{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_70074/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_70074","id":"gutenberg_70074","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70074","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Theosophy"],"text":"INVISIBLE HELPERS\n\n  BY\n  C. W. LEADBEATER\n\n\n  AMERICAN REVISED EDITION\n  WITH INDEX\n\n\n  CHICAGO:\n  THE THEOSOPHICAL BOOK CONCERN\n  \u201cKrotona,\u201d Hollywood,\n  LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA\n\n  LONDON:\n  THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY, 3 LANGHAM PLACE\n  BENARES: THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY\n  MADRAS, THE \u201cTHEOSOPHIST\u201d OFFICE, ADYAR.\n\n  1915\n\n\n\n\n  CONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                        PAGE.\n\n  CHAPTER    I.--THE UNIVERSAL BELIEF IN THEM               5\n\n  CHAPTER   II.--SOME MODERN INSTANCES                      9\n\n  CHAPTER  III.--A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE                     18\n\n  CHAPTER   IV.--THE HELPERS                               25\n\n  CHAPTER    V.--THE REALITY OF SUPERPHYSICAL LIFE         34\n\n  CHAPTER   VI.--A TIMELY INTERVENTION                     39\n\n  CHAPTER  VII.--THE \u201cANGEL\u201d STORY                         42\n\n  CHAPTER VIII.--THE STORY OF A FIRE                       50\n\n  CHAPTER   IX.--MATERIALIZATION AND REPERCUSSION          56\n\n  CHAPTER    X.--THE TWO BROTHERS                          63\n\n  CHAPTER   XI.--WRECKS AND CATASTROPHES                   72\n\n  CHAPTER  XII.--WORK AMONG THE DEAD                       78\n\n  CHAPTER XIII.--OTHER BRANCHES OF THE WORK                92\n\n  CHAPTER  XIV.--THE QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED               97\n\n  CHAPTER   XV.--THE PROBATIONARY PATH                    108\n\n  CHAPTER  XVI.--THE PATH PROPER                          118\n\n  CHAPTER XVII.--WHAT LIES BEYOND                         129\n\n  INDEX                                                   135\n\n\n\n\nINVISIBLE HELPERS\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE UNIVERSAL BELIEF IN THEM.\n\n\nIt is one of the most beautiful characteristics of Theosophy that it\ngives back to people in a more rational form everything which was\nreally useful and helpful to them in the religions which they have\noutgrown. Many who have broken through the chrysalis of blind faith,\nand mounted on the wings of reason and intuition to the freer, nobler\nmental life of more exalted levels, nevertheless feel that in the\nprocess of this glorious gain a something has been lost--that in giving\nup the beliefs of their childhood they have also cast aside much of the\nbeauty and the poetry of life.\n\nIf, however, their lives in the past have been sufficiently good to\nearn for them the opportunity of coming under the benign influence of\nTheosophy, they very soon discover that even in this particular there\nhas been no loss at all, but an exceeding great gain--that the glory\nand the beauty and the poetry are there in fuller measure than they had\never hoped before, and no longer as a mere pleasant dream from which\nthe cold light of common-sense may at any time rudely awaken them,\nbut as truths of nature which will bear investigation--which become\nonly brighter, fuller and more perfect as they are more accurately\nunderstood.\n\nA marked instance of this beneficent action of Theosophy is the way in\nwhich the invisible world (which, before the great wave of materialism\nengulfed us, used to be regarded as the source of all living help) has\nbeen restored by it to modern life. All the charming folk-lore of the\nelf, the brownie and the gnome, of the spirits of air and water, of\nthe forest, the mountain and the mine, is shown by it to be no more\nmeaningless superstition, but to have a basis of actual and scientific\nfact behind it. Its answer to the great fundamental question \u201cIf a man\ndie, shall he live again?\u201d is equally definite and scientific, and its\nteaching on the nature and conditions of the life after death throws\na flood of light upon much that, for the Western world at least, was\npreviously wrapped in impenetrable darkness.\n\nIt cannot be too often repeated that in this teaching as to the\nimmortality of the soul and the life after death, Theosophy stands\nin a position totally different from that of ordinary religion. It\ndoes not put forward these great truths merely on the authority of\nsome sacred book of long ago; in speaking of these subjects it is not\ndealing with pious opinions, or metaphysical speculations, but with\nsolid, definite facts, as real and as close to us as the air we breathe\nor the houses we live in--facts of which many among us have constant\nexperience--facts among which lies the daily work of some of our\nstudents, as will presently be seen.\n\nAmong the beautiful conceptions which Theosophy has restored to us\nstands pre-eminent that of the great helpful agencies of nature. The\nbelief in these has been world-wide from the earliest dawn of history,\nand is universal even now outside the narrow domains of protestantism,\nwhich has emptied and darkened the world for its votaries by its\nattempt to do away with the natural and perfectly true idea of\nintermediate agents, and reduce everything to the two factors of man\nand deity--a device whereby the conception of deity has been infinitely\ndegraded, and man has remained unhelped.\n\nA moment\u2019s thought will show that the ordinary view of providence--the\nconception of an erratic interference by the central power of\nthe universe with the result of his own decrees--would imply the\nintroduction of partiality into the scheme, and therefore of the\nwhole train of evils which must necessarily follow upon its heels. The\nTheosophical teaching, that a man can be thus specially helped only\nwhen his past actions have been such as to deserve this assistance,\nand that even then the help will be given through those who are\ncomparatively near his own level, is free from this serious objection;\nand it furthermore brings back to us the older and far grander\nconception of an unbroken ladder of living beings extending down from\nthe Logos Himself to the very dust beneath our feet.\n\nIn the East the existence of the invisible helpers has always been\nrecognized, though the names given and the characteristics attributed\nto them naturally vary in different countries; and even in Europe we\nhave had the old Greek stories of the constant interference of the\ngods in human affairs, and the Roman legend that Castor and Pollux led\nthe legions of the infant republic in the battle of Lake Regillus. Nor\ndid such a conception die out when the classical period ended, for\nthese stories have their legitimate successors in medi\u00e6val tales of\nsaints who appeared at critical moments and turned the fortune of war\nin favour of the Christian hosts, or of guardian angels who sometimes\nstepped in and saved a pious traveller from what would otherwise have\nbeen certain destruction.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nSOME MODERN INSTANCES.\n\n\nEven in this incredulous age, and amidst the full whirl of our\nnineteenth-century civilization, in spite of the dogmatism of our\nscience and the deadly dullness of our protestantism, instances of\nintervention inexplicable from the materialistic standpoint may still\nbe found by any one who will take the trouble to look for them; and in\norder to demonstrate this to the reader I will briefly epitomize a few\nof the examples given in one or other of the recent collections of such\nstories, adding thereto one or two that have come within my own notice.