is full of perplexities all the time to us if we are fearful or anxious or impatient. But bad as it is and must be in itself, if we engage in just a present performance of duty as it comes and to the best of our ability, all strain disappears and we have that calmness which is necessary in the fight. No doubt time is required to be able to hold that position, but it is the condition to be tried for and obtained.
In the article mentioned, I should take exception to the phrase used: “When the first state of consciousness arises there is the Unmanifested viewed as a whole.” It would sound better to me to say that the Unmanifested precludes any “state,” but represents “Be-ness” or Consciousness per Se; differentiation brings states of being or perception. If we take the simple and well known analogy of sleeping and waking, and call waking the “manifested” and sleeping the “unmanifested,” we see that what transpires in consciousness during sleep is the “unmanifested” to the waking state, while what to us in this state appears as un manifested is but a higher kind of manifestation. May not this be equally true in regard even to that which we call Universal Pralaya? We speak of “consciousness” and mean thereby our present relative and restricted modes of perception, but we get no idea of what the consciousness of our own Higher Ego is. We have the feeling which arises from our present incomplete state; but what do we know of the feeling that comes from a higher state?
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You ask about the sentence in Patanjali: “The mind is a factor without which concentration cannot be obtained.” The question is “Why?” It is not easy to say what the “mind” is: it must be basic as well as selective; it can be withdrawn from one object and placed upon another; without “mind” nothing is done. We regard all actions as being mind operation. Thought is the plane of action; so to get at the basis we have to assume a Perceiver, who from his perceptions is the cause and effect in action. Prakriti is said to be that which produces cause and effect in actions, being the basis in which any action inheres. The Perceiver acts upon many planes; his perceptions as adopted by him on any plane might be called his “mind” on that plane. Concentration of perception on any desirable point is necessary to full knowledge.
I think you have the idea all right, as I understand it: “Universal Mind is the sum total of ideas of all beings concerned in the system” (which as a totality and in the last analysis must be in accord with all other systems) ; and any given mind must be a collocation of ideas within the Universal Mind. “There is nothing but the Self and its environments.”
The main trouble is we are constantly working with and upon effects, and endeavoring to adjust effects to effects without any relation to the plane of causes, mistaking cause for effect and effect for cause continually. The second chapter of the Gita gives a splendid statement. Speaking of the “three qualities” (prakritic), it says, “Be thou free from these three qualities,” that is, from the ordinary influence of the natural opposites. We are not to perform actions to obtain favor from Masters, nor from a morbid fear of Karma, not even from a desire to obtain good Karma; but “perform thy duty; abandon all thought of the consequences, and make the event equal to thee whether it terminate in good or evil. Such equanimity is called Yoga.”
You remember the saying of H. P. B., “Embodied consciousness gains knowledge through observation and experience; disembodied consciousness is the Cause.” So the whole is comprehended in Consciousness, conditioned and unconditioned. There
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is the internal cause of ideation—Thought; and the external cause and effect in action on the planes of prakriti. Only through spirit can we know spirit in any of its modifications. But to explain high metaphysical ideas in any western or modern language is like doing fine carving with an axe; our perceptions have to expand by application and exercise, so that words in their common application and ordinary relations to each other appear as correspondences rather than definite expressions.
The mind and Consciousness acting together have the power to separate or segregate the different planes, and this too in the case of the merest beginner. I do not think you can get any better idea in regard to the image-making faculty than is contained in the article by W. Q. J. in Vol. VII of the Path magazine, p. 289*. The power of concentration is the first consideration: “One should have the imagination under such control as to be able to make a picture of anything at any time. If a picture were made of the ineffectual thoughts of the generality of people, it would show little lines of force flying from their brains, and instead of reaching their destination, falling to the earth just a few feet away from the person who is thus throwing them out.”
Not much help here I am afraid, but you may get something out of it. Now to you may there be all blessings and growth.
Letter Twenty-Three
So the question was asked as to “the body of H. P. B.,” and you wish further light upon it. The body of H. P. B. was born in the usual way with its peculiar physical heredity—a “house” of the kind in use by the people of the age, and subject to its own physical karma. It could not be made perfect any more than its shape, features, sex, or color could be made different than they were. It was selected for its adaptability to the work in hand.
* “Imagination and Occult Phenomena,” reprinted in Theosophy, October, 1913.
