YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

From the estate of
Mrs, Carrie A, Middleton
In Memory of
JAMES MIDDLETON
Class of '79

C, W. LEADBEATER

THEOSOPHICAL TALKS AT ADYAP

(FIRST SERIES)

THE INNER LIFE

O, W. LEADBEATEE

THE RAJPUT PRESS.

CHICAGO. 1911

FOREWORD TO THE INDIAN EDITION

Our evening "Talks" at the Theosophical Headquarters at
Adyar have become quite an institution, and a very considerable
amount of information, due to new research, often arising from
some question put by a student, is given in this friendly and
intimate circle. Our good Vice-President, Sir S. Subramania
Iyer, found so much help and illumination from these talks,
that he earnestly wished to share his pleasure with his brethren
in the outer world, and gave a sum of money to help in their
publication. I cordially endorse his view of their value, and
commend this volume and those which will follow it to the
earnest study of all our members. A second series is ready
for the press, but the date of its issue will depend partly on
the reception given to the present.
ANNIE BESANT

INTRODUCTION
I wish that I could help my American readers to realise
the conditions under which this book has been produced. The
Theosophical Society as a whole does not by any means suffi
ciently understand or appreciate the work done at its Head
quarters, and although for you in America it is away on
the other side of the earth, I should like to help you to see
it as it is. Readers of the "Messenger" must at least have
some general idea of the appearance of the place, and must
know something of the life which is lived here — a long life,
a strenuous life, and a life lived under very peculiar condi
tions. Nowhere else in the world at this present moment
is there such a centre of influence — a centre constantly visited
by the Great Ones, and therefore bathed in their wonderful mag
netism. The vibrations here are marvellously stimulating, and
all of us who live here are >theref ore under a constant strain
of a very peculiar kind, a strain which brings out whatever
is in us. Strong vibrations from other planes are playing
all the while upon our various vehicles, and those parts of
us which can in any sense respond to them are thereby raised,
strengthened and purified. But it must be remembered that
there is another side to this. There may well be in each of
us some vibrations the character of which is too far removed
from the level of these great influences to fall into harmony
with" them, ; atid where that is the case intensification will still '
take place, but the result may well be evil rather than good.
To live at Adyar is the most glorious of all opportunities for
those who are able to take advantage of it, but its eifect on
those who are constitutionally unable to harmonize with its
vibrations may be dangerous rather than helpful. If a student
can bear it he may advance rapidly; if he cannot bear it he
is better away.
The workers here live mostly in the great central building,
within the immediate aura of the shrine room and the Presi
dent. The students live chiefiy half-a-mile away at various
other houses, though all within the large estate which now

viii INTRODUCTION
belongs to the Society. Each during the day does his own
work in his own way, but in the evening we all gather to
gether upon the roof of the central building, in front of the
President's rooms, formerly occupied by Madame Blavatsky
herself, and there, under the marvellous night sky of India,
so infinitely more brilliant than anything that we know in what
are miscalled temperate climes, we sit and listen to her teach
ing. All through the summer of last year, so much of which
she spent in a tour through the United States, it fell to my
lot to take charge of the meetings of the students here. In
the course of that time I delivered many informal little ad
dresses and answered hundreds of questions. All that I said
was taken down in shorthand, and this book is the result of
those notes. In a number of cases it happened that what was
said on the roof at the meetings was afterwards expanded
into* a little article for The Theosophist or The Adyar Bulletin;
in all such cases I reprint the article instead of the stenographic
report, as it has had the advantage of certain corrections and
additions. Necessarily a book of this sort is fragmentary in
its nature; necessarily also it contains a certain amount of
repetition; though this latter has been excised wherever pos
sible. Many of the subjects treated have also been delt with
in my earlier books, but what is written here represents ,in all
cases the result of the latest discoveries in connection with
those subjects. The subjects have been classified as far as
possible, and this volume represents the first series, containing
five sections. The second volume, containing the nine re
maining sections, is now in the printer's hands. A list of the
subjects of which it will treat will be found at the end of this
volume.
—C. W. LEADBEATER.
Adyar, July, 1910.

CONTENTS

3Ftrat Bittxon
The Great Ones and the Way to Them. Page
The Great Ones  '.  3
The Work of the Christ  15
The Work of the Masters  17
Masters and Pupils  20
The Path of Progress  35
The Ancient Mysteries  55

Religion
TiiE Logos  71
Buddhism  74
Christianity  86
Sin  91
The Pope  92
Ceremonial  93
Prayer  94
The Devil  96
Hinduism  98
Castes  .^  101
Spiritualism  102
Symbology  104
Fire  108

X CONTENTS
The Theosophical Attitude
Common-sense  Ill
Brotherhood  Ill
Helping the World  119
Criticism  120
Prejudice  122
Curiosity  126
Know Thyself  127
Asceticism  132
Small Worries  137
Killing out Desire  142
The Centre of my Circle  144
Our Duty to Animals  147
Sympathy  150
Our Attitude towards, Children ...,,.,.  151
The Fear of Death  152
Co-operation  •  153
A Day of Life  154
Meditation  155

The Higher Planes

Nirvana  165
The Triple Spirit  168
Buddhic Consciousness  170
Experience  171
The Spheres  172

CONTENTS xi
The Ego and his Vehicles
The Ego and the Personality  183
Counterparts  192
Colours in the Astral Body  196
The Causal Body  197
The Desire-Elemental  198
Lost Souls  201
The Focus op Consciousness  216
Force-Centres  217
The Serpent- Fire  225
Obsession and Insanity  234
Sleep  238
Somnambulism  240
The Physical Body  241
Tobacco and Alcohol  242

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THE INNER LIFE

FIEST SECTION

THE GREAT ONES.
Students of Occultism — even those who have been students
for many years — sometimes seem to fail to realise the Masters
as They truly are. I have often found people thinking of
Them as some kind of angels or devas, or, at any rate, as so
far removed from us by Their greatness that it is scarcely
possible for us to derive much help from Them. Their great
ness is indisputable, and from that point of view the gulf
between Them and ourselves may well seem incalculable in
its extent; and yet from another point of view They are very
close to us, so that Their sympathy and help are very near
and very real. That our thought on the subject may be clear, let
us first of all try to defifte exactly what we mean by the term
"Master." We mean by it always one who is a member of the Great
White Brotherhood — a member at such a level that He is able
to take pupils. Now the Great White Brotherhood is an organi
zation unlike any other in the world, and for that reason it
has often been misunderstood. It has sometimes been de
scribed as the Himalayan or the Tibetan Brotherhood, and the
idea has been conveyed of a body of Indian ascetics residing
together in a monastery in some inaccessible mountain fast
ness. Perhaps this has risen largely from the knowledge of

4 THE INNER LIFE
the facts that the two Brothers principally concerned in the
foundation and work of the Theosophical Society happen at
the moment to be living in Tibet, and to be wearing Indian
bodies. To comprehend the facts of the case it may be better
to approach its consideration from another point of view.
Most of our students are familiar with the thought of the
four stages of the Path of Holiness, and are aware that a man
who has passed through them and attained to the level of the
Asekha has achieved the task set before humanity during
this chain-period, and is consequently free from the necessity
of reincarnation on this planet or on any other. Before him
then open seven ways among which he must choose. Most of
them take him away from this earth into wider spheres of
activity, probably connected with the solar system as a whole,
so that the great majority of those members of our humanity
who had already reached ibis goal have passed entirely out
of our ken.
The limited number who are still working directly for us
may be divided into two classes — those who retain physical
bodies, and those who do not. That latter are frequently spoken
of under the name of Nirmanakayas. They hold themselves
suspended as it were between this world and nirvana, and
They devote the whole of Their time and energy to the gen
eration of spiritual force for the benefit of mankind. This
force They pour into what may be described as a reservoir,
upon which the Masters and Their pupils can draw for the
assistance of Their work with humanity. The Nirmanakaya,
because He remains to this extent in touch with the lower
planes, has been called 'a candidate for woe,' but that is mis
leading. What is meant is that He has not the joy of the
higher work, or of the nirvanic levels. He has chosen to re
main upon lower planes in order to help those who still suffer.
It is quite true that to come back from the higher life into this
world is like going down from the fresh air and glorious
sunlight into a dark and evil-smelling dungpon; but the man
who does this to help some one out of that dungeon is not
miserable and wretched while there, but full of the joy of help
ing, notwithstanding the greatness of the contrast and the
terrible feeling of bondage and compression. Indeed, a man
who refused such an opportunity of giving aid when it came
to him would certainly feel far more woe afterwards, in the
shape of remorse. When we have once really seen the spiritual

THE GREAT ONES -5
misery of the world, and the condition of those who need such
help, we can never again be careless or indifferent about it,
as are those who have not seen.
Fortunately those of us who have seen and realized this
have ever at our command a means whereby we can quite
really and definitely help. Tiny though our efforts may be as
compared with the splendid outpouring of force of the Nir
manakaya, we also can add our little drops to the great store
of force in that reservoir. Every outpouring of affection or
devotion produces a double result — one upon the being to
whom it is sent, and another upon ourselves, who sent it
forth. But if the devotion or affection be utterly without the
slightest thought of self, it brings in its train a third result
also. Ordinary affection or devotion, even of a high kind,
moves in a closed curve, however large that curve may be,
and the result of it comes back upon the sender. But the
devotion or affection of the truly unselfish man moves in an
open curve, and though some of its effects inevitably react
upon the sender, the grandest and noblest part of its force
ascends to the Logos Himself, and the response, the magnificent
response of benediction which instantly pours forth from Him,
falls into that reservoir for the helping of mankind. So that
it is within the power of every one of us, even the weakest
and the poorest, to help the world in this most beautiful man
ner. It is this adding to the reservoir of spiritual force which
is really the truth that lies at the back of the Catholic idea
of works of supererogation.
The still more limited number of adepts who retain physi
cal bodies remain in even closer touch with us, in order to
fill certain offices, and to do certain work necessary for our
evolution; and it is to the latter that the names of the Great
White Brotherhood and the Occult Hierarchy have sometimes
been given. They are, then, a very small number of highly
advanced men belonging not to any one nation, but to the world
as a whole. On the physical plane They do not live together,
though They are of course in continual communication on
higher planes. Since They are beyond the necessity of rebirth,
when one body wears out They can choose another wherever
it may be most convenient for the work They wish to do, so
that we need not attach any special importance to the nation
ality of the bodies which They happen to be wearing at any
particular time. Just now, several of those bodies are Indian,

6 THE INNER LIFE
one is Tibetan, one is Chiiiese, two at least are English, one
is Italian, one Hungarian, and one Syrian, while one was born
in the island of Cyprus. As I have said, the nationality of
these bodies is not a matter of importance, but I mention
these in order to show that it would be a mistake to think
of the ruling Hierarchy as belonging exclusively to one race.
Reverence restrains us from saying much of the great Head
of this Hierarchy, in Whose hands is the fate of the continents,
in Whose name all initiations are given. He is one of the
very few now remaining upon earth of the Lords of the Flame,
the Children of the Fire-mist, the great beings who came down
from Venus nearly eighteen million years ago to help and to
lead the evolution of humanity on our chain. These Great
Ones did not take bodies from our then entirely undeveloped
humanity, but made for themselves bodies in appearance re
sembling ours by the force of Their will, a kind of permanent
materialization. At that period, and for long after it, no
members of our humanity were sufficiently developed to fill
any of the higher offices in this Hierarchy, and consequently
we needed and received this help from without. Gradually,
as humanity has evolved, it has become more and more able
to provide for itself, and the great Lords of the Flame have
been set free to go to the help of yet other evolutions. But
one of Them still holds this, the highest office of all — the
position of the King Who guides and controls all evolution
taking place upon this planet — not only that of humanity and
of the animal, vegetable, mineral and elemental kingdoms be
low it, but also of the great non-human kingdoms of the nature-
spirits and the devas, some of which rise so far above it.
Under Him are various Heads of Departments, the broad
outlines of whose work are more within our comprehension
than His. Though the details are far beyond us, we can form
some slight idea of what must be the manifold responsibilities
and activities of the Manu of a Root-race; and perhaps we
can to some extent image- to ourselves the duties of Him who
is Minister of Religion in this world-kingdom — who sends forth
religion after religion, suiting each to the needs of a particular
type of people and to the period of the world's history in
which it is launched, sometimes deputing one of His subordinates
to found it, sometimes even incarnating Him.self for that pur
pose, as He may see flt. This Minister of Religion is often
called in the East the Bodhisattva — one who is about to be-

THE GREAT ONES 7
come a Buddha. The previous holder of that high office was
He whom we call the Lord Gautama Buddha. The attain
ment of Buddhahood is not simply the gaining of enlighten
ment; it is also the taking of a great and definite initiation,
and the man who has taken that step cannot again incarnate
upon earth, but hands over His work to His successor, and
usually passes away altogether from any connection with earth.
The Lord Gautama, however, still remains to a certain
extent within touch of the world, in order that He may still
be able to help it. Once in each year He still shows Himself
to the brotherhood of adepts, and pours down His blessing
upon them, to be passed through them to the world at large;
and He may still be reached in certain ways by those who know
how. Mrs. Besant has told us, in some of her recent writings,
how He incarnated over and over again as the great teacher of
the earlier sub-races of the Aryan race, how he was Hermes —
the founder of the Egyptian Mysteries — also the first and
greatest Zoroaster, the original founder of the worship of the
sun and fire, and again He was Orpheus, the founder of the
Greek Mysteries. Those mentioned of courise were not His
only births, for in the course of our researches into the past
we have seen Him as founder of other religions than these.
The statement made in some of the earlier Theosophical
works that He was reborn as Shankaracharya is an error, for
from an occult point of view the two great teachers were on
entirely different lines. There was, however, a certain reason
at the back of the statement in the fact that some of the
vehicles prepared by one of them were also utilized by the
other, as Madame Blavatsky has explained in the third volume
of The Secret Doctrine.
The deep reverence and the strong affection felt for the
Lord Gautama all over the East are due to two facts. One of
these is that He was the flrst of our humanity to attain
to the stupendous height of Buddhahood, and so He may be
very truly described as the flrst-fruits and the leader of onr
race. (All previous Buddhas had belonged to other humanities,
which had matured upon earlier chains.) The second fact is
that for the sake of hastening the progress of humanity, He
took upon Himself certain additional labours of the most stu
pendous character, the nature of which it is impossible to
comprehend. It is stated that when the time came at which
it was expected that humanity would be able to provide for

8 THE INNER LIFE
itself some one who was ready to flU this important office, no
one could be found who was fully capable of doing so. But
few of our earthly race had then reached the higher stages of
adeptship, and the foremost of these were two friends and
brothers whose development was equal. These two were thej
mighty Egos now known to us as the Lord Gautama and the
Lord Maitreya, and in His great love for mankind the former
at once volunteered to make the tremendous additional ej^er-
tion necessary to qualify Him to do the work required, while
His friend and brother decided to follow Him as the next holder
of that office thausands _of years_late£^- J'
In those far-off times it was the Lord Gautama who ruled
the world of religion and education; but now He has yielded
that high office to the Lord Maitreya, whom western people call
the Christ — who took the body of the disciple Jesus during the
last three years of its life on the physical plane; and those who
know tell us that it will not be long before He descends among
us once again, to found another faith. Anyone whose mind
is broad enough to grasp this magniflcent conception of the
splendid reality of things will see instantly how worse than
futile it is to set up in one's mind one religion as in opposition
to another, to try to convert any person from one to another,
or to compare depreciatingly the founder of one with the
founder of another. In the last case indeed it is especially
ridiculous, because the two founders are either two pupils of
the same school, or two incarnations of the same person, and
so are entirely in accord as to principles; though They may
for the time be putting forward different aspects of the truth
to suit the needs of those to whom They speak. The teaching
is always fundamentally the same, though its presentation may
vary widely. The Lord Maitreya had taken various births be
fore He came into the office which He now holds, but even in
these earlier days He seems always to have been a teacher or
high-priest. It is now generally known that the two Masters who have
been most intimately concerned with the foundation and the
work of the Theosophical Society have taken respectively the
offices of temporal and spiritual leader of the new sixth root-
race, which is to come into existence in seven hundred years'
time. The Manu, or temporal leader, is practically an auto
cratic monarch who arranges everything connected with the
physical-plane life of the new race, and endeavours in every

THE GREAT ONES 9
way to make it as perfect an expression as possible of the
idea which the Logos has set before Him for realization.
The spiritual teacher will be in charge of all the various aspects
of religion in the new race, and also of the education of its
children. It is clear that one of the main objects of the founda
tion of the Theosophical Society was that these two Masters
might gather round Them a number of men who would be in
telligent and willing co-operators in this mighty work. Round
Them will be grouped others who are now Their pupils, but
will by that time have attained the level of adeptship.
We may then set before ourselves as a goal the privilege
of being chosen to serve Them in this wonderful work for the
world which lies before Them. There will be ample opportunity
for the display of all possible varieties of talent, for the work
will be of the most varied character. Some of us will no doubt
be attracted to one side of it and some to the other, largely
according to the predominance of our affection for one or other
of its great Leaders. It has often been said that the character
istic of one is power, and of the other love and compassion,
and this is perfectly true, though, if it is not rightly understood,
it may very easily prove misleading. One of the Masters con
cerned has been a ruler in many incarnations, and was so
even in the earlier part of this one, and unquestionably royal
power shows forth in His every gesture and in the very look
of His eyes, just as surely as the face of His brother adept
beams ever with overflowing love and compassion. They are of
different rays or types, have risen to Their present level along
different lines, and this fact cannot but show itself; yet we
should mistake sadly if we thought of the flrst as in any degree
less loving and compassionate than His brother, or of the
second as lacking anything of the power possessed by the
first. Other Masters also will be engaged in this work, and
it may well be that some of us may have made our link through
one of Them.
It is probable that even the Masters who are by name best
known to you are not so real, not so clear, not so well-defined
to you as They are to those of us who have had the privilege
of meeting Them face to face and seeing Them constantly in
the course of our work. Yet you should endeavour by reading
and thinking of Them to gain this realization, so that the
Masters shall become to you not vague ideals but living men —
men exactly as we are, though so enormously more advanced

10 THE INNER LIFE
in every respect. They are men most emphatically, but men
without failings, and so to us They seem like gods on account
of the power, love and compassion radiating from Them. It
is most significant that, in spite of the awe necessarily pro
duced by the sense of this tremendous power, in Their pres
ence one never feels in the least afraid or embarrassed, but
always uplifted.
The man who stands before one of Them cannot but feel
the deepest humility, because of the greatness of the contrast
between himself and the Master. Yet with all this humility
he yet feels a firm confldence in himself, for since the Master,
who is also man, has achieved, that achievement is clearly pos
sible even for him. In His presence everything seems possible
and even easy, and one looks back with wonder on the troubles
of yesterday, unable now to comprehend why they should have
caused agitation or dismay. Now at least, the man feels, there
can never again be trouble, since he has seen the right pro
portion of things. Now he will never again forget that, however
dark the clouds may be, the sun is ever shining behind them.
The vibrations of the Masters are so strong that only those
qualities in you which harmonize with them are called out, so
that you will feel the uttermost confidence and love, and the
desire to be always in His presence. It is not that you forget
that you have undesirable qualities in you, but you feel that
now you can conquer them, and you do not in the least mind
His knowing all about them, because you are so certain that
He understands perfectly, and to understand all is to pardon all.
It may perhaps help us to realize the human side of our
Masters if we remember that many of Them in comparatively
recent times have been known as historical characters. The
Master K. H., for example, appeared in Europe as the philo
sopher Pythagoras. Before that He was the Egyptian priest
Sarthon, and on yet another occasion chief-priest of a temple
at Agade, in Asia Minor, where He was killed in a general
massacre of the inhabitants by a host of invading barbarians
who swooped down upon them from the hills. On that occa
sion He took immediately the body of a Greek fisherman,
which had been drowned in his attempt to escape, and in that
body the Master journeyed on to Persia, where he rendered
great assistance to the last of the Zoroasters in the founding
of the modern form of the Mazdayaznian religion. Later He
was the flamen of the Temple of Jupiter in Rome, and later

THE GREAT ONES 11
still Nagarjuna, the great Buddhist teacher. We have found
Him many times in our researches into the past lives of some
members of our group, but almost always as a priest or teacher.
Again, in these researches into the remote past we have fre
quently found the disciple Jesus, who in Palestine had the
privilege of yielding up His body to the Christ. As a result
of that act He received the incarnation of ApoUonius of Tyana,
and in the eleventh century He appeared in India as the teacher
Ramanujacharya, who revived the devotional element in Hin
duism, and raised it to so high a level.
No doubt some of you have heard a good deal about other
Masters besides the two who principally take charge of Theo
sophical work. Another Master, for example, dictated for us
Light on the Path and The Idyll of the White Lotus, while
yet another has taken charge of a great deal of the work in
Europe, and has written for us some of the most splendid works
in the whole realm of literary activity. Then the one who was
once the disciple Jesus stands ready especially to guide the
various activities of the Christian Churches. Yet another looks
especially after the work here in India.
Thus it may be seen that the evolution of the world is by
no means left to itself, to get along as best it may, as people
so often rashly suppose; on the contrary, it is being directed.
For this Hierarchy of adepts is actually managing it, as far
as it is possible to manage it while leaving its inhabitants their
own free-will. The members of the Brotherhood, through
Their agents, are constantly trying to work with the important
people of the world, putting advice and suggestions into their
minds, endeavouring to move them onwards towards the great
future of Universal Brotherhood when war shall have disap
peared. But we must remember that the karma of all the
people concerned has to be considered and respected. It would
no doubt be easy to force the world along at a far more
rapid rate, but that would not be for the real advantage of
the people concerned. The Master K. H. once said in a letter
which I received from Him: "Of course I could easily tell
you exactly what to do, and of course you would do it, but then
the karma of the act would be mine and not yours, and you
would gain only the karma of prompt obedience."
Men have to learn to be not merely intelligent servants; they
have to learn to be co-workers, because they themselves will
have the same work to do some day, and if they are to be

12 THE INNER LIFE
flt for greater responsibilities in the future they must be
willing to take up the smaller responsibilities now. Some
times, it is true, a really great opportunity or responsibility
of world-wide importance comes to one of us, but that may
perhaps be once in many hundreds of lives. When it comes
we shall take it or miss it, according as we have or have not
been in the habit of taking the smaller opportunities of daily
life, so that we have got into the habit of doing the right
thing, and shall do it automatically at the critical moment.
Our opportunities of doing good or harm are usually but small
as regards the world as a whole; but when we have learnt
invariably and automatically to choose the right in these smaller
matters, the Great Brotherhood will feel it safe to trust us in
larger matters.
It is indeed well that we should try to understand these
Great Ones, not as a mere matter of curiosity and interest,
but in order that we may realise Them as They are, and
comprehend that They are men just as we are, varying among
Themselves just as we vary, although at so much higher
a level. Wisdom, power and love are present , in all
of Them equally, yet They are by no means all alike.
They are individuals just as we are. They are at the top
of the ladder of humanity, but let us not forget that we are
somewhere on its lower rungs, and that one day we also shall
reach Their level and stand where They stand.
One important fact about Them is Their all-round develop
ment. If we examine ourselves we shall be sure to flnd that
we are to some extent disproportionate in our development —
one-sided in certain respects. Some of us are full of scientiflc
faculty and intellectual development, but sadly lacking in de
votion and compassion; others are full of whole-souled de
votion, but defective on the intellectual side. A Master is
perfect along both these lines, as may easily be seen when
we think of the splendid intellect of Pythagoras along with the
love and compassion of the Master K. H.
We must not misunderstand Their wonderful knowledge. In
order to attain the level of adeptship They must have cast
off among others the fetter of avidya or ignorance, and
it is often said that to cast off ignorance one must
attain all-knowledge. Yet we know from personal ac
quaintance with Them that this is not so in the mere literal
sense; for example, there are Masters who do not know all

THE GREAT ONES 13
languages, others who are not artists and musicians, and so
on. I think that what is really meant by casting off the
fetter of ignorance is the acquisition of a power by which
They can at any moment command any knowledge upon any
subject which They happen to require. They certainly have not
all facts stored within Their physical brains, but equally cer
tainly They can very quickly obtain any knowledge of which
They have need. As to the question of languages, for -example,
if a Master wishes to write a letter in a language which He
does not know, He very frequently employs the brain of a
pupil who is acquainted with that language, throwing the
ideas into that pupil's brain, and then employing the words
in which He sees them clothe themselves. If a man speaks
to Them in a language which They do not understand, They
can instantly grasp on the mental plane the thought that lies
behind the incomprehensible words.
It is often asked whether an ordinary man who met a
Master on the physical plane would instantly recognize Him
as such. I do not see any reason why he should. He would
certainly flnd the Adept impressive, noble, dignifled, holy and
serene. He could hardly fail to recognize that he was in the
presence of a remarkable man; but to know certainly that that
man was an adept it would be necessary to see His causal
body, which of course the ordinary man could not do. In that
causal body the development would show by its greatly in
creased size, and by a special arrangement of the colours,
which would differ for each of the seven great types. But all
this would be quite out of the reach of the ordinary man
whom we are postulating.
Adepts have no definite external peculiarities by which They
may be recognized, though there is a great calmness and bene
volence common to Them all; Their faces are stamped always
with a joyous serenity, the peace which passeth all understand
ing. Most of Them are distinctly handsome men, because Their
physical bodies are perfect, for They live in an absolutely
hygienic way, and above all They never worry about anything.
In the case of most of us there is still a great deal of karma
of various kinds to be worked out and among other things
this modifies the appearance of our physical bodies. In Their
case all karma is long ago exhausted, and consequently the
physical body is a perfect expression on the physical plane of
the Augoeides or glorified body of the Ego. Not only there-

14 THE INNER LIFE
fore is the body of a Master usually splendidly handsome,
but also any new body that He may take in a subsequent in
carnation will be an alraost exact reproduction of the old one,
because there is nothing to modify it.
Another remarkable fact is that They are able to preserve
Their physical bodies very much longer than we can — owing
no doubt to the perfect health and absence of worry which
we have already mentioned. Almost all of the Masters whom
we know appear as men in the prime of life, yet in many
cases there is testimony to prove that Their physical bodies
must have long passed the ordinary age of man. I have heard
Madame Blavatsky say that her Master as He appears now
does not look a day older than when she first saw Him in
her childhood sixty years before. In one case only, that of a
Master who has recently attained adeptship in the body which
He is still wearing, there is a certain ruggedness in the face,
which is doubtless the result of some remainder of past karma
brought over into this incarnation, but I think we may feel
sure that when He chooses to take another body that char
acteristic will not persist.
Probably They are more silent than most men; busy people
have not much time for casual talk, and They are out of all
proportion the busiest people in the world. Their pupil
Madame Blavatsky was the most brilliant conversationalist
that I have ever met, but she never made talk for the sake
of making it. So with Them; a Master never speaks without
a definite object in view, and His object is always to encourage,
to help or to warn. He speaks always gently and with the
greatest kindness, though He often betrays a very keen sense
of humour; yet the humour itself is always of the kindly
order, and is used never to wound, but always to lighten the
troubles of the way, or to soften some necessary rebuke.
Certainly a man who has no sense of humour would not be
likely to make much progress in occult matters.
The number of adepts who retain physical bodies in order
to help the evolution of the world is but small — perhaps some
fifty or sixty in all. But it must be remembered that the
great majority of these do not take pupils, as Th6y are en
gaged in quite other work. Madame Blavatsky employed the
term adept very loosely, for in one place she actually speaks
of adepts who have been initiated, and adepts who have not
been initiated. In all later writings we have reserved the

THE WORK OF THE CHRIST 15
word "initiate" for those who have passed at least the first
of the four great stages upon the Path of Holiness, and the
word adept we have restricted to those who have attained the
Asekha level, and so have finished the evolution required of
them in this chain of worlds. The consciousness of the Asekha
rests normally upon the nirvanic or atmic plane while his
physical body is awake. But out of the number who have al
ready attained adeptship only the very small proportion above-
mentioned retain physical bodies, and remain in touch with the
earth in order to help it; and out of this a still smaller pro
portion are willing under certain conditions to accept men as
pupils or apprentices; and it is to these last (the smallest num
ber) only that we give the name of Masters. Yet few though
They be Their office is of incalculable importance, since without
Their aid it would be impossible for man to enter the portals
of initiation.

THE WORK OF THE CHRIST.
You ask about the Great One whom we call the Christ, the
Lord Maitreya, and about His work in the past and in the
future. The subject is a wide one — one also about which it
is somewhat difficult for us to speak with freedom, on account
of the restrictions with which we are hedged round. Possibly
the suggestion may be of use to you that there is what we may
call a department of the inner government of the world which
is devoted to religious instruction — ^the founding and inspiring
of religions, and So on. It is the Christ who is in charge of
that department; sometimes He Himself appears on earth. to
found a great religion and sometimes He entrusts such work
to one of His more advanced assistants. We must regard Him
as exercising a kind of steady pressure from behind all the
time, so that the power employed will flow as though automat
ically into every channel anywhere and of any sort which is
open to its passage; so that He is working simultaneously
through every religion, and utilizing all that is good in the
way of devotion and self-sacriflce in each.
The fact that these religions may be wasting their strength

16 THE INNER LIFE
in abusing one another upon the physical plane is of course
lamentable, but it does not make much difference to the fact
that whatever is good in each of them is being simultaneously
utilized from behind by the same great Power. This is true
of course of all movements in the world; every ounce of the
good in them is being used as a channel, while the evil in them
is in each case just so much regrettable waste of force which
might have been utilized if the people had been more sensible.
The section in The Secret Doctrine entitled The Mystery of
Buddha gives a good deal of information as to the relations
between the Heads of this department of Religion, and it may
give some useful hints as to the Christ also. This is a subject
of paramount interest to the members of our Society, since one
of our Masters has a specially close relation with that de
partment.- As to the approaching advent of the Christ and the work
which He has to do, you cannot do better than read Mrs.
Besant's book on The Changing World. The time of His ad
vent is not far distant, and the very body which He will take
is even already born among us.
All this was decided many thousands of years ago — some of
it decided apparently in minute details, though it would seem
that there is a good deal of flexibility with regard to other
points. The utter certainty with which these Great Ones lay
Their plans many thousands of years ahead is one of the most
wonderful features of this stupendous work that They do.
Sometimes it is open to those of us who have been able to
develop the faculties of the higher planes to be allowed a
glimpse of Their mighty schemes, to witness the lifting of a
tiny corner of the veil which shrouds the future. Sometimes
also we have glimpsed Their plans in another way, for in look
ing back into the records of the distant past we have found
Them making prophecies, the fulfilment of which is even now
passing before our eyes.
I know of nothing more stirring, more absorbingly interest
ing, than such a glimpse. The splendour, the colossal magni
tude, of Their plans takes away one's breath, yet even more
impressive is the calm dignity, the utter certainty, of it all.
Not individuals only, but even nations are the pieces in this
game; but neither nation nor individual is compelled to play
any given part. The opportunity to play that part is given
to it or to him; if he or it will not take it there is invariably

THE WORK OF THE MASTERS 17
an under-study ready to step in and fill the gap. But, whoever
may be the instrument, this one thing at least is utterly cer
tain, that the intended end will be achieved; through whose
agency this will be done matters very much to the agent but
nothing at all to the total progress of the world. Nineteen
hundred years ago AppoUonius of Tyana was sent out by the
Brotherhood upon a mission, one feature of which was that he
was to found, in various countries, certain magnetic centres.
Objects of the nature of talismans were given to him, which
he was to bury at these chosen spots, in order that the force
which they radiated might prepare these places to be the cen
tres of great events in the future. Some of those centres have
already been utilized, but some have not, and all these latter
are to be employed in the immediate future in connection with
the work of the coming Christ. So th&t much of the detail
of His work was already definitely planned nearly two thousand
years ago, and arrangements even on the physical plane were
being made to prepare for it. When once we realize this utter
certainty, doubt and hesitation, anxiety and worry, all fade
away and we gain a perfect peace and content, and the most
absolute confidence in the Powers who are governing the world.

THE WORK OF THE MASTERS.
The work of the Masters on Their own planes is not easy
for us to comprehend, though we can readily see that Their
activity must be tremendous. The number of adepts still re
taining physical bodies is but small, and yet in Their hands
is the care of all the evolutions which are taking place on this
globe. As far as humanity is concerned They seem to divide
the world into parishes, but Their parishes are continents, and
an adept is appointed to look after each. The Theosophical
Society appears to be rather of the nature of a mission sent
out from Headquarters, so that those who take part in its
activities are working not for any particular parish or any
particular form of religion, but for humanity as a whole;
and it is upon humanity as a whole, or at least upon humanity
in the mass, that the Masters chiefiy act. They have a de-

18 THE INNER LIFE
partment which devotes itself to endeavouring to influence in
the right direction the important people of the world — to affect
kings and statesmen in the direction of peace, to impress more
liberal ideas upon great preachers and teachers, to uplift the
conceptions of artists, so that through them the whole world
may be made a little happier and a little better.
But the working of such departments as these is mainly
entrusted to Their pupils, They themselves dealing rather with
the egos in their causal bodies; They devote themselves to
pouring spiritual influence upon them — raying out upon them
as the sunlight radiates upon the flowers, and thereby evok
ing from them all that is noblest and best in them, and so
promoting their growth. Many people are sometimes con
scious of helpful influences of this description, but are quite
unable to trace them to their source. The causal body of the
average man has as yet almost no consciousness of anything
external to itself on its own plane. It is very much in the
condition of the chicken within the egg, which is entirely un
conscious of the source of the heat which nevertheless stimu
lates its growth. When any person reaches the stage where
he breaks through his shell, and becomes capable of some sort
of response, the whole process takes on a different form, and
is enormously quickened. Even the group-souls of animals on
the lower part of the mental plane are greatly affected and
assisted by such influence, for like sunlight the force floods
the entire plane and affects to some extent everything which
is within its radius. In pouring out this force the Masters
frequently take advantage of special occasions and of places
where there is some strong magnetic centre. Where some holy
man has lived and died, or where some relics of such a person
create a suitable atmosphere, They take advantage of such
conditions and cause Their own force to radiate along the chan
nels which are already prepared. When some vast assemblage
of pilgrims comes together in a receptive attitude, again They
take advantage of the occasion by pouring Their forces out
upon the people through the channels by means of which they
have been taught to expect help and blessing.
It is owing to assistance of this nature given to us from
above that humanity has progressed pven to its present posi
tion. We are still in the fourth round, which should naturally
be devoted to the development of desire and emotion, and yet
we are already engaged in the unfolding of the intellect, which

THE WORK OF THE MASTERS 19
is to be the special characteristic of the fifth round. That
this is so is due to the immense stimulus given to our evolution
by the descent of the Lords of the Flame from Venus, and by
the work of the adepts who have preserved for us that influ
ence and steadily sacrificed Themselves in order that we might
make the better progress.
Those who understand anything of this work, and most
especially those of us who have been privileged to see the
Masters doing it, would never for a moment think of inter
rupting Them in such altruistic labour as this by propounding
any personal requests. The vast importance of the work which
They are doing, and the enormous amount of it, make it ob
viously impossible that They should take up personal work with
individuals. In the cases where such work has to be done
it is always delegated to pupils or performed by means of
elementals and nature-spirits. Therefore it becomes emphat
ically the duty of the student to fit himself to do some of this
lower work, for the very good reason that if he does not do so,
the work will for the present be left undone, since it would be
obviously impossible for the Masters to turn aside from Their
far greater work for the whole world to attend to individual
cases. The work of the invisible helpers on the astral plane
would simply not be done unless there were pupils at the stage
where that is the best work that they can do; for so soon
as they pass beyond that stage and can do higher work, the
higher work will certainly be given to them.
People sometimes ask why the Masters so often work through
imperfect instruments; the answer is obviously because They
have not time to do the work themselves, and They must there
fore employ such instruments as They have, or the. work will
not be done at all. Take for example the writing of books for
the helping of humanity. It is obvious that the Masters could
do this very far better than any of Their pupils can, and by
doing it They could entirely avoid any possibility of erroneous
or imperfect statements. But They have absolutely no time
to devote to such work, and therefore if it were not done by
pupils it would remain undone. Besides, if the Masters did
it They would take away the opportunity of making good karma
from those who can do it — certainly not as well as They,
but yet after all well enough for the use of those who know
so very much less.
We must remember that every Master has at His command

20 THE INNER LIFE
only a certain amount of force which, enormous as it seems to
us, is still a limited quantity, and it is His duty to employ this
force to the best possible advantage for the helping of hu
manity. Therefore it would, if we may say so without irrev
erence, be absolutely wrong for Him to waste that force upon
anything lower than the very highest that it can reach, or to
spend upon individual cases, however deserving, that which can
be so much better employed for the welfare of all.

MASTERS AND PUPILS.
It has already been said that out of the comparatively small
number of adepts who retain Their physical bodies and fill
the offices connected with the administration of the world under
the Great Hierarchy, there is a still smaller number who ac
cept pupils, and to whom therefore we give the name of Mas
ters. Let us see then what it means to be a pupil of one of
these Masters, what is expected of one who aspires to this
position and what is the work which he has to do.
First let us have it clearly in our minds that the Masters
have absolutely dedicated themselves to the service of hu
manity, and that They are utterly absorbed ih the work to
the entire exclusion of every other consideration. In speak
ing to you on this subject before, I have mentioned that a
M^aster has only a certain definite amount of force to expend,
and that though the amount of that force seems to us almost
incalculable, He is nevertheless exceedingly careful to use every
ounce of it to the best possible advantage. Obviously to take
in hand and instruct a pupil will make some demand upon His
time and upon this store of energy, and since He regards every
thing from the standpoint of its use in regard to the promo
tion of evolution He will not expend this time and energy
upon any man unless He can see that it is a good investment.
He will take a man as a pupil, or perhaps we should rather
say as an apprentice, when He sees that the amount of time
and strength spent in training him will produce more result
eventually than any other way of expending the same amount

MASTERS AND PUPILS 21
— but not otherwise: For example, a man might have many
qualifications which would make him useful as an assistant,
but at the same time some one great fault which would be a
constant obstacle in his way, which would nullify much of the
good that he might otherwise do. No Master would accept
such a man as a pupil; but he might say to him: "Go to
work and conquer that special fault of yours, and when you have
succeeded I will take you as my assistant, and will train you
further." So many of our earnest students are full of the most benevo
lent and altruistic feeling, and, knowing themselves to be in
this way very different from the majority of mankind, they
sometimes say to themselves, "I am so deeply anxious to work
for humanity; why will not the Master take me in hand and
train me?"
Let us face the facts boldly. The Master will not train you
because you are still full of all sorts of minor imperfections.
It is quite true, as you no doubt feel within yourselves, that
your benevolence, your kindliness, your earnest wish to be
helpful, are far greater things on the credit side of the account
than are all these small faults on the debit side. But try to
realize that there are thousands of people in the world who
are benevolent and well-meaning, and that you differ from
them only in the fact that you happen to have a little more
knowledge, and so you are able to direct your benevolence into
more definitely useful channels than those others. If these
were all the qualifications required for discipleship, each Mas
ter might have thousands of pupils, and His whole time would
be taken up in endeavouring to bring into shape those few thou
sands of people, with all their petty little faults on the astral
and physical planes, and in the meantime the Master's splendid
work with the egos on the higher levels would have to be en
tirely neglected.
First of all then, to be a pupil of a Master means that one
must look upon life as the Master looks upon it, solely from
the point of view of what is best for the progress of the world.
The pupil must be prepared absolutely to forget himself, to
sink his personality entirely, and he must understand that this
is not a mere poetical figure or a fashion of speech, but that
it means just exactly what it says — that he must have no per
sonal desires whatsoever, and must be willing to order the
whole of his life according to the work that he has to do.

22 THE INNER LIFE
How many of us are there who are whole-heartedly willing
to take even this flrst step towards accepted discipleship?
Think what it means to become a disciple. When any man
offers himself for such a position the Master will at once
say whether or not He considers him fit to enter upon the stage
of the probationary pupil. If the candidate appears to be
reasonably near the possession of the necessary qualifications
the Master may take him upon probation, which means that
he will remain for a period of some years under very close ob
servation. Seven years is the average time of this probation,
but it may be indefinitely lengthened if the candidate should
prove unsatisfactory, or on the other hand it may be much
shortened if it is seen that he has really taken himself in
hand. I have known it to be extended to thirty years; I have
known it to be reduced to flve years, and even to three, and in
one quite exceptional case it was only five months. During this
period of probation the pupil is not in any sense in any kind of
direct communication with the Master; he is little likely to
hear or to see anything of Him. Nor as a general rule are
any special trials or difficulties put in his way; he is simply
carefully watched in his attitude towards all the little daily
troubles of life. Por convenience of observation the Master
makes what is called a "living image" of each such probationary
pupil — that is to say, an exact duplicate of the man's astral
and mental bodies. This image He keeps in a place where He
can easily reach it, and He places it in magnetic rapport with
the man himself, so that every modification of thought or of
feeling in the man's own vehicles is faithfully reproduced in
the image. These images are examined daily by the Master,
who in this way obtains with the least possible trouble a per
fectly accurate record of his prospective pupil's thoughts and
feelings, and from this He is able to decide when He can take
him into the far closer relationship of the second stage — that
of the accepted pupil.
Remember that the Master is a channel for the distribution
of the forces of the LOGOS, and not indeed a mere unconscious
channel but a keenly intelligent co-operator; and He is this
because He is himself consciously a part of the Logos. Just
in the same way at a lower level the accepted pupil is a chan
nel of the forces of the Master, but he, too, must be not an
unconscious channel but an intelligent co-operator, and in order
to be this he must also become virtually part of the conscious
ness of the Master.

MASTERS AND PUPILS 23
An accepted pupil is taken into his Master's consciousness
to so great an extent that whatever he sees or hears is within
the knowledge of his Master — not that the Master necessarily
sees or hears it at the same moment (though that often hap
pens) but that it lies within the Master's memory ex
actly as it does within the memory of the pupil.
Whatever the pupil feels or thinks is within the astral and
mental bodies of his Master. When we realize all that this
means, we see very clearly why it would be, utterly impossible
for the Master to accept any pupil until the pupil's thoughts
and feelings were such as the Master would wish to harbour
within himself.
It unfortunately sometimes happens that there comes into
mind of the pupil some thought which is not fit to be har
boured by the Master, and as soon as the Master feels that,
He at once erects a barrier and shuts off from himself that
vibration, but to do this diverts His attention for a moment
from His other work, and takes 3 certain amount of energy.
Once more we see clearly that it would be impossible for a
Master to take into such a relation with himself one who often
indulged in thoughts unfit for the Master's mind; to have to
be continually or even frequently turned aside from His work in
order to shut off undesirable thoughts or feelings would clearly
be a quite intolerable tax upon the Master's time and strength.
It is not because of any lack of compassion or patience that
a Master could not take such a man; it is simply that it would
not be a good use either of His time or His energy, and make
the best possible use of both of them is His simple duty. If a
man feels himself worthy to be accepted as a pupil, and
wonders why this privilege has not already been extended to
him, let him watch himself closely for even a single day, and
ask himself whether during that day there has been in him
any single thought or feeling which would have been unworthy
of the Master. Remember that not only deflnitely evil or
unkind thoughts are unworthy of Him, but also trifling thoughts,
critical thoughts, irritated thoughts — above all, thoughts of self.
Who of us is sufficient for these things?
The effect which the Master seeks to produce by this wonder
fully close association is the harmonizing and attuning of the pu
pil's vehicles — the same result which an Indian teacher tries to
gain by keeping his disciples always in the neighborhood physic
ally. Whatever may be the special kind of exercises of the special

24 THE INNER LIFE
course of study prescribed, in all cases the principal effect
upon the pupil is that produced not by either exercises or study,
but by being constantly in the presence of the teacher. The
various vehicles of the pupil are vibrating at their accustomed
rates — probably each of them at various rates, due to the
constant presence of passing emotions and wandering thoughts
of all kinds. The first and most difficult task of the pupil is
to reduce all this chaos to order — to eliminate the host of
minor interests, and control the wandering thoughts, and this
must be achieved by a steady pressure of the will exercised upon
all his vehicles through a long period of years.
While he still lives in the world the difficulty of this under
taking is multiplied a hundredfold by the ceaseless pressure
of disturbing waves of thought and emotion, which give him
no moment of rest, no opportunity to collect his forces in order
to make a real effort. This is why in India the man who wishes
to live the higher life retires to the jungle — why, in all countries
and in all ages, there have been men willing to adopt the con
templative life of the hermit. The hermit at least has breath
ing-space, has rest from the endless conflict, so that he can
find time to think coherently. He has little to hinder him in
his struggle, and the calm influences of nature are even to a
certain extent helpful.
But the man who lives perpetually in the presence of one al
ready upon the Path has a still greater advantage. Such a
teacher has by the hypothesis already calmed his vehicles
and accustomed them to vibrate at a few carefully selected
rates instead of in a hundred promiscuous frenzies. These few
rates of vibration are very strong and steady, and day and
night, whether he is sleeping or waking, they are playing
unceasingly upon the vehicles of the pupil, and gradually rais
ing him to his teacher's key. Nothing but time and close
association will produce this effect; and even then not with
every one, but only with those capable of being attuned. Many
teachers require to see a reasonable proportion of this re
sult before they will impart their special methods of occult
development; in other words, before teaching a pupil some
thing which may easily do him much harm if wrongfully used,
they wish to be certain by ocular demonstration that he is a
man of the type to which this instruction is appropriate, and
is sufficiently amenable to their influence to be held in the
right way by it when the strain comes. A thousand times

MASTERS AND PUPILS 25
greater are the advantages gained by those whom the Master
selects — who thus have the opportunity of such close and in
timate contact with Him.
This then is what is meant by being an accepted pupil of the
Master — that the man becomes a kind of outpost of that Mas
ter's consciousness, so that the strength of the Great Ones
may be poured out through him, and the world may be defl
nitely the better for his presence in it. The pupil is so closely
in touch with the Master's thought that he can at any time see
what that thought is upon any given subject, and in that way
he is often saved from error. The Master can at any moment
send a thought through that pupil either in the form of a
suggestion or a message. If, for example, the pupil is writing
a letter or giving a lecture, the Master is subconsciously aware
of that fact, and may at any moment throw into the mind of
the pupil a sentence to be included in that letter or a useful
illustration for that lecture. In earlier stages the pupil is
often unconscious of this, and supposes these ideas to have
arisen spontaneously in his own mind, but he very soon learns
to recognize the thought of the Master. Indeed, it is eminently
necessary that he should to recognize it, because there are many
other entities on the astral and mental planes who are very
ready in the most friendly way and with the best intentions
to make similar suggestions, and it is assureuiy well that the
pupil should learn to distinguish from whom they come.
We must not however confuse such use by a Master of his
pupil's body with the mediumship which we have so often char
acterized as objectionable. For example, there have been some
occasions on which one or other of our Masters has spoken
through our President, and it has been stated that on such
occasions sometimes her very voice and manner and even her
features have been changed. But it must be remembered that
in all such cases she has retained the fullest consciousness
and has known exactly who was speaking and why. That is
a condition so different from what is ordinarily understood by
mediumship that it would be quite unfair to call it by the
same name. There can be no objection to such use of a pupil's
body, but it is only in the case of a very few pupils that the
Masters have ever done this.
When it happens, the President's consciousness is just as
fully active in her physical brain as ever, but instead of di
recting her organs of speech herself she listens while the Mas-

26 THE INNER LIFE
ter makes use of them. He formulates the sentences in His
own brain and then transfers them to hers. While this is
being done she can use her own brain-power, as it were pas
sively, to listen, to understand, and to admire; but I conceive
that it would hardly be possible for her at absolutely the same
moment to compose a sentence upon some quite different sub
ject. I suppose that the highest form of spiritualistic con
trol may more or less approximate to this, but probably very
rarely, and hardly ever completely.
The influence of a Master is so powerful that it may well
shine through to almost any extent, and any one of the audi
ence who is really impressible might be conscious of His pres
ence even to the extent of seeing His features or hearing
His voice, instead of those of His pupil. It is not very probable
that any actual physical change takes place, such as would
be visible to non-sensitive spectators. In spiritualism I have
indeed seen cases in which the medium's voice and manner,
and even his very features, were actually physically entirely
changed, but that always means a complete suppression of his
ego by the entity speaking through him, and this would be quite
foreign to the system of training adopted by our Masters.
There is yet a third stage of even more intimate union, when
the pupil becomes what is called the "son" of the Master.
This is accorded only after the Master has had considerable
experience of the man as an accepted pupil, when He is quite
certain that nothing can arise in the mind or astral body of
the pupil which will ever need to be shut off. For that is
perhaps the principal difference which can be readily explained
on the physical plane between the position of the accepted
disciple and of the "son"^that the accepted disciple, though
truly a part of the Master's consciousness, can still be shut
off when it seems desirable, whereas the "son" is drawn into
a union so close and so sacred that even the power of the
Master cannot undo what has been done to the extent of sepa
rating these consciousnesses even for a moment.
These then are the three stages of the relation of a pupil
to his Master; flrst, the probationary period, during which
he is not in any real sense a pupil at all; second, the period of
accepted discipleship; third, the period of "sonship.'' It must
be clearly understood that these relations have nothing what
ever to do with initiations or steps on the Path, which belong
to an entirely different category, and are tokens of the man's

MASTERS AND PUPILS . 27
relation not to his Master but to the Great White Brotherhood
and to its august Head. One may flnd a not inapt symbol of
these respective relationships in the position in which an under
graduate stands with regard to the head of his college and to
the university as a whole. The university as such requires
the man to pass certain examinations, and the precise methods
in which he prepares himself for this, are, comparatively speak
ing, matters of indifference to it. It is the university, and
not the head of the college, that arranges the examination and
confers the various degrees; the work of the head of the col
lege is simply to see that the candidate is duly prepared. In
the process of such preparation he may, as a private gentle
man, enter into whatever social or other relations he may think
proper with his pupil; but all that is not the business of the
university. Just in the same way the Great White Brotherhood has
nothing to do with the relations between the Master and His
pupil; that is a matter solely for the private consideration of
the Master himself. Whenever the Master co^isiders that the
pupil is flt for the flrst initiation, He gives notice of that fact
and presents him for it, and the Brotherhood asks only whether
he is ready for the initiation, and not what is the relationship
between him and any Master. At the same time it is true that
a candidate for initiation must be proposed and seconded by
two of the higher members of the Brotherhood — that is to say,
by two who have reached the level of adeptship; and it is cer
tain that the Master would not propose a man for the tests
of initiation unless He had with regard to him the certainty
of his fitness, which could only come from such close identifi
cation with his consciousness as that of which 1 have already
spoken. When a student hears all this there naturally arises in his
mind the question, "How can I become the pupil of a Master?
What can I do that will attract His attention?" As a matter
of fact it is quite unnecessary that we should try to attract
His attention, for the Masters are ever watching for those
whom They can help to be of use to Them in the great work
which They have to do, and we need not have the slightest fear
that we shall be overlooked.
I remember very well an incident of the early days of my
own connection with the Great Ones a quarter of a century
ago. I met on the physical plane a man of great enthusiasm

28 THE INNER LIFE
and of the most saintly character, one who believed thoroughly
in the existence of the Masters, and devoted his life to the
one object of qualifying himself for Their service. He seemed
to me a man in every way so entirely suitable for discipleship,
so obviously better than myself in many ways, that I could
not understand how it was that he was not already accepted;
and so, being young in the work and ignorant, one day when
a good opportunity offered itself I very humbly and a,s it were
apologetically mentioned his name to the Master with the sug
gestion that he might perhaps prove a good instrument. A
smile of kindly amusement broke out upon the Master's face,
as He said:
"Ah, you need not fear that your friend is being overlooked;
no one can ever be overlooked; but in this case there still re
mains a certain karma to be worked out, which makes it im
possible at the moment to accept your suggestion. Soon your
friend will pass away from the physical plane, and soon he
will return to it again, and then the expiation will be com
plete and what you desire for him will have become possible.''
And then, with the gentle kindness which is always so prom
inent a characteristic in Him, He blended my consciousness
with His in an even more intimate manner, and raised it to
a plane far higher than I could then reach, and from that ele
vation He showed me how the Masters look out upon the world.
The whole earth lay before us with all its millions of souls,
undeveloped most of them, and therefore inconspicuous; but
wherever amidst all that mighty multitude there was one who
was approaching even at a great distance the point at which
definite use could be made of him, he stood out among the
rest just as the flame of a light-house stands out in the dark
ness of the night.
"Now you see,'' said the Master, "how utterly impossible
it would be that any one should be overlooked who is even
within measurable distance of the possibility of acceptance as a
probationer." We can do nothing on our side but steadily work at the
improvement of our own character and endeavour in every
possible way, by the study of Theosophical works, by self-de
velopment, and by the unselfishness of our devotion to the
interests of others, to fit ourselves for the honour which we
desire, having within our minds the utter certainty that as soon
as we are ready the acceptance will assuredly come. We can

MASTERS AND PUPILS 29
do nothing but fit ourselves, and we have the certainty that
as soon as we are ready we shall be accepted, because we
know how great is the need of helpers. But until we can be
utilized economically — until, that is to say, the force spent
upon us will bring forth, through our action, more result than
it would if spent in any other way, it would be a violation of
duty on the part of the Master to draw us into close relations
with Him.
We may be quite sure that there are in reality no ex
ceptions to this rule, even though we may sometimes think
that we have seen some. A man may become a probationary
pupil of the Master while he has still some obvious faults,
but we may be very sure that in such a case there are good
qualities under the surface which far more than counterbalance
the superficial evils. Another thing that must be remembered
is that, like the rest of us, the Great Masters of Wisdom have
a long line of lives behind Them, and in those lives, like others,
They have made certain karmic ties, and so sometimes it
happens that a particular ' individual has a claim on Them for
some service rendered long ago in the remote past. In the
lines of past lives which we have examined we sometimes come
across instances of such a karmic link.
One well-known case is that of a certain member who, when
a powerful noble in Egypt six thousand years ago, used his
influence with the authorities of one of the great temples to
introduce into it as a favoured student a young man who
displayed the keenest interest in occult matters. That young
student took, up occultism with the greatest eagerness and
made the most astonishing progress in it,* so that in ev.ery
life thereafter he continued the studies begun in ancient Khem.
Between then and now that young student has attained adept-
ship, and thus passed on far in advance of the friend who
then introduced him to the temple. In the work which He
has had to do in these later days He needed some one to
put before the world certain truths which had to be published,
because the time for such unfoldment was fully ripe. He
looked round for an instrument whom He could use, and He
found His old friend and helper of six thousand years ago in
a position in which it was possible to employ him in this work.
At once He remembered His ancient debt and repaid it by giv
ing to His friend this wonderful privilege of being the channel
of the truth to the world.

30 THE INNER LIFE
Such cases indeed are fairly numerous. We all know how
at a period still far earlier one of the founders of the Theo
sophical Society saved the life of the other, who was at that
time the eldest son of Him who is now the Master and teacher
of both, and thus established a karmic claim which has drawn
those three into close relationship ever since. Again, on an
other occasion in the remote past our President saved the life
of her present teacher when there was a conspiracy to assas
sinate Him; and in yet another instance one who has but just
passed the portals of initiation saved the life of the Bodhi
sattva, the great Lord Maitreya himself.
Now all these are - unquestionably karmic links, and they
constitute debts which will be fully repaid. So it may happen
to any of us that in some past life we have come into touch
with One who is now a Master, or done Him some slight service,
and if so, that may well prove to have been the commencement
of an association which will ripen into discipleship on our side.
It frequently happens that people are drawn together by a
strong common interest in occultism, and in later lives, when
some of these have out-distanced the others, those who were
once friends and fellow-students often fall naturally into the
relation of teacher and pupil.
No doubt a man may attract Their attention in many ways;
he may bring himself to the portals of the Path by association
with those in advance of him, by the force of sheer hard
thinking, by devotion, or by earnest endeavour in good works;
but all these are after all merely so many divisions of the one
Way, because they all of them mean that he is making himself
fit for one or otheV department of the work that is to be done.
And so when by any of these methods he reaches a certain
level, he inevitably attracts the attention of the Masters of
the Wisdom and comes in some way into connection with Them,
though probably not upon the physical plane. The Master's
usual plan is that he is brought into connection' with one or
other of Their more prominent pupils, and this is very much
the safest way, since it is impossible for any ordinary person
to assure himself of the good faith of astral communications.
Unless a man has had very wide experience in connection
with mediumship, he would find it very difficult to realize how
many quite ordinary people there are upon the astral plane
who are burning with the desire to pose as great world-
teachers. They are generally quite honest in their intentions.