\n\nOne very remarkable feature of these more recent examples is that the\nintervention seems nearly always to have been directed towards the\nhelping or saving of children.\n\nAn interesting case which occurred in London only a few years ago was\nconnected with the preservation of a child\u2019s life in the midst of a\nterrible fire, which broke out in a street near Holborn, and entirely\ndestroyed two of the houses there. The flames had obtained such hold\nbefore they were discovered that the firemen were unable to save the\nhouses, but they succeeded in rescuing all the inmates except two--an\nold woman who was suffocated by the smoke before they could reach her,\nand a child about five years old, whose presence in the house had been\nforgotten in the hurry and excitement of the moment.\n\nThe mother of the child, it seems, was a friend or relative of the\nlandlady of the house, and had left the little creature in her charge\nfor the night, because she was herself obliged to go down to Colchester\non business. It was not until everyone else had been rescued, and the\nwhole house was wrapped in flame, that the landlady remembered with\na terrible pang the trust that had been confided to her. It seemed\nhopeless then to attempt to get at the garret where the child had been\nput to bed, but one of the firemen heroically resolved to make the\ndesperate effort, and, after receiving minute directions as to the\nexact situation of the room, plunged in among the smoke and flame.\n\nHe found the child, and brought him forth entirely unharmed; but when\nhe rejoined his comrades he had a very singular story to tell. He\ndeclared that when he reached the room he found it in flames, and most\nof the floor already fallen; but the fire had curved round the room\ntowards the window in an unnatural and unaccountable manner, the like\nof which in all his experience he had never seen before, so that the\ncorner in which the child lay was wholly untouched, although the very\nrafters of the fragment of floor on which his little crib stood were\nhalf burnt away. The child was naturally very much terrified, but the\nfireman distinctly and repeatedly declared that as at great risk he\nmade his way towards him he saw a form like an angel--here his exact\nwords are given--a something \u201call gloriously white and silvery, bending\nover the bed and smoothing down the counterpane.\u201d He could not possibly\nhave been mistaken about it, he said, for it was visible in a glare of\nlight for some moments, and in fact disappeared only when he was within\na few feet of it.\n\nAnother curious feature of this story is that the child\u2019s mother\nfound herself unable to sleep that night down at Colchester, but was\nconstantly harrassed by a strong feeling that something was wrong with\nher child, insomuch that at last she was compelled to rise and spend\nsome time in earnest prayer that the little one might be protected from\nthe danger which she instinctively felt to be hanging over him. The\nintervention was thus evidently what a Christian would call an answer\nto prayer; a Theosophist, putting the same idea in more scientific\nphraseology, would say that her intense outpouring of love constituted\na force which one of our invisible helpers was able to use for the\nrescue of her child from a terrible death.\n\nA remarkable case in which children were abnormally protected occurred\non the banks of the Thames near Maidenhead a few years earlier than our\nlast example. This time the danger from which they were saved arose not\nfrom fire but from water. Three little ones, who lived, if I recollect\nrightly, in or near the village of Shottesbrook, were taken out for a\nwalk along the towing-path by their nurse. They rushed suddenly round a\ncorner upon a horse which was drawing a barge, and in the confusion two\nof them got on the wrong side of the tow-rope and were thrown into the\nwater.\n\nThe boatman, who saw the accident, sprang forward to try to save them,\nand he noticed that they were floating high in the water \u201cin quite an\nunnatural way, like,\u201d as he said, and moving quietly towards the bank.\nThis was all that he and the nurse saw, but the children each declared\nthat \u201ca beautiful person, all white and shining,\u201d stood beside them in\nthe water, held them up and guided them to the shore. Nor was their\nstory without corroboration, for the bargeman\u2019s little daughter, who\nran up from the cabin when she heard the screams of the nurse, also\naffirmed that she saw a lovely lady in the water dragging the two\nchildren to the bank.\n\nWithout fuller particulars than the story gives us, it is impossible to\nsay with certainty from what class of helpers this \u201cangel\u201d was drawn;\nbut the probabilities are in favour of its having been a developed\nhuman being functioning in the astral body, as will be seen when later\non we deal with this subject from the other side, as it were--from the\npoint of view of the helpers rather than the helped.\n\nA case in which the agency is somewhat more definitely distinguishable\nis related by the well-known clergyman, Dr. John Mason Neale. He\nstates that a man who had recently lost his wife was on a visit with\nhis little children at the country house of a friend. It was an old,\nrambling mansion, and in the lower part of it there were long, dark\npassages, in which the children played about with great delight. But\npresently they came upstairs very gravely, and two of them related\nthat as they were running down one of these passages they were met by\ntheir mother, who told them to go back again, and then disappeared.\nInvestigation revealed the fact that if the children had run but a few\nsteps farther they would have fallen down a deep uncovered well which\nyawned full in their path, so that the apparition of their mother had\nsaved them from almost certain death.\n\nIn this instance there seems no reason to doubt that the mother herself\nwas still keeping a loving watch over her children from the astral\nplane, and that (as has happened in some other cases) her intense\ndesire to warn them of the danger into which they were so heedlessly\nrushing gave her the power to make herself visible and audible to them\nfor the moment--or perhaps merely to impress their minds with the\nidea that they saw and heard her. It is possible, of course, that the\nhelper may have been some one else, who took the familiar form of the\nmother in order not to alarm the children; but the simplest hypothesis\nis to attribute the intervention to the action of the ever-wakeful\nmother-love itself, undimmed by the passage through the gates of death.\n\nThis mother-love, being one of the holiest and most unselfish of human\nfeelings, is also one of the most persistent on higher planes. Not only\ndoes the mother who finds herself upon the lower levels of the astral\nplane, and consequently still within touch of the earth, maintain her\ninterest in and her care for her children as long as she is able to see\nthem; even after her entry into the heaven-world these little ones are\nstill the most prominent objects in her thought, and the wealth of love\nthat she lavishes upon the images which she there makes of them is a\ngreat outpouring of spiritual force which flows down upon her offspring\nwho are still struggling in this lower world, and surrounds them with\nliving centres of beneficent energy which may not inaptly be described\nas veritable guardian angels. An illustration of this will be found in\nthe sixth of our Theosophical manuals, p. 38.