REINCARNATION/PART 6
THE OBJECT OF REINCARNATION
We have already seen generally that the object of
reincarnation is to train the animal-man until it becomes the perfect
instrument of the Divine, and that the agent in this training is the
reincarnating Ego. Let us briefly trace the road by which this goal is reached.
When the Manasaputra come down to ensoul the
animal-man, their habitation is of matter that has not yet reached its maximum
of density. The Thinker, working through this, produces at first what are
called psychic qualities in contradistinction to intellectual; the spiritual,
on its first contact with astral matter, translates itself into the psychic,
and only gradually becomes intellectual, i.e., logical, reasoning,
deliberative, by prolonged contact with matter of the denser type. At first
intuitive, clairvoyant, communicating with its fellows by thought-transference,
as it has to work with denser materials and throw their heavier particles into
vibrations, intuition is transformed to reasoning and thought-transference into
language. The process is best realised by conceiving of vibrations being set up
in ever denser and denser matter, the vibrations in the less dense translating
themselves as psychic, in the more dense as rational qualities. The psychic are
the swifter, subtler, more direct faculties, including clairvoyance,
clairaudience, lower forms of intuition, power to transmit and receive
thought-impressions without speech; the rational are slower, and include all
the processes of the brain-mind, their characteristic being deliberative
reasoning, the forging of a local chain, hammering it out link by link, and, as
a necessary condition of this mental labour, the elaboration of language. When
this process has been perfected, and the brain has reached its highest point of
intellection, responding swiftly to the astral impulses as they reach it, and
at once translating them into their intellectual analogues, then the time has
come for the next great step onwards, the training of the brain to respond
directly to the subtler vibrations, and take them into brain-consciousness
without the delaying process of translation. Then the exercise of psychic
faculties becomes part of the conscious equipment of the developing man, and
they are employed normally and without effort or strain, the brain-mind and the
psyche thus becoming unified, and all psychic powers regained with the
"addition of the intellectual experience. The temporary obscuration, due
to the accretion of the densest matter round the developing man, gradually
diminishes as the matter grows ductile and translucent, and thus gross matter
is " redeemed," i.e., trained into a perfect vehicle of manifestation
for Spirit." Civilisation has ever developed the physical and the
intellectual at the cost of the psychic and spiritual,"
but without this development animal-man could not
become divine, the "perfect septenary being" whom it is the object of
reincarnation to evolve.
In the human race we are on the ascending arc;
intellectuality pure and simple is reaching its highest possibilities, and on
all sides are appearing signs of psychic activities, which, when developed
beyond the intellect and not behind it, are the marks of the commencing triumph
of the spiritual Man In some men of our race this triumph has been consummated,
and these are they who are spoken of as Arhats, Mahatmas, and Masters, With
Them the body is the mere vehicle of the spiritual Man, who is no longer
cabined and confined by the body he inhabits, but for whom the body is the
convenient instrument for work on the physical plane, obediently answering
every impulse of its owner, and placing at his disposal powers and faculties
for use in the world of gross matter otherwise unattainable by a spiritual
Being. A Spirit may be active on the spiritual plane, but is senseless on all
others, being unable to act by its subtle essence on planes of grosser matter.
A spiritual Intelligence may be active on the spiritual and mental planes, but
is still too subtle to work on the grosser. Only, as by incarnation it conquers
matter through matter, can it become active on all planes, the "perfect
septenary being." This is the meaning of Arhatship; the Arhat is the
spiritual Intelligence that has conquered, subdued, and trained matter, until
his body is but the materialised expression of himself, and he is ready for the
step that makes him " Master," or the Christ triumphant.
Naturally, in such a perfected septenary being are
gathered up all the forces of the universe, spiritual, psychic and material. As
man's living body has in it in miniature the forces found in the physical
universe, so, as the psychic arid spiritual natures make their impulses felt,
the forces of the psychic and spiritual universes can be brought to bear upon
the physical. Hence the apparently "miraculous," the bringing about
of effects the causes of which are hidden, but which are not therefore
non-existent; just as the closing of a galvanic circuit may bring about an
explosion many miles from the point of closure, so may the action of the
trained will manifest itself in material phenomena on a plane far beneath its
own. Man's ignorance makes the supernatural; knowledge reduces all to the
natural; for Nature is but one aspect of the ALL, that aspect which, at the
time, is in manifestation.
The question may here arise: And this object attained,
what end is thereby served? At this point, several Paths stretch before the
triumphant spiritual Man. He has touched the summit of attainment possible here
in this world; for further progress he must pass on to other spheres of being;
Nirvana lies open before him, the fulness of spiritual knowledge, the Beatific
Vision of which Christians have whispered, the peace which passeth
understanding. One Path, the Path of Renunciation, the voluntary acceptance of
life on earth for the sake of service to the race, is the path of which Kwanyin
said when setting resolute foot thereon:
Never will I seek, nor receive, private individual
salvation— never enter into final peace alone; but for ever, and everywhere,
will I live and strive for the universal redemption of every creature
throughout the world.
The nature and purpose of this choice has been told in
the Book of the Golden Precepts, fragments from which have been done into such
noble English "by H. P. Blavatsky. The conqueror stands triumphant;
"his mind like a becalmed and boundless ocean, spreadeth out in shoreless
space. He holdeth life and death in his strong hand." Then the question
comes:
Now, he shall surely reach his great reward! Shall he
not use the gifts which it confers for his own rest and bliss, his well-earned
weal and glory—he, the subduer of the great Delusion?
But the answer rings clearly out:
Nay, O thou candidate for Nature's hidden lore! If one
would follow in the steps of holy Tathagata, those gifts and powers are not for
self... Know that the stream of superhuman knowledge, and the Deva-Wisdom thou
hast won, must, from thyself, the channel of Alaya, be poured forth into
another bed. Know, O Narjol, thou of the Secret Path, its pure fresh waters
must be used to sweeter make the Ocean's bitter waves—that mighty sea of
sorrow, formed by the tears of men. Self-doomed to live through future Kalpas,
unthanked and unperceived by man; wedged as a stone with countless other stones
which form the "Guardian Wall," such is thy future if the seventh
gate thou passest. Built by the hands of many Masters of Compassion, raised by
their tortures, by their blood cemented, it shields mankind, since man is man,
protecting it from further and far greater misery and sorrow.... Compassion
speaks and saith: "Can there be bliss when all that lives must suffer?
Shalt thou be saved and hear the whole world cry? "Now thou hast heard
that which was said. Thou shall attain the seventh step and cross the gate of
final knowledge but only to wed woe—if thou wouldst be Tathagata follow upon
thy predecessor's steps, remain unselfish till the endless end. Thou art
enlightened—choose thy way.
The choice which accepts incarnation till the Race has
reached its consummation is the crown of the Master, of the perfected Man. His
wisdom, His powers, all are thrown at the feet of Humanity, to serve it, help
it, guide it on the path Himself has trodden. This then is the end that lies
beyond reincarnation for Those whose strong souls can make the GREAT
RENUNCIATION! They become the saviours of the world, the blossom and the glory
of their Race. Reincarnation builds up the perfect septenary being, and his
individual triumph subserves the redemptioii of Humanity as a whole.
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