C . W .

A MER ICA N R EVISE' E' ITION

WI T H I N ' EX

C H I CA GO

TH E T H E O S O P H l C A L B OO K CONCE RN
“
Kroton a , H olly w ood ,

LO S A NG E LE S . C A LI ' O RNI A

L O N' O N
TH E T H E O S O P H I C A L P U B LI S HI N G S O C I E T Y 3 L A N G H A M P L A CE
,

B E N AR E S : T H E T H E O S O P H I C A L P U B LI S HI N G S O C I E T Y
MA' R A S TH E
, T H E O S O P HI S T O ' ' I C E A ' Y A R
“ ”
, .

1 9 15
 CON TE N TS .

I .
—T H E UN IVERS A L B ELIE'
I N T H EM . .

—
II SO M E MO' ERN I N S TA N CE S
.

—
III A PER S ON AL E X PER I EN CE
.

—
I V T H E H EL PER S
.

V —T H E R E ALI TY O'
. SU P ER P H Y S I CA L

V I A T I M EL Y I N TERVE N TI O N
.
-

V II —T H E A N GEL STORY
.
“ ”

—
V III T H E STO RY O' A ' I RE
.

I X — MATERIALI ZATI O N A N ' RE PERCU S

.

S I ON
X — T HE T WO B RO T HER S
.

X I W RECK S A N ' CA TA S TRO P HE S

.
-

—
X II W OR K A M O N G T H E ' EA'
.

X III —O T H ER B RA N CHE S O' T HE W OR K

.

XIV — T H E ' U ALI ' I CA TI O N S R E ' U IRE'

. .

XV — T H E PROB ATI O N ARY PATH

.

XV I T H E PATH PRO PER

.
-

XV II —W H A T LI E S B EYO N '
.
 I N V I S I B L E H E L PE R S

CHA P T ER I .

T H E U N I VER SA L B EL I E ' IN T H EM .

IT is on e Of the most b eautifu l character i st i cs of

T heoso p h y that it g ives b ack to p eop l e in a more
ra ti onal form everything whi ch was rea l l y u sefu l
an d he l pful to them in the religions wh i ch th e y
hav e out grown Ma n y who have b roken throu g h
.

the chrysa l i s of bl ind faith an d mo u nted on th e

,

win g s o f reason and intuition to the freer no bl er ,

mental l i fe of more exa l t e d l e ve l s n everthe l ess fe e l

,

that i n the process o f this gl orious gain a some

—
thi n g has b een l ost that i n givi n g u p the b e l ief s
o f their chi ld hoo d they have a l s o cast a s i d e much

o f the beauty an d the p oetry of l i fe .

I f howev e r, th e ir l ives in the p ast have been

,

su fficient l y goo d to earn for them the op p ortu n ity

‘
o f comin g under the be ni gn influence o f Theo

Sophy , they very soon d iscov e r that even i n thi s

p artic u l ar there has b ee n n o l os s at al l b ut a,
n e x
5
ce e d i n g g reat ain — that the g l ory an d the be aut y
g
and the p oetr y are there in fu l ler meas u re than
the y had ever hoped before and no longe r as a
,

mere pleasant d ream from wh i ch the cold light of

common sense ma y at any t i me rude ly awa k en them
-
,

b ut as t r uths of nat u re which will bear i n v est i gat i on

— w h i ch b ecome on l y bri ghter fuller and mo r e pe r
,

fec t as they are more accurate l y understood .

A marke d instance of this ben efi cen t ac t i on of

T heoso p h y i s the way in which the i n vi s i ble w orld
( wh i ch ,before the great wave o f mate ri al i sm e n

gul fed u s u sed to be regarded as the so u rce of all

,

l iving help ) has be en resto r ed b y i t to modern l i fe .

A ll the charming fo l k lore o f the e l f the bro w n i e

-
,

and the gnome o f the Sp i r i ts of air and water of the

, ,

forest the mounta i n and the m i ne i s sho w n b y i t to

, ,

b e no more meanin gless superstition b u t to have a

,

bas i s o f act u al and sc i enti fi c f act beh i nd it Its answer

.

“
to the great f undamental q u est i on I f a man d i e ,

”
Sha l l he live a g ain ? i s equ al l y defi nite and s c i en
ti fi c and i ts teaching on the nat u re and conditions
,

o f the l i f e after death throws a flood of light upon

much that for the Western wor ld at least w as p re

, ,

v i ou s ly wra pp ed in i mpenetrab l e dar k ness .

I t cannot be too o f ten re peated tha t i n th i s teach

i ng as to the i mmorta l ity of the sou l and the li fe
a f ter death Theosophy stands i n a pos i t i on totall y
,
 75
d iffer ent f ro m th at of o r di na ry rel i gi on I t d o es
.

n ot put forward these great tr u ths merel y on th e

au thority o f some sacred boo k o f long ago ; i n spe ak

i ng o f these su b j ects i t is n ot d ea l ing w i th pio u s

Opinions or meta p hysica l s peculations but wi th
, ,

soli d d efinite facts as real a nd as close to u s as th e

, ,

a i r we b reathe or the houses we live i n f act s o f

-

which many among u s have constant experi e nce

f acts among which l ies the d ai ly wor k o f some of our
s t u dents as wil l present l y b e seen
, ,
.

Among the b eauti fu l conceptions which T heo

Sophy has res tore d to us stan d s p re eminent that of
-

the great he lp fu l agencies of nature The be l ie f i n

.

these has be en world wide from the ear l iest dawn of

-

history and is u niversa l e v en no w ou tside the na r

,

row d omains of protestantism w hich has emptied

,

an d darkened the wor ld fo r i ts votaries b y its at

tem p t to do away with the nat u ral an d perfectly tru e

i de a o f interme d iate agents and reduce everyth i ng
,

to the two factors o f man and d eity— a dev i ce whe r e

by the conce p tion of deity has b een i nfinitel y d e

gr ade d an d man has remaine d unhelped
, .

’
A moment s thought wil l show that the ordina ry
—
vi e w of p rovi d ence the conce p tion o f an errat i c
i nterference by the central p ower o f the un i ver se
wi th the resu l t o f his own d ecrees -wou ld impl y th e
i ntroduction o f partia l ity i nto the scheme a n d there,
 8

fore of the who l e train of evi l s which must me ces

s ari ly fo ll ow u po n its hee l s The Theoso p hica l
.

teach i ng that a man can b e thus specia ll y he lp e d on ly

,

when his past actions have b een such as to deserve

this assistance and that even then the he l p wi ll b e
,

given th r o ugh those who are comparative l y near his

o w n leve l is free from this serious o b j ection ; an d it
,

furthermore b rings b ack to us the older and far

grander conce p tion o f an unbroken ladder of l iving
beings exten d in g d own from the Lo gos Himse l f to
the v ery d ust beneath ou r feet .

In the E ast the existe n ce of the invisi bl e hel p ers

has alway s bee n reco gnize d thou g h the names g i v en
,

and the characteristics attri b uted to them nat u ra lly

var y i n d i fferent co u ntries ; and even in E urope
we h a v e had the old Gre ek stories o f the constant i n
terfe ren ce o f the go d s in human a ffairs an d the
”

R oman legend that Castor and P o ll ux l ed the l egions

.

o f the i n f ant rep u b l ic in th e batt l e o f Lake R e g i llu s

.

Nor d i d s u ch a conce p tion d ie out when the c l a ss i cal

per i od ended for these stories have the i r legitimate
,

s u ccessors i n medi aeva l ta l es of saints who a p peared

at crit i cal moments and turne d the fortune of war in
f a v o ur of the Christian hosts or of guar d ian angels
,

who sometimes ste pp e d in an d save d a p ious trave l ler

f rom what wou l d otherwise have b een certain de
s truction .
 CHAP T ER 11 .

SO M E MO' ERN I N S T A N CE S .

EVEN in this incre d u l ous age an d ami d st th e full

,

whir l of our nineteenth ce n tury civi l ization in s p ite

-
,

o f the d ogrn ati s m o f our s ci e n ce and the d ea dl y du l l

ness o f ou r prote s tan ti s m i n stanc e s o f intervention

‘
,

inexp licabl e from the mat e ria l istic stan dp oint may
sti ll b e fou n d b y a n yone who wi l l take the trou bl e to
i
l ook for them ; an d in or d er to d e monstrate this to
the rea d er I wi ll b riefly e p itomize a few o f the e x
am pl es g iven i n one or other o f th e recent co ll ections
O f such stori e s a dd i n g thereto on e or two that have
,

come w ithin my own n otice .

O ne very remarkabl e feature o f these more recent

exampl es is that the intervention seems near l y a l ways
to have b een d irecte d towar d s the he lp i n g or saving
of chi ld ren .

An interesting case which occurre d m Lon d on

o n ly a few year s a go was connecte d with the p re
s ervat i on o f a ch ild s li fe in the mi d st of a terri bl e
’

fire wh i ch broke out in a street near Ho lb orn and ,

e n t1rely destroyed t w o of the houses there The

.

flame s h ad obtained s u ch hold before they were d i s

9
 10

covered that the fi remen w ere unable t o sav e th e

houses b ut they succeeded i n rescu ing a ll the i n
,

—
mates exce p t two an o ld woman who was s u ffo
c ate d by the smoke b efore they could reach her and ,

a chi l d a b out five years o l d whose p resence in the

,

ho u se had b een forgotton in the hurry and excite

ment o f the moment .

The mother of the child i t seems w as a fr i end

, ,

o r re l ati v e o f the l andla d y o f the house and had le f t

,

the little creature i n her charge for the ni ght beca u se

,

she was hersel f oblige d to go down to Co l ches ter

on b u s i ness .It was not unt i l everyone else ha d been
resc u ed an d the who l e house was wra pp ed i n flame
, ,

that the l an dl ady remem b ere d w i th a terrible p ang

the tr u st that had been confi d e d to her It seemed .

hope l ess th e n to attem p t to get at the garret where

the chi l d had b een p ut to be d but one of the firemen
,

heroica ll y resolve d to make the d es p erate e ffort and , ,

a fter rece i ving minute d irections as to the exact

s i t u ation o f the room p lun g ed in amon g the smoke
,

an d flame .

He fo u nd the child and b rought him forth entire l y

,

u nharmed ; b ut when he re j oi n e d his comra d es he

ha d a very singul ar story to te ll He d ecl are d that
.

w hen he reached the room he foun d i t in flames and ,

most o f the floor alrea d y fa ll en ; b ut the fire had

c u r v ed r o u nd the room towards the windo w i n an
 I I

u nnatura l and unaccountabl e manner the l ik e Of

,

which in a l l his exp erience he ha d never seen before ,

so that the corner in which the child lay w as whol ly

unto u che d althou gh the very rafters of the frag
,

ment o f floo r on which his l itt l e cri b stood were ha l f

b urnt away The chi ld was natura lly v ery much
.

terrifie d b ut the fireman distinct ly and repeate dly

,

d ec l are d that as at great ris k he ma d e his way to

war d s him he saw a form l ike an ange l her e his—
— “
exact wor d s are given a something a l l glor i ous l y
w hite an d silvery b en d ing over the b ed and smooth
,

”
i n g d own the counter p ane . He cou ld not p ossi bly
have b een mistaken a b out it he sai d for it was v i si b le
, ,

in a gl are o f light for some moments an d i n fact d is

,

a pp eare d on l y when he was within a few feet o f it .

Another curious feature o f this story i s that the

chi ld s mother foun d herse l f unab l e to s l eep that
’

ni ght d own at Co l chester b ut was constant l y har

,

ras s e d b y a strong fee l ing that something was wrong

with her chi ld i n somuch that at l ast she was c om

,

p e lle d to rise a n d s p e nd some time in earnest prayer

that the l ittle one mi ght be p rot e cte d from the dan ge r
which Sh e instinctive l y fe l t to b e hangin g over him .

T he intervention was thus evi d e n t l y what a Christian

wou ld ca l l an answer to prayer ; a Theoso p hist put ,

t i ng the same i d ea i n more scientific p hraseo l ogy ,

w o u ld say that her i ntense outp o u ring of l ove const i

 12

tu te d a force which on e of our invi s i bl e he lp er s w as

abl e to u se for th e rescu e of her chi ld from a t e rri bl e
d eath
A remarkabl e case in which chi ld re n were ab
norma ll y p rotecte d occurre d on the b anks of the
Thames n e ar Mai d enhea d a few years ear l i e r tha n
ou r l ast exam pl e This time the d an ger from which
.

they were s av e d aro s e not from fire b u t from wa t e r .

Three l itt l e ones who l ive d i f I reco l lect ri ght l y in

, , ,

or near th e vi ll a ge of S h otte s b rook were taken out ,

for a wa l k a l ong the towin g p ath b y their nurse -

.

They rushe d su dd en l y roun d a corner u p on a horse

w hich was drawi n g a b ar ge an d i n the co n fusion two
,

o f them got on the wro n g si d e of the tow ro p e an d -

were throw n into the water .

The b oatma n who saw the acci d e nt s p rang for

, ,

ward to try to save them an d he notice d that th e y

,

“
wer e floating hi gh in the water in quite an u m
natura l way l ike as he sai d an d movi n g quiet l y
, , ,

towards the bank This was a ll that he and th e nurs e

.

“
saw bu t the children each dec l ared that a b eauti fu l
,

”
person a l l white an d s hining stoo d beside them in
, ,

the water he ld them u p an d g ui d e d them to the

,

shore Nor was their story without corro b oration

.
,

fo r the b ar g ema n s l itt l e d au ghter who ran u p fro m

’

the ca b in whe n she hear d the screams O f the nurse ,

 13

a l so afli rm e d that s h e s aw a l ov e l y l a d y i n th e wate r

dra ggi n g the two chi ld r e n to th e b a n k .

Without fu ll er p articu l ar s tha n the story g ives us ,

i t is im p o s si bl e to s ay with certainty from what c l ass

“ ”
o f he lp e r s this a n ge l w as d rawn ; b ut the p ro b
a b i l ities are i n favour of its havi n g b een a d e ve l o p e d
h uman b ei n g fu n ctio n i n g in the astra l b o d y as wi l l
,

b e see n when l ater on we d ea l with this su b j ect from

—
the other s i d e as it were from the p oi n t o f vi e w of
,

the he lp ers rather tha n th e h e lp e d .

A case in which the a ge ncy i s somewhat more d e

fi n it e l y d i s tin gu ishabl e i s re l ate d b y th e we ll k n own
-

cler gyma n ' r J ohn Ma s on Nea l e He state s that

,
. .

a man who ha d recent l y l o s t h i s wi f e was on a visit

with h i s l itt l e chi ld re n at the cou n try hous e o f a
frien d It was an o ld rambl ing mansio n an d i n
.
, ,

the l ower p art of it there w e re l on g d ark p assa ges

, ,

i n which the chi ld ren pl aye d ab out with g r e at d e

li ght But p rese n t l y th e y came u p stairs very g rave
.

ly an d two of them re l ate d that as th e y w e r e run

,

nin g d ow n one of these p assage s they were m e t b y

th e ir mother wh o to ld them to go b ack a gain an d
, ,

then d isa pp eare d Investi gatio n revea l e d the fact

.

that i f the chi ld ren ha d run b ut a few s tep s farther

they wou ld have fa ll en d own a d ee p u n covere d we l l
w hich yawne d fu l l in their p ath so that the a pp ari
,
 I4

ti on Of the i r mother had saved them from almos t

certain d eath .

I n this instance there seems no reason to do ubt

t ha t the mother hersel f w as still k eeping a lo vi ng
.

w atch o v e r her ch i ldren from the astral plane an d ,

that ( as has happened in some othe r cases ) he r i n

tense d es i re to w a rn them of the danger i nto w h i ch

the y w ere so hee dless ly r u sh i ng gave her th e po w e r to
ma k e herse l f V i sible and a u dib l e to them for the mo
—
ment o r perhaps me r ely to i m p ress the ir m i nds
wi th the i dea that the y sa w and heard he r I t i s .

poss i ble O f co u rse that the helper ma y ha v e b een

, ,

someone else wh o too k the f amil i a r f orm of the

,

mothe r i n order not to alarm the children ; b u t the

s i mplest h ypothes i s i s to attr i b u te the i nte rv ent i on
to the act i on o f the ever w a k e fu l mothe r lo v e i tsel f
- -
,

u ndimmed by the passage thro u gh the gates Of death .

T h i s mother l ove being on e Of the hol i est and

-
,

most u nse l fish o f h u man feel i ngs i s also on e of th e

,

most persistent on hi g her p lanes N ot on ly does the

.

mothe r who finds herse l f upon the lo w e r lev els of the

astral plane and conse qu entl y still wi th i n to u ch o f
,

the earth ma i ntain her i nterest i n and her ca re f o r

,

her ch i ldren as long as she i s able to see them ; e v e n

afte r he r entry i nto the heav en w orld these li ttle one s
-

are sti l l the most p rom i nent obj ects i n he r tho u ght ,

an d the w ealth o f lo v e that Sh e l avi shes u pon th e

 15

i mages w h i ch she the r e makes of t hem i s a gr eat out

p o u r i ng o f sp i rit u al force which flo w s do w n upo n

he r o ffspr i ng wh o are sti ll str u ggling i n this lo w e r

w orld and s u rro u nds them w ith l iving cent r es of
,

beneficent energy w hich ma y n ot i napt ly be desc ri bed

as v er i table gu ardian angels A n i llustration of th i s
.

w i ll be found in the s i xth o f ou r Theoso p hical man

uals p 38
, . .

Not l ong a go the litt l e dau ghter of on e of ou r

E nglish bishops was ou t wa l king with he r mother
i n the to w n where they li ved and i n ru nn i ng heed
,

less ly ac r oss a street the child w as k noc k ed down

b y th e ho r ses of a carr i age which came qu ick l y u pon
’
he r ro u nd a co r ne r Seeing her among the horses
.

feet the mother r u shed for w a r d expecting to fi nd

, ,

her very badly i nj u red but she sprang u p qui te me r

,

“
r i l y sayi ng O h mamma I am not at a ll h u rt for
, , , , ,

someth i ng all i n white k ep t the horses from tread i ng

u pon me and told me not to be a f rai d
,
.

A case w h i ch occu r red in B u cki nghamsh i re som e ,

whe r e i n the ne i ghbourhood of Burnham Beeches i s ,

remark able on acco u nt o f the length of t i me thro u gh

which the phy sical man ifestat i on Of the s u cco u ring
agency seems to have mainta i ned i tse l f I t w i ll hav e .

been seen that i n the i nstances hitherto given the i n

terven ti on was a matter o f but a few moment s ,
 16

whereas in this a p he n omenon was p ro d uce d which

a ppears to have p ersiste d for more than ha l f an hour .

T wo o f the litt l e chil d ren of a s ma ll farmer were

le f t to amuse themse l ves w hi l e their p arents and the i r
entire ho u sehold were engage d in the work o f har
vest i ng The l itt l e ones starte d for a wa l k in the
.

woods wan d ere d f ar from home and then mana ge d

, ,

to lose thei r way When the w eary p arents returne d

.

at d usk it was discovered that the children were

m i ssing and after enqu i ring at some of the nei g h
,

bours ho u ses the father sent serva n t s an d l ab ourers

’

i n var i o u s d ir ect i ons to see k f or them .

Their e fforts w e re however unsuccessfu l an d

, , ,

thei r sho u ts u nanswere d ; an d they ha d reassembl e d

at the f arm in a somewhat despondent frame o f mind ,

when the y a ll saw a c u rious l ight some d i s tance

away mo v ing slow l y across some fie ld s towar d s the
road It was descri b e d as a l ar g e gl o b ular mass of
.

rich golden glow quite unlike ordinary lam pl ight ;

,

and as i t drew nearer it was seen that the two missin g

ch i ldren were walkin g steadi l y a l ong in the i d s t of m
i t T he f ath er and so m e others immed i ate l y set O ff
.

ru nn i ng to w ards i t ; the appearance p ersiste d unti l

they we r e close to it b ut j ust as they g ras p ed the ch il
,

dren i t v an i shed leav i ng them i n the dar kness

,
.

T he ch i ldren s story was that after night came on

’

th ey h ad w andered about cry i ng i n the woods for

 I 7

some time an d ha d at l ast l ain d own un d er a tree to

,

s l eep They ha d been rouse d they sai d by a b eauti

.
, ,

ful l a d y with a l am p who took them b y the hand an d

,

led them home ; when they questioned her she smile d

at them b ut never s p oke a wor d To this strange
,
.

ta l e they b oth stea d i l y adhere d nor w as it possib l e

,

i n any way to shake their faith i n what they ha d

se e n It i s noteworthy however that thou gh a ll
.
, ,

p resent saw the l i ght an d noticed that i t l i t u p the

,

trees an d he d ges which came within its sphere p re

c i s e ly as an or d inary li ght wou ld yet the form of th e
,

lady was visi b le to none b ut the ch i ld r en .

 C H A P T ER I I I .

A P ER SO N A L E X P E RI EN CE .

A LL the above stor i es are comp arat i ve l y well

k nown and ma y b e foun d i n some o f the b ooks
,

—
wh i ch conta i n collect i ons of s u ch acco u nt s most
o f them i n ' r Lee s M ore G li mp s es o W
’
.
f th e orld
Uns e en ; b u t the two i nstances which I am n ow a b o u t
to g i ve ha v e never been i n print before and bo th oc
,

—
c u rred wi thin the last ten years on e to myse l f and ,

the other to a very dear friend o f mine a prominent ,

membe r of the T heosophical Society whose ac ,

cu rac y of observat i on is beyond a l l sha d ow of do ubt .

My own stor y i s a s i m pl e on e enou gh tho u gh n ot

,

u n i mportant to me s i nce the interp osition undou b ted

,

ly saved my l i fe I was wa l kin g one exceedingly wet

.

and storm y night down a qu i et back str eet nea r

Westbourne Grove str u ggl ing with scant s u cces s
,

to hold u p an u mbrel l a against the savage gu sts of

w i nd that threatened e v er y moment to tear i t from
my grasp and try i n g as I la b o u red a l ong to thin k
,

ou t the details of some work u p on wh i ch I w as j u s t

then engaged .
 I 9

With start l i n g su dd e n n e s s a voice which I kno w

— —
we l l the voice of an Indian teacher c r i ed in my
”
e ar S p ring b ack ' and i n mechanica l o b edience I
s tarte d v io l ent l y b ackwar d s a l most b efore I had

tim e to thi n k As I d i d so my umb re ll a which had

.
,

s wu n g forwar d with the sudden movement was ,

struck from my hand and a huge metal chimney

,

p ot crashe d u p on the p avement l ess than a yar d in

front of my face The great weight of th i s artic l e
.
,

an d the tremen d o u s f orce with wh i ch i t fel l mak e ,

it ab so l utely certain that b ut for the w a r ning v oice

I shoul d have b een kil led on the spot ; yet the street
was em p ty an d the vo i ce was that o f one whom I
,

knew to be seven tho u san d miles away from me as ,

far as the physica l b ody was concerned .

Nor was this the only occasion u pon wh i ch I re

c e i v e d a ssistance o f this su p ernorma l kind for i n
,

ear l y l i fe lo n g b efore th e foundation o f the Theo

,

so p hica l Society the a pp arition o f a dear one wh o

,

ha d recent l y d ie d p revente d me from committing

what I now see wou ld have b een a serious crime ,

a l though by the l i ght o f such knowledge as I then

ha d it ap p eare d n ot only a j u stifia b le b ut even a l aud
able act of retaliation . A g ain at a later d ate
, ,

tho u gh st i l l before the foundation of this Society a ,

warning conveye d to m e from a higher pl a n e a mid

most i mpress i ve surround i n gs enabled me to pre v ent
 20

another m an from enterin g u p on a co u rse wh i ch I

now kno w woul d hav e ended disastro u sl y tho ugh I ,

had no reason to s up pose so at the time S o it wi l l .

b e seen that I hav e a certain amo u nt of pe r sonal e x

p e ri e n c e to strengthen m y be l ief in the doctr i ne o f i n

visible helpers even apart f r om m y k nowledge of the

,

he lp that i s constant l y b eing g iven at the p resent

time .

The o ther cas e is a very much more strikin g one .

O ne o f o u r members who gives me p ermission to

,

pu bl ish her story b u t does not w i sh he r name men

,

ti on e d once f o u nd hersel f i n v er y ser i o u s ph ysic al

,

peri l O wing to circumstanc e s w hi ch need not be de

.

tailed here she was i n the very centre o f a dangero u s

,

street f racas and seeing several men str u ck d own

,

and evident l y ba d l y h u rt c l ose to her was i n mo ,

mentar y expectation of a simi l ar fate since escape ,

f rom the cr u sh seemed quite im p ossi b le .

Su dd en l y she ex p erience d a curio u s sensation o f

being whirled ou t of the crow d and fo u nd hersel f ,

stan d ing quite u ninj u red and entire ly alo ne i n a

sma ll by e street p ara ll e l w ith the on e i n w hich the
-

d istur b ance had taken pl ace She sti l l hear d the

.

noise o f the struggl e an d while she stood w onder

,

i ng what on earth ha d hap pene d to her t w o or three ,

men who ha d esca p e d from the crow d came r u n

‘

ning roun d the corner of the street an d on seeing ,

 21

h e r expressed great astonishment and pleas u re say ,

ing that when the b rave l a d y s o su d de n l y d isa pp eare d

from the midst of the fight they ha d fe l t c ertain that
she ha d b een struck d own .

At th e time n o s ort of expl anation was forth com

i ng an d s h e r e tur n e d home i n a very mystifie d con
,

di tio n ; b ut wh e n at a l ater p erio d s h e me ntione d

thi s s tra n ge occurre n ce to Ma d ame B l avatsky she
was i n form e d that h e r karma b e i n g such as to e n
,

abl e h e r to b e s ave d fro mh e r e xcee d i n gl y d a n gerous

p o s ition on e of the Ma s t e r s ha d s p ecia ll y s e nt some
,

one to p rot e ct her in vi e w of th e fact that h e r l i f e w as

n e e d e d for th e work .