\n\nNot long ago the little daughter of one of our English bishops was out\nwalking with her mother in the town where they lived, and in running\nheedlessly across a street the child was knocked down by the horses of\na carriage which came quickly upon her round a corner. Seeing her among\nthe horses\u2019 feet, the mother rushed forward, expecting to find her very\nbadly injured, but she sprang up quite merrily, saying, \u201cOh, mamma, I\nam not at all hurt, for something all in white kept the horses from\ntreading upon me, and told me not to be afraid.\u201d\n\nA case which occurred in Buckinghamshire, somewhere in the\nneighbourhood of Burnham Beeches, is remarkable on account of the\nlength of time through which the physical manifestation of the\nsuccouring agency seems to have maintained itself. It will have been\nseen that in the instances hitherto given the intervention was a matter\nof but a few moments, whereas in this a phenomenon was produced which\nappears to have persisted for more than half an hour.\n\nTwo of the little children of a small farmer were left to amuse\nthemselves while their parents and their entire household were engaged\nin the work of harvesting. The little ones started for a walk in the\nwoods, wandered far from home, and then managed to lose their way. When\nthe weary parents returned at dusk it was discovered that the children\nwere missing, and after enquiring at some of the neighbours\u2019 houses the\nfather sent servants and labourers in various directions to seek for\nthem.\n\nTheir efforts were, however, unsuccessful, and their shouts unanswered;\nand they had reassembled at the farm in a somewhat despondent frame\nof mind, when they all saw a curious light some distance away moving\nslowly across some fields towards the road. It was described as a large\nglobular mass of rich golden glow, quite unlike ordinary lamplight;\nand as it drew nearer it was seen that the two missing children were\nwalking steadily along in the midst of it. The father and some others\nimmediately set off running towards it; the appearance persisted\nuntil they were close to it, but just as they grasped the children it\nvanished, leaving them in the darkness.\n\nThe children\u2019s story was that after night came on they had wandered\nabout crying in the woods for some time, and had at last lain down\nunder a tree to sleep. They had been roused, they said, by a beautiful\nlady with a lamp, who took them by the hand and led them home; when\nthey questioned her she smiled at them, but never spoke a word. To this\nstrange tale they both steadily adhered, nor was it possible in any way\nto shake their faith in what they had seen. It is noteworthy, however,\nthat though all present saw the light, and noticed that it lit up the\ntrees and hedges which came within its sphere precisely as an ordinary\nlight would, yet the form of the lady was visible to none but the\nchildren.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.\n\n\nAll the above stories are comparatively well-known, and may be found\nin some of the books which contain collections of such accounts--most\nof them in Dr. Lee\u2019s _More Glimpses of the World Unseen_; but the\ntwo instances which I am now about to give have never been in print\nbefore, and both occurred within the last ten years--one to myself,\nand the other to a very dear friend of mine, a prominent member of\nthe Theosophical Society, whose accuracy of observation is beyond all\nshadow of doubt.\n\nMy own story is a simple one enough, though not unimportant to me,\nsince the interposition undoubtedly saved my life. I was walking\none exceedingly wet and stormy night down a quiet back street near\nWestbourne Grove, struggling with scant success to hold up an umbrella\nagainst the savage gusts of wind that threatened every moment to tear\nit from my grasp, and trying as I laboured along to think out the\ndetails of some work upon which I was just then engaged.\n\nWith startling suddenness a voice which I know well--the voice of\nan Indian teacher--cried in my ear \u201cSpring back!\u201d and in mechanical\nobedience I started violently backwards almost before I had time to\nthink. As I did so my umbrella, which had swung forward with the sudden\nmovement, was struck from my hand, and a huge metal chimney-pot crashed\nupon the pavement less than a yard in front of my face. The great\nweight of this article, and the tremendous force with which it fell,\nmake it absolutely certain that but for the warning voice I should have\nbeen killed on the spot; yet the street was empty, and the voice was\nthat of one whom I knew to be seven thousand miles away from me, as far\nas the physical body was concerned.\n\nNor was this the only occasion upon which I received assistance of\nthis supernormal kind, for in early life, long before the foundation\nof the Theosophical Society, the apparition of a dear one who had\nrecently died prevented me from committing what I now see would have\nbeen a serious crime, although by the light of such knowledge as I\nthen had it appeared not only a justifiable but even a laudable act of\nretaliation. Again, at a later date, though still before the foundation\nof this Society, a warning conveyed to me from a higher plane amid\nmost impressive surroundings enabled me to prevent another man from\nentering upon a course which I now know would have ended disastrously,\nthough I had no reason to suppose so at the time. So it will be seen\nthat I have a certain amount of personal experience to strengthen\nmy belief in the doctrine of invisible helpers, even apart from my\nknowledge of the help that is constantly being given at the present\ntime.\n\nThe other case is a very much more striking one. One of our members,\nwho gives me permission to publish her story, but does not wish her\nname mentioned, once found herself in very serious physical peril.\nOwing to circumstances which need not be detailed here, she was in\nthe very centre of a dangerous street fracas, and seeing several men\nstruck down and evidently badly hurt close to her, was in momentary\nexpectation of a similar fate, since escape from the crush seemed quite\nimpossible.\n\nSuddenly she experienced a curious sensation of being whirled out of\nthe crowd, and found herself standing quite uninjured and entirely\nalone in a small bye-street parallel with the one in which the\ndisturbance had taken place. She still heard the noise of the struggle,\nand while she stood wondering what on earth had happened to her, two or\nthree men who had escaped from the crowd came running round the corner\nof the street, and on seeing her expressed great astonishment and\npleasure, saying that when the brave lady so suddenly disappeared from\nthe midst of the fight they had felt certain that she had been struck\ndown.\n\nAt the time no sort of explanation was forthcoming, and she returned\nhome in a very mystified condition; but when at a later period she\nmentioned this strange occurrence to Madame Blavatsky she was informed\nthat, her karma being such as to enable her to be saved from her\nexceedingly dangerous position, one of the Masters had specially sent\nsome one to protect her in view of the fact that her life was needed\nfor the work.\n\nNevertheless the case remains a very extraordinary one, both with\nregard to the great amount of power exercised and the unusually\npublic nature of its manifestation. It is not difficult to imagine\nthe _modus operandi_; she must have been lifted bodily over the\nintervening block of houses, and simply set down in the next street;\nbut since her physical body was not visible floating in the air, it is\nalso evident that a veil of some sort (probably of etheric matter) must\nhave been thrown round her while in transit.