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All great Initiates appear among men in a body of the kind in use by the race to whom they come. The Bible says of the prophet of Nazareth that “he became in all things like unto us.” Should such beings come in their own form and glory, they would be worshipped as gods by some, and hunted as devils by others, and the object of inducing right effort on the part of the people would be entirely missed. So although it entails suffering, it is done for humanity’s sake, from the compassion felt for those younger brothers who continue to bring woe upon them-selves through ignorance. The Masters do not need the experience for Themselves. They sacrifice for others, and as other Masters did in more ancient times for them.
It is a question whether They suffer any pains from death as the ordinary human does who hangs on to life physical. The force in use by Them racks any ordinary body and disintegrates it. In the case of H. P. B., extraordinary means had to be used to keep the body together as long as it was kept. A couple of weeks before leaving the body She wrote to one in Boston, “Even will and yoga cannot keep this old rag of a body together much longer.” This does not abrogate her power, but it does show that the bodies of the present race are not able to stand such a strain as the occupancy of such a being entails. The nervous force in our own bodies if intensified will destroy the body’s capacity; imagine a force a hundred times higher than that, and it is not difficult to understand why bodies so occupied go to pieces.
Bodies are formed under the law of cause and effect, and are maintained under it. There is physical karma, mental karma, and psychical karma; these interact upon each other, yet have their own particular lines of operation. The production of the bodies of any race is through causes set in motion upon the physical plane, and continued in reproduction on that plane; they are of a certain nature and subject to the actions and reactions of the collective karma of the race of which they are a part. An Adept assuming such a body would be subject, so far as the body is concerned, to the racial qualities inherent in the body assumed,
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just as a man moving into a town and taking a house in the town, would dwell therein; if the houses were deficient in any way, he could do no better and would have to take what he could get, even if far from his standard. So he would be subject to the “karma” of the dwellings of the time and place. Bodies are the physical dwellings constructed by the race.
Letter Twenty-Four
I have read your note and the enclosed letters. It is passing strange that Mr. B. could have gotten such a conception of us—that we are a self-satisfied, patronizing bunch”; that we are not straight in sending out unsigned letters, or hiding in any way. I would like very much to clear up their minds on these and other lines for they are fine people and need only to get rid of some prejudices to place them in that relation which will benefit them. The letters indicate much self-assertion and belligerent personality on the part of one, while the other says somewhat naïvely that he was so interested in the subject itself he never thought to inquire about the history of the U. L. T. and the persons connected with it—which was exactly the effect most desirable to be brought about!
Strange, they do not see, if some human beings know the existence of the most important message to the world in untold centuries, and bring the fact and the message to their attention, leaving it to be accepted or rejected without drawing any attention to themselves, that an act of self-effacement has been performed in order that the Message may be judged on its own merits. They are evidently not aware that it was the prominence of persons and their claims of personal knowledge that drew the attention of enquirers from the Message itself. Nor does it seem to be understood by them that the "anonymity" adopted was for the very benefit of such as they and all others who desire to obtain that message at first hand with no intermediate distractions.
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As persons concerned with the Message and its propagation, we certainly are not “hiding,” for we exist and can be found; but as “persons” of intelligence, character and self-sacrifice, we desire most of all to place the Message of Masters in the hands of those who wish to learn and know, without attracting attention to ourselves or seeking any distracting notoriety. For many years this has been done at a tremendous cost of time, money, and effort; for with us it has been a constant and consistent giving and we have asked for nothing in return. Nor can it be said that we are seeking recognition or fame of any kind, since no names are presented to which fame may be attached.
How does anyone suppose the Teachings of Theosophy pure and simple as given by the Teachers of Theosophy have been carried forward intact? Blind alleys have been spread in every direction by persons who have been and are accepted by the unwary as true Theosophical exponents; the original teachings have been obscured and a flood of speculations arc put forth as Theosophy, to the detriment of Theosophy and those who would learn and understand. How else could such a condition be remedied save by some who knew the truth, knew the Teachers, knew the right lines, and had sufficient experience in the Movement to avoid the rocks that split the original society into a number of fragments?
The policy and methods of U. L. T. were instituted to avoid personalities altogether and make the effort dependent upon a body of students who desire no recognition for nor of themselves, thus putting the Teaching directly in the hands of those who would know, to be studied and applied; hence the “anonymity.”