N e v e rthe l ess the case remain s a very extraord i

n ary on e b oth with re g ar d to the g reat amount of
,

p o we r exercise d an d the u n u s u al l y p ubl i c nature of

its man i festation It is not di fficu l t to i magine the
.

m od u s op eran d i ; she must have b een li fted b o d ily

over the intervenin g bl ock of ho u ses and simp l y set
,

down in the next street ; b u t s i nce her p hysica l bo d y

was not visible floating i n the air i t is also ev i dent
,

that a veil o f some sort ( probab ly of etheric matte r )

must have b een thrown ro u nd her whi l e in transit .

If it b e o b j ecte d that whateve r can hi d e p hy sica l

matter m u st i tse l f be p hysical an d therefore vis i b l e
, ,

it may b e re pl ie d that b y a p rocess fami l iar to al l

occu l t s tu d e n ts it is p ossi bl e to b e n d rays of l ight
 22

( w hich un d,er a ll con d itions at p resent known to

science tra v el on ly in straight l ines un l ess re f racte d )

,

s o that after passing ro u n d an o b j ect the y ma y re

sume exact ly thei r former co u rse ; and i t will at

once be see n that i f this were d one such an O b j ect
would to all phys i cal ey es b e a b solute ly in vi si bl e
u nti l the r ays were a ll owe d to resume the i r norma l
course I am fu ll y aware that this on e statement
.

alone is su fficient to brand m y remarks as nonsense

i n the eyes o f the scientist o f the p resent day bu t I ,

cannot he lp that ; I am mere l y stating a possibili ty

in nature which the science of the f u t u re will no
d o u bt one d ay d iscover an d for those who are not
,

students of occultism the remark mu s t wait unti l then

for its j ust i ficat i on .

The process as I say i s comprehensible eno u gh to

, ,

anyone wh o understands a litt l e abo u t the more oc

cult fo r ces o f nat u re ; b u t the phenomenon st i ll re
mains an exceed i ngly d ramatic one wh i le the name ,

o f the hero i ne o f the story we r e I pe r m i tted to g i ve

,

it wo u ld b e a gu arantee of its accuracy to all my

,

readers .

Another recent i nstance of i nte rpos i tion less stri k ,

i ng perhaps b u t ent i rel y s u c cess ful has bee n t e

, , ,

po rted to me s i nce th e publ i cat i on of the fir st ed i t i on

o f th i s b ook A l a d y b e i ng obliged to undertak e a
.
,

long railway j o u rney alone had ta k en the pr ecaut i on

,
 23

to sec u re an empt y comp artment ; but j ust as the

tra i n was leav i ng the station a man o f forb iddin g
,

and vi l lainous a pp earance s p rang in and seate d him

se l f at the other end o f the carriage T he lady was .

much a l arme d th u s to be left alone w ith s o doubtfu l

,

l oo k ing a character but i t was too late to ca l l for

,

help so she sat s till and commended hersel f earnest l y

,

to the care o f her patron saint .

Soon her fears were redou bl ed f or th e m an arose ,

and turned toward her with an evil g r i n bu t he ha d ,

hardl y taken on e step w hen he started back wi th a

loo k of the most i ntense astonishment and ter r or .

Follo wi ng the d i rect i on o f his g l ance she w as start ,

led to see a gentleman seated d irectl y oppos i te to her ,

gaz ing qui etl y b u t firmly at the bafli ed robber a —

gentle man wh o ce r ta i n ly co u ld not h a v e entered the
ca rri age by any o r d i nar y means T OO m u ch a w ed .

to speak she watched him as tho u gh f asci nated for

,

a fu ll hal f ho ur ; he u ttered no wo r d and d i d not

-
,

e v en loo k at h er b u t k ept h i s eye s steadily u po n the

,

v i ll ai n wh o co w e r ed trembling i n the fur thes t c or

,

ner of th e compa r tment T he momen t that th e t rai n

.

reached th e next stat i on an d e v en be fo r e i t cam e to

,

a s tandst i ll th e w o u ld be th i e f to r e O pen the doo r

,
-

and sp r ang hurri edl y out Th e lad y deepl y th ank

.
,

ful to be ri d of hi m t ur ned to exp r ess her grat i tu de

,

to th e gen tleman but fo u nd o n ly an empty seat

, ,
 24

th ou gh i t w o u ld have been impossi bl e for an y phy s i

cal bod y to hav e left the ca r r i age i n the t i m e.

Th e mate r ial i zat i on w as i n this case maintaine d

for a longer per i od than u s u al but on t h e other hand
,

i t ex pended no force i n action of any k ind nor i n —

deed was i t nec e ssar y that it sho ul d d o so as its ,

mere appearance was su ffic i ent to e ffect i ts p u r p ose .

B u t these stories a ll referring as they do to what

,

w o u ld commonl y be called angel i c i nter v ent i on ,

i ll u strate onl y on e small part o f the ac tivi ties of ou r

i n vi s i ble he l pers Before however we can pro fi ta bl y
.
, ,

cons i de r the other de p artments o f their wor k i t w ill

be w ell tha t we sho u ld have c l ear l y i n ou r m i nds the
v a ri o u s classes o f ent i t i es to w h i ch it i s poss i ble that
th es e h elpers may b elong Let that then be the
.
, ,

po r t i on o f our s ub j ect to b e next treated .

 CHA P T ER I V .

TH E HEL P ER S .

HEL P th e n may b e g iven b y severa l of the many

, ,

c l asses of i nha b itants of the astra l pl ane It may .

come from devas from nature s p irits or f ro m thos e

,
-
,

whom we ca ll d ea d as we ll as from those wh o func

,

tion consciou s l y u p on th e astra l pl ane d uring li fe

chiefly the a d ep ts and their pupi l s B u t if we e x .

amine the matter a l itt l e more c l osely we sh all see

that thou gh a ll the c l asse s mentione d may and som e ,

times d o take a p art in this work yet their sha res in

, ,

it are s o u n equa l that it is p ractica ll y l eft a l m os t e n

ti re ly to o n e c l a s s
.

T h e very fact that so much of this work of help

ing has to b e done e ither u p on or from the astral
pl ane goes far i n itse l f t owards explaining this To .

anyone who has even a faint idea of what the powers

at the comman d of an a d ept rea lly are i t will be at ,

once o b vious that for h 1m to work upon the astr al

pl ane woul d b e a far greater waste of ene r gy than
for ou r l e a d ing p hysicians or scientists to s p end thl i r
time in b reakin g sto n e s u p o n th e roa d .

25
 26

T he w or k o f the adept l i es i n h i gher regi ons

ch i efl y u pon the ar u pa l eve l s o f the d ev ac h an i c pl ane
or heaven wor ld
-
where he may d irect his energi es
,

to the i nfluencin g o f the tr u e ind i vid u ality of man ,

and not the mere personality which is a l l that can

be reached i n the astral or physical world . The
stren gth wh i ch he puts forth in that more exalted
realm p roduces resu l ts greater more far reaching
,
-

and more l asting than any which can be attained

b y the exp e nditure o f eve n ten times the force d own
here ; an d the wor k up there is such as he alone can
f ul l y accomplish wh i le that on l ower p lanes may b e
,

at any rate to some extent achieve d by th ose whose

'

feet are yet u p on the ear l ier steps of the great sta ir
way which w i ll one day l ea d them to the pos i tion
where he stan ds .

The same re mar k s apply also i n the case o f th e

de v as Belonging as they do to a h i ghe r ki ngdom
.

O f nat u re than ours their wor k seems f or the most

,

part entirely unconnected w i th h u manity ; and even

—
those o f their orders and there a r e some Su ch
w hich d o s omet i mes r espond to ou r highe r y earn i ngs
or appeals do so on the menta l plane rather than on
,

the phys i cal or ast r al an d mo r e f r eque n tl y i n the

,

per i ods between ou r i ncarnations than d uri ng our

e a r thl y l iv es
.

I t ma y be remembere d that some instances o f s u c h

 27

help were observed i n the course o f i n v est i gat i ons

into the su bd ivisions of th e d evach am c pl ane which
were un d ertaken when the T heoso p hica l manua l on
the su b j ect was in p re p aration In on e case a deva
.

was found teaching the most won d erfu l ce l estial

music to a chorister ; and i n another on e o f a d i f
fe re n t c l ass was g iving instruction an d guidance
to an astronomer who was seekin g to com p rehend
the form an d structure of the un i verse .

These two were b ut e xam pl e s of many instances i n

’

which the g reat d eva ki n gd om was foun d to b e he lp

in g onwar d the evo l utio n an d res p on d in g to the
higher as p irations of man after death ; an d there are
methods b y which even d urin g earth l i fe these g reat
,
-
,

ones may b e approache d an d an infinity of know

,

l edge acquire d from them though even then such

,

i nterco ur se i s ga i ned r ather by rising to t h eir pl ane

than b y invoking them to d escen d to ours .

In the ord i nary events of our physical l i fe the deva

—
ve ry rare l y i nte r feres in d eed he is so fu l ly occu
,

p i ed w i th the far grander work of h i s o wn p lane that

he 15 pro b ab l y s carcely c on sc i ou s o f this ; and thou gh
'

i t may occas i ona ll y happen that he b ecomes aware

o f some human sorrow or di ffi culty which excites his

pi ty an d moves him to endeavour to hel p in some

way his wider vision undo ub te dl y recognizes that at
,

the p resent sta g e o f evo lu tion such interpo s i t i ons

 28

wou ld i n th e vast maj ority of cases be productive o f

i nfinite l y more harm than goo d .

—
There was i d u b ita bl y a p erio d in the p ast i n the
n

—
infancy of th e human rac e whe n it was much more
l ar ge l y assiste d from outsi d e than i s at p r e se n t the
ca s e At the time whe n a ll i ts Bu dd has an d Ma n u s
.
‘

an d eve n its mor e or d i n ary l ea d ers an d teach e rs were

,

d raw n e ither from th e rank s of the d eva e vo l ution

or from th e p erfecte d humanity of a more a d vance d
pl anet any such as s ista n ce as we are con s i d e ri n g i n
,

thi s treatis e must a l so have b ee n g iv e n b y th e s e ex

a l te d b e i n g s But as man p rogr e s s es he b ecome s
.

h i mse l f qua l ifie d to act as a he lp e r fir s t on the p hy s i

,

cal pl a n e an d the n on hi gher l eve l s ; an d we hav e now

reach e d a sta g e at which humanity ou ght to b e a bl e
to p rovi d e an d to some s l i g ht extent d oes p rovi d e
, ,

invisi bl e hel p ers for itse l f thus setti n g free for sti ll
,

m ore usefu l an d e l evate d work those b ein g s who are

capa bl e of i t .

It b ecomes obv i o u s then that such ass i stan ce as

that to wh i ch we are here referring may most fi tly
be g1v e n b y men and wome n at a particu l ar sta g e
of the i r evolution ; not b y the a d e p ts since they are
,

ca p ab l e of d oin g far grander and more wi d e l y usefu l

wor k an d not b y the or d inary p erson o f no special
,

s p iritua l deve l o p ment fo r he would b e una bl e to b e

,

o f any u s e .
J ust as these considerat i ons wou ld lead
 29

us to exp e ct w e fi n d th at thi s w ork of h e lp i n g on

,

th e a s tr a l a n d l ow e r m e n t a l pl a n e s i s chi e fl y i n th e

ha n d s o f t h e p u p i l s of th e Ma s t e rs m en who — ,

tho u g h y e t far fr o m th e a ttai n m e n t of a d e p t s hi p ,

hav e e v ol v e d th e m s e l v e s to th e e xt e n t of b e i n g a bl e
to fu n cti o n Co n s ci o u s l y u p o n t h e pl a n e s i n q u e s ti o n .

Som e o f th es e hav e t a k e n th e furth e r s t e p o f c o m

p le t i n
g t h e l i n k s b e tw e e n th e p hy s ic a l c o n s ci o u s n e s s

an d that o f th e hi g h e r l e v e l s an d th e y th e r e for e h a v e
,

th e u n d o u b t e d a d v a n t a g e o f r e c o ll e c ti n g i n wa k i n g

l if e what th e y hav e d on e a n d what th e y hav e l e ar n t

i n th os e oth e r w o r ld s ; b ut th e r e a re m a n y oth e r s
w h o th o u g h a s y e t u n a bl e to c a rry th e ir c o n s ci ou s
,

n es s thr o u h
g u n b r o k e n
,
a r e n e v e rth e l e s s b y n o

m e a n s wa s ti n g th e h o urs wh e n th e y thi n k th e y a re
a s l e e p b ut s p e n d i n g th e m i n n obl e an d u n s e l fi s h
,

l a b o ur fo r th e ir f e ll ow m e n -
.

What thi s l ab our i s w e wi ll p r o c e e d to co n s i d e r ,

b ut b e fo r e w e e n t e r u p o n th at p art o f th e s u b j ec t w e
wi ll firs t r e f e r to an o b j e c ti on which i s v e ry fr e
q u e n t l y b r o u g ht f o rwar d with r e g ar d to s uch w o rk ,

an d w e wi ll a l s o d i s p o s e o f t h e c o m p a rativ e l y r a r e

c as e s m whi c h th e ag e n ts a re e ith e r n atur e s p irit s or -

m e n w h o h av e c a s t o ff th e p hy s ic a l b o d y .

P e opl e wh o s e gr a s p o f T h eo s o p hic a l i d e a s i s as

y e t im p e rf e ct ar e o ft e n i n d o u b t a s to wh e th e r it i s

a ll o w a bl e fo r th e m to try t o h e lp s o m e o n e whom
 30

they find i n so r ro w or di fficu l ty lest they s h o u l d

,

i nterfere w i th the f ate which has been decreed fo r

him b y the absol u te j u stice of the eternal la w of
“ ”
karma . The man i s in his present position they ,

“
say in e ffect because he has d eserve d it ; he i s no w
,

working out the p er fect l y natura l res u lt of some ev i l

which he has committe d in the pas t ; w hat right have
I to i nterfere with the act i on of the great cosm i c law
b y try i ng to ameliorate his condition either on the ,

”
astral p l ane or the ph y sical ?

No w the good p eo pl e who make s u ch suggest i ons

are reall y however u nconscio u sly to themse l ves ex
, ,

h i bi ti n g the most colossal conce i t f or their p osition

,

impl i es two asto u nding ass u mptions ; first that they ,

’
kno w exactl y w hat another man s k arma has been ,

and ho w long i t has decreed that h i s s u ffe ri ngs shal l

—
last ; and secondly that they the i nsects o f a day
,

co u ld absol u tel y overr i de the cosm i c law and prevent

the d u e w or ki ng out of k a r ma b y an y act i on o f
-

theirs We may be we l l ass u red that the great

.

k a rmic deities are p erfectly well able to mana ge their

business w i thout ou r assistance and we need have
,

no fear that any step s we may take can b y any p os

s i bi li ty ca u se them the s l ightest di fficu l ty o r u n

easiness .

I f a ma n s karma i s such that he cannot be he l ped

’
,

th en all our w ell meant e fforts i n th at di r ect i on wi l l

-
 3 1

fai l though we sha ll neverthe l ess have ga i ned good

,
’

karm a for o u rselves b y making them W h at the .

man s k arma has been i s no bu s i ness of our s ; our

’

d u ty i s to gi ve he lp to the utmost o f ou r po w er and ,

ou r right is on ly to the act ; the res u lt is i n other and

’
higher han d s How can we te l l h ow a man s acco u nt
.

stan d s ? ' o r a ll we know he ma y j u st have ex

ha n ste d his evi l karma an d be at this moment at the
,

very p oint where a he lp ing hand is needed to g ive

re l ief and raise him o u t of his tro u ble or depression ;
wh y sho u ld not we have the p leasure and pr i vi l ege
o f doing that good deed as w e l l as another ? I f we
c an help him then that fact o f itself sho w s that he
,

has deserved to b e he lp e d ; but we can ne v er k no w

unless we try In any case the law o f k arma w i ll
.

take care of itse l f and we need not trou b le o u rselves

,

about i t
The cases in which assistance i s given to man
kin d by nat u re spirits are few T he maj or i ty o f
-
.

Such creatu res shun the ha u nts of man an d re t i re

,

before him disli ki ng h i s emanations and the pe r

,

p e t ual bustle and unrest which he c reates al l aro u nd

him A l so excep t some o f their higher orders they
.
, ,

are genera ll y inconsequent and thought l ess more —

like ha pp y chi l dren at pl ay un de r excee di n gl y favo ur
ab le p hysica l condit i ons than l ike gr ave an d respon si

ble entities Sti ll i t sometimes happ ens that one of

.
 3 2

them wi ll b e come attache d to a human b eing an d d o

,
'

him many a g oo d turn ; b ut at the p resent sta ge of

its evo l ution this d ep artment of n ature cannot b e
r e l ie d u pon for anything l ike steady c o operation in
-

the wor k of invisi bl e hel p ers For a fu ll er account

.

o f the nature s p irits the rea d er is referre d to the fifth

-

of our Theoso p hica l ma n ua l s .

Again he lp is s ometim e s g iven b y those rec e n t l y

,

—
de p arted those who are s ti ll l in gering on the astral
pl ane an d sti ll in c l o s e touch with e arth l y a ffairs as
, ,

( p ro b a bl y ) i n the a b ove me
-
n tione d case of the
mother who save d h e r chi ld r e n from fa ll i n g d own a
w e ll But it wi ll r e a d i l y b e se e n that the amou n t o f
.

such hel p avai l a bl e must natura ll y b e exceedin g l y

l imited The more unse l fish an d he lp fu l a p erson is
.
,

the l ess like l y is he to b e found after death lingering

i n full conscio u sness on the lower l eve l s of the astral
p l a n e from which the earth is most rea d i l y access
,

i bl e In any case u n l ess he were an exceptiona ll y

.
,

bad man his stay within the rea l m whence a l one any
,

i n terference wou ld b e p ossi bl e wou l d b e com p ara

ti ve ly sho r t ; an d a l thou g h fro m the heaven wor ld
-

he may sti ll Sh e d b e n i gn i n flue n c e u p on those wh om

he has l oved on earth it wi ll usua ll y b e rather of the
,

nature of a genera l b enediction than a force ca p a bl e

of brin g in g a b out d efi n ite resu l ts in a s p ecific case ,

such as those which we have b een considering .

 33

Aga i n many of the d eparted wh o wi sh to hel p

,

those whom they l eft b ehind find themsel v es qu i te

,

u na b le to influence them i n an y w ay since to w o rk ,

f r om on e plane upon an e ntity on anothe r re qu i r e s

e i ther v ery great sens i ti v eness on the pa rt of th at
entit y or a certain amount o f kno w ledge and ski ll
,

on the p art o f the operator . T here f o r e altho u gh i n,

stances o f app aritions shortl y after d eath are b y no

means uncommon it i s rare to fi nd on e in w h i ch the
,

d eparte d p erson has rea lly d one any thing u sefu l or ,

s u ccee d e d i n imp ressin g what he wished u pon the

friend or re l ation whom he v isited T he r e are s u ch
.

—
cases of course a good many Of them when we
,

come to p ut them all together ; b u t they are not n u

me rou s compared to the g reat n u mber o f ghosts who
have succeede d in showing themselves So that b u t .

—
litt l e he lp is u sua ll y given b y the dead i ndeed as ,

wi ll p resent l y b e exp l aine d it is far more common

,

for them to be themselves 1n need of as s 1stance tha n

to be abl e to accord it to others .

At p resent therefore the main b u l k of the w or k

, ,

w hich has to be done along these l i nes falls to the

shar e of those l ivi n g p erso n s who are able to fu nct i on
conscio u s l y on the astra l pl ane .
 CHA P T ER V .

TH E R E A L IT Y O' SU P ER P H Y S I CA L L I ' E .

IT seems di ffic ul t for those wh o are accustomed

onl y to the ordinary and some w hat materia l ist i c

lines o f thought of the nineteenth century to b e l ieve ,

i n and real i ze f u l ly a con d ition o f perfect consciou s

n ess apart from the phys i ca l b o d y E v e ry Christian
.
,

at any rate is bound by the very foun d ations of h i s

,

c r eed to believ e that he p ossesses a so ul ; but i f yo u

suggest to him the p ossi b i l ity that that sou l may b e a
s u ffi ciently real thing to become vis i ble under certain
condit i ons apart from the b ody either d uring l i fe or
a fter death the chances are ten to on e that he will
,

scorn fu lly tell yo u that he doe s not be li eve i n ghosts ,

and that s u ch an i dea i s nothing but an anachronistic

s u rv i val o f an exploded medi aev al superst i t i on
I f ther ef ore we are at all to com p rehen d the wor k
, ,

o f the band o f i nvisib l e he lp ers an d p erchance our

,

selves to learn to assist in it w e must shake ourse l ves

,

f ree from the tramme l s of contem p orary thou ght on

these subj ects an d endeavour to gras p the great
,

tr u th ( now a de monstrate d fact to ma n y amo n g us )

34
 35

that the p hysica l b o d y is i n simpl e truth nothing b ut

a vehic l e or vesture of the rea l man It i s put O ff
.

permanentl y at death b u t it is also p u t O ff tempora

,

ril y ever y night when we go to slee p i ndee d the —

p r ocess of fa ll ing aslee p consists in this v e ry action
o f the rea l man i n his astral vehic l e s l i pp ing ou t of

the p hysica l b o d y .

A gai n I rep eat this is no mere hyp othesis or i n

,

g e n i ou s su pp osition
. There are ma n y amon g u s wh o

are able to p erform ( an d d o p er f orm ev e r y day o f

their lives ) this e l eme n tary act o f magic in fu ll con
s c i ou s n e s s— who p ass from one p l ane to the other at
wi ll ; and i f that is c l ear l y rea l ize d i t will become
,

a p parent how grotesque l y a b sur d to them m u st ap

p ear the or d inary unreasoning assertion that s u ch a
thing is u tter l y 1mpos s i ble It is l i k e tel l ing a man
.

that it is imp ossi bl e for him to fa ll as l ee p an d that

,

i f he thin ks h e has ev e r d one so he is un d er a

ha ll uci n atio n
.

N ow the man who has not yet deve l ope d the l ink
between the astra l and p hysical conscio u sness is u n
a bl e to leav e his d enser b o d y at wi ll or to reco l lect
,

most of what ha pp ens to him while away from i t ; b ut

the fact neverthe l ess r e mains that he l eaves it every
t i me he s l eeps and may b e seen by any trai n ed clai r
,

v oyant e i ther hoveri n g over it or wa n d ering about at

a g r e ater o r l ess d i s ta n c e from it as the case may b e
, .
 36

Th e ent ire l y u nde v eloped person u s u all y flo ats

close abo v e his ph y sical bod y scarcel y less asleep
,

th an i t i s an d comparat iv el y shapeless and i nch oate

, ,

and i t i s f o u nd that he cannot be dra w n aw a y fr o m

the i mmed i ate ne i ghbo u rhood of that phy s i cal body
wi th o u t ca u s i ng se ri o u s d i scom fo r t whi ch w o u ld i n
f act a w a k en i t A s the man e v ol v es ho w ev e r h i s
.
, ,

ast r al bod y gro w s more de fi nite and more consc i o u s ,

and s o becomes a fi tter v ehicle for h i m I n the case

.

o f the maj orit y o f i ntelligent and c u lt u red people the

degree of consc i o u sness i s alread y v er y cons i de r able ,

and a man wh o i s at all sp i r i t u all y de v eloped i s as

fu ll y h i msel f i n that v eh i cle as i n th i s dense r bod y .

B u t tho u gh h e ma y be fu ll y consc i o u s on th e ast r al

plane d u r i ng sleep and able to mo v e about on i t free
,

ly if he wi shes to d o so i t does not y et f ollo w tha t h e

,

i s read y to j o i n the band of helpers M ost people a t

.

th i s stage are so wr apped u p i n the ir own tra i n of

—
tho u gh t u s u ally a cont i n u at i on of some l i ne tak en
—
u p i n w a ki ng ho u rs that the y are li k e a man i n a
b r o w n s tu d y s o m u ch absorbed as to be p ract i call y
,

entirel y heedless o f all that i s go i ng on abo u t them .

And i n man y w a y s i t i s w ell that this i s s o f o r the r e

,

i s m u ch u pon the ast r al plane whi ch mi ght be nu

nerv i ng and terr ify i ng to on e wh o had no t the co ur
age born o f fu ll knowledge as to the r eal nat ur e of
all that he w o u ld see .
 37

Some t i mes a man gradual ly ro u ses himse l f out of

—
thi s cond i t 1on w akes u p to the astral world aro u nd
him as i t w e r e ; b u t more often he remains in that
,

state u nt i l someone who is alrea d y active there takes

him in hand and wak ens him T his is however not
.
, ,

a responsib i lity to b e l ight l y u ndertaken for whi l e it

,

is com p arative l y easy thus to wake a man u p on the

astral pl ane it is p ractica ll y imp ossi b le except b y a
, ,

most u ndesira b le exercise o f mesmeric i nfluence to ,

p ut him to slee p a gain SO that b efore a member of

.

the b and of workers will thus awaken a dreamer he ,

m u st full y satisfy himse l f that the man s dis p osition

’

i s s u ch that he w ill make good use of the additiona l

po w ers that wil l th e n be p ut into h i s han d s and a l so
,

that his k nowle d ge and his coura ge are su fficient to

make it reasonabl y certain that no harm wi l l come
to him as a result of the action .