\n\nIf it be objected that whatever can hide physical matter must itself be\nphysical, and therefore visible, it may be replied that by a process\nfamiliar to all occult students it is possible to bend rays of light\n(which, under all conditions at present known to science, travel only\nin straight lines unless refracted) so that after passing round an\nobject they may resume exactly their former course; and it will at once\nbe seen that if this were done such an object would to all physical\neyes be absolutely invisible until the rays were allowed to resume\ntheir normal course. I am fully aware that this one statement alone is\nsufficient to brand my remarks as nonsense in the eyes of the scientist\nof the present day, but I cannot help that; I am merely stating a\npossibility in nature which the science of the future will no doubt\none day discover, and for those who are not students of occultism the\nremark must wait until then for its justification.\n\nThe process, as I say, is comprehensible enough to any one who\nunderstands a little about the more occult forces of nature; but the\nphenomenon still remains an exceedingly dramatic one, while the name\nof the heroine of the story, were I permitted to give it, would be a\nguarantee of its accuracy to all my readers.\n\nAnother recent instance of interposition, less striking, perhaps, but\nentirely successful, has been reported to me since the publication of\nthe first edition of this book. A lady, being obliged to undertake a\nlong railway journey alone, had taken the precaution to secure an\nempty compartment; but just as the train was leaving the station, a man\nof forbidding and villainous appearance sprang in and seated himself at\nthe other end of the carriage. The lady was much alarmed, thus to be\nleft alone with so doubtful-looking a character, but it was too late to\ncall for help, so she sat still and commended herself earnestly to the\ncare of her patron saint.\n\nSoon her fears were redoubled, for the man arose and turned toward her\nwith an evil grin, but he had hardly taken one step when he started\nback with a look of the most intense astonishment and terror. Following\nthe direction of his glance, she was startled to see a gentleman seated\ndirectly opposite to her, gazing quietly but firmly at the baffled\nrobber--a gentleman who certainly could not have entered the carriage\nby any ordinary means. Too much awed to speak, she watched him as\nthough fascinated for a full half-hour; he uttered no word, and did\nnot even look at her, but kept his eyes steadily upon the villain, who\ncowered trembling in the furthest corner of the compartment. The moment\nthat the train reached the next station, and even before it came to a\nstandstill, the would-be thief tore open the door and sprang hurriedly\nout. The lady, deeply thankful to be rid of him, turned to express\nher gratitude to the gentleman, but found only an empty seat, though\nit would have been impossible for any physical body to have left the\ncarriage in the time.\n\nThe materialization was in this case maintained for a longer period\nthan usual, but on the other hand it expended no force in action of any\nkind--nor indeed was it necessary that it should do so, as its mere\nappearance was sufficient to effect its purpose.\n\nBut these stories, all referring as they do to what would commonly be\ncalled angelic intervention, illustrate only one small part of the\nactivities of our invisible helpers. Before, however, we can profitably\nconsider the other departments of their work it will be well that we\nshould have clearly in our minds the various classes of entities to\nwhich it is possible that these helpers may belong. Let that, then, be\nthe portion of our subject to be next treated.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE HELPERS.\n\n\nHelp, then, may be given by several of the many classes of inhabitants\nof the astral plane. It may come from devas, from nature-spirits,\nor from those whom we call dead, as well as from those who function\nconsciously upon the astral plane during life--chiefly the adepts and\ntheir pupils. But if we examine the matter a little more closely we\nshall see that though all the classes mentioned may, and sometimes do,\ntake a part in this work, yet their shares in it are so unequal that it\nis practically left almost entirely to one class.\n\nThe very fact that so much of this work of helping has to be done\neither upon or from the astral plane goes far in itself towards\nexplaining this. To any one who has even a faint idea of what the powers\nat the command of an adept really are, it will be at once obvious that\nfor him to work upon the astral plane would be a far greater waste of\nenergy than for our leading physicians or scientists to spend their\ntime in breaking stones upon the road.\n\nThe work of the adept lies in higher regions--chiefly upon the arupa\nlevels of the devachanic plane or heaven-world, where he may direct his\nenergies to the influencing of the true individuality of man, and not\nthe mere personality which is all that can be reached in the astral or\nphysical world. The strength which he puts forth in that more exalted\nrealm produces results greater, more far-reaching and more lasting\nthan any which can be attained by the expenditure of even ten times\nthe force down here; and the work up there is such as he alone can\nfully accomplish, while that on lower planes may be at any rate to some\nextent achieved by those whose feet are yet upon the earlier steps of\nthe great stairway which will one day lead them to the position where\nhe stands.\n\nThe same remarks apply also in the case of the devas. Belonging as they\ndo to a higher kingdom of nature than ours, their work seems for the\nmost part entirely unconnected with humanity; and even those of their\norders--and there are some such--which do sometimes respond to our\nhigher yearnings or appeals, do so on the mental plane rather than on\nthe physical or astral, and more frequently in the periods between our\nincarnations than during our earthly lives.\n\nIt may be remembered that some instances of such help were observed in\nthe course of investigations into the subdivisions of the devachanic\nplane which were undertaken when the Theosophical manual on the subject\nwas in preparation. In one case a deva was found teaching the most\nwonderful celestial music to a chorister; and in another one of a\ndifferent class was giving instruction and guidance to an astronomer\nwho was seeking to comprehend the form and structure of the universe.\n\nThese two were but examples of many instances in which the great deva\nkingdom was found to be helping onward the evolution and responding\nto the higher aspirations of man after death; and there are methods\nby which, even during earth-life, these great ones may be approached,\nand an infinity of knowledge acquired from them, though even then such\nintercourse is gained rather by rising to their plane than by invoking\nthem to descend to ours.\n\nIn the ordinary events of our physical life the deva very rarely\ninterferes--indeed, he is so fully occupied with the far grander work\nof his own plane that he is probably scarcely conscious of this; and\nthough it may occasionally happen that he becomes aware of some human\nsorrow or difficulty which excites his pity and moves him to endeavour\nto help in some way, his wider vision undoubtedly recognizes that at\nthe present stage of evolution such interpositions would in the vast\nmajority of cases be productive of infinitely more harm than good.