The Life Beyond Death
Chapter XX Beyond
Reincarnation
Those who imagine that the Yogi
Philosophy teaches that before the soul there is an endless
chain of earthly rebirths, or series of reincarnations, have
failed to grasp the real spirit of the teaching. When it is
remembered that the earth is but one of a countless number of
preparatory worlds, having its beginning in time and its
ending in time, the folly of such a doctrine becomes apparent.
The earth is but one of the many schools, which have been from
time to time formed in the Cosmos, and which, at the best, are
but mere lower grade abodes. The soul of man will persist
aeons after this earth, and millions of others like it, will
have vanished into the ether of space from which it originally
emerged. To assign to earth-life any such importance in the
Cosmic order is contrary to the teachings of the wise.
Moreover, it is a false teaching which holds that even in the
present era and phase of the soul’s existence the soul can
progress no further than earthly incarnation. Even though the
majority of the race must undergo many earthly incarnations
before freedom and liberation is found, still it is equally
true that when a soul reaches the stage of spiritual
development in which the ties of earth-life no longer bind it,
then it is impossible that such a soul can be held to the
round of earthly incarnation for even a moment of time.
There are many souls which are now on the Astral Plane,
undergoing the final stages of the casting off of the earthly
bonds. And there are many souls now in earth-life which will
never again return to earth, but which, after their next
sojourn on the Astral Plane, will rise to the higher planes of
existence, leaving the earth and all earthly things behind
forever. Moreover, there are to-day, on earth, thousands of
souls which are well on the way to freedom, and which will
have but one more earthlife to undergo—and that one life will
be passed in an exalted state of understanding and wisdom. At
the present time we are nearing the end of a cycle in which a
very great number of souls are preparing for their upward
flight, and many who read these lines may be well advanced in
that cyclic movement.
It would be the veriest folly for human pen to attempt to
picture the nature of the existence on the higher spheres—
even those spheres only one grade higher than the earth. For
there are no words which would convey the meaning—no mental
concepts which would embody the idea. Nay, more, the majority
of the race have not even the mental machinery which would
enable them to even think of the nature of such a life. The
average human mind cannot begin to think even of the middle
planes of the Astral, and the concept of the higher Astral is
far beyond them. What then must be their position regarding
the thought of realms of being to which even the highest
Astral planes are but as dung-hills compared with the world’s
greatest palaces? Enough to know that there exists an infinite
scale of being, composed of realm after realm, ever rising
higher and higher and higher—and that the soul is destined to
move on and on and on toward the Infinite.
Escape from the round of earthly reincarnation is possible
when the soul learns the truth regarding its own nature and
its
relation to the Whole. When it perceives the illusory nature
of the phenomenal universe, and realizes that the spiritual
world is the only real one, then do the ties of the material
life begin to slip away, and the soul begins to struggle from
its confining bonds.
This liberation is the great end aimed at in the Yogi
Philosophy. This is the reason, end, and aim, of Yoga. Some
attain it by faithful works; others by love of the divine and
of the divine fragment in their fellow human beings; others by
the use of the intellect and the attainment of wisdom; others
by development of the intuitive faculties; but all these are
but different roads leading to the same end. When the nature
of earthly things is realized, they lose their hold upon the
human soul. Desire then dies away, and the soul is liberated
and attains spiritual freedom. Loosened from the attraction of
earth, the soul takes higher flights, and soars to the higher
regions of being.
The philosophies of the Orient are filled with this idea.
Under various guises it appears. To the initiated occultist
the sacred teachings of the world—of all religions—are seen to
have their esoteric side. And the spirit of the esoteric
teaching is always Liberation. As we write these words, our
eyes fall upon a book lying on our table—a little story of the
East, told by a Western writer. This writer has caught the
spirit of the East and expresses it well. Listen to his words,
and see how true they are to the spirit of the teaching:
“The object of the Sage, according to the old Hindoo doctrine,
is to become absolute master of himself (jitama) , to render
himself completely superior, or rather indifferent to the
‘attachment’ of all mundane clogs. The ordinary mortal is a
prisoner, tied, bound in bondage, or attached (sakta), to and
by the objects of delusion and sense. Whoever aims at
emancipation must first, by a long and strenuous course of
penance and austerity, sever these attachments, till even
though he still remains among them, they run off him like
water from a duck; and he goes on living, according to the
classic formula, like a wheel that continues to revolve when
the original impetus has ceased; or like a branch that goes on
swaying after the departure of the bird. He is awake, as
opposed to those who still remain blinded by illusion; he is
free, as contrasted with the bound.”
The above writer, however, has erred when he speaks of the
“long and strenuous course of penance and austerity,”
necessary to sever the material attachments. The best
authorities frown upon these ascetic practices and
austerities, and do not encourage them. The true practice is
that of the attainment of wisdom, and the opening of the heart
to the inflow of the Divine Wisdom which comes in the form of
Intuition. It needs but to perceive the real nature of
material things in order to lose desire for them; therefore
Knowledge is the great Liberator.
It is true that great unselfish love (Bhakti Yoga) will cause
the scales to fall from the eyes of the soul; it is likewise
true that faithful works and duty performed without hope of
reward (Karma Yoga), will cause the eyes to see clearly; but
the greatest of all Yoga is Gnani Yoga, the Way of Wisdom. To
those who yearn for release, we recommend a careful study of
the Yogi Philosophy, or any of the other great forms of the
Wisdom-Religion, and the careful following of the Life of the
Spirit which is common to all religions, rightly understood.