Another critic once said that U. L. T. was “hiding behind Theosophy.” The reply was, “That is much better than standing in front of it and hiding Theosophy.” The U. L. T. does not “hide” behind anything; it is simply holding Theosophy up so that all can see without let or hindrance. Whether it is persons or a number of “two-by-fours” that hold Theosophy up in plain view does not matter; in either case, it could be said with
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some show of justice that Theosophy was hiding them from view. But there is no complaint from that quarter nor thought of any—as you well know. Mr. B. does not appear to distinguish between anonymous communications from enemies or would-be friends, which, as he justly remarks, are cowardly, and an impersonal presentation of Theosophy without placing persons in the lime-light—all of it for the undiluted benefit of those who seek to know Theosophy. The point is that we stand in our own persons for Theosophy, and, while presenting its principles, defend it against any kind of attack.
Well, in all kindness of heart we will do the best we can with anyone who desires to learn. For those who expect principles and methods to conform to their personal prejudices we can do nothing, however much we might desire to. Yet there is always hope that a little Theosophy may work as a leaven which will wear away or displace existing prejudices, and for this, time must be allowed. Theosophy is for those who want it; it cannot be given to any others.
Letter Twenty-Five
Yes, many people will come to your meetings; of these, a few will remain. Those who really get the spirit of the Movement will not be found running here and there for any purpose of their own. They may go occasionally for general information or to do good to others. Whenever personal friction comes up, as it may—do you stick to principles; enunciate them, illustrate them, but keep away from direct reference to any trouble. So each is left to understand and apply as seems best to him. Study is the great thing. Unity, study, and work are the Trinity that will keep all together and yet leave play for individual idiosyncrasies along harmless lines while subduing them. What you say of some who come, remain away for a time, and come back, may indicate that such have taken a sample away with them, and
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compared “the goods” with those offered elsewhere. No doubt that goes on here and there with those who work from reason alone.
There are many whom we cannot help. Their time has not yet come, perhaps, in that they have not arrived at that condition which permits such help as we can give. We can help those that are ready; they may not be many in number, but they exist, and will come, as the way clears for them to do so. A steady out pouring of the eternal ideas will attract and hold those who need them; others will come and go as their mood determines. I do not think you are to blame for the kind of people that come to you; they are samples of the city—mixed; some good—bless them—some indifferent, some bad and some very bad. You try to serve all and give them of your best; no one can do more. Every spiritual effort is a good action.
It is true that the “door to the Masters” lies through Their work, and in no other way. You remember that W. Q. J. wrote, “Generosity and love are the abandonment of self.” The Masters love humanity and all creation; Their generosity and love are not stinted, nor tainted with selfishness. We can get rid of our hindrances only by following the Path They indicate. That Path little by little rids us of our besetting “sins.” And They have said that every thought, every desire, every effort in that direction counts. What we need to do is to forget our estimation of ourselves, be that good or bad, and just work on. We shall find more strength and larger opportunities as we move along that road. The idea that we are poor miserable sinners is so ingrained in the race mind that we find ourselves holding separateness either as to goodness or as to badness all the time. This has to be overcome. It is not a question of our goodness nor our badness, but our desire and effort to follow the highest path possible for us.
If a path is one we know, we have the confidence of knowledge; but where the path is a strange one, various kinds of doubts and misgivings arise. There is only one thing to be feared, really, and that is anything that takes us off the Path we are treading.
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I think, too, there is sometimes a stronger reason for disquietude than mere personal fear or doubt. We do not want to stray from the Path, and so we examine our steps to see if they are in the right direction, especially if the steps bring us any joy. Ordinary doubt or fear would stop us, but right solicitude only makes us cautious, and that is not a bad thing at all, so long as we keep moving.
As to the friend you speak of: I hope he has found something to do, and that whatever it is he will determinedly settle down to do it as if it were the only thing to be done. I have found that doing what comes, with all my heart, mind and strength, in time brought me to another place and opportunity and always to a better advantage. I have seen in many the attitude, “I don’t like this,” or, “I must have something better,” lead to perpetual change, dissatisfaction and poor results, invariably. On the other hand, I have seen those whom neither sickness nor any other cause could deter, nor diminish their courage and efforts, gain success, the reason being that no opportunity was overlooked and no effort too great for them. It was really an unconscious fulfilling of Karma on their part. I think students too often regard their personal existence and predilections as one thing, and their student life as another. It is not so. Both are interwoven and interbended at every point. The student should see clearly that his present existence is his opportunity to live and learn, as well as learn to live to the best advantage; it contains and presents the opportunities which, if rejected, will come before us in one form or another until we realize that a step forward can be taken in no other way than by overcoming obstacles, and thus, defects. How wonderfully and perfectly this works, when seen and faithfully applied, the generality of people do not credit or know; but we, as students, should be able to apply the lessons of life on the basis of the knowledge which has been imparted to us and which we recognize.