\n\nThere was indubitably a period in the past--in the infancy of the human\nrace--when it was much more largely assisted from outside than is at\npresent the case. At the time when all its Buddhas and Manus, and even\nits more ordinary leaders and teachers, were drawn either from the\nranks of the deva evolution or from the perfected humanity of a more\nadvanced planet, any such assistance as we are considering in this\ntreatise must also have been given by these exalted beings. But as man\nprogresses he becomes himself qualified to act as a helper, first on\nthe physical plane and then on higher levels; and we have now reached a\nstage at which humanity ought to be able to provide, and to some slight\nextent does provide, invisible helpers for itself, thus setting free\nfor still more useful and elevated work those beings who are capable of\nit.\n\nIt becomes obvious then that such assistance as that to which we are\nhere referring may most fitly be given by men and women at a particular\nstage of their evolution; not by the adepts, since they are capable of\ndoing far grander and more widely useful work, and not by the ordinary\nperson of no special spiritual development, for he would be unable to\nbe of any use. Just as these considerations would lead us to expect,\nwe find that this work of helping on the astral and lower mental planes\nis chiefly in the hands of the pupils of the Masters--men who, though\nyet far from the attainment of adeptship, have evolved themselves to\nthe extent of being able to function consciously upon the planes in\nquestion.\n\nSome of these have taken the further step of completing the links\nbetween the physical consciousness and that of the higher levels, and\nthey therefore have the undoubted advantage of recollecting in waking\nlife what they have done and what they have learnt in those other\nworlds; but there are many others who, though as yet unable to carry\ntheir consciousness through unbroken, are nevertheless by no means\nwasting the hours when they think they are asleep, but spending them in\nnoble and unselfish labour for their fellow-men.\n\nWhat this labour is we will proceed to consider, but before we enter\nupon that part of the subject we will first refer to an objection which\nis very frequently brought forward with regard to such work, and we\nwill also dispose of the comparatively rare cases in which the agents\nare either nature-spirits or men who have cast off the physical body.\n\nPeople whose grasp of Theosophical ideas is as yet imperfect are often\nin doubt as to whether it is allowable for them to try to help some one\nwhom they find in sorrow or difficulty, lest they should interfere\nwith the fate which has been decreed for him by the absolute justice\nof the eternal law of karma. \u201cThe man is in his present position,\u201d\nthey say in effect, \u201cbecause he has deserved it; he is now working out\nthe perfectly natural result of some evil which he has committed in\nthe past; what right have I to interfere with the action of the great\ncosmic law by trying to ameliorate his condition, either on the astral\nplane or the physical?\u201d\n\nNow the good people who make such suggestions are really, however\nunconsciously to themselves, exhibiting the most colossal conceit, for\ntheir position implies two astounding assumptions; first, that they\nknow exactly what another man\u2019s karma has been, and how long it has\ndecreed that his sufferings shall last; and secondly, that they--the\ninsects of a day--could absolutely override the cosmic law and prevent\nthe due working-out of karma by any action of theirs. We may be well\nassured that the great k\u00e2rmic deities are perfectly well able to manage\ntheir business without our assistance, and we need have no fear that\nany steps we may take can by any possibility cause them the slightest\ndifficulty or uneasiness.\n\nIf a man\u2019s karma is such that he cannot be helped, then all our\nwell-meant efforts in that direction will fail, though we shall\nnevertheless have gained good karma for ourselves by making them. What\nthe man\u2019s karma has been is no business of ours; our duty is to give\nhelp to the utmost of our power, and our right is only to the act;\nthe result is in other and higher hands. How can we tell how a man\u2019s\naccount stands? For all we know he may just have exhausted his evil\nkarma, and be at this moment at the very point where a helping hand is\nneeded to give relief and raise him out of his trouble or depression;\nwhy should not we have the pleasure and privilege of doing that good\ndeed as well as another? If we _can_ help him, then that fact of\nitself shows that he has deserved to be helped; but we can never know\nunless we try. In any case the law of karma will take care of itself,\nand we need not trouble ourselves about it.\n\nThe cases in which assistance is given to mankind by nature-spirits\nare few. The majority of such creatures shun the haunts of man, and\nretire before him, disliking his emanations and the perpetual bustle\nand unrest which he creates all around him. Also, except some of their\nhigher orders, they are generally inconsequent and thoughtless--more\nlike happy children at play under exceedingly favourable physical\nconditions than like grave and responsible entities. Still it sometimes\nhappens that one of them will become attached to a human being, and do\nhim many a good turn; but at the present stage of its evolution this\ndepartment of nature cannot be relied upon for anything like steady\nco-operation in the work of invisible helpers. For a fuller account\nof the nature-spirits the reader is referred to the fifth of our\nTheosophical manuals.\n\nAgain, help is sometimes given by those recently departed--those who\nare still lingering on the astral plane, and still in close touch\nwith earthly affairs, as (probably) in the above-mentioned case of\nthe mother who saved her children from falling down a well. But it\nwill readily be seen that the amount of such help available must\nnaturally be exceedingly limited. The more unselfish and helpful a\nperson is, the less likely is he to be found after death lingering\nin full consciousness on the lower levels of the astral plane, from\nwhich the earth is most readily accessible. In any case, unless he\nwere an exceptionally bad man, his stay within the realm whence alone\nany interference would be possible would be comparatively short; and\nalthough from the heaven-world he may still shed benign influence upon\nthose whom he has loved on earth, it will usually be rather of the\nnature of a general benediction than a force capable of bringing about\ndefinite results in a specific case, such as those which we have been\nconsidering.\n\nAgain, many of the departed who wish to help those whom they left\nbehind, find themselves quite unable to influence them in any way,\nsince to work from one plane upon an entity on another requires either\nvery great sensitiveness on the part of that entity, or a certain\namount of knowledge and skill on the part of the operator. Therefore,\nalthough instances of apparitions shortly after death are by no means\nuncommon, it is rare to find one in which the departed person has\nreally done anything useful, or succeeded in impressing what he wished\nupon the friend or relation whom he visited. There are such cases, of\ncourse--a good many of them when we come to put them all together; but\nthey are not numerous compared to the great number of ghosts who have\nsucceeded in showing themselves. So that but little help is usually\ngiven by the dead--indeed, as will presently be explained, it is far\nmore common for them to be themselves in need of assistance than to be\nable to accord it to others.\n\nAt present, therefore, the main bulk of the work which has to be done\nalong these lines falls to the share of those living persons who are\nable to function consciously on the astral plane.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nTHE REALITY OF SUPERPHYSICAL LIFE.