MASTERS AND PUPILS 31
and really think that they have teaching to give which will
save the world. Now that they are dead they have fully
realized the worthlessness of mere worldly objects, and they
feel (quite rightly) that if they could only impress upon
mankind in general the ideas which they have now acquired,
the whole world would immediately become a very different
place. They are also fully persuaded that they have only to
publish their discoveries upon the physical plane in order at
once to convince everybody of their inherent reasonableness,
and so they select some impressionable lady and tell her that
they have chosen her out of all the world to be the medium of a
magnificent revelation.
Now it is rather fiattering to the average person to be told
that he or she is the sole medium in all the world for some
mighty entity, the only channel for some exclusive and tran
scendent teaching; and even though the communicating entity
should disclaim any special greatness (which he usually does
not) this is put down to praiseworthy modesty on his part, and
he is described as at least an archangel, even if not a still
more direct manifestation of the Deity. What such a com
municating entity forgets is that when he was alive on the
physical plane other people were making similar communicar
tions through various mediums, and that then he never paid
the slightest attention to them, nor was in any way affected
by what they said, and so he does not realise that precisely
as he, when immersed in the affairs of this world, declined
to be moved by those very communications, so will all the
world now go on contentedly with its own business and pay
no attention to him.
Often such entities assume distinguished names from what
may almost be called a pardonable motive, for they know
human nature well enough to be aware that if John Smith
or Thomas Brown comes back from the dead and enunciates
a certain doctrine it will have very little chance of acceptance,
no matter how excellent and how entirely true it may be;
whereas the same words uttered by George Washington, JuUus
Caesar or the Archangel Michael would be at least respectfully
considered and very probably bUndly accepted.
Any man functioning on the astral plane has a certain
amount of insight into the thoughts and feelings of those with
whom he is deaUng, and therefore it is not wonderful that when
such people come into contact with the Theosophists, and see

32 THE INNER LIFE
their minds to be full of reverence for the Masters of Wis
dom, they should sometimes personate those very Masters of
Wisdom in order to command more ready acceptance for what
ever ideas they wish to promulgate. Also it must not be for
gotten that there are those who bear no good will to our
Masters, and desire to do Them an injury which lies within
their power. They cannot of course harm Them directly, and
therefore they Sometimes try to do so through the pupils
whom They love. One of the easiest ways in which they can
produce difficulties is by assuming the form of the Master
who is so strongly revered by their victim, and in many cases
such an imitation is quite perfect, so far as the physical ap
pearance is concerned, except that it always seems to me that
they can never quite get the right expression into the eyes.
One who has developed the sight of the higher planes cannot
be .thus deluded, as it is quite impossible for any of these en
tities to imitate the causal body of the Master.
Most assuredly we shall do well to heed diligently the wise
precept in The Voice of Silence, "Seek not thy Guru in those
mayavic regions." Accept no teaching from some self-ap
pointed preceptor on the astral plane, but receive all com
munications and advice which come thence precisely as you
would receive similar advice or remarks made -by a stranger
on the physical plane. Take them for what they are worth,
and accept the advice or reject it as your own conscience
dictates, without paying attention to its alleged source. Seek
rather for teaching which satisfies the intellect, and apply
the test of intellect and conscience to any claims which are
put forward.
f Let it never be forgotten that ours are not the only lines.
/ The two Masters who are most intimately associated with the
work of the Theosophical Society represent two different rays
or methods of teaching; but there are others besides these.
All schools of the higher teaching give a preliminary training
to purify the character, but the particular teachings given and
practices recommended differ according to the type of the
teacher. But all teachers who belong to the Great White Lodge
insist upon the attainment of the highest only by means of the
Path of Holiness, and the quenching of desire by conquering
it and not by gratifying it.
The pupil will be employed by his Master in many different
ways. Some are set to take up the lines of work indicated

MASTERS AND PUPILS 33
in the book Invisible Helpers; others are employed specifically
in assisting the Masters personally in some piece of work
which They happen to have undertaken; some are set astrally
to deliver lectures to audiences of less developed souls, or to
help and teach others who are free temporarily during sleep,
or are permanently after death denizens of the astral world.
When a pupil falls asleep at night he usually reports himself
to his Master, and he is then told if there is any definite
piece of work which he can do. If there happens to be nothing
special he . will take up his usual nocturnal work, whatever
Ihat may be. Every invisible helper acquires a number of
regular cases or patients who are put under his charge just
exactly as are those of a doctor on the physical ' plane ; and
whenever there is no unusual work for him to do he simply
goes on his ordinary rounds, visits these cases and does his
best for them. So that he has always plenty of work of
this kind to fill up his time when he is not especially needed,
as for some sudden catastrophe which throws out a large num
ber of souls simultaneously into the astral plane in a condi
tion of terror. Most of such training in astral work as the
pupil needs is usually given by one of the older pupils of the
Master. If it is necessary that the pupil should undertake any special
system of psychic development on the physical plane, the
Master will indicate it to him either directly or through one
of His recognized pupils. What is prescribed in this way
differs according to the character and need of the pupil, and
it is usually best for us to wait until we are definitely told
before attempting any practices of this kind. Even when we
.are told of them it is best that we should keep them to our
selves, and not discuss them with others, as it is more than
probable that they would be unsuited to anyone else. Here
in India among the hosts of minor teachers each man has his
own methods, the difference depending partly on the different
schools of philosophy to which they belong, and partly upon
their different ways of looking at the same thing. But what
ever their methods are, they usually keep them very secret
in order to avoid the responsibility of their being wrongly
used. The harm that may be done by the indiscriminate publica
tion of any of these half-physical systems has been very clearly
exemplified in America, where a book by an Indian teacher

34 THE INNER LIFE
has obtained a large circulation. This teacher guardedly men
tioned certain practices, prefacing his teaching with a care
fully expressed warning as to the necessity of preparation by
the training of character. But nevertheless what he has written
has caused a great deal of suffering, because people have
uniformly disregarded his warning as to training and have
recklessly tried to carry out the practices which he described.
In a tour a few years ago in that country I met quite a
number of people who through attempting to follow his direc
tions had made themselves physical wrecks. Some had become
insane, some were subject to fits, and others had fallen under
the spell of various obsessing entities. In order that such
practices as these may be attempted with safety it is absolutely
necessary that they be undertaken (as they always are under-
^ taken in India) in the actual presence of a teacher who watches
the results and at once interferes when he sees that anything
is going wrong. Indeed, in this country it is usual for the
pupil to remain in physical proximity to his teacher, because
here people understand what I mentioned some time ago — that
the flrst and greatest work which a teacher has to do is to
attune the aura of the pupil to his own — to annul the effect of
the ordinary disturbed conditions which prevail in the world,
to show him how to abandon all that and to live in a. world
of absolute calm. One of our own Masters said in one of the
earlier letters, "Come out of your world into ours," and this
of course lefers not a place but a condition of mind.
Remember that everyone who meditates upon the Master
makes a definite link with Him, which shows itself to clair
voyant vision as a kind of line of light. The Master always
subconsciously feels the impinging of such a line, and sends ¦
out along it in response a steady stream of magnetism which
continues to play long after the meditation is over. The reg
ular practice of such meditation and concentration is of the
utmost help to the aspirant, and the regularity is one of the
most important factors in producing the result. It should
be undertaken daily at the same hour, and we should steadily
persevere with it, even though no obvious effect may be pro
duced. When no effect appears we must be especially careful
to avoid depression, because depression makes it more difficult
for a Master's influence to act upon us, and it also shows that
we are thinking more of ourselves than of the Master.

THE PATH OF PROGRESS 35

THE PATH OF PROGRESS.

When we state the great truth that all evolution came forth
from the Divine, and that we ourselves are but sparks of the
divine flame and one day to be reunited to it, people often
ask us two not unnatural questions. First they say, "Why
should the divine Being have sent us forth, since after all we
are part of Him, and so were divine from the beginning?
Why in fact did the Logos manifest Himself in matter at all,
seeing that He was perfect and glorious and all-wise in the
beginning? Secondly, if we emanate from the divine Spirit,
why were we sent forth into wickedness, and how can man,
coming forth from so pure a source, enter into such degrada
tion as we constantly see around us?" Since these questions
recur so often, it is worth while for us to consider how they
may be answered.
Why the Logos manifested Himself is scarcely our business.
It is enough for us to know that He has chosen to do, that
we are part of His scheme, and that it is therefore our duty
to try to understand that scheme so far as we can, and to
adapt ourselves to it. But if there be any who desire to
speculate upon this mystery, perhaps no better suggestion can
be found for them than that which was given by the Gnostic
Doctors :
"God is Love, but Love itself cannot be perfect unless it
has those upon whom it can be lavished and by whom it can
be returned. Therefore He put forth of Himself into matter,
and He limited His glory, in order that through this natural
and slow process of evolution we might come into being; and
we in turn according to His will are to develop until we reach
even His own level, and then the very Love of God itself will
become more perfect, because it will then be lavished on those,
His own children, who will fully understand and return it,
and so His great scheme will be realized and His Will will
be done."
As to the further consideration why the emanation should
have taken place in this particular way, that again is not our
affair, for we are concerned only with the facts of evolution,
not the reasons for it; yet there seems little difficulty in at
least indicating the lines along which an answer may be
found. It is quite true that man is an emanation from the

36 THE INNER LIFE
substance of the Divine, but it must be remembered that the
substance, when it issues forth, is undifferentiated, and from
our point of view unconscious; that is, it has within it rather
the potentiality of consciousness than anything to which we
are in the habit of applying that term.
In its descent into matter it is simply gathering round it the
matter of the different planes through which it passes, and
it is not until, having reached the lowest point of its evolu
tion in the mineral kingdom, it turns upwards and begins its
return to the level whence it came, that it commences to de
velop what we call consciousness at all. It is for that reason
that man began first of all to unfold his consciousness on the
physical plane, and it is only after fully attaining that that
he begins to be conscious upon the astral and mental planes
in turn.
No doubt God might have made man perfect and obedient
to the law by one act of His will, but is it not obvious that such
a man would have been a mere automaton-^that the will
working in him would have been God's will, not his own?
What the Logos desired was to call into existence, from His
own substance, those who should be like unto Him in power
and glory, absolutely free to choose and yet absolutely cer
tain to choose the right and not the wrong, because in addi
tion to perfect power they would have perfect knowledge and
perfect love.
It is not easy to imagine any other way in which this re
sult could be achieved but that which has been adopted — the
plan of leaving man free and therefore capable of making
mistakes. From those mistakes he learns and gains experience,
and although in such a scheme as this it is inevitable that
there should be evil, and therefore sorrow and suffering, yet
when the part these play as factors in man's evolution is properly
understood we shall see that the Chinese proverb is true which
tells us that evil is but the dark shadow of good. Most em
phatically it is true that, however black the clouds may look
from below, those clouds are by their very nature transient,
and above and behind them all the mighty sun, which will
at last dissipate them, is always shining, so that the old saying
is justified that all things, even the most unlikely-looking, are
in reality working together for good.
This much at least all who have made any real progress
know for themselves as an absolute certainty; while they can-

THE PATH OF PROGRESS 37
not hope to prove it to those who have not as yet had the ex
perience, at least they can bear testimony to it with no un
certain voice, and that testimony is surely not without its value
for souls who are still struggling towards the light.
As to the second, question, we may fairly point out that it
assumes too much. It is not true to say that we are sent forth
into wickedness and degradation. In fact, strictly speaking,
we are not sent forth at all. What happens is something quite
different. The Logos pours forth into manifestation the stream
of force which we may describe as part of Himself or of His
vesture. This stream contains in potentiality the vast hosts
of monads, each of which, when fully developed, may itself
become a Logos. But for such development it is necessary
that it should manifest itself through matter of various grades,
that the individuality should very slowly and gradually be built
up, and then that certain latent qualities should be brought
out. This is the process of evolution, and all the great laws
of the universe are arranged to facilitate this process. In its
earlier stages the manifestation of the monad is entirely con
trolled by these laws, not having yet developed any sort of in
dividuality or soul of its own.
But there comes a stage in which individuality is attained,
and will is beginning to be developed. The plan of the Logos
is to allow a man a certain amount of freedom (at first a very
small amount) in the use of this dawning will, and naturally
enough by the law of averages this primitive individual uses
his will about as often wrongly as rightly, although he has
almost always teachers belonging to earlier evolutions, who
tell him the way in which he should walk. When he uses
his will wrongly (that is to say, in a direction opposed to
the current of evolution) the mechanical working of nature's
laws brings suffering as the result of such action. Since
this happens over and over again, the primitive ego at last
learns by experience that he must obey the wiser teaching
given to him, and as soon as the determination to do so has
become actually a part of himself a wider field of freedom
of action opens before him.
In this new field in turn he is sure to act wrongly some
times as well as rightly, so that the same process is repeated
again and again, always involving suffering where mistakes
have been made. Whatever of "wickedness and degradation"
may exist is always the result of the action of men who have

38 THE INNER LIFE
used their free-will wrongly, and are in process of learning how
to use it rightly, and as soon as that lesson shall have been
universally learned all these evil effects will pass away. It is
therefore obvious that whatever of evil exists in the world
is entirely the doing of its inhabitants, and is in its nature tem
porary. However terrible and deeply rooted it may seem to
us, it cannot possibly be permanent, for it is of the essence
of things that it must pass away when its causes are removed.
For its existence while it lasts we must blame, not the great
First Cause, but ourselves, because we are failing to carry out
His plan.
We often exhort people to follow the higher course rather
than the lower, but I think that the truth is that a man always
follows the highest about which he is really certain. The
difficulty is that in so many cases the higher teaching seems
vague and unreal to many people, and so although they profess
to believe it, and really think that they do believe it, when it
comes to the point of action they find it too vague to trust
their lives to it.
For example, many people who think themselves religious
are yet to be found seeking position and wealth. That atti
tude would be entirely reasonable if they were materialists,
and if they did not pretend to believe in anything higher;
but when we find a religious man devoted to the pursuit of
worldly objects there is clearly something wrong, something
illogical. The fact is that he does not really believe in his
religion; he is not thoroughly convinced of its truth, for if
he were he could not be following after other things. He
is following that about which he is really sure; he is quite
certain, without the slightest mental reservation, about the de
sirability of money and power. He knows that he wants these
things, and he thinks he knows that if he gets them they will
make him happy. Therefore he devotes all his energy and
time to their acquisition, and we must remember that in doing
that he is at least developing will and perseverance.
Now if you can in any way manage to make him as sure of
the value of the higher things as he is now about the value
of pounds, shillings and pence, he will at once turn that will
and that perseverance to the service of the higher development,
and he will seek after realities with just the same intensity
that he is now devoting to the pursuit of shadows. This is
precisely what the study of Theosophy will do for him. A

THE PATH OF PROGRESS 39
man who thoroughly understands Theosophy knows that he is
here for a certain purpose, and that it is most emphatically
his business to devote himself entirely to the working out of
that purpose. He realizes thoroughly that there are things
worth doing and aims worth pursuing, and he devotes himself
to them with the same avidity which he previously displayed
in following the acquisition of money or position.
But in order to do this it is not sufficient merely to be vaguely
interested, merely to read a few books. The man must really
believe it, must be thoroughly and utterly convinced of its
truth. Now the only way in which this utter conviction can
come to a man is by means of realizing some part of it, however
small, for himself and at first-hand. Without going so far
as that, of course, a man may be intellectually convinced of
the truth of the doctrine, and may see that nothing' else is
logically possible; but there are very few of us who have the
strength to act upon such a logical conviction about things
entirely beyond our ken; for most of us it is really necessary that
at least some small portion of the doctrine, some sample of it,
as it were, should be definitely seen and known.
We who were the earlier students felt all this just as keenly
as do the students of to-day, and when in those early days
of twenty-five or twenty-seven years ago we asked Madame
Blavatsky whether it was in any way possible that we could
verify any of these things for ourselves she at once replied
in the affirmative. She told us that if we chose to take the
trouble to develop the requisite faculties we might unques
tionably experience for ourselves the truth of a great deal
of the teaching. She warned us that the way was long and
arduous, and that no one could tell beforehand how long it would
take for a man to tread it. But on the other hand she con
soled us by saying that the end was absolutely certain, and
that it was impossible that any man who started to reach
it should fail to attain, though in many cases such attainment
might lie, not in this life, but in some other in the future.
This was encouraging in one way, and yet somewhat daunt
ing in another way; but at any rate a certain number of us
took her at her word and threw ourselves heart and soul
into the endeavour to live the life which was prescribed for
us, and to do the work that lay before us. The degrees of our
success were very varied, but of all of those who made this
effort and persevered with it I think I may say that there

40 THE INNER LIFE
was not one who did not obtain some result — enough at any
rate to show him that what he had been told was true, and
that if the progress which he made was smaller than he had
hoped, the fault lay clearly with himself and not with the
teachers. There were those among us, however, who succeeded in
verifying for ourselves a large number of the statements made
by the Masters — first of all only in a small way, with regard
to ourselves, our vehicles, our possibilities, and with regard to
the astral life which immediately surrounds us. Then later
on by long-continued and more strenuous effort we developed
the faculties of the mental body, and began for the first
time really to understand what had been written for us about
the life of the heaven-world. All this at first we had hope
lessly misunderstood, because with the faculties then at our
disposal we were actually incapable of comprehending it. By
a strenuous further effort we reached the faculties of the
causal body, and then the world of comparative realities began
really to open before us.
We were able then to read the records of the past, and to see
from them with absolute certainty how the great scheme of
the Logos is slowly unfolding itself and working itself out
by means of successive births under the guidance of the great
laws of evolution and cause and effect. We could see clearly
then that we were unquestionably ourselves a part of this
great scheme, and therefore it followed that it was alike our
duty, our advantage, our privilege, to throw ourselves into
the scheme and co-operate intelligently in its fulfilment. There
was then no doubt for us about the fact of the great evolution
and the future of humanity, for it was clear to us that we had
risen through the lower kingdoms, and we could see many
stages both below us and above us; all the various stages of
human life arranged themselves for us as steps upon a ladder;
we could see these steps stretching up ahd down from the point
which we ourselves occupied, and there were beings upon every
rung of that ladder, beings who were clearly engaged in
climbing it.
The Masters who seemed to us to stand at its summit assured
us that They were men like ourselves, and that They had
passed through the stage where we were now standing; between
us and Them there was no break in the continuity, for every
step of the ladder was occupied, and we ourselves watched the

THE PATH OF PROGRESS 41
progress of some of those higher than we from one of these
steps to another. When through custom the wonderful light
of the higher planes grew less dazzling to us, we were able
to see that even beyond the stupendous level occupied by the
Masters there arose still greater heights. Above Them stood
Manus, Christs, Buddhas, Lipika, great Devas, Dhyan Cho
hans, and many others of whom we can know nothing except
that They exist, and that They, even at Their ineffable eleva
tion, form part of the same mighty chain.
The whole of the past lies before us; we know the halting-
places on the road, and the side-paths that branch off from it,
and therefore we are justified in our confidence that where
these great ones now stand we also shall one day stand. Seeing
and understanding the inevitableness of our destiny, we also
realize that it will be quite useless to endeavour to resist it.
Progress is the law marked out for us. In progress only is
our happiness and our safety. As regards the progress that
lies before us in this particular chain of worlds the great
majority of us are by no meani yet what is technically called
"safe" or "saved." We reach that desirable position only
when we have become members of the Great Brotherhood
which lasts from eternity to eternity, by passing the _§j:st
of the great initiatioris, that of the Sotapatti or Srotapanna,
the man who enters upon the stream.
To have taken that step is to have achieved the most im
portant result, to have passed the most critical point in the
whole of human evolution. For in the course of that evolu
tion three points stand out beyond all others. The first is the
entrance upon humanity, the attainment of individuality, the
gaining of a causal body, the becoming a deflnite and apparently
separate ego. To gain this individuality was the aim of the
animal evolution, and its development serves a very deflnite
purpose. The object is to make a strong individual centre,
through which eventually the force of the Logos can be poured
out. When this centre is first formed it is only a baby ego,-
still but weak and uncertain; in order that it may become
strong and definite it has to be fenced round by the intense
selfishness of the savage. For many lives a strong wall of
selflshness has to be maintained, in order that within it the
centre may grow more and more deflnite.
We may regard this selfishness as a kind of scaffolding,
which is absolutely necessary for the erection of the building.

42 THE INNER LIFE
but must be destroyed as soon as the building is completed,
in order that it may be able to subserve the purpose for which
it was erected. The scaffolding is unbeautiful, and if it were
left after the building is finished it would make it unin
habitable, and yet without it the building could not have been
achieved. The object of the creation of the centre is that
through it the force of the LOGOS should radiate out upon
the world, and such radiation would be quite impossible if the
selfishness persisted, and yet without that selfishness a strong
centre could never have been made. We see therefore that
this most unlovely of qualities has it place in evolution. Now
for us its work is over, and we ought to have got rid of it.
But it is useless to be angry with the ordinary man for his
selfishness, since it simply means that what was in the savage
a necessary virtue is still persisting into the civilized condition.
In point of fact the selfish man is an anachronism, a survival
of prehistoric savagery. He is hopelessly behind the times.
How then is such a man to make himself unselfish, to bring
himself abreast of the advancing current of evolution? The
methods adopted by nature to secure this end are many and
various, but they are all fundamentally one. For what is nec
essary is that the man shall realize the unity of all. And often
he does this by gradually enlarging the self of which he thinks.
Instead of thinking of himself as the unit he begins
to regard the family as the unit for which he is work
ing, and within its limits he gradually becomes unselfish.
Presently he expands his ideas to include the tribe or clan to
which he belongs, and he learns to be unselfish within its
limits, while still absolutely selfish and even predatory to all
who are outside it, whom he usually regards as natural ene
mies. Later on in his history he extends his ideas so as to
include, in certain respects at least, the" nation to which he
belongs. It is somewhere in the course of that stage of transition
that the majority of humanity stand at the present moment.
In almost all minor matters the ordinary man is still fighting
for his family against the interests of all other families, but
in a few wider matters he recognizes that his interests are
identical with those of those other families, and so in those
matters he develops what he caUs patriotism and national
feeling; but even in those matters he is still absolutely selfish
as regards all those other families who happen to speak

THE PATH OF PROGRESS 43
different languages and to be born in different climes. At
some time in the future the average man will extend his ideas
of self to include the whole of humanity, and then at last
we may say that he has become by slow degrees unselfish.
While he is thus learning to take a wider view of his relation
to others, he is also learning something with regard to him
self. First he realizes that he is not his physical body, later
that he is not his feelings, and further on still that he is
not even his mind. This brings him eventually to the realiza
tion that he is the ego or soul, and still la'ter on he realizes
that even that ego is only apparently separate, and that there
is in reality but one transcendent unity.
Thus the man treads the weary round of the seven hundred
and seventy-seven incarnations, a time of slow and painful
progress and of harrowing uncertainty, but at last after all
those struggles the uncertainty ends with that plunge into
the stream that makes the man safe for ever, and so that is
the second and still more important point in his evolution.
But before he can take this step the man must have learned
consciously to co-operate with nature, he must definitely have
taken his own evolution in hand. The knowledge of the unity
which makes him unselfish also makes him desire to be useful,
for it gives him an incentive to study and to perfect himself
— a reason for his actions and a criterion by which he can
judge the feelings and thoughts within him, and also the value
of all with which he comes into contact.
How then must he begin this work of perfecting himself?
Obviously he must first pull up the weeds, that is to say he
must eliminate one by one the undesirable qualities which he
finds in himself; then he must seek the good qualities and
cultivate them. He must definitely set himself to practise
helpfulness, even although at first he may be very clumsy
in the unaccustomed work. The formation of character is very
slow and tedious for him, for there are many forces arrayed
against his efforts, forces which he himself has made in the
past. He has for many years been yielding himself to the
sway of certain undesirable qualities, and so they have gained
a great momentum.
Take the case of such a vice as irritability, for example.
He has in the past been in the habit of yielding himself to
outbursts of anger, and every such outburst makes it more
difficult for him to control himself on the next occasion; so

44 THE INNER LIFE
a strong habit has been set up, a vast amount of energy
moving in that direction has been accumulated. This is stored
up, not in the ego as an inherent quality, but in the permanent
astral atom; and when he realizes the inadvisability of anger
and sets himself against it he has to meet this store of force
which he himself has generated during many past lives. Nat
urally he finds his task a difficult one, and he meets with many
failures and discouragements; but the important thing for
him to bear in mind is that however many times he may fail,
victory is absolutely a scientific certainty, if only he will per
severe. However great the amount of force may be which he has
stored up, it must be a finite amount, and every effort which
he makes against it reduces it by just so much. But on his
side there is a force which is inflnite; if only his will is strong
enough he can go on, if necessary through many lives, steadily
renewing the force for good with which he combats the evil,
and behind him in that effort is the infinite force of the
Logos Himself, because that evolution is in accordance with
His will. Until the man grasps the idea of unity he has no
adequate motive for undertaking the hard and distasteful work
of character-building, but when he has seen the necessity of
this, the reason for trying is just as valid even though he -has
failed a thousand times as it was in the beginning. No num
ber of failures can daunt the man who understands the scheme,
just because he knows that however great the struggle may
be the forces of infinity are on his side, and therefore in the
end he cannot fail.
To be certain of remembering this purpose of his from life
to life he should raise his consciousness to the ego; but during
the stages when he is as yet incapable of this he will neverthe
less impress that purpose upon the permanent atoms, and so
it will be carried over with them from life to life. If the
ego can be reached, the man will be born with the knowledge
inherent in him; if he can only impress the permanent atoms,
the knowledge will not actually be bom with him as part of
his stock-in-trade, but the moment that it comes before him
in any form in his next incarnation he will immediately recog
nize its truth, seize upon it, and act accordingly. This steady
practice of virtue and this persitent increase of knowledge will
certainly lead him to the gate of the probationary path, and
through that to the great initiation of which we have spoken.

THE PATH OF PROGRESS 45
After that initiation the third point is sure to follow — the
gaining of the further shore of that stream, in the attainment
of adeptship, when the man leaves the merely human evolu
tion and enters upon that which is superhuman. We are
told that after a man has entered upon the stream it takes
him an average of seven incarnations to reach the fourth
step, that of the arhat, the noble, the venerable, the perfect.
That period is more often lengthened than shortened, and
the lives are usually taken without an intervening stage in
the heaven-world. Ordinarily it is only men of this stage
who are able thus to dispense with or renounce the life of the
heaven-world. At the same time those who are so happy as to be chosen to
take part in the noble task for which the great Masters are
preparing us, that of working under the Manu in charge of
the development of the sixth root-race, will certainly need many
successive incarnations without any intervening periods of celes
tial rest. The possibility of this is however conditioned by the
rule that a man must have experienced celestial consciousness
before he can renounce the heaven-life; and furthermore it
is not in the least merely a question of voluntarily renouncing
a reward, but of being sufficiently advanced to dispense for a
time with that part of evolution which for the majority comes
most usually in the heaven-life.
When he stands upon the step of arhatship half his path from
the first initiation to adeptship may be said to have been
trodden, for he has then cast off five of the ten great fetters
which hold men back from liirvana. Before him lies the task
of casting off the remaining five, and for that also an average
of seven incarnations is allowed, but it must be understood
that this average is in no sense a rule, for many men take
much longer than this, whereas others with greater determina
tion and perseverance move through these initiations in very
much less time. A case has been known in which, by beginning
very early in life, and by working very hard, a man has been
able to take all four of the great initiations in one incarna
tion, but this is excessively rare, and not one in ten thousand
candidates could do it.
It will be remembered that to stand at the level of the
arhat involves the power fully to use the buddhic vehicle, and
it will also be remembered that when a man raises himself
into his buddhic body the causal body vanishes, and he is

46 THE INNER LIFE
under no compulsion whatever ever to re-form it. Clearly
therefore the seven lives which remain to him before he reaches
the level of adeptship need not involve a descent to the physi
cal plane at all, and therefore they may not be what we or
dinarily mean by incarnations. Nevertheless in the great ma
jority of cases they are taken upon the physical plane, be
cause the man has work to do upon that plane for the Great
Brotherhood. The candidate spends these fourteen lives in passing through
the different stages of the Path of Holiness, and in acquiring
all the qualifications which are described in detail in the con
cluding chapters of Invisible Helpers. One who becomes a
disciple of one of our Masters takes always, not the path to
selfish liberation — the mere balancing of good and evil karma
and the vanishing of all desire, so that the man is no longer
forced back into rebirth — ^but the path of renunciation in which,
having seen the scheme of the Logos, the man throws himself
into it and lives only to promote the advancement of his fellow-
men. This has been called "The Path of Woe" because of the
constant self-sacrifice which it involves, but in truth this title
is somewhat of a misnomer, because although it is true that
there is suffering, it is always a suffering of the lower and
not of the higher, and if the man should avoid such suffering
by supineness or idleness, and leave undone the work which
he might have done, there would assuredly be much greater
suffering for him at a far higher level, in the shape of re
morse. Such suffering as is inevitable in this path arises from
the fact that the student is striving to do here and now in the
fourth round what will be natural and easy in the seventh
round. All our vehicles then will be much more developed,
and even the very material of which they are built will be
in an entirely different condition, because the physical atom
will then have all its seven spirills active instead of only
four of them. Therefore to force our present undeveloped
vehicles to do work which will be comparatively easy for those
which in millions of years will be fully developed, involves
a great deal of strain, and this strain is necessarily productive
of a certain amount of suffering.
It is analogous to the suffering and privation which is
cheerfully undergone by an athlete when he puts himself in
training. If he wishes to complete in some great race or trial

THE PATH OF PROGRESS 47
of strength, he must make his physical body do more than
it would naturally do, and deny it many things which it greatly
likes, the absence of which unquestionably causes it consider
able discomfort, and perhaps even somewhat of positive suf
fering. Yet for the purpose which he has in view the athlete
quite cheerfully undergoes this; indeed if, for the sake of
avoiding these comparatively slight temporary discomforts, he
should put aside the opportunity of taking part in the race
or contest, it is quite likely that afterwards when he saw his
comrades passing onward to victory he would feel a remorse
for that self-indulgence, which would involve keener suffering
on a higher plane. The analogy holds good in reference to
the efforts necessary to progress along the path of renuncia
tion; the man who fell aside from that path because of its
difficulties and hardships would undoubtedly suffer far more
in the long run from remorse when he saw those of his fellow-
creatures going unhelped whom he might have aided, when
he saw misery among them which he knew that he might have
relieved if he had been less self-indulgent.
There is never any pain to the Self, but only to these lower
vehicles, when they are being prematurely adapted. A good
analogy may be taken from the growth of crabs and other
crustaceans. These creatures haye their bones outside for
protection, in the form of a shell, while our bones are inside,
in the form of a skeleton. A fatal objection to the crustacean
scheme is that when the creature grows it has to burst the
shell and then wait for another one to grow, which must be
both a painful and inconvenient process. So in the process of
our growth do we make about ourselves shells of thought, as
though we were mental crustaceans. Presently the shell be
comes too small, and then we make a long series of efforts to
crowd the new growth inside it and make it do somehow;
but in the end this always proves impossible, and we have
painfully to burst it. This however is inevitable, so chafe
not at karma and at nature's changeless laws, for you made
the shell yourself in the past, and now you yourself must
break it. But if you did not go to the inconvenience of break
ing it, you would suffer far more in the unsatisfied feeling that
no progress had been made.
Many people are afraid of change, especially of a change
of faith, and this arises not only from inherited prejudice,
but also from actual fear of doubt — ^fear that if one once

48 THE INNER LIFE
lets go one may be unable to find mental anchorage anywhere.
Many a man is quite unable to make rational defence of his
belief, or to answer the problems which inevitably arise in
connection with it, and yet he is afraid to let it go. Sooner
or later he will have to let go, though the widening out of his
faith is sure to be accompanied by pain. Truly there would
be no suffering for us if we never broke our shells, but then
on the other hand there would be no progress.
The life of the disciple is full of joy — never doubt it for
an instant. But it is not a life of ease. The work which
he has to do is very hard, the struggle is a very real one.
To compress into a . few short lives the evolution of millions
of years — the evolution for which the ordinary process of
nature allows three rounds and a half — is not a mere holiday
task. Our President has written: "Disciples are the crucibles
of nature, wherein compounds that are mischievous are dis
sociated and are recombined into compounds that promote the
general good."
It is not necessary for any one to become such a crucible;
perhaps it would be nearer the fact to say that to become
one is a distinction eagerly sought after; nearer still to say
that when once a man has seen the great sacrifice of the
Logos there is no other possibility for him but to throw him
self into it — to do his tiny best to share in it and to help
it at whatever cost to his lower nature. And this is no child's
play; it does indeed involve often a terrible strain. But an
earnest student will be able to realize that a man may .so
love his work, and may be so full of joy in it, that outside
of it there can be no pleasure worth considering, even though
that work may tax almost beyond bearing every faculty and
every vehicle — physical, astral or mental — which he possesses.
It must be remembered that when humanity in general has
this work to do and this evolution to accomplish, it will be far
better fitted for the effort than is the man who is trying now
to take a shorter and steeper road. Many of his difficulties are
due to the fact that he is attempting with a set of fourth-
round bodies to achieve the result for the attainment of which
nature will prepare her less adventurous children by supply
ing them in the course of the ages with the splendid vehicles of
the seventh round. Of course even to gain those glorified
vehicles these weaker souls will have to do the same work;
but when it is spread over thousands of incarnations it nat
urally looks less formidable.

THE PATH OF PROGRESS 49
Yet beyond and above all his struggle the pupil has ever
an abiding joy, a peace and serenity that nothing on earth can
disturb. If he had not, he would indeed be a faithless servant
of his Master, for he would be allowing the temporary strain
on the vehicles to overbear his perception of the Self within;
he would be identifying himself with the lower instead of with
the higher.
There is therefore a certain element of the ridiculous in
describing this Path as one of woe, when it is clearly evident
that there would be much greater woe for the candidate if
this Path were not taken. Indeed, to the man who is really
doing his duty true sorrow is unknown: "Never doth any
who worketh righteousness, O beloved, tread the path of woe."
(Bhagavad-Gita, vi. 40.)
This is as regards the inner life of the disciple, but if one
is to consider the treatment which he is likely to receive on
the physical plane, the name of the path of woe is by no
means inappropriate, at least if he has to do any sort of public
work in which he tries to help the world. Ruysbroek, the
Flemish mystic of the fourteenth century, writes of those who
enter upon the Path: "Sometimes these unhappy ones are
deprived of the good things of earth, of their friends and re
lations, and are deserted by all creatures; their holiness is
mistrusted and despised, men put a bad construction on all
the works of their life, and they are rejected and disdained
by all those who surround them; and sometimes they are
afflicted with divers diseases.'' Remember, too, how Madame
Blavatsky writes: "Where do we find in history that 'Mes
senger' grand or humble, an Initiate or Neophyte, who, when
he was made the bearer of some hitherto concealed truth or
truths, was not crucified and rent to shreds by the 'dogs' of
envy, malice and ignorance? Such is the terrible Occult law;
and he who does not feel in himself the heart of a lion to scorn
the savage barking, and the soul of a dove to forgive the poor •
ignorant fools, let him give up the Sacred Science." (The
Secret Doctrine, iii. 90.)
The way in which the world usually treats a new truth is
first to ridicule it, then to grow angry about it, and then to
adopt it and pretend that it has always held that view. In the
meantime the flrst exponent of the new truth has probably
been put to death or died of a broken heart.
It is in the course of the training on this Path that the con-

50 THE INNER LIFE
sciousness of the candidate passes through the three halls men
tioned in The Voice of the Silence. This term is used there to
indicate the three lower planes. The first, that of ignorance,
is the physical plane, upon which we are born to live and die,
and it is very truly described as a Hall of Ignorance, for all
that we know in it is the merest outside of things. The second,
the Hall of Learning, is the astral plane, which is very truly
the place of probationary learning, for when the astral cen
tres are opened we see so much more of everything than we
do on the physical plane that at first it seems to us that we must
indeed be seeing the whole, though further development soon
shows us that this is not so.
But The Voice of the Silence warns us that beneath each fiower
in this region, however beautiful it may be, lies coiled the ser
pent of desire — that lower desire which the aspirant must
stifle in order that he may develop in its place the higher desire
which we call aspiration. In the case of affection, for example,
the lower, the selfish, the grasping affection must be altogether
transcended, but the high, pure, and unselfish affection can
never be transcended, since that is a characteristic of the LOGOS
Himself, and a necessary qualification for progress upon ths
Path. What men should cast aside is such love as thinks al
ways "How much love can I gain? how much does so and so
love me? does he love me as he loves someone else?" The Icve
which we need is that which forgets itself altogether, and
seeks only the occasion to pour itself out at the feet of the
loved one.
The astral plane is often called the world of illusion, yet
it is at least one stage, and a very long stage, nearer to the
truth of things than what we see on the physical plane. It often
happens that men are easily deluded upon the astral plane,
because they are as yet much in the position of babies there,
new-born infants with no sense of distance and no developed
capacity for locomotion. We must not forget that in the
normal course of things people very slowly awaken to the
realities of the astral plane, just as a baby awakens to the
reaUties of the physical plane. But those of us who are delib
erately and, as it were, prematurely entering upon the Path
are developing such knowledge abnormally, and are consequently
more liable to error.
Danger and injury might easily come in the course of our
experiments but for the fact that all pupils who under proper

THE PATH OF PROGRESS 51
, training are endeavouring to open these faculties are assisted
and guided by those who are already accustomed to the plane.
\ That is the reason for the various tests which are always
applied to one who wishes to become a worker on the higher
planes; that is why also all sorts of horrible sights are shown
\ to the neophyte, in order that he may understand them and
\ become accustomed to them. If this were not' done, and if he
came across such a thing suddenly, he might receive a shock
I which would drive him back into his physical body, and this
I would not only prevent his doing any useful work, but might
1 also be a positive danger to that body. Where the neophyte
'( is deluded on the astral plane it is his own fault, and not that
of the plane, because error is due only to his unfamiliarity
with the surroundings.
The third hall is the mental plane — the Hall of Wisdom.
* As soon as a man is free from attachment to astral things
he can pass beyond the probationary stage of his learning,
,and begin to acquire knowledge which is real and definite. Be
yond that in turn lies the imperishable world of the buddhic
plane, in which for the first time the man learns the true unity
of all that to the lower vision seems to be separate.
It has been said, "Thou canst not travel on the Path before
tiou hast become that Path itself." As long as it is but a
Path to us, and we are following it according to directions
received, or because we have seen it and chosen it with the
intellect only, we have not truly entered it at all. This is only
a stage, leading on to the condition when you have become
yourself the Law and the Path, and you fulfil its requirements,
instinctively doing the right merely because it is the right, and
because it is inconceivable that you could do anything else.
Then only you have become the Path.
A man cannot climb if he does not try; though if he does
not climb it is triie that he will not fall far. The strong man
often makes serious errors; but the very force which enables
him to make them also enables him to make great progress
when he turns his energies in the right direction. Rapid
progress affects the whole organism and is a great strain upon
it, and this inevitably flnds out whatever weak spots there
are in the man. The plans of the Hierarchy will be carried
out whatever we may or may not do, for we .are but as
pawns in the mighty game which is being played ; but ¦ if we
are intelligent pawns, and are willing to co-operate, it gives

52 THE INNER LIFE
much less trouble to the authorities, and incidentally to our
selves. And what wiU be the end of it all? The attainment of per
fection. Yet even that is only relatively and not absolutely
the end, for when we have reached in fullest consciousness the
Logos of our system and -have unified our consciousness with
His, there still remains the further Path which leads us to union
with still higher Powers. A great authority has told us that
at the end of one of the stages of evolution far beyond adept-
ship the perfect man will be a decad, having a body upon
each of the sub-planes of the lowest cosmic plane, the triple
Logos outside of time and space constituting his Self, and
thus completing the ten. But this consummation can only
be reached when the man has power to create a«body for him
self upon each of these planes.
We have been led to understand that of the total number
of egos which are engaged in this evolution about one-fifth
will fully succeed — that is to say will succeed in attaining the
asekha level before the end of the seventh round. Another fifth
will by that time, have gained the arhat level, and about an
equal number will be on the lower stages of the Path, while
a number roughly stated as the remaining two-fifths will have
dropped out of this evolution altogether at the critical period
at the middle of the flfth round.
All those who have not fully attained the goal, and com
pleted their evolution, will have to resume it upon the next
chain of globes, and even those who are the failures of the
flfth round will be successes in the next chain. In the same
way it is not improbable that some of those who are adepts
and Masters now may have been among the failures of the
moon-chain — that is to say, that They belonged to the hu
manity of that chain, but were somewhat backward upon it,
and so dropped out there, and came on in the fore-front of this
later evolution, exactly as a boy who failed to pass an exam
ination one year would be likely to be among the first of his
class when he tries the same examination again twelve months
later. Remember that we are now only just past the middle of an
evolutionary jperiod, and that is why so very few people com
paratively have as yet attained adeptship, just as very few
boys in a class would be already fit to pass the final examin
ation of the year after only six months of study. In precisely

THE PATH OF PROGRESS 53
the same way very few animals are as yet attaining individu
ality, for the animal who attains individuality is as far in
advance of his fellows as is the human being who attains adept-
ship in advance of the average man. Both are doing at the
middle point of evolution what they are expected to be able
to do only at the end of it. Those who achieve only at the
normal time, at the end of the seventh round, will approach
their goal so gradually that there will be little or no struggle.
Undoubtedly to attain in that way is very far easier for
the candidate. But that method has the tremendous draw
back that the man who attains by it will not have been able to
give any help to others, but will on the contrary have required
assistance himself. I remember from the days of my child
hood a Christian hymn which gave this idea very beautifully.
It described how a certain soul went to heaven and enjoyed
its bliss, and wandered about there very happily for a time,
but at last he noticed that the crown which he wore differed
much in splendor from many of the others, and for a long time
he wondered why this was so. At last he met the Christ
Himself and mustered up courage to ask Him the reason of
this peculiarity; and the answer given ran thus:
I know thou hast believed on Me,
And Life through Me is thine;
But where are all those glorious gems
That in thy crown should shine?
Thou seest yonder glorious throng
With stars on every brow,
For every soul they led to Me
They wear a jewel now.
"They that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the
firmament, but they that turn many to righteousness as the
stars for ever and ever."
When we are struggling onwards ourselves we can help
others, and we should do all that we can in this direction, not
because of the result to ourselves (though that is inevitable)
but for the sake of helping the world. The man who drifts
with the stream has to be carried along, but when he begins
to swim himself he sets free the force that would otherwise
have been spent in helping him. That can then be used for the
helping of others, quite independently of what he himself may
do in that line.

54 THE INNER LIFE
Adeptship sets the man free from the necessity of rebirth,
and its achievement also involves the liberation of forces for
the aid of others. The man who seeks liberation only for
himself may balance his karma perfectly and may kill out
desire, so that the law of karma will not longer compel him
to rebirth. But though he thus avoids the action of the law
of karma he does not escape from the law of evolution. It
may be long before he comes under the influence of that law,
because by the hypothesis a man who has already at this stage
set himself free from all desire must be considerably in advance
of the average. There will however inevitably come a time
when the slow and steady advance of the law of evolution will
overtake him, and then its resistless pressure will force him
out of his selfish bliss into rebirth once more, and so he will
find himself again upon the wheel from which he had hoped
to escape.
It has often been asked how the secrets revealed at initia
tion are protected from those who are able to read thoughts.
There is not the slightest danger that any of these secrets
will ever be disclosed in this manner, for at the same time that
the secret is told to the initiate the means by which he can
guard it is also explained to him. If it could be possible that
an initiate could ever be so false as to think of betraying what
has been confiled to him, even then there would be no danger,
for he is in such close touch with the Brotherhood of which
he is a part that they would at once know of his foul inten
tion, and before he could speak the treacherous words he would
have forgotten utterly that there was anything to betray.
There is nothing that is in any way terrible about these secrets,
except that the power which goes with them might well be
terrible if wrongly used. Initiates always know one another,
much in the same way as free-masons do; and, just as with
the latter, any initiate could hide his status from those below
him, but not from those above him.
However sorely the Brotherhood may be in need of helpers
no man can receive initiation until his character is developed
to a stage when he is ready for it, and in exactly the same
way if a man has raised himself to the level of initiation there
is no power which can withhold it from him. It may very
often happen, however, that a man is ready in every respect,
save for a lack of some one quality; and that lack may hold
him back for a very long time, which would probably mean that

THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES 55
by the time he acquired the missing quality he would in all
other respects be developed in advance of the requirements.
So it must not be supposed that all initiates standing upon
the same level are invariably equal in all respects. What
the world calls a great man is not necessarily developed all
round and fit for initiation. Anything in the nature of favour
itism or neglect is utterly inconceivable. In this matter no
man can give to another that which he has not earned, nor can
any man withhold the due recognition of development won.

THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES.
What I can tell you with regard to the ancient mysteries is
not /derived from any special study of old manuscripts, or of
the history of this subject. It happened to me in another life
to be born in ancient Greece, and to become initiated there
into some of the mysteries. Now a man who was initiated in
this way in Greece gave a pledge not to reveal what he had
seen, and this pledge is binding, even though it was given in
a former incarnation; but Those who stood behind those mys
teries have since thought fit to give out to the world much
of what was then taught only under the vow of secrecy, and so
They have relieved us from our promise as far as those teach
ings go. Therefore I break no pledge when I tell you something
about the instructions which were given in those ancient mys
teries. Other subjects were taught, however, which I am not
at liberty to name, because they have not yet been made public
by the Great Ones.
In the first place, I should like to ask you to notice that all
peoples and all religions have had their mysteries, including
the Christian religion. I have often heard people say that
in the Christian religion, at least, nothing was hidden: that
everything was open for the study of the poor and the un
learned. Any one who says that does not know the history of
the Christian Church. Now, indeed, everything the Church
knows is given out, but that is only because it has forgotten
the mysteries which it used to keep hidden. If you study the
earliest history of the Church, you will find that old writers

56 THE INNER LIFE
speak very distinctly of the mysteries, which were taught only
to those who were full members of the Church. There were
many points on which nothing was said to those who were only
"katechoumenoi," who had just entered the Church, but were
still candidates for full membership.
Traces of this we can find still earlier, for you will remember
that it is said in the Gospels that the Christ made known to
His disciples many things which He gave to the multitude only
in parables.
But one of the reasons of the failure of the Christian Church
to control her more intellectual sons, as she should have done,
is the fact that she has forgotten and lost the supernatural
and philosophical mysteries which were the basis of her dogma.
To see something of this hidden side of her teachings you have
only to read the works of the great Gnostic writers. Then you
will flnd that when we take this side as the inner doctrine for
the scholars, and the present form of the Christian religion
as the outer doctrine for the illiterate, we get in the two com
bined a perfect expression of the ancient Wisdom. But to take
either of these teachings by itself, and to condemn the other
as heresy, gives us only a one-sided view. So every religion
has instruction for those who do not get beyond its outer
form, but has always also higher instruction for those who pene
trate to the inner.
However, when we speak of the ancient mysteries, we gen
erally mean those which were connected with the great re
ligion of ancient Greece. Only a few books exist on this sub
ject. There is a book of lamblichus, who was himself initiated
into the mysteries, and there is a book written by a country
man of mine, Thomas Taylor, a Platonist, and also one by a
Frenchman, Monsieur P. Foucart. Although they are very
interesting, you will find that they give but little real informa
tion. Much that we think we know about the mysteries (I
mean from an external point of view) comes to us through the
writings of their exponents.
The Christian Church has had the habit — probably justifiable
from her point of view — of destroying all books which stood
for teachings other than her own, and we must not forget that
almost all of our knowledge with regard to early Christian
times comes to us through the hands of the monks of the mid
dle ages. They were practically the only educated people of
that time, and it was they who copied all the manuscripts.

THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES 57
They had very pronounced opinions about what was useful
and what was not; so very naturally only that part survived
which agreed with their views, this being reported with em
phasis, while anything of opposite character was discarded.
Above all, the greater part of the knowledge which is accessible
to the general world about the mysteries is found in the works
of the Church Fathers, who were opposed to them. Without
wishing to accuse the Fathers of having purposely misrepre
sented, we may certainly conclude that they tried to put forward
their own view in the best and strongest light. Even at the
present day if you wished to know the whole truth concerning
the doctrine of some Protestant sect, you would not go to
Catholic priests for information; nor, if you wanted good and
just explanations concerning Catholicism, would you go to the
Salvation Army to get them.
In regard to the mysteries we are in a similar situation, only
much worse, because of the many and bitter disputes between
the followers of the old religion and its mysteries and the
Fathers of the Christian Church. Therefore we may accept
only with considerable reserve and with great prudence what
the Fathers say in regard to this subject. For example, you
will find that they often maintain that the ancient mysteries
contain much that is indecent and immoral.
Because I have carefully searched clairvoyantly through the
mysteries of Greece, and in a former incarnation was myself
an initiate of them, I can say with perfect certainty that there
is not even a shadow of truth in those statements. There did
exist certain mysteries with which were festivities and a form
of Bacchus- wor ship, which degenerated later on into some
thing very objectionable; but this was only in later times, and
those mysteries belonged to quite another branch. They were
not in the least related to the mysteries of Eleusis, but were
only an imitation of them on a small scale, entirely exoteric.
I have, this evening, to treat a very extensive subject in a
short time. I must try to give you a rough sketch of what
those Greek mysteries were and what was taught to the ini
tiates. The fact will be known to you that two divisions are always
mentioned: the lesser and the greater mysteries. Everybody
knew that those existed, and the number of persons who were
initiated was indeed quite a large proportion of the whole
population. I think you may read in exoteric books of thirty

58 THE INNER LIFE
thousand initiates gathering at one time, and this also shows
that the fact that a man was initiated need not be kept secret,
but that the * outer world knew him as belonging to this nu
merous class. I mean that, although certain teachings given
in the mysteries were always kept secret, the whole Greek and
Roman world knew that the greater and lesser mysteries ex
isted, and more or less who belonged to each of them.
But behind those two degrees, the existence of which was
generally known, there were all the time the real secret mys'
teries; and the existence of the third degree, as one might
call it, was unknown to the public. If one thinks of
the conditions of that time one can readily understand
the reason for this. Most of the Roman Emperors, for
example, knew of the existence of the lesser and greater mys
teries, and insisted upon being initiated. Now we know very
well from history that many of the Roman Emperors were
hardly of the character to be allowed to play a leading role
in a religious body. But, all the same, it would have been very
difficult for the leaders of the mysteries to refuse entrance to
an Emperor of Rome. As was once said, one cannot argue
with the master of thirty legions. The emperors would cer
tainly have killed any one who stood in the way of anything
they wished. Thus it was desirable that the existence of the
third degree should not be known, and nobody knew that there
was such a degree before he was deemed, by those who could
judge, worthy to be admitted to it.
The teachings of this third degree were never given to the
public and never will be. But in the common mysteries, lesser
and greater, are many things which can be told. In the first
place, then, we were taught certain pithy sayings, or apoph
thegms, and if I quote you some of those you will understand the
nature of the teaching. One of the best known was "Death
is life, and life is death." This shows us that the higher
life on the other side of death was well known. Another
saying was "He who seeks realities in this life shall also
seek realities after death, and he who seeks unrealities in
this life shall also seek unrealities after death.'' A great prin
ciple of their teaching was that the soul had descended from
the higher spheres to the material. The principles of reincar
nation were also contained in their instruction. You will re
member that this did not appear in the external doctrine of the
religions either of Greece or of Rome — that is to say, it was

THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES 59
not taught publicly and in so many words — ^but you will find
that this idea of the descent of the soul into matter is im
parted in classic mythology. You will remember the myth of
Proserpina, who was carried to the under-world while picking
the flower of the narcissus.
Let us recall the myth of Narcissus. He was a youth of
great beauty who fell in love with his own image reflected
in the water, and was therefore changed into a fiower and
bound to earth. You need not have studied much Theosophy
to see what that means. We learn in The Secret Doctrine how
the Ego looks down upon the waters of the astral plane and
the lower world, how it refiects itself in the personality, how
it identifies itself with the personality and, falling in love
with its image, is bound to earth. So Proserpina, while pick
ing the narcissus, is dragged away to the under-world, and
afterwards passes half her life under the earth and half on
the earth; that is, as you will see, half in a material body and
half out of it.
In the same way, there are numbers of other myths of which
it is very interesting to hear the Theosophical explanation.
For example, in this old mystery-teaching the minotaur was
held to signify the lower nature in man — the personality which
is half man and half animal. This was eventually slain by
Theseus, who typifies the higher self or the individuality, which
has been gradually growing and gathering strength until at
last it can wield the sword of its Divine Father, the Spirit.
Guided through the labyrinth of illusion which constitutes
these lower planes by the thread of occult knowledge given
him by Ariadne (who represents intuition) the higher self
is enabled to slay the lower, and to escape safely from the
web of illusion; yet there still remains for him the danger
that, developing intellectual pride, he may neglect intuition,
even as Theseus neglected Ariadne, and so fail for this time
to realize his highest possibilities.
In ancient Greece the lesser mysteries were especially cele
brated in a little place called Agrae, and the initiates were
called "mystae." Perhaps you know that their official dress,
the token of their dignity, was the skin of a fawn, which in
the old symbology represented the astral body.
Its spotted appearance was thought to be emblematic of the
many colours in an ordinary astral body. The reason why
this was considered a fitting dress for those initiated into

60 THE INNER LIFE
the lesser mysteries was because the principal teachings given
in them concerned the astral plane. Those who were admitted
learned what the astral life of man would be after death.
Much time was spent in making clear by example as well
as by teaching what would be the effect in the astral world
of a certain mode of life on earth. In the first place they taught
by illustrations, on an extensive scale by representations in
the temples, by a kind of play or drama in which was shown
what, in the astral world, would be the condition of a man
who had been, let us say, avaricious or full of sensual de
sires. In the old days of the mysteries, when the leaders were
adepts or pupils of adepts, these representations were some
thing like materializations. That is to say, the teacher, who
ever he was, produced them by his own power out of astral
or etheric matter, and created a real image for his pupils.
But as time advanced, and later teachers were unable to bring
about this phenomenon, they tried to represent these teach
ings in other ways — in some cases by what we should call
acting. Members of the priesthood took the roles of different
persons, while in other cases puppets were moved by machinery.
In addition to the teaching concerning the astral plane, in
structions were also given in the same way as to the system
of world-evolution. Among other things, pupils were taught
how our solar system and its different parts came into exist
ence. You can easily see how that could be represented, first
by materialized nebulae and globes, and how, when this ma
terialization was no longer possible, the arrangement of dif
ferent globes could be made clear by the use of what we now
call an orrery — that is, a model of the solar system.
One of the most important things connected with the mys
teries was that they explained the outer religion of the people
in quite another way than that given to the general public.
If you know anything about the religion of ancient Greece,
you will understand that there were many things which badly
needed some inner explanation, for certainly their religion
does not appear to be very elevated or very reasonable when
looked at from the ordinary standpoint. It seems to have
been the object that all the stories which made up the outer
teaching, many of which seem very extraordinary, should be
learnt by the people and retained in their minds — just a few
simple, clear conceptions, and nothing more. But all earnest-
minded people joined the mysteries, and learnt there the real

THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES 61
meaning of the stories, which gave the whole thing quite an
other aspect.
Let me give you an idea of what I mean, by two or three
very simple and short examples. I told you that, for the most
part, the aim of those lesser mysteries was to inform the
pupils about the effects on the astral plane of a certain mode
of life here on earth. You probably know the myth of Tan
talus. He was a man condemned to suffer in hell eternal
thirst, while water surrounded him on all sides, but receded
from his lips as soon as he tried to drink. The meaning of this
is not difficult to see, when once we know what the astral life
is. Every one who leaves this world of ours full of sensual
desires of any kind — as, for example, a drunkard, or some
one who has given himself up to sensual living in the or
dinary meaning of the word — such a man finds himself on the
astral plane in the position of Tantalus.
He has built up for himself this terible desire which governs
his whole being. You know how powerful the desire can be
in the case of a drunkard; it conquers his feelings of honor,
his love of his family, and all the better inclinations of his
character. He will take money from his wife and children,
will even take their clothes to sell them and obtain money to
drink. Remember that when a man dies he does not change at all.
His desire is still as powerful as ever. But it is impossible
to gratify it, because his physical body, through which only
he could drink, is gone. There you have your Tantalus, as you
see, full of that terrible desire, always finding that the grati
fication recedes as soon as he thinks he has it.
Recall also the story of Tityus, the man who was tied to a
rock, his liver being gnawed by vultures, and growing again
as fast as it was eaten. There you have an illustration of the
effect of yielding to desire: an image of the man who is always
tortured by remorse for sins committed on earth.
As perhaps a higher example of the same we can take the
story of Sisyphus. You know how he was condemned always to
roll a stone up a hill, and how, when he reached the top, the
stone would always roll down again. That is the condition of
an ambitious man after death, a man who has spent his life
in making plans for selfish ends, for attaining glory or honor.
In his case also death brings no change. He goes on making
plans just as he did during life. He works out his plans.