That we are living in a period of transition when everything is changing may easily be seen. We are necessarily involved in this transition which in the general case makes for betterment, and,
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with the student, opens the door to that success which is greater than all governmental and worldly advance or betterment—true knowledge and perception, control, strength and wisdom to apply, fitting us to become leaders of men in the times to come. We should therefore go through our appointed task, not only courageously but gladly, knowing what it leads to, and what the great end in view. The lives we have lived with their joys and sorrows, pleasures and pains, are forgotten; the one we are now living will pass into the same limbo of the past; but we shall be what we have made ourselves, strong or weak, as the case may be, and face once again what we have brought about. We have only the present in which to do what may be done, so we ought to be bold and courageous and go forth and show our strength in the face of any and all difficulties, for they are veritably our saviours.
Letter Twenty-Six
As to the statement that we have to “assimilate the bliss of Devachan and the woes of Avitchi”: all have to learn these states. Those who of their own free will enter bodies to help humanity pass through them like any human being, but are not involved in them. They feel like any human being, and go through much more than most, so that there may be fresh in their bodily experience all feelings that afflict or ease humanity. Their grief—if it may be called so—is over the inability of humans to understand because of the purely personal elements which prevail in mankind.
“Masters feel pain but are not disturbed by it.” That feeling is sympathy—a feeling with the condition. They know what any one feels under the circumstances, but They also know that the so-called sufferings of others are not due to the circumstances, but to a false attitude toward them. How could They identify Their glorious knowledge and power with a mistaken
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conception? The pain we feel most is mental pain, not physical, and this mental pain is due to fighting against Karmic conditions—in fact, Karmic opportunities. Our inner nature compels us to go in directions that contravene our personal desires; then there is pain in the personal mentality with and because of the identifying our Self with it. The personal nature is extremely sensitive because its constitution is such that it is easily deranged, being made up of separate ideas. Usually with students the changes in ideas are simply the exchange of one separative idea for another; so, the changes leave them still tied up in personal ideas. True growth comes from regarding all things that come and go—some of them pleasant and some unpleasant— as the tides in the ocean of life of which one is the observer. Pleasure is necessary, as also is pain, for these are guide-marks and indicate the “effect” upon us by the varying tides. We are not these effects which are simply means of measuring the value of experiences and of learning how to put them to the best use. What is needed is freedom, and freedom comes from a resigning of all self-interest in results.
A question was asked, “Is it not very hard to rise?” It is not hard, for our Real nature is at the place we wish to rise to. In the East they catch monkeys by putting nuts in the bottom of a narrow-necked jar; the monkeys see the nuts at the bottom and at once put their arms and hands in to grab a fistful of the nuts; they do not know enough to let go the nuts and be free and so are caught. ‘We are much like the monkeys in that we want to rise and be free, but we will not let go the “nut-ideas” that we hold. If we only would, we should rise by our own nature. We ought to be wiser than the monkeys; to be our self and let things go.
Your friend’s statement on tobacco is quite interesting to me, perhaps because I may at one time have held similar ideas and for that reason recognize the prejudice and preconception that his statement presents. Our personal habits one way or another are matters purely personal and do not affect the facts in the case, but our preconceptions may and too often do just
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that. Having erroneous ideas, or partially so, as to the facts in any given case, these, together with any existing prejudices, lead us to wrong conclusions. As to his remark in regard to Masters smoking, it would be well to enquire just what his understanding of the nature of Masters is, for upon a right or wrong understanding of that nature our basis of judgment depends. It has been stated by Themselves that They are human beings, but not such as we are. They have bodies, of physical matter indeed, but of such a refined and spiritual kind as to be beyond our ordinary conception and experience. They are perfected septenary beings and present the goal to which humanity may tend. Necessarily, then, control absolute over all Their vehicles or instruments must have been gained before They could reach the stage of septenary perfection. It would also follow that what They do would be with knowledge and for a beneficial purpose. So, even if They used tobacco, it would have to be conceded that They knew what They were doing and why, while we ignorant physical beings would be judging by hearsay and appearances, and considering ourselves competent to do so, which would be a grave mistake.