Such awakening so performe d wi ll p ut a man in a

position to j oin i f he wi ll the b a n d of tho s e who he lp
man k ind But it m u st be clear l y understood that
.

this does not necessari l y or even us u a ll y bri n g with

i t the p ower o f rememb er i ng in the wakin g conscious
ness anything which has b een done That cap acity
.

has to be attained b y the man for himse l f and in ,

most cases i t does not come for years afterwards

p erhaps not even i n the same l i fe But ha pp ily th i s
.

lack o f memory i n the body in no w ay im p edes t h e

 38

wor k ou t o fthe bo d y ; so that except f or the sat i s

,

f act i on to a man of k nowing du rin g his waking hours

.

u pon w hat w or k he has been engaged d u r i ng h i s

sleep i t i s no t a matte r o f i mportance What reall y
,
.

—
matt e rs i s that the work shou l d b e done n ot that we
shou ld remember who did it .
 C H A P T ER V I .

A T I M EL Y I N T E RVE N T I O N .

VA R I E' as i s this w or k on the ast r al plane i t i s all ,

—
directed to one great end the fu r therance i n how ,

ev er h u mble a degree of the processes of ev ol u t i on

, .

O ccas i onally i t is connected wi th the de v elopment o f

the lo w e r k ingdoms which i t i s possi b le slightl y to
,

accele r ate u nder certa in cond i t i ons A d u ty to w ards

.

these lowe r ki ngdoms elemental as w ell as an i ma l

,

an d vegetable i s d i st i nctly recogn i zed b y our adep t

,

leaders s i nce i t i s i n some cases on ly thro u gh con

,

n e c ti on wi th or use by man that their progress takes

p l ace .

But natura ll y b y far the largest and most imp or

tant pa r t of the work is connected wi th h u manity
i n some w ay or othe r T he se rvi ces r endered a r e
.

of man y and v ar i o u s ki nds b u t ch i efl y conce r ned

,

with man s spi ri tual development s u ch physical i n

’
,

terven ti on s as are reco u nted l n the earlier part of

th i s book b e i ng exceed i ngl y r a r e T he y d o h ow
.
,

ever occasional ly take pl ace and tho u gh it is my

, ,

wish to em p hasize rather the possibi l ity o f extending

mental an d moral hel p to our fe ll ow men it wi l l p er -
,

hap s be we l l to give two or three instances in which

39
 40

f r i en ds persona ll y known to me ha v e r endere d phys

i cal ass i stance to those i n So r e need of i t i n order that
,

it may be seen ho w these e x amples fr om the experi

ence of t h e helpe r s gea r i n w i th the acco u nts gi ven b y
th se w oh a v e rece i ved the s u pernormal a i d s u ch
o h —
sto ri es I m ean as those wh i ch are to b e f o u nd i n the
, ,

“ ”
l i te r at ur e o f so called s u perna tu ral occ u rrences
-
.

I n th e co ur se of the r ecent r ebell i on in Matabele

land one of our membe r s w as sent u pon an er ra n d
o f me r c y whi ch ma y se rv e as an i ll u st r ation o f the

w ay in whi ch help u pon th i s lo w e r plane has occa

s i on ally been g iv en . I t seems tha t on e n i ght a ce r
ta i n farme r and hi s f am i ly i n that co u ntry were sleep
i ng t ran qui l ly i n fanc i ed sec u r i ty qu i te u naware
,

tha t onl y a f e w m i les a w ay r elentless ho r des o f sav

age f o es w ere l yi ng i n amb u sh mat uri ng fi end i sh
’
plo t s of m ur de r and rap i ne O ur member s bu s i ness
.

w as i n som e w a y or o ther to a r o u se the sleep i ng fam

i l y to a sense o f the terr i ble dange r w hich so u nex
p e c te d ly menaced them , and she fo u nd th i s b y no

means an eas y matter .

A n attempt to i mpress the i dea of i mm i nent pe ri l

u pon the b r a i n of th e farme r f a i led u tterl y and as,

the ur gency of the case seemed to demand s t r ong

m eas ur es our f r i end dec i ded to mate ri ali z e hersel f
,

s ufli c i ently to Sh a k e the ho u se wif e b y the sho u lder

'

an d adj u re he r to get u p and loo k abo u t he r . T h e

 4 T

moment she saw that she had been s u ccessf u l in at

’
tracting attention she van i shed and the f a r mer s wif e
,

has nev e r from that da y to this been able to find out

wh i ch of he r neighbo u rs i t w as w h o ro u sed her so
oppo r tu nel y and th u s sa v ed the l iv es of the ent i re
,

famil y wh o b u t fo r th i s my ster i o u s i nter v ent i on

,

w o u ld u ndo ubtedl y ha v e been massacred i n thei r

beds h al f an ho u r la te r ; nor can she e v en now u nde r
stand ho w th i s fr i end in need cont riv ed to m a k e he r
way i n w hen al l the windows and doo r s w e r e f o u nd
,

so secure ly b arred .

Bein g thus a b ru p t l y awakene d the ho u sew i fe was

,

hal f i nclined to cons i der the w arn i ng as a me r e

dream ; howe v er she a r ose and loo ked r o u nd j u st to
,

see that all was right and fort u nate it w as that she
,

d i d so for tho ugh s h e fo u nd nothing am i ss indoors

,

she ha d n o sooner thrown open a shutter than she sa w

the s ky red with a distant con fl agrati on She at once
.

roused her hus b an d an d the rest o f he r f am i l y and ,

ow i ng to th i s time l y notice they were able to escape

to a place of concealment nea r at hand j u st be f ore the
arr i val of the hor d e o f savages who destro yed the
,

h o u se and ravaged the fields i ndeed b u t we re d i sap

,

pointed o f the human prey which the y had expected .

The feel i ngs of the rescu e r may be i magi ned wh en

sh e read i n the newspaper some time a f terwards an

account of the p rovidential deliverance o f this f am i l y .

 C
HA P T ER V I I .

“
TH E AN G EL S T O RY .

A N O T H E R i nstance of intervention on the phy s i cal

plane w hich occurred a short time ago makes a ver y
b eauti ful little stor y tho u gh thi s time onl y one li fe
,

w as sa v ed I t needs ho w ever a f e w words of pre

.
, ,

l i m i nar y e xplanation Among our b and of he l pers

.

here i n E u rope a r e t w o who were brothe r s long ago

i n anc i ent E gypt and are st il l warmly attached to
,

on e another . In th i s present incarnation there i s a

wi de di fference i n age bet w een them one b eing ad ,

v an c e d i n middle li fe wh il e the other was at that

,

t i me a mere chil d i n the p hys i cal bod y tho u gh an ego ,

o f considerab l e advancement and p ro m ise Natura ll y .

it fa ll s to the l ot of the e ld er to trai n and gu i d e the

yo u nger i n the occult wor k to wh i ch they are so
hearti ly devoted and as both are fu ll y conscious an d
,

active on the astra l p l ane they s p en d most of the time

d ur ing which their g rosser bo d ies are as l ee p i n la
bou ri n g to gether under the d irection of their com
mon Master and g ivi n g to b oth livi n g an d d ea d s u ch
,

he lp as is within their power .

42
 43

I w il l quote the s tory of the p articu l ar inciden t

whic h I wish to relate fro m a letter wri tten by th e
elde r of the two helpers i mmediatel y a f te r i t s oc
currence as the descri p tion there g i ven i s mo r e vivi d
,

an d p ict u resque than an y account in the third pe r son

cou ld p ossi bl y b e
.

“
We were goin g ab out quite other b usines s when ,

’
Cyri l su dd en l y crie d What s that for we heard a
,
‘
? ’

terri b le scream of p ain or fright In a moment we .

w ere on the s p ot an d found that a b o y of abo u t

,

e l even or twe l ve had fal l en o v er a cli ff on to some

rocks belo w an d was very ba dl y h u rt He had
, .

b roken a leg an d an arm p oor fe ll ow b ut what was

, ,

sti ll worse was a d rea d fu l cut in th e thi gh from ,

which bl oo d was p ourin g in a torr e nt Cyri l cr i ed .

,

L e t us h e lp him quick or h e ll d ie
‘ ’

“
In emer ge nci e s o f this kin d on e has to thin k
quick ly Th e re were clear l y two thin g s to be do n e ;
.

that bl eeding must be sto pp ed and ph y sica l help ,

must be procured I was obliged to mate ri ali z e

.

either Cyril or myse l f for we want e d phys i ca l hands

,

at once to tie a ban d age an d b esi d es it seem e d b etter

,

that the poor b oy shou ld s ee someone stan d in g by

him in his tro ub l e I fe l t that while undoub te dl y he
.

woul d be more at home with Cyr i l than w i th me I ,

shou ld p ro b abl y be more rea d i l y a b le to procure he lp

 44
'

th an C yril wo u ld ,
so th e d i v i s i on of labo ur w as ob

vi on s .

“
The p lan wo rk ed cap i ta l ly I mater i al i zed Cyr i l .

i nstant l y ( he d oes not know yet how to do it for

hi msel f ) and tol d him to take the b o y s neck erch i ef
,
’

an d tie it roun d the thigh an d twist a stick through ,

it
‘ ’
. Won t it hurt him terri bl y ? sai d Cyri l ; but he ’

d i d 1t and the bl oo d stoppe d flow i ng

, The i nj ured .

bo y seemed ha l f unconscious and could scarcel y ,

spea k but he loo k ed u p at the shin i ng little form

,

bending so anx i ous l y over him and aske d Be yo u , ,

‘

’
an ange l master ? Cyri l smi l ed so pretti l y and re
, ,

‘
plie d No I m only a b o y b ut I ve come to help
, ,
’

,
’

y ou and then I l eft him to comfort the s u ffere r

w hile I rushed off for the b oy s mother wh o li v ed ’

abo u t a mile away .

“ ’
T he trouble I had to f o r ce i nto that w oman s
head the conviction that something was wrong and ,

that she must go an d see a b out it you would never ,

be l ieve ; but at last she thre w down the pan s he was

‘ ’ ’
C l ean i ng and said alo ud Well I don t kno w what s
, , ,

’
come over me but I must go and fi nd the bo y
,
.

When she once started I w as able to gui de her w i th

ou t m u ch di ffic u lty tho u gh a ll the t i me I was hold
,

i n g Cyr i l together b y wi ll po w e r lest the poo r -

,

chi ld s an ge l sho u ld suddenl y van i sh f rom be fo r e h i s

’

ey es .
 45

You see wh en you mater i al i ze a f o r m you

, are

c han gin g matter from its natu ral state into anothe r
-tempo raril y oppo sing the cosm i c w ill as i t w e r e ;
,

and i f you take yo u r mind off i t for on e hal f second -

,

back it flies i nto its origi nal condition l ik e a flash of

l i ghtn i ng So I could n ot giv e mo r e than hal f my
.

attent i on to that w oman b u t still I got he r along

,

somehow and as soon as she came ro u nd the co rner

,

of the cli ff I l et Cyril disappear ; b u t she had seen

him and no w that village has on e of the best at

,
-

tested stories of ange l ic intervent i on on record '

“
T he accident happ ened i n the ear ly morning and ,

the same evening I l oo k ed i n ( astrally ) u po n the

f amily to see ho w matters w e r e going on T he poo r .

’
boy s leg and a r m had been set and the great c u t
,

b andaged and he lay i n bed l oo k ing very p ale and

,

weak b u t ev i dent l y going to recover in time T h e

, .

mother had a co u ple o f neighbours i n and was tell

,

i ng them the story ; and a c u r i o u s tale i t so u nded to

on e wh o k ne w the real f ac ts .

“
She e xpla i ned in v er y man y w o r ds h ow sh e
, ,

’
co u ldn t tell what i t w as b u t something came over
,

her all i n a minu te li k e making her feel something

,

had happened to the boy and she mus t go out and

,

see after him ; h ow at first she thou ght it was n on

‘
s en se and tr i ed to thro w off the fee l ing but i t
, ,
 4 6
’
w a r n t no —
u se she j u st ha d
to go
’
She told h ow
.

’
she didn t k no w w hat made her go ro u nd b y that
cl i ff more than an y othe r w a y b u t it j u st happened
,

s o and as she t u rned ro u nd the corner th ere she saw

,

him l yi ng propped up aga i nst a rock an d k neeling ,

bes i de h i m was the bea u ti ful l est chi l d ever she sa w

‘
,

dressed all i n white and shi n ing with ros y cheeks ,

and lovel y brown e y es and how he smiled at her -

‘ ’
so heavenly like and then all i n a moment he w as
,

not there and at fi rst she w as so startle d she d i dn t

,
’

k now w hat to thin k ; an d then a l l at once Sh e f elt

what it was and fell on her k nees and than k ed God
,

for sending on e o f his angels to help he r poo r boy .

“
T hen she told how w hen she lifted hi m to carr y
hi m home she wanted to ta k e off the hand k er c hief
that was c u tt i ng into h i s poor leg so b u t he w ould ,

not let he r be ca u se he said the ange l had t i ed i t and

,

said he waS not to to u ch i t ; and how when she told

‘

the doctor th i s afterwards he exp lai n e d to her that

if she h ad unfastened it the b oy wou ld certa i nly
have d ied .

“ ’
Then she repeate d the b oy s part o f the tale
ho w th e moment afte r he fell this love l y little ange l
came to hi m ( h e k ne w i t was an angel beca u se he
k ne w t h e r e h ad bee n nobod y i n sight for hal f a
m i le r o u nd w he n he w as at the top of the cli ff j u st
 47

—
be fore o nl y he cou l d not understand why it hadn t ’

any w i ngs and w hy i t sa i d it was on ly a boy )

,

h ow i t l if ted h im aga i nst th e rock and tied u p h i s

leg and then began to ta lk to h i m and tell h i m he
,

need n ot be f r i ghtene d beca u se someb od y was gone

,

to f etch mother and she wou l d be there direct l y ;

,

h ow i t k issed him and tried to make him co mfo r t

able and how its Soft warm litt l e hand held his all
, , ,

the t i me whi l e it to l d him strange bea u ti fu l stories

, ,

which he co u ld not clearl y remember b u t he k new ,

they w e r e very goo d b ecause he had almost for

,

gotten he was hurt until he saw mother coming ;

and ho w then it assured him he wo u ld soon be well
aga i n and smiled an d squeezed h i s hand and then
, ,

somehow it was gone .

“
S i nce then there has b een q u ite a re l igious re
v i val i n that v ill age ' T he 1r m 1n 1ster has told them
that so signal an i nterpos i t i on of divine p r o vi dence
must ha v e been meant as a sign to them to reb uk e ,

sc o ff ers and to prove the tr u th of h ol y scri ptur e

and of the Ch ristian re l ig i on and nobod y seems -

to see the co l ossal conceit invo l ved 1n s u ch an aston

i sh i n g p ro p osition .

“
B u t the e ffect on the b oy has been undo ubtedl y
good mora ll y as we ll as p hysica ll y ; b y a l l accounts
,

he w as a careless enough young scam p be fore but ,

n ow he fee l s his an ge l may b e near h i m at any

‘ ’
 48

ti m e ,
and h e will ne v e r do or say any th i ng ro u gh or
coarse or angry l est i t sho u ld see or hear T he one
, .

great des ir e of h i s l if e i s that some da y he ma y see

i t aga i n and he k no w s t h at w hen he d i es i ts lo v el y
,

face wi ll be t h e fi rst to gr eet hi m on th e othe r s i de .

A be a u t ifu l and pathe t i c l i ttle sto ry t ru l y T he ,

.

mo r al dra w n f rom the occ urr ence b y the vi llage and

i ts m i n i ste r i s perhaps some wh at of a n on s eq ui tur;
y et the testimon y to the e xi stence of at least some
th i ng be yond th i s mater i al plane m u s t s ur el y d o
the people more good than harm and a ft er a l l the ,

’
mother s concl u s i on f rom what she s aw was a per
fe c tly correct one thou gh more acc u rate k now l edge
,

w ou l d p robab l y ha v e led her to express i t a lit tl e

d i fferent l y .

An i nterest i ng fact afterwards d i sco v e r ed b y th e

i nvestigat i ons of the w r i ter o f the letter thro w s a
c u r i o u s s i de l i ght u pon the reasons u nderl yi ng s u ch
-

i nc i den t s I t w as fo u nd that the two bo y s had met

.

be fore and that some tho u s ands of years ago th e

,

on e wh o f ell fr om the cl i ff had been the sla v e o f th e

’
other and had once sa v ed h i s y o u ng master s l ife a t
,

the r i s k o f h i s own and had b een l i berated i n con

,

sequence ; and now long after w ards the master not

, ,

onl y r epay s the debt i n ki nd b u t also giv es h i s for ,

mer slave a h i gh i deal and an i nd u cement to moral

i ty o f li fe whi ch wi ll probabl y change th e w hol e
 49

co u rse of h i s fu tu re e v ol u t i on So t r u e i s i t that no
.

good deed e v er goes u n r ewa r ded b y k a r m a h ow ,

ev e r ta r dy i t may seem i n its act i on — that

Th ough th e m i lls God g r i n d slowly,
of

Ye t th ey g r i n d e xc ee d i n g s m all
Th ough w i t h p at i e n c e s t an d s H e wai ti m
Wi th exac tn es s g r i n d s H e all .
 CHA P T ER VII I .

T H E S T O RY O' A ' I RE .

AN O T H ER p iece of w or k done b y the same boy

Cyr il fu rnishes an almost e x act parallel to so m e o f
the sto ri es f rom the boo k s w h ich I hav e giv en in
earl i e r pages He and his older f r i end i t seems
.
, ,

w ere pass i ng along i n the prosec u t i on o f th e i r u s u al

w or k on e night when they noticed the fi erce gl are
,

o f a b i g fire below them and p rom p t l y d i v ed down

,

to see i f the y co u ld be of an y u se .

It was a great hotel w hich was i n flam es a huge ,

caravanserai o n the edge o f a great lake Th e .

ho u se man y stories i n he i ght formed three s i des

, ,

o f a square ro u nd a sort o f garden p l anted wi th ,

trees and flowers while the la k e formed the fo ur th

,

S ide. T he two wings ran ri ght down to the lak e ,

the big b a y windows which term i nated them a l mos t

p roj ecting over the water so as to
,
leave on l y quite a

n arr ow passa g e way u nder them at the two s i des

- .

T he fr ont and wi ngs w e r e b ui lt r o u nd i ns i d e

w ells which conta i ned also the latt i ce wor k sha fts
,
-

Of the l i fts so that when once the fi re bro k e

,
ou t i t ,

so
 5 1

s p read with a l most i n cre d i bl e ra p i d ity an d before ,

ou r frie n d s saw it on their astra l j ourney a ll the

mi ddl e floors in each o f the three g reat bl ocks were

i n flames .
—
Fortu n ate l y the inmates exc ep t one lit
tle b oy — ha d a l rea d y b een rescue d thou gh some ,

of th e m ha d sustained very s erious b ur n s an d other

i n j urie s
.

Thi s l itt l e fe ll ow ha d b e e n for gotte n i n one of the

u pp er rooms of th e l e ft wi n g for his p arents were ,

out at a b a ll an d kn e w nothi n g of the fire whi l e

, ,

n atura ll y enou g h no one e l s e thou ght o f the l a d ti l l

it was far too l ate The fire ha d gai n e d s uch a ho l d

.

on the mi ddl e floors of that wi n g that n othi n g cou ld

have b een d one eve n i f anyone ha d rememb e r e d

,

him as his room face d on to the i n ner g ar d e n which

,

has been mentione d s o that he was com pl e te l y cut

,

o ff from a ll outsi d e h e lp Besi d e s h e w as not e ven

.
,

a ware o f his d an ger for the d e n s e su ffocatin g

, ,

smoke had so g ra d ua ll y fi ll e d the room that his s l e e p

ha d grown d ee p er an d d e e p er ti ll he was a ll b ut ,
I

s tu p efi e d .

In thi s state h e was d i s covere d b y Cyri l who ,

seems to b e s p ecia ll y attract e d towar d s chi l dr e n in

nee d or dan ger H e first trie d to make some o f the
.

p eo p le remembe r th e boy b ut in vain ; and in an y ,

case it seemed scarce l y p ossi bl e that they cou ld hav e

he lp e d him s o that it was soon evi d ent that th i s was
,
 52

m er ely a waste of t i me T he o l de r h elpe r then ma

.

te ri ali z ed C y ril as befo r e i n the room and set h i m

, , ,

to w o rk to a w a k en and ro u se u p the more than hal f

s tupefi ed ch i ld . A fter a good deal o f d i ffi c u lty th i s
was acco mpl i shed to some e xtent b u t the boy re ,

mained in a hal f dazed sem i consc i o u s condit i on

-
,
-

through all that fo ll owed so that he needed to be ,

pushed an d p u ll ed about guided an d he lp e d at ever y

,

turn .

Th e two boys first cre p t out of the room into the

central passage which ran through the wing and ,

then fi nd i ng that the smo k e and the flames begin

,

ning to come th r o u gh the floor made i t i m p assable

for a ph y s i cal bod y Cyril got the other bo y back
,

i nto the room aga i n and out o f the wi ndo w on to a

stone ledge abo u t a foot w i de wh i ch ran r i ght along
, ,

the bloc k j ust belo w the w i ndo w s A l ong this he .

managed to gui de his companion hal f ba l ancing h i m ,

sel f on the extreme e d ge of the le d ge and hal f float ,

i ng on a i r b u t always p l ac i ng h i mself outs i de o f the

, ,

other so as to keep h i m from dizziness and prevent

,

him from feelin g afraid of a fall .

T o w ards the end of the bloc k nearest the lak e i n ,

which d i rect i on the fir e seemed less developed they ,

climbed i n thro u gh an O pen wi ndo w and aga i n

reached the passa ge hop i ng to fi nd th e staircase at
,

that end stil l p assab l e B u t it too was full o f flame

.
, ,
 53

an d smoke ; s o they craw l e d b ack a l ong the passage ,

Cyr il advising his companion to k eep his mo u th c l ose

to the gro u nd ti l l the y reached the latticed cage o f
,

the l i ft running d own the l ong we l l in the cent re of

the b l ock .

The l i ft of co u rse was at the bottom b ut they man ,

a ge d to c l amber d own the l attice work inside the

ca g e ti l l they stood on the roof of the elevator itse l f .

Here they fo u nd themselves bl ocke d b ut l ucki l y ,

Cyril discove r ed a doorway opening from the cage

o f the lift on to a sort of e n tres ol j ust above th e

gro u n d floor T hrou g h thi s they reache d a p assa g e

.
,

which they crosse d the l ittle b oy b eing ha l f s ti fl ed b y

,
-

the smo k e ; then they made their way thro u gh one of

the rooms O ppos i te and finall y clamber i ng out o f
, ,

the w i ndow found themselves on the top of the ve

,

ran d a which ran a l on g i n front o f the gro u nd floor ,

between it and the gar d en .

Thence it was easy eno ugh to swarm down one of

th e p i lla r s and r each the garden i tsel f ; b u t e v en t here
the heat w as i ntense and the danger w hen the w alls
, ,

sho u ld fall v ery conside r able So Cy ri l t r ied to

,
.

cond u c t h i s ch a r ge ro u nd the end fi rst of one th en ,

o f the othe r w i ng ; b u t i n bo th cases the flames had

b ur st th r o u gh and the nar r o w ove r hung passages

, ,

we r e qui te im p assable F i na ll y they took re fuge i n

.

one o f the p leasure bo ats wh i ch were moo r ed to th e

 54

ste p s of the quay at the si d e of the g ar d e n n ext the

l ak e and casting l oose rowed o u t on to the water
, , , .

Cy ril intende d to ro w ro u n d p ast the b u rning wing

and l an d the b oy whom he ha d save d ; b ut when they
got some l itt l e way out they fe ll in with a p assi n g
,

—
l a k e steamer and wer e seen for the who l e scene
,

was l it u p by the glare of the b urning hote l ti l l every ,

thi n g was as pl ain as in b road d ay l i ght The ste amer .

came a l on g side the boat to take them off ; b ut i n

stead o f the two bo y s they ha d seen the crew fo u nd
,

—
on l y one for his ol d er friend ha d p rom p t l y allowe d
Cyri l to s l i p b ack into his astra l form d is s i p ating the
,

d enser matter which ha d made for the time a material

b o d y and he was therefore no w invisi bl e
,
.

A careful search was made of co u rse b ut no trace

, ,

o f the second boy cou ld be fo u nd and so i t w as con

,

c l u d ed that he m u st ha v e fa l len overboard and been

drowne d j u st as they came alongside T he child .

who had been resc u e d fell into a dead f a i nt as soon

as he was safe on b oard so the y co u ld get no i n
,

format i on from h i m and whe n he d i d reco v e r, all

,

he cou l d say was that he had seen the other boy the
moment before they came alongside and then k n ew ,

nothing more .

The steamer was bo u nd down the la k e to a place

’
some two days sail distant and i t was a week o r s o
,

be fore the resc u ed boy co u ld be restored to h i s p a r

 55

c u ts , who o f course thought that he h ad p erished

in the flames for tho ugh an e ffort was ma d e to i m
,

press on the i r minds the fact that their son had b een
save d it was found imp ossi bl e to convey the i d ea
,

to th e m so it may b e ima g ined how g reat was th e

,

j oy of the meeting .

The boy i s sti ll we ll an d ha pp y an d i s never w e ary

,

of relating his w on d er fu l a d venture . Many a time

he has regretted that the kin d frien d who save d him
Sho u ld have p erished so mysterious l y at the very mo

ment whe n a ll the d anger seeme d over at last I n .

d ee d he has even ventured to su ggest that perha p s

,

i
’
—
h e d d n t per 1sh after al l that perha p s he was a fairy
p ri nce ; b u t of co u rse this i dea elicits noth i ng bu t to l
erant sm i les o f s u pe ri o ri t y from his elde r s
. T h e ka r
a

m i c l i nk bet ween hi m and h i s p r ese rv e r has n ot yet

been traced b u t no d o ubt there m u st be one some
,

w he re .
 C H A P T ER IX .