\n\n\nIt seems difficult for those who are accustomed only to the ordinary\nand somewhat materialistic lines of thought of the nineteenth century,\nto believe in and realize fully a condition of perfect consciousness\napart from the physical body. Every Christian, at any rate, is bound\nby the very foundations of his creed to believe that he possesses a\nsoul; but if you suggest to him the possibility that that soul may be\na sufficiently real thing to become visible under certain conditions\napart from the body either during life or after death, the chances are\nten to one that he will scornfully tell you that he does not believe in\nghosts, and that such an idea is nothing but an anachronistic survival\nof an exploded medi\u00e6val superstition.\n\nIf, therefore, we are at all to comprehend the work of the band of\ninvisible helpers, and perchance ourselves to learn to assist in\nit, we must shake ourselves free from the trammels of contemporary\nthought on these subjects, and endeavour to grasp the great truth\n(now a demonstrated fact to many among us) that the physical body is\nin simple truth nothing but a vehicle or vesture of the real man. It\nis put off permanently at death, but it is also put off temporarily\nevery night when we go to sleep--indeed the process of falling asleep\nconsists in this very action of the real man in his astral vehicle\nslipping out of the physical body.\n\nAgain I repeat, this is no mere hypothesis or ingenious supposition.\nThere are many among us who are able to perform (and _do_\nperform every day of their lives) this elementary act of magic in\nfull consciousness--who pass from one plane to the other at will; and\nif that is clearly realized, it will become apparent how grotesquely\nabsurd to them must appear the ordinary unreasoning assertion that such\na thing is utterly impossible. It is like telling a man that it is\nimpossible for him to fall asleep, and that if he thinks he has ever\ndone so he is under a hallucination.\n\nNow the man who has not yet developed the link between the astral and\nphysical consciousness is unable to leave his denser body at will,\nor to recollect most of what happens to him while away from it; but\nthe fact nevertheless remains that he leaves it every time he sleeps,\nand may be seen by any trained clairvoyant either hovering over it or\nwandering about at a greater or less distance from it, as the case may\nbe.\n\nThe entirely undeveloped person usually floats close above his physical\nbody, scarcely less asleep than it is, and comparatively shapeless\nand inchoate, and it is found that he cannot be drawn away from the\nimmediate neighbourhood of that physical body without causing serious\ndiscomfort which would in fact awaken it. As the man evolves, however,\nhis astral body grows more definite and more conscious, and so becomes\na fitter vehicle for him. In the case of the majority of intelligent\nand cultured people the degree of consciousness is already very\nconsiderable, and a man who is at all spiritually developed is as fully\nhimself in that vehicle as in this denser body.\n\nBut though he may be fully conscious on the astral plane during sleep,\nand able to move about on it freely if he wishes to do so, it does not\nyet follow that he is ready to join the band of helpers. Most people at\nthis stage are so wrapped up in their own train of thought--usually a\ncontinuation of some line taken up in waking hours--that they are like\na man in a brown study, so much absorbed as to be practically entirely\nheedless of all that is going on about them. And in many ways it is\nwell that this is so, for there is much upon the astral plane which\nmight be unnerving and terrifying to one who had not the courage born\nof full knowledge as to the real nature of all that he would see.\n\nSometimes a man gradually rouses himself out of this condition--wakes\nup to the astral world around him, as it were; but more often he\nremains in that state until some one who is already active there takes\nhim in hand and wakens him. This is, however, not a responsibility to\nbe lightly undertaken, for while it is comparatively easy thus to wake\na man up on the astral plane, it is practically impossible, except by\na most undesirable exercise of mesmeric influence, to put him to sleep\nagain. So that before a member of the band of workers will thus awaken\na dreamer, he must fully satisfy himself that the man\u2019s disposition is\nsuch that he will make good use of the additional powers that will then\nbe put into his hands, and also that his knowledge and his courage are\nsufficient to make it reasonably certain that no harm will come to him\nas a result of the action.\n\nSuch awakening so performed will put a man in a position to join if\nhe will the band of those who help mankind. But it must be clearly\nunderstood that this does not necessarily or even usually bring with it\nthe power of remembering in the waking consciousness anything which has\nbeen done. That capacity has to be attained by the man for himself, and\nin most cases it does not come for years afterwards--perhaps not even\nin the same life. But happily this lack of memory in the body in no way\nimpedes the work out of the body; so that, except for the satisfaction\nto a man of knowing during his waking hours upon what work he has been\nengaged during his sleep, it is not a matter of importance. What really\nmatters is that the work should be done--not that we should remember\nwho did it.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nA TIMELY INTERVENTION.\n\n\nVaried as is this work on the astral plane, it is all directed to\none great end--the furtherance, in however humble a degree, of\nthe processes of evolution. Occasionally it is connected with the\ndevelopment of the lower kingdoms, which it is possible slightly\nto accelerate under certain conditions. A duty towards these lower\nkingdoms, elemental as well as animal and vegetable, is distinctly\nrecognized by our adept leaders, since it is in some cases only through\nconnection with or use by man that their progress takes place.\n\nBut naturally by far the largest and most important part of the work is\nconnected with humanity in some way or other. The services rendered are\nof many and various kinds, but chiefly concerned with man\u2019s spiritual\ndevelopment, such physical interventions as are recounted in the\nearlier part of this book being exceedingly rare. They do, however,\noccasionally take place, and though it is my wish to emphasize rather\nthe possibility of extending mental and moral help to our fellow-men,\nit will perhaps be well to give two or three instances in which\nfriends personally known to me have rendered physical assistance to\nthose in sore need of it, in order that it may be seen how these\nexamples from the experience of the helpers gear in with the accounts\ngiven by those who have received the supernormal aid--such stories, I\nmean, as those which are to be found in the literature of so-called\n\u201csupernatural occurrences.\u201d\n\nIn the course of the recent rebellion in Matabeleland one of our\nmembers was sent upon an errand of mercy which may serve as an\nillustration of the way in which help upon this lower plane has\noccasionally been given. It seems that one night a certain farmer\nand his family in that country were sleeping tranquilly in fancied\nsecurity, quite unaware that only a few miles away relentless hordes of\nsavage foes were lying in ambush maturing fiendish plots of murder and\nrapine. Our member\u2019s business was in some way or other to arouse the\nsleeping family to a sense of the terrible danger which so unexpectedly\nmenaced them, and she found this by no means an easy matter.