There is one thing certain, They have never promulgated anything about tobacco nor mentioned the weed; we should therefore be guided solely by Their message to the world of men, and leave all other matters alone, if we would understand or reach Them. It is said that H. P. B. smoked cigarettes; if she did, it did not impair her wisdom nor ability. No one with any insight whatever would care what any person did as a matter of personal habit, if that person could and did present such a wonderful and complete cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis as the Secret Doctrine. It is never so much a question of what a person does as ‘Why does he do it?” If for self-benefit, it is just as reprehensible as any other selfish procedure. It is motive and motive alone that makes an action good or bad, black or white. After all is said and done, “the purely bodily functions are of far less importance than what a man thinks and feels.
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what desires he encourages in his mind, and allows to. take root, and grow there.” “True chelaship is not a matter of diet, postures or practices of any kind; it is an attitude of mind.”
Letter Twenty-Seven
The letter you send is very interesting. The writer asks only one question: “Why do all religions look upon the cheerless side of life, only, as if the other side did not exist?” We presume that the only answer to this question would be that the religionists and theologians are ignorant—and ignorance, as we know, is the parent of fear. The Founders of the world religions, however, did not present merely “the cheerless side.” They one and all enunciated the doctrines of hope, for almost without exception their teachings cannot be understood except on the basis of reincarnation—in fact, many of them directly taught it—and reincarnation is the “doctrine of hope.”
We think the questioner must have been weary and world- worn when he wrote that letter, for truly Theosophy does not over-emphasize “the cheerless side” of life at all. It supplies a logical common-sense explanation of existing things; and once a man understands what life is for and what it truly means, together with its great possibilities, he can no longer dwell on the “cheerless side” but feels the greatest confidence, hope and cheerfulness—and has a true basis for the feeling.
The fact that Law rules in everything and every circumstance (Karma) is evidence that exact justice is the rule of life. As soon as one sees that there is no “God” to condemn or punish him and that he can only get that which belongs to him, and will surely get everything that does belong to him in a Universe of Law, then he has no reason for being “cheerless,” but feels satisfled, responsible, and confident. And no matter how much we may have transgressed or how little we may have known in the past, as soon as we sense the truth of Reincarnation—the process
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by which Law rules realize
that we can set up better causes and make the future what we wish.
The longer anyone studies
along Theosophical lines, and the more he makes the Philosophy a basis for
thought and action, the more fully, I believe, he will see the beauty and
possibilities of life, and the tremendous opportunities it affords those who are
willing to serve.
Yes, as the questioner says, the vast mass of people do suffer; but the law, inherent in themselves, brings them the suffering because they earned it. All of them experience some joy as well as suffering; the law brings them that also because they earned it. Many of those who now suffer most are paying the penalty for their transgression against the rest, but in time the compensation will come. Furthermore, we always have the power of choice—if only in the attitude we take toward the circumstances of life.
He speaks of the tremendous task Theosophy has. That is true, but we as students need not worry about that. We can only do what we can do—and remember that the Master’s hand is over all. They know when the times are ripe for beginning a work; They know what to expect; otherwise They would not be “Masters of Wisdom.” It is pioneer work for those now in the world, and by doing what we can now, we make ourselves a place in the future into which we will come under law. Perhaps he has not thought of that.
Letter Twenty-Eight
Your note and questions were handed to me last evening and I am glad to reply. From your statement I should say that you brought forward from a previous life that extension of sight and hearing which you possess. It is not a “gift”; it was acquired by you while in a body before.
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The strong tie between yourself and your mother does not come, in my opinion, from the fact of your physical relation in this life, but is a soul bond in other lives, and not necessarily in the same relation as in this life, although that could very well be. The fact remains that there is a strong bond between your soul and hers—a bond of unselfish love, the strongest power in the world.
As all human beings are primarily spiritual beings, the earth is not their permanent abiding place; they are born into bodies, live, form their relations as physical, psychic, and spiritual beings, and again return to their own more real and abiding states.
As you may be aware, the universe exists for the purposes of soul, and our entrance into earthly existence is but one phase of our continuous conscious existence. When we sleep, whether our consciousness be in the dream state or in inner and deeper ones, our real (subjective) relations with other human beings continue. So also, at death, when we leave the body, we pass into a state like to the dream state for awhile, and then enter into the fullest enjoyment of a self-conscious existence which creates for itself its own surroundings with all those loved during the life last lived. The state is called Devachan—or the state of the ‘ When one whom we have loved has left the body, he carries with him whatever he has felt, loved, or despised. Since he, as well as those he has left in bodies, has the interior states and forms, that which is felt by him is felt inwardly by those in bodies; the impress of the feeling of the departed is carried so as to be recognized as such. The feeling of nearness, the sense of receiving words, admonitions, or encouragement is due to the inner relation and love of the departed, who are not physically near, nor are they aware of our daily earthly experiences, but their love ever operates as a protection and as a help, for they are connected with us in our inner and higher nature. In our inner states we see, feel, understand, and translate that connection into terms of everyday life.
