RIGHT MOTIVE.
Both right speech and right perception depend on right motive. The essential characteristics of a true student may be summed up by these three taken in the following order: Right motive, right perception, right speech. He who would become a student of the Science of Life, a student of himself in the truest sense, must put away the ordinary views on the matter of study. In this deeper sense, study means more than mental exercise or the obtaining an intellectual grasp of the problems of life. There is a deeper knowledge than that of the mind, it is the knowledge of the heart which touches the soul of things and enters into that inner realm where the mind of man can never penetrate. Such knowledge is understanding, it is an interior grasp of things, contrary to which a man can never go, for it becomes a part of his very being.
I am well aware that in this material age there are many who deny any other knowledge than that of the mind, and who hold that knowledge may exist without regard to the uses to which it is put or the means whereby it was attained. Such knowledge is however but the husk, the mere form of the outer shell. The kernel, the heart of knowledge, can never be reached in this way. Knowledge is more than information or the classification of facts and phenomena. Knowledge implies the power to use and is realized only in the use. This power to use comes from relating the object of knowledge to one's inner consciousness and life. The means by which this relation is realized is true study. It will thus be seen that by study, in this sense, is meant more than the poring over books or the observation of phenomena; it means the assimilation of experiences, a seeking to understand one's own nature and to relate oneself — mind and heart — to the universe. And since all parts of man's nature are inter-dependent it follows that true study must have reference to all planes of his being and hence that the acquirement and use of all knowledge concerns the moral and ethical, as well as the mental nature of man. Knowledge concerns not only the mind, but also the heart.
Taking knowledge in this sense makes clear the declaration of Christ: "He that doeth the will of the Father shall know of the doctrine"; and also that older saying of Krishna's in the Bhaga-vad Gita: "Whoso is perfected in devotion findeth spiritual knowledge springing up spontaneously within himself in the progress of time."
The acquirement of knowledge simply for the sake of power or for any other reward has been justly condemned; but the substitute — of seeking knowledge for knowledge' sake, as ordinarily used and understood, is equally to be condemned. On first hearing it sounds very plausible, but if, as contended above, the value of knowledge lies in its use, the statement becomes meaningless. "Seek knowledge that thou mayest use it."
Every living person, who is not an idiot, has some measure of true knowledge, some power to help on the evolution of the race. The only way to increase one's store of knowledge, the only way to attain to more power is to use what one already has. Mark well, however, it must be to use, not to abuse; and right motive is inseparable from right use. The world in general has lost sight of the inner potencies of things. There is a subtle potency in every being, plant and stone, so too is there a subtle influence or potency in every action entirely apart from the mechanical effects thereof. The same is true of our every thought and the same line of intellectual study pursued by two students at the same time may in one ease irradiate and in the other darken the mind and life even though it were apparently followed abstractly by both. The legend of King Midas is verified everyday. Everything turns to gold at the touch of some, to lead at the touch of others; the transmuter is the motive. There is no need for discouragement that we find our motive not pure, at least we all can endeavor to set our faces toward the light, we can make the light our aim and goal. We may fail in many particulars, but if we keep before us the one great purpose and aim of our lives as workers and students, gradually will the general motive shine out in each particular word and deed.
Add to right motive the vigilance of right perception, the expression of right speech, all these finding their crown in right action, then will the gateway of true knowledge be opened and the student shall become one of "those who know."
WILL ALL BE SAVED?
Will all men be saved eventually?
Yes, if it be understood that men are souls and that each man is responsible for himself and must become his own saviour. I think the word "saved" is an unfortunate one and incorrect, for it conveys the idea of being saved by someone, and of a saviour different from man himself. Man's only saviour is himself by virtue of the divine power that is within every man.
The soul is imperishable and in essence divine. We are in the habit of regarding the various coverings or expressions of the soul and the instruments through which it manifests itself and gains experience, as the man himself. But the real man is neither the physical body, astral body, passions, nor even the mind but the user of all these, the soul. The physical body changes from day to day, the astral, though relatively more permanent, changes from life to life, a new one being formed for each incarnation. The passions change and even the mind, including all the mental characteristics, undergoes constant change. The thread of continuity that runs through the whole of life and through all lives is the soul itself, called by the ancients the Sutratma or "thread soul," on which are strung the beads of experience — the many personal existences of the soul.