62 THE INNER LIFE
he executes them, as he thinks, tih the point of culmination,
and then he suddenly perceives that he has no longer a physi
cal body, and that all was but a dream. Then he begins again
and again, till he has learnt at last that these desires are
useless and that ambition must be kiUed. So Sisyphus goes
on uselessly rolling the stone up the hill, till at last he learns
not to roll it any more. To have learnt that is to have con
quered that desire, and he will come back in his next life
without it; without the desire, but of course not without the
weakness of character which made that desire possible.
So you see that conditions that seem terrible are but the
effects in the other world of a wrong life here on earth.
That is nature's method of turning wrong into good. Man
does suffer, but what he suffers is only the effect of his
own action and nothing else; it is not punishment inflicted
upon him from outside, but entirely of his own making. And
that is not all. The suffering he has to bear is the only means
by which his qualities can be directed in the right way for his
evolution and progress in another life. This was a point much
emphasized in the teaching of the mysteries.
Now in regard to the greater mysteries. Those were cele
brated principally in the great temple of Eleusis, not far from
Athens. The initiates were named "epoptai," that is, "they
whose eyes are opened." Their emblem was the golden fleece
of Jason which is the symbol of the mind-body; for the yel
low colour in the human aura indicates the intelligence, as every
clairvoyant knows. In this degree of initiation the teachings
of the former degree were continued. In the flrst, as you re
member, were taught the effects in the astral world of various
ways of living. In the greater mysteries the pupil was shown
what would be the effect in the heaven-world of a certain line
of life, study and aspiration on earth. The whole history of
the evolution of the world and of man, in its deeper aspect, was
expounded in the greater mysteries. The same method of repre
sentation as in the other case was used here; although it was
much more difficult to represent on the physical plane what
belonged to the mental.
In each of these divisions of the mysteries, the lesser and
the greater, there was an inner school which taught practical
development to those who were seen to be ready for it. In the
lesser mysteries theoretical knowledge about the astral plane
was given, but the teachers carefully watched their pupils,

THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES 63
and when they noticed one of whose character they felt sure,
who showed that he was capable of psychic development, they
invited him into the inner circle in which instruction was
given as to the method of using the as'tral body and consciously
functioning in it. When such a man passed on to the greater
mysteries he received not only the ordinary teaching about
the conditions of the mental plane, but also private instruction
as to the development of the mental body as a vehicle.
Those who were thus received, not only into the recognized
stages of the mysteries but into their inner schools, were also
taught at the end of their course that all of this was in truth
but exoteric — that all which they had learnt, incalculable as
had been its value, was really only a preparation for the true
mysteries of initiation which would lead them to the feet of
the Masters of Wisdom, and admit them to the Great Brother
hood which rules the world.
I may explain still further the meaning of some of those
symbols which were used in connection with the mysteries.
First, we will take what was called the thyrsus — that is, a
staff with a pine-cone on its top. In India the same symbol
is found, but instead of the staff a stick of bamboo with seven
knots is used. In. some modiflcations of the mysteries, a hol
low iron rod, said to contain flre, was used instead of the
thyrsus. Here again it is not difficult for the student of occult
ism to see the meaning. The staff or the stick with seven
knots represents the spinal cord, with its seven centres, of
.which we read in the Hindu books. The hidden flre is the
serpent-flre, kundalini, of which you may read in The Secret
Doctrine. But the thyrsus was not only a symbol; it was also
an object of practical use. It was a very strong magnetic
instrument, used by initiates to free the astral body from the
physical when they passed in full consciousness to this higher
life. The priest who had magnetized it laid it against the
spinal cord of the candidate and gave him in that way some
of his own magnetism, to help him in that difficult life and
in the efforts which lay before him. In connection with these
mysteries, a certain set of objects called the toys of Bacchus
are spoken of. When you go over those lists of the toys of
Bacchus you will flnd them very remarkable.
Whilst the child Bacchus (the Logos) plays with his toys
he is seized by the Titans and tom to pieces. Later these
pieces are put together and built into a whole. You will under-

64 THE INNER LIFE
stand that this, however clumsy it may seem to us, is without
doubt an allegory, which represents the descending of the
One to become the many, and the re-union of the many in the
One, through suffering and sacriflce. What, then, are the toys
of the child Bacchus when he falls into matter and becomes the
many? In the first place we find him playing with dice. Those
dice are not common dice, but the five platonic solids; a set
of five regular figures, the only regular polygons possible in
geometry. They are given in a fixed series, and this series
agrees with the different planes of the solar system. Each
of them indicates, not the form of the atoms of the different
planes, but the lines along which the power works which
surrounds those atoms.' These polygons are the tetrahedron,
the cube, the octohedron, the dodecahedron, and the icosahe-
dron. If we put the point at one end and the sphere at the
other we get a set of seven figures, corresponding to the num
ber of planes of our solar system.
You know that in some of the older schools of philosophy
it was said: "No one can enter who does not know mathe
matics." What do you think is meant by that? Not what we
now call mathematics, but the mathematics which embraced the
knowledge of the higher planes, of their mutual relations and
the way in which the whole is built by the will of God. - Plato
said, "God geometrizes," and it is perfectly true. Those forms
are not conceptions of the human brain; they are truths of
the higher planes. We have formed the habit of studying the
books of Euclid, but we study them now for themselves, and
not as a guide to something higher. The old philosophers pon
dered upon them because they led to the understanding of
the true science of life. We have lost sight of the true teach
ing, and grasp in many cases only the lifeless form.
Another toy with which Bacchus played was a top, the symbol
of the whirling atom of which you will find a picture in
Occult Chemistry. He also plays with a ball which represents
the earth, that particular part of the plantenary chain to
which the thought of the LOGOS is specially directed at the
moment. Also he plays with a mirror. The mirror has always
been a symbol of astral light, in which the archetypal ideas
are refiected and then materialized. So you see that each of
those toys indicates an essential part in the evolution of a
solar system.
A few words may be said about the way in which people

THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES 65
were prepared for the study of those mysteries by the dif
ferent schools; for instance, the Pythagorean school, to
which I belonged. In the Pythagorean schools, the pupils
were divided into three classes. The first was called that of
the akoustikoi or hearers. This means that they were learners,
but it is also true that one of the rules was that they were
to keep absolutely silent for two years.
I think this rule would be regarded as a serious drawback
by many who join our Society at the present time, but in those
olden times a great many people, not only men but women
too, submitted to this stipulation. The rule had also another
meaning, but it is a fact that during two years the mem
bers of the first class were compelled to keep silence. The other
meaning was that during all the time, however long, that a
man stayed in this class of the akoustikoi, he might not give
out any teaching, but continued to learn. . I have wished that
we had some such arrangement in the Theosophical Society, for
it sometimes happens that members who do not yet know much
themselves want to teach others, and the teaching is not always
recognizable as Theosophy.
The second class of Pythagoreans was called that of the
mathematikoi. They passed their time in studying geometry,
numbers and music. They brought these different subjects
into relation to one another and worked out the relations be
tween colour and sound, which are very remarkable.
Let us take an example, which shows how our world is a
coherent whole and how we can take facts from different parts
which do not seem to have any connection whatever, and bring
them into relation with each other. I just spoke about the
five platonic polygons. Every one who knows anything about
music knows that there is a fixed proportion between the length
of the strings which produce certain tones. You know that you
can tune a piano according to a certain system of fifths, and you
can express the relation of the different tones to one another
by the humber of vibrations of each tone; so you can express
an harmonious chord in mathematical numbers. This was first
discovered simply by experiment; later the mathematicians
found out what the proportions should be, and again by ex
periment they were found to be exact. But the peculiarity is
that the set of numbers which produces an harmonious chord
have the same relation to one another as that which exists
between certain parts of these platonic solids. I believe that

66 THE INNER LIFE
this point was worked out some time ago in an article in the
Theosophical Review by one of the English cathedral organists.
It is very remarkable that our scale, so different from the
old Greek scale, which consisted of five tones, can still be
deduced from the proportion of those five platonic figures, which
were studied some thousands of years ago in Greece. One is
apt to think that there cannot be much relation between mathe
matics and music, but you see that they are both parts of one
great whole.
The third class of the Pythagorean school was forraed of the
physikoi — those who studied physics, the inner connection be
tween phenomena, world-building and metaphysics. They
learnt the truth about man and nature and, as far as they
could learn it, about Him who raade both.
There is still one point in the mysteries which we should
not forget to consider — the life of the disciples. A life of
perfect purity was strictly required. It is a remarkable co
incidence that the life in the Pythagorean school is divided into
five periods, almost sirailar to the five steps of the preparatory
path of the Hindus, as described by me in Invisible Helpers,
and by. Mrs. Besant in The Path of the Discipleship. Almost
all the forms and symbols of the present Christian religion are
derived from the Egyptian mysteries. All the symbolism, for
example, that is related to the Latin cross, and to the descent
and sacrifice of the Logos, is taken from the Egyptian mys
teries. I have written about this in The Christian Creed.
Though the mysteries of Greece and Rome, of Egypt and
Chaldsea, are long ago defunct, the world has never been left
without avenues of approach to the inner shrine. Even in
the gross darkness of the middle ages the Rosicrucians and
some other secret societies were ready to teach the truth to
those who were ready to learn; and now in these modern days
of hurry and materialism the Theosophical Society still up
holds the banner of true knowledge, and acts as a gateway
by means of which those who are really in earnest may reach
the feet of the Masters of the Wisdom. We have our grades
in the Esoteric Section, just as the mysteries had; and behind
us, as behind them, stand always the officials of the Great
White Brotherhood, who keep in their hands the key to the
true initiations.
You must also remember that many things given in those
old days only under the seal of secrecy are now made public.

THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES 67
and through our Society are given to the world. Many of the
greatest and noblest characters of history have passed years
in study and work to try to find what is now given us so easily
and simply in a few books. Of us is perfectly true what is
said in the Bible: "Many prophets and kings have desired
to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and
to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."
(Luke, X. 24.) Because this honour is reserved for us and
this opportunity is given us, it seems to me that a great re
sponsibility rests upon us, and that we shouldtry to be worthy
of the gift. It is good karma which allows this' possibility to
open before us. If we let it pass, we shall not deserve to have
another offered us for thousands of years. If you knew, as
I know, with what difficulties we had to contend in former
days to learn all those things which are laid before us now,
perhaps you would appreciate more the opportunity offered
you. Let us try to make use of it to the utmost of our power,
and show ourselves worthy of the privilege given us by Theos
ophy.

hcotxb Section

J^eltgton

SEOOl^D SECTIOIn"

THE LOGOS
We have in the Logos of our solar system as near an ap
proach to a personal (or rather, perhaps, individual) God as
any reasonable man can desire, for of Him is true everything
good that has ever been predicated of a personal deity. We
cannot ascribe to Him partiality, injustice, jealousy, cruelty;
those who desire these attributes in their deity must go else
where. But so far as His system is concerned He possesses
omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence; the love, the power,
the wisdom, the glory, all are there in fullest measure. Yet
He is a mighty Individual — a trinity in unity, and God in very
truth, though removed by we know not how many stages from
the Absolute, the Unknowable before which even solar systems
are but as specks of cosmic dust. I do not think that we can
image Him at all. The sun is His chief manifestation on the
physical plane, and that may help us a little to realize some
of His qualities, and to see how everything comes from Him.
The sun may be considered- as a sort of force-centre in Him,
corresponding to the heart of man, the outer manifestation of
the principal centre in His body.
Although the whole solar system is His physical body, yet His
activities outside of it are enormously greater than those within
it. I have myself preferred not even to try to make any image
of Him, but simply to contemplate Him as pervading all things,
so that even I myself am also He, so that all other men too
are He, and in truth there is nothing but God. Yet at the same
time, although this that we can see is a manifestation of Him,

72 THE INNER LIFE
this solar system that -seems so stupendous to us is to Him
but a little thing, for, though He is all this, yet outside it
and above it all He exists in a glory and a splendour of
which we know nothing as yet. Thus though we agree with
the pantheist that all is God, we yet go very much further
than he does, because we realize that He has a far greater
existence above and beyond His universe. "Having pervaded
this whole universe with one fragment of Myself, I remain."
(Bhagavad Gita, x. 42.)
I do not think that we can find any form of words that will
at all express the method of our union with Him. We may
in one sense be cells in His body, but we are certainly very much
more than that, for His life and power are manifested through
us in a way which is out of all proportion to any such mani
festation of our spiritual life as could be supposed to be given
through the cells of our bodies. Iri His manifestation on the
lowest cosmic plane we may take it that His first aspect is on
the highest level, ¦ the second on that below it, and the third
in the higher part of the nirvanic plane, so that when an
adept gradually raises his consciousness plane by plane as he
developes, he coraes first to the third aspect and realizes his unity
with that, moving on only after long intervals to full union with
the second and the first.
I myself who speak to you have once seen Him in a form
which is not the form of His system. This is something which
utterly transcends all ordinary experience, which has nothing
to do with any of the lower planes. The thing becarae pos
sible for me only through a very daring experiment — the
utter blending for a moment of two distinct rays or types,
so that by means of this blending a level could for a moraent
be touched enormously higher than any to which either of
the egos concerned could have attained alone. He exists
far above His systera; He sits upon it as on a lotus throne.
He is as it were the apotheosis of humanity, yet infinitely
greater than humanity. We might think of the Augoeides
carried up higher and higher, and to infinity. I do not know
whether that form is permanent or whether it can be seen at
a certain level only — who shall say? But that this thing is a
tremendous reality — that I know ; and, once seen, such a mani
festation can never be forgotten.
One little touch of higher experience I may mention, though
it is one which is exceedingly difficult to describe adequately.

THE LOGOS 73
When a man raises his consciousness to the highest subdivision
of his causal body, and focusses it exclusively in the atomic
matter of the mental plane, he has before him three possi
bilities of moving that consciousness, which correspond to sorae
extent with the- three diraensions of space. Obviously a way
is open to him to move it downwards into the second sub-
plane of the mental, or upward into the lowest sub-plane
of the buddhic, if he has developed that sufficiently to be
able to utilize it as a vehicle.
A second line of movement open to him is the short cut
which exists from the atomic subdivision of one plane to the
corresponding atomic subdivisions of the planes above and be
low, so that without touching any intermediate sub-plane the
consciousness may pass frora that atomic mental down
wards to the atomic astral or upwards to the atomic
buddhic, again of course supposing the development of
this latter to be already achieved. In order to image
to oneself this short cut, one may think of , the atomic sub-
planes as being side by side along a rod, the other sub-divisions
of each plane hanging from the rod in loops, as though a
piece of string were wound loosely round the rod. Obviously
then to pass frora one atoraic sub-division to another one could
move by the short cut straight along the rod, or down and
up again through the hanging loop of string which symbol
izes the lower sub-planes. But there is yet a third possi
bility — a possibility not so much yet of movement along an
other line at right angles to both of these others, but rather
a possibility of looking up such a line- — looking up as a man
at the bottom of a well might look up at a star in the sky
above him.
For there is a direct line of comraunication between the
atoraic sub-plane of the mental in this lowest cosmic plane and
the corresponding atomic mental in the cosmic plane. We are
infinitely far as yet from being able to climb upwards by
that line, but once at least the experience carae of being able
to look up it for a moment. What is seen then it is hopeless
to try to describe, for no huraan words can give the least idea
of it; but at least this much emerges, with a certitude that can
never be shaken, that what we have hitherto supposed to be
our consciousness, our intellect, is simply not ours- at all, but
His ; not even a reflection of His, but literally and truly a
part of His consciousness, a part of His intellect. Incom-

74 THE INNER LIFE
prehensible, yet literally true! It is a commonplace of our
meditation to say, "I am that Self; that Self am I," but to
see it, to know it, to feel it, to realize it in this way, is some
thing very different from that verbal recitation.
From Him coraes forth all life in the successive outpourings
which are described in our books — the flrst outpouring from
His third aspect, which gives to previously existing atoms the
power to aggregate themselves into the chemical elements —
the action which is described in the Christian Scriptures as
the spirit of God moving over the waters of space. When, at
a later stage, the kingdoms of nature are deflnitely established,
there comes the second outpouring, from His second aspect,
which forms group-souls for the minerals, the plants, the ani
mals, and this is the descent of the Christ principle into matter,
which alone renders possible our very existence. But when we
think of the human kingdom we remember that the ego itself
is a manifestation of the third outpouring which comes from
His first aspect, the eternal and all-loving Father.
Every fixed star is a sun like our own, and each one is a
partial expression of a Logos.

BUDDHISM.
In thinking of the Lord Buddha we must not forget that
He is very much more than merely the founder of a religion.
He is a great official of the Occult Hierarchy, the greatest
of all save one, and the founder in previous incarnations of
many religions before this one which now bears His title.
For He was the Vyasa who has done so much for the Indian
religion; He was Hermes, the great founder of the Egyptian
mysteries; He was the original Zoroaster, from whom came the
sun and fire worship; and he was also Orpheus, the great bard
of the Greeks.
In this last of His many births, when He came as the Lord
Gautama, it does not appear that He had originally any in
tention of founding a new religion. He appeared simply as a
reformer of Hinduism — a faith which was already of hoary
antiquity, and had therefore departed much from its original

BUDDHISM 75
form, as all religions have. It had becorae hardened in raany
ways, and appears to have been very far less elastic even than
it is now. Even now we all know how strictly drawn are the
lines between the castes, what an iron rigidity there is as to
forras and ceremonies. We know that even now no man can
be converted to Hinduism; the only way to enter that faith
is to be born into it.
Imagine a condition in which all this was even far raore
rigid, in which the feeling was much more intense, in which
all the ideas of life had been very much changed from what
they were in the days of the original Aryan immigrants, when
it was a religion full of joy, and holding out hope for every
body. A little before the tirae of the Buddha the general
opinion seems to have been that practically no one but a brah
man had any chance of salvation at all. Now as the number
of the brahmans was always small, and even now is only
something like thirteen millions out of the three hundred
million inhabitants of India, it was clearly not a very hope
ful religion for the majority of the people, since it indicated
to them that they had to work on through very many lives,
until they could earn admission into the small and exclusive
brahman caste, before they could possibly escape from the
wheel of birth and death.
Then came Lord Buddha, and by His teaching flung open
wide the gates of the sweet law of justice, for He taught
that men had departed entirely from the old form of religion.
He repeatedly asserted that a man who, though born a brah
man, did not live the life which a brahman should, was neither
worthy of respect nor in the way to salvation, and that a man
of any other caste who did live the true brahman life, should
be treated as a brahman, and had in every way the sarae possi
bilities before him as though he had been born into the sacred
caste. Naturally enough in the face of teachings which placed all
hope of final salvation so indefinitely far away in the future,
the ordinary man of the world had become hopeless and conse
quently careless; on the other hand, the austerity of the brah
man, who spent the whole of his life in ceremonies and in
meditation, was not to their taste, and indeed was obviously
impossible for them. But the Buddha preached to them what
He called the middle way; He told them that although the life
of austerity and of entire devotion to religion was not for

76 THE INNER LIFE
thera, there was no reason why, because of that, they should
relapse into carelessness and evil living. He showed them that
a higher life is possible for the man still in the world, and
that, though they might not be able to devote themselves to
metaphysics and to hairsplitting arguments, they could still
obtain sufficient grasp of the great facts of evolution to form
a satisfactory guide to them in their lives.
He declared that extremes in either direction are equally
irrational; that on the one hand the life of the ordinary
raan of the world, wrapped up entirely in his business, pur
suing dreams of wealth and power, is foolish and defective
because it leaves out of account all that is really worthy
of consideration; but that on the other hand the extreme as
ceticism that teaches each man to turn his back upon the
world altogether, and to devote hiraself exclusively and self
ishly to the endeavour to shut himself away from it and escape
from it, is also foolish. He held that the middle path of
truth and beauty is the best and safest, and that while cer
tainly the life devoted entirely to spirituality is the highest
of all for those who are ready for it, there is also a good and
true and spiritual life possible for the man who yet holds his
place and does his work in the world.
He based His doctrines solely on reason and common-sense;
He asked no man to believe anything blindly, but rather told
him to open his eyes and look around him. He declared that
in spite of all the sorrow and misery of the world, the great
scheme of which man is a part is a scheme of eternal justice,
and that the law under which we are living is a good law,
and needs only that we should understand it and adapt our
selves to it. He taught that all life is suffering, but that man
causes his own trouble for himself, because he yields himself
perpetually to desire for that which he has not, and He said
that happiness and contentment can be gained better by limiting
desires than by increasing possessions.
To this end He tabulated His teaching in the most marvellous
manner, arranging everything under certain headings which
could be readily memorized. This constitutes in reality a care
fully graded system of mnemonics. It is so simple in its
broad outline that any child can remember and understand
its four noble truths, its noble eightfold path, and the prin
ciples of life which they suggest; yet it is carried out so
elaborately that it constitutes a system of philosophy which the

BUDDHISM 77
wisest man may study all his life through, and yet flnd in it
ever more and more light upon the problems of life.
He analyzed everything to an almost incredible extent, as
may be seen by a study of the twelve nidanas, or by His enu
meration of the steps which intervene between thought and
action. Each of His four noble truths is represented by a
single word, and yet to any one who has ever heard the exposi
tion of the system each of those words inevitably calls up a
great range of ideas. The same thing is true of the words
signifying the steps of the noble eightfold path, and of the
"great perfections" which are spoken of in The Voice of the Si
lence. All of these perfections are simply wisdom, power and love
appearing in different forms. They are sometimes reckoned
as six, but more commonly as ten. The six are given as per
fect charity, perfect morality, perfect patience, perfect energy,
perfect truth and perfect wisdom; and the other four which
are soraetiraes added are perfect resignation, perfect resolu
tion, perfect kindness and perfect abnegation.
The religion of Buddhism has practically disappeared from
India, yet it has left behind it lasting results, and the country
bears everywhere the strong impress of His teachings. Before
His coming blood-sacrifices appear to have been universal; even
now they still exist, but are comparatively rare, for He taught
that such things were not pleasing to any noble deity, but that
the Gods desired rather the sacrifice of a holy life.
In looking back upon the record of those times we see that
He preached mostly in the open air, and nearly always sitting
at the foot of a tree, with the listeners sitting on the ground
about Him, or standing leaning against the trees, men and
women intermingling, and little children running about and
playing upon the outskirts of the crowd. The great teacher
had a most wonderful voice, gloriously full and sonorous, and
a personality which instantly commanded the attention of all
who heard Him, and invariably won their hearts, even in the
rare cases where they did not agree with what he said. The
audiences were stirred up to great religious fervor; we find
them constantly raising cries of "Sadhu, Sadhu," by way of
applause, when anything was said which especially moved them,
. and at the same time raising their joined hands in an attitude
of salutation.
Part at least of this infiuence was due to the tremendously
strong vibrations of His aura, which was of very great size, so

78 THE INNER LIFE
that the audience were actually sitting within it and being at
tuned to it while they listened to His discourse. Its raagnetic
effect was alraost indescribable, and while His hearers were
within its influence even the most stupid of them could under
stand to the fuU whatever He said, though often afterwards
when they had passed away frora that influence they found
it difficult to comprehend it at all in the same way. To this
marvellous influence also is due the phenomenon so often de
scribed in the Buddhist books — the attainment of the arhat
level by such large numbers of His hearers. It is quite a
common thing to read in the accounts given in the Buddhist
scriptures that after a sermon of the Buddha hundreds of men,
even thousands, reached the arhat level. Knowing what a very
high degree of attainment this means, this seemed to us, when
we read it, almost incredible, and we supposed it to be simply
a case of oriental exaggeration; but later and closer study
has shown us that the accounts are actually true. So re
markable a result seemed to call for further investigation
into its causes, and we found that in order to understand all
this it was necessary to take into account not this one life only,
but the work of many previous incarnations.
We must remember that the Lord Gautama is the Buddha
of the fourth root-aace, even though this last incarnation of
His was taken in the flfth. He had been born many times
in various Atlantean races, and always as a great teacher.
In each of those lives He had drawn around Him many pupils,
who had gradually been raised to higher levels of thought
and of life, and when He came into India for this last cul
minating birth He arranged that all those whom at many
different tiraes and in many different lands He had influenced
should be brought together into incarnation at the same time.
Thus His audiences were to a large extent composed of fully
prepared and, as it were, highly specialized souls, and when
these came under the influence of. the extraordinarily powerful
magnetism of a Buddha, they understood and followed every
word which He said, and the action upon thera as egos was of
the most wonderfully stimulating nature. Therefore it was
that they so readily responded; therefore it was that so large
a number of thera could be and were raised so rapidly to such
dizzy heights.
In the third volume of The Secret Doctrine we shall fiiid
an exceedingly interesting and suggestive section called The

BUDDHISM 79
Mystery of Buddha, which refers to the fact that the Buddha
prepared His own inner bodies of very high grades of matter,
with the fullest development of the spirillae. His buddhic,
causal and mental bodies are kept together for other Great
Ones to use, because of the exceeding difficulty of producing
others equal to them. The Christ used them along with the
physical body of Jesus, while the latter waited on higher planes
in his own vehicles. Shankaracharya also used these "remains."
Hence arose the incorrect idea that He was a reincarnation of
the Buddha. The coming Christ will also use these vehicles,
wedding them to another physical body which is even now
being prepared for Him.
Buddhism still claims a larger number of adherents than
any other religion in the world, and is a living influence in the
lives of millions of our fellow-men. It would be quite unfair
to judge it by what is written about it by European orientalists.
When I was in Ceylon and Burma I compared these accounts
with the interpretation given to the doctrines by the living
followers of His religion. Learned monks in these countries
approach the subject with an accuracy of knowledge at least
equal to that of the most advanced orientalists, but their inter
pretation of the doctrines is very far less wooden and lifeless.
By far the best book in English to give one a real idea of
the religion as it is held by living men is The Light of Asia,
by Sir Edwin Arnold; and another book, which makes a good
second to it, is The Soul of a People, by H. Fielding Hall.
Sorae critics have said that Sir Edwin Arnold has gone a little
beyond the bare literal meaning of the words of the text, and
is trying to read Christian ideas into them. I do not think this
is so, and I have certainly found that he expresses far raore
closely the feeling and attitude of the Buddhists than any other
writer. Buddhism is now divided into two great Churches, the North
ern and the Southern, and both of them have departed to some
extent from the original teaching of the Buddha, though in
different directions. The religion is so plain and straightfor
ward, and so obviously comraon-sense that almost any person
may readily adapt himself to it, without necessarily giving up
the beliefs and practices of other faiths. As a consequence
of this in the Northern Church we have a forra of Buddhism
with an immense amount of accretion. It seems to have ab
sorbed into itself many ceremonies and beliefs of the aboriginal

80 THE INNER LIFE
faith which it supplanted; so that in Tibet, for example, we find
it including a whole hierarchy of minor deities, devas and
demons which were entirely unknown to the original scheme
of the Buddha. The Southern Church, on the other hand,
instead of adding to the teaching of the BUDDHA, has lost
something from it. It has intensified the material and the
abstract side of the philosophy.
It teaches that nothing but Karma passes over from life
to life — that there is no permanent ego in man, but that in
his next birth he is in effect a new man, who is the result of
the karma of the previous life; and they quote various say
ing of the Buddha in support of this. It is true that He
often spoke very strongly against the persistence of the per
sonality, and that He assured His hearers again and again
that nothing whatever which they knew in connection with a
man could pass over to another birth. But He nowhere denied
the individuality; in fact many of His sayings absolutely
affirm it. Take for example a text which occurs in the Sam-
annaphalasutta of the Digha-Nikaya. When first mentioning
the condition and training of the mind that are necessary for
success in spiritual progress, the Buddha describes how he
sees all the scenes in which he was in any way concerned pass
ing in succession before his mind's eye. He illustrates it by
saying :
"If a man goes out from his own village to another and
thence to another, and from there comes back again to his own
village, he may think thus: 'I indeed went from my own vil
lage to that other. There I stood thus; I sat in this raanner;
thus I spoke, and thus I reraained silent. From that village
again I went to another, and I did the same there. The same
'I am' returned from that village to my own village.' In the
very same way, O King, the ascetic, when his mind is pure,
knows his former births. He thinks: 'In such a place I had
such a narae. I was born in such a family, such was ray
caste, such was my food, and in such and such a way I ex
perienced pleasure and pain, and ray life extended through
in some other place, and there also I had such and such con
ditions. Thence reraoved, the same 'I' am now born here.' "
This question shows very clearly the doctrine of the Buddha
with regard to the reincarnating ego. He gives illustrations
also in the same Sutta of the manner in which an ascetic can
know the past births of others — how he can see them die in

BUDDHISM 81
one place, and after the sorrows and joys of hell and heaven
the same men are born again somewhere else. It is true that
in the Brahmajala Sutta He mentions all the various aspects
of the soul, and says that they do not absolutely exist, be
cause their existence depends upon "contact," that is to say
upon relation. But in thus denying the absolute reality of
the soul He agrees with 'the other great Indian teachers, for
the existence not only of the soul but even of the Logos
Himself is true only relatively.
Untrained minds frequently misunderstand these ideas, but
the careful student of oriental thought will not fail to grasp
exactly what is meant, and to realize that the teaching of the
Buddha in this respect is exactly that now given by Theosophy.
It is not difficult to see how various texts might be so emphasized
or distorted as to seem to contradict one another, and the
Southern Church has chosen to cling rather to the denial of
the permanence of the personality than to the assertion of the
continuity of the individuality, just as in Christianity some
people have acquired the habit of laying stress on particular
texts, and ignoring others which contradict them.
Another point as to which there is a very similar misunder
standing is the constantly repeated assertion that nirvana is
equivalent to annihilation. Even Max Mueller, the great Ox
ford Sanskritist, was under this delusion for many years, but
later in his life with further and deeper study he carae to
understand that in this he had been mistaken. The descrip
tion which the Lord BuDDHA Himself gives to nirvana is so
far above the comprehension of any man who is trained only
in ordinary and worldly methods of thought that it is little
wonder that it should have been misunderstood at first sight
by the European orientalists; but no one who has lived in the
East among the Buddhists can for a moment suppose that they
regard annihilation as the end which they are striving to reach.
It is quite true that the attaining of nirvana does involve
the utter annihilation of that lower side of man which is in
truth all that we know of him at the present time. The per
sonality, like everything connected with the lower vehicles, is
impermanent and will disappear. If we endeavour to realize
what man would be when deprived of all which is included under
these terms we shall see that for us at our present stage it
would be difficult to comprehend that anything (remained, and
yet the truth is that everything remains — that in the glorified

82 THE INNER LIFE
spirit which then exists, all the essence of all the qualities
which have been developed through the centuries of strife and
stress in earthly incarnation will inhere to the fullest possible
degree. The man has become more than raan, since he is now
on the threshold of Divinity; yet he is still hiraself, even though
it be a so much wider self.
Many definitions have been given bf nirvana, and naturally
none of thera can possibly be satisfactory; perhaps the best
on the whole is that of peace in omniscience. Many years
ago when I was preparing a simple introductory catechism
of their religion for Buddhist children, the chief Abbot Suman-
gala himself gave me as the best definition of nirvana to put
before them that it was a condition of peace and blessedness so
high above our present state that it was impossible for us to
understand it. Surely that is far removed from the idea of
annihilation. Truly all that we now call the man has disap
peared, but that is not because the individuality is annihilated,
but because it is lost in divinity.
The Buddha Himself once said: "Nirvana is not being, but
also it is not non-being."
Another difference between the Northern Church of Bud
dhism and the Southern is that they adopt different versions
of the scriptures. It is usually stated that the Northern Church
adopts the Mahayana and the Southern the Hinayana, but
whether even this much may be safely said depends upon the
shade of meaning which we attach to a much-disputed word.
Yana means vehicle, and it is agreed that it is to be applied
to the dharama or law, as the vessel which conveys us across
the sea of life to nirvana, but there are at least flve theories
as to the exact sense in which it is to be taken.
1. That it refers simply to the language in which the law
is written, the greater vehicle being by this hypothesis Sanskrit,
and the lesser vehicle Pali — a theory which seems to me un
tenable. It is true that the Northern Church uses the Sanskrit
translation, while the Southern scriptures are in Pali, the lan
guage which the Lord Buddha spoke when on earth. It is
stated that the Pali scriptures which we now possess are not
in the original form, but that all the originals existing (in
Ceylon at least) were carefully destroyed by the Tamil in
vaders, so that the Pali scriptures which we now have are a re-
translation made from a copy in Elu, then the vernacular lan
guage of Ceylon.

BUDDHISM 83
2. Hina may apparently be taken as signifying mean or
easy, as well as small. One interpretation therefore considers
that the Hinayana is the meaner or easier road to liberation —
the irreducible minimum of knowledge and conduct required to
attain it, while the Mahayana is the fuller and more philo
sophical doctrine, which includes much traditional knowledge
about higher realms of nature. Needless to say, this interpre
tation comes from a Mahayana source.
3. That Buddhism, in its unfailing courtesy towards other
religions, accepts them all as ways to liberation, though it
regards the method taught by its founder as offering the
shortest and surest route. According to this view Buddhism is
the Mahayana, and the Hinayana includes Brahmanism, Zoro
astrianism, Jainism, and any other religions which were ex
isting at the time when the definition was formulated.
4. That the two doctrines are simply two stages of one
doctrine — ^the Hinayana for the Sravakas or hearers, and the
Mahayana for more advanced students.
5. That the word Yana is to be understood not exactly in
its primary sense of 'vehicle,' but rather in its secondary
sense, nearly equivalent to the English word 'career.' Accord
ing to this interpretation the Mahayana puts before the man the
'grand career' of becoming a Bodhisattva and devoting him
self to the welfare of the world, while the Hinayana shows
him only the smaller 'career' of so living as to attain nirvana
for himself.
There has also been much discussion as to the exact raeaning
of the terms Adi-Buddha and Avalokiteshwara. I have made
no special study of these things from the philosophical stand
point, but so far as I have been able to gather ideas from dis
cussion of the matter with the living exponents of the religion,
Adi-Buddha seems to be the culmination of one of the great
lines of superhuman development — what might be called the
abstract principle of all the Buddhas. Avalokiteshwara is a
term belonging to the Northern Church, and seems to be the
Buddhists' name for their conception of the Logos. European
scholars have translated it: "The Lord who looks down from
on high," but this seeras to have in it a soraewhat inaccurate
implication, for it is clearly always the manifested Logos;
sometimes the Logos of a solar system and sometimes higher
than that, but always manifest. We must not forget that while
the founders of the great religions see and know the things

84 THE INNER LIFE
which They name, Their followers usually do not see; they
have only the names, and they juggle with them as intellectual
counters, and build up much which is incorrect and incon
sistent. The Buddhism of the Southern Church, which includes Ceylon,
Burma, Siam and Cambodia, has on the whole kept its reli
gion free from the accretions which have becorae so prominent
in the Northern division of Japan, China and Tibet. In Burma
no image appears in the teiriples except that of the BUDDHA,
though of Him there are in some cases hundreds of images,
of different material, in different positions, presented by various
worshippers. In Ceylon a certain concession seems to have
been made to popular feeling, or perhaps to a foreign govern
ment during the time of the Tamil kings, for the images of
certain Hindu deities are often to be seen in the temples,
though they are always placed in a subordinate position and
considered as a kind of attendants upon the Buddha. We need
not however blame the Tibetans very much for the fact that
certain superstitions have crept into their Buddhism. The
same thing happens in all countries, and with all religions, as
time goes on. In Italy, for example, numbers of the peasants
in the hills still follow what they call the old religion, and con
tinue even in the present day the worship of Bacchus, under
an Etruscan name which antedates even the time of the Roman
Empire. The Catholic priests quite recognize the existence of
this older faith, and set themselves against it, but without avail.
In Southern Buddhism there is remarkably little ceremony
of any kind — practically nothing indeed that in any way cor
responds to the Christian service. When the people pay their
morning visit to the temple they usually call upon the monks
to recite for them the three guides and the five precepts, which
they then repeat after him, but even this can hardly be called
a public service, for it is recited not once at a set time, but
for each group of people as they happen to arrive. There is
another ceremony called Paritta or Pirit (which raeans 'bless
ings') but this is not performed in the teraple itself nor at any
stated times, but it is considered a good work on the part of
the laity to celebrate any special occasion by giving a Pirit
ceremony — that is to say by erecting and elaborately decorating
a temporary building in which the ceremony is held. It consists
of the chanting of benedictory verses from the sacred scrip
tures, and is carried on for a certain number of days, usually

BUDDHISM 85
a fortnight, by relays of monks who relieve one another every
two hours.
Sometimes when a man falls ill one of these Pirit cereraonies
is arranged for hira, with the idea that it will proraote his
recovery. It is in reality a mesmeric cereraony, for the monks
sit in a circle and hold in their hands a rope which runs round
the circle, and they are instructed to recite their texts, keep
ing clearly in their minds all the time the will to bless. Nat
urally this rope becomes very strongly magnetized as the cere
mony progresses, and strings run from it to a huge pot of
water, which" of course also becomes highly charged with mag-
netisra. At the conclusion of the cereraony this water is dis
turbed among the people, and the sick man often holds a
thread which is connected with the rope.
The Southern Buddhists give a list of flve psychic powers
which may be gained by the man who is raaking progress on the
Path. (1) The ability to pass through the air and through
solid objects, and to visit the heaven-world while still alive. It
is however possible that this may mean nothing more than
ability to function freely in the astral body, because it is quite
likely that in speaking of the heaven-world they do not really
mean the mental plane, but only the higher levels of the astral.
(2) Divinely clear hearing — which is evidently merely the astral
faculty of clairaudience. (3) The ability to comprehend and
sympathize with all that is in the minds of others — which ap
pears to be thought-reading, or perhaps telepathy. (4) The
Power to remember former births. (5) Divinely clear vision —
that is to say, clairvoyance. To this is added in some lists
the attainment of deliverance by wisdom. This must of course
mean the attainment of freedom from the necessity of rebirth,
but it does not seera to be of the sarae nature as the other
powers, and perhaps should hardly appear in the same cate
gory. Ananda is said to have been the favourite disciple of the
Lord Buddha, just as John is spoken of as the beloved dis
ciple of the Christ, and no doubt in both cases the special
intimacy was the result of relationship in previous lives.
Ananda was certainly, not so chosen because he was the most
advanced, for even after the death of the Buddha we hear that
when the first great council was held in a cave within the
living rock, and the condition of taking part in it was that
none should enter who could not pass through the rock, Ananda

86 THE INNER LIFE
found himself shut out from it because he had not yet attained
this power. But it is said that his grief at this exclusion from
a grand opportunity of serving his departed Master was so
great that by a supreme effort of will he then and there de
veloped the power which had been lacking, and passed in tri
umphantly to take his place among his brothers, though a little
late. This shows us that even those who are the most highly ad
vanced of all humanity have still their special friendships,
and that therefore to love one person more than another can
not be improper. It is true that such affection as you now
feel for your nearest and dearest you will feel later
on for the whole world, but at that time you will
feel a thousand times more affection for those who are nearest
to you. Your love will never be the s^me for all, although all
will be included within it. It is impossible that we should feel
towards another as we do towards our Master, for when He
becomes a LOGOS we shall be part of His system, and even when
far later on we ourselves become LOGOI we shall still be part
of Him, for He will represent some far greater system. Al
though there will always be greater love for some than others,
we shall help those whom we love less just as fully as those whom
we love more. We shall always do our best for all, just as a
doctor equally helps his patient whether he be a friend or
not, for anything like dislike or hatred will have ceased asons
before. At the time of the Lord Buddha many other spiritual teachers
were sent forth to the world. We find for example Lao-tse,
Confucius and Pythagoras, all working in their different
spheres. Advantage was taken of the stupendous outpouring
of spiritual force at the time to send forth teachers into many
parts of the world.

CHRISTIANITY.
There is nothing in the principles of Theosophy which is at
all in opposition to the true primitive Christianity, though there
raay be stateraents which cannot be reconciled with some of the
mistakes of modern popular theology. This modern theology
attaches immense importance to texts; in fact it appears to

CHRISTIANITY 87
me to be based upon one or two texts almost entirely. It
takes these and gives to them a particular interpretation, often
in direct opposition to the plain meaning of other texts from
the same bible. Of course there are contradictions in the
Christian scripture just as there must necessarily be in any
book of that size, the various parts of which were written at
such widely separated periods of the world's history, and by
people so unequal in knowledge and in civilization.
It is impossible that all the statements made in it can be
literally true, but we can go back behind them all, and try
to flnd out what the original teacher did lay before His pupils.
Since there are many contradictions and many interpretations
it is obviously the duty of a thinking Christian to weigh
carefully the different versions of his faith which exist in the
world, and decide between them according to his own reason
and common-sense.
Every Christian does, as a matter of fact, decide for himself
now; he chooses to be a Roraan Catholic, or a member of the
Church of England, or a Methodist, or a Salvationist, though
each of these sects professes to have the only genuine brand
of Christianity, and justifles its claim by the quotation of
texts. How then does the ordinary layman decide between
their rival claims? Either he accepts blindly the faith which
his father held, and does not examine the matter at all, or else
he does examine it, and then he decides by the exercise of his
own judgment.
If he is already doing that, it would be absurd and incon
sistent for him to refuse to examine all texts, instead of basing
his belief only upon one or two. If he does impartially ex
amine all texts, he will certainly flnd many which support
Theosophical truth. He will flnd also that the creeds can be
rationally interpreted only by Theosophy. Of course in order
to raake an intelligent comparison between these different sys
tems it will be necessary for hira to make some enquiries into
the history of his own religion, and to see how the Christian
doctrine came to be what it now is.
He will flnd that in the early Christian Church there were
three principal divisions or parties. There were first of all
the Gnostic Doctors or teachers, wise and cultured men who
held that the Christian Church had its system of philosophy
of the same nature as the great Greek and Roman systems
which existed at that time. They said that this system, while

88 THE INNER LIFE
thoroughly comprehensive and very beautiful, was difficult to
understand, and therefore they did not recomraend its study
to the ignorant. They spoke of it as the Gnosis or knowledge
— the knowledge which was possessed by those who were full
members of the church, but was not given out to the world at
large, and not even told to the raore ignorant members of the
church while they were in that preliminary stage when they
could not receive the sacraments.
Then there was the second division, a body of respectable
middle-class people, who troubled themselves not at all about
the philosophy, but simply were content to take the words of
the Christ as their guide in life. They used as a sacred book
a collection of His sayings, some leaves of which have re
cently been discovered by antiquarians.
. Then there was unfortunately a great mass of ignorant and
turbulent people who never had any grasp whatever of Chris
tian doctrine, but beckrae members of the church merely be
cause of the prophecies, given by the Christ, of a good time to
come. He was very much moved by the sufferings of the
poor, and full of compassion and pity for them. He told them
constantly, in His teachings, to take comfort, because the
poor man who endures the struggle bravely and well will in
the future have a better position and greater advancement
than the rich man who misuses his opportunities. One can
readily see how that doctrine preached to an exceedingly ig
norant people might be taken in a one-sided manner. They
would take the promises and not the conditions, and their idea
of that good time might easily be that they in turn would
be the oppressors and would take advantage of the rich man
— something which of course the Christ never preached. So
it came to pass that He attracted to himself a great crowd
of men who for various reasons were against the existing gov
ernment; and when these ignorant people in turn preached
what they called Christianity to others, they naturally in
tensified and exaggerated their own misconceptions of it.
This great mass of the common people, who called themselves
"the poor men," speedily became a vast majority of the infant
church, and gained so much power that they were eventually
able to throw out the Gnostic Doctors as heretics; for the "poor
men" resented the idea that any knowledge which they did
not possess could be regarded as an essential part of Chris
tianity.

CHRISTIANITY 89
There is yet another point of view from which the Christian
may find Theosophy of the greatest use to him. Just now
the minds of many orthodox Christians are much exercised with
regard to what they call the higher criticism — that is, the at
tempt to apply ordinary common-sense and scientific methods
to the examination of the religious teaching — the endeavour
to understand religion instead of blindly believing it. For
many ages the world has been told that ecclesiastical dograas
must be swallowed like pills, and that to attempt to reason
about them is impious. There are raany raen in the world,
and they are among the most intellectual of its citizens, who
simply cannot accept doctrines thus blindly and uncomprehend-
ingly. Before they can believe they must to sorae extent un
derstand, and a statement does not become a living fact to
them until they can relate it rationally to other facts, and
regard it as part of a more or less comprehensible scheme of
things. It is ridiculous to say (as sorae of the orthodox do) that
these people are inherently wicked and that their attitude
is inspired by the devil. On the contrary they are precisely
the men who truly appreciate God's great gift of reason, and
are determined to employ it in the highest of all possible
directions — ^for the eludication of the truth about religion.
The truth is that the critics are of the greatest possible service
to religion; they are clearing up points in it which hereto
fore have been vague; they are stating with accuracy matters
in connection with it which were previously very partially
understood; they are trying to raake a reasonable system out
of what has until now been nothing but a mass of meaningless
confusion. If any of our members have orthodox friends who are dis
turbed by these efforts, who fear lest this liberalizing and ra
tionalizing of their faith should refine it altogether out of
existence, let them recommend to them the teachings of Theos
ophy, for that is the very thing which they need. It will teach
them to pause before throwing aside ancestral belief, and it
will show them that when properly understood that belief has
a real meaning and a real foundation, and that, while some of
the vagaries of mediaeval ecclesiastical dogma may be incom
prehensible and incredible, the original teaching of the Christ
was a magnificent presentment of universal truth.
If they have somewhat outgrown the outer forra of their re-

90 THE INNER LIFE
ligion, if they have broken through the chrysalis of blind faith,
and mounted on the wings of reason and intuition to the freer,
nobler mental life of raore exalted levels, Theosophy will show
them that in all this there has been no loss, but a great and
glorious gain. For it tells them that the glow of devotion
which has meant so much to them in their spiritual life is
more than justified, that the splendour and beauty and poetry
of religious thought exist in fuller measure than they have
ever hoped before — no longer as mere pleasant dreams from
which the cold light of common-sense raay at any time rudely
awaken thera, but as truths of nature which will bear inves
tigation, which becorae only brighter and raore perfect as
they are more accurately understood.
Certainly the Christian Bible ought not to be taken literally,
for many of its statements are symbolical, and others are sim
ply not true. When we examine clairvoyantly the life of the
founder of Christianity, for exaraple, we can find no trace of
the alleged twelve apostles; it would seera that as men they
never existed, but that they were introduced into the story
for some reason — possibly to typify the twelve signs of the
zodiac. The disciple Jesus, whose body was taken by the
Christ, was not an illegitimate son, as is implied in the gos
pel, nor was his father a carpenter. He was in reality of the
highest aristocracy of the Jews, a descendant of their own
old royal line. He may however have had a tinge of Aryan
blood in him, which would be quite enough to cause the ex
clusive Jews to say that he was not legitimately of the seed
of David, and that statement might very easily be taken to
mean such an irregular birth as is suggested by the narrative.
The truth is that the four gospels at any rate were never in
tended to be taken as in any sense historical. They are all
founded upon a much shorter document written in Hebrew by
a monk naraed Matthasus, who lived in a monastery in a desert
to the south of Palestine. He seems to have conceived the
idea of casting some of the great facts of initiation into a nar
rative forra and mingling with it some points out of the life.
of the real Jesus who was born 105 B. C, and some from the
life of another quite obscure fanatical preacher, who had been
condemned to death and executed in Jerusalem about 30 A. D.
He sent this document to a great friend of his who was the
chief abbot of a huge monastery at Alexandria, and suggested
to him that he, or some of his assistants, might perhaps recast

.SIN 91
it, and issue it in the Greek language. The Alexandrian abbot
seems to have employed a number of his young monks upon
this work, allowing each of them to try the task for himself,
and to treat it in his own way. A number of documents of
very varying merit were thus produced, each incorporating in
his story more or less of the original manuscript of Matthaeus,
but each also adding to it such legends as he happened to
know, or as his taste and fancy dictated. Four of these still
survive to us, and to them are attached the names of the
monks who wrote them, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The
splendid passage with which the gospel of St. John opens was
not original but quoted, for we found it in existence many
years before the time of the Christ in a raanuscript which was
even then of hoary antiquity.
It was associated in that manuscript with a quotation from
the Stanzas of Dzyan, this latter also being translated into
Greek.

SIN.
You ask what is the real meaning of sin. In the sense in
which the word is ordinarily employed, at least by Christian
preachers, I think sin may be defined as a figment of the theo
logical imagination. It is popularly supposed to indicate a de
fiance of divine law — the performance of some action which the
actor knows to be wrong. It is exceedingly doubtful whether
this phenomenon ever occurs. In almost every conceivable
case man breaks the law through ignorance or heedlessness,
and not of deliberate intention. When once a man really knows
and sees the divine intention he inevitably comes into harmony
with it, for two reasons : at an earlier stage because he sees
the utter futility of doing otherwise, and later because, seeing
the glory and beauty of the design, he cannot but throw him
self into its execution with all the powers of his heart and
soul. One of the most serious of the many misconceptions which
we have inherited frora the dark ages is that what is called
"sin" is a perversity to be raet with punishment and savage
persecution, instead of what it really is, the result of a con
dition of ignorance that can only be dealt with by enUghten-

92 THE INNER LIFE
ment and education. It may be objected that in daily life we
constantly see people doing what they must know to be wrong,
but this is a misstatement of the case. They are doing what
they have been told is wrong, which is quite a different matter.
If a man really knows that an action is wrong, and that it
will inevitably be "followed by evil consequences, he is careful
to avoid it. A raan really knows that fire will bum him; there
fore he does not put his hand into it. He has been told that
the fire of hell will burn him as the result of a certain action —
say playing cards on a Sunday — ^but he does not really know
this, and therefore when he feels the inclination to play cards
he does so in spite of the threatened consequences. It will- be
found that every one who does wrong justifies the wrong
action to himself at the time of its commission, whatever he
raay think about it afterwards in cold blood. So I say that
sin as ordinarily understood is a figment of the theological
imagination; what really exists is an unfortunate condition of
ignorance which often leads to infraction of the divine Law.
This ignorance it is our duty to endeavour to dispel by the
light of Theosophy.

THE POPE.
A magnificent opportunity is waiting for the Pope who shall
be ready and brave enough to take it. Instead of fulminating
rescripts and bulls against Theosophy and liberalism, he might
himself propound the Theosophical interpretation of Christian
ity. Remember that the Catholic Church possesses what is called
the doctrine of development, and also that it has proclaimed the
Pope to be the infallible exponent of divine doctrine, the vice
gerent of God upon earth. He would therefore be perfectly
within his rights if, with regard to the Theosophical interpre
tation, he should pronounce quite boldly:
"Certainly this which you bring forward is the true meaning
of Christian doctrine. We have always known this, and we
have plenty of manuscripts in the Vatican Library to prove it.
We did not tell you this before, because all through the ages
until now men have not been fit for such a revelation. They
have been too crude, too rough, too undeveloped to understand
a philosophical and mystical interpretation. The outer husk

CEREMONIAL 93
of the reUgion has been all that could usefully be offered to
them. Now one stage more has been attained and the world
is ready for this further revelation. The second and inner
meaning of our doctrine is therefore put before you, and while
we must not condemn those who are still at the stage when
they must cling to the outer husk, neither must they on their
part be allowed to condemn those who are ready to take the
further step and to receive a higher illumination."
But of course he must indeed be a strong as well as a wise
man who should do this, for like all other great personages
the Pope is surrounded by enormous masses of thought-forms,
and he would find it a matter of extreme difficulty to break
through these and make a new departure.

CEREMONIAL.
The line of ceremonial is one along which raany people come,
but of course it must be understood that no religious cere
monial whatever is ever really essential, and the raan who
wishes to enter upon the Path of Holiness must realize this
fully and must cast off belief in the necessity of ceremonies,
as one of the fetters which hold him back from nirvana. This
does not mean that ceremonies may not be sometimes quite ef
fective in producing the results which are intended, but only
that they are never really necessary for any one, and that the
candidate for higher progress must learn to do utterly without
them. The ceremonial line is an easy road for a certain type
of people, and is really helpful and uplifting for them; but
there is another type of men who always feel ceremonial as
an obstacle between themselves and the deities which they wish
to reach.
In Christianity this ceremonial line is the one appointed by
its founder, through which his magic is to work. The con
secration of the host, for example, is a means by which spiritual
force is poured out over the people. There is often a vast
amount of devotional feeling at the moraent of the consecra
tion, and the working of the raagic is assisted by that, though
it does not depend upon it. Those who are devotional unques-

94 THE INNER LIFE
tionably receive raore because they bring with them an addi
tional faculty of reception. On the other hand, there is always
the probability that ignorant devotion will degenerate into super
stition. In a recent enquiry into these matters from the occult
point of view, made in Sicily, I found that there was certainly
plenty of superstition, and much harmful interference in family
matters on the part of the priests; but still on the whole the
country was distinctly better than it would have been without
it. We should remember also that in history we usually hear
rauch of the worst effects of religious enthusiasm, whereas the
good steady progress of many thousands under its influence
makes but little impression.

PRAYER.
It is difficult to say anything on the question of prayer that
would be universally applicable, because there are such very
different kinds of prayer, and they are addressed to beings
who differ very widely in evolution.. The founders of most
great religions never in any way encouraged their followers
to pray to them, and as a rule the latter have been far too
enlightened to do anything of the kind. Whether a very strong
thought directed towards them would reach them or not would
depend upon the line of evolution which they have since fol
lowed — in fact upon whether they still remain within touch
of this earth or not. If they were still so within reach, and if
such a thought did reach them, it is probable that if they saw
that it would be good for the thinker that any notice should
be taken they would turn in his direction the attention of some
of their pupils who are still upon earth. But it is quite incon
ceivable that a man who had any sort of conception of the
magniflcent far-reaching work done fox evolution by the Great
Ones on higher planes could dream of intruding his own petty
concerns upon Their notice; he could not but know that any
kind of help that he required would be far more fitly given to
him by someone nearer to his own level. Even down here on
this physical plane we are wiser than that, for we do not waste
the time of the greatest scholars of our universities in helping
babies over the difficulties of the alphabet.

PRAYER 95
As regards the saints of any of the churches the position is
different, though even with them the ability to hear prayers
will depend upon their position in evolution. The ordinary
saint, who is siraply a good and holy man, will of course take
his heaven-life as usual, and will probably take a long one. His
life on the astral plane would be likely to be but short, and
it would be only during that that it would be possible for a
prayer to reach him and attract his attention. If during that
time it did so reach him, no doubt he would do anything that he
could not satisfy the petitioner; but it is by no means certain
that it would attract his attention, for he would naturally be
fully occupied with his new surroundings.
When he entered upon his long rest in the heaven-world
he would be entirely beyond any possibility of being disturbed
by earthly things; yet even in such a case a prayer to him
might not be without effect in connection with him. Such a
man would almost certainly be pouring out a constant stream
of loving thought towards humanity, and this thought would
be a real and potent shower of blessing, tending generally to
wards the spiritual helping of those upon whom it fell; and
there is no doubt that the man who was earnestly thinking of
or praying to that saint would come into rapport with him, and
would therefore draw down upon himself a great deal of that
force, though entirely without the knowledge of the saint from
whom it came. If the saint were sufficiently advanced to have
entered upon a special series of births rapidly following one
another the case would be different again. He would then be
all the time within reach of earth, either living on the astral
plane or in incarnation upon the physical, and if the prayer
were strong enough to attract his attention at any tirae when
he was for a moment out of his body, he would probably give
any help in his power.
But fortunately for the many thousands who are constantly
pouring forth their souls in prayer — in the blindest ignorance,
of course, but still in perfect good faith — there is something
else to depend upon which is independent of all these consid
erations. Shri Krishna tells us, in the Bhagavad Gita, how
all true prayers come to Him, to whomsoever they may have
been ignorantly offered; there is a consciousness wide enough
to comprehend all, which never fails in its response to any
earnest effort in the direction of an increased spirituality. It
works through many means; sometimes perhaps by directing

96 THE INNER LIFE
the attention of a deva to the suppliant, sometimes through
the agency of those human helpers who work upon the astral
or mental planes for the good of humanity. Such a deva or
helper so used would, if he showed himself, inevitably be taken
by the petitioner for the saint to whora he had prayed, and there
are many stories which illustrate this. •
I myself, for exaraple, have been taken under such circum
stances for S. Philip Neri, and a junior helper who was with me
on the occasion was supposed to be S. Stanislaus Kostka. Our
President, too, has more than once been regarded as an angel
by those whom she was assisting.

THE DEVIL.
The devil is non-existent. There are persons who imagine
themselves to have made pacts with him, sometimes signed
with their own blood. The result depends largely upon what
sort of entity happened to personate him for the occasion.
There are plenty of creatures of various sorts who would hugely
enjoy such a joke at the expense of a man; but no such entity,
whatever he may be, could possibly have any use for the "soul"
of a man — nor would the "soul" of anybody foolish enough
to make such a compact be likely to be of any use, either to
the owner or anybody else. All these absurd superstitions are
disproved by the fact that the man is the ego, and therefore
cannot sell himself, and also that there are no buyers in such
a transaction; so the whole thing is nothing but foolishness.
There are many entities who may be both willing and able to
arrange twenty years of material porsperity for a person.
They are generally willing to do it in return for some material
consideration, such as the sacrifice of babies, goats or fowls.
The ego has no share in these pacts, either in the rare individual
cases, or in general fetish worship. These entities cannot
possess the human ego, nor could they use it if it could come
into their possession. A human body is sometimes convenient
for them, and for the sake of being permitted to obsess it they
will sometimes enter into an arrangement. The making of a
compact of this nature gives the entity a strong hold upon the

THE DEVIL 97
man; but as soon as he discovers the folly of his action, the
proper course for the man to take is to resist such obsession to
the utmost. Childish ceremonies, such as signing with his own
blood, would of course make no difference whatever.
There is no hierarchy of evil. There are black magicians
certainly, but the black magician is usually merely a single
solitary entity. He is working for himself, as a separate entity,
and fpr his own ends. ' You cannot have a hierarchy of people
who distrust one another. In the White Brotherhood every
member trusts the others; but you cannot have trust with the
dark people, because their interests are built upon self.
You must, however, take care what you raean when you
speak of evil. The principle of destruction is often personified,
but it is only that old forms are broken down to be used as ma
terial for building new and higher ones. Here in India there
is Shiva, the Destroyer, but no one would think of
Him as evil; He is one of the highest manifestations
of the deity. The principle of the destruction of forras
is necessary in order that life may progress. There is a Great
One, a part^of whose function it is to arrange when the great
cataclysms shall take place — ^but He works for the good of the
world. These things are not to be thought of as in any way
evil. The ^notion of a supposed angel who revolted and was
turned out of heaven is very much based upon John Milton.
The conception is not at all the same in the Book of Job. In
that story the devil is quite a different person from the gloomy
hero in the Miltonic conception. Then the Buddhists have
Mara — a personification of the karma of the past descending
upon the man at once and taking many forms. There is an
instant working-out of karma upon the attainment of enlighten
ment. The statement that all material things, all differences and
limitations are evil is misleading. If by evil you mean what
is ordinarily connoted by that word, and not sorae other and
quite different notion of an abstract kind, then matter is not
evil. Spirit and matter are equal. Matter is not in opposition
to spirit. We find matter troublesome because of the bodies we
have to use; but we are here in order to learn what without
the physical Ufe could not be conveyed to us. The physical
plane experiences give a definiteness and precision to our con
sciousness and powers which we could never acquire on any
plane unless we had spent the necessary time on this. But

98 THE INNER LIFE
why do people bother about evil? There is plenty of good
in the world, and it is better to think of that, for your thought
strengthens that of which you think. To think and talk so much
about black magicians unquestionably attracts their attention
to you, and the results are often exceedingly undesirable.

HINDUISM.
When ignorant missionaries dilate upon the three hundred
and thirty million gods of the Hindus they are making a very
gross misrepresentation of a religion which is far more scientific
than their own. Hinduism, like every other religion, knows
perfectly well that there can be only one God, though there may
be countless manifestations of Him. To call these "gojis" is of
course ridiculous. It is perhaps better to avoid the word "god"
altogether, because of the exceedingly unpleasant ideas which
have been associated with it by the Christians; but if it is to
be used, at least it should never be applied to any being lower
than the LOGOS of the solar system. All the good things at
tributed to the Christian God are true of the LOGOS; there is
nothing in .the system that is not He, and yet He is much more
than His system. We could not possibly grasp the truth about
the Absolute; anything which we are able to grasp must after'
all be small, since our minds are so sraall. The advice of the
Lord Buddha to His people was always that they should not
trouble themselves about such remote matters, since it was
impossible to arrive at any conclusion, and nothing useful came
from it.
The images of the Indian deities are usually highly magnet
ized, and when they are carried round the streets at the fes
tivals their influence upon the people is unquestionably produc
tive of much good. In many of the Hindu temples there are
strong permanent influences at work, as is the case for example
at Madura. Once when I visited that city some white ashes
from the temple of Shiva were given to me, and also a bright
crimson powder from the temple of Parvati, and I found that
both of these were so powerfully magnetized as to retain their
influence for some years and after much travelling.

HINDUISM 99
India is essentially a country of rites and ceremonies. The
religion is full of them, and a great many of them are said
to have been prescribed by the Manu Himself, though it is quite
obvious that many others have been added at a much later
date. Some of them appear to be regulations such as would
be quite necessary at the beginning of a new race, but now
that it is thoroughly established it seems clear that they are
useless. In many cases when one watches their performance
one can see quite clearly what raust originally have been in
tended, even though now the ceremony has become a mere empty
shell, and no result follows upon it. Such things are not with
out their value for younger souls; indeed there are many who
delight in them and obtain great beneflt from them; but of
course none of them can ever be really necessary, and all such
bondage falls away altogether from the really developed man.
Originally every householder was the priest of his own family,
but as the civilization became more complex the rites and cere
monies grew more complex also, and therefore a class of spe
cially instructed priests had to spring up, because no one who
had anything else to do could possibly remeraber the wealth
of unnecessary detail. In these days it would seem that most
people perform them, or have them performed for them, rauch
in the sarae spirit as they take medicine from a doctor, without
understanding what it is, but with the faith that it will some
how do them good. There are, however, many people who can
not put heart and soul into a ceremony unless they do under
stand it, and these people usually end by breaking away from
ceremonies altogether.
It is sad to see priests performing the old ceremonies and
using the old forms which once were so effective, and yet produc
ing no result worth mentioning. There seeras to be no will in
these days. They commence some of their recitations "Om,
Bhur, Bhuvar, Swar"; but nothing whatever happens when
they recite the words. In the old days the officiant who said
this threw some will into it, and raised his own consciousness,
as well as that of those present who were responsive, from, one
plane to the other as he spoke.
I remember seeing this strongly exemplifled in the perform
ance of a striking ceremony, when we were examining one of
the earlier lives which occurred many thousands of years ago
here in India. The people all entered an inner room and
stood in absolute darkness. In the beginning of the ceremony

100 THE INNER LIFE
the officiant slowly and solemnly uttered those words, and each
produced its due effect upon the majority of those who stood
around him. The word "Om" brought all the people in close
harmony with him, and with the feelings which filled his mind.
Then, at the utterance of the word "Bhur," to their senses the
room was filled with ordinary light, and they were able to see
all the physical objects in it; when, after an interval, the sec
ond word carae, astral sight was teraporarily opened for them;
and the third word produced the same effect upon their men
tal sight, and brought round them all the bliss and power of
the higher plane, and that condition persisted during the recita
tion of the various verses which followed.
Of course these effects were only temporary, and when the
cereraony was over the higher consciousness faded away from
those who had taken part in it, but nevertheless it remained
for them a tremendous experience, and the effect of it was
that on another similar occasion this higher consciousness was
more readily and more fully aroused in them. But now nothing
of this sort seems to be done anywhere. Now the priest ar
ranges his fuel and utters a solemn invocation to Agni, and
then — lights the flre with a match! In the old days that which
is represented by Agni really did come, and the flre fell from
from heaven, to use an old expression. But all outer husks
seem to reraain.
There is a quite rational and scientific idea underlying the
practice of pilgrimage. Great shrines are usually erected on
the spot where some holy man has lived or where some great
event has happened (such as an initiation) or else in connec
tion with some relic of a great person. In any one of these
cases a powerful magnetic centre of influence has been created,
which will persist for thousands of years. Any sensitive per
son who approaches the spot will feel this influence, and its
effect upon him is unquestionably good. Where there is a strong
vibration at a rauch higher level than any attained by ordinary
humanity, its action upon any man who comes within its in
fiuence is to raise his own vibrations for the time towards unison
with it.
The pilgrim who comes to such a spot and bathes himself
in its magnetism, perhaps for several days together, is cer
tainly the better for it, although different people will be af
fected in different degrees, according to their power of re
ceptivity. Such a place of pilgrimage is the Bodhi tree at

CASTES 101
Buddha-gaya, the spot where the Lord Gautama attained His
Buddhahood. This is true although the tree which is there now
is not the original one. That fell some time in the middle ages,
and' the present tree is only an offshoot from it. But neverthe
less the tremendously strong magnetism of the spot remains,
and is likely to do so for many a century yet to come.

