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| ISBN-13: | 9780835621878 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Quest Books |
| Publication date: | 01/01/1978 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 410 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
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CHAPTER 1
SECTION ONE
The Great Ones and The Way to Them
The Great Ones
Students of occultism — even those who have been students for many years — sometimes seem to fail to realize 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 greatness 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 define 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 organization unlike any other in the world, and for that reason it has often been misunderstood. It has sometimes been described 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 fastness. Perhaps this has risen largely from the knowledge of 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 this 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. The 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 generation 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 misleading. What is meant is that he has not the joy of the higher work, or of the nirvanic levels. He has chosen to remain 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 dungeon; 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 helping, 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 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 Nirmanakaya, 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 affects 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 manner. 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 physical 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 whenever it may be most convenient for the work they wish to do, so that we need not attach any special importance to the nationality of the bodies which they happen to be wearing at any particular time. Just now, several of those bodies are Indian, one is Tibetan, one is Chinese, two at least are English, one is Italian, one Hungarian, and one Syrian, while one was born on 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 Hierarcy, 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 resembling 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 below it, but also of the great nonhuman kingdoms of the nature-spirits of the devas, some of which rise so far above it.
Under him are various Heads of Departments, the broad out-lines of whose work are more within our comprehension than his work. 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 deputizing one of his subordinates to found it, some-times even incarnating himself for that purpose, as he may see fit. This Minister of Religion is often called in the East the Bodhisattva — one who is about to become a Buddha. The previous holder of that high office was he whom we call the Lord Gautama BUDDHA. The attainment of Buddhahood is not simply the gaining of enlightment; 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 course 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 first of our humanity to attain to the stupendous height of Buddhahood, and so he may be very truly described as the first-fruits and the leader of our 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 labors of the most stupendous 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 itself some one who was ready to fill this important office, no one could be found who was fully capable of doing so. 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 the 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 exertion 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 thousands of years later.
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. Anyone whose mind is broad enough to grasp this magnificent conception of the splendid reality of things will see instantly how it is worse than futile 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 before he came into the office which be 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 autocratic monarch who arranges everything connected with the physical-plane life of the new race, and endeavors in every 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 foundation of the Theosophical Society was that these two Masters might gather round them a number of men who would be intelligent 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 characteristic 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 concerned 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, having risen to their present level along different lines, and this fact cannot but show itself; yet we should err sadly if we thought of the first 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 probably 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 enormously more advanced 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 produced by the sense of this tremendous power, in their presence 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 confidence in himself, for since the Master, who is also man, has achieved, that achievement is clearly possible 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 proportion 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.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Inner Life"
by .
Copyright © 1978 The Theosophical Publishing House.
Excerpted by permission of Theosophical Publishing House.
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Table of Contents
An Introduction to Leadbeater's World View,
Section One The Great Ones and the Way to Them,
The Great Ones,
The Work of the Christ,
The Work of the Masters,
Masters and Pupils,
The Path of Progress,
The Ancient Mysteries,
Section Two Religion,
The Logos,
Buddhism,
Christianity,
Sin,
The Pope,
Ceremonial,
Prayer,
The Devil,
Hinduism,
Spiritualism,
Symbology,
Fire,
Section Three The Theosophical Attitude,
Commonsense,
Brotherhood,
Helping the World,
Criticism,
Prejudice,
Curiosity,
Know Thyself,
Asceticism,
Small Worries,
Destroying Desire,
The Center of My Circle,
Our Duty to Animals,
Sympathy,
Our Attitude towards Children,
The Fear of Death,
Cooperation,
A Day of Life,
Meditation,
Section Four The Higher Planes,
Nirvana,
The Triple Spirit,
Buddhic Consciousness,
The Spheres,
Section Five The Ego and His Vehicles,
The Ego and the Personality,
Counterparts,
Colors in the Astral Body,
The Causal Body,
The Desire-Elemental,
Lost Souls,
The Focus of Consciousness,
Force-Centers,
The Serpent-Fire,
Obsession and Insanity,
Sleep,
Somnambulism,
The Physical Body,
Tobacco and Alcohol,
Section Six The After-Death Life,
The Theosophist after Death,
The Relation of the Dead to Earth,
Conditions after Death,
Animal Obsession,
Individualized Animals,
Localization of States,
Heaven-Life Conditions,
Karma in the Heaven-Life,
Section Seven Astral Work,
Invisible Helpers,
Remembering Astral Experience,
The Higher Dimensions,
Section Eight The Mental Body and the Power of Thought,
The Mental Body,
A Neglected Power,
Intuition and Impulse,
Thought-Centers,
Thought and Elemental Essence,
Section Nine Psychic Faculties,
Psychic Powers,
Clairvoyance,
The Mystic Chord,
How Past Lives are Seen,
Foreseeing the Future,
Section Ten Devas and Nature-Spirits,
The Aura of the Deva,
The Spirit of a Tree,
Section Eleven Reincarnation,
Three Laws of Human Life,
The Return to Birth,
Personal Characteristics,
Bringing Over Past Knowledge,
Section Twelve Karma,
The Law of Equilibrium,
The Method of Karma,
The Karma of Death,
Karma as an Educator,
Varieties of Karma,
Animal Karma,
Index,