MA T ERI A L I ZA T I O N A N' R E PE R CU S SI O N .

O N m eet i ng wi t h a sto ry s u c h as th i s stu dents o f

,

ten e n quir e w he th e r the i n vi s i ble helpe r i s pe r fectly

safe am i dst these scenes of deadl y per i l w hether — ,

for e x a m ple th i s boy wh o w as mater i al i zed i n order

,

to sav e ano th e r fr o m a b ur n i ng ho u se w as not him

—
sel f i n s o m e dange r w het h e r h i s p hy s i cal body
w o u ld not hav e s u ff ered i n an y w a y b y r epe r cu ss i on
i f h i s m a t e ri al iz ed f o rm h ad passed t h r o u gh the
flames or f allen fr o m th e hi gh ledge on the edge o f
,

whi ch h e w al ked so u nconce r nedl y I n f act s i nce.

,

w e kno w th at i n man y cases t h e connect i on bet w een

a m a te ri al iz ed f o r m an d a ph y s i cal bo d y i s s u ffi c i ent ly

close to p r od u c e r e pe r c u ss i on m i ght i t n ot hav e oc

,

c urr ed i n th i s cas e ?

N ow thi s s u bj e c t of r epe r c u ssi on i s an ex ce e d i ngl y

abst ru se and d i ffi c u l t one and w e are b y n o m ean s
,

y e t i n a pos i ti on fu ll y to ex pl ai n i ts v e ry r em a rk able
p h eno mena ; i ndeed i n o r de r to un de r s tand th e mat
,

t e r pe rf ectly i t w o u ld p r obabl y be necessa ry to com

,

p r ehend th e la w s o f sym p athet i c vi b r a t i on on m o r e

as
 57

p lanes t han o ne Still

.
,w e d o kno w b y obser v a t i o n

s ome of the cond i t i ons w h i ch pe r m i t i t s ac ti on and ,

s ome w h i ch de fi n i tel y e x cl u de i t and I th i n k we are

,

warranted i n s ayi ng that i t w as absol u tel y i mpos s i bl e

h ere .

T o see w hy this i s so w e must first remembe r th at

the r e a r e at least three w e l l de fined v a ri et i es Of ma

ter i ali z ation as any one w ho has at all an e x te nded

,

e xper ience of sp i r i tu al i sm wi ll be a w a r e I am not

.

concern ed at th e moment to enter u pon any e xplana

tion as to how these three v arieties are re spect i ve l y
p rod u ced but am merely stat i ng the i nd ub i table fact
,

o f their existence

I. T he r e i s the mater i al iz at i on whi ch tho u gh ,

tang i bl e i s not vi s i ble to o r d i na ry ph y s i cal s i ght O f

,
.

th i s natur e a r e the u nseen hands whi c h so o f ten clasp

'
’
one s a r m or stro k e one s f ace a t a s ee wee w h i ch
’ “

so met i mes c a rry phy sical Ob j ects thr o u gh th e a ir or

—
mak e raps u pon th e tabl e th o u gh o f co urse both
these latte r phenomena may eas i l y be prod u ced w i th
out a materia l ize d han d at all .

2 T here i s the m ater i al i zat i on whic h th ough

—
.

vi s i ble i s not tangi ble th e sp iri t f o r m th r o ugh

-

wh i ch one s h and passes as thr o u gh empty ai r I n

’
.

some case s th i s v ar i et y i s ob vi o u sl y m i sty and i m

p a lp a b le b ut in others its app earanc e is so ent ir el y
,
 58

no rmal that i ts solid i ty is never d ou b ted unti l som e

on e endea v o ur s to grasp it .

3
. Th e r e i s th e pe rf ect mater i al i zat i on whi ch i s
—
both vi s i ble and t an gi ble w h i c h n ot onl y bea r s the
ou t w a r d semblance of y o u r de p arted f r i end ,
but
s ha k es you cordia ll y by the han d with the v ery c l as p

tha t you know so we ll .

Now whi l e there is a good d eal of evi d e n ce to

show that repercussion takes place under certain con
d i ti on s in the case o f this third kind of materializa
t i on i t is by no means so certain that it can occur
,

wi th the first or second c l ass In the case of the b oy

.

he lp er i t is p ro b ab l e that the mater i alizat i on wou ld

n ot be o f the th i r d type since the greatest care is a l
,

ways ta k en not to expen d more force than i s abso

lu te ly necessary to pro d uce whatever result may b e
requ ired an d i t i s o b v i ous that less e nergy would b e
,

u sed i n the prod u ct i on of the mo r e part i al f orms

which we have called t h e fi rst and second classes .

T he probab i l i ty i s that onl y the arm with wh i ch the

bo y held h i s little compan i on wo u ld be sol i d to the
to u ch and that the rest o f h i s bod y tho u gh loo k ing
, ,

p erfectly natural would have pro v ed f a r less pal

,

p a b le if i t had been tested .

B u t apa r t fr om th i s p r obab i l i ty the re i s anothe r

, ,

po i nt to be cons i de r ed When a fu ll mater i al i zat i o n

.

tak es place whe th e r th e subj ec t be l ivi ng or dead

, ,
 S9

p hysica l matter o f som e s ort has to b e gathere d to

I
geth e r for th e p urp o s e At a sp1r1tu al1st1c s eanc e
.

this matter is O b tai n e d b y d rawi n g l ar ge l y u pon the

e theric d ou bl e of the m e d ium — an d s om e times even

u p o n his p hys ica l b o d y a l s o s ince cas e s are on record

,

i n which his w e i ght has b e e n very considerab l y d e

creas e d whi l e ma n if e station s o f this character we re
taki n g pl ace .

This m e tho d is empl oy e d by the d irecti n g e n titi e s

'
o f the s e cm ee sim pl y b e cau se wh e n an avai l a bl e me

d i u m i s within reach it i s very much the easiest way

in which a mat e ri a l ization c an b e b rou ght a b out ; an d
th e con s equenc e i s that th e very c l o s est co n n e ction

is thus s e t u p b e twee n that me d ium an d th e materia l

i z e d b o d y so that th e p h e n om e non which ( a l though
,

v e ry imp erfe ct l y un d e rsta n d i n g it ) we ca ll re p ercuss

ion occur s i n its c l eare s t form If for exam pl e th e
,
.
, ,

han d s of the materia l ize d b o d y b e rubb e d with C ha l k ,

that C ha l k wi ll afterwar d s be foun d on the han d s of

the m e d ium even thou g h he may have b een a ll the
,

time carefu ll y l ock e d u p in a ca b inet un d er circum

stanc es which a b s o l ut e l y prec l u d e any sus p icion of
fra ud If any inj ury b e inflict e d u p on the materia l
.

i z e d form that inj ury wi ll b e accurate l y re p ro d uce d

,

upo n th e corres pon d ing p art o f the me d ium s b o dy ;

’

whi l e s ometimes foo d of which the Sp irit form has -

p artak e n wi ll b e fou n d to have p assed i n to the body

 60

of theme d ium — at least that happened in on e cas e

at any rate within my own exp erience .

It wou ld b e f ar otherw i se however in the case

, ,

wh i ch we have b een d escri bi ng Cyril was tho u

.

san d s O f miles f r om h i s slee pi ng p hysica l b ody and ,

it wou l d therefore b e q u ite i m p ossible for his fr i end

to d raw etheric matter from it while the re gulat i ons
,

u n d er which a ll p u p i l s o f the great Masters of Wis

d om p erform their wor k o f he lp i n g man wou l d as
s u re d ly prevent him , even fon the no bl est p urpose ,

from p uttin g such a strain u p on any on e else s b od y ’ '

Besi d es i t wou l d b e quite unnecessary for the f a r

, ,

l ess d an gerous metho d i n varia bl y empl oye d b y the

hel p ers when materia l izat i on seems desira bl e wo u ld
—
be rea d y to his han d the con d ensat i on f rom the c i r
cu m ambi e n t ether or even from the ph y s i cal air o f
, ,

such an amount o f matter as may be req ui s i te Thi s .

f eat tho ug h no do ubt b eyond the power o f the ave r

,
'
age entity mani festing at a s e anc e pr esents n o d i ffi
,

c u lty to a stu d ent of occult chemistry .

But mar k the di fference i n th e resu l t o b t ai ned .

I n the case of the med i um w e have a mater i al iz ed

fo r m i n the C losest possible connect i on w i th the ph y s
i cal b ody made out o f i ts very s u bstance and the r e
, ,

f o r e capabl e o f produc i ng a ll the p henomena o f re

perc u ssion In the case of the helper we have i ndeed
.

an exact reprod u ct i on of the phy s i cal bod y but i t i s ,

 61

created b y a mental e ff ort out of matter en t1re1y for

e i gn to that bo d y an d is no more ca p a bl e o f acting
,

upon i t b y repercussion than an ord i nary mar bl e

statue of the man would b e .

Th u s it i s that a passa ge thro u gh the flames or

a fa ll from a high windo w l edge wou ld hav e had n o
-

terrors for the b oy he lp er an d that on another oc

-
,

casion a member o f the ban d tho u gh materia l ize d

, ,

was a bl e without any i nconvenience to the p hysical

b o d y to go d own in a s i nkin g vessel ( see p .

In both the i nc id ents of his wor k that have b een

d escribed above i t wi l l have been noticed that the
,

bo y Cyril was u na b le to materia l ize h i mself and ,

that the O p erat i on ha d to be per forme d for him b y an

older fr i end O ne more o f his experiences i s wo r th
.

relat i ng for i t gives us a case i n which b y intens i ty

,

o f p ity and d etermination of wi ll he w as a bl e to Show

—
himsel f a case somewhat p ara ll e l to that p revious ly
r elated o f the mother whose l ove enabl e d her some
how to mani fest hersel f in order to save her ch i l
’
dren s l ives.

Inexp licab l e as it may seem the r e i s no d ou b t

,

whatever of the existence in nature o f this s tupe n

dous p ower of wi l l over matter o f a ll pl anes so that,

i f on l y the power be great eno ugh p ractica ll y any

,

resu l t may b e p ro d uce d b y i ts d irect action without

,

any know l e dg e o r even thou ght on the p art o f the

 62

man exercising that wi ll as to h ow it is to d o its work .

We have ha d pl enty of evide n ce that this p ower ho l ds

goo d in the case o f materia l ization a l thou gh ordi
,

n ari ly i t i s an art which must b e l e ar n t j ust l ike any

other Assure dl y an average man on the astra l pl ane

.

cou l d no more materia l ize himse l f without havin g

pre v ious l y l earnt how to do it than the avera ge man
on this p l ane cou ld p lay the viol i n w i tlfout having
p revious l y l e arnt it ; b ut ther e are exce p tiona l cases,

a s wi ll be seen from the f ollow i ng narrat i ve .

 CHA P T ER X .

TH E Two B R O T H ER S .

T his stor y has b een to ld b y a pen of f ar greater

d ramat i c capa b i l ity than mine and w i th a w ealth o f
,

detail fo r which I have here no s p ace in Th e Th e o ,

s op h i c al R evi ew of No v em b er 1 897 p 2 29
, T o that
, . .

account I wou ld refer the reader since m y own d e ,

scr ip tion of the case wil l be a mere out l ine as b rief ,

as is consistent with c l ea r ness The names giv en are

.

o f course fictitious ,bu t the inci d ents are re l ate d with

scru p u l ous accuracy .

O u r d ramati s p ers on ae are two b rothers th e sons ,

o f a country ge n t l eman — Lance l ot age d fourteen , ,

—
an d Wa l ter age d e l even v er y good boys of the or
,

d i n ary healthy man l y typ e li k e h u ndreds o f others

, ,

in th i s fa i r realm with no obv i o u s psych i c q u alifi ca

,

tions of any sort excep t the possession o f a good

,

d ea l o f Celtic bl ood Perha p s the most remarka bl e

.

feature abo u t them w as the intensity of the a ffection

tha t existed between them for they were s i mpl y i n
, ,

—
sep a r abl e ne i the r w ou ld go anywhere witho u t th e
es
 64

othe r and the y o u nge r i dol i zed th e elde r as onl y a

,

y ounger boy can .

O ne un lu ck y da y Lance lot w as thrown from h i s

pon y and k i lled and for Wa l ter th e w orld became
,

’
empt y T he ch i ld s gr i e f w as so r eal and terrible
.

that he co u ld ne i ther eat nor sleep and his mothe r ,

’
and n u rse w ere at their w i ts end as to w h at to do f o r
h i m He seemed dea f al i ke to pers u as i on and bla me ;
.

wh en the y told h i m that grie f w as wi ck ed and that ,

h i s brother w as i n h ea v en h e s i mply ans w ered that

,

he co u ld not be ce r ta i n of that and that even if i t ,

w ere tr u e he k new that Lancelot co u ld n o more be

,

hap p y i n heaven without him than he co u ld on earth

wi thout Lance l ot .

Inc r e d ible as i t may so u nd the p oor ch i ld was ac

,

tually d yi ng o f gr i ef and w hat ma d e the case even

,

more pathet i c w as the f ac t that all u nk no w n to h i m , ,

hi s b r o th e r stood at hi s s i d e all th e t i me ful l y con ,

sc i o u s of h i s m i ser y and h i msel f hal f d i stracted at

,
-

the fail u re o f h i s repeated a ttempts to to u ch h i m or

Speak to him .

A ff a i rs were still i n th i s most p i tiable cond i t i o n

’
on the th ir d e v en i ng afte r the acc i dent when Cyril s ,

—
attent i on was d r a w n to the two b r othe r s h e can
”
not t ell h ow . He j u st h appened to be pass i ng h e ,

say s ; y et s u rely the w i l l o f the Lor d s of Com p ass i on

g ui ded h i m to the scene Poo r Walte r la y e x ha u sted
.
 65

et —
s l eepl ess alone in his deso l ation f a r as h so
y e,

k ne w though a l l the time h i s sorro wi ng b r other

,

stoo d bes i de h i m Lancelot fr ee fr om the cha i ns of

.
,

the flesh co u ld see an d hea r C yril so ob vi o u sl y the

, ,

first th i n g to d o w as to soo the h i s pai n wi th a p r om

i se o f f ri endsh i p and help i n comm u nicat i ng wi th h i s
brother .

As soon as the d ea d b oy s min d w as th u s chee r ed

’

w ith ho p e Cyri l tu rned to the living on e and tr i ed

, ,

w i th a ll his strength to impress u pon his b r a i n the

k nowle dge that his brother stoo d beside h i m n ot ,

d ea d b ut living and lov i ng as o f yore But al l his

, .

e ff orts were i n va i n ; the d u ll apathy o f gr i e f so fil led

’
p oor Walter s m i nd that n o s u ggestion f rom wi th
ou t co ul d enter and Cyril k ne w not what to d o
, Ye t .

so dee p l y was he moved by the sad Si ght s o i ntense ,

was his s y mpathy and so fi rm h i s dete rm i nat i on to

he lp i n some wa y or othe r a t an y cost of st re ngth to
himse lf that someho w ( even to th i s da y he cannot
,

te ll h ow ) he fo u nd h i mse l f able to to u ch an d speak

to the hea r t bro k en ch i ld
-
.

Pu tt i ng as i de Walte r s qu est i ons as to wh o h e w as

’

and h ow he came the r e he w ent stra i ght to the po i nt

, ,

tell i ng hi m that h i s b r othe r s tood bes i d e h i m tryi ng ,

hard to ma ke h i m hea r h i s constantl y r epeated as

s u rances that he w as n ot dead b u t l ivi ng and y ea r n ,

i n g to help and comfort him Litt l e Walte r longed

.
 66

to be l ieve yet hard l y d are d to hope ; b u t C y r i l s eage r

,
’

i nsistance v anquished h i s do u bts at l ast and he said , ,

“
O h ' I d o be l ie v e you beca u se y o u re s o ki nd ; b u t
’
,

i f I co u ld onl y see h i m th en I sh o u ld kn ow th en I
, ,

s ho u ld be qui te s u re ; an d i f I co u ld only hea r h i s

’
v o i ce t e ll ing me he w as happy I Sho u ldn t m i nd a b i t
,

”
h i s go i ng awa y aga i n a fterwards .

Yo u ng tho u gh he w as at the wor k Cyri l k ne w ,

’
eno ugh to b e aware that Walter s w i sh was on e not
ordinaril y granted and w as beginn i ng reg r et fully
,

to te ll him so when s u dden ly he felt a P r esence that

,

all the helpers know and thou g h no word was spoke n

,

i t was bo r ne i n u pon hi s m i nd that i n st ead of wh at

he had meant to say h e w as to prom i se Walte r th e
,

“ ”
b oon h i s heart desired Wait ti l l I come bac k h e ,

sai d and y o u shall see him then

,
And then h e— .

v anishe d .

That on e to u ch from the Master had shown him

what to d o and how to d o i t and he rushed to fetch ,

the older f r i end w h o had so often helped h i m before .

This o l der man had n ot y et ret i red for the n i ght b u t ,

’
on hear i ng C y r il s h u rr i ed summons he lost no tim e ,

i n accom p anying h i m and i n a f e w m i n u tes they

,

’
were back at Walter s beds i de T he poo r ch i ld was .

j u s t b e g i n n i n g to bel i e v e i t all a lo v el y d r eam and ,

his de l i ght and r el i ef when Cy r i l r eappeared w e re

bea u t ifu l to s ee Yet h ow m u ch more bea u t ifu l was
.
th e scene a moment l ate r when i n obed i en ce to a
, ,

w or d from the Master the el d er man materia l ized

,

the eager Lancelot and the li v ing and the dea d stood
,

hand in hand once more '

N ow i n v er y t ru th for both the brothers had sor
row been t u rned into j oy u nspeaka b le and again and ,

aga i n they b oth dec l are d that no w they shou ld neve r

fee l sad any more because they k new that d eath
,

had n o p ower to part them Nor was thei r g l a d ness

.

dam p e d even when Cyri l expl aine d c are fu lly to them «

,

at his older friend s su ggestion that th i s strange

’

phy s i ca l reunion wo uld not b e repeate d b u t that a l l ,

d ay l ong Lance l ot w o ul d be near Walter even ,

though the l atter cou l d not see him an d ever y night ,

W a l ter wou ld s l i p ou t of his b o d y an d b e conscio u sl y

wi th his b rother once more .

Hearing this p oor weary Wa l ter sank to s l eep at

,

once and p rove d its truth and was amazed to fi nd

,

wi th w hat h i therto u nknown rap i dity he an d his

broth er co uld fly together from one to another of
their old fami l ia r haunts Cyr i l thou ght fu ll y warne d
.

him that he w o ul d p robab l y forget most o f his freer

life when he awoke next d ay ; bu t b y rare goo d for
tu ne he di d n ot for get as so many of u s d o Perha p s
, .

the shock o f the great j oy had somewhat aro u se d th e

latent ps ych i c facu lty which b elon gs to the Ce l t i c
blood ; at an y r ate he f or got n o singl e detai l o f all .
 68

that had happen ed and next morning he b u rst upo n

,

the ho u se o f mo u rn i ng w ith a w on d rous tale w h i ch

su i ted it b u t il l
.

H i s parents thought that gr i ef had t u rned h i s

b rain and s i nce he i s n ow the he i r the y ha v e been
, , ,

w atch i ng long and anxi o u sl y for fu rthe r s ym ptoms

o f i nsan i ty w h i ch happ i l y the y ha v e not f o u nd T hey
,
.

st i ll th i n k him a monoman i ac on th i s po i nt tho u gh ,

“ ”
they full y recognize that his delusion has saved his
li fe ; but his old n u rse ( wh o i s a Cathol i c ) i s fi rm i n
—
her belie f that a ll he say s is tr u e that the Lord J e
sus who w as once a chil d h i mse l f too k pity on that
, ,

other child as he la y d yi ng o f gr i e f and sent on e o f

,

His angels to br i ng h i s brother bac k to h i m f rom the

dead as a re w ard for a lo v e w h i ch was st r onger than
death Somet i mes popula r s u perstit i on gets a good
.

deal nearer to the hear t o f th i ngs than does ed u cated

sce p ticism '
Nor does the story en d here f o r the good w or k
,

begu n that n i ght i s sti l l progress i ng and none can ,

sa y ho w f a r the i nfl u ence o f that on e act may ram ify .

W alte r s astral consc i o u sness once hav i ng been

’
,

th u s thoro u ghl y a w ak ened rem a1n s 1n act ivi ty ; e v er y

,

morn i ng he br i ngs b ac k i nto h i s ph y s i cal bra i n the

memo ry of his n i ght s advent u res with h i s brother ;
’

e v ery n i ght the y meet the i r d ear fr i end Cyr i l fro m ,

w hom the y ha v e learned so m u ch ab out the wonde r

 69

fu l new w orld that has o p ened before them an d th e ,

other w orlds to come that lie higher yet U nder Cyr.

—
il s gu idance they also the l i v i ng and the dead a l i k e
’

— have become eage r an d earnest members of the

.

band of helpers ; and probabl y for y ears to come

u ntil Lancelot s V 1gorou s young astral bod y d i s i n te
’

g rates — man y a dying child will ha v e cause to b e

g rateful to these three who are try i ng to pass on to
others something o f the j oy that the y have them
s e l ves received .

N or is it to the dead alone that these new converts

have b een o f u se for they have sought and fo u n d
,

some other l ivi ng children wh o sho w consc i o u sness

on the ast r al plane d u ring sleep ; and on e at least o f

those whom they have th u s bro u ght to Cy ri l has al

rea d y p roved a valua bl e l itt l e re cruit to the chi ld ren s
’

ban d as we ll as a very kind l i tt l e friend down here

,

o n the physical p lane .

Those to whom all these i d eas are n e w sometime s

fi nd it v e ry d i ffi c u lt to u nderstand h ow ch i ld r en can
be of an y u se i n the astra l world See i ng they wo u ld
.
,

say that the ast r al bod y of a ch i ld mu st be u nd ev el

,

O p ed and the ego thus l i m i ted by chil d hood on th e

,

astra l as well as the p hysical p lane in what wa y co uld

,

s u ch an ego be o f use or be able to hel p towards th e

,

Sp iritual mental an d moral e vol u t i on o f humanity

, ,

which w e are to ld i s the chief concern of the hel p ers ?

 7 0

Wh e n fi rs t su ch qu est i on was as ked sh or tl y af

a ,

ter th e p u bl i ca ti on of on e o f t h ese stor i es i n ou r mag

azi ne I sent i t to C yri l h i msel f to see wh at he w o u ld
, ,

say to i t and h i s answer w as th i s :

,

It i s qui te tr u e as the w r i ter say s that I am onl y

, ,

a boy an d k no w very l ittle yet and that I sha ll be

, ,

m u ch more u seful when I have learnt more But I .

am able to d o a l i tt l e even now beca u se there are so

‘

man y p eople who have learnt noth i ng abo u t T heo

S o p hy yet tho u gh they ma y k now ver y m u ch more
,

than I d o abo u t every th i ng else A nd you see when

.

y ou want to get to a certain place a little boy w h o ,

k nows the way can do more for you than a hundred

”
wi se men who d on t know it ’
.

It may b e a dd e d that when even a chi l d had bee n

awakened u p on the astral p lane the deve l opment of
the astral body wo u ld proceed s o r ap i dl y that he
wo u ld v er y soon be i n a pos i t i on u pon that plane b u t
'

l i ttle m feri or to that o f the a w a k ened adult and ,

would o f co u rse be m u ch i n ad v ance s o f a r as u se ful

,

ness i s concerned o f the w i sest man wh o w as a s y et

,

u nawa k ened B u t u nless the e go express i ng himse l f

.

thro u gh that ch i ld body possessed the necessary qual

-

i fi c ati on o f a d e te rm m e d y et lo vi ng d i sp os i t i on and ,

had cl earl y man ifested i t i n hi s p r e vi o u s l iv es n o ,

o cc u lt i st would take the v er y S e ri o u s r espons i b i l i ty

o f awa k en i ng h i m u p on the astral pl ane When h ow .

,
 7 :

e v e r the ir k arma i s s u ch tha t i t i s possi ble for th em

,

to be th u s a r o u sed ch i ldren Of ten pro v e most effi c i ent

,

h elpe r s and thro w themsel v es i nto the ir w or k wi th a

,

w hole so u led de v ot i on w h i ch i s very b ea u t i fu l to see

-
.

A nd so is fu lfill e d once mor e the ancient proph ecy

“ ”
a l itt l e ch ild s ha l l lead them .

'

Another question that suggests i tsel f to o ne s mmd ’

i n read i ng this l ast sto ry of the t w o brothe r s i s th i s :

Since Cy ril was someho w able to mater i al i ze hi msel f
b y sheer force of lo v e and p i ty and stren gth of w i ll ,

i s i t not strange that Lancelot wh o had been t ry ing

,

s o m u ch longer to communicate had n ot s u cceeded ,

i n d oing the same thin g ?

We ll there i s of co u rse n o di fficu l ty i n see i ng w h y

,

poor Lance l ot was una b le to communicate with his

brothe r for that i nab i lity i s s i m ply the normal con
,

dit i on of a ffairs ; the w onde r is that Cyr il w as abl e

to material ize himse l f no t that Lance l ot w as n ot
,
.

Not on l y howe v er was the f ee l ing p r o b ab l y st r onge r

, ,

i n Cyri l s case bu t he also kne w e xact ly what h e

’
,

—
w anted to do k new that s u ch a th i ng as material iz a
t i on w as a possi b ility and had some gene r al ide a as
,

—
to how i t was done whi l e Lancelot natu ra lly kne w
nothi n g of a ll this then thou gh he d oes no w
,
.
 CH A P T ER X I .

W R E CK S A N' C A T AS T R O P H E S .