CASTES.
It is said that originally each caste had its distinctive colour;
indeed, the actual meaning of varna (the Sanskrit word for
caste) is colour. I have not studied the question, but at least
it is clear that the colours which are usually given do not in
dicate in any way the auras of the people. Only a young child
has a white aura, and even the adepts have various colours
in Their tremendous glow; yet for some reason the brahman
is traditionally mentioned as white. A kshattriya is said to
have some connection with the colour red; there are several
reds in the huraan aura, from the rose of affection to the
scarlet of anger and indignation, and the bro'tvn-reds of sensu
ality. But the kshattriya has no more of these than other men.
Yellow is traditionally ascribed to the vaishya. But yellow in
the aura signifies intellect, and we have no reason to consider
the vaishya especially endowed with this quality. A shudra is
spoken of as black.
If we adopt the suggestion that these colours had to do with
the ancient and primitive races, we shall find the facts more
tractable. The Aryans, representing the brahman caste, were
undoubtedly much lighter in colour than the people amongst
whom they came. The reddish Toltec people who were ruling
large portions of the land when the Aryan invasion took place
may have some connection with the original kshattriya caste.
The aboriginals, who were Lemurians, and are now only repre
sented by sorae of the hill tribes, were almost black in colour.
They raay be connected with the shudras. Between them and
the Toltecs there appear to have been several waves of differ
ent Atlantean sub-races who settled down as traders; and these
men were of a yellowish colour, as is the present day Chinaman.
Perhaps they were the original vaishyas.

102 THE INNER LIFE
No doubt as we carry further and further back the investi
gations which we are making in connection with the lines of past
lives which are now being examined, we shall obtain more defi
nite information on the subject of the origin of these castes,
and of this question of their relation to colour.

SPIRITUALISl^.
Never forget that the spiritualists are entirely with us on
some most important points. They all hold (a) life after death
as an actual vivid ever-present certainty, and (6) etemal
progress and ultimate happiness for everyone, good and bad
alike. Now these two items are of such tremendous, such para
mount importance — ^they constitute so enormous an advance from
the ordinary orthodox position — ^that I for one should be well
content to join hands with thera on such a pal tf orm, and post
pone the discussion of the minor points upon which we differ
until we have converted the world at large to that rauch of
the truth. I always feel that there is plenty of room for both
of us.
People who want to see phenomena, people who cannot believe
anything without ocular demonstration, will obtain no satisfac
tion with us, while from the spiritualists they will get exactly
what they want. On the other hand, people who want more
philosophy than spiritualism usually provides will naturally
gravitate in our direction. Those who admire the average
trance-address certainly would not appreciate Theosophy, while
those who enjoy Theosophical teaching would never be satisfied
with the trance-address. We both cater for the liberal, the
open-minded, but for quite different types of them; meantime,
we surely need not quarrel.
In what Madame Blavatsky wrote on the subject she laid
great stress on the utter uncertainty of the whole thing, and
the preponderance of personations over real appearances. My
own personal experience has been more favourable than that.
I spent some years in experimenting with spiritualism, and I
suppose there is hardly a phenomenon of which you may read
in the books which I have not repeatedly seen. I have en-

SPIRITUALISM 103
countered many personations, but still in ray experience a dis
tinct majority of the apparitions have been genuine, and there
fore I am bound to bear testimony to the fact. The messages
which they give are often uninteresting, and their religious teach
ing is usually Christianity and water, but still it is liberal as
far as it goes, and anything is an advance upon the bigoted
orthodox position.
Not that some spiritualists are not bigoted also — narrow and
intolerant as any sectarian — when it comes to discussing (say)
the question of reincarnation! The majority of English and
American spiritualists do not yet know of that fact, but the
French spiritists, the followers of Allan Kardec, hold it, and also
the school of Madame d'Esperance in England. Many students
wonder that dead people should not all know and recognize
the fact of reincarnation; but after all why should they? When
a man dies he resorts to the company of those whom he has
known on earth; he moves among exactly the sarae kind of
people as during physical life. The average country grocer
is no more likely after death than before it to come into con
tact with any one who can give him information about rein
carnation. Most men are shut in from all new ideas by a host
of prejudices; they carry these prejudices into the astral world
with them, and are no more amenable to reason and common-
sense there than here.
True, a man who is really open-minded can learn a great deal
on the astral plane; he may speedily acquaint hiraself with
the whole of the Theosophical teaching, and there are dead
raen who do this. Therefore it often happens that scraps of
Theosophy are found among spirit communications. We must
not forget that there is a higher spiritualism of which the public
knows nothing, which never publishes any account of its re
sults. The best circles of all are strictly private — restricted
entirely to one family, or to a small number of friends. In such
circles the same people meet over and over again, and no out
sider is ever admitted to make any change in the magnetism;
so the conditions set up are singularly perfect, and the re
sults obtained are of the most surprising character. At public
seances, to which any one raay be adraitted on payment, an
altogether lower class of dead people appear, because of the
promiscuous jumble of inharmonious magnetisms.

104 THE INNER LIFE

SYMBOLOGY.
Symbology is a very interesting study. To a certain type of
mind everything expresses itself in symbols, and to some people
they are of the greatest possible help. I myself do not happen
to be of that type, and therefore I have not paid special atten
tion to them or made any particular study of them. Some of
them however are obvious, and readily comprehensible to any
one who understands even a little of the principles of their
interpretation. Think, for example, of those which appear on
the earlier pages of The Book of Dzyan. On the first page is
a white disc, signifying the condition of the unmanif ested ; on
the second page a spot appears in the centre of the white disc,
signifying the first manifestation — the First LOGOS, or the Christ
in the bosom of the Father; on the third page this spot has
expanded into a bar, dividing the disc into two halves and so
signifying the first great separation into spirit and matter —
also the Second Logos, always spoken of as dual or androgy
nous; on the fourth page another bar has appeared at right
angles to the first, giving us the forras of a circle divided into
four equal parts or quarters, signifying the emergence of the
Third LOGOS, though He is still in, a condition of inactivity. On
the next page the outer circle falls away, leaving us the equal-
armed or Greek cross. This denotes the Third Logos ready
for action, just about to descend into the matter of His cosmos.
The next stage of this activity is shown by various forms
of the symbol. Sometimes the arras of the Greek cross widen
out as they recede from the centre, and then we get the form
called the Maltese cross. Another line of symbology retains
the straight arms of the Greek cross, but draws a fiame shoot
ing out from the end of each arm, to signify the burning light
witjhin. A further extension of this idea sets the cross whirling
round its centre, like a revolving wheel, and when that is
done the fiames are drawn as streaming backwards as the cross
revolves, and in that way we get one of the most universal of
all symbols, that of the svastika, which is to be found in every
country in the world, and in connection with every religion.
The symbolic meaning of. the ordinary Latin cross, as it is
used in the Christian Church, has no connection whatever with

SYMBOLOGY 105
this line of thought. Its meaning is entirely different, for it
symbolizes the Second Logos, and His descent into matter, and
it is also closely connected with the initiation rites of ancient
Egypt. In the case of The Book of Dzyan the comprehension
of the symbol is enormously assisted by the fact that the book
itself is highly magnetized in a peculiar way, so that when the
student who is privileged to see it takes one of the pages in
his hand a reraarkable effect is produced upon hira. Before
his mind's eye arises the picture of that which the page is in
tended to symbolize, and simultaneously he hears a sort of
recitation of the stanza which describes it. It is very difficult
to put this clearly into words, but the experience is a wonder
ful one.
I have myself seen and handled the copy which Madame
Blavatsky describes — from the study of which she wrote The
Secret Doctrine. That is of course not the original book, but
the copy of it which is kept in the occult museum which is
under the care of the Master K. H. The original document is
at Sharaballa, in the care of the Head of the Hierarchy, and is
certainly the oldest book in the world. Indeed It has been said that
part of it (the first six stanzas, I think) is even older than
the world, for it is said to have been brought over from some
previous chain. That raost ancient part is regarded by sonie
as not raerely an account of the processes of the coraing into
existence of a system, but rather a kind of manual of directions
for such an act of creation. Even the copy must be millions of
years old.
Another well-known symbol is that of the "Great Bird," which
is used to denote the Deity in the act of hovering over His
universe, brooding over the waters of space, or darting onward
along the line of His evolution. To repose between the wings of
the Great Bird raeans so to raeditate as to realize union with
the Logos, and it is said that the man who reaches that level
may rest there for untold years.
The word Om is another presentation of the same idea; it
is the sacred word of the flfth or Aryan root-race. The Atlan
tean sacred word was Tau, and it has been said that the sacred
words given to the root-races in succession are all of them
consecutive syllables of one great word, which is the true sacred
Name. Another obvious symbol, the heart, was prominent in the old
Atlantean religion. In the innermost strine of the great tem-

106 THE INNER LIFE
pie in the City of the Golden Gate there lay upon the altar a
massive golden box in the shape of a heart, the secret opening
of which was known only to the high-priest. This was called
"The Heart of the World," and signified to them the innermost
mysteries that they knew. In it they kept their most sacred
things, and much of their symbolism centred around it. They
knew that every atom beats as a heart, and they considered
that the sun had a similar movement, which they connected with
the sun-spot period. Sometimes one comes across passages in
their books which give the impression that they knew more than
we do in matters of science, though they regarded it all rather
from the poetic than from the scientific point of view. They
thought, for example, that the earth breathes and moves, and
it is certainly true that quite recently scientific raen have dis
covered that there is a regular daily displaceraent of the earth's
surface which may be thought of as corresponding in a certain
way to breathing.
Another symbol is that of the lotus, and it is used to signify
the solar system in its relation to its LOGOS. There is a real
reason for this comparison in the actual facts of nature. The
seven Planetary Logoi, although they are great individual en
tities, are at the same time aspects of the Solar LOGOS, force-
centres as it were in His body. Now each of these great living
centres or subsidiary LoGOl has a sort of orderly periodic
change or motion of his own, corresponding perhaps on some
infinitely higher level to the regular beating of the human
heart, or to the inspiration and expiration of the breath.
¦ Sorae of these periodic changes are more rapid than others,
so that a very complicated series of effects is produced, and it
has been observed that the movements of the physical planets
in their relation to one another furnish a clue to the operation
of these great cosmic influences at any given moment. Each of
these centres has His special location or major focus within the
body- of the sun, and has also a minor focus which is always
exterior to the sun. The position of this minor focus is always
indicated by a physical planet.
The exact relation can hardly be made clear to our three-
dimensional phraseology; but we may perhaps put it that each
centre has a fleld of influence practically co-extensive with the
solar system; that if a section of the field could be taken it
would be found to be elliptical; and that one of the foci of
each ellipse would always be in the sun, and the other would be

SYMBOLOGY 107
the special planet ruled by the subsidary Logos. It is prob
able that, in the gradual condensation of the original glowing
nebula from which the system was formed, the location of the
planets was determined by the formation of vortices at these
minor foci, they being auxiliary points of distribution — gan
glia as it were in the solar system. All the physical planets
are included within the portion of the system which is comraon
to all the ovoids; so that any one who tries mentally to con
struct the figure will see that these revolving ovoids must
have their projecting segments, and he will therefore be pre
pared to understand the comparison of the system as a whole
to a fiower with many petals.
Another reason for this comparison of the systera to a lotus
is even more beautiful, but requires deeper thought. As we
see them the planets appear as separate globes; but there is
in reality a connection between them which is out of reach of
our brain-consciousness. Those who have studied the subject
of the fourth dimension are familiar with the idea of an ex
tension in a direction invisible to us, but it may not have oc
curred to them that it is applicable to the solar system as a
whole. We may obtain a suggestion of the facts by holding the
hand palm upwards bent so as to form a kind of cup, but with
the fingers separated, and then laying a sheet of paper upon
the tips of the fingers. A two-dimensional being living on the
plane of that sheet of paper could not possibly be conscious
of the hand as a whole, but could perceive only the tiny circles
at the points of contact between the fingers and the paper.
To him these circles would be entirely unconnected, but we,
using the sight of a higher dimension, can see that each of
them has a downward expansion, and that in that way they
are all parts of a hand. In exactly the same way the raan
using the sight of the fourth dimension may observe that the
planets which are isolated in our three dimensions are all
the time joined in another way which we cannot yet see; and
from the point of view of that higher sight these globes are
but the points of petals which are part of one great flower.
And the glowing heart of that flower throws up a central pistil
which appears to us as the sun.
It is not wise for the votary of modern science to ridicule
or despise either the learning of old time or the strange and
fanciful symbols in which it was expressed, for many of

108 THE INNER LIFE
these ancient symbols are pregnant with meaning — often with
raeaning showing deeper knowledge than the outer world now
possesses. The Theosophical student at least will avoid the
mistake of despising anything merely because he does not
yet comprehend it — ^because he has not yet learnt the language
in which it is written.

FIRE.
On higher planes everything is what down here we should
call lurainous, and above a certain level everything
raay be said to be permeated by flre, yet not at all
such flre as we know on the physical plane. What we call
by that narae down here cannot exist without something which
either burns or glows, and it is only a kind of reflection or
lower expression of a higher abstract thing which we cannot
sense. Try to think of a flre which does not burn, but is in
a liquid forra, something like water. This was known to the
followers of the flrst great Zoroaster, for they had this fire
which burned no fuel on their altars, a sacred flre by means
of which they symbolized divine life.
One way of reaching the Logos is along the line of fire, and
the ancient Parsis knew this well, and raised themselves until
they were one with the flre, so as to reach Him by way of
it. The only way in which it can be done is through the
assistance of certain classes of devas, but at this period of
the world's history we are so grossly material that very few
can stand the ordeal. The flrst Zoroaster had around hira raany
who were able to take that way; and, though under present
conditions our lower vehicles would probably be destroyed if
we should make such an attempt, in new races and on other
planets we shall be able to take that way again. All this
sounds strange and weird and incomprehensible, because it deals
with conditions which are utterly unknown on the physical
plane, but the student of occultism will flnd that in the course
of his progress he has to face many things which cannot at
all be expressed in words down here.

®ljtr& Section

^ife ®lfcos0p{jtcal ^ttttuhe

THIED SECTIOl^

COMMON-SENSE.
Above all things and under all circurastances the student of
occultism must hold fast to common-sense. He will meet with
many new ideas, with many startling facts, and if he allows
the strangeness of things to overbalance hira, harm instead of
good will result from the increase of his knowledge. Many
other qualities are desirable for progress, but a well-balanced
mind is an actual necessity. The study of occultism may
indeed be summed up in this: it is the study of much that is
unrecognized by the ordinary man — the acquisition therefore
of a great multitude of new facts, and then the adaptation of
one's" life to the new facts in a reasonable and common-sense
way. All occultism of which I know anything is simply an
apotheosis of coramon-sense.

BROTHERHOOD.
The brotherhood of man is a fact in nature; those who deny
it are simply those who are blind to it, because they shut
their eyes to actualities which they do not wish to acknowledge.
We need waste little time over those who deny it; nature itself
will refute their heresy. More subtly dangerous are those who
misunderstand it, and their name is legion.
Remember not only what brotherhood means, but also what

112 THE INNER LIFE
it does not mean. It emphatically does not mean equality, for
twins and triplets are comparatively rare ; under all but the raost
abnorraal circumstances, brotherhood implies a difference in
age, and consequently all sorts of other differences, in strength,
in cleverness, in capacity.
Brotherhood iraplies community of interest, but not com
munity of interests. If the family be rich all its members
proflt thereby; if the faraily be poor, all its raerabers suffer
accordingly. So there is a coramunity of interest. But the
individual interests of the brothers not only may be, but also
for many years must be, absolutely different. What interests
has the boy of fourteen in comraon with his brother of six?
Each lives his own life among friends of his own age, and
has far more in common with them than with his brother.
What cares the elder brother of twenty-flve, flghting his way
in the world, for all the prizes and anxieties of school-life
which fill the horizon of that second brother?
It is not to be expected, then, that because they are brothers
men shall feel alike or be interested in the same things. It
would not be desirable, even if it were possible, for their duties
differ according to their ages, and the one thing which most
promotes the evolution of the human family as a whole is that
every raan should strive earnestly to do his duty in that state
of life to which it shall please God to call him, as the Church
catechism puts it. This does not in the least imply that every
man raust always remain in the station in which his karma
has placed him at birth; if he can honestly and harmlessly
raake such further karraa as will raise him out of it he is at
perfect liberty to do so. But at whatever stage he may be,
he should do the duties of that stage. The child grows steadily;
but while he is at a certain age, his duties are those appro
priate to that age, and not those of some older brother. Each
age has its duties — the younger to learn and to serve, and the
older to direct and protect; but all alike to be loving and
helpful, all alike to try to realize the idea of the great family
of humanity. Each will best help his brothers, not by interfer
ing with them, but by trying earnestly to do his own duty
as a member of this family.
The brotherhood of our Society ought to be a very real thing.
It is important that we should recognize and realize a close
fellowship, a feeling of real unity and drawing together. This
will be achieved if members will forget their own personal

BROTHERHOOD 113
feelings and think chiefiy of the interests of others. The heart
of the Society is making for itself a body on the buddhic plane,
a channeL through which the Great Ones can work. The perfec
tion of the channel as such depends upon the attitude of the
earnest and devoted members. As yet it is very imperfect,
because of the tendency of each member to think too much of
hiraself as a unit, and too little of the good and well-being of
the whole. The stones of the wall raust be built each in its
own place; one standing out of place here, or projecting there,
causes roughness, and the wall as a whole is a less perfect _
wall. We form but a little part of a vast scheme, one wheel
as it were of a machine. It is for us to raake ourselves really
fit for our little part; if we do that, though we raay be quite
unfit to take a leading position in the drama of the world,
yet what little we do is well done and lasting, and will hon
ourably fill its place in the greater whole.
You are all aware that in seven hundred years' time our
two Masters will commence the founding of the sixth root-race,
and that even already They are looking about for those who
will be suitable assistants for Them in that work. But there
is something nearer than that to be done — and it is a work
which will afford excellent practice in developing the qualities
necessary for .that larger work; and this is the development
of the sixth sub-race of the Aryan race, which is now just be
ginning to be formed in North America. Already signs are to
be seen of the preparations for this work; different races are
being welded together in one; and we too have our part to
play in this. We all recognize how important it is that a
child's early years should be surrounded by good influences,
and it is just the same with the childhood of a race. If we can
succeed in starting this young race along right lines rauch
will be gained; and we, even at this distance from America,
can be of great help at this critical period of history, if we
will. Part of the scheme very shortly to be realized is the draw
ing together of the various branches of our flfth sub-race,
the Teutonic. Many of us belong to that — the English col
onies, the Americans, the Scandinavians, the Dutch and the
Germans; and many also in France and Italy, as for example
the Normans, who are the descendants of the Norsemen, and
also those in southern countries who are descendants of the
Goths and Visigoths. What is desired in order to promote

114 THE INNER LIFE
the work of the great plan is that all these races should
be drawn into much closer sympathy. This has already been
achieved to a great extent in the case of England and America;
it is very much to be regretted that it cannot be done in the
case of Germany also, but for the present that great country
seems disposed to hold aloof from the desired coalition, and
to stand out for what it considers its own private interests.
It is much to be hoped that this difficulty may be overcome.
The great purpose of this drawing together is to prepare
the way for the coming of the new Messiah, or, as we should
say in Theosophical circles, the next advent of the Lord
Maitreya, as a great spiritual teacher, bringing a new religion.
The tirae is rapidly approaching when this shall be launched
— a teaching which shall unify the other religions, and com
pared with them shall stand upon a broader basis and keep
its purity longer. But before this can corae about we must
have got rid of the incubus of war, which at present is always
hanging over our heads like a great spectre, paralyzing the
best intellects of all countries as regards social experiments,
making it impossible for our statesmen to try new plans and
methods on a large scale. Therefore one essential towards
carrying out the scheme is a period of universal peace. Many
efforts have already been made in various ways to bring about
this result — for example the Peace Conference; but it seems
that some other way will have to be tried.
If we of the fifth sub-race can but put aside our prejudices
and stand side by side, a great work lies before us in the
future. Ours is the latest sub-race, and therefore contains,
generally speaking, the highest egos in evolution. Yet the
majority of the people in it are by no means ready to respond
to a purely unselfish motive as a means of bringing about the
universal peace required.
How then can this best be attained? By making it to the
interest of all these nations to insist upon universal peace.
Remeraber that trade suffers during war. We of these various
branches of the Teutonic race are the greatest trading nations
of the world, and I hope that we may shortly realize that it is
to our interest to bind ourselves together, and to stand for
peace. Truly this is not a very high motive, for it is merely
self-interest; but still when the rulers and great statesmen
are moved to desire unity from the abstract love for humanity,
this lower motive may help to bring their less developed fellow-

BROTHERHOOD • 115
countrymen into liiie with them, and cause them warmly to
support any movement which they may set on foot for that
object. All sorts of events are being utilized to help this binding
together of our race. For example, the death of Her Majesty
the late Queen Victoria was very decidedly utilized for that
purpose. Her life did very much in drawing the Colonies to
gether into closer bonds with the Mother-country. Those who
saw the Jubilee procession from the psychic stand-point were
greatly impressed with the mighty current of high emotion
thereby evoked. In her life she did much, but at her death
still more was accomplished. By her death she drew close not
only our Colonies, but also the United States. I was in Amer
ica at the time of her death, and really it might have been
their own ruler for whom the Americans were mourning, so
spontaneous and so sincere were their expressions of the sense
of loss. So in her death the great Queen did grand service, as
well as in her life.
Each race has its own peculiarities, just as each individual
has. If we wish to co-operate in the great work we must
learn to allow for these, to be tolerant of them, and to regard
them with a kindly interest, instead of sneering at them or
letting them get on our nerves. What then can we do prac
tically to help these great national affairs? This at least: that
when in our presence unkind or sneering remarks are made
about other nations, we can make a point of always putting
forward considerations on the other side, and saying some
thing kindly. We may not always be able to contradict the
evil thing said, but at least we may supplement it with some
thing that is good.
There are perhaps but few of us, but at least in the course
of a year each of us probably meets at least a thousand others,
and each of us may to that extent be a centre for helping our
own nation to see good in others, and thus, though it may
be only in a small way, we may be able to smooth
the path and make the way for union easier. Many
people are constantly in the habit of speaking with
narrow prejudice against the peculiarities of other nations;
let us at least take care not to do this, but always bear ¦ in
mind the importance of promoting friendly feeling. Do not let
us despair when we think how little each one of us can do in
the matter; let us rather remember that every little effort will

116 THE INNER LIFE
be used by Those who are working from behind. No doubt
the scheme will be carried out whether or not we take the
privilege which is offered to us of helping in it; but that is no
reason why we should not do our best.
Nor is it only good people who are used in the promotion of
the scheme. All sorts of forces are being used by the Great
Brotherhood that stands behind to forward the necessary work.
Yes, even the very selflshness and the failings of men. "Blindly
the wicked work the righteous will of heaven," as Southey
writes in Thalaba. And "All things work together for good
to them that love God." This was spoken as regards personal
karma, but the same thing holds good in regard to greater
and broader schemes. For example, the bigotry of the Chris
tian Church, evil though it is, has not been altogether valueless,
for it has helped to develope strength of faith, since the igno
rant cannot believe strongly without being bigoted. Self-seek
ing in commercial pursuits is evil also, yet it has in it a cer
tain power which can be turned to account by those who stand
behind, for it developes strength of will and concentration,
qualities which in a future life may be put to most valuable
uses. We each have an opportunity to help in this scheme, to co^
operate on the side of good. If we do not take the opportunity
offered to us, another will, and if not that other, then another,
but in any case the work will be done.
We know that already some to whom the opportunity has
been offered have cast it aside; but that is only all the more
reason why we should work with greater vigour, so as to
atone for their defection — to do their share as well as our
own. Never for a moment raust we fear that because of such
defection the work will be allowed to suffer. We cannot but
regret that our poor friends should lose their opportunities —
that from ignorance and lack of clear-sightedness they are work
ing so sadly against their own interests. Yet remeraber that
their folly is but temporary; they will awaken to the truth
some day — if not in this life, then in some other. Meantime
inside all is well, and Great Work is going forward.
The evolution of the world is, after all, like any other large
undertaking. Think of the making of a railway, for instance.
It does not matter to the railway company or to the future
passengers which workman lays a certain rail or drives a cer
tain bolt, so long as it is well and truly done; and the overseer

BROTHERHOOD 117
will attend to that. It matters very rauch to the workman,
for he who works receives the pay, while the other gets noth
ing. The overseer regrets it when a workraan goes off in a flt
of temper or of drunkenness and refuses to work for a day;
but he thinks, "Never raind, he will come back tomorrow,"
and meantirae he employs some one else. Many have left the
work in just that way in an outburst of personality, but
they will, return. The question is not as to whether the work
shall be done — the Masters will see to that in any case; it is
only as to who will embrace the opportunity of doing it.
Many people who contend bitterly against the right are
merely showing that they are not yet flt to pass this test;
they have not yet reached the stage where they can forget
themselves utterly in the work; their personalities are still
rampant, and so they are capable of being shocked and thrown
off their balance, if some new fact comes before them. It is
sad, of course, but it is only temporary; they have lost a good
opportunity for this life, because they are not yet strong enough
for it; but there are raany lives yet to corae. Meantirae others
will take their places. Never forget that the one thing of im
portance is that the Masters' work should be done; let us at
least be among those who are doing it now, even though there
are many who cannot yet see clearly enough to help us. They
repudiate the Masters for this life, like a naughty little boy
who gets angry with his parents, and in a fit of passion runs
away and hides himself; but presently hunger brings the
naughty little boy home again, and in the same way hunger
for the truth which they have once tasted will bring most of
them back to the feet of the Masters in their next lives. Meaur
tirae let us stand firm, and fill our hearts with peace even in
the midst of strife.
If we would rise to our opportunity we must rub down our
corners and get rid of our awkward personalities, and forget
them in encouraging good feeling in every possible way. If
we hear something said against somebody else let us at once
try to put the other side, and this both with regard to nations
and individuals. Counterbalance the evil by speaking the good
— not to give a false impression, but to give the best possible
aspect or interpretation of the facts. Our work is to make
the machine run smoothly, and neutralize the friction. Our
aira is to be a united whole as a Society, and to help to
wards harmony in the outside world. The scheme is great,
the opportunity glorious; shall we take it?

118 THE INNER LIFE
Yet beware lest you should make the idea of preparing
yourself for grand work in the future an excuse for neglecting
the minor opportunities of every-day life. A good example
of what I mean is offered, by a letter which I recently received,
in which the writer says that he finds himself in the position
of having to teach a Theosophical Branch, and that he feels
it a great responsibility, of which he cannot think himself
worthy because his knowledge is at present so imperfect. Now
in reply to this I shall say:
Do not be in the least troubled about your position towards
your Branch. Assuredly it is a responsibility to teach, but
on the other hand it is a very great privilege. Think of it
rather in this way, that here are a number of hungry souls,
and Those who stand behind have been so kind to you as to
give you the opportunity of being the channel through which
these can be fed. You have the broad principles of the teach
ing clearly in mind, and your own common-sense will keep
you from going far wrong in details. I admire your extreme
consciousness, but if you keep these main principles steadily
before your pupils, you are very little likely to go wrong in
your teaching.
We all have the responsibility of which you speak, and those
of us who have to write the books and give the lectures feel
it far more acutely than you can imagine. Indeed we have
soraetiraes been told by friends that we ought to have attained
adeptship before we wrote any books, so that it might be quite
certain that there should be no mistakes in them. I can only
say that we decided to share our imperfect knowledge with
our brothers, even while we still have very much to acquire;
and I think that the result has justified our decision. If we
had waited until we attained adeptship, it is true that our
books would have been perfect — and they are very far from
being perfect now — ^biit then you see you would all have had
to wait a thousand years or so for them, which would have
made a considerable difference to the work of the Society in
the present century. It seems to me that the problem that lies
before you is an exactly similar one. You also might refrain
from teaching until you knew everything; but what would be
come of your Branch in the meantime?

HELPING THE WORLD 119

HELPING THE WORLD.
One of the first qualifications which are required for the
treading of the Path is single-mindedness or one-pointedness.
Even worldly men succeed because they are one-pointed, and we
can learn from them the value of determination on our own
line. Our goal is not so tangible as theirs, so we have more
difficulty in keeping the one-pointed attitude of mind;
but in India the importance of the unseen is more easily real
ized than in the West. It is good to seek the company of those
who are more advanced, to whom the realities of the Path
are constantly present; also to read and hear and think about
our purpose frequently, and unwaveringly to practise the virtues
by which alone the perfect knowledge can corae to us.
This is an age of hurry and scurry; the tendency is for
people to do a little of raany things, but nothing thoroughly
- — to flutter from one thing to another. No man now devotes
his life to a masterpiece, as was often done in the Middle Ages
in Europe, in old days in India.
Occultism changes a man's life in many ways, but in none
more than in this; it makes him absolutely one-pointed. Of
course I do not mean that it causes him to neglect any duty that
he used to do; on the contrary, the never-ceasing watch to fulfil
every duty is its first prescription. But it gives him a key
note of life which is always sounding in his ears, which he never
forgets for an instant — the key-note of helpfulness. Why?
Because he learns what is the plan of the Logos, and tries to
co-operate in it.
This involves many lines of action. To be able to help ef
fectively he must make himself fit to help ; hence he must under
take the most careful self -training, the elimination of evil qual
ities from himself, the development of good ones. Also he must
maintain a constant watchfulness for opportunities to help.
One special method of helping the world lies ready to the
hand of members of our Society — that of spreading Theosophic
truth. We have no right and no desire to force our ideas
on any one, but it is our duty and our privilege to give people
the opportunity of knowing the real explanation of the prob
lems of life. If when the water of life is offered, a man

120 THE INNER LIFE
will not drink, that is his own affair; but at least we should
see that none perishes through ignorance of the. existence of
that water.
We have then this duty of spreading the truth, and nothing
should be allowed to interfere with it. This is the work that
as a Society we have to do, and we raust reraeraber that the
duty is binding upon each of us. Our rainds must be filled
with it, we must be constantly thinking and planning for it,
seizing every opportunity that offers. It is not for us to
excuse ourselves because some other member seems to be doing
nothing; that is his business, and we are in no way concerned
in. it ; but if we ourselves neglect to do our very best, we are
failing in our duty. It was not to illumine our own path that
this glorious light came to us, but that we also in our turn
might be light-bearers to our suffering brothers.

CRITICISM.
If we wish to make any progress in occultism, we must
learn to mind our own business and let other people alone.
They have their reasons and their lines of thought which
we do not understand. To their own Master they stand or
fall. Once more, we have our work to do, and we decline to
be diverted from it. We must learn charity and tolerance, and
repress the mad desire to be always finding fault with some
one else.
It is a mad desire, and it dominates modern life — this spirit
of criticisra. Every one wants to interfere with somebody
else's duty, instead of attending to his own; every one thinks
he can do the other man's work better than it is being done.
We see it in politics, in religion, in social life. For example,
the obvious duty of a Government is to govern, and the duty
of its people is to be good citizens and to make that work
of government easy and effective. But in these days people
are so eager to teach their Governments how to govern that
thy forget all about their own primary duty of being good
citizens. Men will ' not realize that if they will but do their
duties, karma will look after the "rights" about which they
are so clamorous.

CRITICISM 121
How comes this spirit of criticism to be so general and so
savage at this stage of the world's history? Like most other
evils, it is the excess of a good and necessary quality. In
the course of evolution we have arrived at the fifth sub-race
of the fifth root-race. I mean that that race is the latest yet
developed, that its spirit is dominant in the world just now,
and that even those who do not belong to it are necessarily
much influenced by that spirit.
Now each race has its own special lessons to learn, its own
special quality to unfold. The quality of the flfth-race is what
is sometimes called manas — the type of intellect that dis
criminates, that notes the differences between things. When
it is perfectly developed, men will note these differences calmly,
solely for the purpose of understanding them and judging
which is best. But now, in this stage of half-development most
people look for differences from their own point of view not
in order to understand them but in order to oppose them —
often violently to persecute them. It is simpljf the point of
view of the ignorant and unevolved man, who is full of intol
erance and self-conceit, absolutely sure that he is right (per
haps he may be up to a certain point) and that everybody
else therefore must be entirely wrong — which does not follow.
Remember that Oliver Cromwell said to his council: "Brethren,
I beseech you in the sacred narae of the Christ to think it pos
sible that you may sometimes mistake!"
We too must develope the critical faculty; but we should
criticize ourselves, not others.
There are always two sides to every question; generally
more than two. Kritein means to judge; therefore, criticism
is useless. and can only do harm unless it is absolutely calm
and judicial. It is not a mad attack upon the opponent, but
a quiet unprejudiced weighing of reasons for and against a
certain opinion or a certain course of action. We may decide
in one way, but we must recognize that another man of equal
intellect may emphasize another aspect of the question, and
therefore, decide quite otherwise. And yet in so deciding he
may be just as good, just as wise, just as honest as we our
selves. Yet how few recognize that; how few rabid protestants really
believe Catholics to be good men; how few convinced red-
hot radicals really believe that an old Tory squire raay be
just as good and earnest a man as themselves, trying honestly
to do what he' thinks his duty !

122 THE INNER LIFE
If a man comes to a decision different from our own we need
not pretend to agree with him, but we must give him credit for
good intentions. One of the worst features of modern life is
its eager readiness to believe evil — its habit of deliberately
seeking out the worst conceivable construction that can be
put upon everything. And this attitude is surely at its very
worst when adopted towards those who have helped us, to
whom we owe thanks for knowledge or inspiration received.
Remember the words of the Master: "Ingratitude is not one
of our vices." It is always a mistake to rush madly into criti
cism of those who know more than we; it is raore seemly to
wait and think matters over, to wait and see what the future
brings forth. Apply the test of time and the result; "By their
fruits ye shall know them." Let us make a rule to think the
best of every man; let us do our work and leave others free
to do theirs.

PREJUDICE. -
Beware of the beginnings of suspicion: it will distort every
thing. I have seen it come between friends and noticed how
a little suspicion soon grows into a giant misunderstanding.
Every harmless word is distorted, and mistaken to be the ex
pression of some unkind or improper motive, while all the time
the speaker is utterly unconscious of the suspicion. It is the
sarae when opinions differ about books or religion; a slight
difference of opinion is fostered by dwelling upon all that tells
on one's own side and against the other side, until the result
is an absurdly distorted view. One finds it again with colour
prejudice, although those now wearing white bodies have worn
brown ones and vice versa, and the habits of one have been
or will be the habits of the other. Brotherhood means the
getting rid of prejudices ; knowledge of the fact of reincarnation
ought to help us to overcome our limitations and uncharit-
ableness. We who are students of the higher life must rise above
these prejudices. It is a difficult task, because they are in
grained — prejudices of race, of caste, of religion; but they
must all be rooted out, because they prevent clear sight and

PREJUDICE 123
true judgment. They are like coloured glass — still more like
cheap, imperfect glass; everything seen through them is dis
torted, often so much so as to look entirely different from
what it really is. Before we can judge and discriminate we
must see clearly.
It is always very easy to attribute some evil motive to
others whom we have allowed ourselves to dislike, and to dis
cover some evil explanation for their acts. This tendency
forms a very serious impediment in the path of progress. We
must tear away our own personalities, for only then shall we
be at all able to see the other person as he is. A prejudice
is a kind of wart upon the mental body, and of course when a
man tries to look out through that particular part of the
body he cannot see clearly. It is in reality a congested spot
in the mental body, a point at which the matter is no longer
living and flowing, but is stagnant and rotten. The way to
cure it is to acquire more knowledge, to get the matter of the
mental body into motion, and then one by one the prejudices
will be washed away and dissolved.
This evil effect of prejudice was what Aryasangha meant
when he said, in The Voice of Silence, that the mind was the
great slayer of the real. By that he was drawing attention to
the fact that we do not see any object as it is. We see only
the images that we are able to make of it, and everything
is necessarily coloured for us by these thought-forms of our own
creation. Notice how two persons with preconceived ideas,
seeing the same set of circurastances, and agreeing as to the
actual happenings, will yet make two totally different stories
from them. Exactly this sort of thing is going on aU the
time with every ordinary man, and we do not realize how ab
surdly we distort things.
The duty of the Theosophical student is to learn to see things
as they are, and this means control, vigilance and a very
great deal of hard work. In the West, for example, people
are very much prejudiced along religious lines, for we are
born into a certain religion and sedulously taught that all
others are superstitions. Our ideas therefore are biased from
the first, and even when we do learn to know a little about
other religions and respect them it would be difficult for us
to imagine ourselves born into them. Those who are Hindus
can scarcely think of themselves as being born as Christians
or Muhammadans, and just in the same way the Christian

124 THE INNER LIFE
or Mumammadan has an equal difficulty in thinking of himself
as a Hindu or a Buddhist, although it is practically certain
that in some past life he has been in one or other of these
religions. Many so-called protestant Christians will not even now trust
a Roman Catholic, and the more ignorant people are, the
greater is their distrust of that to which they are unaccus
tomed. The 'peasantry, for example, have an instinctive dis
trust of all foreigners, and there are many country places in
England where, let us say, a Frenchman, unless in poverty
and needing help, would certainly be regarded with suspicion.
If he is hungry he will be fed, and treated with compassion;
but let hira corae as a fellow-workman and all that he does
will be criticised, laughed at, and suspected. Now of course
all this comes from ignorance, and occurs because the peas
antry are unaccustomed to meeting with foreigners.
The removal of such prejudice is one of the great advantages
gained by an intelligent man when he travels. In the Theo
sophical Society men of different nations are being drawn
much more closely together; Indians are learning to trust white
people, and white people in turn are learning that Indians
are much the same as themselves. I was working in Amster
dam during the Boer war, and though in Holland generally
there was a strong feeling at the time against England, there
was never the slightest trace of it among the Dutch Theosophi
cal members. It is raost interesting to attend one of the
European Theosophical Conferences, and to see the really hearty
good feeling which exists between men of different nations —
how unfeignedly glad they are to see one another, and how
they rejoice in one another's company. One sees at once that
if such fellow-feeling as exists between the members of the
Theosophical Society could only spread to a majority of their
fellow-countrymen in the various nations, war would at once
become a ridiculous impossibility.
As things are now we form opinions on very slight grounds;
you meet a person for the first time, and something that he
says, or some trivial gesture, arouses in you a little dislike
of him, so that there is a slight wall between you and him.
This may seem an unimportant matter, yet if you are not care
ful that slight bias against the person will grow into a bar
rier which will for ever prevent you from understanding him.
To a certain extent you see him through this thought-form

PREJUDICE 125
that you have made, and you cannot see him correctly, for it
is like looking through a twisted and coloured glass which
distorts everything.
Sometimes, but not so often, a prejudice is in favour of
the person, as in the case of a mother who can see no harm in
what her child does, even though he may seriously harm others.
Now whether they be against a person or in favour of him, both
of these are equally prejudices, mental delusions which slay
the real. The best way to see truly is to begin determinedly
to look always for the good in every one, as our prejudices are
generally on the other side, and we are sadly prone to see the
evil where none exists. We differ from other people in colour,
in dress, in manners and customs, and in outer forms of re
ligion, but all these are merely externals, and all that goes to
make up the real man behind and beneath all this is much the
same in us all.
It is not after all so difficult to learn to look behind the outer
shells in which people conceal themselves. Thereby they usually
make the worst of themselves, for the main faults nearly
always lie on the surface, and the real gold is often success
fully concealed. One who aspires to make progress must over
come this blindness to the worth of others, this tendency to
judge by surface characteristics.
Remember that no one who desires to stand on the side of
good as against evil can ever be refused the opportunity, no
matter how ignorant or bigoted he may be. The Masters always
take the good and use it wherever it appears, even if there
is in the same man much that is bad also; and Their use of
this force for good greatly helps the man who has generated
it. For example, They will use the devotional force which is
to be found even in a murderous fanatic, and thus They will
allow hira to do some good work and consequently to be helped.
We also should imitate the Great Ones; we should always
try to take the good in everything and everybody. Do not look
for and accentuate the evil in any one, but select and em
phasize the good. Go on doing your own work to the best of
your ability, and do not trouble yourself about the work of
another, or about how he is doing it. Even if other people make
difficulties in your way, climb over them and do not worry;
they are your karma, and after all these things from outside
do not really matter. Do not make the mistake of thinking
that others are trying to thwart your good purposes. All these

126 THE INNER LIFE
people are much like yourself; think of it — would you deliber
ately choose to do a wicked thing like that?

CURIOSITY.
Be so centred in your work that you have, no time to find
fault with others, or to pry into their affairs. If only each
man would mind his own business the world would be in
finitely happier.
This prying into other people's affairs works much of evil,
and it is quite accurate to say that the person who does it is
suffering from a disease. The man who is prying is not usually
doing it for the purpose of helping, but simply to satisfy
his curiosity about something which does not concern him,
which is symptomatic of his disease. Another symptom is that
the man cannot keep to himself ' the information which he
has so nefariously acquired, but must everlastingly be pour
ing it out to others as foolish and as wicked as himself.
For it is wicked beyond all doubt, this gossip — one of the
wickedest things in the world. Ninety-nine times out of a
hundred what is said is an absolute fabrication, but it does
an enormous amount of harm.
It is not only the damage done to another person's reputation;
that is the least part of the evil. The gossip and his pestilen
tial cronies perpetually make thought-forms of some evil quality
which they choose to attribute to their victim, and then proceed
to hurl them upon him in an unceasing stream. The natural
effect of this will be to awaken in him the evil quality of
which they accuse him, if there is anything at all in his
nature which will respond to their malicious efforts. In the
one case out of a hundred in which there is some truth in
their spiteful prattle, their thought-forms intensify the evil,
and so they pile up for themselves a store of the terrible karma
which comes frora leading a brother into sin. Theosophists
especially should be careful to avoid these evils, because many
of them are making some effort in the direction of developing
psychic powers, and if they should use those for the purpose
of prying into other people's affairs or for sending evil thoughts
to thera, their karma would be of the raost terrible nature

KNOW THYSELF 127
Never speak unless you know, and not even then unless you
are absolutely certain that some definite good will come of it.
Before you speak ask yourself about what you are going to
say: "Is it true? Is it kind? Is it useful?" And unless you
can answer these three questions in the affirmative, your duty
is to remain silent. I ara well aware that an absolute fol
lowing of this rule would reduce the conversation of the world
by about ninety per cent, but that would be an unspeakable
advantage, and the world would advance much more rapidly.
When we understand the underlying unity of all we cannot
be otherwise than helpful, we cannot stand aside from our
brother's sorrow. Of course there raay be many cases where
physical aid is impossible, but at least we can always give the
help of sympathy, compassion and love, and this is clearly
our duty. For a man who realizes Theosophy harshness is
impossible. Any member who acts roughly or coarsely is fail
ing in his Theosophy, and if he fails in patience he is failing
in comprehension. To understand all is to forgive all, to love
all. Every man has his own point of view, and the shortest
road for one man is not by any means necessarily the best
for another. Every man has a perfect right to take his own
evolution in hand in his own way, and to do with regard to
it what he chooses, so long as he does not cause suffering or
inconvenience to anyone else. It is emphatically not our busi
ness to try to put everybody right, but only to see that all is
right on our side in our relation with others. Before we
undertake an effort to force someone else into our path it
will be best for us carefully to examine his, for it may be
better for hira. We ought to be always ready to help freely
to the fullest extent of our power, but we ought never to
interfere.

KNOW THYSELF.
The old Greek saying Gnothi seauton, know thyself, is a
fine piece of advice, and self-knowledge is absolutely necessary
to any candidate for progress. And yet we must beware lest
our necessary self-examination should degenerate into morbid
introspection, as it often does with some of the best of our
students. Many people are constantly worrying themselves

128 THE INNER LIFE
lest unawares they should be "sliding back," as they call it.
If they understood the method of evolution a little better they
would see that no one can slide back when the whole current
is moving steadily forward.
As a torrent comes rushing down a slope, many little eddies
are formed behind rocks, or perhaps where the water is whirl
ing round and round, and therefore for the moment some of
it is raoving backward; but yet the whole body of water, eddies
and all, is being swept on in the rush of the torrent, so that
even that which is apparently moving backwards in rela
tion to the rest of the streara is really being hurried for
ward along with the rest. Even the people who are doing
nothing towards their evolution, and let everything go as
it will, are all the while gradually evolving, because of the
irresistible force of the Logos which is steadily pressing them
onwards; but they are moving so slowly that it will take them
millions of years of incarnation and trouble and uselessness
to gain even a step.
The method in which this is managed is delightfully simple
and ingenious. All the evil qualities in man are vibrations of
the lower matter of the respective planes. In the astral body,
for example, selfishness, anger, hatred, jealousy, sensuality,
and all qualities of this kind are invariably expressed by vibra
tions of the lower type of astral matter, while love,, devotion,
sympathy, and emotions of that class are expressed only in
matter of the three higher sub-planes. From this flow two
reraarkable results. It must be borne in mind that each sub-
plane of the astral vehicle has a special relation to the cor
responding subplane in the mental body; or to put it more
accurately, the four lower sub-planes of the astral correspond
to the four kinds of matter in the mental body, while the three
higher correspond to the causal vehicle.
Therefore it will be seen that only higher qualities can be
built into the causal body, since the vibrations created by the
lower can flnd in it no matter which is capable of responding
to them. Thence it eraerges that while any good which the man
developes within himself records itself perraanently by a change
in his causal body, the evil which he does and thinks and
feels cannot possibly touch the real ego, but can only cause
disturbance and trouble to the mental body, which is renewed
for each fresh incarnation. Of course the result of this evil
does store itself in the mental and astral permanent atoms.

KNOW THYSELF 129
and so the man has to face it over and over again, but that is
a very different matter from taking it into the ego and making
it really a part of hiraself.
The second reraarkable result produced is that a certain
amount of force directed towards good produces an enorraously
greater effect in proportion than the same amount of force
directed towards evil. If a man throws a certain amount of
energy into sorae evil quality it has to express itself through
the lower and heavier astral matter; and while any kind of
astral matter is exceedingly subtle as compared with anything
on the physical plane, yet as compared with the higher mat
ter of its own plane it is just as gross as lead is on the physi
cal plane when compared with the finest ether.
If therefore a man should exert exactly the same amount
of force in the direction of good, it would have to move through
the much finer matter of these higher sub-planes and would
produce at least a hundred times as much effect, or if we
compare the lowest with the highest, probably raore than a
thousand times. Remember that even in addition to what has
been said as to the effect of force in different grades of matter,
we have the other great fact that the Logos Himself is by His
resistless power steadily pressing the whole systera onwards
and upwards, and that, however slow^ this cyclic progression
may seem to us, it is a fact which cannot be neglected, for
its effect is that a raan who accurately balances his good and
evil comes back, not to the sarae actual position, but to the
same relative position, and therefore even he has made some
slight advance, and is as it were in a position just a little
better than that which he has actually deserved and made for
himself. It virill be clear from these considerations that, if any one is
so foolish as to want to get really backwards against the stream,
he will have to work hard and definitely towards evil; there
is no fear of "sliding" back. That is one of the old delusions
which remains from the times of the belief in the orthodox
devil, who was so much stronger than God that everything
in the world was working in his favour. Really the exact
opposite is the case, and everything round a raan is calculated
to assist him, if he only understands it.
So many of our most conscientious people are just like the
child who has a little garden of his own, and constantly pulls
up his plants to see how the roots are growing — with the

130 THE INNER LIFE
result of course that nothing grows at all. We must learn
not to think of ourselves personally, nor of our personal prog
ress, but enter the path of development, go on working for
others to the best of our ability, and trust our progress to
take care of itself. The more a scientist thinks about himself
the less mental energy he has for the problems of science;
the more a devotee thinks about hiraself the less devotion has
he to lavish upon his object.
Sorae self-exaraination is necessary, but it is a fatal mistake
to spend too rauch time in self-exaraination; it is like spending
all one's tirae in oiling and tinkering at the raachinery. We
use what faculties we have, and in the use of them others will
develope and true progress will be made. If you are learning
a language, for example, it is a mistake to try to learn it from
books quite perfectly before you make any attempt to speak
it; you must plunge into it, and make mistakes in it, and in the
effort you will learn in due course to speak without mistake.
So in the course of tirae what is called renunciation will corae
naturally, and even easily. No doubt when men first attempt
to live the higher life they do definitely renounce many things
which are pleasures to others — which still have a strong at
traction even for thera; but soon the man finds that the attrac
tion of such pleasures has ceased, and that he has neither time
nor inclination for the lower enjoyments.
Learn above all things not to worry. Be happy, and raake
the best of everything. Try to raise yourself and help others.
Contentment is not incompatible with aspirations. Optimism
is justified by the certainty of the ultimate triumph of good,
though if we take only the physical plane into account it is not
easy to maintain that position. One's attitude in this matter
depends chiefly upon the level at which one habitually keeps
one's consciousness. If it is centred chiefiy in the physical
plane one sees little but the misery, but when it becomes pos
sible to centre it at a higher level the joy beyond always shines
through. I know the Buddha said that life was misery, and
it is quite true on the whole with regard to the manifested life
down here, yet the Greeks and Egyptians managed to extract
much joy even from this lower life by taking it from the philo
sophical point of view.
We never lose anything by raaking the best of things, but
gain very much in happiness and in the power of making others
happy. As our sympathy and our love grow we shall be able

KNOW THYSELF 131
to receive within ourselves all the streams of emotion and of
thought which come to us from others, and yet we shall reraain
within ourselves unaffected, calm and joyous, like the great
ocean which receives the waters of many rivers and yet remains
always in equilibrium.
The inner life of an aspirant ought not to be ¦ one of con
tinual oscillation. Outer moods change constantly because they
are affected by all sorts of outside influences. If you find
yourself depressed, it may be due to any one of half-a-dozen
reasons, none of them of any real importance. The physical
body is a fertile source of such ills; a trifling indigestion, a
slight congestion in the circulation, or a little over-fatigue may
account of many conditions which feel quite serious. Even
raore frequently depression is caused by the presence of sorae
astral entity who is hiraself depressed, and is hovering round
you either in search of sympathy or in the hope of drawing
from you the vitality which he lacks. We must simply learn
to disregard depression altogether — to throw it off . as a sin
and a crime against our neighbours, which it really is; but,
anyhow, whether we can succeed fully in dispensing its clouds
qr not we must learn simply to go on as though it were not
there. Your mind is your own raind, into which you should allow
entrance only to such thoughts as you, the ego, choose. Your
astral body is also your own, and you should not allow in it
any sensations except those which are good for the higher
self. So you must manage these vibrations of depression, and
absolutely decline to give harbourage to them. They must not
be allowed to impinge upon you. If they do so impinge they
must not be permitted to effect a lodgment. If, to some slight
extent, in spite of your efforts, they do hang about you, then
it is your duty to ignore thera and to let no one else know that
they even exist.
Sometimes people tell me they have had moments of splendid
inspiration and exaltation, and glowing devotion and joy.
They do not realize that these are precisely the moments when
the higher self succeeds in impressing himself upon the lower,
and that all that which they feel is there all the time, but the
lower self is not always conscious of it. Realize by reason and
by faith that it is always there, and it becomes as though we
felt it, even in the time when the link is imperfect and down
here we feel it not.

132 THE INNER LIFE
But many a man, while admitting the truth of this in the
abstract, yet says that he cannot perpetually feel this happiness
because of his own defects and constant failures. His attitude
in fact is very much that adopted in the litany: "Have mercy
upon us miserable sinners." Now we are all sinners in the
sense that we all fall short of what we ougbH to do, and con
stantly do what we ought not to do, but there is no need
to aggravate the offence by being miserable sinners. A miser
able person is a public nuisance, because he is a centre of in
fection, and is spreading misery and sorrow all round upon
his unfortunate neighbours — a thing which no man has a right
to do. Any man with just the same feelings, who contrives
to keep hiraself reasonably happy even while raaking determined
efforts for reform, is not injuring others in at all the sarae way.
People who think and speak of themselves as miserable worms
are going exactly the right way to raake theraselves raiserable
worms, for what a man thinks, that he is. All such talk is
usually hypocrisy, as you may easily see from the fact that
the man who so readily calls himself a miserable worm in
church would feel distinctly insulted if anybody else called him
so in ordinary daily life. And whether it is hypocritical or
not it is certainly nonsense, for we passed the reptilian stage
of evolution long ago, if we ever were in it. Anyone who
understands at all the influence of thought will realize that a
raan who really thinks himself a miserable worm has already
deprived hiraself of any power of rising out of that state, while
the man who realizes strongly that he is a spark of the divine
life will feel ever hopeful and joyous, because in essence the
divine is always joy. It is a great mistake to waste tirae
in repentance; what is past is past, and no araount of re
morse can undo it. As one of our own Masters once said,
"The only repentance that is worth anything whatever is the
resolve not to do it again."

ASCETICISM.
Some mistaken ideas seem prevalent among our members
upon the subject of asceticism, and it may be worth while to
consider what it really is, and how far it may be useful. The
word is usually taken to signify a life of austerities and of mor-

ASCETICISM 133
tiflcation of the body, though this is somewhat of a departure
from the original meaning of the Greek word asketes, which is
siraply one who exercises himself as an athlete does. But ecclesi-
asticism impounded the word and changed its sense, applying it
to the practice of all sorts of self-denial for the purpose of
spiritual progress, on the theory that the bodily nature with
its passions and desires is the stronghold of the evil inherent
in man since the fall of Adam, and that it must therefore be
suppressed by fasting and penance. In the grander Oriental
religions we sometimes encounter a similar idea, based on the
conception of matter as essentially evil, and following from that
the deduction that an approach to ideal good or an escape from
the miseries of existence can be effected only by subduing or
torturing the body.
The student of Theosophy will at once see that in both these
theories there is dire confusion of thought. There is no evil
inherent in man except such as he has himself generated in
previous births; nor is matter essentially evil, since it is just
as much divine as is spirit, and without it all manifestation
of the Deity would be impossible. The body and its desires
are not in themselves evil or good, but it is true that before
real progress can be made they must be brought under the
control of the higher self within. To torture the body is foolish ;
to govern it is necessary. "The men who perform severe aus
terities  unintelligent, tormenting the aggregated elements.
forming the body, and Me also, seated in the inner body — ^know
these demoniacal in their resolves." (Bhagavad-Gita, xvii. 5,
6.) And again, "The austerity done under a deluded under
standing, with self-torture,  that is declared of darkness.'"
(Ibid, xvii. 19.)
There appears to be a widely-spread delusion that to be
really good one raust always be uncomfortable— -that discom
fort as such is directly pleasing to the Logos. Nothing can
be more grotesque than this idea, and in the above quoted
texts from the Bhagavad-Gita we have a hint that it is perhaps
worse than grotesque, for it is there said that they who tor
ment the body are tormenting the Logos enshrined in it. With
us in Europe this unfortunately common theory is one of the
many horrible legacies left us by the ghastly blasphemy of
Calvinism. I myself have actually heard a child say: "1 feel
so happly that I am sure I must be very wicked" — a truly
awful result of criminally distorted teaching.

134 THE INNER LIFE
Our Masters, who are so far above us, are full of joy; full
of sympathy, but not of sorrow. We also must feel sympathy
with others, but not identify ourselves with their sorrow. A
man in great trouble can judge nothing clearly. To his vision
all the world seems dark, and it appears as if no one should
be happy. When he is in great joy, aU the world appears
bright, and it seems as if no one ought to be unhappy. Yet
nothing is changed, not even he himself, but only his astral
body. All the world is going on just the sarae, whether you are
happy or unhappy. Do not identify yourself with your astral
body, but try to get out of this web of illusion, these personal
moods. No doubt this ludicrous theory of the merit of discomfort
comes partly from the knowledge that in order to make prog
ress raan raust control his passions, and from the fact that
such control is disagreeable to the unevolved person. But the
discomfort is very far from being meritorious; on the con
trary, it is a sign that the victory is not yet achieved. It
arises frora the fact that the lower nature is not yet dominated,
and that a struggle is still taking place. When the control is
perfect there will no longer be any desire for the lower, con
sequently no struggle and no discomfort. The raan will live
the right life and avoid the lower because it is perfectly nat
ural for him to do so — no longer because he thinks he ought
to make the effort, even though it may be difficult for him.
So that the discomfort exists only at an intermediate stage,
and not it, but its absence, is the sign of success.
Another reason for the gospel of the uncomfortable is a con
fusion of cause and effect. It is observed that the really ad
vanced person is siraple in his habits, and often careless about
a large nuraber of minor luxuries that are considered im
portant and really necessary by the ordinary man. But such
carelessness about luxury is the effect, not the cause, of his
advancement. He does not trouble himself about these little
matters because he has largely outgrown them and they no
longer interest him — not in the least because he considers them
as wrong; and one who, while still craving for them, imitates
hira in abstaining from them, does not thereby become ad
vanced. At a certain stage a child plays with dolls and bricks;
a few years later he has become a boy and his play is cricket
and football; later again when he is a young man these in turn
lose rauch of their interest, and he begins to play the garae

ASCETICISM 135
of love and life. But an infant who chooses to imitate his
elders, who throws aside his dolls and bricks and attempts
to play cricket, does not thereby transcend his infancy. As his
natural growth takes place he puts away childish things; but
he cannot force the growth raerely by putting these away, and
playing at being older.
There is no virtue whatever merely in becoming uncom
fortable for discomfort's sake; but there are three cases in
which voluntary discomfort may be a part of progress. The
first is when it is undertaken for the sake of helping another,
as when a man nurses a sick friend or labours hard to sup
port his family. The second is when a man realizes that some
habit to which he is addicted is a hindrance in his upward
way — such a habit, say, as tobacco-smoking, alcohol-drinking,
or corpse-eating. If he be in earnest he gives up the habit
instantly, but because the body is accustomed to that particular
forra of pollution it misses it, cries out for it, and causes the
•man a great deal of trouble. If he holds firm to his resolution
his body will presently adapt itself to the new conditions, and
when it has done so there will be no further discomfort. But
in the intermediate stage, while the battle for raastery between
the man and his body is still being fought, there may be a good
deal of suffering, and this must be taken as the karma of hav
ing adopted the vice which he is now forsaking. When the
suffering passes the karma is paid, the victory is won, and a
step in evolution is achieved.
I am aware that there are rare cases ( when people are physi
cally very weak) in which it might be dangerous to relinquish
a bad habit instantaneously. The morphine habit is an in
stance in point; one who is a victim to its horrors usually finds
it necessary gradually to decrease the dose, because the strain
of abrupt cessation raight weU be greater than the physical
body could endure. It would seem that there are certain pitiable
cases in which the same system of gradual decrease must be
applied to the flesh-eating habit. Doctors tell us that while
the digestion of flesh takes place chiefiy in the stomach, that
of most forms of vegetable food belongs rather to the work of
the intestines; and therefore a person in very weak health
sometimes finds it advisable to give to these various organs
a certain araount of time to adjust themselves to the necessary
change, and to practise, as it were, the functions which they
are now required to fulfil. The steady pressure of the will.