\n\nAn attempt to impress the idea of imminent peril upon the brain of\nthe farmer failed utterly, and as the urgency of the case seemed to\ndemand strong measures, our friend decided to materialize herself\nsufficiently to shake the housewife by the shoulder and adjure her\nto get up and look about her. The moment she saw that she had been\nsuccessful in attracting attention she vanished, and the farmer\u2019s wife\nhas never from that day to this been able to find out _which_ of\nher neighbours it was who roused her so opportunely, and thus saved the\nlives of the entire family, who but for this mysterious intervention\nwould undoubtedly have been massacred in their beds half an hour later;\nnor can she even now understand how this friend in need contrived to\nmake her way in, when all the windows and doors were found so securely\nbarred.\n\nBeing thus abruptly awakened, the housewife was half inclined to\nconsider the warning as a mere dream; however, she arose and looked\nround just to see that all was right, and fortunate it was that she did\nso, for though she found nothing amiss indoors she had no sooner thrown\nopen a shutter than she saw the sky red with a distant conflagration.\nShe at once roused her husband and the rest of her family, and owing to\nthis timely notice they were able to escape to a place of concealment\nnear at hand just before the arrival of the horde of savages,\nwho destroyed the house and ravaged the fields indeed, but were\ndisappointed of the human prey which they had expected. The feelings of\nthe rescuer may be imagined when she read in the newspaper some time\nafterwards an account of the providential deliverance of this family.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE \u201cANGEL STORY.\u201d\n\n\nAnother instance of intervention on the physical plane which occurred\na short time ago makes a very beautiful little story, though this time\nonly one life was saved. It needs, however, a few words of preliminary\nexplanation. Among our band of helpers here in Europe are two who were\nbrothers long ago in ancient Egypt, and are still warmly attached to\none another. In this present incarnation there is a wide difference in\nage between them, one being advanced in middle life, while the other\nwas at that time a mere child in the physical body, though an ego of\nconsiderable advancement and promise. Naturally it falls to the lot\nof the elder to train and guide the younger in the occult work to\nwhich they are so heartily devoted, and as both are fully conscious\nand active on the astral plane they spend most of the time during\nwhich their grosser bodies are asleep in labouring together under the\ndirection of their common Master, and giving to both living and dead\nsuch help as is within their power.\n\nI will quote the story of the particular incident which I wish\nto relate from a letter written by the elder of the two helpers\nimmediately after its occurrence, as the description there given is\nmore vivid and picturesque than any account in the third person could\npossibly be.\n\n\u201cWe were going about quite other business, when Cyril suddenly cried,\n\u2018What\u2019s that?\u2019 for we heard a terrible scream of pain or fright. In a\nmoment we were on the spot, and found that a boy of about eleven or\ntwelve had fallen over a cliff on to some rocks below, and was very\nbadly hurt. He had broken a leg and an arm, poor fellow, but what was\nstill worse was a dreadful cut in the thigh, from which blood was\npouring in a torrent. Cyril cried, \u2018Let us help him quick, or he\u2019ll\ndie!\u2019\n\n\u201cIn emergencies of this kind one has to think quickly. There were\nclearly two things to be done; that bleeding must be stopped, and\nphysical help must be procured. I was obliged to materialize either\nCyril or myself, for we wanted physical hands at once to tie a bandage,\nand besides it seemed better that the poor boy should _see_\nsome one standing by him in his trouble. I felt that while undoubtedly\nhe would be more at home with Cyril than with me, I should probably be\nmore readily able to procure help than Cyril would, so the division of\nlabour was obvious.\n\n\u201cThe plan worked capitally. I materialized Cyril instantly (he does\nnot know yet how to do it for himself), and told him to take the boy\u2019s\nneckerchief and tie it round the thigh, and twist a stick through it\n\u2018Won\u2019t it hurt him terribly?\u2019 said Cyril; but he _did_ it, and\nthe blood stopped flowing. The injured boy seemed half unconscious,\nand could scarcely speak, but he looked up at the shining little form\nbending so anxiously over him, and asked, \u2018Be you an angel, master?\u2019\nCyril smiled so prettily, and replied, \u2018No, I\u2019m only a boy, but I\u2019ve\ncome to help you;\u2019 and then I left him to comfort the sufferer while I\nrushed off for the boy\u2019s mother, who lived about a mile away.\n\n\u201cThe trouble I had to force into that woman\u2019s head the conviction that\nsomething was wrong, and that she must go and see about it, you would\nnever believe; but at last she threw down the pan she was cleaning, and\nsaid aloud, \u2018Well, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s come over me, but I must go and\nfind the boy.\u2019 When she once started I was able to guide her without\nmuch difficulty, though all the time I was holding Cyril together by\nwill-power, lest the poor child\u2019s angel should suddenly vanish from\nbefore his eyes.\n\n\u201cYou see, when you materialize a form you are changing matter from its\nnatural state into another--temporarily opposing the cosmic will, as\nit were; and if you take your mind off it for one half-second, back it\nflies into its original condition like a flash of lightning. So I could\nnot give more than half my attention to that woman, but still I got her\nalong somehow, and as soon as she came round the corner of the cliff I\nlet Cyril disappear; but she had seen him, and now that village has one\nof the best-attested stories of angelic intervention on record!\n\n\u201cThe accident happened in the early morning, and the same evening I\nlooked in (astrally) upon the family to see how matters were going on.\nThe poor boy\u2019s leg and arm had been set, and the great cut bandaged,\nand he lay in bed looking very pale and weak, but evidently going to\nrecover in time. The mother had a couple of neighbours in, and was\ntelling them the story; and a curious tale it sounded to one who knew\nthe real facts.\n\n\u201cShe explained, in very many words, how she couldn\u2019t tell what it was,\nbut something came over her all in a minute like, making her feel\nsomething had happened to the boy, and she _must_ go out and see\nafter him; how at first she thought it was nonsense, and tried to throw\noff the feeling, \u2018but it warn\u2019t no use--she just had to go.\u2019 She told\nhow she didn\u2019t know what made her go round by that cliff more than any\nother way, but it just happened so, and as she turned round the corner\nthere she saw him lying propped up against a rock, and kneeling beside\nhim was the \u2018beautifullest child ever she saw, dressed all in white and\nshining, with rosy cheeks and lovely brown eyes;\u2019 and how he smiled at\nher \u2018so heavenly like,\u2019 and then all in a moment he was not there, and\nat first she was so startled she didn\u2019t know what to think; and then\nall at once she felt what it was, and fell on her knees and thanked God\nfor sending one of his angels to help her poor boy.\n\n\u201cThen she told how when she lifted him to carry him home she wanted to\ntake off the handkerchief that was cutting into his poor leg so, but he\nwould not let her, because he said the angel had tied it and said he\nwas not to touch it; and how when she told the doctor this afterwards\nhe explained to her that if she _had_ unfastened it the boy would\ncertainly have died.