SO M E T I M E S i t i s poss i bl e for members of the band

o f helpe r s to av e r t i mpending catastrophes of a some

wh at la r ge r or de r In more than on e case w hen the

.

capta i n o f a v essel has been carr i ed u ns u spect i ng f a r

ou t Of h i s co u rse b y some u n k no w n c ur ren t or

th r o u gh some m i sta k en rec k on i ng and h as the r eb y

,

run i nt o se ri ous danger i t has b een poss i ble to pre

,

v en t s h i pwrec k b y re p eatedly i mp r ess i ng u pon his

m i nd a f eel i ng tha t someth i ng w as wr ong ; and al
tho u gh th i s gene r all y comes th r o u gh i nto the ca p
ta i n s b r a i n me r el y as a vagu el y w arn i ng i ntuition
’
,

yet i f i t occ ur s aga i n an d aga i n h e is almost certai n

to g iv e i t som e attent i on and ta k e such p r eca u tions
as s u gges t t h emsel v es to h i m .

I n one c ase f o r e x ample i n w h i c h t he maste r of

, ,

a ba rqu e w as m u ch nea r er i n to the land th an h e s u p

posed h e w as aga i n and aga i n p r essed to hea v e the

,

lead and t h o u gh he r es i sted th i s s u ggest i on f o r som e

,

t i me as be i ng u nnec essary and absurd he at last gave,

th e o r de r i n a somewhat hes i tat i ng w ay T he

. r es u l t
12
 73

as t o u nded him and he at once put h i s v essel abo ut

,

an d stood O ff f rom the coast though i t w as n ot u ntil

,

m orn i ng came that he reali z ed h ow v e ry c lo se h e had

b een to an appa l l i ng d i s aster .

O ften howeve r a catastrophe i s ki rm i c i n i ts na

, ,

t ur e and c onse qu entl y cannot be averted ; b u t i t m u st

,

n ot the re f o r e be s u pposed that i n s u ch cases n o he l p

c an be g iv en I t may be that the people concerned

.

are destined to d i e and therefo r e cannot be sa v ed

,

f rom dea th ; b u t i n man y cases they ma y st i ll be

to som e e xt ent p r epa r ed for i t and ma y certa i nl y
,

be helped u po n the othe r s i de a fte r i t i s ov e r In .

deed i t may be de fi n i tel y stated that w he re ver a great

,

catastro p he of any kind takes place there i s a l so a ,

s pecial sen d ing o f he lp .

T wo recent cases in which s u ch help was g i ven

w e r e the s i n ki ng o f the ' ru mm on d Cas tle Off Cape
U shant and the terr i b l e cyclone w h i ch de v astated th e
,

c i ty of St Lo ui s i n A mer ic a O n both these occa

. .
-

’
s ions a f e w m i n u tes not i ce was g iv en and the h el p ,

’
e rs d i d the ir best to calm and r a i se men s m i nds s o ,

that when the shock came u pon them i t w o u ld be les s

di st u rb i ng than i t might othe r w i se ha v e been N at u .

ra l l y ho w eve r the greate r part o f th e w or k done

, ,

wi th th e vi ct i ms i n both th ese c alam i t i es w as don e

u pon the astral plane after they had left their phys
i cal b odies ; but o f this we shall spea k l ater .
 74
It i s sad to r elate how often when some catastro
phe i s i mpend i ng the he lp ers are hindered i n the i r
kin d ly o ffices b y wi l d panic among those whom the
—
danger threatens or sometimes worse sti l l b y a , ,

mad outb u rst o f d runkenness among those whom

they are try i ng to assist Many a shi p has gone to
.

her doom w i th a l most every soul on board mad with

drink an d therefore utt e r l y i nca p a bl e o f p rofiting
,

by any assistance o ffere d either b efore d eath or for

a very l ong time afterwards .

I f i t shou l d ever ha pp en to any o f us to fin d o u r

selves i n a position of imminent d an ger which we
c an do nothing to avert we shou ld try to remem b er
,

that hel p i s certain l y near us and that it rests entirely

,

’
with o u rselves to make the hel p er s work easy or d i f
fi c u lt
. I f w e face the d an ger ca l mly and b rave l y ,

r ecognizing that the true e go can in no way b e a f

fec te d by it our min d s wi l l then be open to receive
,

the gui dance which the he lp ers are tryin g to give ,

and this ca n not b ut be b est for us whether its obj e ct

,

b e to save us from d eath or when that i s im p ossi b le

, ,

to con d uct us safe l y throu gh i t .

Assistance o f this l atter k ind has not infrequently

been given i n cases of acci d e nts to i n d ivi d ua l s as we l l
,

as o f mo r e general catastro p hes I t will be s uffi cient

.

to ment i on one exam p le as an i ll u strat i on o f what i s

meant In on e o f the great storms wh i ch did so m u c h

.
 75

damage aroun d our coasts a few years ago it hap ,

p e n e d that a fishin g b oat was cap size d far out at sea .

The on l y p eo pl e on b oar d were an old fisherman and

a b oy an d the former contrive d to c l i n g for a few
,

minutes to th e overturne d b oat There was no p hys

.

ica l he lp at han d an d even i f there ha d b een in such

,

a ra g i n g storm it wou ld have b een im p ossi bl e for

anythi n g to b e d one s o that the fisherman knew we l l
,

enou gh that there was n o ho p e of esca p e an d that

,

d eath cou ld on l y b e a question o f a few moments .

He fe l t g r e at terror at the p ros p ect b eing es p ecia ll y

,

im p ress e d b y the awfu l l o n e l ine s s of that vast waste

o f waters ,
and he was a l so much tro ub l ed with
thou ghts o f his wi fe an d fami l y an d the d i ffi cu l tie s
,

m which they wou ld b e l eft by his su dd en decease .

A passing he lp er seei n g a ll this en d eavoured to

comfort him b ut -fi n d i n g his min d too m u ch d is
,

tu rbe d to b e im p res s iona bl e she thou g ht it a d visa bl e

,

to show herse l f to him in or d er to assist him the b et

te r
. In re l ati n g the stor y afterwar d s she sai d that
the change which cam e over the fi s h e rm an s face at ’

si ght of her was wo n d e rfu l an d b eauti fu l to see ; with

the shining form stan d ing u p on the b oat ab ove him
he could not b ut think that an ange l had b een sent to
comfort him in his trou bl e an d therefore he fe l t that
,

not on l y wou ld he himse l f b e carried safe ly through

the g ates of d eath but his fami l y wou ld assure d ly be
,
t
 7 6

loo k ed a fter also S o when d eath came to h i m a few

.
,

moments l ater he w as i n a frame o f m i nd ver y d i ff er

,

ent from th e terror and p replexi ty which had previ

ou s ly overcome him ; an d natura l ly when he rec ov

ered consc i o u sness u pon the astra l pl ane and fo u n d

“ ”
the ange l st i l l b esi d e him he fe l t himsel f at home
with her an d was p re p are d to accep t her a d vice as
,

regar d s the new l i fe u p on which he ha d entered .

Some t i me later the s ame he l per was engaged 1n

another piece o f w ork o f very Similar characte r the
‘

story o f which she has since tol d as fo l lows

“
Yo u remember th at steamer that went down i n
the cyclon e at the end of last N ov embe r ; I betoo k
m y se l f to the cabin where abo u t a dozen w omen ha d
been sh u t i n and fo u n d them wa il ing in the most p it
,

i fu l manner sobb i ng and moan i ng w i th f ear

,
. T he
— —
ship had to fo u nder n o a i d was poss i bl e and to
go out of the w orld i n th i s state o f f rant i c te rr o r i s
the worst poss i ble wa y to enter the ne x t So i n .

o r der to ca l m them I mater i ali z ed m y sel f and o f

,

co ur se they thought I was an angel poo r so u ls ; they

,

all f ell on the i r k nees and pra y e d me to save them ,

and on e poor mother p ushed he r baby into my a r ms

i mplor i ng me to save that at least They soon gre w
.

quiet and composed as we talked an d the w ee baby

,

w ent to s l eep smi l ing and present l y they all fell

,

as l eep p eacefu ll y an d I fi ll e d their min d s w ith

,
 77

thou ghts of the heav en wor ld so that the y d i d n ot

-
,

wake u p when the sh i p ma d e her fi nal p lunge down

war d s I went d own w i th them to ensure the i r slee p
.

ing thro ugh the l ast moments and they nev er st i rre d
,

as their s l ee p b ecame death

E v ident ly in this case too those wh o were thus
, ,

helped had not on ly the enormo u s advantage Of be

ing enab le d to meet death calm ly and reasonab l y but ,

a l so the sti l l g reater on e o f b eing receive d on its far

ther shore by on e whom they were a l rea dy d isposed
—
to love an d trust on e who thorough l y understood
the ne w w orl d in which they foun d themse l ves an d ,

cou ld not on l y reassure them as to their safety b ut ,

a d vise them how to or d er their l ives under these

much altere d circ u mstances And this brings u s to
.

the cons i derat i on of on e of the largest and most i m

portant d e p artments o f the work of invisi bl e helpe r s
-
the gu i d ance and ass i stance which they are able to
g ive to the dead .
 CHA P T ER XI I .

W ORK AM O N G TH E ' EA' .

IT is on e o f the many e v i l s resu l tin g from the ah

su rd ly erroneous teaching as to con d itions after death

which i s unfortunate l y current in our western wor l d ,

that those who have recent l y shaken off this morta l

coil are usua ll y much p uzzled an d O ften v ery seri
ou s ly frightened at fin d in g everything so di fferent

f rom what their religion had led them to expect The .

menta l attit u de o f a l arge numb er of such peo pl e w as

pithi l y voiced the other d ay b y an E ng l ish general ,

who three day s after his death met on e o f the b and of

hel p ers whom he had k nown in p hysical l i fe A fte r .

exp ress i ng his great relief that he had at l ast fo u nd

‘

someone with whom he was a bl e to communicate h i s ,

“
first remark was : But i f I am dea d where am I ? ,

’
For i f this i s heaven I don t think much o f it ; a n d i f
”
i t i s he ll it i s b etter than I expecte d
,
.

B u t unfortu n ate l y a far greater n umber take things

less p h i loso p hica ll y They have b een tau g ht that a l l
.

men are destined to eterna l flames e xce p t a favo u red

few wh o are s u perh u man ly g oo d ; and since a v e ry
78
 79

sma ll amount o f sel f examinat i on conv i nces them

-

that they d o not b e l on g to th at category t hey are ,

b ut too often i n a con d ition o f pam c terror d read i ng

,

every moment that the new wor l d in which they fin d

themse l ves ma y d isso l ve and d rop them into the
c l utches of the d ev i l in whom they hav e b een sed u
,

lou s ly taught to b e l ieve In many cases they s p en d

.

l ong perio d s of acute menta l su ff eri n g b efore they

can free themse l v e s from the fata l influence O f this
bl as p h e mous d octrin e of ever l asting p unishment
b efore they can rea l ize that the wor ld is governe d ,

not accor d ing to the cap rice of a hi d eous demon who

gl oats over huma n an gui s h b ut accor d in g to a be
,

n e vo le n t an d wo n d erfu ll y p atient l aw of evo l ution ,

which i s a b so l ute l y j ust in d ee d b ut ye t a g ain and

,

a g ain O ffers to man o pp ortunities of p ro gress i f he ,

wi ll b ut take them at every sta g e of h i s career

,
.

It ou ght in fair n ess to b e me n tione d that it is on l y

among what are ca ll e d p rote s tant communiti e s that
this terri bl e evi l as s umes its most a gg ravate d form .

The g r e at R oman Catho l ic Church with its d oc ,

trine of p ur g atory a pp roaches much more near l y to

,

a conce p tion of the astra l pl ane an d its d evout mem

,

b ers at any rate rea l ize that the stat e in which they
fi n d themse l ve s short l y after d eath is mere l y a tem
p o ra ry one
,
an d that it is their b usi n es s to e n d eavour

to ra i se themse l ves ou t o f it as soon as m ay be b y

 80

i n t ense s p iritua l as p irat i on wh il e they accept an y s uf

,

fe ri n g which may come to them as necessar y for the

wear i ng a w ay o f the im p er f ections i n the i r char
acte r before the y can pass to h i ghe r and br i ghter
regions .

It wi ll thus be seen that there i s plenty o f w or k

for the he l pers to d o among the ne wly d ead for in ,

the vast maj ority o f cases they need to b e calmed an d

reassured to b e comforte d an d i nstr u cted In the
, .

astra l j ust as in the p hysica l wor ld there are many

, ,

who are but l itt l e d is p ose d to take a d vice from those

who k now better than they ; yet the very stran geness
o f the conditions su r roun d in g them renders many o f

th e d ea d wi ll ing to acce p t th e gu idance o f those to

whom these con d itions are obviously fami li ar ; an d

m any a man s stay on that pl ane has b een consider
’

a bl y shortened b y the earnest e ff orts o f this ban d of

energet i c wor k ers .

N ot be i t u nderstood tha t the k arm a o f the de ad

, ,

man can i n any way be interfere d with ; he has bu i lt

for h i mse l f during l i fe an astra l b o d y o f a certain
degree o f dens i ty and unt i l that bod y i s su fficientl y
,

dissol v ed he cannot p ass on i nto the heaven wor l d -

b ey ond ; but he need not lengthen the perio d n ec e s

sary for that process by ado p t i ng an i mproper
att i t u de .

A ll stude n ts ou ght clearly to gras p the truth th at

 81

the l e n gth o f a man s astra l l if e after he has p ut off

’

his p hysica l b o d y d e p e n d s main l y u p on two factors

the n ature o f his past p hysica l l i fe and his attitud e
,
,

o f m i nd a f ter what we ca ll death . ' uring h i s earth

l if e he i s constant l y i n fl uen c mg the buildin g o f mat
ter i nto his astra l b ody He a ffects it d irectl y by the
.

passions emotions and d esire s which he a ll ows to

, ,

h o ld sway over h i m ; he a ff ects it in d irectly by the

act i on upo n it of his thou ghts from above and of ,

—
the d etai l s of his p hysica l l i fe his continence or his
de b auchery his c l ean l iness or his uncleanliness h i s
, ,

—
foo d an d his d rink from b e l ow .

I f b y p ersistence in p erversity a l o ng any o f these

l ines he is so stu p id as to bui ld for himse l f a coarse
and gross astra l vehic le hab ituated to respon d ing
,

on l y to th e l ower vi b ratio n s o f the plane he wil l ,

fin d himse l f aft er d e ath b oun d to that pl ane d u r i ng

an d l on g an d s l ow p rocess of that b o d y s d isinte g r a
’

t i o n O n the other hand i f b y dece n t and careful

.

livi n g he gi ves himse l f a vehicle ma i n l y composed

o f finer material he wi ll have very much l ess p os t
,

m or te m trou bl e and d iscomfort and his evo lu tion

,

w i l l p roceed m u ch more ra p i dl y and easi l y .

This much is genera ll y understoo d b ut the secon d,

—
g reat factor his attitu d e o f mind after d eath
seems Often to b e for g otten The d esirabl e thin g is
.

for him to realize his p os i t i on on th i s par t icular

 82

—
litt l e arc of his evo l ution to l earn that he i s at th i s
sta g e with d rawin g stea d i l y i n ward towards the p lane
o f the true e g o an d that consequent l y it is his b usi
,

ne s s to d isen gage his thou ghts as far as may be from

thin g s physica l an d to fix his attent i on more an d
,

more up on those Sp iritual matters which wi ll occupy

him d urin g his l i fe in the heaven wor ld By doin g
-
.

this he wi ll g reat l y facilitate the natural astra l d i s i n

teg rati on and w il l avo i d the sad l y common mistake
,

o f unnecessari l y d e l aying himse l f upon the l ower

levels o f what should b e so tem p orary a resi d ence .

But many o f the d ea d very consi d era bl y retard

the process of di sso l ution by c li ngin g p assionately to
the earth which they have l eft they sim pl y wil l n ot
turn the i r thoughts and d esires upwar d b ut spend ,

their time i n struggl in g with al l their might to kee p

i n full to u ch with the p hysical plane thus ca u sing
,

great troub l e to an y one who ma y b e try i ng to he lp

them E arth l y matters are the only ones in wh i ch
.

they have ever ha d any l i v i ng i n terest an d they cling

,

to them with desperate tenacity even after death .

Natura ll y as time p asses on they find it i n c reas

i n gly di fficu l t to kee p ho l d of th i n g s down here but ,

i nstea d o f we l coming an d encouraging this p rocess

o f gradua l refinement an d s p iritua l izatio n they resist
i t vi go rous l y b y every mea n s in their p ower .

O f co u rse the mi ghty force o f evolut i on is event

 83

u ally too stro n g for them an d th e y are s w ep t on

,

in its ben efi c en t current yet they fi ght every ste p o f

,

the way thereb y not o n l y causin g themse l ves a vast

,

amount of e n tire l y u n n ece s sary p ain an d s orrow but ,

a l s o very serious l y d e l ayi n g their u p war d p ro g ress

an d p ro l on g i n g their stay i n astra l regions to an
a l mo s t in d efin ite ext e n t I n co n vinci n g them that
.

this i gnorant an d d isastrous o pp osition to the co s mic

wi ll i s contrary to the l aw s of natur e an d p ersua d in g
,

them to a d o p t an attitu d e of mi n d which is the exact

reversa l of it lies a g reat p art of the work O f those
,

who are trying to he lp .

It happ ens occasio n a ll y that the dead are earth

—
b oun d b y anxiety anxiety s ometimes a b out d uties
un performe d or d eb ts un d ischarged b ut more Often
,

on account of wi fe or chi ld ren l eft un p rovided for .

In such case s as thi s it h as more than once b een n e n

c es sary before the dea d man was satisfie d to p u rs u e

,

his u p war d p ath i n p eace that the he lp er shou ld to

,

some extent act as his re p resentative upon the

p hysica l pl ane an d atten d on his b eha l f to the s ett l e
,

ment of the b usiness which was troubl in g him An .

i ll ustration taken from ou r recent ex p erience wi ll

perha p s make this c l earer .

O n e o f the b an d of p u p i l s was tryin g to as s 1s t a

p oor man who ha d d i e d in on e of our w e stern cities ,

b ut fo u nd it imp ossi bl e to withdraw his min d from

 84

earth l y things b e cause o f his an x iety a b o u t two

y o u ng chil d ren whom his death had left w i tho u t
means of s u pport He had been a wor k ing man o f
.

some sort an d had been unable to la y by any mo ney

,

for them ; his w i fe had died some two y ears p revi

ou s ly a n d h i s land l ady ,
tho u gh e x ceedingly kind
hearted and v ery wil l ing to do an ything i n her po w er
for them w as herse l f far too poor to be able to adopt
,

them and v er y re lu ctantly came to the conclusion

,

that she wo u ld be obl i ged to hand them over t o the

par i sh a u thorit i es T his was a great gr i ef to the
.

dead father tho u gh he co u ld not b l ame the landlad y

, ,

and w as himse l f unable to su gg est an y other co u rse .

O u r fr i end as k ed h i m whether he had no re l at i ve

to whom he could entrust them but the f ather k new
,

o f none . He had a y o u nger brother he sa id , w h o

,

wo u ld certa i n ly have done someth i ng for him in th i s

extremity b u t he had lost s i ght O f h i m f or fifteen
,

years and d i d not even know whether he was liv i ng

,

o r d ead . When last heard of he had been appren

t i ced to a carpenter i n the north and he was then
,

described as a stead y young f ellow who i f he l iv ed , ,

wo u ld s u rel y get on .

The clues at hand were certa i n l y v ery s l ight but ,

s i nce there seemed no other prospect o f help fo r th e

children ou r fr i end thought i t worth while to ma k e
,

a spec i a l e ff ort to fol l ow them up Taking the dead

.
 85

man with him he commence d a p at i ent search afte r

the brother in the town indicate d ; an d after a great
deal of tro ubl e they were actu a lly s u ccessfu l i n
fi nding him He was n ow a master carpe nter i n a
.

—
f air l y flourishing wa y o f b u s i ness marrie d but ,

wi thout chi ld ren though earnestl y des i r i ng them an d ,

t herefore a pp arent l y j ust the man for the emergency .

T he question now was how the i n f ormation could

best be conveye d to this b rother Fortunately he
.

was foun d to b e so far im p ressionab l e that the Ci r

c u m s tanc e s of his brother s d eath and the d es ti tu
’

t i on of his chi l dren cou l d b e p ut vivi dl y b efore h i m

i n a dream an d this was repeated thr e e times the
, ,

place and even the name O f the la n d l a d y be i ng c l early

i ndicate d to h i m He was i mmensel y i mpressed by
.

th i s recu rr i ng v i sion and d i sc u ssed it earnestly w i th

,

h i s wi fe w h o ad v ised him to wr i te to th e addres s

,

g i ven T his he d i d not like to do b ut was strongly

.
,

i nclined to travel down i nto the west count ry fi nd ,

o u t whethe r there was such a house as that which

he h a d s een and i f so ma k e s ome e x cuse to call th e re

,
.

He was a b usy man however an d he fi na ll y deci d ed

, ,

’
that he co u ld not a fford to lose a d ay s wor k for
what after all might well prove to b e nothin g b ut
the b aseless fabric of a d ream .

The attempt a l on g these l ines having ap p arently

faile d i t was d ete rmined to try another metho d so
, ,
 86

on e o f the hel p ers wrote a letter to th e man deta i ling

the circumstances o f his b rother s d eath an d the ’

position o f the chi ld ren exact l y as he had seen them

,

in his d ream O n rece i pt o f th i s confirmation he

.

n o longer hesitate d b ut set O ff the v ery next d a y

,

for the town i nd i cated an d was rece i ved w ith open

,

arms by the k ind hearted landlady It h ad be en

‘
-
.

easy enough for the he l pers to pers u ade her goo d ,

so ul that she was to k eep the children wi th her for

,

a few d ays on the chance that something or other

w oul d t u rn up for them and she has ever since ,

congrat u lated hersel f that she did so T he carpen .

ter of course too k the children b ack wi th him and

prov i ded them with a happ y home and the dead ,

father now no lon ger anxio u s p assed rej oici n g on

, ,

his u pward wa y .

S i nce some Theosophica l w r i ters ha v e fe l t it their

d u ty to i ns i st in vigoro u s terms upon the evi l s so
frequ entl y attendant u pon the holding o f spir i tu al
i sti c séances i t is only fair to admit that on several
,

o ccas i ons goo d w ork s i m i lar to that o f the hel p er

i n the case j u st descr i bed has been done thro u gh
the agenc y o f a medi u m o r o f some one present at
a c i rcle . T h u s tho u gh sp i r i tu al i sm has too o ften
,

de ta i ned so ul s w h o b u t for it wo u ld ha ve attai ned

spe ed i e r l i berat i on i t m u st be set t o the cred i t o f i ts
,

acco u nt that it has also furnished the mean s of

 87

e scape to others and thus opened up the path o f

,

a d vancement for them There have b een i n s tances

.

i n w hich the d efunct has b een ab l e to a pp ear unas

siste d to his re l atives or frien d s an d expl ain h i s

w ishes to them ; b ut these are nat u ra lly rare and ,

most so u ls who are earth b oun d b y anxieties of th e

-

ki n d in d icate d c an satisfy th e mse l v e s on ly b y means

o f the service s o f the me d ium or th e conscio u s

h elper .

Another case very frequent l y encountere d on th e

astral p lane is that of the man who cannot b elie v e
that he is d e ad at a ll In d eed most peo pl e consider
.
,

the very fact that th e y are sti l l conscious to be an

abso l ute p roof that they have not p asse d through
the p ortals of death ; somewhat o f a satire this if ,

o n e thinks o f i t on the practica l va l ue of o u r much

,

v aunte d b e l ief i n the immorta l ity of the so ul ' H ow

ever the y may have la b e l le d themse l ves dur i ng l ife ,

the great maj ority o f those who d ie i n this co u ntry

,

at any rate show themselves b y their subsequen t

,

att i tu de to have been to all i ntents and p urposes

mater i alists at heart ; an d those w h o on earth have
honest l y cal l ed themselves so are o ften n o mo re
d i fli c u lt to deal w i th than others wh o w o u ld ha v e
‘

been shock ed at the very name .

A very recent instance was that of a sc i ent i fic man

wh o find i ng himsel f fu ll y consc i o u s and yet u nder
, ,
 88

con d itions differing ra d ica l ly from any th at he ha d

ever exp erience d b efore ha d p ersua d e d h i msel f that
,

h e w as still alive and mere l y the vict i m o f a pro

,

longed and un p leasant dream Fortu natel y for him

.

there happened to b e among the b and of those able to

fu nct i on u pon the astra l pl ane a son o f an old fr i end
o f h i s a y o u ng man whose father had com miss i oned
,

h i m to search for the d eparted scientist and e n d e av

our to ren d er him some assistance When a fter some.

trouble the yo u th fo u nd and accosted him he frank ly ,

adm i tted that he was in a con d ition o f great b ewi l

d e rmen t and d iscomfort b ut still c lu ng des p erat e l y
,

to h i s dream hypothes i s as on the whole the mos t

probab l e explanation o f what he saw and e ven went ,

s o far as to s u ggest that his visitor was nothing but

a dr e am fi gu re h i msel f '
-

A t last however he so fa r gave way as to propos e

, ,

“
a ki nd o f test and sa i d to t h e y oung man
,
I f yo u ,

a r e as y o u assert a l i v i ng person and the s on o f

, , ,

m y old f r i end br i ng me from him s ome m essage

,

”
th at shall p r ove to me yo ur obj ect i ve reality N ow .

altho u gh u nder all ordinary condit i ons o f th e phys

i cal plane the g i ving o f an y ki nd of pheno m enal
p r oo f is str i ct ly forbi dden to the p u p i ls o f the
M asters i t seemed as though a case of th i s ki nd
,

hard l y cam e u nde r the ru les ; and there f o r e w hen ,

i t ha d b een ascerta in ed that there w as n o obj ect i on

 89

on the p art of hi gher authorities an a ppl ication was

,

ma d e to the father who at once sent a message re

,

fe r ring to a series o f events which had occ u rred

b efore the son s b irth T his convince d the dead
’
.

man o f the rea l existence of his young fr i end and ,

therefore o f the plane u p on which the y were both

funct i on i ng ; and as soon as he fe l t this estab lished ,

his scientific training at once reasserted i tse l f and ,

he b ecame excee d ing ea ger to acquire a ll p ossible

i nformation a b out this new re gion .