136 THE INNER LIFE
however, will soon bring the body into subjection and adapt
it to the new order of things.
The third case in which discomfort may have its use is when
a man deliberately forces his body to do something which it
dislikes, in order to raake sure that it will obey him when nec
essary. But it raust be distinctly understood that even then
the raerit is in the ready obedience of the body, and not in
its suffering. In this way a raan may gradually learn in
difference to many of the minor ills of life, and so save hiraself
much worry and irritation. In this training himself in will,
and his body in obedience, he raust be careful to attempt only
such things as are advantageous. The Hatha Yogi developes
will-power, assuredly, when he holds his arm above his until
it withers; but while he gains enormously in will-power he
also loses the use of his arm. The will-power can be developed
just as well by some effort the result of which will be per
raanently useful instead of permanently hampering — ^by the con
quest, for example, of irritability or pride, impatience or sen
suality. It would be well if all who feel a yearning for asceti
cism would take to heart the words of wisdom in the Bhagavad^
Gita :
"Purity, straightforwardness, continence and harmlessness are
called the austerity of the body. Speech causing no annoyance,
truthful, pleasant and beneficial  is called the austerity
of speech. Mental happiness, equilibrium, silence, self-control,
purity of nature — this is called the austerity of the mind."
(xvu. 14, 15, 16.)
Note especially that in this last verse mental happiness is
described as the first characteristic of the austerity of the mind
— ^the first sign of the perfect self-control necessary for one
who wishes to make real progress. It is emphatically our
duty to be happy; raorbidity, gloom or depression mean always
failure and weakness, because they mean selfishness. The man
who allows himself to brood over his own sorrows or wrongs is
forgetting his duty to his fellows. He permits himself to be
come a centre of infection, spreading gloom instead of joy
among his brethren; what is this but the grossest selfishness?
If there be any one who feels a yearning for asceticism, let him
take up this mental austerity advised in the scripture, and
resolve that whatever may be his private troubles or sufferings
he will forget himself and them for the sake of others, so
that he may ever be pouring forth upon his fellow-pilgrims

SMALL WORRIES 137
the radiant happiness which comes from the fuller knowledge
of the Theosophist, ever helping them towards the realization
that "Brahman is bliss."

SMALL WORRIES.
Unnecessary worry appears ,to be the key-note of modern
life. Not Only those who are making special efforts to progress
are making themselves unreasonably uncomfortable, but the
sarae vice is quite coramon even in ordinary life. The astral
body of the average man is a sad sight for a clairvoyant. The
illustration in Man Visible and Invisible (p. 131) shows what
an astral body ought to be — merely a reflection of the colours
of the mental, indicating that the man shows himself to feel
only what his reason dictates. But if that be too much to
expect at this stage of evolution, the picture on p. 102 gives
us an assortment of colours which represents an average astral
body when comparatively at rest. In it there are many hues
which show the presence of undesirable qualities — qualities
which should be weeded out as soon as may be: but that side
of the subject is treated in the book, and it is to another fea
ture that I wish now to draw attention.
I have said that the illustration shows what an ordinary un
developed astral body would look lik^ if comparatively at rest;
but one of the evils of what we have agreed to call civiliza
tion is that hardly any astral body ever is even comparatively
at rest. Of course it is understood that the matter of an astral
body must always be in perpetual vibration, and each of the
colours that we see in the drawing marks a different rate of
that vibration; but there should be a certain order in this,
and a certain limit to it. The raore developed raan (on p.
131) has five rates of vibration, but the ordinary man shows
at least nine rates, with a mixture of varying shades in ad
dition. That is clearly not so good as the other, but the case
of the majority of people in the West is really far worse than
that. To have even nine rates of simultaneous vibration is
already bad enough, but in the astral body of raany a man
and woraan one might easily observe fifty rates or even a hun
dred. The body should be divided into a few fairly deflnite

138 THE INNER LIFE
areas, each swinging steadily at its normal rate, but instead of
that, its surface is usually broken up into a multiplicity of little
whirl-pools and cross-currents, all battling one against the other
in the maddest confusion.
All these are the result of little unnecessary emotions and
worries, and the ordinary person of the West is simply a mass
of these. He is troubled about this thing, he is annoyed about
that, he is in fear about a third, and so on; his whole life is
filled with petty little emotions, and all his strength is frittered
away on them. A really great emotion, be it good or bad, sweeps
over the whole of a man's astral body and for the time brings
it all to one rate of vibration; but these small worries make
little vortices or centres of local disturbance, each of which per
sists for a considerable tirae.
The astral body which thus vibrates fifty ways at once is a
blot upon the landscape and a nuisance to its neighbours. It
is not only a very ugly object — it is also a serious annoyance.
It may be compared to a physical body suffering from some
unusually aggravated form of palsy, with all its muscles jerk
ing simultaneously in different directions. But to make the illus
tration even partially adequate we should have to assume that
this palsy was contagious, or that every one who saw its un
fortunate results felt an irresistible tendency to reproduce
them. For this horrible chaos of catastrophic confusion pro
duces an unpleasant and most disturbing effpct upon all sensi
tive people who approach it; it infects their astral bodies and
communicates to them a painful sensation of unrest and worry.
Only a few have yet unfolded the faculties which enable
them to see this maleficent infiuence in action; a larger num
ber are vaguely conscious of discomfort when they approach
one of these fussy persons; but probably the majority feel
nothing definite at the time of meeting, though later in the
day they will probably wonder why they are so inexplicably
fatigued. The effect is there and the harm is done, whether
it be immediately perceptible or not.
A person who is so foolish as to allow himself to get into
this condition does much harm to many, but most of all to
himself. Frequently the perpetual astral disturbance reacts
through the etheric upon the dense physical vehicle, and all sorts
of nervous diseases are produced. Nearly all nerve troubles
are the direct result of unnecessary worry and emotion, and
would soon disappear if the patient would but hold his vehicles
still and possess his soul in peace.

SMALL WORRIES 139
But even in cases where a strong physical body is able suc
cessfully to resist this constant irritation from the astral, its
effect upon its own plane is no less disastrous. These tiny
centres of inflammation which thus cover the whole astral body
are to it what boils are to the physical body — not only them
selves causes of acute discomfort, sore spots the least touch
upon which produces terrible pain, but also weak spots through
which the life-blood of vitality drains away, and through which
also blood-poisoning frora without may take place. A person
whose astral body is in this distracted condition can offer prac
tically no resistance to any evil influence which he may en
counter, while he is quite unable to proflt by good influences.
His strength flows out through these open sores, at the same
tirae that all sorts of disease-germs find entrance by them.
He is not using and controlling his astral body as a whole, but
allowing it to break up into a nuraber of separate centres and
control him. His little worries and vexations establish them
selves and confirm their empire over him until they become a
legion of devils who possess him so that he cannot escape from
thera. This is a painfully coramon condition; how is a man to avoid
falling into it, and if he is already in it, how is he to get
out of it? The answer is the same to both questions; let him
learn not to worry, not to fear, not to be annoyed. Let him
reason with himself as to the utter unimportance of all these
little personal raatters which have loomed so large upon his
horizon. Let him consider how they will appear when he looks
back upon them from the next life, or even twenty years
hence. Let hira lay well to heart the words of wisdora, that
of all the outward things that happen to a raan "nothing
matters much, and most things matter not at all." What he
himself does or says or thinks is of importance to him, for
that forras his future; what other people do or say or think
matters to him nothing whatever. Let him abstract himself
frora all these little pin-pricks of daily life, and siraply decline
to be worried by them.
It will need some resolution at first, for it requires effort
to conquer a well-established bad habit. He wUl find his raind
muttering to him over and over again: "Mrs. Jones spoke evil
of me; perhaps she is doing it now; perhaps other people may
believe her; perhaps it raay do me harm," and so on ad in
finitum. But he must reply; "I dorft care what Mrs. Jones

140 THE INNER LIFE
has said, though I am sorry the poor woraan should make such
bad karraa. I absolutely decline to think of it or of her. I
have my work to do, and have no time to waste in thinking of
foolish gossip."
Or it may be that forebodings of coming evil are con
stantly thrusting themselves into his brain: "Perhaps next
year I may lose ray position; perhaps I shall be starving;
perhaps I shall be bankrupt; perhaps I may lose the affection
of some friend." This also should be met firmly: "Perhaps
all these things may happen, but also perhaps they may not,
and it is useless to try to cross a bridge before one comes to
it. I shall take all reasonable precautions, and when that is
done I decline to think further of the matter. Worrying can
not affect whatever may be coming, l^ut it can and certainly
will make me unfit to meet it. Therefore I refuse to worry;
I definitely turn my back on the whole subject."
Another common form of worry which leads to the most
serious results is the folly of taking offence at something
which soraebody else says or does. Ordinary common-sense
would lead a man to avoid this mistake, and yet those who do
avoid it are few. It needs only that we should think dis
passionately about the matter, and we shall see that what the
other man has said or done cannot make any difference to us.
If he has said something which has hurt our feelings, we
may be sure that in nine cases out of ten he has not meant it
to be offensive; why then should we allow ourselves to be dis
turbed about the matter? Even in the rare cases when a re
mark is intentionally rude or spiteful, where a man has said
soraething purposely to wound another, it is still exceedingly
foolish of that other to allow hiraself to feel hurt. If the man
had an evil intention in what he said, he is much to be
pitied, for we know that under the law of divine justice he will
certainly suffer for his foolishness. What he has said need
in no way affect us; for, if we think of it, no effect whatever
has really been produced.
The irritating word does not in any way injure us, except
in so far as we may choose to take it up and injure our
selves by brooding over it or allowing ourselves to be wounded
in our feelings. What are the words of another, that we
should let our serenity be disturbed by them? They are merely
a vibration in the atmosphere; if it had not happened that we
heard them, or heard of them, would they have affected us? If

SMALL WORRIES 141
not, then it is obviously not the words that have injured us,
but the fact that we heard them. So if we allow ourselves
to care about what a man has said, it is we who are responsible
for the disturbance created in our astral bodies, and not he.
The man has done and can do nothing that can harm us;
if we feel hurt and injured and thereby make ourselves a great
deal of trouble, we have only ourselves to thank for it. If a
disturbance arises within our astral bodies in reference to
what he has said, that is merely because we have not yet
gained control over those bodies; we have not yet developed
the calmness which enables us to look down as souls upon all
this, and go on our way and attend to our own work without
taking the slightest notice of foolish or spiteful remarks made
by other raen. This is the merest common-sense, yet not one
in a hundred will act upon it.
The fact is that any one who wishes to become a student of
occultism must not have any personal feelings that can be
offended under any circumstances whatever. A man who has
thera is still thinking of hiraself; whereas our duty is to forget
ourselves in order to remember the good of others. Nothing
can offend you if you have resolved not to be offended — if you
are thinking only how to help the other man, and not at all
of yourself.
Another variant of the disease is less personal and therefore
is so far less blame-worthy, but hardly less prejudicial to prog
ress. It is the habit of fussing over trifles in business or in
household affairs. This always involves a lack of discrimination
and of the sense of perspective. It is quite true that a house
hold or a business raust be orderly, that things must be done
punctually and exactly; but the way to achieve this is to set
up a high ideal and press steadily towards it — not to irritate
every one by ceaseless, useless worry. The person who is so
unfortunate as to be afflicted with a disposition of this kind
should make a most determined fight against it, for until he
conquers it he will be a force working always for friction and
not for peace, and so will be of little real use in the world.
His symptoms differ slightly from those of the more personal
worrier; in his case there are fewer of the carbuncular vor
tices, but there is a perpetual tremor, an unrest of the whole
astral body which is equally disquieting to others, equally sub
versive, of happiness and advancement for the fusser himself.
The raan mu,st learn to be raaster of his mind and his

142 THE INNER LIFE
feelings, and steadily reject every thought and emotion which
his highest self does not approve. " A chaos of petty emotions
is unworthy of a rational being, and it is to the last degree
undignified that raan, who is a spark of the Divine, should
allow hiraself to fall under the sway of his desire-eleraental —
a thing that is not even a mineral yet.
I have already said that this disastrous astral confusion is
often prejudicial to physical health; but it is invariably worse
than prejudicial to progress on the path — it is absolutely fatal
to it. One of the first great lessons to be leamt on that path
is perfect self-control, and a long stage on the way to that
is coraplete absence of worry. At first, from mere habit, the
matter of the astral body will still be swept readily into un
necessary vortices, but every time that happens the man must
firmly obliterate them, and restore the steady swing of the
feelings which he, as an ego, really desires to have.
Let hira fill hiraself so entirely with the divine love that it
may be ever pouring from him in all directions in the shape
of love for his fellow-men, and then there will be no room for
unnecessary vibrations; he will have no time to worry over
trifling personal matters if his whole life is spent in the service
of the Logos, in trying to help forward the evolution of the
world. To make any real progress or to do any real work a
man must turn from the lower and reach towards the higher;
he must come out of our world into Theirs — out of the restless
ness into the peace which passeth understanding.

KILLING OUT DESIRE.
We are often told that we must kill out desire; but it should
be remembered that that is a gradual process. The lower
and coarser desires which are meant by the Sanskrit word
kama must certainly be killed out entirely before any sort of
advancement can be made, but in the English sense of the
word we all of us still have certain desires, and are likely to
have them for a very long tirae to come. We desire keenly
for example to serve the Master; to become His pupils; to
help huraanity. These also are desires, but they should not
be killed. What is necessary is to kill out the lower and

KILLING OUT DESIRE 143
reach up to the higher, that is to say, to purify our desires
and to transmute them into aspirations.
Later on another transmutation will take place. Por exam
ple, now we desire to make progress; but a time will corae
when we shall be so sure of it that we shall cease to desire,
because we know that all the tirae it is going on as rapidly
as is possible for us, and because we raean that it shall so go
on. Desire is then transmuted into resolution. At this point
there can be no more regret for anything; you do your best
and you know that in response to that the best must come.
Some people desire earnestly to gain this quality or that; do
not waste your power in desiring and wishing, but will instead.
In the same way it is said that we should slay the lunar
form, that is to say the astral body. But that does not mean
that the astral body raust be destroyed or that we must be
without feelings and emotions. If that could be so we should
have no sympathy and no understanding of others. What is
intended is that we should keep it completely under control,
that we should have the faculty to slay the lunar form at will.
Purity is necessary, but it means not only the abstinence from
specifled faults, but absolute selflessness. Ambition, for ex
araple, is a very common form of desire, but in it there is
always a thought of self. The adept cannot be ambitious.
His will is one with the will of the Logos, and He wills evolu
tion. We are all parts of the LOGOS, and our wills are part
of His. It is only when we do not realize this that we set up
desires in our own separate lines. The regulations for our
lives were very well suramed up by the Lord Buddha in one
little verse of four short lines:
Sabbapapassa akaranara
Kusalassa upasarapada
Sachitta pariyo dapanam
Etam Buddhana sasanam.
Cease from all evil;
Learn to do well;
Cleanse your own heart;
This is the reUgion of the BUDDHAS,

144 THE INNER LIFE

THE CENTRE OF MY CIRCLE.
Of all the many obstacles that stand in the way of the aspi
rant who wishes to enter upon the Path, the , most serious,
because the most far-reaching and fundamental, is self-cen-
tredness. Note that by this I do not mean the crude and ugly
selflshness, which deflnitely seeks everything for itself even at
the cost of others. I am of course supposing that that at least
has been left behind long ago. But in those who have left it
behind, there still lingers this other evil — so subtle and so
deeply-rooted that they do not recognize it as an evil at all —
indeed they are not even aware of its existence. But let a man
exaraine himself honestly and impartially, and he will flnd that
all his thought is self-centred; he thinks often of other people
and of other things, but always in their relation to himself;
he weaves many imaginary dramas, but he himself occupies
always a prominent role in them. He raust always be in the
centre of his little stage, with the limelight playing upon him;
if he is not in that position he at once feels hurt, annoyed,
angry, and jealous of any other person who happens for the
moment to be attracting the attention of those who ought to be
worshipping at his shrine. To change so fundaraental a quality
is to change for him the root of all things, to make himself
into an altogether different man. Most people cannot for a
moment face the possibility of such a radical change because
they do not even know that the condition exists.
Now this attitude is absolutely fatal to any kind of progress.
It must be utterly changed, and yet so few are making any
attempt to change it. There is one way out of this vicious
circle, and only one; and that is the way of love. That is the
only thing in the life of the ordinary man which ever changes
this condition for him, which seizes upon him with a strong
hand and for the time being altars his whole attitude. For
a tirae at least, when he falls in love, as it is called, some other
person occupies the centre of his circle, and he thinks of every
thing in all the world in its relation to her, and not in its
relation to hiraself. The divinity at whose shrine he offers this
worship may in truth seem to the rest of the world to be but
a very ordinary person, but for him she is temporarily the

THE CENTRE OF MY CIRCLE 145
incarnation of grace and beauty; he sees in her the divinity
which is in truth hers, because it lies latent in all of us, though
normally we do not see it. It is true that in many cases after
a time his enthusiasra fades and he transfers it to another
object; but nevertheless for the tirae he has ceased to be self-
centred, for the time he has had a wider outlook.
Now this, which the ordinary man thus does unconsciously,
the student of occultism must do consciously. He must de
liberately dethrone himself from the centre of the circle of his
life, and he must enthrone the Master there instead. He has
been in the habit of thinking instinctively how everything will
affect him, or what he can make of it, how he can turn it
to his proflt and pleasure. Instead of that he raust now learn
to think of everything as it affects the Master, and since the
Master lives only to help the evolution of humanity, that means
that he must regard everything from the standpoint of its
helpfulness or hindrance to the cause of evolution. And though
at first he will have to do this consciously and with a certain
effort, he must persevere until he does it just as unconsciously,
just as instinctively as heretofore he centred everything around
himself. To use the words of a Master, he must forget himself
utterly only to remeraber the good of others.
But even when he has dethroned hiraself and enthroned the
work which he has to do, he must be exceedingly careful that
he does not delude himself, that he does not return to the old
seLf-centredness in a subtler form. Many a good and earnest
Theosophical worker have I known -who committed this very
raistake, who identified Theosophical work with hiraself, and felt
that anyone who did not exactly agree with his ideas and his
methods was an enemy of Theosophy. So often the worker
thinks that his way is the only way, and that to differ from
him. in opinion is to be a traitor to the cause. But this means
only that the self has crept skilfully back into its old place in
the centre of the circle, and that the work of dislodging it must
be begun aU over again. The only power which the disciple
should desire is that which raakes hira seem as nothing in
the eyes of men. When he is the centre of his circle he may
do good work, but it is always with the feeUng that he is
doing it, even largely with the object that it may be he that
does it; but when the Master is the centre of his circle he will
do the work simply in order that it may be done. The work
is done for the sake of the work and not for the sake of the

146 THE INNER LIFE
doer. And he must learn to look upon his own work precisely
as though it were that of some one else, and upon the work of
some one else precisely as though it were his own. The one
thing that is important is that the work should be done. It
matters little who does it. Therefore he ought neither to be
prejudiced in favour of his own work and unduly critical of
that of another, nor be hypocritically depreciatory of his own
work in order that others may praise it. To quote the words
of Ruskin with regard to art, he ought to be able to say
serenely: "Be it mine or yours, or whose else it raay, this
also is well."
Another danger there is too, which is special to the Theo
sophical worker — the danger of congratulating himself too soon
that he differs frora the rest of the world. Theosophical teach
ing puts a new coraplexion upon everything, so naturally we
feel that our attitude is quite different from that of most other
people. There is no harm in thinking this obvious truth, but
I have found that some of our members are apt to pride
themselves upon the fact that they are able to recognize these
things. It does not in the least follow that we, who flnd our
selves able to recognize them, are therefore better than others.
Other raen have developed themselves along other lines, and
along those lines they may be very far in advance of us, though
along our line they lack something which we already have.
Remember, the adept is the perfect mian who is fully de
veloped along all possible lines, and so while we have something
to teach these others we also have much to learn from them,
and it would be the height of folly to despise a man because
he has not yet acquired Theosophical knowledge, nor even
perhaps the qualities which enable him to appreciate it. There
fore in this sense also we must take care not to be the centre
of our own circle.
A good plan that you may adopt in order to keep yourself
from slipping back into the centre may be to remember, as a
symbol of what ought to be your attitude, what I have before
explained to you with regard to the occult view of the course
and influence of the planets. You remeraber how I explained
to you that each planet is a minor focus in an ellipse, the
major focus of which is within the body of the sun. You are
like that minor focus; you are going upon your own course
and doing the work appointed to you, and yet all the time you
are but a reflection of the major focus, and your consciousness

OUR DUTY TO ANIMALS 147
is centred within the sun, for the Master of whom you are
a part is a member of the Great Hierarchy which is ever doing
the work of the LOGOS.
While a man is the centre of his own circle he is perpetually
making the mistake of thinking that he is the centre of every
body else's. He constantly supposes that in everything which
other people say or do they are somehow thinking of him, or
aiming their remarks at hira, and with many this becomes a
kind of obsession, and they seem totaUy unable to realize that
each of their neighbours is as a rule also entirely wrapped
up in himself and not thinking of thera at all. So the man
makes for himself a great deal of totally unnecessary trouble
and worry, all of which might be avoided if we would but see
things in a sane and rational perspective. Again, it is be
cause he is the centre of his own circle that he is liable to de
pression, for that comes only to one who is thinking of himself.
If the Master be the centre of his circle, and all his energies
are centred upon serving Him, he has no time for depression,
nor has he the slightest inclination towards it. He is far too
eagerly wishing for work that he can do. His attitude should
be that indicated by our President in her Autobiography — that
when a man sees a piece of work waiting to be done he should
say, not as the ordinary raan usually does: "Yes, it would be
a good thing, and somebody ought to do it. But why should
I?" — ^but rather he should say: "Somebody ought to do this.
Why should it not be I?"
As he evolves his circle will widen, and in the end there will
corae a time when his circle will be inflnite in extent, and
then in a sense he himself will again be its centre, because he
has identified himself with the Logos, who is the centre of
all possible circles, since every point is equally the centre of a
circle whose radius is infinite.

OUR DUTY TO ANIMALS.
While you are trying to do your best for all those around
you, do not forget that you also have a duty towards forms of
life lower than the human. In order that you may be able
to do that, try to understand your lower brothers, try to under
stand the animals,, just as you try to understand on a higher

148 THE INNER LIFE
level the children with whora you have to deal. Just as you
learn, if you want to help a child, to look at things from the
child's point of view, so, if you want to help the animal evolu
tion, try to see what is the animal's point of view. In all cases
and with all forms of life our business is to love and to help,
and to try to bring nearer the golden age when all shall under
stand one another and all shall co-operate in the glorious work
that is to come.
There is no reason why our domestic animals should not be
trained to help man, and to work in his service, so long as
the work is not painful or excessive. But all the creatures
around us should be trained in the way best for themselves;
that is to say, we should always remember that their evolution
is the object of the divine will. So that while we should surely
teach our aniraals all that we can, because that developes their
intelligence, we raust take care that we instil into thera good
qualities and not evil. We have various creatures brought
among us. We have the dog, the cat, the horse and other
originally wild animals given into our care — ^brought to us for
affection and help. Why? That we may train them out of
their ferocity, and into a higher and more intelligent state of
life — that we raay evoke in thera devotion, affection and intel
lect. But we must take good care that we help, not hinder; we
must see that we do not increase in our animal the ferocious
qualities which it is the business of his evolution to get rid
of. For example, a man who trains a dog to hunt and kill is
intensifying within him the very instincts which must be elira-
inated if the aniraal is to evolve,' and in this way he is degrad
ing a creature given into his charge instead of helping him on
his way, even though at the same time he may be developing
the animals intelligence; and thus though he may do a little
good, he is at the same time doing a great deal of harm which
far more than counterbalances it. The same thing is true of
a man who trains his dog to be ferocious in order that he may
be an efficient protector of his property.
A man who treats an aniraal harshly or cruelly may possibly
be evolving his intellect, since the animal may learn to think
more keenly in order to see how to avoid the cruelty. But
along with whatever evolution may be gained in this way,
there is also the developraent of the exceedingly undesirable
qualities of fear and hatred. Thus when, later on, that animal

OUT DUTY TO ANIMALS 149
wave of life goes up into huraanity, we shall have a humanity
starting terribly handicapped — starting with these awful qual
ities of fear and hatred ingrained in it, instead of a humanity
all aspiring, devotional, loving and gentle, such as we might
have had if the men to whora the animal part of that evolution
was committed had done their duty.
We have also our duty towards other and even lower forms
of life than that. There is the elemental essence, which is
surrounding us everywhere; that elemental essence progresses
by raeans of our thought, and of the action which we pro
duce upon it by our thoughts, passions, emotions and feelings.
We need not trouble ourselves especially about that, because
if we carry out our higher ideals, if we try to see to it that all
our thought and all our emotion shall be of the highest possible
type, then that also will, at the sarae time and without further
difficulty, be the discharging of our duty towards the elemental
essences which are influenced by our thought; they will be
raised and not depressed; the higher qualities which we alone
can reach will be set in motion, vivified and helped at their
respective levels.
All through evolution the assistance of the higher is ex
pected in the development of the lower, and it is not only by
individualizing them that man has helped the members of the
animal kingdom. In Atlantean days the very formation of their
species was largely given over into his hands, and it is be
cause he failed to do his duty properly that raany things turned
out rather differently from what was originally intended. His
mistakes are largely responsible for the existence of carnivorous
creatures which live only to destroy one another. Not that he
was responsible for all carnivorous creatures; there were such
araong the gigantic reptiles of the Lemurian period, and raan
was not in any way directly engaged in their evolution; but it
was in part his work to assist in the developraent from those
reptile forms of the raamraalia which- play so prorainent a part
in the world now. Here was his opportunity to iraprove the
breeds and to curb the undesirable qualities of the creatures
that came under his hands; and it is because he failed to do all
that he might have done in this direction that he is to some
extent responsible for much that has since gone wrong in
the world. If he had done all his duty it is quite conceivable
that we might have had no carnivorous mammals.
Mankind has for so long treated animals cruelly that the

150 THE INNER LIFE
whole animal world has a general feeling of fear and enmity
towards men. Men have generated in this way an awful karma,
which comes back upon thera in terrible suffering, in various
forms of disease and of insanity. Yet even after all this bad
behaviour on the part of man, few aniraals will harm him
if left alone. A serpent, for example, will not usually do any
injury to a huraan being, unless he is first hurt or frightened;
and the sarae thing is true of nearly all wild animals, except
the very few who may regard man as food, and even they
usually will not touch man if they can get anything else.
Except when it is absolutely necessary in self-defence or in
defence of another the destruction of any form of life ought
always to be avoided, as it tends to retard nature's work.
That is one of the reasons why all consistent Theosophists
refuse to share the sin of slaughter by eating raeat or flsh,
or by wearing such things as are obtained only by the slaughter
of aniraals, like sealskin or the feathers of birds. Silk used to
be obtained by the wholesale slaughter of silkworms, but I hear
that there is now a new way of obtaining it without destroying
the worm.

SYMPATHY.
Never set yourself against the law of nature. Lately, man
has gone astray from nature very much, and materialism has
become widely spread. Many scientiflc men who know a great
deal more about nature are very much less in sympathy with
her than were their less instructed forefathers. In the useful,
and indeed necessary, study of the exterior many have for
gotten the interior; but men will pass through this intermediate
stage of misunderstanding and come back into sympathy. The
older people, who had a closer kinship with nature, carried on
little of detailed examination, which would have seemed irrev
erent to them. Because we have become irreverent, have lost
the living feeling, we pry remorselessly. We must take care not
to lose the precision that we have gained by this intermediate
sta^e, but must recover the sympathy. By sympathy one may
find out a great deal which science alone can never discover.
In the teaching of children, we need to make them feel that
we understand them, even though in doing so we may sacrifice

OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHILDREN 151
some scholastic advantages. The average child regards grown
up people as foreign entities, strange arbitrary beings.
All this is true also in connection with our studies of nature.
The nature-spirits are afraid of us, if we study them too
scientifically; we must go with them into their life, and then
they will be interested in the life of humanity also. In their
blind way, fiowers and other things feel joy and friendliness.
Emerson said that it appeared to him that when he returned
home, the trees in his garden felt glad to see or feel him
again, and no doubt it was quite true. The trees and animals
do know the people who love them. In India people speak of
the "lucky hand" in planting, raeaning that things will grow
for some people, but not for others. One must be in sympathy
with the purpose of the Logos. If we are actively helping in
the progress of all, we are living in His will, which penetrates
nature, and this is felt by nature at once; but if we put our
selves in opposition to evolution, nature shrinks back frora us
like a sensitive child.

OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS CHILDREN.
What is your attitude towards your children? Remember
that these are egos, sparks of the divine life. They have been
entrusted to you, not that you may domineer over them and
brutally ill-treat thera, and use them for your own proflt and
advantage, but that you raay love them and help thera in order
that they may be expressions of that divine life. What an
outpouring of love then you ought "to feel! How beyond all
words your patience and compassion should be! How deeply
you should feel the honour of being trusted to serve them
in this way! Remeraber always that you are not the older
and they the younger, but that as souls you are all of about
the same age, and therefore your attitude must not be that
of a selfish and cruel dictator, but of a helpful friend. You
do not regard your friend differently when he puts on a new
coat; reraeraber therefore that when you raeet a child you are
meeting a soul wearing a new coat, and you should try by
perfect kindness and love to draw out the best that is in it,
and to help it to fit on its new coat. Remember always that
true good means good for all, and that good is never gained

152 THE INNER LIFE
at the cost of suffering to others. That which is so gained
is not really good at all.

THE FEAR OF DEATH.
The fear of death is a stern reality in the minds of many
people. A far larger nuraber suffer from it than one would sup
pose, and still more frora the fear of what raay happen to us
after death. Naturally this is especially to be found among
people who have ideas of hell, and of probable punishment
if they do not believe this or that. It is a gross and degraded
form of superstition, but still the suffering is real, and what
is even worse is the fear as to the fate of others after death.
Many a mother's whole life is embittered by doubts and fears
as to what may happen to her son. He goes far away from her,
perhaps; he falls into the ordinary habits of men of the world,
and does raany things contrary to the narrow religious teach
ing in which she has been brought up, and so she thinks that
he must suffer eternal torture. While it is true that there is
no eternal hell for hira, there is certainly much real earthly
suffering for her.
But we know the law of karma, and realize that the states
after death are simply a continuation of the life which we
are now living, although on a higher plane and without a phy'si-
cal body; and when in addition we learn that what we com
monly call life is only one day in the real and greater life, then
all these things assume quite a different perspective. We know
then that progress is absolutely certain. A man raay stumble,
he may set himself against the forces of progress, but he will
be carried on by them in spite of himself, though when he re
sists there will be much of bruising and trouble for him. We
see at once that this knowledge eliminates fear.
The so-called loss of a loved one by death is really only a
temporary absence, and not even that as soon as a man developes
the power to see on the higher planes. Those whom we think
we have lost are with us still, even though with our physical
eyes we cannot see them; and we should never forget that,
although we may sometimes be under the delusion that we
have lost them, they are not in the least under the delusion
that they have lost us, because they can still see our astral

CO-OPERATION 153
bodies, and as soon as we leave the physical vehicle in sleep
we are with them and can comraunicate with them exactly as
when they were on the physical plane.
We need not worry ourselves about saving our souls; rather
on the other hand, as a Theosophical writer once said, we may
not be entirely beyond the hope that some day our souls may
save us. There is no soul to be saved in the ordinary sense
in which the words are used, because we ourselves are the souls;
and furthermore there is nothing to be saved from except our
own error and ignorance. The body is nothing but a vestment,
and when it is worn out we cast it aside.

CO-OPERATION.
It is part of the scheme of the LOGOS that at a certain stage
in its evolution humanity raust begin to guide itself. Therefore
all the future Buddhas, Manus and Adepts will be members
of our own huraanity, the Lords from Venus having gone on
to other worlds. Therefore also the Logos actually counts upon-
us all, upon you and upon me. We may have ninety-nine faults
and only one Virtue, but if that one virtue is needed in the
Theosophical work (and what virtue is not needed?) we shall
surely have the opportunity to use it.
We should then value our co-workers for what they can do,
and not be constantly blaming them for what they cannot do.
Many people have earned the right to do some particular kind
of work, notwithstanding that their defects may be greater
than their virtues. People often make a sad mistake in com
paring their work with that of others, and wishing that they
had the same opportunities. The truth is that each one has his
own gifts and his own powers, and. it is not expected of any
raan that he should do as much as some other man, but only
that he should do his best — just his own best.
The Master once said that in reality there are only two classes
of raen — those who know and those who do not know. Those
who know are they that have seen the light and have, turned
towards it, through whatever religion they have come, at how
ever great a distance from the light they may as yet flnd them
selves. Many of them may be suffering much in their struggle

154 THE INNER LIFE
towards that light, but at least they have hope before thera,
and while we syrapathize deeply with them and strive to help
them we yet realize that they are by no means in the worst
case. The people really to be pitied are those who are quite
indifferent to all higher thought — those who do not struggle be
cause they do not care, or think, or know that there is anything
for which to strive. These are they in truth who constitute
"the great orphan huraanity."

A DAY OF LIFE.
It is not wise to specialize beyond a certain point, because
one can never really get to the end of any subject, and it tends
raore and raore to narrow the raind and the outlook, to produce
a one-sided and distorted developraent, and to cause one to
view everything out of its due proportion. We are in the habit
of thinking of a life-time as a long period, but really it is only
a day in the greater life. You cannot flnish a really great piece
of work in one day; it raay need many days, and the work of
one particular day raay at the time show no appreciable result;
but nevertheless every day's work is necessary to the completion
of the great task, and if a man should idle day after day be
cause the completion of the work seeras so far off he would
certainly not succeed in getting it done.
There are raany to whom Theosophy coraes late in life,
who feel themselves soraewhat discouraged by the outlook, think
ing they are too old now to take themselves in hand seriously
or to do any valuable work, that the best that they can do
now is to go quietly on to the end of this incarnation in the
hope that they may have a better opportunity in the next.
This is a sad mistake, and that for various reasons. You do
not know what kind of incarnation karma is preparing for
you next time you retum to earth. You do not know whether
by any previous action you have deserved the opportunity of
being born into Theosophical surroundings. In any case the
most likely way to secure such a birth is to make use of the
opportunity which has come to you now, for, of all that we
have learned about the working of this great law of cause and
effect, this one fact stands out most closely — that the result

MEDITATION 155
of taking an opportunity is invariably that another and wider
opportunity is given. If therefore you neglect the opportunity
put before you by your encounter with Theosophy now, it is
possible that in the next incarnation the chance may not come
to you again.
If a man sets to work earnestly and perraeates his spirit
as thoroughly as possible with Theosophical ideas, that will
build thera well into the ego, and will give him so great an
attraction towards them that he is certaiii, even though he may
not remember them in detail, to seek for them instinctively,
and to recognize them, in his next birth. Every man there
fore should begin Theosophical work just as soon as he hears
of it, because whatever of it he contrives to achieve, however
little it may be, will be just so much to the good, and he will
begin to-morrow where he has left off this tirae. Also by trying
to do what he can with such vehicles as he has, obstinate and
unresponsive though they may prove through lack of pliability,
he will assuredly do much to earn for himself more pliable
vehicles for next time. So no effort is lost, and it is never
too late in any given life to enter upon the long, long upward
path, and to make a commencement in the glorious work of
helping others.
With an eternal life before us it would be a raistake to worry
because the present day is drawing near its evening, or in
despair to neglect the preparations for the coming day. Light
on the Path says: "Kill out desire of life.'' This is often mis
understood, but its meaning should be plain. You cannot lose
your life; why then should you desire it? It cannot possibly
be taken from you. At the same time the quotation means that
you should kill out desire for particular bodily conditions.

MEDITATION.
I think that our members sometimes mistake with regard to
meditation, because they have not thoroughly understood the
exact way in which it works. They sometimes think that be
cause they do not feel happy and uplifted after a meditation
it is therefore a failure and entirely useless, or they find
themselves' dull and heavy and incapable of meditation. There

156 THE INNER LIFE
seems no reality in anything for them, no certainty about any
thing, and they feel that they are making no progress. They
suppose that this must be somehow their own fault and they
reproach themselves for it; but they often ask what they can
do to improve matters and to restore the joy they used to feel.
Now the fact is that that experience in regard to meditation
is that of all seekers after the spiritual life; you will flnd that
the Christian saints constantly speak of their sufferings at
periods of what they call "spiritual dryness," when nothing
seems any use and they feel as though they had lost sight of
God altogether. Imagine that I ara sitting looking through
a wide-open window upon a beautiful hill-side, but the sky
is dull grey, heavy with a vast pall of cloud probably miles
in thickness. I have not seen the sun for three days. I cannot
feel his rays, but I know he is there, and I know that sorae
day these clouds will roll away as others have done, and I
shall see him again. What is necessary for the life of the world
is that he should be there, not that I should see him; it is
far pleasanter to see him and to feel the warmth of his rays,
but it is not a necessity of life. I know just exactly how these
people feel, and it is cold comfort to be told that our feelings
do not matter, even though there is a very real sense in which
it is true.
I think it is helpful to remember that our meditation has
several objects — for example:
1. To ensure that, however deeply we may be immersed in
the affairs of the world, we shall devote at least some time each
day to the thought of a high ideal.
2. To draw us nearer to the Master and to the Logos, so
that from Them strength may be poured upon us and through
us to beneflt the world.
3. To train our higher bodies, so that they raay have con
stant practice in responding to the highest vibrations — ^to do
the same thing for thera that a carefully arranged system of
gymnastics or regular exercises does for the physical body.
Now you will observe that all these objects are attained just
the same whether we feel happy or not. A mistake that many
people make is to suppose that a meditation which is unsatis
factory to them is therefore ineffectual. It is just like a little
child performing daily her hour of practice upon the piano.
Sometimes perhaps she partially enjoys it, but very often it
is a weariness to her, and her only thought is to finish it as

MEDITATION 157
quickly as possible. She does not know, but we do, that every
such hour is accustoming her fingers to the instrument, and
is bringing nearer and nearer the time when she will derive
from her music an enjoyment of which now she does not even
dream. You will observe that this object is being attained just
as much by the unpleasant and unsatisfactory hour of practice
as by that which she enjoys. So in the work of our meditation
sometimes we feel happy and , uplifted, and sometimes not; but
in both cases alike it has been acting for our higher bodies as
do the exercises of physical culture or training for our physical
body. It is pleasanter when you have what you call a "good"
meditation; but the only difference between what seems a good
one and a bad one lies in its effect upon the feelings, and not
in the real work which it does towards our evolution.
,The reason of the temporary dullness is not always in our
selves — or rather, it is not always attributable to anything
that can reasonably be called our fault. Often it is purely
physical, resulting from over-fatigue or a nervous strain; often
it is due to surrounding astral or mental infiuences. Of
course it is our karma to be subjected to these, and so in that
more remote way we are responsible; but we must just do the
best we can with them, and there is no need for us to be de
spondent, or to waste our time reproaching ourselves.
Another reason also may be that at certain tiraes the plane
tary influences are more favourable for meditation than at
others. I know nothing of this myself, for I have never con
sidered the planetary influences in these raatters, but have
always forced my way to what I desired; but I have heard
a friend say that an astrologer told him that on certain oc
casions when Jupiter had certain relations with the moon this
had the effect of expanding the etheric atmosphere and making
meditation easier, or at least making it appear more success
ful. The astrologer gave him a list, which he consulted after
taking notes of the conditions of his meditations daily for
three or four weeks, when he found that the results exactly
agreed with the influences which were said to be acting. Cer
tain aspects with Saturn, . on the other hand, were said to
congest the etheric atmosphere, making the work of meditation
difficult, and this also was verified in the same way.
The highest thought that we can have is that of the -su
preme Lord of all, but of course we raust not suppose that
our thought changes in the least the attitude of the Supreme

158 THE INNER LIFE
towards us. We who are students ought to be far beyond the
stage at which a man thinks that he can produce change in
the Supreme — a thought which belongs only to the ignorant
and unphilosophical among the Christians. We ourselves how
ever are certainly affected by opening ourselves to Him. If
you open the window of your room to the sun, the condi
tion of your room is much changed by the power of the sun,
but the sun is in no way changed by your opening the window.
Open the windows of your soul to God.
During meditation one may try to think of the Supreme
Self in everything and everything in it. Try to understand
how the Self is endeavoring to express itself through the form.
One method of practice for this is to try to identify your
consciousness with that of various creatures, such as a fiy,
an ant, or a tree. Try to see and feel things as they see and
feel them, until as you pass inwards all consciousness of the
tree or the insect falls away, and the life of the LOGOS appears.
We are very much more than the tree or the ant; therefore
there is no danger of our being unable to withdraw our con
sciousness when the experiment is finished. We do not after
all imprison it in the form of the tree or the ant; we ex
pand it to take in the life in every form. The man who does
this for the first time is usually surprised when he realizes
the limitations under which animals act. He had thought an
animal acted in a certain way for what seemed quite obvious
reasons, but when he really enters into the animal he finds
that its motives and intentions are wholly different. The dis
ciple has to go through this process also with lower classes of
human beings, because without it he could not perfectly help
them. This enables us to get down to the bed-rock of the Self,
and clears away the darkness and loneliness which often come
over us at one stage of our progress. When we know quite
certainly that we are part of a whole we do not so much
mind where this particular fragment of it may be, or through
what experiences it raay be, or through what experiences it
may be passing. Whatever loneliness we may have, we feel,
we know, that we are never alone; the Master is always there
waiting to help where help is possible. We must give up the
clinging to the particular forms, and have no motive but to
do the will of the LOGOS. We must never aUow the feeling
of loneliness to make us forget the Master or lose faith in

MEDITATION 159
Him, for no progress is possible unless we have the fullest
confidence in the Master whom we choose to serve. If we
have only a half-hearted questioning faith in Him we cannot
progress. ~We need not make the choice of a Master unless
we will; but having made it we must have faith in the Teacher
and His message.
In controlling the mind flrst turn away the senses frora
outward sounds and sights, and becorae insensitive to the waves
of thought and emotion from others. That is comparatively
easy, but the next stage is very difficult, for when this is
done there come up from within disturbances which spring
from the uncontrolled activity of the mind. The meditation of
many of our beginners consists mostly of a continuous struggle
to come back to the point. Here comes in the advice given
in The Voice of Silence. "The raind is the slayer of the real ;
let the disciple slay the slayer.'' You raust not of course de
stroy your raind, for you canno.t get along without it, but
you must dominate it; it is yours, not you. The best way
to overcome its wandering is to use the will. It is often sug
gested that the pupil should help himself by making a shell
round him; but after all shells are but crutches. Develope
will, and you will be able to dispense with them. The astral
body tries to impose itself upon you in the same way, and
to make you believe that its desires are yours; but with that
also we must deal in a precisely similar manner.
There is no limit to the degree to which will may be de
veloped. There are decided limitations to the extent to which
the strength of the physical body can be increased, but there
seera to be no limitations in the case of the will. Fortunately
we can train it in the ordinary small things of daily life every
day and all day long, and we can have no better practice than
this. It is much easier for a man to screw up his courage
to face a dramatic raartyrdom before a crowd of people than
to go on doing the tiresome daily duty with tiresome people
day after day and year after year. This latter needs much
more will-power than the forraer. Be careful however that
you do not raake others suffer in your efforts to develope your
own will. Sometimes people have shown will-power by leav
ing horae and friends and going out to face all kinds of diffi
culties and privations in order to do Theosophical work. That
is quite right if a man is absolutely free to do it; but a man
who left his wife and family for that purpose, or an only son

160 THE INNER LIFE
who left parents that were dependent upon him, Would evi
dently be neglecting his duty in a way which no one has a
right to do, even for the sake of the noblest motives.
As a result of determined meditation we begin to build
into our bodies the higher kinds of matter. At this stage
we often feel grand emotions, coming from the buddhic level
and reflected in the astral body, and under their influence we
may do flne work and show great self-sacrifice. But then is
needed the development of the mental and causal bodies in order
to study and balance us; otherwise the grand emotions that
have swayed us in the right direction may very readily become
a little twisted and sway us along some other and less de
sirable lines. With feeling alone we never obtain perfect
balance or steadiness. It is well that the high feelings should
come, and the raore powerfully they corae the better, but that
.is not enough; wisdora and steadiness must also be acquired,
because we need directing poyer as well as motive force. The
very meaning of buddhi is wisdom, and when that coraes it
swallows up all else.
lUuraination raay mean ' three quite different things. First,
a man, by setting himself to think intensely and very care
fully over a subject may arrive at some conclusion with re
spect to it. Secondly, he may hope to obtain some illumina
tion from his higher self — to discover what the ego really thinks
on its own plane about the matter in question. Thirdly, a
highly developed raan raay come into touch with Masters or
devas. It is only in the first case that his conclusions would
be likely to be vitiated by his own thought-forms. The higher
self would be able to transcend these, and so would a Master
or a deva.
All these would, have no difficulty in presenting things as
they really are; but we raust remember that we have not only
to absorb the information, but also to bring it down into the
physical brain, and as soon as it reaches that brain it will
begin to be coloured by prejudices. What we can do in medi
tation depends upon what we are doing all day long. If we
have built up prejudices in ordinary life we cannot escape
from them during the tirae of raeditation; but if we patiently
endeavour to root out our prejudices and to learn that the
ways of others are just as good as our own, we are at least
on our way towards establishing a gentle and tolerant attitude
which will assuredly extend itself to the special time of our

MEDITATION 161
meditation. It is easy for us to see the disadvantages of any
new ideas or suggestions; these leap to the eyes. But look
for the good also, which does not always so readily emerge.
During meditation the ego regards the personality much as
at any other time — he is slightly contemptuous usually. Remera
ber your physical meditation is not for the ego, but for the
training of the various vehicles to be a channel for the ego.
If the ego is at all developed he will meditate also upon his
own level; but it does not follow that his meditation will
synchronize with that of the personality. The force coming
down is always that of the ego, but only a small part, giving
a one-sided conception of things. The yoga of a fairly well-
developed ego is to try to raise his consciousness first into the
buddhic plane and then through its various stages. He does
this without reference to what the personality happens to
be doing at the time. Such an ego would probably also send
down a little of himself at the personal meditation, though
his own meditations are very different.
For the development of the powers of the soul, thought-con
trol is an essential pre-requisite. When the thought is con
trolled and the will is strong a good deal may be achieved
in various directions. Much help may be given both to the
living and to the dead, and those who are sick or sorrowful
may be greatly helped and strengthened. It is well for each
member to make it a daily practice to devote a certain time
to the sending out of such thoughts to people who are personally
known to him — in addition, I raean, to the ordinary meditation
which he undertakes for the sake of his own development.
The same thing can be done to some extent in group medita
tion; the thoughts of all may be concentrated for a few min
utes upon some one who is known to be in trouble or suffering,
and a determined effort made to send strength and consolation.
The sarae power used in a different way will often cure physical
diseases. As to the developraent of astral sight and hearing, one
hardly regards that as an end in itself, but rather as a means
to an end. It seems best to utilize to the utmost all the powers
that we already possess, and wait for these others to unfold
themselves as the result of study and unselfish work. Such
powers are undoubtedly a help, though they may be a danger
if they come before the character is fully developed. For any
one who wishes to hasten their unfoldment I should recommend

162 THE INNER LIFE
the process which I describe in the last chapter of The- Other
Side of Death.
Where a house is large enough to permit it, it is a good
idea to set apart a room especially for meditation. I see no
harm in holding group-meetings in such a room if the group
be earnest and harmonious, but not if there is to be anything
of the nature of discussion or wrangling. If you are trying
experiments with mediums of any sort I should advise the
use of some other room. You ask whether you should enter
such a room when you feel worried; don't be worried, don't
even admit the possibility of being worried. I advise you not
to make a thought-form, "I am worried, therefore I must not
enter," rather to take exactly the opposite line, "I am about
to enter, therefore I am no longer worried." You will find
that much more effective.

^axxriii M^ciian

^ffe ^r^ifer planes

FOUTH SECTIOI^

NIRVANA
It has often been said that in the final consummation all in
dividual souls merge into the Great Soul, and our students
soraetiraes find it difficult to reconcile this with other state
ments which seera to iraply that the individuality is main
tained, in some form or other, even up to the very greatest
heights. The fact is that no experience which we can have,
and no ideas which we can formulate down here in our physical
brain, will at all express the glorious realities of nirvana and
the planes beyond it. We know so little of that transcendent
glory, and what little we do know can never be put into ade
quate words. Perhaps, however, it is in a certain sense some
what misleading to speak of individual souls as merging into
the Great Soul. Every monad is fundamentally a spark of the
divine triad; he cannot merge into that of which he is already
a part. Surely a better explanation of what happens would
be to say that as he evolves the spark develops into flame;
he becomes more and more conscious of his unity with the
divine, and so the LOGOS is able more and more to manifest
Himself through him.
This much at least I can say, that up to the highest level
of consciousness which any of our students have yet attained
— up even to what is commonly called nirvana itself, there
is no loss of individuality, of the power to think, to plan and
to act. Long before that there is an entire loss of the sense

166 THE INNER LIFE
of separateness, but that is a very different thing. Sir Edwin
Arnold wrote of that beatific condition that "the dewdrop slips
into the shining sea." Those who have passed through that
most marvellous of experiences know that, parado'xical as it
may seem, the sensation is exactly the reverse, and that a far
closer description would be that the ocean had somehow been
poured into the drop!
That consciousness, wide as the sea, with "its centre every
where and its circumference nowhere" is a great and glorious
fact; but when a man attains it, it seems to him that his con
sciousness has widened to take in all that, not that he is merged
into something else. And he is right, for that which he had
ignorantly supposed to be his consciousness was never his at
all, but only the shining of the divine power and wisdom and
love through hira, and he is now at last beginning to realize
that stupendous fact. The truth is that what is commonly
understood by individuality is a delusion and has never ex
isted, but all that is best and noblest in that conception is
maintained up to adeptship and far beyond, even into the
realm of the great Planetary Spirits, for They are assuredly
individuals, though mighty beyond our feeble powers of con
ception. Even though the attempt be foredoomed to failure, let me
endeavour to give some slight idea of an experience which some
of us once had in connection with this lofty plane. Before
we ourselves by our own efforts were able to touch it, a Mas
ter, for certain purposes of His own, enfolded us in His higher
aura, and enabled us through Him to know something of the
glories of nirvana.
Try to imagine the whole universe filled with and consist
ing ^ of an immense torrent of living light, and in it a vivid
ness of life and an intensity of bliss altogether beyond all de
scription, a hundred thousand times beyond the greatest bliss
of heaven. At first we feel nothing but the bliss; we see
nothing but the intensity of the light; but gradually we begin
to realize that even in this dazzling brightness there are brighter
spots — nuclei, as it were — which are built of the light be
cause there is nothing but the light, and yet through them
somehow the light gleams out more brightly, and obtains a
new quality which enables it to be perceptible upon other and
lower planes, which without this would be altogether beneath
the possibility of sensing its effulgence. And by degrees we

NIRVANA 167
begin to realize that these subsidary suns are the Great Ones,
that these are Planetary Spirits, Great Angels, Karmic Deities,
Buddhas, Christs and Masters, and that through Them the
light and the life are fiowing down to the lower planes. Grad
ually, little by little, as we becorae more accustomed to the
stupendous reality, we begin to see that, in a far lower sense,
even we ourselves are a focus in that cosmic scheme, and that
through us also, at our much lower level, the light and the
life are flowing to those who are still further away — not from
it, for we are all part of it and there is nothing else any
where — but further from the realization of it, the comprehen-
tion of it, the experience of it.
If we can see and grasp even a little of the glory, we can
to some extent reflect it to others who are less fortunate. That
light shines for every one, and it is the only reality; yet men
by their ignorance and by their foolish actions may so shut
themselves away that they cannot see it, just, as the sun
fioods the whole world with light and life, and yet men may
hide themselves in caves and cellars where that light cannot
be seen. Just as a mirror properly placed at the mouth of
such a cave or cellar may enable those within to participate,
at least to some extent, in the benefits of the light, so may
we, when we see the light, refiect it to others who have so
placed themselves that they cannot perceive it directly.
No words that we can use can really give even the least idea
of such an experience as that, for all with which our minds
are acquainted has long ago disappeared before that level is
atttained. There is of course at that level a sheath of some
sort for the spirit, but it is impossible to describe it in any
words. In one sense it seeras as though it were an atom,
and yet in another it seems to be the whole plane. Each man
is a centre of consciousness and therefore must have sorae posi
tion; that focus in the stream of the life of the LOGOS must,
one would say, be in one place or another. Yet he feels as if
he were the whole plane and could focus anywhere, and
wherever for the moment the outpouring of this force stops,
that is for him a sheath. The man still feels absolutely
himself, even though he is so much more; and he is able to
distinguish others. He is able to recognize with perfect cer
tainty the Great Ones whom he knows, yet it is rather by
instinctive feeling than by any resemblance to anything that
he has seen before; but if he focusses his consciousness upon

168 THE INNER LIFE
one of These he gets the effect of the form of the man as he
knows it in the Augoeides, two planes below.

THE TRIPLE SPIRIT
The Monads are clearly all centres of force in the Logos,
and yet each possesses a very distinct individuality of his
own. In the average man the monad is but little in touch with
the ego and the lower personality, which are yet somehow ex
pressions of him. He knows from the first what is his object
in evolution and he grasps the general trend of it, but until
that portion of hira which expresses itself in the ego has
reached a fairly high stage, he is scarcely conscious of the
details of life down here, or at any rate takes little interest in
them. He seems at that stage not to know other monads, but
rests in indescribable bliss without any active consciousness
of surroundings. As evolution progresses, however, he grasps
matters on the lower plane much more fully, and finally
takes them entirely into his own hands, and at that stage he
knows both himself and others, and his voice '^within us be
coraes for us the Voice of the Silence. That voice differs for
us at different stages. For us now in this lower consciousness
it is the voice of the ego; when we identify ourselves with the
ego it is the voice of the spirit; when we reach the spirit it is
the voice of the monad, and when in the far-away future
we identify ourselves wholly with the monad it will be the
voice of the Logos; but in every case we have to subject the
lower and rise above it, before the voice of the higher can be
heard. This monad resides perraanently upon the second of our
planes, and when he descends upon the third, the plane of
nirvana, he manifests himself as the triple spirit, and
this triple spirit is a reflection or (even more truly)
an expression of the Logos as He manifests Himself
in our set of planes. His flrst manifestation on our
highest plane is also triple. In the first of these three
aspects He does not manifest Himself on any plane below the
highest, but in the second He descends to the second plane and
draws round Himself a garment of its matter, thus making

THE TRIPPLE SPIRIT 169
a quite separate expression of Him. ^n the third aspect He
descends to the upper portion of the third plane, and draws
round Himself, matter of that level, thus making a third mani
festation. These three are the "three persons in one God," of
which Christianity teaches, telling us in its Athanasian creed
that we should worship "One God in Trinity and Trinity in
Unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the sub
stance" — that is to say, never confusing in our rainds the
work and function of the three separate manifestations, each
on its own plane, yet never for a moment forgetting the eter
nal unity of the "substance," that which lives behind all alike
on the highest plane, at the level where these three are one.
Now an exact repetition of this process takes place in the
case of man, who is in very truth made in the image of God.
The spirit is triple upon the third plane, and the first of its
three manifestations does not descend below that level. The
second manifestation descends one stage, on to the fourth
plane, and, clothes itself with its matter, and then we call it
buddhi. Just as before, the third aspect descends two planes,
and shrines itself in matter of the highest level of the mental
plane, and we call that manas, and this trinity of atma-
buddhi-manas, manifesting in the causal body, is what we
call the ego.
Never forget that the ego is not the manas only, but the
spiritual triad; at our present stage of evolution he rests in
his causal body on the higher levels of the mental plane, but
as he passes onwards his consciousness will be centred on the
buddhic plane, and afterwards, when he attains adeptship,
on the nirvanic. But it must not be supposed that when this
further development takes place the manas is in any way lost.
When the ego draws himself up into the buddhic plane, he
draws up manas with him into that expression of manas which
has all the time existed on the buddhic plane, but has not
been fully vivified until now. In the same way when he draws
hiraself up into the nirvanic plane, manas and buddhi exist
within him just as fully as ever, so that now the triple spirit
is in full manifestation on its own plane in aU its three
aspects. Therefore the spirit is truly seven-fold, for he is
triple on his own plane, dual on the buddhic, and single on the
mental, and the unity which is his synthesis makes seven.
Though he draws back into the higher he retains the definite
ness of the lower.

170 THE INNER LIFE
This is probably what Madame Blavatsky meant when she
spoke of the auric egg, but she surrounded this idea with
great mystery, and it seems likely that she was under some
pledge not to write freely about it. She never clearly explained
the triple spirit, but evidently endeavored to suggest the idea
without clearly expressing it, for she laid great stress upon
the fact that, just as the astral plane may be said to be a re
flection of the buddhic, so may the physical be said to be a
reflection of the nirvanic, and then she furthermore empha
sized the fact that there are three bodies or vehicles of man
on the physical plane — apparently going out of her way to
make this agree, and for that purpose dividing the physical
body of man into two parts, the dense and the etheric, and
adding as a third principle the vitality which flows through
thera. Now as this vitality exists on. all the planes, and raight
just as well be made into additional principles on the astral
and mental planes as on the physical, it would seem that some
reason is required for her rather peculiar arrangement, and
perhaps this reason may be found in her desire to indicate
the triple spirit without actually mentioning it. I think the
President has said that when Madame Blavatsky spoke about the
sacred auric egg she raeant the four permanent atoms within
an envelope of matter of the nirvanic plane.