You can understand that there could be no happiness for our departed loved ones if they were aware of our trials and
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troubles in earthly existence. The Soul’s need for the undisturbed assimilation of the highest and best of its life’s experience requires that only the inner contact shall be held, and that is above the exigencies of the physical embodiment.
The “dim vapor” which you saw in the death hour was the withdrawal of the “astral form” from the physical one; the senses, faculties, and feelings of the departed were in that astral “body.” It represented the physical form, for it was that into which the purely physical elements had been drawn and which was now discarding them.
You did exactly the right thing to have allowed the body to rest and to have remained quiet until the process of separation from the body had been completed. This must have come from inner understanding, as you do not seem to be acquainted with the rationale of the process. You had an inner and truer perception than those who thought you had “lost your mind.” The fact was that they had not found theirs, being bound up in their physical perceptions and senses.
What you feel and understand to be of “her busy life over there and of friends she has met,” are representative of her thoughts and feelings and are not actual actions on her part, for she is in a subjective state and is not in contact with other beings, except in a subjective way—that is, she is thinking of them in various ways and relations, and you perceive the subjects of her thoughts and actions.
I do not know whether you have read the Ocean of Theosophy. It gives a great deal about post-mortem states, as also does the Key to Theosophy. A reading and re-reading of them would be a help to you in understanding that the real contact we have with others is in Thought, Will, and Feeling, which is not dependent upon bodily relations or contact.
If the writer can further help you in understanding, he will be glad.
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Letter Twenty-Nine
You have the right attitude, I believe, and as time goes on, more and more light will come and other steps appear. It is just to keep moving, with face turned in the right direction. Masters do not elect their disciples; the disciples elect to serve, and thus constitute themselves disciples to the extent of the completeness of their self-abnegation and service.
“I produce myself among creatures” has reference to voluntary and conscious incarnations of high spiritual beings—avatars, saviours of the people—including not only the incarnation itself but the influence of a spiritual kind that attends the being. What brings such? The Gita says that They come “whenever there is an insurrection of vice and injustice in the world.” There is an analogy between this and what was hinted about earthquakes by William Q. Judge, who wrote at the time of an earthquake that some soul of use had been born. It is possible that such events conjoin. No doubt that the energy thrown out by masses of men could produce disturbances, affecting the earth itself and bringing into birth patriotic souls whose powers and knowledge will come into play in the mental and physical conditions produced. Local disturbances affect the place disturbed and the people whose karma placed them at that point; there is also a general effect which is shared in different degrees by individuals at other places in the country, by the country as a whole and by the world in general. It is probable that while a destructive earthquake may have a defined field, it may be the production of a general condition, finding expression at the “corroded” point.
You ask as to the nature and mission of the one called “Jesus.” There is reason to think that the mission of Jesus was a minor one, being in a falling cycle, and that it was not so much to disclose as to cover up the avenues to occult knowledge, so that the following times of the decadence of spirituality should
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not have dangerous weapons left for selfish, unprincipled and ignorant people to use; hence He accentuated ethics. This does not say that the being known as Jesus was inferior to the one known as Buddha. They might have been the same being, in reality. The statement is that the “missions” or efforts were of a different nature because of the different cycles and peoples. It is and must be necessary for “those who know” to hide away dangerous knowledge at times, as well as to give it out when the time is ripe. “It is under cyclic law, during a dark period in the history of mind that the true philosophy disappears for a time, but the same law causes it to reappear as surely as the sun rises and the human mind is present to see it.” We cannot judge of the nature of any of these great incarnations to the extent of saying that one is superior to the other. We can see something of the nature of the cycle and people of any period, and hence obtain an idea of the difference in the missions.
With regard to cycles, there are of course wheels within wheels and no doubt there are smaller “waves” which in degree correspond to the larger ones, but we have not much on that line in the way of direct information except that there are cycles of differing lengths within the greater cycle of the precession of the equinox. Several remarkable cycles came to a close at the end of the nineteenth century; among them, the Messianic. It would appear that the Messianic cycle, lasting 2,155 solar years, closed in 1897.