O f cours e th e me s sa g e which he so readi ly ac

c epte d as e vi d e n ce was in rea l ity no proof at al l ,

since the facts to which it referre d might have bee n

rea d from his own m i nd or from the records o f th e
p ast b y any creature possessed o f astra l s e nses ' But
h i s i gnorance o f these po ssi b i l ities ena bl e d this d efi
n i te i m p ress i on to be made upon him an d the Theo
,

sophical instruction which his yo u ng fr i end i s now

n i ght l y g iving to him wi l l u nd ou b tedly have a stu
pen d o n s e ffect upon his future for i t c annot b u t
,

greatly m od i fy not on l y the heaven state wh i c h l i e s

-

immediate l y b efore him b ut a l so his nex t i ncarna

,

t i on u pon ear th.

The main work then d one for the newly d ea d

, ,

by our h e lp ers is that o f soothing and comforting

—
them of d e liv e ring them wh en p ossible fr om the
t er ribl e t h ou gh u n reasoni n g fear which bu t too o f ten
 90

se i zes them and not only ca u ses them mu ch u nn e

,

c e s s ary su ffering b ut retar d s their progress to highe r

,

—
s p here s an d of enabl ing them as far as may be to
comprehen d th e f uture that l ies b e fore them .

O thers who have b een l onger on the astral plan e

ma y a l so receive much he lp i f they wi ll b ut accept
,

it from e xpl anations an d advice as to their co u rs e

,

throu g h its d i ff erent stages The y may for exam

.
,

ple b e warned o f the d an ger an d d e l ay caused by

,

attempting to comm u nicate with the l ivin g throu gh

a medium and sometimes ( though rar e l y ) an e ntity
,

alrea d y d rawn into a spiritua l istic circ l e may be

gu ided into higher an d healthier li fe Teach i ng .

thus gi ven to persons on this p l ane i s b y no means

lost for thou gh the memory o f it cannot o f course
,

be d i rectly carr i ed over to the next incarnation there ,

a l ways remains the rea l inner know l edge and the r e

,

fore the strong p redispos i tion to accept it i mm ed i

atel y when heard aga i n in the new li fe .

A rather remarkabl e instance o f service rende red

to the dead was the first achievement o f a very recent
—
recr ui t to the b and of helpers o ne wh o is hard ly as
y et a ful l y fl ed ge d mem b er T h i s yo u ng aspi r ant
-
.

had n ot long be fore lost an aged relat i on f or whom ,

h e had f elt an espec i ally warm a ffect i on ; and hi s

ea r l i est r equest was to b e tak en by a mo r e exper
i e n c e d frien d to visit her in the ho p e that he m i gh t
 9 1

be of some service to her T h i s w as d one and th e

.

e ffect o f the meetin g of the living and the d ead was

very b eauti fu l an d touching The o ld er p erson s

.
’

astra l l i fe was a l rea d y a p proachin g its en d b ut a c on

,

dition of a p athy d u ll ness an d uncertainty p rev e nte d

,

her f rom makin g any imme d iate p ro g ress .

But when the b oy who ha d b een so much to her i n

,

earth l i fe stoo d o n ce more b efore her an d d is s o l ve d

-
,

by the sun l i ght o f his l ove the gr ey mist o f de p ression

which ha d gathere d aroun d her she was arouse d
,

from her stu p or ; an d soon s h e un d erstood that he

'

ha d come in order to ex p la i n to her her situ ation ,

an d to te ll her of the gl ori e s o f the hi gher li fe towar d

wh i ch her thou ght s an d as p irations ou ght now to be
di rected But when this was fu l ly realize d there was
.
,

such an awakening o f d ormant fee l in g in her and

such an outrush of d evote d a ffection towards her
earnest youn g he lp er that the last fetters which
,

b oun d her to the astra l l i fe were broken and that ,

on e great o u tb u r st o f love and gr atitu d e swept he r

forthw i th into th e h i gher consc i ousn ess o f the h eav

e n worl d
- .Tr u ly there is no greater and mo r e b ene
fi c en t power i n the u n i verse than that o f pure uns e l f
,

i sh love .
 CHA P T ER XIII .

O T H ER B R A N C H E S O' THE WOR K .

B UT turni n g b ack again now from the al l im p o r -

tant work amo n g the d ead to the consi d eration o f

the work amon g the l i vin g we must b riefly indi
,

cate a great b ranch o f i t wit h out a notice of which

,

ou r account o f th e labours o f ou r i nvisible he lp ers

wo uld in d eed be incomp l ete an d that is the immense

,

a m ount which is done b y su ggestion by S impl y —

pu tting good thou ghts into th e min d s o f those who
are rea d y to rece i ve them .

Let there b e no mistake as to what i s meant here .

—
It woul d b e perfectly easy e asy to a de gree which
w ou l d be q ui te incred ib le to those who d o not u nde r
—
stan d the s u bj ect practica l l y for a he l per to dom
i n ate the mind o f an y average man and ma k e h i m ,

th i n k j u st as he pleased and that wi tho u t a r o u s i ng

,

the fa i ntest s u sp i c i on o f any o u ts i de i nfluence in '

the m i nd o f the subj ect B u t ho w e v e r ad m1rable

.
,

the res u lt m i ght be s u c h a p r oc eed i ng wo u ld be

,

ent i rely i nadm i ss i ble A ll that may be done i s to

.

’
th r ow the good tho ught into the person s m i nd as
93
 93

on e amo ng th e hun d re d s that are constantl y swee p

i ng through it ; whether the man takes it up makes ,

i t h i s own and acts u p on it de p en d s u pon himself

, ,

entire l y Were it otherwis e it is O b vious that a ll

.
,

the goo d karma o f the action w ou l d acc ru e to the

hel p er on l y for the su b j ect wou l d have b een a mere
,

,
—
too l and not an actor which is n ot what is de sire d .

The assistance g iven in this way is excee d in gl y

varied i n character The conso l ation of th ose who
.

are su fferin g or in sorrow at once suggests itse l f ,

as d oe s a l so the en d eavour to g uide towar d the truth

those who are earnest l y seeking it When a person
.

is spen d i ng much anxious tho ug ht u po n some s p ir

i tu al or meta p hysical pro bl em i t i s often p ossi b le
,

to p ut the solution into his m i nd witho u t h i s be i n g

at a l l aware that it comes from externa l a g ency .

A pu pi l too may often b e em pl oye d as an agent

i n what c an har dl y b e d escri b e d otherwise than as
th e a n swering o f p rayer ; for thou g h i t is true that

any e arnest Sp iritu a l d esire s u ch as m ight b e su p

,

pose d to find its exp ression i n pfhyer is itse l f a forc e

,

which automatical l y b rings ab out certa i n res ul t s ,

i t is also a fact that such a spiritual e ffort O ffers an

oppo ftu n i ty of influence to the P owers o f Good o f ,

which they are not slow to take a d vanta ge ; an d it i s

sometime s the p rivile ge of a wi ll ing he l per to b e
ma d e the channe l throu gh which th e ir e ner gy is
 94

po u red fo r th What i s said o f p ray ers i s tr u e to

.

an even g reater extent o f meditation for those to ,

w hom this higher exercise is a possi b i l ity .

Besi d es these more genera l metho d s Of he l p there

are a l so s p ecia l lines open on l y to the few Again .

and again such pu p i l s as are fitted for the work have

been em pl oyed to su gge s t true an d b eautifu l thoughts
to authors p oets artists and musicians ; but obv i
, ,

ou s ly it i s not every hel p er who is ca p a bl e of be i ng

u se d i n this way .

Sometimes though more rare l y it i s poss i b l e to

, ,

warn p ersons o f the d an ger to their mora l develop

ment o f some course which they are p ursuing to ,

clear away evi l influences from ab out some p erson or

place or to counteract the machinat i ons of b l ack
,

magicians It is not often that direct i nstruct i on in

.

the great truths of nature can b e given to p eople ou t

s i de the circle o f occu l t st u dents b ut occasional ly
,

i t i s possible to do someth i ng in that w ay b y p u tting

before the m i nds o f preachers an d teachers a w i der
range o f tho u ght or a more l i b eral vi ew o f some
qu estion than they wo u ld otherwise have taken '

Nat u rally as an Occult st u dent p ro g resses on the

Path he attains a wi d er sphere o f usefulness In .

stead O f assisting in d ivi d ua l s on l y he l earns ho w

,

classes nations and races are dea l t w i th an d he i s

, ,

entr u sted wi th a grad u ally i nc r eas i ng share o f the

 95

higher an d more imp ortant work d one b y the a d epts

themse l ves As he ac q u 1re s the requisite p ower and
.

k now l e dge he b e g i n s to wie ld the g reater forces of

the menta l an d the astra l pl anes an d is shown h ow
to make the utmost possi bl e use o f each favourabl e
cyc l ic influence He is b rou ght into relation w ith
.

those great N i rm an akéyas who are sometimes sym

boli z e d as the Sto n es of the Guar d ian Wa ll an d he
,

—
becomes at first Of course in the very h u mblest
—
capacity o n e of th e b and o f their a l moners and ,

l earns how those forces are dis p ersed which are the
fruit of their su bl ime s e l f s ac ri fi c e Thus he r 1s c s
-

g ra d ua ll y hi gher an d hi gher unti l bl ossoming at

,

l en gth into a d ep tship he i s a bl e to take his fu ll share

,

o f the res p o n si b i l ity which l ies u p on the Masters

o f W i s d om and to help others along the roa d wh i ch

,

he has tro dd en .

O n the mental p lane the wor k d i ffers some

what since teachin g can b e both g iven an d rece i ve d
,

i n a much more d irect ra p i d an d p erfect manner

, ,

while the influences set in mot i on are in fi nit ely more

powerfu l b ecause acting on so much hi gher a l evel
,
.

But ( thou gh it is use l es s to speak of it in d etai l at

p resent since so fe w of us are yet abl e to function
,

conscious l y u p on this pl ane d urin g l i fe ) here a l so

—
an d e ve n hi gher sti ll there i s a l ways pl enty of wor k
to be d one as soon as ever we c an make ourse l ves
,
ca p ab le o f doing i t ; an d there certain l y no fear
that for co u nt l ess aeons we shal l ever fin d ourse l ves
w i tho u t a c are e r o f u nsel fi sh usefu lness O pen be
for e u s
.
 CHA P T ER XI V .

TH E ' UA LI ' I C A TI O N S RE' UI RE' .

H ow, it may b e aske d are we to make oursel ves

,

cap abl e of Sharin g i n this g reat work ? We ll there ,

is n o mystery as to the qua l ifications which are

nee d e d by one who as p ires to b e a he lp er ; the d i f
fi cu lty is not in l earni n g what they are b ut in d ev e l ,

O p i n g them in onese l f To some extent they have

.

b e e n a l rea d y i n ci d e n ta ll y d e scri b ed b ut it i s n e v e r
,

th e le s s as we ll that they shou l d b e set ou t fu ll y and

cate gorica ll y .

I
. Si ng le mi n d e d n es s
-
The first requi s it e i s that
.

w e sha ll have recognize d the great work which the

Masters wou ld have us d o an d that it sha ll b e fo r,

us the on e g reat interest o f ou r l ives We must .

l ear n to d istin gu ish n ot only b etween usefu l an d

use l es s wor k b ut between the di ffe rent kin d s of use
,

fu l wor k so that we may each d evote our s e l ves to

,

th e very hi ghest of which we are ca p a bl e an d not ,

fritter away o u r time in l ab ourin g at som e thing

which however goo d it may b e for th e m an who can
,

not yet d o anythin g b etter is unworthy of the know

,

97
 98

l e d ge an d ca p acity which shou ld b e ours as Theo

S ophists . A man who w i shes to b e co n si d ere d e li gi
ble for em pl oyment on hi gher pl anes mu s t b e gin b y
d o i ng the utmost that l i e s in h i s power in the wa y o f
definite wor k for T h eoso p h y down here .

O f cou r se I d o not f or a moment mean that w e

are to neglect the ordinar y duties o f l i fe W e sho u ld
.

certa i n l y d o we ll to un d ertake no ne w wor ldly duties

o f any sort but those which we ha v e alrea d y boun d
,

up on our sho ul ders have b ecome a k éi rm 1c o bl i g a

t i on wh i ch we have no ri ght to negl ect U n l ess we
.

have done to the fu l l the duties which karma has

laid u p on us we are not free for the higher wor k .

B u t this hi gher wor k must neverthe l ess b e to us the

on e th i ng rea ll y worth l iving for — the constant b ack
g r o u nd o f a li f e which i s consecrate d to the service
o f the M asters o f Com p ass i on .

.2 P erfec t s elf c on tr ol
-
. Before we can be safe l y
tr u sted wi th the w i der p owers o f the astra l l i fe we
,

must have o u rselves perfectl y in hand O ur tem p er

.
,

f or exam p le must b e thorough l y under contro l s o

, ,

that noth i ng that we may see or hear can c ause real

i rritation in us for th e consequences o f such i rr i ta
,

t i on wo u ld be far more ser i ous on that p lane than

on this . T he f orce of thou ght is alwa y s an enor
mous p ower but down here it i s re du ce d an d dea d
,

ened b y the heavy p hysical brain p artic l es wh i ch

-
 99

it has to s e t in motio n I n the astra l wor ld it is far

.

freer an d more p otent an d for a man w ith fu ll y

,

awakene d fa cu l ty to fe e l an ge r against a p erson there

w ould b e to d o h i m ser i ous and perhaps ev en f atal
i nj ur y
.

Not on l y d o we nee d contro l o f temper b ut c on ,

trol O f ner v e so that none o f the fantastic or terri b l e

,

si ghts that we may encount e r may b e a bl e to shak e

ou r d aunt l ess coura ge It must b e remembe r e d that
.

the p u p i l who awake n s a man u p on the astral p l ane

i ncurs thereb y a certain amount of res p onsi b i l ity for
hi s actions and for his safety so that u nless his ,

neo p hyte ha d coura ge to stand a l on e the who l e o f

the O ld er wor k er s time wou ld be wasted in hoverin g
’

roun d to p rotect him which it wou ld be mani fest l y

,

u nreasonabl e to exp ect .

It is to make s ure o f this contro l o f nerve an d to ,

fi t them for th e work that has to b e d one that ca n d i ,

dates are a l ways ma d e now as in d ays o f old to

, ,

p ass what are cal l ed the tests o f ear th water air an d, ,

fi re
.

I n other words they have to l earn with that abs o

,

lute certainty that come s not b y theory b ut b y prac ,

t i ca l exp erience that in their astra l b od ies none o f

,

these e l ements can b y any p ossi b i l ity b e hurtfu l to

—
them that no n e can o pp ose any o b stac l e in th e
w ay o f the w or k which they have to d o .
 1 00

In thi s physica l b ody we are full y convinced that

fire wi ll b urn us that water wi l l d rown us that th e
, ,

so l i d roc k forms an im p assa b le barrier to ou r pro

gr ess that w e cannot with sa fety launch oursel v es
,

uns u pported i nto the amb i ent a i r So deep ly i s th i s

.

conviction e ngrained i n us that it costs most men

a good dea l of e ffort to o v ercome the i nstincti v e
action which fo ll ows fro m it an d to rea l ize that i n
,

the astra l b o dy the d ensest rock o ff ers no i mped i

ment to thei r free d om O f motion that they may leap
,

w i th impunity from the hi ghest c l i ff an d pl unge

,

wi th the most absolute confidence i nto the heart of

the ra g i n g vo l cano or the d eepest a b ysses o f the
fathom l ess ocean .

—
Yet until a man kn ows thi s knows it su fficient ly
to act u p on h i s k nowle dg e instinctivel y and c on fi
—
d en tly h e is comparat i vel y useless for astral w or k ,

s i nce in emergencies that are constant ly ar i sing he

w o u ld be perpetual ly paralyze d b y i maginary d i sa
bi li ti es
. So he h as to go through h i s tests and,

—
thro u gh man y another strange exper i ence to m ee t
face to f ace w i th calm co u rage the most ter ri fy ing
appar i t i ons amid the most loathsome s u rround i ngs
—to Show i n f act that his ner v e may be thorough l y
t ru sted u nde r an y and all of the var i ed groups o f
c i rcumstances i n w h i ch he ma y at an y moment find
hi msel f .
 101

m
F u rthe r we need control o f ui d End
,

o f mind beca u se w i thout the power of concentration

,

it wo u ld be i mpossible to d o good wor k am i d a ll

the distract i ng cu r r ents of the astral plane ; of de
s i re beca u se i n that strange w orld to des i re i s v ery
,

often to have and u nless th i s part of ou r nature

,

were well cont r olled w e might perchance fi nd ou r

selves f ace to face w ith creat i ons o f ou r own of
which we sho u ld b e heart il y ashame d .

.
3 C alm n es s . T h i s is another most important
—
point the absence of all w orr y an d depression .

M u ch of the work cons i sts i n soothing those wh o

are distu rbed and cheer i ng those who are i n so r
,

row ; and h ow can a helper d o that wor k if his o wn

a ur a I S Vi b r at i ng w i th constant fu ss and w orry or ,

grey wi t h the deadly gloom that comes f rom per

p e tua l dep r ess i on ? Nothing is more hopeless ly
f atal to occu lt progr ess or u sefu lness than ou r nine
teen th cent u r y hab i t o f ceaselessly w orryi ng o v e r
tri fl es — O f ete r na ll y mak i ng mountains ou t o f mole

h i lls M an y o f u s s i mply spend our li v es i n magn i

.

—
fyi n g the most abs u r d tr i v i al i t i es i n solemnl y and
elaboratel y going to work to make ourse l ves miser
ab le a b o u t noth i ng .

S u rel y w e w ho are Theosoph i sts o u ght at an y

,

rate to have got beyond th 1s stage of irrat i on al

,

w orry and ca u seless depress i on ; s ur el y w e wh o are

,
 2

ry i n g to ac q u 1re some definite k nowledge o f the

‘

cosm i c or d er ou ght b y this time to have rea li zed

,

th at the o p t i mist i c v i ew o f eve ryth i ng i s always

nearest to the div i ne view an d therefore to th e ,

truth b eca u se only that in an y person which is good

,

and beauti ful can b y any poss ib i l ity b e permane n t ,

whi l e the evi l must b y its very nature b e tem porary .

“
I n fact as Brownin g sai d
,
the e vi l is nu ll is n au ght
, , ,

is si l ence im pl yi n g soun d whi l e a b ove an d b eyon d

,

“
it a l l the sou l o f thin g s is sweet the Heart o f Bein g,

i s ce l estial rest So They who know mai n tain

.

u n ru ffl e d ca l m and w i th Thei r perfect sym p ath y

,

com b ine the j oyous serenity which comes from the

certainty that al l wi ll at l ast b e well ; an d those who
wish to he l p must l earn to fo l low Their example .

4. K n ow l e d g e T o b e
. o f u se the man must at
l east have some know l edge o f the nature O f the plane
o n which he has to work and the more k no wl edge
,

he has in any an d every d irection the more usefu l

he wi ll be He must fit himse l f for this task b y
.

careful l y stu d y i n g Theosophical literature ; for

he cannot expect those whose time i s a l read y so
fu ll y occ u pie d to waste some o f it in expl aining to
him what he mi ght have l earnt d own here b y takin g
the trou b le to read the b ooks No on e who is not .

alrea d y as earnest a stu d ent as his capacities and

 1 03

O pportu nities permit nee d b e gi n to think of h i msel f

,

as a can d i d ate for astral work .

5. Uns e lfi s h n es s It wo u l d
. seem scarcely ne e d
fu l to i nsist u pon th i s as a qua l ification for sure l y
,

everyone wh o has made the l east st udy o f Theoso p hy

must k no w that w hile the slightest taint of sel fi shness
rema i ns i n a man he is not yet fi t to be entrusted
,

with higher powers not yet fit to enter upon a work

,

o f whose ver y essence i t i s that the w orke r sho u ld

forget h i msel f but to remembe r the goo d o f othe r s .

He who is stil l ca p a b le o f se lfi sh thought whose p er,

s on ali ty is sti l l s o strong in h i m that he can a ll ow

himse l f to be t u rne d as id e from h i s w o rk b y f ee l ings

,

o f p etty p ride or su ggest i ons O f w o u nd d d i gnity

e
th at man is n ot yet rea d y to sho w the sel fless devo - t

tion o f the hel p er .

6 L ove This the l ast and greatest of the qu al i

. .
,

fi c ati on s is als o the most misunderstood

,
Most.

em p haticall y i t is n ot the cheap namb y pamby —

,

backboneless sentimenta li sm wh i ch i s alway s o v er

flowing i nto vagu e p l atitudes and gu sh i ng gene r
ali ti e s yet fears to stan d fi rm f o r the r i ght lest i t
,

“ ”
should be brande d by the i g norant as unbrother l y .

What i s wanted is the lo v e which is strong eno u gh

n ot to boast i tsel f b u t to act w i tho u t tal ki ng abo u t
,

i t -the i ntense desire f or serv i ce which i s e v e r on

th e watch for an o p portunity to ren d er i t e ven ,
 1 04

t h o u gh i t prefers to d o s o anon ym o u sl y— the f eel i ng

w h i ch spr i ngs u p i n t he heart o f h i m wh o h as
r eal iz ed the gr eat w or k of the Logos and havi ng , ,

once seen i t k nows that for h i m there can be i n the

,

three w o r lds n o other co u rse b u t to i dent ify h i m

.

sel f wi th i t to the u tmost l i m i t of hi s po w er— to

become i n ho w e v e r h u mble a wa y and a t ho w ever
, ,

great a distance a t i n y channel o f that w ondro u s

,

love o f God which like the p eace of God passeth

, ,

man s understan d ing

’
.

T hese are the q u a l ities toward the possess i on of

whi c h the he l per must ceaselessly s t rive and o f ,

w h i ch some cons i de r able meas u re at leas t m u st be

h i s before he can hope that the Great O nes wh o
stand beh i nd wi ll deem h i m fi t for fu ll a w ak en i ng .

Th e i deal i s i n t ru th a h i gh one y et none need

,

the r e fore t ur n a w a y disheartened n or th i n k that

,

wh i le h e i s s t i ll b u t str u ggl i ng toward i t he m u s t

necessar i l y rema i n ent i rel y u seless on t h e astral
plane for sho rt o f the r esponsibil i t i es and dangers
,

o f that fu ll a w a k ening there i s much that ma y sa f el y

an d u se fu ll y be done.

T here i s ha r dl y one among u s w h o w o u ld n ot

be capable of per f orm i ng at least one defi nite ac t
of me r c y and good wi ll each n i gh t whi l e w e are

aw a y fr om ou r bod i es . O u r condit i on when asleep

i s u s u a l l y on e o f absorpt i on i n tho u ght be it remem
,
 105

—
b ered a carrying Of the tho u ghts tha t h a ve
on

pr i ncipa ll y occupied u s du ring the d ay and especiall y

,

o f the last thou ght in the mind w hen s i n ki ng into

s l eep N ow i f we make that l ast tho u ght a strong

.

intention to go and give help to some on e whom

we know t o b e i n need of it th e so u l w hen freed
,

from the b o d y wi l l u n d oubte dl y carry out that i n ten

tion an d the he l p wi ll b e given There are several
,
.

cases on recor d in which w hen th i s attempt has been

,

ma d e the person thought o f has b een fu l ly c on

,

scious o f the e ffort o f the w o uld be helper and has

-
,

even seen his astra l bo d y i n the act o f carrying out

the i nstructions i mpressed u pon i t .

Indeed n o one nee d sadden himse l f with the

,

tho u ght that he can ha v e n o part nor lot in th i s

glorio u s wor k S u ch a feeling wo ul d be entire ly
.

u ntr u e for e v ery one who can thin k can h elp

,
Nor .

n eed s u ch use ful action be confined to ou r ho ur s o f

s leep . I f y ou k now ( and wh o does n ot ? ) o f some

o n e who is in sorrow or s u ff ering tho u gh y o u ma y
,

n ot be able consc i o u sly to stand i n ast r al f orm b

y
the ir beds i de yo u can ne v ertheless send them lo v
,

i ng thoughts and earnest good wishes ; and b e well

ass u r ed that s u ch thoughts and wishes are real and
—
liv i ng and strong that when you s o send them
they d o actua l ly go an d work you r w ill i n propo r
tion to the strength which y ou ha v e put into them .
 I o6

T ho u ghts a r e th i ngs i ntensel y real th i ngs v i sib l e

, ,

eno u gh to those w hose eyes have been opene d to

see and by thei r means the p oorest man may h ear
,

his p art in the good wor k o f the wor ld as fu ll y as

the richest In this way at least whether we can
.
,

yet funct i on consc i o u s l y up on the astra l p l ane or

n ot we al l can j oin and we a l l o u ght to j oin the
, , ,

army of invisi bl e he lp ers .

But the as p irant who de fi n i te ly des i res to become

,

on e o f the b and o f astra l he l pers who are working

u nder the d i rection o f the great Masters o f Wis d om ,

will ma k e his preparation p art o f a far w i der scheme

o f d eve l opment . Instea d o f mere l y endeavouring to
fit himse l f for this p articu l ar b ranch o f their service ,

he wi ll u n d ertake with high reso l ut i on the far greater

task o f training himse l f to follow 1n their foot
steps o f bending a ll the energies o f his sou l to
,

attain even as the y have attained so that his p ower

,

o f helping the worl d may not be confined to the

astra l pl ane b ut may extend to those hi gher levels

,

which are the true home of the d ivine s e l f of man .