Hence to say that all men will be saved does not mean that John Jones and Thomas Thomas, as we know them, will be eternal throughout the ages because we know only the appearance and not the real man. What we see is but a disguise of the soul expressing one of the phases of its development, and unless we have attained to the pure vision of the soul we cannot know the real man.
Gradually through the long ages of evolution and the experience gained in many lives, the soul attains to a perfection of outward expression and weaves for itself a garment, or vehicle, in which its own nature is perfectly mirrored. That which is contrary to the soul's nature and the soul's purposes is gradually sloughed off until only that remains which is pure and harmonious. The ultimate destiny of all men, the condition to which they attain when they are "saved," is beyond our present comprehension; all that we can say is that it is godlike, divine.
CREMATION.
What are, from a theosophical point of view, the reasons for preferring Cremation to Interment?
In my opinion the Theosophical reasons are purely sanitary reasons both as regards the one just dead and the community. That cremation of the dead is better for the well-being of the community needs no argument. That it is also for the well-being of the individual just dead may not be so apparent.
Fire is the great purifier and regenerator. It not only acts on the physical plane, loosening the bonds of chemical affinity, but also on the magnetic and vital plane, loosening the magnetic ties which are the counterpart of the passions and desires and the love of life (physical existence) that bind the soul to the body. The seat of these magnetic ties is the astral, etheric or magnetic body. In its lowest aspect it is the body of form and it dissipates part passu with the physical body. Being the link between the soul and the body, so long as it persists there will be a magnetic tie between the soul and earth which will hinder the soul's passing on to other spheres. At death the physical body in itself is nothing more than a cast-off garment, no longer fit for use, but because of its previous long use by the soul there has been set up in case of the ordinary man a strong magnetic connection between the soul and the body via the astral body. Hence simply as a sanitary matter these magnetic ties should be broken as soon as possible, and the quickest way to do this is by the use of fire in cremation.
THE HUMAN ELEMENTAL.
I understand that Theosophists speak of the higher and lower egos in man and I have heard the lower ego characterized as a human elemental, thus making two distinct entities in man; — the lower, or human elemental being the synthesizer of man's animal body and nature. Is this a correct idea and if so does the human elemental persist and ultimately become an independent human entity?
It is quite true that Theosophists speak of a higher and a lower ego in man and even of a third or divine ego, A discussion of the use of these terms may be found in the Key to Theosophy by H. P. Blavatsky who also speaks of the spiritual soul, the human soul and the animal soul, but says that "these, strictly speaking, are one soul in three aspects." Key to Theosophy, Section VII. At the end of Section IX in the same work she describes "the lower or personal ego" as follows: "the physical man in conjunction with his lower self i. e., animal instincts, passions, desires. etc. It is called the 'false personality' and consists of the lower Manas combined with Kamarupa, and operating through the physical body and its phantom or 'double.'
My understanding of the above quotations is that there are not two entities or beings in man in reality though apparently this may be so. The "false personality" or so-called human elemental is not a true entity and can have no continued existence apart from the real man. Man is a unit of consciousness or a unit life, he is not two units. The lower nature, the apparent entity or human elemental, is but the reflection in matter of the soul or real man. The soul by means of its synthetic power has built up for itself a form of matter which is in reality a host of elemental lives; the soul itself synthesizes these lives into a veritable universe — the human form. There is not, as I understand the matter, an intermediary being between the soul and the physical plane; the intermediary "false personality" is but one of the aspects of the soul itself.
It is quite true that in certain cases the physical body and passions together with a low form of induced intellectuality may cohere and persist for a time after the soul or real man has withdrawn to higher planes but such an apparent or false entity will in time disintegrate, the synthetic power will dissipate and the elements of which the apparent entity is formed will be resolved into their original planes.
Most certainly it is the duty of man to raise up and purify his lower nature, but he does not thereby make of this a distinct entity. Instead of being a temporary and false personality it becomes his true personality or purified instrument, a reflection on the lower planes of his own perfected nature on the spiritual planes.
No doubt by so doing he raises up each one of the unit lives in the host of lives of which this instrument is builded and it may be that each individual unit will in ages to come attain to the human stage of evolution and become man on a future earth. In connection with this subject the third fundamental proposition of the Secret Doctrine should be studied. See Vol. I., p. 17; new edition, p. 42.