BUDDHIC CONSCIOUSNESS
A selflsh man could not function on the buddhic plane, for
the very essence of that plane is sympathy and perfect compre
hension, which excludes selflshness. A man cannot make a
buddhic body until he has conquered the lower planes. There
is a close connection between the astral and the buddhic, the
former being in some ways a refiection of the latter; but
it must not therefore be supposed that a man can leap from
the astral consciousness to the buddhic without developing the
intervening vehicles.
Certainly on the highest levels of the buddhic plane a man
becomes one with all others, but we must not therefore assume
that he feels alike towards all. There is no reason to suppose
that we shall ever feel absolutely alike towards everybody;

EXPERIENCE 171
why should .we? Even the Lord Buddha had His favorite
disciple Ananda; even the Christ regarded Saint John the
Beloved in a different way frora the rest. What is true is
that presently we shall come to love every one as rauch as
we now love our nearest and dearest, but by that tirae we shall
have developed for those nearest and dearest a type of love
of which we have no conception now. The buddhic conscious
ness includes that of many others, so that you may put your
self down into another raan and feel exactly as he does, look
ing upon him from within instead of from without. In that
relation you will feel no shrinking even from an evil man, be
cause you will recognize him as a part of yourself — a weak
part. You will desire to help him by pouring strength into
that weak part of yourself. What is required is really to be
in this attitude and to do it, not merely to talk about it or
think vaguely of it; and it is not easy to acquire this power.

EXPERIENCE.
It is not necessary for every ego to go through every expe
rience, for when you rise to the buddhic level you can gain
the experience of others, even of those who have opposed prog
ress. We shall feel by sympathy. We could withdraw if we
did not want' to feel another's suffering; but we should choose
to feel it because we want to help. On the buddhic plane we
enfold the man in our own consciousness, and though he knows
nothing of such enfoldment it will to a certain extent lessen
his sufferings. In all probability we have all had most of the
experiences of the savage and half -civilized stages. An adept
would necessarily wish to remove or relieve suffering, but We
may easily imagine a case in which he would see that the good
which was being produced by the suffering so enormously out
weighed the present pain that to interfere would not be Mild
ness but cruelty to the sufferer. He would see the whole,
not only the part. His sympathy would be deeper than ours,,
but he would not express it in action except when action was
useful.

172 THE INNER LIFE

THE SPHERES
In any diagram which represents the various planes we
usually draw them as lying one above the other like the shelves
of a book-case. But then in explaining that diagram we are
careful to say that this must not be taken literally, since all
the planes interpenetrate and all of them are about us here
all the time. That is perfectly true, and yet there is a sense
in which the shelf-like arrangement is true also. We may
perhaps draw an analogy from the condition of affairs which
we find existing upon the surface of the physical earth. We
may take the solid matter for all practical purposes as exist
ing only under our feet, as the lowest stratum of physical
matter, though of course it is true that countless millions of
particles of solid matter are also fioating in the air over our
heads. We may say that, roughly speaking, the liquid matter of the
earth (chiefiy water) lies upon the surface of the solid matter,
though again it is true that a large amount of water interpene
trates the earth beneath us, and also that millions of tons
of water are raised above the surface of the earth in the
form of clouds. StiU, the great bulk of the liquid matter of
the earth lies on, the top of its solid matter in the form of the
ocean, lakes and rivers. Then the gaseous matter . of our
earth, (chiefly the atmosphere) lies upon the surface *6f the
water and of the solid earth, and extends much further away
into space than either the liquid or the solid.
All three conditions of matter exist here at the surface of
the earth where we live, but the water in the form of clouds
extends, further above that surface than does ordinary dust,
and again the air, though interpenetrating both the others,
extends much further away still. This is by no means a bad
analogy to explain the arrangement of the matter of the higher
planes. What we call our astral plane may also be considered as the
astral body of the earth. It certainly exists all round us, and
interpenetrates the solid earth beneath our feet, but it also
extends far away above our heads, so that we may think of it
as a huge ball of astral matter with the physical earth in the
middle of it, much as the physical body of a man exists

THE SPHERES 173
within the ovoid form which is filled with astral matter, ex
cept that in the cage of the earth the proportionate size of its
astral body outside the physical is enormously greater than
in the case of man. But just as in the case of the man the
densest aggregation of astral matter is that which is within
the periphery of the physical body, so in the case of the earth
by far the greater part of its astral matter is gathered to
gether within the limit of the physical sphere.
Nevertheless the portion of the astral sphere which is ex
terior to the physical extends nearly to the mean distance of
the moon's orbit, so that the astral planes of the two worlds
touch one another when the moon is in perigee, but do not
touch when the moon is in apogee. Incidentally it follows
that at certain times of the month astral comrauncation with
the moon is possible, and at certain other tiraes it is not.
The mental plane of our earth bears about the same pro
portion to the astral as the latter does to the physical. It also
is a huge globe, concentric with the other two, interpenetrating
them both, but extending much further from the centre than
does the astral globe. It will be seen that the effect of this is.
that, while matter of all the planes exists together down here,
there is a certain araount of truth in the illustration of the
shelves, for beyond the limit of the physical atmosphere there
is a considerable shell which consists only of astral and mental
matter, and outside of that again another similar shell which
consists of mental matter only.
When we reach the buddhic plane the extension becomes
so great that what we might call the buddhic bodies of the
different planets of our chain meet one another, and so there
is but one buddhic body for the whole chain, which means that
in the buddhic vehicle it is possible to pass from one of these
planets to another. I presume that when investigations in
a similar way are extended to the nirvanic plane it will be
found that that matter extends so much further that other
chains are included in it as well — perhaps the entire solar
system. All this is true as far as it goes, and yet it does not convey
a really accurate idea of the true position of affairs, because
of the fact that our minds can grasp only three dimensions,
whereas in reality there are many more, and as we raise our
consciousness from plane to plane, each step opens before us
the possibility of comprehending one more of these dimensions.

174 THE INNER LIFE
This makes it difficult to describe exactly the position of those
who have passed away from the physical life to other planes.
Some of such people tend to hover round their earthly homes,
in order to keep in touch with their friends of the physical
life and the places which they know; others, on the other hand,
have a tendency to float away and to flnd for themselves, as if
by speciflc gravity, a level much further removed from the
surface of the earth.
The average person passing into the heaven-life, for exam
ple, tends to float' at a considerable distance above the sur
face of the earth, although on the other hand some of such
men are drawn to our level. Still, broadly speaking, the
inhabitants of the heaven-world may be thought of as living
in a sphere or ring or zone round the earth. What Spiritual
ists call the summer-land extends many miles above our heads,
and as people of the same race and the same religion tend to
keep together after death just as they do during life, we have
what may be described as a kind of network of summer-lands
over the countries to which belong the people who have created
them. People flnd their own level on the astral plane, much in the
same way as objects floating in the ocean do. This does not
mean that they cannot rise and fall at will, but that if no
special effort is made they come to their level and remain
there. Astral matter gravitates towards the centre of the earth
just as physical matter does; both obey the same general laws.
We may take it that the sixth sub-plane of the astral is par
tially coincident with the surface of the earth, while the lowest
or seventh penetrates some distance into the interior.
The conditions of the interior of our earth are not easy to
describe. Vast cavities exist in it, and there are races in
habiting these cavities, but they are not of the same evolution
as ourselves. One of these evolutions, which is at a level
distinctly lower than any race now existing upon the surface
of the earth, is to some extent described in the seventeenth
life of Alcyone, published recently in The Theosophist; the
other is more nearly at our level, yet utterly different from any
thing that we know.
As the centre of the earth is approached, matter is found
to exist in a state not readily comprehensible to those who
have not seen it; a state in which it is far denser than the
densest metal known to us, and yet flows as readily as water.

THE SPHERES 175
But yet there is something else within even that. Such matter
is far too dense for any forms of life that we know, but never
theless it has connected with it an evolution of its own.
The tremendous pressures which exist here are utilized by the
Third Logos for the manufacture of new elements; in fact, the
central portions of the earth may with great truth be regarded
as His laboratory, for temperatures and pressures are ob
tainable there of which we on the surface have no conception.
It is there that, under His direction, troops of devas and nature-
spirits of a particular type combine and separate, arrange
and rearrange the ultimate physical atoms, working along the
wonderful double spiral which is symbolized in Sir William
Crookes' lemniscates. From this point also, incredible as it seems
to us, there is a direct connection with the heart of the sun,
so that elements made there appear in the centre of the earth
without passing through what we call the surface; but it is
useless to speak of this until the higher dimensions of space
are more generally understood. As in the case of the physi
cal, the densest astral matter is far too dense for the ordinary
forms of astral life; but that also has other forms of its
own which are quite unknown to students of the surface.
In investigating the interior of the earth we did not flnd
a central shaft running from pole to pole, such as has been
described by some mediums, nor did we flnd a number of con
centric spheres resting upon cushions of steam. At the same
time there are certain forces which do play through concen
tric layers, and it is not difficult to see what were the natural
phenomena which deceived those who, in perfect good faith,
made that statement.
There is unquestionably a force of etheric pressure just as
there is of atmospheric pressure, and it can be utilized by man
as soon as he can discover some material which is ether-proof.
The same pressure exists in the astral world. The most or
dinary example of this is what happens when a man leaves
his body in sleep or in death.
When the astral body is withdrawn from the physical, we
must not suppose that that physical body is left without an
astral counterpart. The pressure of the surrounding astral
matter — and that really means the action of the force of
gravitation on the astral plane — immediately forces other astral
matter into that astrally empty space, just as, if we create a
vortex and draw out the air from a room, other air flows in

176 THE INNER LIFE
instantly frora the surrounding atmosphere. But that astral
matter will correspond with curious accuracy to the physical
matter which it interpenetrates. Every variety of physical mat
ter attracts astral matter of corresponding density, so that
solid physical matter is interpenetrated by what we may call
solid astral matter — that is, matter of the lowest astral sub-
plane; whereas physical liquid is interpenetrated by matter
of the next astral sub-plane — astral liquid; while physical
gas in turn attracts its particular correspondence — ^matter of
the third astral sub-plane frorn the bottom, which might be
called astral gas.
Take the case of a glass of water; the tumbler (being solid
matter) is interpenetrated by astral matter of the lowest sub-
plane; the water in the tumbler (being liquid matter) is in
terpenetrated by astral matter of the second sub-plane, count
ing frora the bottom upwards; while the air which surrounds
both (being gaseous matter) is interpenetrated by astral matter
of the third sub-plane, counting from the bottom upwards.
We must also realize that just as all these things, the tum
bler, the water, and the air, are interpenetrated by physical
ether, so are their astral correspondences further interpene
trated by the variety of astral matter which corresponds to the
different types of ether. So when a man withdraws his astral
body from the physical there is an inrush of all three varieties
of astral matter, because man's physical body is composed of
solid, liquid and gaseous constituents. Of course there is ether
in the physical body as well, so there must also be astral matter
of the higher sub-planes to correspond to that.
The temporary astral counterpart formed during the absence
of the real astral body is thus an exact copy of it so far as
arrangement is concerned, but it has no real connection with
the physical body, and could never be used as a vehicle. It
is constructed of any astral matter of the required kind that
happens to be handy; it is merely a fortuitous concourse of
atoms, and when the true astral body returns it pushes out this
other astral matter without the slightest opposition. This is
one reason for the extreme care which ought to be exercised
as to the surroundings in which we sleep, for if those sur
roundings are evil, astral matter of the most objectionable
type may fill our physical bodies while we are away from them,
leaving behind it an influence which cannot but react horribly
upon the real raan when he returns. But the instant inrush

THE SPHERES 177
when the body is abandoned shows the existence of astral pres
sure. In the same way, when the man has finally left his physical
body at death, what he leaves is no longer a vehicle, but a
corpse — not in any true sense a body at all, but simply a col
lection of disintegrating material in the shape of a body.
Just as we can no longer call that truly a body,
so we cannot call the astral matter which interpenetrates
it truly a counterpart in the ordinary sense of the
word. Take an imperfect yet perhaps helpful analogy.
When the cylinder of an engine is full of steam, we raay re
gard the steam as the living force within the cylinder, which
makes the engine move. But when the engine is cold and at
rest, the cylinder is not necessarily empty; it may be filled
with air; yet that air is not its appropriate living force, though
it occupies the same position as did the steam.
Astral matter is never really solid at all — only relatively
solid. You know that the mediaeval alcheriiists always sym
bolized astral matter by water, and one of the reasons for that
was its fluidity and penetrability. It is true that the counter
part of any solid physical object is always matter of the lowest
astral sub-plane, which for convenience we often call astral
solid matter; but we must not therefore endow it with the
qualities with which we are familiar in solids on this plane.
The particles in that densest kind of astral matter are fur
ther apart relatively to their size than even gaseous particles;
so that it would be easier for two of the densest astral bodies
to pass through each other than it would be for the lightest
physical gas to diffuse itself in the air.
On the astral plane one has not the, sense of jumping over
a precipice, but simply of floating over it. If you are standing
upon the ground, part of your astral body interpenetrates the
ground under your feet; but through your astral body you
would not be conscious of this fact by anything correspond
ing to a sense of hardness, or by any difference in your power
of motion. Remember that upon the astral plane there is no
sense of touch that corresponds to ours upon the physical. One
never touches the surface of anything, so as to feel it hard
or soft, rough or smooth, hot or cold; but on coming into con
tact with the interpenetrating sub-stance one would be con
scious of a different rate of vibration, which might of course
be pleasant or unpleasant, stimulating or depressing. When

178 THE INNER LIFE
on awakening in the morning we remember anything corres
ponding to our ordinary sense of touch, it is only that in
bringing the remembrance through, the physical brain adopted
the means of expression to which we are accustomed.
Though the light of all planes comes from the sun, yet the
effect which it produces on the astral plane is entirely different
from that on the physical. In astral life there is a diffused
luminosity, not obviously coming from any special direction. All
astral matter is in itself luminous, and an astral body is not
like a painted sphere, but rather a sphere of living flre. It is
also transparent, and there are no shadows. It is never dark
in the astral world. The passing of a physical cloud between
us and the sun makes no difference whatever to the astral
plane, nor of course does the shadow of the earth which we
call night.
The invisible helper would not pass through a mountain, if
he thought of it as an obstacle; to learn that it is not an ob
stacle is precisely the object of one part of what is called "the
test of earth." There cannot be an accident on the astral plane
in our sense of the word, because the astral body, being, fluidic,
cannot be destroyed or permanently injured, as the physical
body can. An explosion on the astral plane might be tem
porarily as disastrous as an explosion of gunpowder on the
physical, but the astral fragments would quickly collect them
selves again.
People on the astral plane can and do pass through one
another constantly, and through flxed astral objects. Remember
that on the astral plane matter is so much more fluidic and
so much less densely aggregated. There never can be any
thing like what we mean by a collision, and under ordinary
circumstances two bodies which interpenetrate are not even .ip-
preciably affected. If, however, the interpenetration lasts for
some time, as it does, for example, when two persons sit side
by side through a service in a church or a performance in
a theatre, a considerable effect may be produced.
There are many currents which tend to carry about per
sons who are lacking in will, and even those who have will but
do not know how to use it. During physical life the matter of
our astral bodies is constantly in motion, while after death,
unless the will is exercised for the purpose of preventing it,
it is arranged in concentric shells with a crust of the coarsest
matter on the outside. If a man wishes to be of service on

THE SPHERES 179
the astral, this shelling must be prevented, for those whose
astral bodies have been thus re-arranged are confined to one
level. If the re-arrangement has already occurred, the first
thing that is done when a person is taken in hand is to break
up that condition and set him free on the whole of the astral
plane. For those who are acting as invisible helpers oh the
astral plkne there are no separate levels; it is all one.
In India the idea of service on the astral plane is not so
widely known as in the West; the idea of service to God for
the attainment of liberation is more prominent than that of
service to one's fellowmen. Atmospheric and climatic condi
tions make practically no difference to work on the astral and
mental planes. But being in a big city does raake a great
difference, oh account of the masses of thought-forms. Some
psychics require a temperature of about eighty degrees in order
to do their best work, while others do not work well except at
a lower temperature.
If necessary, occult work can be done anywhere, but some
places afford greater facilities than others. For example, Cali
fornia has a very dry climate with much electricity in the air,
which is favourable for the development of clairvoyance. Here
in Adyar there is no resistance to our thought-forms on ac
count of the environment, because we are all thinking more
or less along the same lines. But we must remember that there
may always be resistance on the part of the person to whon.i
we are sending thoughts, for some persons have for a whole
life-time built round themselves such shells of selfishness that
one cannot penetrate them even when one wishes to do them
good.

giitii ^ttiian

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FIFTH SECTIOIST

THE EGO AND THE PERSONALITY.
There are still many of our members who do not fully under
stand the problem of the higher and the lower self. Nor is
this wonderful; for we are repeatedly told that there is only
one consciousness, and yet we often clearly feel two, so it is
not remarkable that students should be uncertain as to the
real relation between these two, and should wonder whether
the ego is entirely dissociated from his physical body and
has an existence of his own among his fellows on his own
plane. This problem of the lower and higher self is an old one,
and it is undoubtedly difficult to realize that there is after all
only one consciousness, and that the apparent difference is
caused only by the limitations of the various vehicles. The
whole consciousness works on its own higher mental plane, but
in the case of the ordinary man only partially and vaguely
as yet. So far as it is active it is always on the side of good,
because it desires that which is favorable to its evolution as
a soul. It puts a portion of itself down into lower matter,
and that portion becomes so much ijnore keenly and vividly
conscious in that matter that . it thinks and acts as though
it were a separate being, forgetting its connection with that less
developed yet far wider self-consciousness above. So some
times it seems as though the fragment worked against the
whole; but the man who is instructed declines to be deluded,
and reaches back through the keen alert consciousness of the
fragment to the true consciousness behind, which is as yet so
little developed.

184 THE INNER LIFE
Undoubtedly the ego is only very partially expressed by his
physical body, yet we should not be accurate in speaking of
him as dissociated from that body. If we figure the ego as a
solid body and the physical plane as a surface, the solid body
if laid upon that surface could manifest itself through that
surface only as a plane figure, which would obviously be an
exceedingly partial expression. We can see also that if the
various sides of the solid were laid upon the surface successively
we raight obtain expressions which differed considerably, though
all of them would be imperfect, because in all cases the solid
would have an extension in an entirely different direction, which
could by no means be expressed in the two dimensions of the
superficies. We shall obtain a nearly accurate symbolism of
the facts as far as the ordinary man is concerned if we sup
pose the solid to be conscious only so far as it is in contact with
the surface, although the results gained through the manifes
tation of such consciousness would inhere in the solid as a
whole, and would be present in any later expression of it,
even though that might differ considerably from previous ex
pressions. It is only in the case of those already somewhat advanced
that we can speak of the ego as having a conscious existence
among his fellows on his own plane. From the moment that
he breaks off from his group-soul and commences his separate
existence, he is a conscious entity; but the consciousness is of
an exceedingly vague nature. The only physical sensation
which occasionally comes to some persons is at the moment of
awakening in the morning. There is a state intermediate be
tween sleeping and waking in which a man is blissfully con
scious that he exists, and yet is not conscious of any surround
ing objects, not capable of any moveraent. Indeed, he some
times knows that any movement would break the spell of hap
piness and bring him down into the ordinary waking world,
and so he endeavours to remain still as long as possible.
That condition — a consciousness of existence and of intense
bliss — closely resembles that of the ego of the average man
upon the higher mental plane. He is wholly centred there only
for the short time which intervenes between the end of one
life in the heaven-world and the commencement of his next de
scent into incarnation; and during that short period there
comes to him the fiash of retrospect and prospect — a glimpse
of what his last life has done for him, and of what his next

THE EGO AND THE PERSONALITY 185
life is intended to do. For many ages these glimpses are his
only moments of full awakening, and it is his desire for a
more perfect manifestation, his desire to feel himself more
thoroughly alive and active, which, drives him into the effort of
incarnation. It is not desire for life in the ordinary sense of
the word, but rather for that complete consciousness which in
volves the power to respond to all possible vibrations from the
surroundings on every plane, so that he raay attain the per
fection of sympathy.
When the ego is still undeveloped the forces of the higher
mental plane pass through him practically without affecting him,
as he cannot respond to more than a very few of these ex
tremely fine vibrations. It needs powerful and comparatively
coarse vibrations to affect hira at first, and these do not exist
upon his own plane, and for that reason he has to put himself
down to lower levels in order to find them. Therefore full con
sciousness comes to him at first only in the lowest and densest
of his vehicles, his attention being focussed for a long time
down in the physical plane; so that, although that plane is so
much lower than his own and offers so much less scope for
activity, in those early stages he feels himself rauch raore alive
when he is working there. As the consciousness increases and
widens its scope he gradually begins to" work raore and more
in matter one stage higher — that is, in astral matter.
At a much later stage, when he has attained to clear work
ing in astral matter, he begins to be able also to express him
self through the raatter of his raental body and the end of
his present effort is achieved when he works as fully and clearly
in the matter of the causal body on the higher mental plane
as he does now on the physical plane.
These stages of full development of consciousness must not
be confounded with the mere learning to use to some extent the
respective vehicles. A man is using his astral body whenever
he expresses an emotion; he is using his raental body whenever
he thinks. But that is very far from his being able to utilize
either of thera as independent vehicles through which con
sciousness can be fully, expressed. When a man is fully con
scious in his astral body, he has already made a considerable
amount of progress; when he has bridged over the chasm be
tween the astral consciousness and the physical, day and night
no longer exist for him, since he leads a life unbroken in its
continuity. For him death also has ceased to exist, since he

186 THE INNER LIFE
carries that unbroken consciousness not only through night and
day, but also through the portals of death itself and up to
the end of his life upon the astral plane.
One step of further development lies open to him — ^the con
sciousness of the heaven- world; and then his life and memory
are continuous during the whole of each descent into incar
nation. Yet one step more raises the full consciousness to the
level of the ego on the higher mental plane, and after that hs
has always with him the memory of all his lives, and he is
capable of consciously directing the various lower manifesta
tions of himself at all points of his progress.
It must not be supposed that the development of any of these
stages of consciousness is ever sudden. The actual rend
ing of the veil between two stages is usually a fairly rapid
process, sometimes even instantaneous. A man who has nor
mally no meraory of what happens on the astral plane may
unintentionally, by some accident or illness, or intentionally by
certain definite practices, bridge over the interval and make
the connection, so that from that time onward his astral con
sciousness will be continuous, and his memory of what hap
pens while the physical body is asleep will therefore be per
fect. But long before such an effort or accident is possible
for him the full consciousness must have been working in the
astral body, even though in the physical life he knew nothing
of it.
In exactly the same way a man must have been for a long
time thoroughly practised in the use of his mental body as a
vehicle before he can hope to break the barrier between that and
the astral, so that he can have the pleasure of continuous recol
lection. By analogy this leads us to see that the ego must
have been fully conscious and active on his own plane for a
long time before any knowledge of that existence can come
through to us in our physical life.
There are many in whom the ego has already to some extent
awakened from the condition of mere bliss which was described
above, and is at least partially conscious of his own surround
ings, and therefore of other egos. Prom that time on he leads
a life and has interests and activities on his own plane; but
even then we must remember that he puts down into the per
sonality only a very sraall part of himself, and that that part
constantly becomes entangled in interests which, because they
are so partial, are often along different lines from the gen-

THE EGO AND THE PERSONALITY 187
eral activities of the ego himself, who consequently does not
pay any particular attention to the lower life of the personality,
unless something rather unusual happens to it.
When this stage is reached he usually comes under the influ
ence of a Master; indeed often his first clear consciousness of
anything outside himself is his touch with that Master. The
tremendous power of the Master's influence magnetises him,
draws his vibrations into harmony with its own, and multiplies
manyfold the rate of his development. It rays upon him like
sunshine upon a flower, and he evolves rapidly under its in
fluence. This is why, while the earlier stages of progress are
so slow as to be almost imperceptible, when the Master turns
His attention upon the man, developes him and arouses his
own will to take part in the work, the speed of his advancement
increases in geometrical progression.
Of that stream of divine influence poured upon the ego by
the Master, the amount which can be passed on to the per
sonality depends upon the connection between it and the ego,
which is very different in different cases. There is almost
inflnite variety in human life. The spiritual force rays upon
the ego, and some little of it certainly comes through into the
personality, because though the ego has put forth a part of
himself he does not cut himself off entirely from it, notwith
standing the fact that in the case of all ordinary people the ego
and the personality are very different things.
The ego in ordinary men has not much grasp of the per
sonality, nor a clear conception of his purpose in sending it
forth; and, again, the small piece which meets us in the per
sonality grows to have ways' and opinions of its own. It is
developing by the experience which is gains, and this is passed
on to the ego; but along with this real development it usually
gathers a good deal which is hardly worthy of that name.
It acquires knowledge, but also prejudices, which are not really
knowledge at all. It does not become quite free from these
prejudices — not only of knowledge (or rather its absence) but
of feeling and action as well — until the man reaches adeptship.
It gradually discovers these things to be prejudices, and pro
gresses through them; but it has always a great deal of limita
tion from which the ego is entirely free.
As to the amount of the spiritual force which is
passed to the. personality, one can only decide in a
particular case by using clairvoyance. But something of

188 THE INNER LIFE
it must fiow through always, because the lower is attached to
the higher, just as the hand is attached to the body by the
arm. It is certain that the personality must get something;
but it can have only what it has made itself able to receive.
It is also a question of qualities. The Master often plays upon
qualities in the ego which are much obscured in the personality,
and in that case of course very little comes down. As only
those experiences of the personality can be handed on to the
spiritual or permanent ego which are compatible with his na
ture and interests, so only those impulses to which it is able
to respond can express themselves in the personality. Re
member, though, that the former tends to exclude the bad
and the latter the good — or rather we should call them the
material and the spiritual, for nothing is bad.
One may sometimes see by clairvoyance many of these in
fluences at work. On a certain day, for example, we may see
a characteristic of the personality much intensified, with no
outward reason. The cause is often to be found in what is
taking place at some higher level — the stimulation of that
quality in the ego. Soraetiraes a man finds himself overflow
ing with affection or devotion, and quite unable on the physical
plane to understand why. The cause is usually, again, the
stimulation of the ego, or it may be that the ego is taking
some special interest in the personality for the time being.
In meditation we sometimes draw such attention on the part
of the ego, though it is well to keep in mind that we must try
to reach up to join that higher activity, rather than to inter
rupt it to draw down its attention to the lower. The higher
influence is certainly invited by right meditation, which is
always effective, even though on the physical plane things may
seem to be very dull and quite without zest. The reaching
upwards of the ego himself often means his neglect to send
energy down to the personality, and this, of course, leaves the
latter feeling rather dull and in the shade. The extent, then,
to which the personality is influenced by the effort of the
Master depends upon two things principally — the strength of
the connection at the time between the ego and the per
sonality; and the particular work which the Master is doing
upon the ego, that is, the particular qualities upon which
He is playing.
Meditation and the study of spiritual subjects in this
earthly life make a very great difference in the life of the

THE EGO AND THE PERSONALITY 189
ego. The ordinary person who has not taken up spiritual
matters seriously has only a thread of connection between the
higher and the lower self. The personality in his case seems
to be all, and the ego, though he undoubtedly exists on his
own plane, is not at all likely to be doing anything actively
there. He is very much like a chicken which is growing inside
an egg. But in the case of sorae of us who have been making
efforts in the right direction, we may hope that the ego is
becoming quite vividly conscious. He has broken through
his sheU, and is living a life of great activity and power.
As we go on, we shall become able to unify our personal con
sciousness with the life of the ego, as far as that is possible,
and then we shall have only the one consciousness; even down
here we shall have the consciousness of the ego, who will
know all that is going on. But with raany people at the present
day there is often considerable opposition between the per
sonality and the ego.
There are other things to be taken into account. It is by
no means always accurate to judge the ego by his manifesta
tion in the personality. An ego of intensely practical type
may make much more show on the physical plane than another
of far higher development, if the energy of the latter happens
to be concentrated almost exclusively upon the causal or buddhic
levels. Therefore people who see only on the physical plane
are frequently entirely wrong in their estimation of the rela
tive position of others.
If you have to deal with a fairly advanced ego, you will
sometimes find him rather inconsiderate of his body. You see,
whatever is put down into the personality is so much taken
from him! I have again and again seen cases in which the
ego was to some extent impatient and withdrew into himself
somewhat; but on the other hand in cases such as these there
is always a fiow between the ego and the personality, which is
not possible with the ordinary man. In the ordinary man the
part is, as it were, put down and left, though not of course
quite cut off; but at this more advanced stage there is a con
stant comraunication between the two along the channel. There
fore, the ego can withdraw a great deal of himself whenever
he chooses, and leave a very poor representation of the real
man behind. So the relation between the lower and the higher
self vary much in different people and at different stages of
development.

190 THE INNER LIFE
As to the work of the ego, he may be learning things on
his own plane; or he may be helping other egos — there are
many kinds of work for which he may need an accession of
strength. And then he may forget for a time to pay his per
sonality proper attention, just as even a good man may occa
sionally, under some special pressure of business, forget his
horse or his dog. Sometimes when that happens the person
ality reminds him of its existence by blundering into some
foolishness which causes serious suffering. You may have
noticed that sometimes, after you have completed a special
piece of work that has needed the co-operation of the ego to a
large extent — as, for example, lecturing to a large audience
— he takes away the energy and leaves the personality with
only enough to feel rather dispirited. For a time he admitted
that there was sorae importance in the work, and therefore
poured down a little more of himself, but afterwards he
leaves the poor personality feeling rather depressed.
Of course, depression comes much more often from other
reasons, such as the presence of an astral entity in a low-
spirited condition, or of some non-human beings. And joy
also is not always due to the influence of the ego, for the
fact is that the man does not think much about his own
feelings when he is in a flt condition to receive an influx of
power. Joy may be produced by the proximity of harmonious
nature-spirits, or in a variety of other ways. The channel
between the ego and personality is by no means always open.-
Sometimes it appears to be almost choked up — a condition
of affairs which is quite a possibility in view of its narrow
ness in most cases. Then the force may break through again
on some occasion, such as that of a conversion. But for many
of us there is a constant fiow in some measure. Meditation,
conscientiously done, opens the channel and keeps it open. Al
ways remember, though, that it is better to try to go up to
the ego than to bring it down to the personality.
Every ego has a certain knowledge of his own. He obtains
a glimpse, between lives, of his past and future; in the un
developed man this awakens the ego for a moment, after
which he falls asleep again. During physical life the ordinary
ego is to some extent capable of brooding watchfulness and
a little effort, but is still in a sleepy condition. With a de
veloped man the ego is fully awake. The ego in course of
time discovers that there are a good many things which he

THE EGO AND THE PERSONALITY 191
can do, and when this happens he raay rise into a condition in
which he has a deflnite life on his own plane, though in
many cases it is even then but dreamy. It is the ego's purpose
to learn to be fully active on all planes, even the physical.
Suppose you have an ego whose principal method of mani
festing himself is by affection. That quality is what he wants
exhibited by his personality, and if you down here try to feel
strong affection and make a speciality of that, the ego will
promptly throw more of himself down into the personality,
because he finds in it exactly what he desires. Be careful to
provide what he needs, and he will quickly take advantage
of it. Egos on their own plane can help other egos, when they
' are sufficiently developed to do so. The ego of the ordinary
person has rather a vegetable consciousness or life, and seems
to be only just aware of other egos. The personality will
not know what the ego does, unless they have been unified.
The ego may know the Master while the personality does not.
The study of inner things, and living the life, wakes up the
ego. Purely unselfish devotion belongs to the higher planes
and concerns him.
I do not think the experiences of the personality can be
transmitted to the ego, but the essence of them may. He
cares little for the details, but he wants the essence of it.
Any of those thoughts that we -consider evil are impossible
for the ego. For precise definition he must come down into
the physical body. He devotes himself raore especially during
the heaven-life to the assirailation of the experiences of the
personality, but he is doing it all the time. When you take
up the study of Theosophy, and live the life, you begin to
call the attention of the ego by sending up vibrations to which
he can respond. The ordinary man has in his life little that
appeals to the ego.
High unselfish affection and devotion belong to the highest
astral sub^-plane, and these reflect themselves in the corres
ponding matter of the mental plane, so that they touch the
causal, not the lower raental. Thus only unselfish thoughts
affect the ego. All the lower thoughts affect the permanent
atoms, but not the ego; and corresponding to them you would
find gaps in the causal body, not bad colors. Selfishness be-
loW shows in it as absence of affection or sympathy, and
when the good quality developes the gap will be filled up. In
the causal body you can see whether a man can possibly fail

192 THE INNER LIFE
in this or that quality. Try to develope the qualities the ego
wants, and he will come down to help.
As is said in Light on the Path, watch for the ego, and
let him flght through you, and yet at the sarae tirae never
forget that you are the ego. Therefore identify yourself
with hira and make the lower give way to you the higher.
Yet do not be too greatly disheartened if you should fall even
many times, for even failure is to a certain extent a success,
since we learn by it and so are wiser to meet the next
problem. We cannot always succeed now at every point,
though we surely shall do so ultimately. But never forget
that it is not expected of us that we shall always succeed, but
only that we shall do our best.

COUNTERPARTS.
When the ego descends into incarnation, he draws round him
self a mass of astral matter, not yet formed into a definite
astral body; this takes, in the first place, the shape of that
ovoid which is the nearest expression that we can realize of the
true shape of the causal body. But when the further step
downward and outward into physical incarnation is taken,
and a little physical body is formed in the midst of
that astral matter, it immediately begins to exert a
violent attraction over it, so that the great majority of the
astral raatter (which previously raay be thought of as fairly
evenly disturbed over the large oval) now becomes concen
trated into the periphery of that physical body.
As the physical body grows, the astral matter follows its
every change, and thus we find man presenting the spectacle
of an astral body, ninety-nine per cent of which is tompressed
within the periphery of his physical body, only about the
remaining one per cent filling the rest of the ovoid form. In
the plates in Man, Visible and Invisible we have sketched in
the outline of the physical body merely in pencil, so that it
shows but slightly, because my especial desire in that book
was to eraphasize the colors of the ovoid, and the way in
which they illustrate the development of man by the transfer
of vibrations from the lower bodies to the higher; but in

COUNTERPARTS 193
reality that astral counterpart of the physical body is very
solid and definite, and quite clearly distinguishable from the
surrounding ovoid.
Note, therefore, that the astral matter takes the exact form
of the physical matter merely because of the attraction which
the latter has for the former. But we must further realize
that although we may speak of the lowest sub-plane of the
astral as corresponding to solid physical matter, it is yet very
different in texture, for all astral matter bears to its corres
ponding physical matter something the sarae sort of relation
that the liquid bears to the solid. Therefore the particles of
the astral body, whether in the finest or coarsest parts of it,
are constantly in motion among themselves, just as are par
ticles of flowing water; and it will consequently be seen that
it is quite impossible for the astral body to possess specialized
organs in the same sense as does the physical body.
No doubt there is an exact counterpart in astral matter of
the rods and cones which make up the retina of the physical
eye; but the particles which at one moraent are occupying
that particular position in an astral body raay, a second or
two later, be raoving through the hand or the foot. One
does not, therefore, see upon the astral plane by means of
the astral counterpart of the physical eyes, nor does one hear
with the astral counterpart of the physical ears; indeed, it is
perhaps not exactly correct to apply the terras "seeing" and
"hearing" to astral methods of cognizance, since these terms
are commonly held to imply specialized sense-organs, whereas
the fact is that every particle in the astral body is capable
of receiving and transmitting vibrations from one of its own
type, but its own type only. Thus when one obtains a glimpse
of astral consciousness, one is surprised to flnd oneself able
to see on all sides siraultaneously, instead of only in front
as one does on the physical plane. The exact correspondence
of the astral body to the physical therefore is merely a mat
ter of external form, and does not at all involve any similarity
of function in the various organs.
But the attraction continued all through life sets up a kind
of habit or raoraentum in the astral raatter, which causes it
to retain the same form even while it is withdrawn tem
porarily from the attraction of the physical body at night and
perraanently after death; so that even through the long astral
life the lineaments of the physical body which was put aside

194 THE INNER LIFE
at death will still be preserved almost unchanged. Almost
— because we must not forget that thought has a powerful
influence upon astral matter and can readily mould it, so that
a man who habitually thinks of hiraself after death as younger
than he actually was at the time of that death will gradually
come to present a somewhat younger appearance.
A questioner asks, "If the arra of a man, the branch of a
tree, or the leg of a chair were cut^ off, would in each case
the astral counterpart also be removed, and can we, by
breaking, an astral counterpart, produce a fracture in a physi
cal object? That is to say, if with the hand of ray astral body
I break the astral counterpart of a chair, will the physical
chair also be broken?"
The three cases given are not quite analogous. Both the
tree and the raan have the life within them which makes the
astral body in each case a coherent whole. It is strongly
attracted by the particles of the physical body, and therefore
adapts itself to its shape, but if part of that physical body
be removed, the coherence of the living astral matter is stronger
than the attraction towards that severed portion of the physi
cal. Consequently the astral counterpart of the arm or branch
will not be carried away with the severed physical fragment.
Since it has acquired the habit of keeping that particular form,
it will continue for a short tirae to retain the original shape,
but will soon withdraw within the limits of the maimed form.
In the case of an inanimate body, such as a chair or a
basin, there would not be the same kind of individual life to
maintain cohesion. Consequently when the physical object was
broken the astral counterpart would also be divided; but it
would not be possible to break an astral counterpart, and in
that way to affect the physical object. In other words the act
of fraction must begin on the physical plane.
One could of course move a purely astral object by means
of an astral hand if one wished, but not the astral counter
part of a physical object. In order to perform this latter feat
it would be necessary to materialize a hand and move the
physical object, when the astral counterpart would of course
accompany- it. The astral counterpart is there because the
physical object is there, just as the scent of a rose flUs the
room because the rose is there. To suggest that by moving
the astral counterpart one could also move the physical object
is like suggesting that by raoving the smell one could move the
physical rose which causes the smell.

COUNTERPARTS 195
The astral body changes its particles as does the physical,
but fortunately the clumsy and tiresome process of cooking,
eating and digesting food is not a necessity on the astral
plane. The particles which fall away are replaced by others
from the surrounding atmosphere. The purfely physical crav
ings of hunger and thirst no longer exist there; but the de
sire of the glutton to gratify the sensation of taste, and the
desire of the drunkard for the exhilaration which follows, for
him, the absorption of alcohol — these are both astral, and there
fore they still persist, and cause great suffering because of
the absence of the physical body through which alone they
could be satisfied.
So far as we are at present aware the astral body does
not appear to be susceptible to fatigue.
The ordinary man while possessing a physical body nat
urally never has the opportunity of working for any length
of time consecutively upon the astral plane, for his nights of
astral work alternate with days of physical work. I knew,
however, of one case of a man who, having the right to take
a rapid reincarnation, had to wait upon the astral plane twenty-
five years for the special conditions which he required. He
spent the whole of this time in working for the help of others,
without any intermission except the occasional attendance at
classes held by pupils of our Masters; and he assured me that
he had never felt the slightest sense of fatigue — that in fact
he had forgotten what it meant to be tired.
We all know that excessive or long-continued emotion tires
us very quickly in ordinary life, and since emotion is an ex
pression of the astral, that may perhaps lead some to suppose
that fatigue of the astral body is possible. I think, however,
that it will be found that what is subject to fatigue is merely
the physical organism through which everything in us which
manifests on this plane must pass. What we call mental
fatigue is a parallel case. There is no such thing as fatigue
in the mind; what we call by that name is only fatigue of the
physical brain through which that raind has to express itself.
A spectator who has not been able to raise his sight above
the astral level will of course see only astral matter when
he looks at the aura of his fellow-men. He will see that
this astral matter not only surrounds the physical body but
also interpenetrates it, and that within the periphery of that
body it is much more densely aggregated than in that part of

196 THE INNER LIFE
the aura which lies outside. This is due to the attraction of
the large amount of dense astral matter which is gathered to
gether there as the counterpart of the cells of the physical body.
When during sleep the astral body is drawn from the physi
cal this arrangement still persists, and then any one looking at
the astral body with clairvoyant vision would still see, just
as before, a form resembling the physical body surrounded
by an aura. That form would now be composed only of astral
matter, but still the great difference in density between it and
its surrounding mist would be quite sufficient to make it clearly
distinguishable, even though it is itself only a form of denser
mist. There is a considerable difference in appearance between the
evolved and the unevolved man. Even in the case of the latter
the features and shape of the inner form are recognizable
always, though blurred and indistinct; but the surrounding
egg scarcely deserves the name, for it is in fact a mere shape
less wreath of mist, having neither regularity nor permanence
of outline.
Tn the raore developed man the change is very marked, both
in the aura and the forra within it. This latter is much more
distinct and definite — a closer reproduction of the man's physi
cal appearance; while instead of the floating mist- wreath we
see a sharply deflned ovoid form preserving its shape unaf
fected amidst all the varied currents which are always swirl
ing round it on the astral plane. Though the arrangeraent
of the astral body is largely changed after death by the action
of the desire-elemental, such alteration does not in any way
affect the recognizability of the forra within the egg, though
the natural changes which take place tend on the whole to
make the form grow somewhat fainter and more spiritual in
appearance as time passes on.

COLORS IN THE ASTRAL BODY.
Any comparatively permanent color in the astral body means
a persistent vibration, which in the course of time produces
its effect upon the mental body, and also upon the causal body,
so that the higher qualities developed by the life on the lower
planes are graduaUy built into the permanent causal body,

THE CAUSAL BODY 197
and so becorae qualities of the soul itself. The colors may be
mingled to any extent; for example, affection (rose) mingled
with religious devotion (blue) will give a lovely violet. It is
only the good thought or feeling which can produce an effect
in the causal body, and so be permanently stored up as part
of the man. Other kinds of thought and feeling remain in
the lower vehicles and are comparatively impermanent. The
size of a thought-form shows the strength of the emotion.

THE CAUSAL BODY.
No number of physical bodies could fully contain. the causal
body, any more than any number of lines can make a square,
or any number of squares a cube. The ego puts hiraself down
into his various bodies with the hope of gaining two things
— to make the causal body learn to respond to raore vibra
tions, and also to increase its size. Most people are not more
than just conscious in the causal body. The strings of such
egos cannot be played upon directly, but are affected frora below
by way of overtones. Most men can at present only work
on the matter of the third sub-plane of the mental (the low
est part of their causal bodies) , and indeed only the lower
matter even of that is usually in operation. When they are
on the Path, the second sub-plane opens up. The adept uses
the whole causal body while his consciousness is on the physical
plane. A rough and ready way of deciding at what stage a
man stands is to look at the causal body. It shows also how
he arrived there. Men develope unequally — we are all unde
veloped in some way. An animal has a minimum-sized causal
body as soon as he is individualized; then it has to be developed
both as to size and color.

198 THE INNER LIFE

THE DESIRE-ELEMENTAL
Much of the matter of the astral body is vivifled by ele
mental essence, which is cut off for the time being from the gen
eral mass which belongs to the plane, and becomes the man's
expression on that plane. This is a living, though not an in
telligent essence. But it has a kind of instinct which Mr.
Sinnett calls "dawning intelligence," which guides it into get
ting what it wants. Blindly and without reason, but instinc
tively, it seeks its ends, and shows great ingenuity in obtain
ing its desires and in furthering its evolution.
Evolution for it is a descent into matter; its aira is to be
come a mineral monad. Therefore, its object in life is to get
as near to the physical plane as it can, to come into contact
with as many of the vibrations of the coarser kind as possible.
It knows nothing of you; it could not know or imagine any
thing of you; but it does realize that it is apart from the
general stock, and that it is good to be apart. It is not a
devil, and you must not get the idea that it is to be hated.
It is part of the Divine Life, just as you are; but its in
terests are diametrically opposed to yours. It wants to evolve
downwards; you want to evolve upwards. It desires to pre
serve its separate life, and it feels that it can do so only
by means of its connection with you. It is conscious of a
something which is your lower mind, and realizes that if it can
englobe, as it were, this mind, and persuade you that its and
your interests are one, you will increasingly supply it with
the sensations it desires. When it gets the matter sufficiently
entangled to suit its purpose, you cannot then withdraw it,
the result being that some of this matter of the lov/er mind
is then lost to you altogether in the life after death.
So, you see, here is the desire-elemental seeking its own
ends; not knowing that it is injuring you by trying to entangle
your lower mind. The raore it can do this the better for
it, for the more mental matter it can entangle the longer will be
its astral life — that life still enduring even after you have
passed into the heaven-world. In Theosophical phraseology it
has been known as the shade. Your business is not to allow
yourself to be deceived; it understands nothing of your evolu
tion, and is not responsible for it; it simply tries to turn you

THE DESIRE-ELEMENTAL 199
to its own purpose. You ought to understand the situation, and
refuse to be drawn. Do let us realize this: that this ele
mental is not ourselves. It is never you who desire these
lower things, but this creature.
It is not so much that we have to make a great flght against
it, but we should shake ourselves free, saying: "This is not
I; I do not want this lower thing." Somebody wants it. Yes,
it is this elemental; and you are responsible for its likes and
wants, for in your last life you made it what it is. Not that
this particular collection of astral matter and elemental es
sence existed then; it did not, for it was newly gathered to
gether at your birth this tirae. But it is an exact reproduc
tion of the raatter in your astral body at the end of your
last astral life. Nevertheless it is not you; and you raust ever
bear this in mind all through life, and even more during the
life after death, for then it has still greater power to deceive
you. But you raay think that by thus refusing to allow it to in
fluence you, you are checking its evolution. Not at all. You
are doing better for the elemental if you control the lower
passions, and take a flrra stand of your own. It is true you
do not develope a very low part of it; but you raay drop the
lower and evolve the higher. An aniraal can supply the lower
kinds of vibrations even better than you can yourself, whereas
none but man can evolve the higher type of essence.
After the death of the physical body the ordinary raan, who
has never heard all this, finds himself when he wakes up on
the other side in a totally unexpected condition of affairs, and
is generally more or less disturbed thereby. Finally, he ac
cepts these conditions which he does not understand, think
ing them necessary and inevitable. Some no doubt are, but
sorae are not, and with knowledge the latter could be tran
scended. The elemental is afraid, because it knows that the death of
the physical body means that the terra of its separated Ufe is
limited; it knows that the man's astral death will raore or
less quickly follow, and with it the loss to it of vivid and in
tense sensations. Consequently it adopts the best plan it can
think of for the preservation of the raan's astral body. It evi
dently knows enough of astral physics to realize that the coarsest
raatter can hold together longest, and best stand friction. So
it arranges the matter in rings, the coarsest on the outside.

200 THE INNER LIFE
And in so doing it is right, from its point of view. During
physical life the astral body is like swirling, boiling water, but
after death it arranges the raatter in a series of graduated
sheaths, so that full circulation is impossible.
Now there are no sense organs in the astral body. There are
in it organs corresponding to the physical sense-organs, but
you do not see, hear and smell with them. You hear and see
all over the surface of the body. Each sub-plane has its own
raatter; and it is by raeans of the raatter of that sub-plane in
your body that you can respond to its vibrations. Whatever
matter is on the outside (or surface) of your body responds
to these vibrations, and you see or hear by it alone. Conse
quently, what has happened is this: the elemental has, by
this arrangement of the matter of ypur body, shut you up, as it
were, in a box of astral matter, which enables you to see and
hear things of the lowest and coarsest plane only. If you
object to being shut up in this way, it endeavours to make you
believe that unless you do thus firmly root yourself into the
lower matter you will fioat off, and lose yourself in a nebulous
vagueness. But if, on the other hand, you were to set your will to oppose
it, then at once there would be a difference. The particles of
the astral body would be kept all intermingled, as in life; and
you would, in consequence, be free of all the sub-planes.
The final struggle with it takes place at the conclusion of
the astral life, for then the ego endeavours to draw back into
himself all that he put down into incarnation at the beginning
of the life which has just closed — to recover as it were the
principal which he has invested, plus the interest of the ex
perience which has been gained and the qualities which have
been developed during that life. But when he attempts to do
this he is raet with determined opposition from this desire-
elemental, which he himself has created and fed.
Though it can hardly be described as inteUigent, it has a
strong instinct of self-preservation, which leads it to resist
with all the force at its command the extinction which threatens
it. In the case of all ordinary mortals it attains a certain
measure of success in its effrts, for much of the mental fac
ulty has during life been governed by the lower desires and
prostituted to their service, or in other words the lower mind
has been so seriously entangled by desire that it is impossible
for it to be entirely freed. The result of the struggle is there-

LOST SOULS 201
fore that sorae portion of the mental matter and even of
causal matter is retained in the astral body after the ego
has completely broken away from it. When a man has during
life completely conquered his lower desires and succeeded in
absolutely freeing the lower mind from desire, there is prac
tically no struggle, and the ego reclaims in full both principal
and interest; but there is unfortunately an opposite extreme
when he is able to reclaim neither.
So our business, both during life and after death, is to con
trol of this desire-elemental, and not let it control us. Realize
that you are a god in the making. All the power and force of
the universe are on your side. The result is certain. Range
yourself on the side of the Law, and all will be siinplified.
Absolute control of passions is eminently desirable, but is
obtained by few. You have to keep your temper on the astral
plane. You see many dreadful things, and if you have not
all feelings thoroughly under control you may easily do some
thing for which you will be sorry. Down here people often
commit casual brutality and think nothing of it; a callous school
master, for example, beats a child without realizing his wick
edness; but on the astral plane the heinousness of such a crime
is at once obvious, and even the awful horrors of the karraa
which it entails may often be seen. On the astral you see
the full effects of even an unkind word. Tremendous and
violent passions may often attract low kinds of beings, who
enter into the thought-forms and enjoy the vibrations. Such
aniraated thought-forras raay last for years, and even produce
poltergeist phenoraena.

LOST SOULS.
It is an unspeakable relief to be set free by the common-
sense of Theosophical teaching frora the awful nightmare of
the doctrine of eternal damnation which is still held by the
more ignorant among the Christians, who do not understand the
real meaning of certain phirases attributed in their gospels to
their Founder. But some of our students, fiUed with glad en
thusiasm by the glorious discovery that every unit must finally
attain perfection, find their joy somewhat damped by gruesome

202 THE INNER LIFE
hints that, after aU, there are conditions under which a soul
may be lost, and they begin to wonder whether the reign of
divine law is really universal, or whether there is not some
method by which raan can contrive to escape from the domin
ion of the Logos and destroy himself. Let such doubters take
comfort; the Will of the Logos is infinitely stronger than any
human will, and not even the utmost exertion of perverse in
genuity can possibly prevail against Him.
It is true that He aUows man to use his free-will, but only
within certain well-defined limits; if the man uses that wiU
well, those liraits are quickly widened, and more and more power
over his own destiny is given to him; but if he uses that will
for evil, he thereby increases his limitations, so that while his
power for good is practically unbounded, because it has in it
the potentiality of infinite growth, his power for evil is rigidly
restricted. And this not because of any inequality in the
incidence of the law, but because in the one case he exerts
his will in the same direction as that of the Logos, and so is
swimming with the evolutionary tide, while in the other he
is struggling against it.
The term "lost soul" is not well chosen, for it is alraost
Certain to be raisunderstood, and taken to iraply much more
than it really raeans. In every-day parlance, the word "soul"
is used with exasperating vagueness, but on the whole it is
generally supposed to denote the subtler and raore perma
nent part of man, so that to the man in the street to lose one's
soul means to lose oneself, to be lost altogether. That is
precisely what can never happen; therefore the expression is
misleading, and a clear statement of the facts which it some
what inaccurately labels may be of use to students. Of such
facts there seem to be three classes; let us consider them one
by one.
1. Those who will drop out of this evolution in the middle
of the fifth round. This dropping out is precisely the aeonian
(not eternal) condemnation of which the Christ spoke as a very
real danger for some of His unawakened hearers — the con-
deranation meaning merely the decision that they are incapable
as yet of the higher progress, but not implying blame except
in cases where opportunities have been neglected. Theosophy
teaches us that men are all brothers, but not that they are all
equal. There are immense differences between them; they have
entered the human evolution at various periods, so that some

LOST SOULS 203
are rauch older souls than others, and they stand at very dif
ferent levels on the ladder of development. The older souls
naturally learn much more rapidly than the younger, and so
the distance between thera steadily increases, and ' eventually a
point is reached where the conditions necessary for the one
type are entirely unsuitable for the other.
We raay obtain a useful working analogy by thinking of the
children in a class at school. The teacher of the class has a
year's work before him, to prepare his boys for a certain
examination. He parcels out the work — so much for the first
month, so much for the second, and so on, beginning of course
with what is easiest and leading gradually up to what is more
difficult. But the boys are of various ages and capacities;
some learn rapidly and are in advance of the average, while
some lag behind. New boys, too, are constantly coraing into
his class, some of them barely up to its level. When half the
years has run its course, he resolutely closes the list for admis
sions, and declines to receive any more new boys.
That took place for us at the middle point of this fourth
round, after which the door was shut for passage from the
animal kingdom into the human, save for a few exceptional
cases, which belong, as it were, to the future; just as you have
a few men attaining adeptship, who are not belated remnants
of the moon's adepts, but people in advance of the rest of hu
manity. In the same way there are a few animals at the
stage of individualization, which the generality are expected
to reach at the end of the seventh round. On the next planet
an arrangement will be made by which these exceptions will
have the opportunity of taking primitive human bodies.
A little later the teacher can already clearly foresee that sorae
of his boys will certainly pass the examination, that the chance
of others is doubtful, and that there are yet others who are sure
to fail. It would be quite reasonable if he should say to these
last: "We have now reached a stage when the further work of
this class is useless for you. You cannot possibly by any
effort attain the necessary standard in time for the examina
tion; the raore advanced teaching which raust now be given
to the others would be entirely unsuited for you, and as you
could not und^fand it you would be not only wasting your
own time hut mould be a hindrance to the rest of the class.
It wiU thererore be better for you at once to transfer your-

204 THE INNER LIFE
selves to the next class below this, perfect yourselves there in
the prelirainary lessons which you have not yet thoroughly
learned, and corae back to this level with next year's class,
when you will be sure to pass with credit."
That is exactly what will be done in the middle of the fifth
round. Those who cannot by any effort reach the prescribed
goal in the time which remains will be put back into a lower
class, and if the class-room doors are not yet open they will
wait in peace and happiness until the appointed time. They
may be described as lost to us, lost to this particular little
wave of evolution to which we belong; they are no longer "raen
of our year" as we say at College. But they will very certainly
be "raen of the next year" — even leading men in it, because of
the work that they have already done and the experience that
they have already had.
Most of these people fail because they are too young for the
class, although they were too old to be put in the first place
into the class below. They have had the advantage of going
through the first half of the year's work, and they will there
fore take it up again next time readily and easily, and will be
able to help their raore backward fellow-pupils who have not
had their advantages. For those who are too young for the
work there is no blame in failure.
But there is another large class who might succeed by de
termined effort, but fail for WE^nt of that effort. These ex
actly correspond to the boy who drops behind his class not
because he is too young, but because he is too lazy to do his
work. His fate is the same as that of the others, but it is
obvious that while they were blameless because they did their
best, he is blameworthy precisely because he did not do his;
so he will carry with him a legacy of evil karraa from which
they are free. It is to, men of that class that the Christ's ex
hortations were addressed — raen who had the opportunity and
ability to succeed, but were not making the necessary effort.
It is of these that Madame Blavatsky speaks in such vig
orous terms as "useless drones who refuse to become co-workers
with Nature, and who perish by millions during the man-
vantaric life-cycle." (Secret Doctrine, iii, 526.) But note that
this "perishing" is merely from this "raanvantaric life-cycle,"
and that it raeans for them delay only, and not total extinction.
Delay is the worst that can happen to people in the ordinary
course of evolution. Such a delay is undoubtedly most serious.

LOST SOULS 205
but, bad though it be, it is the best that can be done under
the circumstances. If either through youth, or through lazi
ness and perversity, these people have failed, it is clear that
they need more training, and this training they must have.
Obviously that is best for them, even though it means many
lives — lives, many of which may be dreary, and may even
contain much suffering. Still, they must go through to the end,
because that is the only way by which they can attain the
level which the more advanced races have already reached
through similar long-continued evolution.
It was with the object of saving as many people as possible
from that additional suffering that the Christ said to His dis
ciples: "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature; he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved,
but he that believeth not shall be damned." For baptism and its
corresponding rites in other religions are the sign of the dedica
tion of the life to the service of the Brotherhood, and the man
who is able to grasp the truth, and consequently sets his face
in the right direction, will certainly be among the "saved" or
"safe," who escape the condemnation in the fifth round; while
those who do not take the trouble to see the truth and follow
it will assuredly fall under that condemnation. But remeraber
always that the "damnation" means only rejection frora this
"aeon" or chain of worlds, a throwing back into the next of the
successive life-waves. "Lost soul^," if you will; lost to us,
perhaps, but not to the LOGOS ; so they would be better described
as teraporarily laid aside. Of course it must not be supposed
that the "belief" which saves thera is the knowledge of Theos
ophy; it does not raatter in the least what their religion is, so
long as they are aiming at the spiritual life, so long as they
have definitely ranged themselves on the side of good as against
evil, and are working unselfishly onward and upward.
2. Cases in which the personality has been so much empha
sized that the ego is almost shut out from it. Of these there
are two varieties — those who live only in their passions, and
those who live only in their minds; and as both types are by
no raeans uncoraraon it is worth while to try to understand
exactly what happens to them.
We often speak of the ego as putting himself down into
the matter of the lower planes, yet many students fail to
realize that this is not a mere figure of speech, but has a very
definite and very material side to it. The ego dwells in a

206 THE INNER LIFE
causal body, and when he takes upon himself in addition a
mental and an astral body, the operation involves the actual
entangling of a portion of the matter of his causal body with
matter of those lower astral and mental types. We may re
gard this "putting down" as a kind of investment made by
the ego. As in all investments, so in this; he hopes to get back
more than he puts out, but there is a risk of disappointment —
a possibility that he may lose something of what he invests, or
under very exceptional circumstances there may even be a
total loss which leaves him, not indeed absolutely bankrupt,
but without available capital.
Let us consider the elaboration of this analogy. The ego
possesses in his causal body matter of three levels — the first,
second and third sub-planes of the mental; but for the enormous
majority of mankind there is as yet no activity beyond the
lowest of these tlyee types, and even that is usually very par
tial. It is therefore only some of this lowest type of causal
raatter that can be put dpwn to lower levels, and only a sraall
fraction even of that part can be entangled with mental and
astral matter.
The ego's control over what is put down is very weak and im
perfect, because he is still half asleep. But as his physical
body grows up his astral and mental bodies are also developed,
and the causal matter entangled with them is awakened by
the vigorous vibrations which reach it through them. This
fraction of a fraction which is fully entangled gives life and
vigor and a sense of individuality, to these vehicles, and they
in turn react strongly upon it and arouse it to a keen realiza
tion of life. This keen realization of life is exactly what
it needs, the very object for which it is put down; and it is
the longing for this keen realization when it has it not which is
spoken of as trishna (the thirst for manifested life, the desire
to feel oneself really vividly alive) , the force which draws the
ego down again into reincarnation.
But just because this small fraction has had these experiences,
and is therefore so much raore awake than the rest of the ego,
it may often be so far intensified as to think itself the whole,
and forget for the time its relation to "its Father which is
in heaven." It may temporarily identify itself with the raat
ter through which it should be working, and may resist the
influence of that other portion which has been put down, but is
not entangled — that which forms the link with the great mass
of the ego on his own plane.