For him the p ath has been mar k ed ou t long ago

by the w i sdom o f those who have trod d en it in
—
days o f old a path o f se l f d eve l o p ment wh i ch
-

sooner or l ater a l l must fo ll ow whether they choose

,

to a d op t i t o f the i r o wn fre e w il l o r to wait until

, ,

a f t e r m any l i ves and an infinity o f su fferin g th e,

 1 07

S lo w resist l ess force o f e vo l ution d rives them a l on g

,

i t amon g the l a ggards o f the h u man fami l y But .

the wise man i s h e wh o ea g er l y enters u pon it imme

d i ate ly setting his face resolute l y toward the goal
,

o f a d eptsh ip in o rder that b eing safe for ever from

, ,

all do u bt and fear and sorrow himse l f he may he lp

,

o thers into safety an d ha pp iness also . What are the

steps o f this P ath of Ho l iness as the Bu d dhists ca l l
,

it and in what or d er they are arranged l et u s see

, ,

i n ou r next chapter .
 C H A P T ER XV

TH E P R O B A T I O N A RY P A T H .

E AS T E RN b ooks tel l us that there are fo u r means

by which a man may b e b rought to the b eginning
o f the path o f spirit u a l a d vancement I By the .

companionshi p of those who have a l rea dy entered

up on i t 2 B y the hear i ng or reading o f d efinite
. .

teaching on occu l t phi l oso p hy 3 By enl i ghtene d . .

r eflection ; that is to say that by sheer force o f hard

,

think i ng and close reasoning he may arrive at the

truth or some portion O f i t for himsel f 4 B y t h e
, ,
. .

p r act i ce o f virt u e which means that a long ser i es

,

o f v i rtuous li ves though i t does n ot necessari l y i n

,

v olve any increase o f inte ll ectua l ity does eventu ally ,

deve l o p e in a man su ffi c i ent intuition to ena bl e him to

rasp the necessity f n te rm g u pon the path and
g o e ,

show h i m i n what direction it l ies .

When by on e or another of these means ,he h as

,

arr i ved at th i s p oint the way to the h i ghest adept

,

ship li es st r a i ght before him i f he chooses to tak e

,

i t In wr i ting fo r st u dents o f occult i sm i t i s hardl y

.

necessary to sa y that at ou r present stage o f de v elop

I ce
 1 09

ment we cannot expect to learn a l l or near ly all

, ,

ab out any b ut the l owest ste p s of this p ath ; whilst

o f the hi ghest we k now l itt l e b ut the names though,

w e may get occasiona l gl imp ses o f the indescri b abl e

glory which surrounds them .

Accordin g to the esoteric teach i ngs these step s are

grou p e d in three great divisions
I
. The pro b ationary perio d before any d efin i te
,

pledges are taken or initiations ( in the full sense

,

o f the wor d ) are g iven . This carries a man to the

l eve l necessary to p ass successfu ll y throu gh what i n
Theoso p hical b ooks is usua ll y ca ll ed the critic al
p eriod o f the fifth roun d .

2
. The period of pl e dge d d isci pl eshi p or the path
,

p roper whose four sta ges are often Sp oken o f in

,

O rienta l b ooks as the four p aths o f ho l iness A t .

—
the end o f this the pup i l o b tains a d e p tshi p the level
which humanity shou l d reach at the close of the
seventh roun d .

3
. What we may venture to ca ll the o fi
f cial period ,

i n which the ade p t takes a d e fi n ite p art ( u n d er the

great Cosmic Law ) i n the government of the world ,

an d ho ld s a Spec i al O ffice connecte d therewith O f .

co u rse every a d ep t— every p u p i l even when once

,

d efinite l y accep ted as w e have seen in the ear l ier

,

—
cha p ters ta k es a p art in the g reat work of he lp ing
for w ar d the e v o l ution o f man ; b ut those standing on
 1 10

the h igher levels take char ge of s p ecia l de p artments ,

and corres p on d in the cosmic scheme to the ministers

Of the crown in a w e ll or d ere d earth l y state
-
It .

i s not p ro p ose d to make an y attem p t in this b ook to

treat o f this o fficia l p erio d ; n o information abo u t
i t has ever b een ma d e p ub l ic an d the who l e su b j ect
,

is too far a b ove our com p rehension to be p ro fi ta bly

d ea l t w ith i n p rint We wi ll confine oursel v es there
.

fore to the two ear l ier divisions .

Be fore g oing into d etai l s o f the p ro b ationary

p erio d it is we l l to ment i on that i n most o f the
E astern sacre d b ooks this sta g e i s re garded as
mere l y p re l iminary an d scarce l y as p art o f the p ath
,

at all f or they consi d er that the l atter i s rea l ly

,

entere d u p on only when d efinite pl e dges have b een

given Consi d era bl e confusion has b een created by
.

the fact that the num b ering of the s tages occasiona l ly

commences at this point thou gh more Often at the
,

begin n ing o f the second g reat d ivision ; sometimes

the sta ges themselves are counte d an d sometimes the
,

i nitiatio n s l eadi n g into or out o f them so that i n ,

i

studying the books one has to b e p er p etua ll y on one s ’

gu ard to avo i d misunderstandin g .

T h i s p ro b ationary p erio d however d i ffers con

, ,

s i d e rably in character from the others ; the d iv i s i ons

between i ts sta ges are l e s s d eci d e dl y marke d than

are those o f the higher groups an d the req ui rement s
,
 I I I

are not so definit e o r so e xacti n g But it wi ll be

.

ea s ier to expl ain thi s l ast p oi n t aft e r g ivi n g a l ist

o f the five s ta g e s o f this p e rio d with their re spe c
,

tive qua l ifications The first four were very a bly

.

descri be d b y M r Moh i n i Mohun Chatterj i in the

.

first Transaction of the London Lo dge to wh i ch ,

readers ma y b e referre d for fu ll er d efinitions of

the mthan c an b e g iv e n here Much e xcee d ingl y
.

va l ua bl e informatio n a b out them is a l so g iven b y

Mrs Besant i n her b ook s Th e P a th of ' i s ci ples h i p
.

an d I n th e O u ter Cou r t .

The names g iven to the sta ges wi ll d i ffe r some

what for i n those b ooks th e Hin d u Sanskrit ter
,

m i n ology was e m pl oye d wher e as the Pé li n omen

,

c latu re use d here is that o f the Bu dd hist system ;

b ut a l thou gh the su b j ect is thus a pp roache d from

a di fferent side as it were the qua l ifications exacted
.
,

wi ll b e fo u n d to b e p recise l y the same in e ffect even

when the outwar d form var i es In the case o f each
.

wor d the mere d ictionary mean i n g wi ll first b e g iven

i n p arenthese s and th e expl anation of it which is
,

u suall y g iven b y the t e acher wil l fo ll o w The first .

stage th e n , i s ca ll e d among Bud d hists

,
.

I
. Man od vé rav aj j ana ( the o p enin g o f the d oors
o f the min d or p erha p s e sca p in g b y the d oor of th e
,

—
min d ) an d i n it the candidate acquires a firm intel
lect u al conviction Of the i mp ermanence and w o r th
 I IZ

lessness of mere earth l y aims This i s o ften descr i bed

.

as learning the d i fference b etween the real an d th e

u nreal ; and to learn i t o ften takes a l on g time and
man y hard lessons Yet i t i s Ob v i o u s that i t m u s t
.

be the fi rst step to w ard an yth i ng li k e real progress ,

for n o man can enter w hole hearted l y upon the p ath

-

“
u nt il he has definitel y dec i ded to set h i s a ffection
”
u pon things a b ove not on things on the earth and
, ,

that decis i on comes from the certainty that nothin g

on earth has an y va l ue as compare d with the hi g her

li fe T his step 15 ca ll e d b y the Hindus the acquire

.

ment o f Vi ve k a or discrimination an d M r S innett

,
.

s p eak s o f i t as the giving a l legiance to the h i gher

sel f
.

2 . Pari kamm a ( preparat i on f or act i on ) the

-

stage in wh i ch the can d idate learns to do the r i ght

merel y because it is right without consider i ng h i s
,

own ga i n o r loss either in th i s w orld or the future ,

and acqui res as the E astern boo k s put it perfec t

, ,

i nd i ff erence to the enj oyment o f the fruit o f his

ow n actions . T his i ndi ff erence i s the natural res u lt
o f the p revio u s step ; for when the neo p hyte has once

gr asped the unreal and i mpermanent character O f

all earthly rewards he ceases to crave for them ;
,

w hen once the rad i ance o f the real has shone upon
the so ul noth i ng be l ow th at can an y longer be an
,
 1 13

obj ect of d es ir e This h i ghe r i nd i ffe r ence i s call ed

.

by the H i nd u s Vai réi gya .

3 . U p a c h é
i ro ( attention o r conduct ) the
- stag e
“
i n wh i ch w hat are called the s ix qu a l i ficat i ons ( th e
Sh atsampatti o f the Hind u s ) m u st be ac quir e d .

T hese are called i n Pétli

( ) —
a Samo ( qu i etude ) that pur i t y and ca l mnes s

o f tho u ght which cames from perfect control o f th e

—
mind a qu alification excee d ingl y d i fli c ult o f attain ‘

ment and yet most necessary fo r un l ess the mind

, ,

mo v es onl y i n obe di ence to the gui dance of the wi l l

’
i t cannot be a per f ect instrument f o r the M aste r s
w ork i n the fu tur e T his quali fi cation i s a v e ry
.

comp rehensi v e one an d i ncl u des wi th i n i tsel f bo th

,

the sel f control and the calmness wh i ch w ere de

-

s c r ibed i n chapter xiv as necessar y f or astral w o rk

. .

( )
1
7 ' amo ( s u bj ug at i on ) — a sim i la r mas t e ry
o v er and therefo r e p u r i ty i n one s act i ons and w or ds
, ,
’

— a qu a li ty wh i ch aga i n f o l lo w s necessar i l y f ro m its

p re d ecessor .

( ) Up
c a ra ti ( cessat i on ) — e x pla i ned as cessat i o n

from b igotr y or from b e li e f i n the necess i ty o f an y

act or ceremon y prescribed by a particu lar relig i o n
— so leading the asp i rant to i ndependence o f tho u ght
and to a wide and generous tolerence .

( )
d T i ti k k h é ( endurance o r forbearance ) — b y
w hich i s meant the rea d iness to b ear with cheerfu l
 1 14

’
ness whatever one s karma may br i ng upon on e and ,

to p art w i th anythin g and everything wor ld l y when

ever i t may be necessary It a l so i nclu d es the idea
.

o f com pl ete absence of resentment for wrong the

,

man know i ng that those wh o d o him w rong are but

the instruments of his own karma .

( )
e S a m é d h é n a ( intentness ) — o n e :
po i n t e d n e s s

i nvolv 1n g the inca p ability o f being turn e d asi d e from

’
one s path b y temptat i on T his corresponds v ery
.

close ly wi th the s i ngle m i n d n e ss spo k en o f i n the

-

previous chapter .

( f) S a d d h é ( fa i th ) — c on fi d e n c e i n one ’
s M aster
and onese l f : confidence that i s that the M aster i s
, ,

a competent teacher and that however d i fli d en t the

, ,
‘

p u p i l ma y feel as to his own powers he has yet ,

w i th i n h i m that d i v i ne s p ark wh i ch when f anned into

a flame w i ll one day enable h i m to ach i e v e e v en as
h i s Master has done .

4. Anuloma ( d ir ec t order o r s u ccess i on , s ig n ify

i ng that i ts attainment fo l lows as a natural con se
e n c f rom the other three ) — the stage in which
q u e

i s acquired that i ntense d es i re for li b eration from

earth l y lif e an d for u n ion with the hi ghest whic h
, ,

i s ca ll ed b y the Hin d us Mu muk sh atva .

G trabh fi ( the con d ition o f fi tness for in i t i a

5. o

tion ) i n this sta g e the can d idate gathers u p as i t ,

were his p re v ious acquisitions and strengthens them

, ,
 1 15

to the degree necessary for the next great step which ,

w i ll set his feet u p on the p ath p ro p er as an accep ted

pupil T he a ttainment of this l eve l is fo ll owe d very
.

rap i dl y b y initiation into the next g ra d e I n answer

.

to the quest 1on W h o is the Gotrabh fi

“
, Bu dd ha
“
says The man who is in p ossession of those con
,

d i ti on s u p on which the commencement o f san c ti fi

—
cation imme d iate ly ens u es h e is the Gotrabh fi ”
.

T he wisdom necessary fo r the reception of the

path of ho l iness i s ca l led Gotrabh fi gu ana -
.

Now that w e have hasti l y gl ance d at the steps o f

the p robationary p erio d we must emp hasize the p oint
,

to which reference was ma d e at the comme nce

—
ment that the p erfe c t attainment of the s e acc om
p l i s h m e n ts and qua l ifications is not ex p ecte d at this
early stage As M r Moh i n i says If a ll these are
. .
“
,

equa ll y strong adeptshi p is attained in the same

,

i ncarnation But such a result is o f course ex

trem e ly rare . It i s in the d irection of these acquire
ments that the can d idat e must c aselessly str i ve but ,

it wou l d be an error to su pp ose that no one has b een

admitted to the next ste p without possessin g all o f
them i n the ful l est p ossi bl e degree N or d o they
.

necessarily fol l ow one a n other i n the sam e d e finite

or d er as the later step s ; in fact in many cases a
,

man wo u ld be deve l o p i n g the various qua l ifications

 1 16

—
a l l a t th e same time rather si d e b y si d e than i n reg
ular s u ccession .

It i s o bvi ous that a man might easi l y be w orki ng

along a great part o f this p ath e v en though he w as
q ui t e u na w are o f i ts v er y ex i stence and no doubt
,

man y a good Christian many an earnest f reeth i nke r

,

i s al r ead y far on the road that will eventual l y lead

him to i n i t i at i on though he may nev er have heard
,

th e w o r d occ ul t i sm i n his li fe I mention these

.

t w o c lasses espec i all y beca u se i n every other r eli gi on

,

occ u lt de v elopment i s r ecognized as a poss ib ility ,

and w o u ld certa i nl y there fore be i ntentionall y

sough t b y those wh o f elt y earn i ngs fo r someth i ng
more sat i s factory than the exoter i c f aiths .

W e m u st also note that the steps o f th i s proba

ti onary pe ri od are n ot separated b y i n i t i at i ons i n

th e fu ll sense o f the w ord tho u gh the y w i ll cer

,

tai n ly be studded wi th tests and tr i als o f all sorts

and on all planes and may b e relie v ed b y e n cou rag

,

i ng e xp er i ences and b y h i nts and help w hene v e r

,

t hese ma y sa f el y be g iv en We are apt somet i me s

.

to u se the word i n i tiat i on some w hat loosely as for

'

e xample when i t i s appli e d to such tests as ha v e j u st

‘

been ment i oned ; properl y s p ea k ing i t re fers onl y to

the solemn ceremon y at wh i ch a p u p i l i s f ormall y
adm i tted to a higher grade b y an ap p o i nted o ffi c i al ;

wh o i n th e name of the O ne I n i t i a t o r r ece iv es h i s

 1 17

pl i ghte d v ow and puts into his hands the new key

,

o f know l edge which he is to use on the l eve l to which

he has n ow atta i ned Such an i nitiation i s taken at

.

the entrance to the d i v i sion which we sha l l next con

s i der an d also at each p assa ge from any on e of its
,

s teps to the next.

 C H A P T ER XV I .

TH E P A T H P R O P ER .

IT i s in the fo u r sta ges of this div i sion of the p ath

that th e ten Sam y j
o a
,
n a o r fetters which bind man

to the c i rc l e o f reb irth an d ho l d him b ack from

Nirv a na must be cast off And here comes the
,
.

d i fference between this p eriod o f p l edged d i scip l e

ship an d the prev i o u s p ro b ation No partial suc
.

cess in getting rid of these fetters is su fli c i en t now ;

be f ore a candidate c an p ass on from one of the steps
to the next he m u st be e n ti rely free from ce r ta i n
o f these clogs ; and when they are en u merated it will

be seen ho w f ar reach i ng this r e qu irement i s and

-
,

there w i ll be li ttle cause to wonde r at the statement

made in the sac r ed b oo k s that seven i ncarnat i ons are
somet i mes require d to pass th r o u gh th i s d iv i s i o n of
the pa th .

E ach o f these fo u r steps or stages i s aga i n d i v i ded

i nto f o u r for each has ( 1 ) its Maggo or way d ur , ,

i ng w h i ch the st u dent i s st ri v i ng to cas t O ff the fet

t e r s ; ( 2 ) i ts Phala ( res u lt o r fr ui t ) when he fi nds
th e res u lts o f h i s ac t i on i n so do i ng show i ng them
118
 1 19

sel v es more and more ; ( 3 ) i ts B h avagga or con

summation the perio d when the resu l t h avi n g cu l
, ,
‘

m i n ated he is a b le to fufi l satisfactori l y the wor k

,

b elonging to the ste p on which he now firm l y stands ;

an d ( 4 ) its Gotrabh fi meaning as before the time
, , ,

w hen he arr i ves at a fit state to receive the next i n i ti

at i o n The first sta g e is
.

.I Sotépatti or Sohan T he pupil who has at

.

tai n e d this l eve l is s p oken of as the Sowani or Soti

—
pann a h e who has entered the stream
“ ”
b eca u se ,
-

from this period thou gh he may l inger though h e

, ,

may succumb to more refine d temptations an d tur n

aside from his course for a time he can n o longe r ,

fall back altoge ther from Sp irit u a l ity an d b ecome

a mere worl dl ing He has entered upon the stream
.

o f de fi n i te highe r h u man evolution u pon wh i ch all ,

h u man i ty must enter by the mid d le o f the n ext

r o u nd u nless they are to b e left b ehind as tempora ry
,

f a i l u res by the great life wave to wa i t for fu r ther

-
,

progress until the ne x t cha i n O f worlds .

T he p upi l who i s a b le to t ake this i n i t i ation h as

th ere f ore already outstr ipped the maj or i ty o f human
i ty to the extent o f an entire ro u nd o f all ou r seven
planets and i n do i ng so has defi nite l y secured h i m
,

sel f aga i nst the poss i b i l i ty of falling out o f th e

strea m i n the fifth ro u nd He i s consequent l y some
.

” “ ”
ti mes spoken o f as
“
the sa v ed or the safe one .
 1 20

I t is f rom a misunderstan d ing of th i s i d e a that the r e

ar i ses the curio u s theory o f salvation p romu l gated
b y a certain sect i on o f the Chr i stian comm u nity .

”
T he aeonian sal v at i on o f wh i ch some o f its doc u
ments spea k i s not as has been b l asphemo u sl y s u p
,

posed b y the ignorant from eternal tortu re b ut sim

, ,

pl y from w ast i ng the rest of th i s aeon or d i spensation

b y fa l ling ou t o f its l i ne o f progress T his also i s
.

the mean i ng nat u ra l l y o f the celebrated cla u se i n

, ,

“
the Athanasian Creed Whosoev er wi l l be saved
, ,

before a l l things i t i s necessary that he ho l d the

”
cathol i c faith ( See Th e Ch ri s ti an Cre ed p ,
.

T he fetters w hich he m u st cast off b efore he can pas s

i nto the next stage are :
I
.
—
Sakkéiyad i tth i the del u s i on o f se l f .

.
—
2 V i c h i k i c h c h h a d o u bt or u ncerta i nt y .

3. S i labbataparé mé s a — s u perst i tion .

“ ”
T he fi rst O f these i s the I am I consc i o u sness ,

whi ch as connected wi th the pers onali ty i s noth i ng

bu t an i llus i on and m u st be got rid of at the v er y
,

fi rst step o f the r eal up ward path B u t to cast off

.

th i s f ette r completel y means even mor e th an th i s ,

for i t i n v olv e s th e r eal iz at i on O f the f act that th e

i nd ivi d u al i ty als o i s i n v e ry t ru th one w i th the A ll ,

t h at i t can the r e fore ne v e r h av e an y i nte r est s O ppos ed

to those of i ts b r e thr en and th at i t i s most t ru l y pro
,

g r ess i ng w hen i t most ass i st s the prog r ess o f othe r s .

 121
“

' or the v er y sign and seal of the atta i nmen t of

th e Sotépatti l eve l is the first en trance of the p u p i l
—
i nto the p l ane next ab ove the menta l that which
we us u a ll y call the b u dd h i c It may be nay i t
.
— ,

—
w il l be the merest to u ch o f the lowest sub p l ane of -

that stupendousl y exalte d condit 1on that the pu pil

can as yet exp erience even w i th his Master s help ;
,
’

b u t even that to u ch is something that can never be

—
forgotten something that opens a new wor ld before
him an d e ntire l y revo l utionizes his fee l i n gs an d con
,

c e pti on s Then for the first time b y means o f the

.
,

exten d ed consciousness o f that p l ane he truly real

,

izes the underl ying unity of a ll not as an inte ll ectu al

,

conception me r el y but as a defi nite fact that is paten t

,

to his opened eyes ; then first h e r ea lly knows some

—
th i ng of the world in which he l i v es then fi rst he
gets some sl i ght gl impse of what the love and com
passion o f the great Maste r s m u st b e .

As to the second l etter a w ord of ca u t i on i s n e

,

c ess ary . We who have been trained i n E uropean

ha b its of tho u ght are unhapp i l y so f a m i lia r w i th the
i dea that a b li nd u nreason i ng adhes i on to ce r ta i n
do gmas m a y be cla i med fr om a d i sc i ple that on ,

hearin g t h at occu lt i sm con s i ders d ou bt as an obstacle

to progr es s we are li k ely to suppose that it also re
,

r e qu ires th e same u n questioning fa i th f rom i ts fol

 1 22

lowers as modern superst i tions d o No i dea co u ld

.

be more entire l y false .

It is true that d oubt ( or rather u ncerta i nty ) on

certa i n quest i ons is a b ar to s p iritu a l progress b u t
,

the ant i dote to that doubt i s not b li n d faith ( w h i ch

i s i tsel f considered as a fetter as wi l l presen tl y b e
,

seen ) but the certa i nty o f conviction foun d ed on

i ndiv i d u al exp er i ment or mathematical reasoning .

While a child d oubted the accuracy of th e mu l ti pl i

cat i on ta b le he wou l d hard l y acquire p rofici e ncy i n
the hi gher mathematics ; b ut his d oubts cou l d be
sat i sfactorily cleare d u p on l y b y his attaining a com
prehension foun d e d on reasoning or exper i ment
, ,

that the statements contained in the tab l e are true .

He believes that tw i ce two are fo ur not mere l y ,

beca u se he has b een told so b u t because i t has become

,

to h i m a s el f ev i dent fact
-
. And th i s is exactl y the
met h od and the onl y method o f resolv i ng do ubt
, ,

k nown to occ u ltism .

V i c h iki c h c h h éi has been d efined as do u bt o f the

doct r ines o f k arm a and reincarnat i on and of the
,

e ffi cacy o f the method of atta i n i ng the h i ghest good

b y th i s p ath of holiness ; and the casting off o f this
Samyoj ana i s the arriving at absolute certa i nty b ased
,

either u pon pe r sonal fi rs t hand k nowle d ge or u pon

-

reason that the occu l t teaching u pon these poi nts is

,

tr u e
.
 1 23

T he third fetter to b e got ri d o f comprehends all

ki n d s of unreasoning or mistaken be l ief a l l d e pe nd ,

ence on the e fficacy o f outwar d r i tes and ceremonies

to puri fy the heart . He who wou l d cast i t off m u st
l earn to depend u pon himself alone n ot u pon othe r s
, ,

n or up on the outer husk o f an y re li gion .

The fir s t three fetters are in a coherent seri es .

T he d i fference b etween indiv id uality and persona li ty

being fu ll y rea l ized it i s then p ossi bl e to some extent
,

to app reciate the actua l cour s e of r e incarnat i on and ,

so as to d is p el all d ou b t on that h e ad This d one the

.
,

k nowledge o f the spiritu al perma n e n ce o f the true

’
e g o gives rise to r e l iance on one s ow n s p iritua l
stren g th and so dis p e l s su p erstition
,
.

I I Sakad égémi The p up il who has entered

. .

u po n this second stage is s p oken Of as a Sak rid é

gamin — “
the man who returns b u t once ”
— si gni fy
ing that a man who has reache d this l evel shoul d nee d
b u t on e more incarnation before atta i n i ng arah at
sh i p At th i s s tep no additional f etters are cast off
.
,

but the p u pil i s occupied i n re d uc i ng to a m i n i m u m

those w hich sti l l enchain him It is howeve r u s u
.
, ,

al l y a period o f consi d era bl e p sychic an d inte ll ectual

advancement .

I f what are common l y ca ll ed p sych i c f ac ul t i es h a v e

not b een p revious l y acquire d they must b e developed
,

a t thi s s ta g e as without th e m it wou ld be im p ossible

,
 124

to ass i milate the k nowledge w h i ch m u s t n ow be

gi ven or to do the higher work for h u manity i n
,

w hich the pup i l is now privileged to assist He m u st .

h ave the astral consc i o u sness at his co mmand d uri n g

hi s phys i cal w ak i ng li fe and d uri ng sleep the heav en
,

—
w orld wi l l b e open b efore h i m for the conscio u snes s
o f a man w hen awa y f rom h is physical bod y i s

always on e stage higher than i t i s w hile he i s still

b u r d ened w i th the house of flesh .