We think that the best little guide on The Path in the English
language, is that little manual “Light on the Path,” which is
founded on occult axioms current even in ancient Atlantis. In
this valuable little manual are to be found “The Rules which
are written on the Walls of the Hall of Learning,” by the
“Rulers of the Golden Gate.” As a writer has said: “What
Parsifal is to lovers of music, that ‘Light on the Path’ is to
aspiring souls—a never-ending source of inspiration and
wonder.” The following axioms, taken from its pages, give the
keynote, when rightly understood—the balance of the manual is
but an explanation of the axioms:
I. Kill out ambition.
II. Kill out desire of life.
III. Kill out desire of comfort.
IV. Kill out all sense of separateness.
V. Kill out desire for sensation.
VI. Kill out the hunger for growth.
VII. Desire only that which is within you.
VIII. Desire only that which is beyond you.
IX. Desire only that which is unattainable.
X. Desire power ardently.
XI. Desire peace fervently.
XII. Desire possessions above all.
XIII. Seek out the way.
XIV. Seek the way by retreating within.
XV. Seek the way by advancing boldly without.
XVI. Stand aside in the coming battle; and though thou
fightest, be not thou the warrior.
XVII. Look for the warrior, and let him fight in thee.
XVIII. Take his orders for battle, and obey him.
XIX. Listen to the song of life.
XX. Store in your memory the melody you hear.
XXI. Learn from it the lesson of harmony.
XXII. Regard earnestly all the life that surrounds you.
XXIII. Learn to look intelligently into the hearts of men.
XIX. Regard most earnestly your own heart.
XX. Inquire of the earth, the air, and the water, of the
secrets they hold for you.
XXI. Inquire of the holy ones of the earth, of the secrets
they hold for you.
XXII. Inquire of the inmost, the one, of its final secret,
which it holds for you throughout the ages.
XXIII. Hold fast to that which has neither substance nor
existence.
XXVI. Listen only to the voice which is soundless.
XXV. Look only on that which is invisible alike to the inner
and the outer sense.”
These axioms have seven several and distinct meanings,
superimposed one upon the other, and which are uncovered
only by the unveiling of the eyes of the soul as it unfolds.
Blessed is he who is able to comprehend even the first set of
meanings, for he is on The Way.
The commentor upon these axioms, in the little manual, gives
the following valuable advice to those who seek out the Way of
Liberation and Peace:
“Seek in the heart the source of evil, and expunge it. It
lives fruitfully in the heart of the devoted disciple, as well
as in the heart of the man of desire. Only the strong can kill
it out. The weak must wait for its growth, its fruition, its
death. And it is a plant that lives and increases throughout
the ages. It flowers when the man has accumulated unto himself
innumerable existences. He who will enter upon the path of
power must tear this thing out of his heart. And then the
heart will bleed, and the whole life of the man seem to be
utterly dissolved. This ordeal must be endured: it may come at
the first step of the perilous ladder which leads to the path
of life: it may not come until the last. But, O disciple,
remember that it has to be endured, and fasten the energies of
your soul upon the task. Live neither in the present nor the
future, but in the eternal. This giant weed cannot flower
there: this blot upon existence is wiped out by the very
atmosphere of eternal thought.”
The same commentor utters the following additional advice:
“Look for the flower to bloom in the silence that follows the
storm; not till then. It shall grow, it will shoot up, it will
make branches and leaves and form buds, while the storm
continues, while the battle lasts. But not till the harassed
spirit. And in the deep silence, and melted-not until it is
held by the divine fragment which has created it, as a mere
subject for grave experiment and experience—not until the
whole nature has yielded, and become subject unto its higher
self, can the bloom open. Then will come a calm such as comes
in a tropical country after a heavy rain, when Nature works so
swiftly that one may see her action. Such a calm will come to
the mysterious even will occur which will the whole
personality of the man is dissolved prove that the way has
been found. Call it by what name you will; it is a voice that
speaks where there is none to speak; it is a messenger that
comes,—a messenger without form of substance,—or it is the
flower of the soul that has opened. It cannot be described by
any metaphor. But it can be felt after, looked for, and
desired, even amid the raging of the storm. The silence may
last a moment of time, or it may last a thousand years, but it
will end. Yet you will carry its strength with you. Again and
again the battle must be fought and won. It is only for an
interval that nature can be still.”
In conclusion, let us again quote from the writer of the words
above quoted—words also inspired by a higher source of
authority and wisdom: “Three Truths.”
“There are three truths which are absolute, and which cannot
be lost, but yet may remain silent for lack of speech: (I) The
soul of man is immortal, and its future is the future of a
thing whose growth and splendor have no limit. (II) The
principle which gives life dwells in us, and without us, is
undying and eternally beneficent, is not heard or seen or
felt, but is perceived by the man who desires perception.
(III) Each man is his own absolute law-giver, the dispenser of
glory or gloom to himself, the decreer of his life, his
reward, his punishment. These truths, which are as great as is
life itself, are as simple as the simplest mind of man. Feed
the hungry with them.”
And now, friend and reader, we leave you once more. We trust
that what we have said will prove to be as the seeds of future
trees of knowledge within you. For this is the most that the
teacher may hope to do—to plant seeds. We trust that we have
at least brought you to the doors of the perception of the
truth that there is no Death—that what we call Death is but
“the other side” of Life, and one with it. May your own
spiritual eyes become opened, that you may perceive these
truths for yourself, and through your own experience. And now,
once more, good student, we say to thee:
Peace Be Unto Thee!
The End