LOST SOULS 207
In order to understand this matter fully we must think of
that portion of the ego which is awakened on the third sub-
plane of the mental (remembering always bow small a frac
tion even that is of the whole) as itself divided into three
parts: (a) that which reraains on its own plane; (6) that
which is put down, but reraains unentangled in lower raat
ter; and (c) that which is thoroughly entangled with lower
matter and receives vibrations from it. These are arranged
in a descending scale, for just as (a) is a very sraall part of
the real ego, so (6) is but a small part of (a), and (c) in
turn a small part of (6). The second acts as a link between
the first and third; we raay symbolize (a) as the body, (6)
as the arra stretched out, and (c) as the hand which grasps,
or perhaps rather the tips of the fingers which are dipped into
matter. We have here a very delicately balanced arrangement, which
raay be affected in various ways. The intention is that the
hand (c) should grasp firmly and guide the matter with which
it is entangled, being fully directed all the time by the body
(a) through the arm (6). Under favourable circurastances ad
ditional strength, and even additional matter, may be poured
frora (a) through (6) into (c), so that the control may be
come more and more perfect, (c) may grow in size as well as
strength, and the more it does so the better, so long as the
communication through (6) is kept open freely and (a) re
tains control. For the very entanglement of the causal matter
which constitutes (c) awakens it to a keen activity and an
accuracy of response to fine shades of vibration which it could
gain in no other way, and this, when transmitted through
(6) to (a), means the development of the ego.
Unfortunately the course of events does not always fol
low the ideal plan of working above indicated. When the
control of (a) is feeble, it soraetiraes happens that (c) be
coraes so thoroughly immeshed in lower matter that (as I
have said) it actually identifies itself with it, forgets for the
time its high estate, and thinks of itself as the whole ego. If
the matter be of the lower mental plane, we shall then have
down here on the physical plane a man who is wholly material
istic. He may be keenly intellectual perhaps, but not spiritual;
he may very likely be intolerant of spirituality and quite un
able to comprehend or appreciate it. He may probably call
himself practical, matter-of-fact, unsentimental, while in reality

208 THE INNER LIFE
he is hard as the nether millstone, and because of that hard
ness his life is a failure, and he is making no progress.
If the raatter in which he is so fatally entangled be astral,
he will be (on the physical plane) one who thinks only of his
own gratification, who is absolutely ruthless when in pursuit
of some object which he strongly desires, a man utterly un
principled and of brutal selflshness. Such a man lives in his
passions, just as the raan iraraeshed in raental raatter lives
in his mind. Cases such as these have been spoken of in our
literature as "lost souls," though not irretrievably lost.
Madame Blavatsky says of them:
"There is, however, still hope for a person who has lost his
Higher Soul through his vices, while he is yet in the body.
He may still be redeemed and made to turn on his material
nature. For either an intense feeling of repentance, or one
single earnest appeal to the Ego that has fled, or best of all,
an active effort to amend one's ways, may bring the Higher
Ego back again. The thread of connection is not altogether
broken." (Secret Doctrine, iii. 527.)
These are cases in which (c) has asserted itself against
(6), and pressed it back towards (a); the arm has become
attenuated and almost paralyzed, its strength and substance
being withdrawn into the body, while, the hand has set up for
itself, and raakes on its own account jerky and spasmodic move
ments which are not controlled by the brain. If the separation
could become perfect it would correspond to an amputation
at the wrist, but this very rarely tajces place during physical
existence, though only so much of comraunication remains as is
necessary to keep the personality alive.
As Madame Blavatsky says, such a case is not entirely hope
less, for even at the last moment fresh life may be poured
through that paralyzed arm if a sufficiently strong effort be
made, and thus the ego may be enabled to recover some pro
portion of (c), as he has already recovered most of (6).
Nevertheless, such a life has been wasted, for even if the man
just contrives to escape serious loss, at any rate nothing has
been gained, and rauch time has been frittered away.
It may well be thought incredible that such men as I have
described could in any case escape serious loss; but, fortunately
for our possibilities of progress, the laws under which we live
are such that to achieve a really serious loss is no easy matter.
The reason for that may perhaps be made clear by the follow
ing considerations.

LOST SOULS 209
All the activities that we call evil, whether they are work
ing as selflsh thoughts on the mental plane or as selflsh emo
tions on the astral plane, invariably show themselves as vi
brations of the coarser matter of those planes, belonging to
their lower levels. On the other hand, every good and un-
selflsh thought or emotion sets in vibration some of the higher
types of matter on its plane; and because that finer raatter is
far raore easily moved, any given amount of force spent in
good thought or feeling produces perhaps a hundred times as
rauch result as precisely the same amount of force sent out
into the coarser matter. If this were not so, it is obvious
that the ordinary man could never raake any progress at all.
We shall probably do the quite undeveloped man of the world
no injustice if we assume that ninety per cent of his thought
and feeling is self-centred, even if not actually selfish; if ten
per cent of it is spiritual and unselfish, he raust already be
rising somewhat above the average. Clearly if these propor
tions produced corresponding results, the vast majority of hu
manity would take nine steps backwards for every one for
wards, and we should have a retrogression so rapid that a few
incarnations would deposit us in the animal kingdom out of
which we evolved. Happily for us the effect of ten per cent
of force directed to good ends enorraously outweighs that of
ninety per cent devoted to selfish purposes, and so on the
whole such a man makes an appreciable advance from life to
life. A raan who has even one per cent of good to show makes
a slight advance, so it, will be readily understood that a man
whose account balances exactly, so that there is neither advance
nor retrogression, must have been living a distinctly evil life;
while to obtain an actual descent in evolution a person must
be an unusually consistent villain.
Thanks to this beneficent law the world is steadily but slowly
evolving, even though we see round us all the while so much
that is undesirable; and even such men as I have described
may not after all fall very far. What they have lost is rather
time and opportunity than actual position in evolution; but
to lose time and opportunity means always additional suffering.
To see what they have lost and what they have failed to do,
let us revert for a moment to the analogy of investment. The
ego expects to recover that which he puts out to interest in lower
matter — the block that we have caUed (c) — and he expects
it to be improved both in quality and quantity. Its quality

210 THE INNER LIFE
is better because it has become rauch more awake, and capable
of instant and accurate response to a far raore varied gamut
of vibrations than before^a capacity which (c) when reab
sorbed necessarily communicates to (a) , though of course the
store of energy which made such a powerful wave in (c)
creates only a ripple when distributed throughout the sub
stance of (a). (It should be noted here that although the
vehicles, containing as they do the grosser as well as the finer
types of the raatter of their respective planes, can respond
to and express evil thoughts and emotions, and although their
excitement under such vibrations can produce perturbation in
the entangled causal matter (c), it is quite impossible for
that matter (c) to reproduce those vibrations or to comrauni
cate them to (a) or (6), siraply because matter of the three
higher mental levels can no more vibrate at the rate of the of
the lowest plane than the string of a violin tuned to a certain
pitch can be made to produce a note lower than that pitch.)
(c) should also be increased in quantity, because the causal
body, like all other vehicles, is constantly changing its matter,
and when special exercise is given to a certain part of it, that
part grows in size and becomes stronger, precisely as a physi
cal muscle does when it is used. Every earth-life is an op
portunity carefully calculated for such development in quality
and quantity as is most needed by the ego; a failure to use
that opportunity raeans the trouble and delay of another similar
incarnation, its sufferings probably aggravated by the addi
tional bad karma incurred.
Against the increment which the ego has a right to expect
from each incarnation we must offset a certain amount of loss
which in the earlier stages is scarcely avoidable. In order to
be effective the entanglement with lower matter must be very
intimate, and it is found that when that is so, it is scarcely
ever possible to recover every particle, especially from the
connection with the astral vehicle. When the time comes for
separation from that it is almost always a shade and not a
mere shell that is left behind on the astral plane; and that
very distinction means that something of the causal material
is lost. Except in the case of an unusually bad life, however,
this amount should be much smaller than that gained by growth,
and so there should be on the whole a profit on the transac
tion. With such men as I have described — ^men living en
tirely in their passions or their minds — there would be no

LOST SOULS 211
gain either in quality or quantity, since the vibrations would
not be such as could be stored in the causal body; and on the
other hand, as the entanglement had been so strong, there
would certainly be considerable loss when the separation took
place. We must not allow the analogy of the arra and hand to
mislead us in thinking of (6) and (c) as permanent ap
panages of the ego. During a life-period they may be con
sidered as separate, but at the end of each life-period they
withdraw into (a) , and the result of their experience is dis
tributed, as it were, through the whole of its substance; so
that when the time comes for the ego to put part of himself
out into incarnation once more, he does not stretch out again
the old (b) and (c), for they have been absorbed in hira and
become part of hira, just as a cupful of water emptied into a
bucket becomes part of the water in the bucket and cannot be
separated from it.
Any coloring matter which was present in the cup is dis
tributed (though in paler tint) through the whole bucketful
of water ; and that coloring matter may be taken as symbolizing
the qualities developed by experience. Just as it would be im
possible to take out again from the bucket exactly the same
cupful of water, so the ego cannot again put out the same (6)
and (c). The plan is one to which he was accustomed before
he became a separate, ego at all, for it is identical with that
pursued by the group-soul, except that the latter puts down
many tentacles simultaneously, while the ego puts forth only
one at a time. Therefore the personality in each new incar
nation is a different one, though the ego behind it remains the
same. 3. Cases in which the personality captures the part of the
ego which is put down, and actually breaks away. These are
happily excessively rare, but they have happened, and they
represent the most appalling catastrophe that can occur to
the ego concerned. This tirae (c), instead of repeUing (6)
and driving it gradually back into (a), by degrees absorbs
(6) and detaches it from (a). This can only be accomplished
by determined persistence in deliberate evil — black magic, in
short. Reverting to our forniier analogies, this is equivalent
to amputation at the shoulder, or to the loss by the ego of
nearly all his available capital. Fortunately for him he cannot
lose everything, because (6) and (c) together are only a small

212 THE INNER LIFE
proportion of (a), and behind (a) is the great undeveloped
portion of the ego on the first and second mental sub-planes.
Mercifully a man, however incredibly foolish or wicked, cannot
completely wreck himself, for he cannot bring that higher part
of the causal body into activity until he has reached a level at
which such evil is unthinkable.
Now that the central point of our immersion in matter .is
passed, the whole force of the universe is pressing upwards
towards unity, and the man who is willing to make all his life
an intelligent co-operation with nature gains as part of his
reward an ever-increasing perception of the reality of this
unity. But on the other hand it is obvious that men raay set
themselves in opposition to nature and, instead of working
unselfishly for the good of all, raay debase every faculty they
possess for purely selfish ends; and of them also, as of the
others, the old saying is true, "Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward." They spend their lives in striving for sepa
rateness, and for a long time they attain it, and it is said that
that sensation of being utterly alone in space is the most
awful fate that can ever befall the sons of men.
This extraordinary development of selfishness is the charac
teristic of the black magician, and it is among their ranks
only that men can be found who are in danger of this ter
rible fate. Many and loathsome are their varieties, but they
may all be classed in one or other of two great divisions.
They both use such occult arts as they possess for purely
selfish purposes, but these purposes differ.
In the coraraoner and less formidable type the object pur
sued is the gratification of sensual desire of sorae sort, and
naturally the result of a life devoted to nothing but that is
to centre the man's energy in the desire-body; so that if the
man who works on these lines has succeeded in killing out
from himself every unselfish or affectionate feeling, every spark
of higher impulse, naturally nothing is left but a remorseless,
ruthless monster of lust, who finds himself after death neither
able nor desirous to rise above the lowest sub-division of the
astral plane. The whole of such mind as he has is absolutely
in the grip of desire, and when the struggle takes place the
ego can recover none of it, and finds himself seriously weakened
in consequence.
By his carelessness in permitting this he has for the time
cut himself off from the current of evolution, from the mighty

LOST SOULS 213
wave of the life of the Logos, and so, until he can return to
incarnation, he stands (what appears to him to be) outside
that life in the condition of avichi, the waveless. Even when
he does return to incarnation it cannot be among those whom
he has known before, for he has not enough available capital
left to provide ensoulment for a mind and body at his pre
vious level. He must now be content to occupy vehicles of a
far less evolved type, belonging to some earlier race; so that
he has thrown himself far back in evolution and must climb
over again raany rungs of the ladder.
He will probably be born as a savage, but will raost likely
be a chief araong them, as he will still have some intellect. It
has been said that he may even throw himself so far back
that he may be unable to find upon the world in its present
condition any type of human body low enough for the manifes
tation which he now requires, so that he may even be in
capacitated from taking any further part in this scheme of
evolution, and raay therefore have to wait in a kind of condition
of suspended aniraation for the commencement of another.
Meanwhile what of the amputated, personality? It is no
longer a permanent evolving entity, but it remains full of
vigorous and wholly evil life, entirely without remorse or re
sponsibility. As the fate before it is disintegration amidst
the unpleasant surroundings of what is called the "eighth
sphere," it naturally tries to maintain some sort of existence
on the physical plane as long as possible. Vampirism of some
kind is its soul means of prolonging its baneful existence, and
when that fails it has been known to seize upon any available
body, driving out the lawful owner. The body chosen might
very probably be that of a child, both because it might be ex
pected to last longer and because an ego which had not yet
really- taken hold could be more easily dispossessed. In spite
of its frenzied efforts its power seems soon to fail, and I
believe there is no instance on record of its successfully steal
ing a second body after its first theft is worn out. The crea
ture is a demon of the most terrible type — a monster for which
there is no permanent place in the scheme of evolution to which
we belong.
Its natural tendency therefore is to drift out of this evolu
tion, and to be drawn by the irresistible force of law into that
astral cesspool which in earlier Theosophical writings was caUed
the eighth sphere, becauses what passes into it stands outside

214 THE INNER LIFE
the ring of seven worlds, and cannot return into their evolu
tion. There, surrounded by loathsome relics of all of the con
centrated vileness of the ages that are past, burning ever
with desire, yet without possibility of satisfaction, this mon
strosity slowly decays, its mental and causal raatter being
thus at last set free — ^never indeed to rejoin the ego from
which it has torn itself, but to be distributed among the other
matter of the plane to enter gradually into fresh combinations,
and so put to better uses. It is consoling to know that such
entities are so rare as to be practically unknown, and that they
have the power to seize only those who have in their nature
pronounced defects of kindred type.
But there is another type of the black magician, in out
ward appearance raore respectable, yet really even more dan
gerous, because more powerful. This is the man who instead
of giving himself up altogether to sensuality of one kind or
another, sets before himself the goal of a more refined but
not less unscrupulous selfishness. His object is the acquisi
tion of an occult power higher and wider indeed, but to be
used always for his own gratification and advancement, to fur
ther his own ambition or satisfy his own revenge.
In order to gain this he adopts the most rigid asceticism as
regards mere fieshly desires, and starves out the grosser par
ticles of his astral body as perseveringly as does the pupil of
the Great White Brotherhood. But though it is only a less
material kind of desire with which he will allow his mind to
become entangled, the centre of his energy is none the less
entirely in his personality, and when at the end of the astral
life the time of the separation comes, the ego is able to recover
no whit of his investment. For the raan therefore the result
is much the same as in the former case, except that he will re
main in touch with the personality much longer, and will to
some extent share its experiences so far as it is possible for an
ego to share them.
The fate of that personality, however, is very different. The
comparatively tenuous astral integument is not strong enough
to hold it for any length of time on the astral plane, and yet
it has entirely lost touch with the heaven-world which should
have been its habitat. For the whole effort of the man's life
has been to kill out such thoughts as naturally find their re
sult at that level. His one endeavour has been to oppose natural
evolution, to separate himself from the great whole and to war

LOST SOULS 215
against it; and as far as the personality goes he has succeeded.
It is cut off frora the light and life of the solar system; all
that is left to it is the sense of absolute isojation, of being
alone in the universe.
We see therefore that in this rarer case the lost personality
practically shares the fate of the ego from which it is in process
of detaching itself. But in the case of the ego such an ex
perience is only temporary, although it may last for what we
should call a very long time, and the end of it for him will
be reincarnation and a fresh opportunity. Por the personality
however the end of it is disintegration — the invariable end of
that which has cut itself off from its source; but through
what stages of horror the lost personality passes before that
is reached, who shall say? Yet be it remembered that neither
of these states is eternal — that neither of them can in any
case be reached except by deliberate life-long persistence in
evil. I have heard from our President of yet another even raore
remote possibility, of which I have never myself seen an in
stance. It is stated that, just as (c) may absorb (6) and
revolt against (a), set up on its own account and break away,
it is (or at any rate has been in the past) just within the
limits of practicability that the deadly disease of separateness
and selfishness may infest (a) also, that it too may be ab
sorbed into the monstrous growth of evil, and may be torn
away from the undeveloped portion of the ego, so that the
causal body itself may be hardened and carried away, instead
of only the personality.
If this be so, it constitutes yet a fourth group, and would
correspond not to an amputation, but to an entire destruction
of the body. Such an ego could not reincarnate in the human
race; ego though it be, it will fall into the depths of animal
life, and would need at least a whole chain-period to regain
the status which it had lost. But this, though theoretically
possible, is practically scarcely conceivable. Yet it will be
noted that even then the undeveloped part of the ego reraains
as the vehicle of the monad.
We learn then that millions of backward egos, unable as
yet to bear the strain of the higher evolution, will fall out in
the middle of the fifth round and corae along on the crest of
the following wave; that those who live selfishly, whether in the
intellect or the passions, do so at their own proper peril, and

216 THE INNER LIFE
at the serious risk of rauch sorrow and loss; that those who
are so foolish as to dabble in black magic may bring upon
themselves horrers before which iraagination shrinks appalled;
but that the terra "lost soul" is, after all, a misnomer, since
every man is a spark of the divine flre, and therefore can
never under any circumstances be lost or extinguished. The
will of the Logos is man's evolution. In our blindness we
may for a time resist Him, but to Him time is naught, and if
we cannot see to-day He waits patiently till to-morrow, but
always in the end His will is done.

THE FOCUS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
The consciousness in man can only be focussed in one vehicle
at a time, though he may be simultaneously conscious through
the others in a vaguer way. If you will hold up a flnger
in front of your face you will flnd that you can so focus your
eyes as to see the flnger perfectly. At the same time you
will see the wall and furniture behind the flnger, but not per
fectly, because they are out of focus. In a moment you can
change the focus of your eyes, so that you will see the wall and
the furniture perfectly; in that case you will still see the
flnger, but will see it only dimly, because it in turn is now out
of focus.
Precisely in the same way if a man who has developed astral
and mental consciousness focusses himself in the physical brain
as in ordinary life, he will see perfectly the physical bodies of
his friends, and will at the same time see their astral and raen
tal bodies, but only somewhat diraly. In far less than a moment
he Can change that focus so that he will see the astral quite
fully and perfectly. In that case he will still see the mental
and physical bodies, but not in full detail. The same thing is
true of the mental sight and of the sight of higher planes.
You ask how it is possible for an entity functioning on the
astral plane to be aware of a physical accident or to hear a
physical cry. It would not be the physical cry that he would
hear; physical sounds assuredly produce an effect upon the
astral plane, though I do not think that we should be quite
correct in calling that result sound. Any cry which had in it

FORCE-CENTRES 217
strong feeling or emotion would produce a strong effect upon
the astral plane, and would convey exactly the same idea there
as here. In the case of an accident the rush of emotion caused
by the pain or the fright would flame out like a great light,
and could not fail to attract the attention of a seer if he were
anywhere near. A case in which this very thing occurred is
related in Invisible Helper s^a case in which a boy fell over
a cliff; and was supported and comforted by Cyril until physical
help could be brought.

FORCE-CENTRES
In each of our vehicles there are certain force-centres which
in Sanskrit are called chakrams — a word which signifles a
wheel or revolving disc. These are points of connection at
which force flows from one vehicle to another. They may easily
be seen in the etheric double, where they show theraselves
as saucer-like depressions or vortices in its surface. They
are often spoken of as corresponding to certain physical
organs; but it must be remembered that the etheric force-
centre is not in the interior of the body, but on the surface
of the etheric double, which projects a quarter of an inch
beyond the outline of the denser matter.
The centres which are usually employed in occult develop
ment are seven, and they are situated in the following parts
of the body: (1) the base of the spine; (2) the navel; (3)
the spleen; (4) the heart; (5) the throat; (6) the space be
tween the eyebrows; and (7) the top of the head. There
are other force-centres in the body besides these, but they
are not employed by students of the white magic. It may be
remembered that Madame Blavatsky speaks of three others
which she calls the lower centres: there are schools which use
these, but the dangers connected with them are so serious that
we should consider their awakening as the greatest of mis
fortunes. These seven are often described as corresponding to the
seven colors and to the notes of the musical scale; and in the
Indian books certain letters of the alphabet and certain forms
of vitality are mentioned as attached to each of them. They

218 THE INNER LIFE
are also poetically described as resembling flowers, and to each
of them a certain number of petals is assigned.
It raust be reraembered that they are vortices of etheric
matter, and that they are all in rapid rotation. Into each of
these open mouths, at right angles to the plane of the whirling
disc or saucer, rushes a force from the astral world (which
we will call the primary force) — one of the forces of the
Logos. That force is seven-fold in its nature, and all its forms
operate in all the centres, though in each of them one of the
forms is always greatly predominant.
This inrush of force brings the divine life into the physical
body, and without it that body could not exist. These cen
tres through which the force can enter are therefore actually
necessary to the existence of the vehicle, and so are in op
eration in every one, but they may be whirling with very dif
ferent degrees of activity. Their particles may be in com
paratively sluggish motion, just forming the necessary vortex
for the force and no more, or they may be glowing and pul
sating with living light so that an enormously greater amount
of force passes through them, with the result that various
additional faculties and possibilities are opened to the ego as
he functions on that plane.
Now those forces which rush into the centre from without
set up at right angles to themselves (that is to say, in the
surface of the etheric double) secondary forces in undulatory
circular motion, just as a bar-magnet thrust into an induc
tion coil produces a current of electricity which flows round
the coil at right angles to the axis or direction of the magnet.
The primary force itself having entered the vortex, radiates
from it again at right angles, but in straight lines, as though
the centre of the vortex were the hub of a wheel, and the
radiations of the primary force its spokes. The number of
these "spokes" differs in the different force-centres, and de
termines the number of "petals" which each of them exhibits.
Each of these secondary forces, which sweep round the
saucer-like depression, has its own characteristic wave-length,
just as has light of a certain colour; but instead of moving in
a straight line as light does, it moves along in certain relatively
large undulations of various sizes, each of which is some
multiple of the smaller wave-lengths within it, though the
exact proportions have not as yet been calculated. The number
of undulations is determined by the number of spokes in the

FORCE-CENTRES 219
wheel, and the secondary force weaves itself under and over
the radiating currents of the primary just as basket-work
might be woven round the spokes of a carriage-wheel. The
wave-lengths are infinitesimal, and probably some thousands of
them are included within one of the undulations. As the forces
rush round in the vortex, these undulations of different sizes,
crossing one another in this basket-work pattern, produce an
appearance which is not inaptly described in the Hindu books
as resembling the petals of a flower; or it is still raore like
certain saucers or shallow vases of wavy iridescent glass
which 1 have seen in Venice. All Pf these undulations or
petals have that shimmering iridescent effect, like mother-of-
pearl, yet each of thera has usually its own predominant
color. In the ordinary men, in whom these centres are just active
enough to be channels for sufficient force to keep his body
alive, these colors glow with a comparatively dull light; but
in those in whom the centres have been aroused and are in
full activity they are of blinding brilliancy, and the centres
themselves, which have gradually grown from a diameter of
about two inches to the size of an ordinary saucer, are blazing
and coruscating like miniature suns.
The first centre, at the base of the spine, has a primary
force which radiates out in four spokes, and therefore ar
ranges its undulations so as to give the effect of its being
divided into quadrants, with hollows between them. This makes
it seem as though marked with the sign of the cross, and for
that reason the cross is often used to symbolize this centre, and
sometimes a flaming cross is taken to indicate the serpent-fire
which resides in it. When aroused into full activity this
centre is fiery orange-red in color, corresponding closely with
the type of vitality which is sent down to it from the splenic
centre. Indeed, it will be noticed that in the case of every one
of these centres a similar correspondence with the color of its
vitality may be seen.
The second centre, at the navel or solar plexus, receives
a primary force with ten radiations, so it vibrates in such a
manner as to divide itself into ten undulations or petals. It is
very closely associated with feelings and emotions of various
kinds. Its predominant color is a curious blending of various
shades of red, though there is also a great deal of green in it.
The third centre, at the spleen, is devoted to the specialization.

220 THE INNER LIFE
subdivision and dispersion of the vitality which comes to us
from the sun. That vitality is poured out again from it in
six horizontal streams, the seventh variety being drawn into
the hub of the wheel. This centre therefore has six petals
or undulations, and is specially radiant, glowing and sun-like.
The fourth centre, at the heart, is also of a glowing golden
color, and each of its quadrants is divided into three parts,
which gives it twelve undulations, because its primary force
makes for it twelve spokes.
The fifth centre, at the throat, has sixteen spokes, and
therefore sixteen apparent divisions. There is a good deal
of blue in it, but its general effect is silvery and gleaming, with
a kind of suggestion as of moonlight upon rippling water.
The sixth centre, between the eyebrows, has the appearance
of being divided into halves, the one predominantly rose-col
ored, though with a great deal of yellow about it, and the
other predominantly a kind of purplish-blue, again closely agree
ing with the colors of the special types of vitality that vivify
it. Perhaps it is for this reason that this centre is mentioned
in Indian books as having only two petals, though if we are to
count undulations of the same character as those of the pre
vious centres we shall find that each half is subdivided into
forty-eight of these, making ninety-six in all, because its pri
mary force has that number of radiations.
The seventh, the centre at the top of the head, is when stirred
into full activity perhaps the most resplendent of all, full of
indescribable chromatic effects and vibrating with almost in
conceivable rapidity. It is described in Indian books as thou-
sand-petalled, and really this is not very far from the truth,
the number of the radiations of its primary force in the outer
circle being nine hundred and sixty. In addition to this it
has a feature which is possessed by none of the other centres
— a sort of subsidiary whirlpool of gleaming white flushed with
gold in its heart — a minor activity which h^s twelve undula
tions of its own.
I have heard it suggested that each of the different petals of
these force-centres represents a moral quality, and that the
development of that quality brings the centre into activity. I
have not yet met with any facts which conflrm this, nor am
I able to see exactly how it can be, because the appearance
is produced by certain quite definite and easily recognizable
forces, and the petals in any particular centre are either active

FORCE-CENTRES 221
or not active according as these forces have or have not been
aroused, and their development seems to me to have no more
connection with raorality than has the development of the
biceps. I have certainly met with persons in whom sorae of
the centres were .in full activity, though the moral develop
ment was by no means exceptionally high, whereas in other
persons of high spirituality and the noblest possible morality
the centres were not yet vitalized at all, so that there does
not seera to me to be any connection between the two develop
ments. Besides the keeping alive of the physical vehicle, these force-
centres have another function, which comes into play only when
they are awakened into full activity. Each of these etheric
centres corresponds to an astral centre though as the astral
centre is a vortex in four diraensions it has an extension in a
direction quite different from the etheric, and consequently is
by no means always co-terminous with it, though some part
is always coincident. The etheric vortex is always on th3
surface of the etheric body, but the astral centre is frequently
quite in the interior of that vehicle.
The function of each of these etheric centres when fully
aroused is to bring down into physical consciousness whatever
may be the quality inherent in the astral centre which cor
responds to it; so, before cataloguing the results to be ob
tained by arousing the etheric centres into activity, it may be
well to consider what is done by each of the astral centres,
although these latter are already in full activity in all cul
tured people of the later races. What effect, then, has the
quickening of each of these astral centres produced in the astral
body? The flrst of these centres, that at the base of the spine, is
the home of that mysterious force called the serpent-fire or,
in The Voice of the Silence, the World's Mother. I will say more
about this force later; for the moment let us consider its
effects on the astral centres. This force exists on all planes,
and by its activity the rest of the centres are aroused. We
raust think of the astral body as having been originally an
almost inert mass, with nothing but the vaguest consciousness,
with no definite power of doing anything, and no clear know
ledge of the world which surrounded it. The first thing that
happened, then, was the awakening of that force in the man
at the astral level. When awakened it moved on to the second

222 THE INNER LIFE
centre, corresponding to the navel, and vivified it, thereby
awakening in the astral body the power of feeling — a sensitive
ness to all sorts of infiuences, though without as yet anything
like the definite coriiprehension that comes from seeing or
hearing. Then it moved on to the third, that corresponding to the physi
cal spleen, and through it vitalized the whole astral body,
enabling the person to travel consciously, though with only a
vague conception as yet of what he encountered on his journeys.
The fourth centre, when awakened, endowed the man with
the power to comprehend and sympathize with the vibrations
of other astral entities, so that he could instinctively under
stand their feelings.
The awakening of the fifth, that corresponding to the throat,
gave him the power of hearing on the astral plane — that is
to say, it caused the development of that sense which in the
astral world produces on our consciousness the effect which
on the physical plane we call hearing.
The development of the sixth, that corresponding to the cen
tre between the eyebrows, in a similar manner produced astral
sight — the power to perceive definitely the shape and nature
of astral objects, instead of vaguely sensing their presence.
The arousing of the seventh, that corresponding to the top
of the head, rounded off and completed for him the astral life,
and endowed hira with the perfection of its faculties.
With regard to this centre a certain difference seems to
exist according to the type to which men belong. For many
of us the astral vortices corresponding to the sixth and seventh
of these centres both converge upon the pituitary body, and for
those people the pituitary body is practically the only direct
link between the physical and the higher planes. Another
type of people, however, while still attaching the sixth centre
to the pituitary body, bend or slant the seventh until its vortex
coincides with the atrophied organ called the pineal gland,
which is by people of that type vivified and made into a line
of communcation directly passing through the intermediate
astral plane in the ordinary way. It was for this type that
Madame, Blavatsky was writing when she laid such emphasis
upon the awakening of that organ.
Thus these centres to some extent take the place of sense-
organs for the astral body, and yet without proper qualification
that expression would be decidedly a misleading one, for it must

FORCE-CENTRES 223
never be forgotten that though, in order to make ourselves
intelligible, we constantly have to speak of astral seeing or
astral hearing, all that we really mean by those expressions
is the faculty of responding to such vibrations as convey to
the man's consciousness, when he is functioning in his astral
body, information of the same character as that conveyed to
hira by his eyes and ears while he is in the physical body.
But in the entirely different astral conditions specialized or
gans are not necessary for the attainment of this result. There
is matter in every part of the astral body which is capable
of such response, and consequently the man functioning in that
vehicle sees equally well the objects behind him, above him, and
beneath him, without needing to turn his head. The centres,
therefore, cannot be described as organs in the ordinary sense
of the word, since it is not through them that the man sees
or hears, as he does here through the eyes and ears. Yet it is
upon their vivification that the power of exercising these astral
senses depends, each of them as it is developed giving to the
whole astral body the power of response to a new set of vibra
tions. As all the particles of the astral body are constantly flowing
and swirling about like those of boiling water, all of them in
turn pass through each of the centres or vortices, so that each
centre in its turn evokes in all the particles of the body the
power of receptivity to a certain set of vibrations, and so
all the astral senses are equally active in all parts of the body.
But even when these astral senses are fully awakened it by no
means follows that the man will be able to bring through his
physical body any consciousness of their action.
While all this astral awakening was taking place, then, the
man in his physical consciousness knew nothing whatever of
it. The only way in which the dense body can be brought to
share all these advantages is by repeating that process of
awakening with the etheric centres. That is to be achieved
precisely in the same way as it was done upon the astral plane
— that is to say, by the arousing of the serpent-flre, which exists
clothed in etheric matter on the physical plane, and sleeps in
the corresponding etheric centre, that at the base of the spine.
In this case the arousing is done by a determined and long-
continued effort of the will, and to bring that first centre into
full activity is precisely to awaken the serpent-fire. When
once that is aroused, it is by its tremendous force that the

224 THE INNER LIFE
other centres are vivified. Its effect on the other etheric
centres is to bring into the physical consciousness the powers
which were aroused by the development of their corresponding
astral centres.
When the second of the etheric centres, that at the navel,
coraes into activity the man begins in the physical body to be
conscious of all kinds of astral influences, vaguely feeling that
some of thera are friendly and others hostile, or that some places
are pleasant and others unpleasant, without in the least know
ing why.
When the third centre, that at the spleen, is awakened, the
raan is enabled to remember his vague astral journeys, though
sometimes only very partially. The effect of a slight and ac
cidental stimulation of this centre is often to produce half-
remembrance of a blissful sensation of flying through the air.
Stimulation of the fourth, that at the heart, makes the
man instinctively aware of the joys and sorrows of others, and
sometimes even causes him to reproduce in himself by sympathy
their physical aches and pains.
The arousing of the flfth, that at the throat, enables him to
hear voices, which sometimes make all kinds of suggestions to
him. Also sometimes he hears music, or other less pleasant
sounds. When it is fully working it makes the man clair-
audient as far as the etheric and astral planes are concerned.
When the sixth, between the eye-brows, becoraes vivified,
the raan begins to see things, to have various sorts of waking
visions, sometimes of places, sometimes of people. In its earlier
developraent, when it is only just beginning to be awakened,
it often raeans nothing more than half-seeing landscapes and
clouds of color. The full arousing of this brings about clair
voyance. The centre between the eye-brows is connected with sight in
yet another way. It is through it that the power of magnifi
cation of minute physical objects is exercised. A tiny fiexible
tube of etheric matter is projected frora the centre of it, re
sembling a microscopic snake with an eye at the end of it.
This' is the special organ used in that forra of clairvoyance,
and the eye at the end of it can be expanded or contracted,
the effect being to change the power of magnification accord
ing to the size of the object which is being examined. This
is what is meant in ancient books when mention is made of
the capacity to raake oneself large or small at will. To ex-

THE SERPENT-FIRE 225
amine an atom one developes an organ of vision commensurate
in size with the atom. This little snake projecting from the
centre of the forehead was symbolized, upon the head-dress
of the Pharaoh of Egypt, who as the chief priest of his country
was supposed to possess this among raany other occult powers.
When the seventh centre is awakened the man is able by
passing through it to leave his body in full consciousness, and
also to return to it without the usual break, so that his con
sciousness will be continuous through night and day. When
the fire has been passed through all these centres in a certain
order (which varies for different types of people) the con
sciousness becomes continuous up to the entry into the heaven-
world at the end of the life on the astral plane, no difference
being made by either the temporary separation from the physi
cal body during sleep or the permanent division at death.
Before this is done, however, the man may have raany
glimpses of the astral world, for especially strong vibrations
may at any time galvanize one or other of the centres into
temporary activity, without arousing the serpent-flre at all;
or it may happen that the fire may be partially roused, and
in this way also partial clairvoyance raay be produced for
the time. For this fire exists in seven layers or seven degrees
of force, and it often happens that a man who exerts his will
in the effort to arouse it raay succeed in affecting one layer
only, and so when he thinks that he has done the work he may
flnd it ineffective, and raay have to do it all over again raany
times, digging gradually deeper and deeper, until not only the
surface is stirred but the very heart of the flre is in full
activity.

THE SERPENT-FIRE
As we know it, this serpent-flre (called in Sanskrit kundalini)
is the manifestation on the physical plane of one of the great
world-forces — one of the powers of the Logos. You know that
what we call electricity is a manifestation of one of His forces,
and that that force may take various forms, such as heat,
light and motion. Another of His forces is vitality — what
is sometimes called prana, but this is not interchangeable with

226 THE INNER LIFE
any of those other forms which we have just mentioned. We
may say then that vitality and electricity are as it were the
lower ends of two of His streams of force.
This serpent-flre may be taken as the lower end of another
of His strearas, the . physical-plane manifestation of another of
the manifold aspects of His power. Like vitality, it exists on
all planes of which we know anything; but it is the expression
of it in etheric matter with which we have to do. It is not
convertible into either vitality or electricity, and does not seem
to be affected in any way by either. I have seen as rauch as
a million and a quarter volts of electricity put into a human
body, so that when the man held out his arm towards the
wall huge flames rushed out from his fingers, yet he felt noth-
- ing unusual, nor was he in the least burnt unless he accidentally
touched some external object; but even this enormous display
of power had no effect whatever upon the serpent-flre.
In The Voice of the Silence this force is called "the Fiery
Power" and "the World's Mother." There is much reason for
all these strange names, for it is in very truth like liquid
fire as it rushes through the body, and the course through
which it ought to move is a spiral one like the coils of a ser
pent. It is called the World's Mother because through it our
various vehicles raay be vivified, so that the higher worlds
may open before us in succession.
In the body of man its horae, as we have said, is at the
base of the spine, and for the ordinary person it lies there
unawakened, and its very presence unsuspected, during the
whole of his life; and it is indeed far better to allow it
thus to reraain dormant until the man has made definite moral
development, until his will is strong enough to control it and
his thoughts pure "enough to enable hira to face its awakening
without injury. No one should experiment with it without
definite instruction frora a teacher who thoroughly under
stands the subject, for the dangers connected with it are very
real and terribly serious. Some of them are purely physical.
Its uncontrolled movement often produces intense physical
pain, and it may readily tear tissues and even destroy physical
life. This, however, is the least of the evils of which it is
capable, for it raay do perraanent injury to vehicles higher
than the physical.
One very common effect of rousing it prematurely is that it
rushes downwards in the body instead of upwards, and thus

THE SERPENT-FIRE 227
excites the most undesirable passions — excites them and inten
sifies their effects to such a degree that it becomes absolutely
impossible for the man to resist them, because a force has
been brought into play in whose presence he is as helpless as a
swimmer before the jaws of a shark. Such men become satyrs,
monsters of depravity, because they are in the grasp of a
force which is out of all proportion to the ordinary human
power of resistance. They may probably gain certain super
normal powers, but these will be such as will bring them
into touch with a lower order of evolution with which hu
manity is intended to hold no commerce, and to escape from
its awful thraldom may take them more than one incarnation.
I am not in any way exaggerating the horror of this thing,
as a person to whom it was all a matter of hearsay might
unwittingly do. I have myself been consulted by people upon
whom this awful fate has already come, and I have seen with
my own eyes what happened to them. There is a school of black
magic which purposely uses this power in this way, in order
that through it raay be vivified those lower force-centres which
are never used by the followers of the Good Law.
Even apart from this greatest of its dangers, its prema
ture unfoldment has many other unpleasant possibilities. It
intensifies everything in the man's nature, and it reaches the
lower and evil qualities more readily than the good. In the
mental body, for example, ambition is very readily aroused,
and soon swells to an incredibly inordinate degree. It would
be likely to bring with it a great intensification of the power
of intellect, but at the same time it would produce abnormal
and Satanic pride, such as is quite inconceivable to the ordinary
raan. It is not wise for a man to think that he is prepared
to cope with any force that may arise within his body; this
is no ordinary force, but something resistless. Assuredly no
uninstructed man should ever try to awaken it, and if such
an one finds that it has been aroused by accident he should at
once consult some one who fully understands these raatters.
It may be noticed that I have specially and intentionally re
frained frora explaining how this arousing is to be done, or
mentioning the order in which the force (when aroused) should
be passed through these various centres, for that should by
no means be attempted except at the express suggestion of
a Master, who will watch over His pupil during the various
stages of the experiment.

228 THE INNER LIFE
I most solemnly warn all students against making any effort
whatever in the direction of awakening these tremendous forces,
except under such qualified tuition, for I have myself seen
many cases of the terrible effects which follow from ignorant
and ill-advised meddling with these very serious raatters. The
force is a treraendous reality, one of the great basic facts of
nature, and most emphatically it is not a thing to be played
with, or to be lightly taken in hand, for to experiment with
it without understanding it is far raore dangerous than it would
be for a child to play with nitroglycerine. As is very truly
said in the Hathayogapradipika: "It gives liberation to yogis
and bondage to fools." (iii. 107.)
In raatters such as these, students so often seem to think
that some special exception to the laws of nature will be made
in their case, that some special intervention of providence will
save them from the consequences of their folly. Assuredly
nothing of that sort will happen, and the man who wantonly
provokes an explosion is quite likely to becorae its first victim.
It would save much trouble and disappointment if students
could be induced to understand that in all matters con
nected with occultism we mean just exactly and literally what
we say, and that it is applicable in every case without exception.
For there is no such thing as favoritism in the working of the
great laws of the universe.
Everybody wants to try all possible experiments; everybody
is convinced that he is quite ready for the highest possible
teaching and for any sort of developraent, and no one is willing
to work patiently along at the iraprovement of character, and
to devote his time and his energies to doing something useful
for the work of the Society, waiting for all these other things
until a Master shall announce that he is ready for- them.
The old aphorism still remains true: "Seek ye first the king
dom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall
be added unto you."
There are sorae cases in which the fire wakes spontaneously,
so that a dull glow is felt; it may even begin to move of itself,
though this is rare. In this latter case it would be likely to
cause great pain, as, since the passages are not prepared for
it, it would have to clear its way by actually burning up a great
deal of etheric dross — a process that cannot but engender suf
fering. When it thus awakes of itself or is accidentally aroused,
it usually tries to rush up the interior of the spine, instead of

THE SERPENT-FIRE 229
following the spiral course into which the occultist is trained
to guide it. If it be possible, the will should be set in motion
to arrest its onward rush, but if that proves to be impossible
(as is most likely) no alarm need be felt. It will probably
rush out through the head and escape into the surrounding
atmosphere, and it is likely that no harm will result beyond
a slight weakening. Nothing worse than a temporary loss of
consciousness need be apprehended. The really appalling dan
gers are connected not with its upward rush, but with the pos
sibility of its turning downwards and inwards.
Its principal function in connection with occult development
is that by being sent through the force-centres in the etheric
body, as above described, it vivifies these centres and
makes them available as gates of connection between the
physical and astral bodies. It is said in The Voice of the
Silence that when the serpent-fire reaches the centre between
the eye-brows and fully vivifies it, it confers the power of
hearing the voice of the Master — which means in this case the
voice of the ego or higher self. The reason for this statement
is that when the pituitary body is brought into working order
it forms a perfect link with the astral vehicle, so that through
it all communications from within can be received.
It is not only this one; all the higher force-centres have pres
ently to be awakened, and each must be made responsive to
all kinds of astral infiuences from the various astral sub-planes.
This developraent will come to all in due course, but most
people cannot gain it during the present incarnation, if it is
the first in which they have begun to take these raatters se
riously in hand. Some Indians might succeed in doing so, as
their bodies are by heredity more adaptable than most others;
but it is really for the majority the work of a later round
altogether. The conquest of the serpent-fire has - to be re
peated in each incarnation, since the vehicles are new each time,
but after it has been once thoroughly achieved these repetitions
will be an easy matter. It must be remembered that its action
varies with different types of people; some, for example, would
see the higher self rather than hear its voice. Again, this
connection with the higher has many stages; for the ¦ per
sonahty it means the infiuence of the ego, but for the ego him
self it means the power of the monad, and for the monad in
tum it means to become a conscious expression of the Logos.
It may be of use if I mention my own experience in this

230 THE INNER LIFE
matter. In the earlier part of my residence in India twenty-
five years ago I made no effort to rouse the fire — not indeed
knowing very much about it, and having the opinion that, in
order to do anything with it, it was necessary to be born with
a specially psychic body, which I did not possess. But one
day one of the Masters made a suggestion to me with regard
to a certain kind of meditation which would evoke this force.
Naturally I at once put the suggestion into practice, and in
course of time was successful. I have no doubt, however, that
He watched the experiment, and would have checked me if it
had become dangerous. I am told that there are Indian ascetics
who teach this to their pupils, of course keeping them under
careful supervision during the process. But I do not myself
know of any such, nor should I have confidence in them unless
they were specially recommended by some one whom I knew to
be possessed of real knowledge.
People often ask me what I advise thera to do with regard to
the arousing of this force. 1 advise them to do exactly what
I myself did. I recommend them to throw themselves into
Theosophical work and wait until they receive a definite cora
raand from some Master who will undertake to superintend
their psychic development, continuing in the meantirae all the
ordinary exercises of meditation that are known to them. They
should not care in the least whether such developraent comes
in this incarnation or in the next, but should regard the matter
from the point of view of the ego and not of the personality,
feeling absolutely certain that the Masters are always watch
ing for those whom They can help, that it is entirely im
possible for any one to be overlooked, and that They will un
questionably give Their directions when They think that the
right time has corae.
I have never heard that there is any sort of age limit with
regard to the development, and I do not see that age should
make any difference, so long as one has perfect health; but
the health is a necessity, for only a strong body can endure the
strain, which is much more serious than any one who has not
made the attempt can possibly imagine.
The force when aroused must be very strictly controlled, and
it must be moved through the centres in an order which
differs for people of different types. The moveraent also, to
be effective, must be made in a particular way, which the
Master will explain when the time coraes.

THE SERPENT-FIRE 231
I have said that the astral and etheric centres are in very
close correspondence; but between them, and interpenetrating
them in a manner not readily describable, is a sheath composed
of a single layer of physical atoms much compressed and
permeated by a special form of vital force. The divine life
which normally descends from the astral body to the physical
is so attuned as to pass through this with perfect ease, but
it is an absolute barrier to all other forces — all which cannot
use the atomic matter of both the planes. This web is the
natural protection provided by nature to prevent a premature
opening up of communication between the planes — a develop
ment which could lead to nothing but injury.
It is this which under normal conditions prevents clear
recollection of what has happened during sleep, and it is this
also which causes the raomentary unconsciousness which always
occurs at death. But for this raerciful provision the ordinary
man, who knows nothing about all these things and is entirely
unprepared to meet them, could at any moment be brought
by any astral entity under the influences of forces to cope
with which would be entirely beyond his strength. He would
be liable to constant obsession by any being on the astral plane
who desired to seize upon his vehicles.
It will therefore be readily understood that any injury to
this web is a serious disaster. There are several ways in which
injury may come, and it behoves us to use our best endeavors
to guard against it. It raay come either by accident or by
continued malpractice. Any great shock to the astral body,
such for example as a sudden terrible fright, may rend apart
this delicate organism and, as it is commonly expressed, drive
the man mad. (Of course there are other ways in which fear
may cause insanity, but this is one). A tremendous outburst
of anger may also produce the same effect. Indeed it may
follow upon any exceedingly strong emotion of an evil charac
ter which produces a kind of explosion in the astral body.
The malpractices which may more gradually injure this pro
tective web are of two classes — ^the use of alcohol or narcotic
drugs and the deliberate endeavor to throw open the doors
which nature has kept closed, by means of such a process as
is described in spiritualistic parlance as sitting for develop
ment. Certain drugs and drinks — notably alcohol and all the
narcotics, including tobaccos-contain matter which on break
ing up volatilizes, and some of it passes from the physical plane

232 THE INNER LIFE
to the astral. (Even tea and coffee contain this matter, but
in quantities so inflnitesimal that it is usually only after long-
continued abuse of them that the effect manifests itself.)
When this takes place in the body of man these constituents
rush out through the force-centres in the opposite direction tp
that for which they are intended, and in doing this repeatedly
they seriously injure and finally destroy the delicate web. This
deterioration or destruction may be brought about in two dif-
erent ways, according to the - type of the person concerned
and to the proportion of the constituents in his etheric and astral
bodies. First, the rush of volatilizing matter actually burns
away the web, and therefore leaves the door open to all sorts
of irregular forces and evil influences.
The second result is that these volatile constituents, in flow
ing through, somehow harden the atom so that its pulsation
is to a large extent checked and crippled, and it is no longer
capable of being vitalized by the particular type of force which
welds it into a web. The result of this is a kind of ossiflcation
of the web, so that instead of having too rauch coraing through
frora one plane to the other, we have very little of any kind
coming through.
We raay see the effects of both these types of deterioration
in the case of raen who yield theraselves to drunkenness. Some
of those who are affected in the former way fall into delirium
tremens, obsession or insanity; but those are after all com
paratively rare. Far raore coramon is the second type of de
terioration — the case in which we have a kind of general
deadening down of the man's qualities, resulting in gross ma-
terialisra, brutality and animalism, in the loss of all flner, feel
ings and of the power to control hiraself. He no longer feels
any sense of responsibility; he raay love his wife and children
when spber, but when the fit of drunkenness comes upon him
he will use the money which should have bought bread for them
to satisfy his own bestial cravings, the affection and the re
sponsibility having apparently entirely disappeared.
The second type of effect is very commonly to be seen among
those who are slaves of the tobacco habit; again and again
we find that they persist in their self-indulgence even when
they know perfectly well that it causes nausea and misery to
their neighbors. We shall recognize the deterioration at once
when we think that this is the only practice in which a gentle
man will persist when he is aware that it causes acute annoyance

THE SERPENT-FIRE 233
to others. Clearly in this case the finer feelings have already
been seriously blunted.
All impressions which pass from one plane to the other are
intended to come only through the atomic sub-planes, as I have
said; but when this deadening process sets in, it presently
infects not only other atoraic matter, but matter of even the
second and third sub-planes, so that the only communication
between the astral and the etheric is when sorae force acting
on the lower subplanes (upon which only unpleasant and evil
influences are to be found) happens to be strong enough to
compel a response by the violence of its vibration.
Nevertheless, though nature takes such precautions to guard
these centres, she by no means intends that they shall always
be kept rigidly closed. There is a proper way in which they
may be opened. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that
the intention is not that the doors should be opened any wider
than their present position, but that the man should so develope
himself as that he can bring a great deal more through the
recognized channel.
The consciousness of the ordinary man cannot yet use pure
atomic matter either in the physical body or in the astral, and
therefore there is normally no possibility for him of conscious
communication at will between the two planes. The proper
way to obtain that is to purify both the vehicles until the atomic
matter in both is fully vivified, so that all communications be
tween the two may be able to pass by that road. In that case
the web retains to the fullest degree its position and activity,
and yet is no longer a barrier to the perfect communication,
while it still continues to fulfill its purpose of preventing the
close contact between lower sub-planes which would permit all
sorts of undesirable influences to pass through.
That is why we are always adjured to wait for the unfold
ing of psychic powers until they come in the natural course
of events as a consequence of the development of character,
as we see from the study of these force-centres that they surely
wUl. That is the natural evolution; that is the only really
safe way, for by it the student pbtains all the benefits and
avoids all the dangers. That is the Path which our Masters
have trodden in the past; that therefore is the Path for us
to-day.

234 THE INNER LIFE

OBSESSION AND INSANITY.
We must distinguish carefully between obsession and in
sanity. The latter is a break in the connection between the ego
and his vehicles, while the forraer is the ousting of the ego
by some other entity. Only a weak ego would permit obsession
— an ego, I mean, who had not much hold upon his vehicles.
It is not as a rule true that children are more easily ob
sessed than adults, because though it is true that the hold of
the ego upon its bodies is less strong in childhood, it is also
true that the adult is far more likely to have in him qualities
which attract undesirable entities and make obsession easy.
In the case of a little child, any entity .trying to obsess the
body would have first to face the elemental who is in charge
of the building of it, and he is not at all likely to succeed in
ousting that. After the age of seven, when the elemental has
been withdrawn, obsession might take place if the ego was
very weak; but it is fortunately rare.
Obsession may be permanent or temporary, and it is under
taken for various reasons. Often some dead person is filled
with burning anxiety to come again into touch with the physical
plane, generally for the satisfaction of the lowest and grossest
desires, and in his desperate yearning he seizes upon any
vehicle which he can steal. Soraetiraes, on the other hand,
obsession is a definite and calculated act of revenge — not always
upon the person obsessed. I knew a case in which a raan who
hated another deliberately went to work to obtain control of
and obsess his enemy's favorite daughter; I know also of an
other instance even worse than that. Sometimes the obsessing
entity is not human at all, but only a nature-spirit who desires
experience of human life. In any and all cases obsession
should be dieterminedly resisted by the victim.
Insanity is ari entirely different matter. Let us try to
look at it from the occult point of view. Every cell in the
physical brain and every particle of its matter has its corre
sponding and interpenetrating astral matter; and behind (or
rather within) that, it has also the still finer mental matter.
Of course the brain is a ciibical mass, but for the purposes of
our examination let us suppose that it could be spread out upon
a surface so that it should be only one particle thick. Then

OBSESSION AND INSANITY 235
further suppose that the astral and mental matter belonging
to it could also be laid out in layers in a similar manner,
the astral layer a little above the physical, and the mental a
little above the astral.
Then we should have three layers of matter of different
degrees of density, all corresponding one to the other. Now
suppose that each physical particle is joined to the corresponding
astral particle by a little tube, and each astral particle is
joined to its corresponding mental particle in the same way,
and even (higher up still) each mental particle to something
which corresponds to it in the causal body. So long as all
these tubes were perfectly in alignment there would be clear
communication between the ego and his brain; but if any one
of the sets of tubes were bent, closed, or knocked partially aside,
it is obvious that the communication might be wholly or partially
interrupted. From the occult standpoint, therefore, we divide the insane
into four great classes, each of course having many sub-divis
ions. 1. Those who are insane merely from a defect of the dense
physical brain — from its insufficient size, perhaps, or from
some accident like a heavy blow, or some growth which causes
pressure upon it or from gradual softening of the tissue.
2. Those whose defect is in the etheric part of the brain,
so that its particles no longer correspond perfectly with the
denser physical particles, and so cannot properly bring through
the vibrations from the higher vehicles.
3. Those in whom the astral body is defective instead of the
etheric — in whom its tubes are bent, as it were, so that there
is a want of accurate adjustment between its particles and those
of the vehicles either above or below it.
4. Those in whom the mind-body itself is in some way out
of order, and consequently is unable to bring through the in
structions or wishes of the ego.
It makes a very great difference to which of these classes an
insane person belongs. Those of the flrst and second types are
quite sensible when out of the body during sleep, and of course
also after death, so that the ego loses only the expression of
himself during waking Ufe. Those of the third type do not
recover until they reach the heaven-world, and the fourth class
not until they return into the causal body; so that for this
last class the incarnation is a failure. But fortunately more

236 THE INNER LIFE
than ninety per cent of the insane belong to the first and second
classes. Three questions are asked upon the unsavory subject of ob
session; I will proceed to answer them. The first is: "What
is the best way to get rid of an excamate human being who
persists in occupying one's body?"
I should simply and absolutely decline to be so obsessed.
The best and kindest plan would be to have an explanation with
the dead person, to enquire what he wants and why he raakes
such persistent atterapts. Quite probably, he may be some igno
rant soul who does not at all comprehend his new surround
ings, and is striving madly to get into touch again with the
only kind of life that he understands. In that case if matters
are explained to him, he may be brought to a happier frame of
mind and induced to cease his ill-directed efforts. Or the
poor creature raay have something on his mind — some duty
unfulfilled or some wrong unrighted; if this be so, and the mat
ter can be arranged to his satisfaction, he may then be at
peace. If, however, he proves not to be amenable to reason, if in
spite of all argument and explanation he refuses to abandon
his reprehensible line of action, it will be necessary gently
but firmly to resist him. Every man has an inalienable right
to the use of his own vehicle, and encroachments of this nature
should not be permitted. If the lawful possessor of the body
will confidently assert himself and use his own will-power no
obsession can take place.
When such things occur, it is almost always because the victim
has in the first place yielded hiraself to the invading influence,
and his first step therefore is to reverse that act of submission,
to determine strongly to take matters into his own hands again
and to resume control over his property. It is this reassertion
of hiraself that is the fundamental requirement, and though
much help may be given by wise friends, nothing which they
can do will take the place of the development of will-power on
the part of the victim, or obviate the necessity for it. The
exact method of procedure will naturally vary according to the
details of the case.
The second question runs thus: "I have long been troubled
by entities who constantly suggest evil ideas and make use of
coarse and violent language. They are always urging me to
take strong drink, and goading me on to the consumption of

OBSESSION AND INSANITY 237
large quantities of meat. I have prayed earnestly, but with
little avail, and am driven to my wits' end. What can I do?"
You have indeed suffered greatly; but now you must make up
your mind to suffer no more. You must take courage and
make a firm stand. The power of these dead people over you
is only in your fear of them. Your own will is stronger than
all theirs combined if you will only know that it is; if you turn
upon them with vigor and determination they must yield be
fore you. You have an inalienable right to the undisturbed
use of your own vehicles, and you should insist on being left in
peace. You would not tolerate an intrusion of filthy and dis
gusting beings into your house on the physical plane; why
should you submit to it because the entities happen to be astral?
If an indolent tramp forces himself into a man's house, the
owner does not kneel down and pray — he kicks the tramp out;
and that is precisely what you must do with these astral tramps.
You will no doubt say to yourself that when I give you this
advice I do not know the terrible power of the particular
demons who are afflicting you. That is exactly what they would
like you to believe — what they will try to make you believe;
but do not be so foolish and as listen to them. I know the type
perfectly, and mean, despicable, bullying villains they are;
they will torraent a weak woraan for months together, but will
fly in cowardly terror the moment you tum upon them in
righteous anger! I should just laugh at thera, but I would
drive them out, and hold not a moment's parley with them.
Of course they will bluster and show flght, because you have
let them have their own way for so long that they will not
tamely submit to expulsion; but face thera with iron deterraina-
tion, set your will against them like an immovable rock, and
down they will go. Say to them: "I am a spark of the divine
fire, and by the power of the God within me I order you to
depart!" Never let yourself think for an instant of the possi
bility! of failure or of yielding; God is within you, and God
cannot fail.
The fact of their demanding meat shows what low and coarse
entities they are; you should avoid all flesh-food and alcohol,
because these things minister to such evil beings and make
'it more difficult for you to resist them.
The third question is: "If it is possible for a man to become
obsessed while he has temporarily lost control of his body
during a fit of anger, is it not also possible for obsession to
take place when one is out of the body during sleep?"

238 THE INNER LIFE
I would submit that the circumstances are entirely different.
Sleep is a natural condition, and though the ego leaves the
body, he always maintains a close connection with it, so that
under ordinary circurastances he would quickly be recalled to
it by any attempt that might be made upon it. There are
individual cases in which the ego is not so easily recalled, and
a sort of temporary obsession is possible which may cause
soranarabulisra, but these cases are abnormal and comparatively
rare. A fit of anger on the other hand is unnatural — an in
fraction Pf the natural laws under which we live. In this
case it is the astral which has escaped from control; the desire-
elemental has rebelled against his raaster and has broken away
from the hold of the ego exercised through the mental body,
which alone keeps him safe as part of an astral mechanism.
The rightful owner being dispossessed, the astral body is in
the condition of a vessel whose helm has been abandoned; any
one who happens to be at hand can seize the wheel, and it may
be a difflcult matter to recover it.