I I I A n é g é mi
. . The An égé m i n ( he who d oes n ot
r et u rn ) is so called because having reache d th i s
,

stage he o u ght to be a b le to attain the next one i n

,

the li fe he is then living He e n j oys wh i le mo vi ng

.
,

thro u gh the round o f his dail y wor k all the splen ,

d i d possibil i t i es o f progress g iv en b y the fu ll pos

session o f the p r i celess facu l ties o f the hea v en w o r ld -
,

and when he leaves his phy s i ca l veh i cle a t n i ght h e

enters once more i nto the wonderfu ll y wi dened c on -

s c i ou s n e s s tha t b elongs to the b u ddh i In this step

.

h e fi na l ly g ets rid o f an y l ingering r emains o f the

two f etters o f
4
. K a m a r é ga— attac h ment to the enj o y ment o f
sensat i on typ i fie d b y earth l y l ove and
, ,

.
5 P a t i g h a — all poss i b i lit y o f ange r o r hatred .

T he st u dent w ho has cast off these f e tte r s c an no t

longer be swa yed b y the i nfl u ence o f hi s senses e i th er

i n th e direction o f lo v e or hatred an d i s fr ee fro m
,
 1 25

e i the r attachment to or impat i enc e of phy s i cal pl ane

cond i t i ons
.

Here aga i n w e m u st gu ard aga i nst a possible m i s

—
conce p tion one w ith which we frequently meet .

T he purest and no bl est human l o v e n ever d ies a w a y

— i s n ev er in an y way d iminished b y occu l t tra i ning ;
on the contrary it is increased an d wi d ened unti l it
,

embraces a ll w ith the same fervor which at fi rst

w as l avished on On e or two B u t the stu d ent d oes
.

i n t i me rise above a ll considerations connected with

the mere p ers onali ty of those aro u nd him and s o i s ,

f ree from a l l the i nj ustice an d partial i ty w h i ch or

d i n ary love so o ften b r i n g s in its train .

Nor should it for a moment b e su p posed that in

ga i n i ng this wide a ffection for a ll he loses the
es p ecial love for his closer fr i ends T he un u s u all y
.

perfect link between Anan d a and the B u ddha as ,

bet w een S J ohn and J esus i s on recor d to p ro v e

.
,

that on the contrary this is enormo u s l y i ntensified ;

and the t i e b etween a Master and his pupils i s
st r onger far than any earth l y b ond ' or the aff ec
.

tion wh i ch flo u rishes u p on the path of ho l iness is an

a ffection b etween egos an d not mere l y b etween p e r
,

s on ali ti e s ; therefore it is strong an d p ermanent with ,

ou t fear of d iminution or fluctuation for i t i s that

,

“ ”
perfect love which casteth ou t fear .

I V A rah at ( the v e nera b le the perfect )

.
, On.
 1 26

att a i n i ng this l eve l the as p irant constantl y enj oy s

the consciousness o f the b u dd hic pl ane and is ab le
,

to use its powers and facu l ties whi l e still i n the

physica l b o d y ; and when he l eaves that b o d y in sleep

o r trance he p asses at once into the unuttera bl e glory

o f the n i rv fin i c plane . In th i s sta ge the occultist

must cast off the l ast remnants o f the five r ema i n i ng
f etters wh i ch are
,

—
6 R fi paré ga des i re f or bea u ty o f form o r f or
.

ph y s i cal existence i n a form eve n i nc lu ding that i n

,

the h eaven world -

.

7 . A r fi p ar a g a — d es i re f or formless . l if e
.
—
8 M a no p r i de .

9 . U d d h a c h c h a— a gi tation or i rr i t a bi l i
. t y
10 Avijj é
.
— i gnorance .

O n th i s we may remar k that the cast i ng off o f

R fi paréga i nvo l ves not only gett i ng r id of d esire f o r
earth l y li fe however g rand or no bl e that li fe may
,

be and astral or d ev ac h an i c l i fe however gl orious

, , ,

b u t als o o f al l l ia b i li ty to b e undu l y influenced or

r epelled by the e xternal bea u ty or ugliness of any
person or th i ng .

—
A rii p aréga des i re f or l if e e i ther i n the h ighes t
and formless p lanes o f the heaven world or i n the
-

—
st i ll more exa l ted budd hi c pl ane would be merel y
a hi gher an d l ess sensua l form of se l fishness and ,

m u st be cast off j ust as much as the lower U dd h a .

 1 27

“
ch cha real l y mean s liabi l ity to b e disturb e d in
min d an d a man who ha d fina ll y cast off this fetter
,

wou ld be abso l ute l y u n ru flle d b y anything what

—
ever that mi ght ha pp en to him p erfect l y i mp ervio u s
to any kin d o f attack u p on his d i gnifie d serenity .

The gettin g rid o f i gnorance o f co u rse imp l ies

h
t e acqu i s ition o f p erfect know l e dg e — p ractical om
n i sc i e n ce as re gar d s our pl anetary chain . When a l l
the fetters are fina ll y cast off the a d vancing eg o
—
reaches the fifth sta g e the stage of fu l l adeptship
an d becomes
V A sekh a the on e who has no more to learn
.
, ,

a gain as regar d s our p lanetary chain . It is quite

i m p ossi bl e for us to rea l ize at our p resent level what
this a ttai n ment means A ll the s pl end or of the
.

n i rvé n i c pl ane l ies o p e n b efore the waking e y es of the

adep t whi l e when he chooses to l eave his bo d y he

,

has the p ower to enter u p on something higher sti l l

'

a pl ane which to u s is the merest name As Pro .

“
fe s so r R hys ' avi d s e x pl ains He is no w free from
,

a l l sin ; he sees and va l ues a l l thin g s in this li fe at

their true va l ue ; a ll evi l b eing roote d from his min d ,

he exp e rienc e s o n l y ri ghteous d e s ires for himse l f ,

an d t e n d er p ity and re gar d an d exa l te d l ove fo r

”
other s .

To show how l itt l e he has l ost the sentiment o f

l o v e we rea d i n the Metta Sutta of the state of mind
,
 28

of w ho stands at this leve l

on e As a mother
loves who e v en at the r i sk o f her own li fe p rotects
,

her on l y son such love l et there be toward al l beings

, .

Let goodw i ll wi thout measure p rev ai l in the whole

w orld abo v e b e l ow around unstinted unmi xed
, , , , ,

with any fee l ing of d i fferin g or o p posing i nterests .

When a man rema i ns stead fastl y in this s tate o f

m i nd a l l the while whether he b e standing or wa lk
,

ing sitting or l ying down then is come to p ass the

, ,

sayi n g wh i ch is wr i tten E v en i n th i s l i fe has hol i

,
‘

’
ness been fo u nd .
 CHA PT ER X VI I .

W H AT L I E S B EY O N ' .

B EY O N ' this p erio d it is o b vious that we can know

nothin g of th e new qua l ifications require d for the
sti ll hi gher l eve l s which yet l ie b efore the p erfect
man It is a b undant l y c l ear howev e r that when a
.
, ,

man has become A s ekh a he has exhauste d a ll the

p ossi b i l ities of mora l d eve l o p me n t s o that further
,

advancement for him c an on l y mean stil l wider

knowl e dge and st il l more won d e r fu l s p iritua l p owers
.

We a re to ld that when man has thus atta i ne d his

s p ir i tua l maj ority whether i n the s l ow course o f c v
,

o lu ti on or b y th e shorter p ath o f se l f d eve l o p ment

-
,

he assumes the full est contro l o f his ow n d e s t1n 1es ,

an d makes choice of his future l ine o f evo l ution

among seven p ossi b le path s which he sees open i fi g
b efore him .

Natura ll y at our p resent l evel we cannot exp ect

to un d erstan d much a b out these an d the fai n t out
,

li n e o f some o f them which is a ll that can b e sketche d

m for us conveys very l itt l e to the min d exce p t that,

most of them take the a d e p t a l to gether away from

129
 1 30

ou r earth chai n which n o l o n ger a ffor d s su ffi cient

-
‘
,

sco p e for h i s evo l ution .

O ne p ath i s that o f tho s e who as th e t e chnical

,

“ ”
p hrase goes accep t Ni rv a na
, Throu g h w hat i n
.

c a l cula bl e aeo n s they remam I n that su bl ime cond i

tion for what work th e y are p re p ari n g themse l ves

, .

what wi ll b e their future line o f evo l utio n are ques ,

t i ons u p on which we k n ow nothin g ; an d in d ee d i f

i nformation u p on such p oints cou ld b e g ive n it is
more than l ik e l y that it wou ld p rove quit e i n com
prehensi bl e to us at our p rese n t sta ge .

—
But this much at l east we may g ras p that the
b lessed state o f N i rvé n a i s not as some have i gn o
,

ran tly su pp ose d a con d ition o f b lank nothin gness

, ,

but on the contrary o f far more intense an d be n efi

cent act i vity ; and that ever as man rises hi gher i n
the sca l e o f nature his possi b ilities b ecome greater ,

hi s wor k for others ever g ran d er an d more far

reaching and that infinite wisdom and i n finite p ower
.

mean for him on l y i nfinite capacity for se r v i ce be ,

ca use they are directe d b y infinite l ove .

Another class chooses a s pi r i tual evo l utio n not

quite so far removed from humanity fo1 thou gh n ot
.
,

d irect l y connected with th e next chain of our system

it extends throu gh two l on g p erio d s corres p on d i n g to
i ts first and secon d ro u nds at the end o f which t i me
,
 1 31

they a l so a pp ear to accep t Nirv a na b ut at a hi gher

,

st age than those previous l y mentione d .

O thers j oin the deva evo l ution whose p rogres s

,

lies a l on g a g rand chain consisting of seven chains

l ik e ours each o f which to them is as on e wor l d
,
.

This line of evo l ution is s p oken o f as the most gra d

u a l an d therefore the l east ar d uous o f the sev e n
courses ; b ut though it is sometimes referre d to i n the
“
books as yie ld ing to the tem p tation to b ecome a
”
g od,
it i s on l y in com p arison with the su bl ime height
o f renunciation of the N i rm é n ak éya that it can be

spoken o f in this ha l f d is p ara g in g man n er for th e

-
,

ade p t w h o chooses thi s cours e has i n d ee d a gl orio u s

career b efore him an d thou gh the p ath which he
,

se l ects is not the shortest it is nevertheless a ver y

,

no b le on e.

Yet another grou p are the N rmé n akayas those

i —
wh o declinin g a l l the s e easier metho d s choose the
, ,

shortest b ut stee p est p ath to the hei ghts which still

l ie b efore them . They form what i s p oeticall y
“ ”
terme d the guar d ian wa ll and as Th e Voi c e of
, ,

“
th e S i le n c e tel l s u s
,
p rotect the wor l d from further
”
an d far g reater misery and sorrow , not indeed by
wardin g off from it external evi l influences b u t b y ,

d ev otin g a ll their stren gth to the work o f pou ring

do w n upon it a floo d o f s p iritua l force an d assi st
 1 32

a nce without which it wo u l d ass u re dly be i n far

,

more ho p e l ess case than now .

Yet again there are those wh o rema i n e v en mor e

d ir ect ly i n assoc i at i o n w i th human i ty and contin u e
,

to i ncarnate among it choosing the path w h i ch l eads

,

thro u gh the four sta g es Of what we ha v e ca l led

above the offi cia l p er i o d ; and among these are the
—
Masters o f Wisdom those from whom w e wh o
st u d y Theoso p hy have learnt s u ch fragments as w e
k no w o f the m i ghty harmon y o f e v ol vi ng Nat ur e .

But i t wo u ld seem that on l y a certa i n com parat i vel y

small n u mber a d opt th i s cou rs w probably onl y so
many as are necessary for the carryi ng on of thi s
phys i ca l s i de Of the w or k .

I n hea ri ng o f these d i fferen t po ss i b i l i t i es peopl e

,

some t i mes e xcla i m rashly that there could of co ur s e

’
be no tho u ght i n a M aster s m i nd of choos i ng an y
bu t that co u rse wh i ch most hel p s h u man i ty a re —
ma rk which gr eater k nowledge wo ul d ha v e pre
vented them f rom mak i ng We sho u ld ne v e r for
.

get that the r e a r e other evol u t i ons i n th e solar s y ste m

bes i des ou r own and n o do u bt i t i s necessary for
,

the carryi ng out o f the vast plan o f the Logos that

there sho u l d be ade p ts w or ki ng on all the seven li nes
to which we ha v e referred S ur el y the cho i ce o f th e
.

M aster wo u ld be to go whe r ev er h i s wor k was most

n eeded — to place his serv i ces w ith absol u te s elfl es s
 I 33

ness at the d is p osa l of the P owers in char ge of this

part Of th e great scheme o f evo lu tion .

This then is the p ath which l ies before u s the ,

p ath which each on e o f us shou l d b e b eginning to

tread Stup en d o u s thou gh its hei ghts a p pear we
.

shou l d rem e mb er that th e y are attaine d b ut gradua lly

and step by ste p and that those who now stand nea r
,
'

the s u mmit once toiled i n the mire o f the va ll eys ,

even as we are doing A l thou gh this p ath may at

.

first seem hard and toi l some yet ever as we rise ou r

,

footin g b ecomes fir mer and our out l ook wi d er and ,

thus we fin d ourselv e s b ett e r a bl e to he lp tho s e w h o

are c li m b ing beside us .

Because it is at first thus har d and toi l some to th e

l ower sel f i t has sometimes b een ca l le d b y the very
,

“
mislead i ng tit l e o f the path o f woe b ut as Mrs ,
.

“
Besant has beauti fu l ly written thro ugh a l l s u ch,

su ff er i ng there is a deep and a bi ding j oy f o r the ,

s u ff e rm g 18 o f the lower nat ur e and the j oy of the

,

hi gher When the l ast sh red o f the persona l ity i s

.

gone all that can thus su ffer has passe d a w ay and ,

i n the per fected A d ept there i s u nr uffle d peace and

everla sting j oy H e sees the end toward w hich
.

a l l i s working, and rej oices i n that end k now i ng ,

that earth s sorrow i s b ut a pass i ng p hase in h u man

’

e v oluti on .
 1 34

That o f which l itt l e has b een sai d i s the p ro

-

foun d content which comes from b ein g on the path ,

from r eal izi ng the goa l and the wa y to i t from ,

k now i ng that the power to b e usefu l i s i ncreasing ,

and that the lower nature is b ein g grad u a lly e xti r

pated And litt l e has b een sa i d o f the ray s of j oy
.

which fal l u pon the path from lo ftier levels th e ,

d azzl ing glimpses o f the gl ory to b e revealed the ,

serenity which the storms o f earth cannot ru ffle .

To an y o n e who has e ntered on the path all other

w ay s have l ost their charm and i ts sorrows have a
,

de eper b l iss than the b est j oys o f the l ower world ”

.

( Va han vol
,
v No
. .
, .

Let no man therefore d espair b ecause he think s

the tas k too great for him ; what man has done
man can do and j ust in pro p ortion as we e x tend ou r
,

a i d to t h ose whom we can help so will those wh o ,

h a v e al r ead y atta i ned b e able i n their t u rn to hel p

u s So f rom the lowest to the h i ghest we wh o are
.

t r ead i ng the steps o f the path are bound together

b y one long chain o f mut u a l se rv ice and none need ,

feel neglected o r alone fo r tho u gh someti mes the

,

l o w er flights of the great sta i rcase may be w reathed

i n m i st we k now th at i t leads u p to h app i e r r e gi ons
,

a nd purer a 1r where the l i ght is always shin i ng

,
.
 I N' E X .

Ad e pt
t
A d e p s hi p
A n agam i 1 24
A n an d a and th e B uddh a 1 25
A n g e l s a n d G od s , H i e r a r c hi e s of 7, 8
A n ge l S oryt
.

42
A n ulo a m 1 14
t c
A r a b a , o n s iou s n e s s c of 1 26
A r up a rag a 1 26
A s akh a 1 27 , 1 29
t
A s ra l body
Of c h i l dr e n 69
a ft e r d e at h 81 , 82
a ct iv e c o n s c iou s n e s s i n 3 7 , 67
phy s i c a l e l e m e n t s n o ob s t a c l e t o
.

9 9 , 1 00
A s t r a l world pow e r of t hough t i n
,

99
A t h an a s i a n Cr e e d
,

1 20
A vi j j a 1 26
A w a k e n i n g pupi l s o n th e a s t r a l pl a n e t e s t s for , .9 9 -1 00

B h av agg a 1 19
l ck
B a m a i c i an 94
B od i e s e e c t of c o a r s e o n e s a ft e r d e a t h 81
uddh a an d A n an da
, ,

B 1 25
B uddh as , s ome in e a rly r a c e s fro m d e v a e volu t io n , 28

C al m n e s s a r e q ui r e m en t on th e P a t h 1 01
C h ildr en u s e ful a s h e lpe r s
.
,

69 , 7 0
Co n s c i ou s n e s s a a r t fro m phy s i c a l body
,

3 3 3 7 1 24
a ct iv e a s t r ap
.
, ,

3 7 , 67 , 68
of th e A rah at 1 26
O O OO O O O O
.

b ud d h i c 1 21 , 1 24 1 26
Cyr il A n ge l S t ory
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 O 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
,

4 2-4 8
' i r e S t ory
,

5 0 55
T w o B ro t h e r s 63 7 1
m at eri a l i z e d for m 58 , 5 9 , 60, 7 1

' e ad e n ti t y n ot r e a l i z i n g h i s d eath 87
' e v a s ki n d s of h e lp giv e n by be t w e e n i n c a r n a t io n s
,

26, 27
h e lp o n th e m e n t a l pl an e
. .
,

s uppl i e d B u ddh a s i n e a rly r a ce s 28

e volu t io n of 131
' i s c ipl e s h ip 1 09 1 1 6, 1 1 8
' r e a m s i m p r e ss e d on li vi ng
, 85

E ar th bo u n d e n tit i e s 87
S tory or a f at h e r 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 O 0 0 O O 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 84
0 0 0 0 0 1 25

135
 1 36

t r l pu n i s h m en t b e l i ef i n a ft e r d eath
E e na 79
vi l c ou t r ct i g e fi t s of bl a c k m agi c i ans
, ,

E n e a n ec
vo l u t io a cc e l r a t d i n low e r ki ngdo m s
, .

E n, e e 39
de va 131
c urr e n t of t oo s t ro n g t o r e s i s t
ai t h t ru e m e a n i n g of ,

' 1 22
if t h R ou n d c ri t i c a l p e riod of
,

' , 1 09 , 119

G ot rab h n 1 1 4, 1 1 9
G au rd i an W a ll 9 5, 1 3 1

H e l l e ffe ct o f b e l i e f i n a f t e r d e at h 78
H ol i n e s s four p a t h s of
, ,

, 1 09

I mm or t a l it y of t h e S oul 7 , 87
I n i t i at i o n
I n vi e nb l e H e lp e r s c l as s e s of 25 , 28
pup il s of th e Ma s t e r s
.
,

29
d an ge r of r e p e r c u s s io n 58 , 60, 61
work w i t h t h e 89
w ork hi n d e r e d by f e a r 7 4, 7 8, 8 0
m e t hod s of i m pr e s s i n g th e l ivi n g
1 4 40 7 3 7 5 8 5 , 8 6, 9 2, 9 3 , 9 4
s pi ri t u a l i n s t ru ct io n giv e n by
, , , ,

89, 93 , 94
q u a li fi c a t io n s n e c e s s a ry for b e c o m i n g
,

97

J e s u s an d S J o h n .

K am a l ok a f a c t or s d e c i d i n g l e n gt h of s t ay i n
ent ity i n n ot r e a l i z i n g d e a t h
,

K am a rag a
K n owl e dg e ki n d r e q uir e d on t h e P at h
K a r m a i n t e rf e r e n c e wi t h a n o t h e r s im po s s ibl e
,
’

i l lu s t r at e d by A n e l S t ory
, ,

h ow c a rr i e d ou t g Mas t e r s
.

d e t e r m i n e s po s s i b i li t i e s of b e c o m i n g h e lp e r s
i n e vi t abl e c a t a s t roph es
.

t i e s of k a r m a i n a s t r a l work
af t e r d e a t h
.
,

of th e I n vi s i b l e H e lp e r s
K ar m i c o b l ig at io n s
Love o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 o c c c c c ooooooooo
M8 88 0
3 110
anu s s o m e fro m d e v a e volu t io n
,

M an od vara vaj j a n a
a te r i al i s t s a ft e r
t hr ee ki n d s o f
,

at e ri a l i z a t i on
prod u ct io n of at Sean c es
,

t 60
m att e r for wh e re draw n fro m
,

59
e c o n o m y i n u s i n g for c e f or
,

58
e xc e p t io n a l c as e s of 62, 71
k n owl e dge n e c e s s ary for
.

71
i n ca bi n o f s i n ki n g s h ip 76
i n r a il w ay c a rri ag e
Ma te ri al i z e d bod y n ot i nj u r ed byy fi re or w a t e r 61 , 7 7
Mas t er s t r a i n i ng H e l pe r s 28 13
?
97 125 ,
a rdi n g a n a dv a n c i n g s ou l
“ .
, ,

g rd s of Co m p a s s io n
fe lt a s a P r e s e n ce
 I 37
restri ct i o ns pl aced up o n Helpe rs by
co fi d c
n en e in
and lov e b e t w ee n
p u p 1l s ,
Me diu m po s s i bi li t i e s of r e p e r c u ss io n
o cc as i o n a l good work do n e by
,

d an ge r s of c o mm u n i c at io n t hrough
Me mo ry w a ki n g of n igh t s e xp e r i e n c e ’

w a ki n g c au s e d by great s ho c k
, ,

o f t e a c h i n g s r e c e iv e d a ft e r d e at h
,

Me n t al l an e work u po n
.

Mi n d e e c t of a tt i t ud e of a f t e r d e at h
,

how e as ily i n fl u e n ce d
.
, ,

h e lp s i n probl e m s o f s t udy
Mo t h e r l ove va l u e or ,

Mu mu k Sh atva
Na t ur
e s s, pi ri t h el p to m an , rare 31
N i r man a k ay a s 9 5. 131
N i rv ad a ' 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 8, 1 26, 1 27 , 13 0

1 12
th
0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Pa Th e 9 4 , 9 7 , 1 06, 1 07 . 113
four m e an s of r ea c h i n g
,

1 08
t hr e e divi s io n s of 1 09
of hol i n e s s four s t age s of 1 09
prob at io n a ry
,

1 1 0, 1 1 6
o fii c i a l p e rio d of 1 09 , 13 2
‘

P at i gh a 1 24
P e rs o n a l i t y 1 23 , 1 25, 1 3 3
118
P ra ye r an s we r t o
, 1 1 12, 9 3
P roofs , p h e n ome n a l , f orb i d d e n 0 0 ' 0 O 0 O 0 0 0 O O 0 O O 0 0 O 0 0 0 O 88 0 O O 0 0 0

P s y c h i c f a c u lti e s 1 23
urg t ory t c hi g of h lpful f t r d th :
. .

P a , ea n , e , a e ea 79

' u li fi c ti o
a a f b c o m i g I i ibl H l p r
ns or e n nv s e e e s 9 7 -1 06

R p rcu io
e e w h p o ib l
ss n, en ss e 5 6 5 8 , 5 9 , so
R u d
o n c ri t i c l p riod of ' ift h
s, a e 1 09 , 1 1 9
S v th
e en 1 09
R fi p a rag a 1 26

S ad d a h 1 14
S a k ad ag ami 1 23
S a k k ay a d i tth i 1 20
Sa a lv t io n, o ri g i n o f Chri s t i an i d e a 1 20
S amad h an a 1 14
Sa mo 1 13
8 8 13 37 018 11 8 . o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 8 , 122
0

5 7 , 5 9, 60, 8 6, 9 0
lf c o t rol u li
Se - n q a fi a n eq c t i o r uir ed 98 0

v th ou
0 . 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
, I

S e en R nd
S h at s amp att i
S l lab b at ap a ramas
i gl m i d d
S n e n e nes s q a fi au l i c ti o r eq uired
n
oh
,

S otap at t i o r S an
t ori of lp r v e d fro m fi re
.

i ibl
.

S es I nv s e He e s , sa
s a v e d fro m f a l li n g i n t o a
s av e d fro m drow n i n g
s a v e d fro m b e i n g i n j ur e d by hor s e
saved fr om be i ng l o s t i n th e woo d s .
 1 38

s ave d fro m ma s s ac re 40
h e lp giv e n i n c a bi n of s i n ki n g s hip 76
h e lp giv e n a n e a r t hbou n d f a t h e r
.

84
h e lp giv e n m a t e ri a l i s t i c s c i e n t i s t 88
h e l p giv e n i n c at a s t roph e s 73
h e lp giv e n drow n i n g ma n 75
r e s c u e f ro m a m ob 20
r e s c u e fro m fall i n g ov e r a c l i fi
.

43
wa r n i n g s giv e n t h e a u t hor 19
w a r n i n g s t o c ap t a i n of a bo a t 72
t h e t wo b ro t h e r s
.

63
pro t e c t io n i n r a i lw a y c a rri age 23
r e l e a se fro m a s t r a l worl d 90
S ugge s t io n p ow e r of
, 9 2-9 3

T e a c h i n g s g i v e n b y I n v i s ib l e H e l p e r s a f t e r d e a t h . 82, 8 3 , 8 9 , 9 0, 9 1
' uri n g l ife
.

9 2, 9 3
T e s t s of e a r t h w a t e r a i r a n d fi re
.

99
T hough t pow e r of on as t r a l pl a n e
, ,

, , 99
T i ti k k h a 1 13

U d d h ach ch a 1 26
U p a Ch aro 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 13
U p a ra t i 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 . 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 113

va i rag y a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 113
Vi ch i k i c h 1 20, 1 22
iv k
V e a 1 12

W a r n i n gs gi v e n b y H e lp e rs 1 9 , 7 2, 90, 94
W i l l p ow e r of ov e r m att e r
.

61
ma n 8 n e v e r do m i n a t e d b y
,

H e lp e r s
,
’
92
c o s mi c n ot t o b e o v e r come
,

f ree o f th e A s e k h a
, .

, 1 29