Allied to our period, if we consider that the quality of the cycle varies in importance, and, consequently, in the degree of the being needed at any time, we find the conjunction of the cycles above spoken of points to a most important period, and consequently, to important “beings”—which may give us a clue to what the Messengers H. P. B. and W. Q. J. really were. Other periods of less importance bring incarnations of probationary chelas who are on their trial.
There may be something in the above that will enable you to bring to expression what is as yet undefined; but, if not, it may open the door to other ideas and questions.
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Letter Thirty
It is not worth the effort expended to try to interest special people; the very effort made prevents, by arousing erroneous notions in the minds of those so sought. Let everyone know about Theosophy, but seek no one in particular—is the wisest course. It is not well, of course, to let the impression grow in anyone’s mind that he is important to Theosophy, for Theosophy is for those who want it and for none others. Rather, convey the impression that to learn the philosophy in such a way as to understand and apply it comes to the very few; not because it is with held, but because mental and physical karma are not of such nature as to leave the mind open, or present the ways and means. In many, many cases, in an age when so much of the ancient wisdom is given out, this effect comes from failure to take ad vantage of opportunities in other lives. The opportunity is due to a larger number than might be suspected. All get their chance—some, more favorably than others. It is the height of unwisdom to neglect the opportunity again, most especially in cases where it is brought home to people without their effort.
The Karma of most is such as to leave no mental, nor physical doors open; yet even they, through the effort of others, may take hold and find the way. “Many are called but few are chosen.” You have found it to be true that the harder the pressure, the more there is of spiritual power if we hold fast. So you think that your typewriter spelled the word right the first time— scared—in the “sacred band of heroes”? “Scared” applied to that which you so fondly thought was yourself at one time—and at times. This scare is natural, because common sense tells us that if we stay on earth we must eat. We cannot fight without the munitions of war on this plane, and as we are against the whole trend of the times, we have not the aid they give. But we are working for them just the same, unnoticed and unthanked, and
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the work we do is not ours, but of Those who sent us, and neither desires notice nor reward. We live while we can, and die when we must—when we must, not before, and we’ll never say die while there’s a shot in the locker.
The struggle is fierce—as we face it—not knowing the out come, but it is evidently part of the game, and the struggle is for us or we would not have it. We are expected to do the best that we can and all we can under all circumstances; having done so, we take whatever the Law has in store for us. If it is suffering, then we should be glad it is not death; if it is death, then we may rejoice that there is no more of life. We must not be bound by results while doing the best we know and can.
You said truly, “We will take what comes, and will give our all to the common cause. More we cannot do, and less we may not do under the Law of Brotherhood.” Would that I could do something to make the way clear. You know that I will do what I can, and I know that you will; so all must come right, even if it turns out to be some unexpected way. Our very thought and effort will produce results. Thus we continue the thought and effort and let the results come as they will. Whatever comes must be right for us, for our work, for everything. Doubt, anxiety, fear, only hinder and delay the outcome. So doing what may be done from day to day, with right motive and trustfully, we meet all requirements, fulfill every duty. I feel the hardship of your trials and struggles, and yet I know you would not change anything except as it should be changed by law, all the time using your best judgment, making your best endeavors under existing circumstances. We must be able to fight against what seem to be overwhelming odds, and as long as we fight we are not overcome. We need not fear for ourselves, nor be unduly anxious for others—just simply, surely, steadily keep doing our duty as it comes before us.
If I loved you less or knew you less, I would be sorry for you. As it is, I am glad that you have the strength, the courage that you show, and which you would neither have nor show, were not the difficulties just what they are. Without you and
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your courage those who have had help and are having it from us would suffer that loss. In all this you have borne the heat and burden of the day, never faltering although the load is staggering in weight and shows no sign of getting lighter. It is for Them you do it—for Their work, as far as it is understood. I do not think any of us will starve or even suffer from want, yet if such should be our lot, we shall do it gracefully by reason of the knowledge we possess.
To give of one’s bounty is easy, and yet how few having possessions really give. Those who think they would, if they were rich, would not do anything worth while, and many who could do more are afraid to deprive themselves of anything. Such are humans in this twentieth century. A few—very few—suffer that others may not perish but have everlasting life, and in their turn bear the burden of still others. Of such are the immortal sages and heroes.