SLEEP
1 am asked what is the real cause of sleep.
I have not the detailed physiological knowledge which is
needed to answer this question fully. But I have always under
stood that the necessity of sleep is due to the fact that the bodies
grow tired of one another. The astral vehicle, which so far
as we know is practically incapable of fatigue upon its own
plane, since it can work incessantly for twenty years without
showing signs of it, very soon becomes tired of the heavy
labour of moving the particles of the physical brain, and needs
a considerable period of separation frora it to enable it to
gather strength to resume the irksome task.
The physical body, on one side, also becomes worn out, because
while it is in a waking condition it is always spending force
a little faster than it can draw it in. With every thought or
feeling, and with every muscular exertion, certain slight chemi
cal changes appear to take place. The ordinary m.achinery
of a healthy body is all the while working to counteract this
change and to restore the condition previously existing, but in

SLEEP 239
this it never quite succeeds. So that with every thought or ac
tion there is a slight, almost imperceptible loss, and the cumu
lative effect eventually leaves the physical body too exhausted
to be capable of further thought or work. In sorae cases even
a few moments of sleep will give the recuperative powers an
opportunity to reassert themselves and regain the ground that
they have lost, thus restoring the balance sufficiently to enable
the machine to go on working.
Students often ask what is the best time for sleep. Unques
tionably the rule of nature is that the day is for work and
the night is for rest, and no infringement of nature's laws
can ever be a good thing. One of the serious evils of our
modern unnatural life is that noon is no longer, as it should be,
the centre of the day. If a man lived by himself and could
regulate his own affairs he could, no doubt, return at once to
that obviously natural condition; but, surrounded as we are
by a mighty so-called civilization which is in many ways dis
torted and unnatural, we are unable to follow our individual
predilections in this matter, and must to some extent adapt
ourselves to the general custom, evil though it be.
It is impossible to lay down rules as to the amount of sleep
which is necessary for man, because there is so much difference
in constitutions; but when it is possible that sleep should be
taken between 8 p. m. and 5 A. M. Some men need the whole
of that time, while others raay find themselves perfectly healthy
on a smaller allowance. Such details of life each man must
decide for himself according to his circumstances.
People often ask whether there is any way in which they can
control their dreams. The dreamer cannot usually change the
course of his dream while it is going on; but the dream-life can
indirectly be controlled to a very considerable extent. If a
man's thought be pure and high while waking, his dreams
will be pure and good also, and a specially important point is
that his last thought as he sinks to sleep should be a noble and
elevating one, since that strikes the keynote which largely de
termines the nature of the dreams which follow. An evil or
impure thought draws round the thinker evil and impure in
fluences, attracts to him all the gross and loathsome creatures
who come near him. These will, in turn, react upon his mind
and his astral body, and disturb his rest by awakening all kinds
of low and earthly desires. If, on the other hand, a man
enters the portals of sleep with his mind fixed upon high

240 THE INNER LIFE
and holy t'hings, he thereby draws round him the elementals
created by like efforts in others; his rest is peaceful, his
mirid open to impressions from above and closed to those: from
below, for he has set it working in the right direction.
The dreaming of ordinary events does not interfere with astral
work, because that dreaming is all taking place in the physical
brain, while the real raan is away attending to other business.
Of course if the man, when out in his astral body, devotes
himself to thinking over the events of his physical life, he will
be unable during the time of such thought to do any other work,
but that is a totally different thing from a mere ordinary
dream of the physical brain, though when the man wakes in the
morning it is frequently difficult for him to distinguish be
tween the two sets of recollections. It really does not matter
what the physical brain does so long as it keeps itseK free from
impure thoughts, but it is undesirable that the man himseK
should waste his time in introspection when he might be work
ing on the astral plane.

SOMNAMBULISM
You ask what is the cause of sleep-walking. I have never
had the opportunity of observing a case of somnambulism, so
I am unable to speak from direct knowledge; but from reading
accounts of such cases I should imagine that the phenomena
may be produced by several widely different causes. There are
instances in which it appears that the ego is able to act more
directly upon his physical body during the absence of the
intermediate mental and astral vehicles — instances in which a
man during his sleep is able to write poetry or to paint pic
tures which would be far beyond his powers when awake.
There are other cases in which it is obvious that the dim
consciousness inherent in the physical body is working uncon
trolled by the man himself, so that it performs quite meaning
less acts, or carries out to some extent the idea which was
dominant in the mind before falling asleep. To this class be
long the stories of servants who have risen in the middle of
the night to light the fire, of ostlers who have harnessed horses
in their sleep, and so on.

THE PHYSICAL BODY 241
Again, there are cases in which some outside intelligence,
whether incarnate or discarnate, has seized upon the body of
a deeping man and used it for his own ends. This would be
most likely to happen with a person who is what is called
mediumistic — that is to say, whose principles are more loosely
joined together than usual, and therefore more readily sep
arable; but oddly enough there seems to be a type of somnam
bulism which is due to a directly opposite condition, when the
principles fit more tightly than usual, so that when the man
would naturally visit some neighboring spot in his astral body,
he takes the physical body along with him as well, because he
is not wholly dissociated from it. Somnambulisra is probably
also connected with the whole complex problem of the various
layers of consciousness in man, which under perfectly normal
circumstances are unable to manifest themselves.

THE PHYSICAL BODY.
Physical immortality is not a possibility, for that which has
a beginning must also have an end, and birth, growth, decay
and death are the rules of the physical universe. No reasonable
being could desire to retain tbe same body continuously; it is
precisely as thbugh a small child should wish to wear the
same suit of clothes during the whole of his life. As man
evolves, his successive vehicles will become purer and nobler,
and better fitted to meet the needs of his increasing capacity,
so that even if a man could keep the same body he would check
his growth by doin^ so, just as the child's gro'wth would be
checked by always wearing something of iron rigidity which
was much too tight for him.
At the same time it is our duty to take the best possible care
of our bodies and to improve them as much as we can. Never
ill-treat the physical body. Take care of it as you would of
a valuable horse, giving it enough rest and food, and keeping
it scrupulously clean. It can do only a certain amount of work;
for example, a very strong body might walk a hundred miles
without resting, but it could not walk a thousarid. In meditation
put it into a comfortable position and then forget about it.
You cannot forget it if it is uncomfortable, as it would con
stantly call you back.

242 THE INNER LIFE
What should you eat? Well, so long as you avoid alcohol
and corpse-eating it probably does not matter very much. Cer
tain vegetables are coarser than others, and therefore when
there is a choice it is as well to abstain from them. Among
those I should class onions, mushrooms and cabbages. Rice
is very pure food, but wheat, barley and oats give more nutri
ment in the same amount. I consider eggs undesirable, though
I should unhesitatingly take them if no other food was to be
had. There is no sort of question that vegetarianism is better
in every way than the devouring of flesh. It furnishes more
real nutriment, diminishes the liability to disease, gives greater
strength, and does not stiraulate the lower nature. The vege
tarian diet makes it far easier for a man to develope his higher
qualities. It is known that our Masters make a single physi
cal body last much longer than an ordinary man can do, by
living always in accordance with hygienic laws and by abso
lute freedom from worry. In that respect we should all try
to copy them as nearly as we can, but to endeavour to retain
the s^me body indefinitely has always been a mark of those
who follow the selfish path.
There are various undesirable means by which such men
have prolonged physical life — sometimes by vampirism, merely
depleting the vitality of others, and sometimes by the coraplete
transference to themselves of a succession of other human lives.
But it is hardly necessary to warn Theosophists against pro
ceedings of this nature. It is obvious^ that a person adopting
such a plan would be one who is not evolving; and even if he
succeeded he would only be as it were patching and enlarging
an old coat, but with all his efforts it would remain an old coat
stiU.

TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL
The evil effect of the tobacco habit is obvious in the physi
cal, the astral and the mental bodies. It permeates the man
physically with exceedingly impure particles, causing emana
tions so material that they are frequently perceptible to the
sense of smell. Astrally, it not only introduces impurity, but
it also tends to deaden many of the vibrations, and it is for this

TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL 243
reason that it is frequently found to "soothe the nerves," as it
is called. But, of course, for occult progress we do not want
the vibrations deadened nor the astral body weighed down with
foul and poisonous particles. We need the capacity of an
swering instantly to all possible vibrations, and yet at the same
time we must have perfect control, so that these desires shall
be as horses guided by the intelligent mind to draw us where we
will, not to run away with us wildly, and carry us into situations
where our higher nature knows that it ought never to be found.
Therefore, for any person who is really anxious to develope his
vehicles, tobacco is undoubtedly a bad thing.
Also it has a singularly deteriorating influence upon the raan
on the physical plane. It is absolutely the only thing, so far
as I know, that a gentleman will deliberately do when he knows
it to be offensive to others. But the hold which this noxious
habit gains upon its slaves appears to be so great that they
are utterly incapable of resisting it, and all their gentlemanly
instincts are forgotten in this mad and horrible selflshness. The
effect on the astral body after death is also very bad; the man"
is shut up for a long time as though in prison, and higher
vibrations cannot reach him.
The chief objection which is always brought by the more
self-indulgent Theosophist against reraarks such as these is
that our great founder Madame Blavatsky herself smoked.
I know this to be true, but it does not in the least alter the
facts which I have stated above, which I know just as surely
from long-continued pers'onal observation. Madame Blavatsky
was in every way so entirely sui generis, so emphatically a
case apart, that I do not think it reasonable for us to presume
that we can safely do what she did. I have often heard her
say: "No one but my Master understands my case; do what
I tell you, not what I do." Also she once told me that she
smoked incessantly "to quiet the •vibrations of this old body,
and prevent it from shaking itself to pieces." The effects on
the physical plane during life and on the astral after death are
precisely as I have described them, and it does not seem worth
while incurring them for the sake of a petty indulgence.
I think that Mrs. Besant's remarks about alcohol in Man and
his Bodies are fully j'ustifled. There is no doubt whatever
that from the point of view of the astral and mental bodies
its use is always an evil; and there is also no dpubt at all that
very undesirable entities are attracted' by it. Of course many

244 THE INNER LIFE
people who are estimable in other respects have certain most
unpleasant habits, such as the drinking of alcohol, the eating
of meat or the smoking of tobacco; but the fact that they
are otherwise good people does not make these things good
and sensible. It is, of course, untrue that any of these things
are physical necessities, but a man may accustom his system to
the use of almost any kind of drug, until that system, being
habituated to it, expects it and misses it if it does not get it.
We know that exactly the same habit may be set up with opium
and arsenic, but that does not make opium and arsenic good
things to take. It is, however, generally quite useless to attempt
to argue with any man as to his personal habits; he is usually
determined to cling to such habits because he likes thera, and
he cares very little whether they are good in themselves, or
even good for him.
You ask my opinion about the regulation of the sale of liquor.
In all civilized countries some control is exercised over the
sale of poisons, and they are allowed to be supplied only upon
a doctor's certiflcate. The poison of alcohol does many thou
sands of times raore harm than all other poisons put together,
so surely the regulations governing its sale ought to be no less
strict. It is perfectly true that every man will have to develope seK-
control for himself, but I really do not see how that affects our
attitude with regard to the making of laws. You surely would
not suggest that in order to teach people not to steal, we
should continually at every street corner throw in their way
special temptations to induce them to steal, and then stand
by without any interference to see whether they would de
velope sufficient strength of mind to resist our temptations.
Yet that is exactly what is now being done with regard to
the consumption of alcohol. We allow, encourage and specially
license a number of men to make a tempting display in our
streets with the avowed object of trying to induce as many
people as possible to degrade theraselves by the habitual use
of this poison. If at last mankind is so far evolving as to de
velope sorae sort of conscience with regard to the weaker
brethren, it would seem well for us to encourage their advance
ment rather than to range ourselves against it. If we feel it
right to care for and to help the insane, even to the extent
of restraining them for their own good and for that of the
public, it is surely well for us also to treat the victim of that

TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL 245
terrible form of insanity known as drunkenness along exactly
the same lines. But it must not be forgotten that the Theo
sophical Society takes no part whatever in any political move
ment, although of course its members as private individuals
are perfectly free to take any side that they like in political
questions.

INDEX

Accident, effect of, on astral plane,
216.
Achievement, without helping others,
53.
Adept, deflnition of, 15; not ambi
tious, 143; removing suffering, 171;
use of term, 14; future, 153.
Adeptship and rebirth, 54; attain
ment of, 45.
Adi-Buddha, 83.
Advanced people, simple in habits,
134.
Advantages of travel, 124.
Advice, astral, 32.
Adyar, no resistance to thought forms
in, 179.
Affection, double result of, 5.
Agni, invocation to, 100.
Agrae, mysteries of, 59.
Akoustikoi, or hearers, 65.
Alcohol, drinking, 135; effect of, on
atomic web, 231; evil of, 243; regu
lation of, 244; use of, and obses
sion, 237.
Alcyone, seventeenth life of, 174.
Alone in space, 212.
Ambition, intensification of, 227.
Ambitious, adept cannot be, 143 ; man,
condition of, 61.
Ananda, disciple of Buddha, 85.
Anger, obsession during fit of, 237.
Animals, attaining individuality, 53;
carnivorous,- 149 ; cruelty to, 148 ;
destruction to be avoided, 150; do
mestic, to be trained, 148; entering
human kingdom, 203; fear of, for

man, 150; ill-treatment of, 148; in
Atlantean days, 149; individualiz
ing, 149; in Lemuria, 149; not to
develope ferocity in, 148; our duty
to, 147; slaughter of, for food, 150;
work of Atlanteans for, 149.
Annihilation, Nirvana not, 81.
Apollonius of Tyana, 11, 17.
Apophthegms of the raysteries, 58.
Apostles, the twelve, 90.
Apotheosis of humanity, 72.
Arhat, 45.
Arhatship, 45.
Ariadne, myth of, 59.
Aryans, 101.
Aryasangha, 123.
Asceticism, 132; meaning of word,
133 ; of black magician, 214.
Asekha, achievement of, 4 ; conscious
ness of the, 15.
Aspiration, 130.
Association, with Masters, 23, 25;
with teachers, 24.
Astral Advice, 32.
Astral Bodies, effect of interpenetra
tion of, 178; pass through each
other, 177.
Astral Body, after death, 199; and
evil qualities, 128; and good quali
ties, 128; appearance of, with clair
voyant vision, 196; col6urs in, 137;
during life, 200; effect of irri
tation on, 139; effect of tobacco on,
243; has no sense of touch, 177;
has no sense .organs, 193, 224; in
capable of fatigue, 238; in concen
tric shells, 178; influence of thought
upon, 194; need not eat, 195; re-

248

THE INNER LIFE

suit of shock to, 231; retains its
form, 193 ; seen clairvoyantly, 138 ; ,
sense organs in, 200; shelling of,
178; symbolized by fawn skin, 59;
vibrations in, 137; what it ought
to be, 137; working of senses in,
223.
Astral Centres, 221.
Astral Consciousness, 216.
Astral Counterpart, 175, 176; of
physical body, 193, 194.
Astral Disturbance, causing nervous
troubles, 138.
Astral Effect of cry, 216.
Astral Inflammation, 139.
Astral Matter, attraction for physi
cal, 192; corresponds to physical,
176; drawn round himself by de
scending ego, 192; luminosity of,
178; never solid, 177, 193.
Astral Objects, moving of, 194.
Astral Palsy, 138.
Astral Plane, 50; accident on, 178;
currents on, 178; effect of action
seen on, 201; extends to Moon's or
bit, 173; gravitation on, 174, 5; in
terpenetration of raatter on, 178;
its extent, 172; liability to error on,
50; light frora Sun on, 178; pene
trability of, 177; reflection of the
buddhic, 170; service on, 179; sixth
and seventh sub-planes of, 174;
tests applied on, 51 ; the astral body
of the earth, 172; the world of illu
sion, 50; twenty-flve years on, 195.
Astral Pressure, 175.
Astral Revelations, 30, 31.
Astral Sight, development of, 161,
Astral Teachers, 30.
Astral Tramps, 237.
Astral Vibrations, communicated,
138.

Astral Work, effect of atmospheric
and climatic conditions on, 179.
-Astral World, never dark, 178.
Athanasian creed, 169.
Athlete, disciple analogous to, 47.
Atlanteans, knowledge of, 105.
Atlantis, animals in, 149.
Atomic sub-planes, impressions be
tween, 233.
Atomic web, 231; effect of coffee on,
,232; effect of tea on, 232; injury
to, 231, 232.
Atoms, permanent, 44; permanent,
astral, mental, 128; the four per
manent, 170.
Attainment of perfection, 52.
Attitude toward children, our, 151.
Augoeides, of Masters, 168.
Aura, colours of, 101.
Auric egg, 170.
Austerity, of the mind, 136; unin
telligent, 133.
Avalokiteshwara, '83.
Avitchi, 213.

B.

Bacchus, toys of, 68; worship of, 57.
Balance, 160.
Baptism, 205.
Belief in ceremonial one of the fet
ters, 193; real, depends on knowl
edge, 38, 92.
Besant, Mrs., Masters speaking
through, 25 ; on alcohol, 243 ; quoted,
48, 147; saving her present Teach
er's life, 30.
Betrayal of secrets, 54.
Bhagavad Gita, quoted, 49, 72, 133,
136.
Bhur, Bhuvar, Svar, ceremony de
scribed, 99.

INDEX

249

Bible, Christian, 87, 90.
Bigotry, in Christian Church utilised,
116.
Black magician, 97, 98, 212, 214.
Blavatsky, Madame, 7, 14, 39; and
smoking, 243; quoted, 49; on auric
egg, 170; on force centres, 217; on
pineal gland, 222; on Spiritualism,
102.
Blind faith, 89.
Bodhisattva, work of the, 6, 83.
Bodies, fourth round, 48; inner, of
the Buddha, 79.
Body, astral, colours in, 196; not sus
ceptible to fatigue, 195; permanent
colour in, means persistent vibra
tion, 196.
Body, causal, 197; shows man's stage,
197; thought or feeling that can
produce an effect in, 197; used by
adept, 197.
Body, pituitary, 222.
Body, physical, 241; care of, 241.
Bodhi tree, 100.
Book, oldest in the world, 105.
Books, not perfect, 118.
Brahmajala Sutta, 81.
Brahmans, 75.
Brain, cells, and corresponding astral
and mental matter, 235; in sleep,
240.
Brotherhood, 111, 202; Himalayan or
Thibetan, 3; of the T. S., 11; the,
54; Great White, 3, 5, 11, 27, 41,
46, 63, 97, 116, 138, 214.
Brothers not equal, 112.
Brutality, casual, 201.
Buddha, a, 7, 74.
Buddha and Ananda, 171.
Buddha, initiation of the, 7.
Buddha, the Lord Gautama, 7, 74;

aura of, 77; affirras the ego, 80;
advice of, about Absolute, 98; inner.
bodies of, 79; numerous arhats of,
78; of the fourth race, 78; person
ality of, 77 ; preaching of, 77 ; teach
ers contemporaneous with, 86;
teaching of, 75, 98, 143.
Buddhas, 167; before Gautama, 7;
future, 153.
Buddhi, on nirvanic plane, 169.
Buddhic consciousness, 170, 171; emo
tions reflected in astral, 160.
Buddhic plane, 173; body being
formed on, 113 ; functioning on, 170 ;
gaining experience of others on,
171; its extent, 173; reflected in
astral, 170.
Buddhic vehicle, 45.
Buddhism, 74; a living influence, 79;
coramon sense of, 76; effect of, on
Hinduism, 77; mnemonics of, 76;
Northern and Southern, 79; not a
new religion, 74; the best books
on, 79.
Building up individuality, 37.

C.

California, development of clairvoy
ance in, 179.
Carelessness of ego, 212.
Carnivorous mamraalia, 149.
Castes, 75, 101; why colours attrib
uted to, 101.
Casual brutality, 201.
Cataclysms, 97.
Causal Body, 18, 41, 45; building
qualities into, 128; constitution of,
206; hardening of, 215; has three
parts, 207; loss of, 215.
Centre of my circle, 144.
Centres, astral, 221; of force, 217;

250

THE INNER LIFE

of force, effect of arousing, 221,
223.
Ceremonial, 93; reliance on, one
of the fetters, 93.
Ceremonies, effective and ineffective,
99.
Certainty of ultimate good, 36.
Chain, one buddhic body for, 173.
Chakrams, the seven, 1 217.
Change, fear of, 47.
Changing World, The, 16.
Character, formation of, 43.
Charity, 120.
Children not easily obsessed, 234;
old souls in new bodies, 151; of the
flre-mist, 6; our attitude towards,
151.
Christ, advent of the, 16, 17, 79, 114;
and St. John, 171; explaining para
bles to disciples, 56; inner bodies
of, 79; on seonian condemnation,
202; teaching of, 150; the Lord
Maitreya, 8; work of the, 15.
Christian Church and Gnostic wri
ters, 56; divisions of, 87; mysteries
in, 55; philosophy of, 87.
Christian Creed, The, 66.
Christian, monks destroying manu
scripts, 56; scriptures, contradic
tions in, 87.
Christianity, choice of a sect, 87;
magic in, 93; Theosophy explains,
89; Theosophy not opposed to, 86;
variants of, 87.
Christs, 167.
Church, Fathers, 57; Roman Cath
olic, 92.
Circle, centre of my, 144.
City of the Golden Gate, 106.
Clairvoyant magniflcation, 224.
Coffee, effect of, on atomic web, 232.
Colours, in the astral body, 196.

Colour prejudice, 122.
Common Sense, 111 ; of Buddhism, 76.
Confucius, 86.
Consciousness, astral and mental,
216; buddhic, includes that of oth
ers, 170, 171; development of, 36,
186; focus of, 216; each a centre of,
167; identifl.cation with animals,
158; identifying the, with plant
and animal life, 158; layers of, in
somnambulism, 241; of ego, cen
tre of, passes to higher planes, 169;
one only, 183; raising the, to ego,
44; rending veil between stages of,
186; three possibilities of moving,
74.
Consecration of the host, 93.
Consummation, flnal, 165.
Continuity of purpose in future lives,
44.
Control, of body, 133; of mind, 159;
of passions, 201; of thought, 161.
' Co-operation, 153.
Corpse eating, 242.
Cosmic influences, 106.
Counterpart, astral, 176; mental
plane, connection with, 73.
Counterparts, 192.
Co-woRKERS with the Masters, 11.
Creed, Athanasian, 169.
Creeds, rational interpretation of, 87.
Critical points in evolution, 41.
Criticism, 120; of self, 121; real
raeaning of, 121; the higher, 89;
when useless, 121.
Cromwell, Oliver, 121.
Crookes, lemniscates of, 175.
Cross, the Greek, 104; the Latin, 104;
the Maltese, 104; symbolism of the,
104, 219.
Crucibles, disciples are, 48.

INDEX

251

Cruelty, effect of, 201; to animals,
- 148.
Crustaceans, mental, 47.
Cry, astral effect of, 216.
Curiosity, a disease, 126.
Currents, astral, 178.
D.
Damnation, aeonian, 205.
Danger, of experiment, 228; of in
discriminate psychic development,
33.
Day of life, a, 164.
Dead, the, in heaven life, 174; on as
tral, 174.
Death, a temporary absence, 152;
fear of, 152; loss of matter after,
199; not a loss, 152.
Decad, perfect man a, 52.
Deities, images of Indian, 98.
Deity, all prayers reach, 95.
Demons, cowardly, 237.
Depression, 136; cause of, 190; ef
fect of, on meditation; 34; to be
disregarded, 131.
Descent into matter, the, 35.
Desertion, result of, 116.
Desire, killing out, 142, 155; on as
tral plane, 195; purification of, 143.
Desire-elemental, 198; action of, on
astral body after death, 196; action
of, on higher bodies, 200; afraid of
dissolution, 199; exact copy of as
tral body of last life, 199; not
yourself, 199.
Desires, transmutation of, 143.
Destruction, not evil, 97.
Deterioration of character due to
hardening of atoraic web, 232.
Devas, 108; illumination from, 160.
Development, certain for all, 41;

doctrine of, 92; of astral sight, 161;
of consciousness, 36, 186 ; of faculty,
40; of win, 159; psychic, 33; sit
ting for, 231; unequal, 197.
Devil, the, 96; pacts with, 96; per
sonations of, 96.
Devotion, double result of, 5.
Diamond, Jubilee, the, 115.
Difficulties of discipleship, 48, 9.
Dimension, the fourth, 107.
Dimensions, many, 173.
Disciple, full of joy, 48.
Disciples, crucibles of nature, 48
persecution of, 49.
Discipleship, difficulties of, 48, 49
three stages of, 26.
Discomfort, no merit in, 135, 136
when raay have use, 135.
Discrimination, 121.
Diseases, nervous, 138.
Dislike, trifling causes of, 124.
Distrust born of ignorance, 124.
Doctrine of development, 92.
Door, shutting of the, into huraanity,
203.
Dreaming and astral work, 240.
Dreams, control of, 239.
Drones, useless, 204.
Drunkard, condition of, 61.
Drunkeness, effects of, 232; is in
sanity, 244.
Dryness, spiritual, 156.
Duties, not rights, 120.
Duty, of happiness, 136; of silence,
127; to animals, 147.
Dzyan, Book of, 104, 105, 185.
Dzyan, Stanzas of, 91.

E.

Earth, centre of, and the sun, 175;
conditions in interior of, 174; evolu-

252

THE INNER LIFE

tion in interior of, 174; forces
through concentric layers of, 175;
no central shaft through, 175.
Eat, what we should, 242.
Effort, never lost, 155.
Egg, the auric, 170.
Ego, action of Master on, 188; activi
ties of, on own plane, 186; ad
vanced, inconsiderate of his body,
189; affirmed by the Buddha, 80;
and his vehicles, 181; and raonad,
168; and personality, 161, 183; and
personality, channel between, 190;
appeal to, by repentance, 208; at
tention of, drawn in meditation,
188; building theosophical ideas
into, 155; calling the attention of
the, 191; carelessness of, 212; con
sciousness of, as a conscious entity,
184; constitution of, 169; control of,
over fraction in personality, 206;
co-operation of, with personality,
190; descending into lower matter,
205; does not absolutely exist, 81;
effect on, by meditation and study,
188; entanglement in lower mat
ter, 207 et seq.; gaining experience
from personality, 211; glimpse
gained by, of past and future in
carnations, 184, 190; grasp by, of
personality, 187; growth of, under
influence of Master, 187; his con
trol, 206; hope of, 197; how to bring
down, 191; in brutally selflsh men,
208; in cases of insanity, 234; in
considerate of body, 189; in early
stages, 18; in materialistic raen
207; in raeditation, 161; in sleep,
238; in somnambulism, 240; knowl
edge of Master by, 191; loss by, of
causal body, 215; loss of personal
ity by, 211; Masters' influence upon.

18; no lower qualities in, 128; not
to be judged by personality, 189;
on his own plane, 184, 186, 190;
only partially expressed in physical,
184; ousted in obsession, 234; out
of current of evolution, 212 ; putting
forth into personality described,
207; raising the consciousness to
the, 44; reaching up of, 188; shut
out from personality, 205; special
interest of, in personality, 188;
stages of response to consciousness
by, 185; the baby, 41; the spiritual
triad, 169; the yoga of an, 161;
throws himself back, 213 ; wants es
sence of experience, 191; watchful
ness of, during physical life, 190;
when gains memory of past lives,
186; will come down to help, 191;
withdrawal of, from astral after
death, 200; withdrawal of, into
higher planes, 169; work during
heaven-life, 191; work of, on own
plane, 190.
Egos, proportion of successful, 52.
Eight-fold path, the noble, 77.
Eighth sphere, 213.
Electricity, a force of the Logos,
225.
Elemental, physical, in chUdren, 234;
the desire, 198.
Elemental Essence, see Desire Ele
mental; does not know man, 198;
duty to, 149; evolution for, 198; in
stinct of, 198.
Elementals, drawn around body in
sleep, 240.
Elements, new, manufacture of, 175.
Emanation, by the Logos, reason for,
36; from the Divine, 35.
Emotion, effect of, 138.
Enlarging the self, 42.

INDEX

253

Entities, astral, accepting teaching
from, 32; astral, ready to give
teaching, 30; pacts with, 96.
Epoptai, 62.
Esoteric section, 66.
Eternal justice, 76.
Etheric pressure, 175.
Evil, balanced with good, 209; de
struction not, 97; effect of, on high
er matter, 209; entities suggesting
evil, 236; forebodings of, 140; force
of, relatively to good, 209; inevit
ably transient, 36, 38; matter not,
97; meaning of, 97; motives, attri
bution of, 123; no hierarchy of, 97;
persistence in, 211; readiness to be
lieve, 122; makes vibrations in
coarse raatter, 209.
Evolution, delay in, 204; from the
Divine, 35; of ^he world, 116; slow,
209; three critical points in, 41;
what it is, 37.
Evolutionary period, middle of, 52.
Evolutions, in earth's interior, 174.
Evolved and unevolved man, differ
ence in appearance between, on as
tral plane, 196.
Experience, 171; not necessary for
ego to go through every, 171; of
personality, given to ego, 211; of
others, gained on buddhic level, 171.
Experiment, dangers of, 228.
Extremes, irrational, 76.

F.

Faculty, development of, 40.
Failure, impossibility of, 44.
Failures of the fifth round, 202, 203;
of the moon chain, 52.
Falling in love, 144.
Faith, blind, 89.

Fates, possible, of soul, 215.
Fathers, Church, 57.
Fatigue, astral and raental, 195; no
astral, 238.
Fawn, skin of a, dress in mysteries,
59.
Fear, of change, 47; of death, 152;
permits obsession, 237.
Feelings, do not raatter, 156; per
sonal, 141.
Fetters, the ten great, 45.
Fiery power, 226.
Fifth race quality, 121.
Fifth round, failures of, 202, 203.
Fire, 108; the sacred, 108.
Fire-mist, children of the, 6.
Flame, Lords of the, 6, 19.
Fleece, the Golden, symbol of mind
body, 62.
Foci in the Logos, 106.
Focus of consciousness, 216.
Force, effect of good, 129.
Force Centres, correspondence of, to
astral centres, 221; correspondence
of, tb colour and rausic, 217; effect
of force in, 218 et seq.; not moral
qualities, 220; position of, 217; re
semblance to flowers of, 218.
Forces of the Logos, 218, 226.
Forebodings of evil, 140.
Formation of character, 43.
Founding of the sixth root race, 113.
Four, Gospels, the, 90; noble Truths,
76.
Fourth dimension, 107.
Free will, use by raan of, 202.
Freedom of will, 37.
Friendships, special, 86.
Fussing over trifles, 141.
Future lives, continuity of purpose
in, 44.

254

THE INNER LIFE

G.

H.

Gautama, the Lord, 7, 8, 74; affirras
the ego, 80; inner bodies of, 79;
nuraerous arhats of, 78; the aura
of, 77; the preaching of, 77; the
teaching of, 75, 98.
Geometry, 64, 65.
Gnosis, the, 88.
Gnostic doctors or teachers, 87;
quoted, 35.
God, 71, 72; immanence of, 71; per
sonal, 71; three persons in one, 169.
Gods in Hinduism, 98.
Golden, fleece, the, ,62; Gate, .city of
the, 106.
Good, all things working for, 36; al
ways used, 16; more fertile than
evil, 129.
Gospel, quoted, 205.
Gospels, the four, 90.
Gossip, evil effect of, 126, 139.
Government, duty of the, 120.
Gravitation on the astral plane, 174,
175.
Great Angels, 167.
Great Bird, symbolism of, 105.
Great Ones, 167; all-round develop
raent of, 12; as channels of light
and life, 167; in nirvana, 167.
Great Soul, merging into, 165.
Great White Brotherhood, 3, 5, 11,
27, 41, 66, 97, 116, 214.
Greater mysteries, 57.
Greece, mysteries of, 55, 57.
Greek, cross, 104; religion, 60.
Group, meetings, 162; souls. Masters'
influence upon, 18.

Hall, of ignorance, 50; of learning,
51; of wisdom, 51.
Happiness, a duty, 136; mental, 1*36;
perpetual, l31, 132.
Hathayogapradipika, 228.
Hatha yogi, 136.
Hearers, 65.
Heart, symboUsm of, 105.
HEAVEN-life, position in, 174; re
nouncing, 45.
Hell, ideas of, superstitious, 152.
Help, to living and dead, 161; to the
sick, 161.
Helpers, invisible, 19, 178; mistaken
for saints, 96.
Helpfulness, the keynote of, 119.
Helping the world, 53, 119.
Hermes, 7; Lord Buddha as, 74.
Hermit, life of the, 24.
Hierarchy, Head of the, 6, 27, 105;
of evil, no, 97; plans of, 51; offices
in the, 6; the Great, 147; the occult,
5, 11, 74.
Higher, criticism, the, 89; IKe for
the man in the world, 76; planes,
73, 163; self, activity of, 131, 183;
self, and lower, 183.
Hinayana and Mahayana, 82.
Hinduism, 98 ; effect of Buddhism on,
77; Lord Buddha as reformer of,
74; rigidity of, 75; rites and cere
monies of, 99.
Holy places, 18.
Host, consecration of the, 93.
Householder, every, a priest, 99.
Humanity, the Logos as apotheosis
of, 72; the great orphan, 154.
Humour, necessity of, 14.

INDEX

255

Hunger, physical craving of, on as
tral plane, 195.
Hymn, Christian, quoted, 53.

I.

Iamblichus, 56.
Idyll of the White Lotus, 11.
Ignorance breeds distrust, 124.
Illumination, from higher self, 160;
three kinds of, 160.
Illusion of astral world, 50.
"Image, The Living," 22.
Images, magnetized, 98.
Immanence of God, 71.
Immortality, physical, not a possi-
' bility, 241.
Impermanence of personality, 81.
Impossibility of failure, 44.
Impure thought, effect of, 239.
Incarnation a failure, in one type
of insanity, 235.
Incarnations, seven hundred and
seventy-seven, 43.
Incubus of war, 114.
Individualization of animals, 53.
Individuality, 41; a delusion, 166;
and the monad, 37; building of, 37;
no loss of, in nirvana, 165; of
monad, 168.
Inflammation, astral, 139.
Influences, cosmic, 106; planetary,
157.
Initiates, 15 ; inequality of, 55 ; recog
nition by each other, 54.
Initiation, 27; secrets of, impossi
ble to reveal, 54; the flrst, 41.
Initiation^, key to the true, 66 ; steps
on the Path, 26.
Insane, the, out of the body, 235.
Insanity, break between ego and his

vehicles in, 234; forms of, 235; one
cause of, 231.
Inspiration, moments of, 131.
Interior of the earth, 174.
Introspection, during astral life,
240; morbid, 127, 129.
Intrusion upon Masters, 94.
Invisible helpers, 19, 178; mistaken
for saints, 96.
Invisible Helpers, 66, 217.
Invocation to Agni, 100.
Irritability, cure of, 43.
Italy, old religions in, 84.

J.

Jason, golden fleece of, 62.
Jesus, 8, 90; not iUegitiraate, 90;
later Apollonius of Tyana, 11; later
Ramanujacharya. 11.
Joy of discipleship, 48, 49.
Jubilee, the Diamond, 115.
Jungle, purposes of retirement to, 24.
Justice, eternal, 76.

K.

Kama, to be killed out, 142.
Karma, balancing, 46, 54; effects of,
seen on astral, 201; of sending evil
thoughts, 126 ; preparing, for future
life, 154; the law of, 152.
Karmic, deities, 167; links with Mas
ters, 30.
K. H., the Master, previous incarna
tions of, 10, 11; quoted, 28.
Killing out desire, 142.
King, The, 6.
Know thyself, 127.
Knowledge of the Atlanteans, 105;
underlies belief, 92.
Kundalini, 63, 225.

256

THE INNER LIFE

L.

Laboratory of Third Logos, 175.
Ladder of life, endless, 40.
Lao-Tse, 86.
Latin cross, the, 104.
Lemuria, animals in, 149.
Lemurians, 101.
Lesser mysteries, 57.
Liberation, 54; roads to, 83; selfish,
46.
Life, A Day of, 164; a wasted, 208;
destruction of, 150; ladder of, 40;
thirst for, 206.
Light of Asia, The, 79.
Light on The Path, 11, 155, 192.
Link with Master, 34.
"Living Image, The," 22.
Lodge, Great White, 32.
Logoi, Planetary, centres in Logos,
106.
Logos, The, 71, 98, 104, 106, 108, 128
as Avalokiteshwara, 83; aspects of
72, 104; emanation of the, 35
forces of the, 218; form of, 72
His reason for creating, 35, 36
laboratory of Third, 175; of our
solar system, 71; our union with,
72; plan of, 37; reached along line
of fire, 108; response of the, 5; sac
rifice of the, 48; scheme of the, 40;
sending forth monads, 37; Third,
and new elements, 175; three as
pects of, 168, 169; three outpour
ings of, 74; tormenting the, 133;
will of the, 202.
Loneliness, iUusory, 158.
Lords of the Flame, help given by, 6,
19.
Loss, by the ego, 210; serious, diffi
culty of, 208.
Lost, personalities, 211, 215; person

alities, three classes of, I. 202, II.
205, III. 211; souls, 201; soul, term
a misnomer, 216.
Lotus, symbolism of, 106, 107; throne,
72.
Love, casting out self by, 144; fall
ing in, 144; selfish and unselfish,
50; the higher, 171.
Lower, force centres, 227; self, 131,
183.
Lunar form, slaying the, 143.
M.
Madura, 98.
Magic, in Christian Church, 93.
Magicians, black, 97, 98, 212, 214.
Magnification, power of, 224.
Mahayana and Hinayana, 82.
Maitreya, The Lord, 8, 15, 30, 114.
Maltese cross, 104.
Mammalia, carnivorous, 149.
Man, a divine emanation, 35; an im
age of God, 169; developed unequal
ly, 197; evolved and unevolved, 196;
helping an evil, 171; in the world,
higher life for, 76; triple spirit in,
169.
Man and His Bodies, 243.
Man, Visible and Invisible, 137, 192.
Manas, drawn up into buddhi, 169;
on nirvanic plane, 169.
Manifestation, reason for, 35.
Manifestations of deity, 98.
Manu, the, 8; of a root race, 6; of
the sixth root race, 45; regulations
of the, 99.
Manus, future, 153.
Mara, personification of past karma,
97.
Master, a, quoted, 153; action by,
on ego, 188; assuming the form of

INDEX

257

a, by black magician, 32; attract
ing the attention of a, 27, 28, 30;
aware of pupil's thoughts, 23, 25;
channel of the Logos, 22; confl
dence in the, 159; effect produced
by the, on pupil's vehicles, 23; en
folding pupil in higher aura, 166;
entroning the, 145 ; force at the com
mand of, 20; influence of, on ego,
187; influence of, on personality,
188; karmic debt paid by a, 29;
meditation on the, 34; method used
by a, in speaking through a pupil,
26; recognizing a, 13; relation of,
to accepted pupil, 23; '"son" of the,
26; use by a, of pupil's body, 25;
use of force by a, 20.
Masters, The, 3, 9, 15, 20; activities
of sorae, 11; age of, 14; and foreign
languages, 13; appearance of the,
13; association with, 23, 25; bodies
They wear, 5; characteristics of,
9; coming into touch with, in il-
luraination, 160; deflned, 3; effect
of the presence of, 10; failures of
raoon chain, 52; full of joy, 134;
ill-wishers of the, 32; imitating the,
125; imperfect instruments of, 19;
interrupting the, 19; in evolution
ary ladder, 40; intrusion upon, 94;
karmic ties of the, with individuals,
29, 30; knowledge possessed by the,
13; link with, 34; living in accord
ance with hygienic laws, 242; liv
ing men, 9; nationality of, 5; on
many Rays, 32 ; none overlooked by,
28, 230; number of, 14; outlook of,
on the world, 28; personal requests
to, 19; personation of; 32; plans
of the, 16; physical bodies of the,
14; pouring out of force by, 18;
repudiating the, 117; silence of, 14;

the two, 4, 8; Their wonderful
knowledge, 12; why They will not
train you, 21, 23; work of the, 11,
17; work of the, with egos, 18.
Materialists often religious people,
38.
Mathematics, in the mysteries, 64;
Mathematikoi, 65.
Matter, density of, in earth's centre,
174; descent into, 36; not evil, 97,
133 ; physical, attracting astral, 176.
Matthaeus the monk, 90.
Meat, liked by low entities, 237; eat
ing, 135, 242.
Meditation, 155, 188; attitude of ego
towards personality in, 161; draw
ing attention of ego in, 188; in
group, 161; objects of, 156;
on the Master, 34; on the Supreme,
157; opens channel between ego and
personality, 190; prejudices during,
160; reasons for dulness in, 157;
regularity in, 34; special room for,
162; spiritual dryness in, 156;
stages in, 159.
Memory of past lives, 80.
Men, living in their minds, 205; liv
ing in their passions, 205; not feel
ing alike toward all, 171; of two
classes, 153.
Mental, body, warts on, 123; con
sciousness, 216; crustaceans, 47;
fatigue non-existent, 105 ; plane, ex
tent of, 173; plane, forces of, 185.
Messiah, advent of, 114.
Middle way, the, 75.
Mind, austerity of the, 136; control
of, 159; slayer of the real, 123, 125,
159; your own business, 120, 126,
127.
Minister of religions, work of, 6.
Minotaur, myth of, 59.

258

THE INNER LIFE

Monad, and ego, 168; and individual
ity, 37; as triple spirit, 168; centre
in Logos, 168; descent of, into
planes, 168; from the Logos, 37;
home of, 168; individuality of, 168;
life of, 168; voice of, 168.
Moods, caused by illusion, 134; several
causes for, 131.
MooN-chain, failures of, 52.
Morbid introspection, 127, 129.
Morphine habit, 135.
Museum, the occult, of the Brother
hood, 105.
Music, relation of, to platonic solids,
65.
Mystae, 59.
Mysteries, accusations against the,
57; all nations have had, 55; an
inner school in, 62; books on, 56;
clairvoyantly examined, 57; in
Christian Church, 55; lesser and
greater, 57; life of disciples in, 66;
mathematics in, 64; of ancient
Greece, 55; of Eleusis, 57; syrabols
used in, 63 et seq.; teaching of the,
58, 60; the ancient, 55; the real se
cret, 58; the third degree of the, 58.
Myth, of Ariadne, 59; of Narcissus,
59; of Proserpina, 59; of Sisyphus,
61; of Tantalus, 61; of the Mino
taur, 59; of Theseus, 59; of Tityus,
61.

N.

Nagarjuna, 11.
Narcissus, myth of, 59.
Narcotics, evil of, 231.
Nations, union of; 113.
Nature, opposition to, 212.
Nature- Spirits, 151; sometimes ob
sess, 234.

Nervous diseases, 138.
New truth, how the world treats, 49.
Nidanas, the twelve, 77.
Nirmanakayas, 4, 5.
Nirvana, 165; definitions of, 82; de
scription of, 166; not annihilation,
81; recognition in, 167.
Nirvanic plane, extent of, 173.
Noble eight-fold path, 76.
NoN-interference, 127.
Northern Buddhism, 79, 84.

0.

Objects of meditation, 156.
Obsession, 96, 97, 234; and somnam
bulism, 238; by astral beings, 231;
during fit of anger, 237; during
sleep, 237; during somnambulism,
241; forms of, 234; how to resist,
236, 237; ousting of the ego in,
234; permitted by fear, 237.
Occult Chemistry, 64.
Occult Hierarchy, 5, 11, 74; depart
ments of, 6; Head of, 6.
Occult museum, the, 105.
Occultism, how it changes life, 119.
Occultist, has no personal feelings,
141, 142.
Offence, taking, 140.
Olcott, Colonel, and his Master, 30.
Om, sacred word of Aryan race, 105.
One-Pointedness, 119.
Opportunities, 12, 67; for good never
refused, 125; lost, 116; neglecting
minor, 118.
Opportunity, result of faUure to use,
210.
Optimism, 130.
Orphan, the great, 154.
Orpheus, 7; Lord Buddha as, 74.
Other Side of Death, The, 162.

INDEX

259

Ourselves, as channels of Ught and
life, 167.
Outpourings, the three, 74.

Palsy, astral, 138.
Pantheism, 72.
Paritta or Pirit, 84.
Passions, control of, 201.
Past lives, memory of, 80.
Path, becoming the, 51; difficulties
of the, 48; of holiness, 4, 32; of
holiness, incarnations during, 45, 46;
of progress, 35; of woe, 46, 49;
stages of the, 15; the, and the law,
51.
Path of Discipleship, The, 66.
Patriotism, 42.
Peace, universal, 114.
Perfect man a decad, 52.
Perfection, attainment of, 52; of self,
how to begin, 43; relativity of, 52.
Perfections, six great, 77.
Persecution of disciples, 49.
Personal, feelings, occultist has no,
141, 142; God, 71; matters unim
portant, 139.
Personality, and ego, 161, 183; and
individuality, 80; breaking away
from ego, 211; experiences of, and
ego, 187; impermanence of, 81; in
fluence upon, by Master, 188; in
new incarnation, 211; lost, 215
part of ego, 211; rampant, 117
sinking the, 21 ; the amputated, 213
why characteristic of, intensified,
188.
Personalities, getting rid of our,
117.
Personation, in spiritualism, 102; of
the Masters, 32.

Pharaoh, head-dress of, 225.
Physical, body, astral counterpart of,
193, 194; care of, 241; imraortality,
241.
Physikoi, 66.
Pilgrims, 18.
Pilgrimages, occult reasons for, 100.
Pineal gland, 222.
Pituitary, body, 222; body, link with
astral, 229.
Plan of the Logos, 37.
Plane, astral, 172; buddhic, 173.
Planes, not shelves, 172; the higher,
163.
Planetary, influences on meditation,
157; Logoi, 106; spirits, 157.
Planets, movements of, 106; not iso
lated, 107.
Platonic solids, in the mysteries, 64,
65.
Poltergeist phenomena, 201.
"Poor Men," the 88.
Pope, the, 92.
Power of magnification, 224.
Prana or vitality, 225.
Prayer, 94; always reaches Deity, 95;
how it operates, 95; to saints, 95.
Preceptors, self-appointed, 32.
Prejudice, 103, 115, 122, 160; racial,
122; colour, 122; reUgious, 122, 124;
what it is, 123.
Prejudices, getting rid of, 122; of
personality, 187.
Pressure, etheric, 175.
Probation, average time of, 22.
Progress, certain, 152; effect of rapid
on organism, 51; path of, 35; the
law of, 41.
Proselytism, futility of, 8.
Psychic, development, dangers of in
discriminate, 33; powers, according
to Buddhism, 85; powers, to come

260

THE INNER LIFE

as result of character development,
233.
Pupil, an accepted, 23, 25; as chan
nel, 22; conditions for acceptance
of, 20, 21; first task of, 24; how to
qualify to become a, 28; influence
of Master upon, 25, 34; joy of
the, 49; life of the, full of joy,
48; Master speaking through, 25;
not a medium, 25; probationary
period of, 22; psychic development
of, 33; relation of, to Great Broth
erhood, 27; what it means to be
a, 20, 21; when acceptable, 20, 23;
work of the, at night, 32; work to
be performed by, 19.
Purification, of astral and physical,
233; of desire, 143.
Purp6se, continuity of, in future
lives, 44.
Pythagoras, 86; school of, 65, 66;
the Master K. H., 10.

Q-

Queen Victoria, 115.
R.
Ramanujacharya, 11.
Readiness to believe evil, 122.
Reality, the only, 167.
Realization, of self, 43 ; of truth, 39.
Rebirth and adeptship, ' 54.
Records of the past, 40.
Regularity in meditation, 34.
Reincarnation, and spiritualists,
103; taught in the mysteries, 58.
Relation, between colour and sound,
65; between harmonic chord and
platonic solid, 65.
Relics, 100.

Religion, Greek, 60.
Religions, critics are friends of, 89;
minister of, 6.
Renunciation, 130; of heaven-world,
45; path of, 46.
Repentance, a mistake, 132; effect
of, on ego, 208.
Reservoir, the, 4, 5.
Retrogression, 209.
Revelations, astral, 31.
Root race, Buddha of, 78; the sixth,
beginning of, 8; the sixth, spiritual
leader of, 8; the sixth, temporal
leader of, 8.
Rosicrucians, 66.
Round, the seventh, 52, 53.
Ruysbroek, quoted, 49.

S.

Sacrifice of the Logos, 48.
Sacrifices, 96.
"Safe" or "saved," 41, 205.
Saints, invisible helpers mistaken for,
95.
Salvation, 75.
Samannaphaldsutta, 80.
Sarthon, 10.
Satyrs, 227.
Saving our souls, 153.
Schoolmaster, wickedness of aver
age, 201.
Secret Doctrine, The, 16, 49, 63, 105,
204, 208.
Secrets, betrayal of, 54 ; of initiation,
54.
Seeing, and hearing, astral, 193;
truly, how to begin, 125.
Self, dethronement of, 145; enlarg
ing the, 42; escape from, 144;
higher and lower, 131, 183; in ev
erything, 158; never any pain to
the, 47; realization of, 43.

INDEX

261

SELF-centredness, 144, 147, 209; in
theosophical work, 145.
SELP-control, 142.
SELF-examination, 127, 130.
SELF-gratulation, 146.
SELF-knowledge, necessity of, 127.
SELF-perfection, how to begin, 43.
Selfishness, a scaffolding, 41; an
anachronism, 41; in love, 50; in
work, 145; necessary at one stage,
41; sheUs of, 179; utiUsed, 116.
Separateness, sense of, 166; striving
for, 212.
SERPENT-Fire, 63, 221, 223, 225; ac
tion of, in etheric centres, 224; ac
tion of, varies with types of peo
ple, 229; advice about arousing,
230; author's experience with, 229;
conquest of, repeated in each in
carnation, 229; dangers of awaken
ing, 226, 227; experimenting with,
226; its connection with occult de
velopment, 229; no limit of age
for, 230; on all planes, 226; rous
ing of, 223; seven layers of, 225;
unpleasant possibilities of prema
ture unfoldment of, 227; -works spon
taneously, 228, 229.
Se'vered limb, astral counterpart of,
194.
Shade, after death, 198, 210.
Shamballa, 105.
Shankaracharya, inner bodies of,
79; not the Buddha, 7, 79.
Shells of selfishness, 179.
Shiva, the destroyer, 97.
Shutting the door, 203.
Silence, duty of, 127.
Sin, 91.
SiNGLE-mindedness, 119.
Sinners, miserable, 132.
Sisyphus, myth of, 61.

Sixth root race, founding, 113.
Slander, 139.
Sleep, best time for, 239; cause of,
238; ego in, 237; elementals at
tracted during, 240; obsession dur
ing, 237; recollection during, 231;
recuperative power during, 239;
surroundings in, 176.
Sleeping and waking, state between,
184.
Small worries, 137.
Sliding back, not possible, 128, 129.
Society, Theosophical, 4, 17; not po
litical, 245; purpose of, 9.
Solar, Logos, system physical body
of, 71; system, viewed from fourth
dimension, 107.
Somnambulism, causes of, 240; some
times caused by obsession, 238.
Son of the Master, 26.
Sotapatti or Srotapanna, 41.
Soul of a People, The, 79.
Soul, Great, merging into, 165; sell
ing the, 96.
Souls, difference between, 202; drop
ping out in flfth round, 204; los
ing, 204 ; lost, 201 ; possible fates of,
215; saving our, 153; three classes
of lost, I. 202, II. 205, III. 211.
Southern Buddhism, 79, 84; cere
raonies of, 84; psychic powers in,
85; teaching of, 81.
Space, alone in, 212.
Specialization, danger of, 154.
Spheres, the, 172.
Spirillae, seven, 46.
Spirit, seven-fold, 169 ;. sheath for the,
in nirvana, 167; sheath of, at plan
etary levels, 167; triple, 168, 170.
Spirits, Planetary, individuality of,
166.
Spiritual dryness, 156.

262

THE INNER LIFE

Spiritualism, agreement with The
osophy, 102; personations in, 102;
the higher, 103.
Spiritualists and reincarnation, 103.
Spleen, 219.
Srotapanna, 41.
Stages, three, of relation of Master
to pupil, 26.
Stanzas of Dzyan, The, 91.
Stream, entering, upon the, 45.
SUB-race, Teutonic, 113.
Successes, proportion of, 52.
Suffering, relieving, a cruelty to suf
ferer, 171.
SuMMER-land, extent of, 174.
Sun, as heart of Solar Logos, 71;
every flxed star a, 74.
Supererogation, 5.
Superstition, about hell, 152.
Supreme, no change in, 158.
Surroundings, always helpful, 129;
in sleep, 176. ,
Suspicion, beginnings of, 122; dis
torting effect of, 122.
Svastika, 104.
Symbol, of the cross, 104, 219 ; of the
great bird, 105; of the heart, 105;
of the lotus, 106.
Symbology, 104.
Symbols, in book of Dzyan, 104; in
the mysteries, 63 et seq.
Sympathy, 150; with nature, lost in
modern science, 150.

Tantalus, myth of, 61.
Tau, sacred word of the Atlantean
race, 105.
Tea, effect of, on atomic web, 232.
Teachers, association with, 24; as
tral, 30.

Teaching, how to verify, 39, 40;
Lord Buddha's, 75, 76, 98, 143; of
children, 150; privilege of, 118; the
higher, unreality of, 38.
Test of earth, 178.
Teutons, uniflcation of, 113, 114.
Thalaba, quoted, 116.
Theosophic truth, duty of spreading,
119;
Theosophical conferences, effects of,
124.
Theosophical Society, 4, 17; as gate
way to the Masters, 66; one object
in founding, 9; not political, 245.
Theosophy, agreement with spirit
ualism, 102; and true primitive
Christianity, 86; checking truths
of, by direct observation, 40; ex
plains . Christianity, 89; giving cer
tainty of value of higher things,
38; how verified by earlier students,
39; what it does for us, 38.
Theseus, myth of, 59:
Third Logos, laboratory of, 175.
Thirst for Ufe, 206.
Thought, control, 161; evil, impos
sible to ego, 191; shells of, 47; the
last, before falling asleep, 239.
THOUGHT-form, as a barrier, 124; en
tered into by low beings, 201; re
sistance to, 179.
Three outpourings of Logos, 74.
Thyrsus, the, 63.
TiT-nJS, myth of, 61.
Tobacco, effect of, on astral after
death, 243 ; effect of, on atomic web,
231; evil effect of, 242; smoking,
135.
Tolerance of race peculiarities, 115.
Toltecs, 101.
Torture foolish, 133.
Toys of Bacchus, 63.

INDEX

263

Tramps, astral, 237.
Travel, advantages of, 124.
Trinity, 71, 169.
Triple spirit, 168.
Trishna, 206.
Truth, how the world treats new,
49; realization of, 39.
Truths, four noble, 76.
TwEL'VE apostles, the, 90.
U.
Ultimate good certain, 36.
Unconsciousness, after death, 231.
Union of nations, 113.
Unity, trinity in, 169.
Universal peace, 114.
Unselfish, how to make oneself, 42.

Vampirism, 242; by lost personality;
213.
Vegetables, coarse, 242.
Vegetarianism, 242.
Vehicles of the ego, 181.
Venus, Lords from, 9, 153.
Verification of teaching, 39, 40.
Vibrations, evil, in coarser matter,
209; of one on the Path, 24.
Victoria, death of Queen, 115.
Vitality, exists on all planes, 170;
force of the Logos, 225.
Voice of the silence, 168.
Voice of the Silence, The, 32, 50, 51,
77, 123, 123, 159, 221, 226, 229.
Vyasa, Lord Buddha as, 74.

W.
Waking and sleeping, state between,
184.
War, incubus of, 114.
Way, the middle, 75, 76.
Ways, the seven, 4.
Web, atomic, 231.
Wickedness of gossip, 126.
Will, developing, 136, 159; how to
train, 136; power, easy and difficult
exercise of, 159.
Woe, candidate for, 4; path of, 46,
49.
Words do not injure, 141.
Work, how to do, 145; of the Mas
ters, 117; selflshness in, 145; the
right to do a, 153.
Worker, dangers in way of theosophi
cal, 145, 146.
World, helping of the, 53, 119.
World's Mother, 221, 226.
Worries, small, 137.
Worry, 162; absence of, 130; con
quering, 139; learning not to, 130;
thought form of, 162.

Yoga, the, of an ego, 161.
Young souls, 204. Z.
Zoroaster, 108; Lord Buddha as, 74;
the first, 7.

WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
An Outline of Theosophy
The Astral Plane
The Devachanic Plane
The Other Side of Death
Some Glimpses of Occultism
Dreams
Invisible Helpers
ClairvoyanceThe Christian Creed, (with coloured plates)
Man, Visible and Invisible (with coloured plates)
In Association with Annie Besant
Thought-Forms, (with coloured plates)
Occult Chemistry FORTHCOMING WORKS:
The Hidden Life (being the Second Series of Theosophical Talks
at Adyar).
The Hidden Side of Things.
Civilizations, Past and Future.

IN PREPARATION

THE HIDDEI^ LIFE
Being the Second Series of Theosophical Talks
at Adyar

GOISITE^STS

FIRST SECTION
The After-death Life
The Theosophist after Death — The Touch with Earth — Con
dition after Death — Aniraal Obsession — Individualised Animals
— The Sumraerlands — Localisation of States — Heaven-life Con
ditions. SECOND SECTION
. Astral Work
Invisible Helpers — Reraerabering Astral Experience — Meeting
Departed Friends. THIRD SECTION
The Powers of Thought
A Neglected Power — Intuition and Impulse — Thought-Centres
— Thought and Elemental Essence.

FOURTH SECTION
Psychic Development
Psychic Powers — Records of the Past — How Past Lives are
Seen — Our Distant Past — Foreseeing the Future — Clairvoyance
— Apparitions — Magniflcation — Etheric Sight — Mental Reading
— Error — The "Walker of the Sky" — Mesmerism and Clairvoy
ance — The Repetition of Invocations — Physical Materialisation
— A Case of Disintegration — Psychic Magnetism — Curing.
FIFTH SECTION
Devas and Nature-Spirits
The Auras of Devas — Nature- Spirits and Flowers— -The
Spirit of a Tree. SIXTH SECTION
Karma
The Law of Equilibrium — The Three Laws of Human Evo
lution — The Karmic Spheres — The Working-out of Karma—
The Karma of Death — Karraa as Educator — Hastening Karma
— Relative Karma — Animal Karma.
SEVENTH SECTION
Reincarnation
Three Laws of Human Life — The Return to Birth — Different
Lines of Growth — Personal Characteristics — Reincarnation from
the Astral Plane — The Interval between Lives — Bringing over
Past Knowledge. EIGHTH SECTION
The Worlds and the Races of Men
Koilon and Atoms — Force — The Seven Rays — The Creation —
Planetary Chains — The Scheme of Things — The Earth Chain —
Races — ^Influx frora the Animal Kingdom — Classes of Monads
— Races on other Planets. NINTH SECTION
The Theosophical Society and its Founders
What is the Theosophical Society? — Theosophy and World-
Leaders — Reminiscences — Faithful unto Death — ^A Course of
Study in Theosophy,

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