Well, eat well, sleep well, think well, and cut all doubts by the sword of spiritual knowledge. Love again and again and
PEACE. Top
Letter Thirty-One
Things past are always easier than things present or things yet to come. The past can be judged by relative importance; it is the hollow of the wave of our progress, whereas the present and the future represent the crest and the resistance felt or feared. Yet if we remember—the past, when it was both present and future, held such disturbances, which we now see were a waste of energy. We should learn from this to “resist without resistance;” that too great an expenditure of thought, of energy is not wise. When we fight we are drawn into the swirl of events and passions; so it is best to lean back on the Self, which is never moved, and look on at the flotsam and jetsam through which “we” move. We can look at the very worst that may happen, in
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the same way as we now look back on what has been. Knowing this, when disturbed, we can say, “Even this will pass away,” and wait till the clouds roll by, seeing ourselves in the sunshine and looking at the East of Time. I think that practically all that troubles us is unnecessary, as trouble, but necessary for experience.
The experience of the Ego in its progress on this plane is a series of progressive awakenings, and awakening means “awareness.” It knows the landmarks on its way back to Divinity. I do not think the Great Ones withdrew as we approach—although that is a description of a perception of their natures by degrees—but that we are surrounded by an “invisible escort” as long as our faces are set toward the goal and we remain staunch to Their program. They neither push, pull, nor hinder voluntary action. To do so would prevent true self-reliance. For this reason some may think they are deserted by Masters, or are not seen or heard by Them. This is the worst conception that could be; it belittles Them and implies ignorance and ingratitude on Their part. They gave us the Message and have spoken clearly of Their nearness to those who try and ever keep trying. We cannot take part and harbor doubts as to the rest.
I did not know that my recent letters had in them discouragement, and in the writing of the Teachers I have found but encouragement. I think you must mean that the deep sense of the gulf between our ideals and attainment dismays the personal conception. This is quite true, but “we” are not the personal conception nor its deductions. If we involve ourselves in the Karma of the personal conception, we shall feel despondent, like Arjuna. We are not these relations, but the warriors who will conquer them in order to make friends.
Of course, we are all links in the chain; what affects one affects all, in degree. Every-one who endeavors to help others in any real way puts himself in the place where he must take reactions. You are in that place, also, with regard to those who are waked up more particularly, and in a minor degree as to
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others whom you teach. In this Karma acts, of course, because we made the Karma of that kind. The Karma of the T. S. is also the Karma of H. P. B. and W. Q. J., known beforehand in general. The first effort is to spread Theosophy, and much has been done in this respect, but its application has not been as general as might have been. The reactions from the spreading of the philosophy and its wrong or non-application will be taken care of when They come again. It might be likened to a plant, which has to be trimmed to proper growth; but before this can be done, the errant tendencies have to get their growth. You will remember what W. Q. J. said, “Our old Lion of the Punjab is not so far off, but all the same is not in the place some think, nor in the condition, either.” We are linked with the Lodge by aspiration, by service, by following of the Master’s program as nearly as we know; we have no other desire. And we know that “in the lives of all who aspire to higher things there is a more or less rapid precipitation of old Karma, and it is this which is affecting you. It will go off shortly, and you will have gained in having gotten rid of a troublesome piece of business.”
Yes, the feeling of responsibility grows as more and more come for light and help, but, being “transmitters,” we have but to transmit that which is the doctrine of Him who sent us, and this you can do for a million as well as a few, for it is not a case of individual treatment. Of course, we improve all the time, and the wider the responsibility the greater the improvement; everybody who starts small “grows up with the business.” As to the appeal of selfishness, does not nearly everyone begin selfishly? They get a broader vision as they learn more, and it is better to begin even selfishly, than not at all. Some have to come that way, but, of course, that way is not accentuated, even if mentioned as a matter of self-benefit; it is the door for some.
Your letters of late have been showing much more of an in sight into principles and things, an understanding clear and impersonal. We are all pawns on the board of the Great Game, willing ones, conscious ones, and also have our values which
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become cumulative as we serve; we also study and learn the methods. Ease of mind and confidence are better than all, in this work of dealing with other men, that is, with the human heart. The more wise one is, the better he can help his fellows; the more cosmopolitan he is, the better too. More power to you.
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“When thy heart shall have
worked through the
snares of delusion, then thou wilt attain to high
indifference as to those doctrines which are already
taught or which are yet to
be taught.”
‘It is even the same
exhaustless, secret, eternal,
doctrine I have this day communicated unto thee
because thou art my devotee and my friend.”