\n\n\u201cThen she repeated the boy\u2019s part of the tale--how the moment after he\nfell this lovely little angel came to him (he knew it _was_ an\nangel because he knew there had been nobody in sight for half a mile\nround when he was at the top of the cliff just before--only he could\nnot understand why it hadn\u2019t any wings, and why it said it was only a\nboy)--how it lifted him against the rock and tied up his leg, and then\nbegan to talk to him and tell him he need not be frightened, because\nsomebody was gone to fetch mother, and she would be there directly;\nhow it kissed him and tried to make him comfortable, and how its soft,\nwarm, little hand held his all the time, while it told him strange,\nbeautiful stories which he could not clearly remember, but he knew they\nwere very good, because he had almost forgotten he was hurt until he\nsaw mother coming; and how then it assured him he would soon be well\nagain, and smiled and squeezed his hand, and then somehow it was gone.\n\n\u201cSince then there has been quite a religious revival in that village!\nTheir minister has told them that so signal an interposition of\ndivine providence must have been meant as a sign to them, to rebuke\nscoffers and to prove the truth of holy scripture and of the Christian\nreligion--and nobody seems to see the colossal conceit involved in such\nan astonishing proposition.\n\n\u201cBut the effect on the boy has been undoubtedly good, morally as well\nas physically; by all accounts he was a careless enough young scamp\nbefore, but now he feels \u2018his angel\u2019 may be near him at any time, and\nhe will never do or say anything rough or coarse or angry, lest it\nshould see or hear. The one great desire of his life is that some day\nhe may see it again, and he knows that when he dies its lovely face\nwill be the first to greet him on the other side.\u201d\n\nA beautiful and pathetic little story, truly. The moral drawn from the\noccurrence by the village and its minister is perhaps somewhat of a\n_non sequitur_; yet the testimony to the existence of at least\nsomething beyond this material plane must surely do the people more\ngood than harm, and after all the mother\u2019s conclusion from what she\nsaw was a perfectly correct one, though more accurate knowledge would\nprobably have led her to express it a little differently.\n\nAn interesting fact afterwards discovered by the investigations of\nthe writer of the letter throws a curious side-light upon the reasons\nunderlying such incidents. It was found that the two boys had met\nbefore, and that some thousands of years ago the one who fell from\nthe cliff had been the slave of the other, and had once saved his\nyoung master\u2019s life at the risk of his own, and had been liberated\nin consequence; and now, long afterwards, the master not only repays\nthe debt in kind, but also gives his former slave a high ideal and an\ninducement to morality of life which will probably change the whole\ncourse of his future evolution. So true is it that no good deed ever\ngoes unrewarded by karma, however tardy it may seem in its action--that\n\n    Though the mills of God grind slowly,\n      Yet they grind exceeding small;\n    Though with patience stands He waiting,\n      With exactness grinds He all.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHE STORY OF A FIRE.\n\n\nAnother piece of work done by the same boy Cyril furnishes an almost\nexact parallel to some of the stories from the books which I have given\nin earlier pages. He and his older friend, it seems, were passing along\nin the prosecution of their usual work one night, when they noticed the\nfierce glare of a big fire below them, and promptly dived down to see\nif they could be of any use.\n\nIt was a great hotel which was in flames, a huge caravanserai on\nthe edge of a great lake. The house, many stories in height, formed\nthree sides of a square round a sort of garden, planted with trees\nand flowers, while the lake formed the fourth side. The two wings ran\nright down to the lake, the big bay windows which terminated them\nalmost projecting over the water, so as to leave only quite a narrow\npassage-way under them at the two sides.\n\nThe front and wings were built round inside wells, which contained also\nthe lattice-work shafts of the lifts, so that when once the fire broke\nout, it spread with almost incredible rapidity, and before our friends\nsaw it on their astral journey all the middle floors in each of the\nthree great blocks were in flames. Fortunately the inmates--except one\nlittle boy--had already been rescued, though some of them had sustained\nvery serious burns and other injuries.\n\nThis little fellow had been forgotten in one of the upper rooms of the\nleft wing, for his parents were out at a ball, and knew nothing of\nthe fire, while naturally enough no one else thought of the lad till\nit was far too late. The fire had gained such a hold on the middle\nfloors of that wing that nothing could have been done, even if any one\nhad remembered him, as his room faced on to the inner garden which has\nbeen mentioned, so that he was completely cut off from all outside\nhelp. Besides, he was not even aware of his danger, for the dense,\nsuffocating smoke had so gradually filled the room that his sleep had\ngrown deeper and deeper, till he was all but stupefied.\n\nIn this state he was discovered by Cyril, who seems to be specially\nattracted towards children in need or danger. He first tried to make\nsome of the people remember the boy, but in vain; and in any case it\nseemed scarcely possible that they could have helped him, so that it\nwas soon evident that this was merely a waste of time. The older\nhelper then materialized Cyril, as before, in the room, and set him to\nwork to awaken and rouse up the more than half-stupefied child. After a\ngood deal of difficulty this was accomplished to some extent, but the\nboy remained in a half-dazed, semi-conscious condition through all that\nfollowed, so that he needed to be pushed and pulled about, guided and\nhelped at every turn.\n\nThe two boys first crept out of the room into the central passage which\nran through the wing, and then, finding that the smoke and the flames\nbeginning to come through the floor made it impassable for a physical\nbody, Cyril got the other boy back into the room again and out of the\nwindow on to a stone ledge, about a foot wide, which ran right along\nthe block just below the windows. Along this he managed to guide his\ncompanion, half balancing himself on the extreme edge of the ledge, and\nhalf floating on air, but always placing himself outside, of the other,\nso as to keep him from dizziness and prevent him from feeling afraid of\na fall.\n\nTowards the end of the block nearest the lake, in which direction the\nfire seemed less developed, they climbed in through an open window and\nagain reached the passage, hoping to find the staircase at that end\nstill passable. But it, too, was full of flame and smoke; so they\ncrawled back along the passage, Cyril advising his companion to keep\nhis mouth close to the ground, till they reached the latticed cage of\nthe lift running down the long well in the centre of the block.\n\nThe lift of course was at the bottom, but they managed to clamber down\nthe lattice work inside the cage till they stood on the roof of the\nelevator itself. Here they found themselves blocked, but luckily Cyril\ndiscovered a doorway opening from the cage of the lift on to a sort of\n_entresol_ just above the ground floor. Through this they reached\na passage, which they crossed, the little boy being half-stifled by the\nsmoke; then they made their way through one of the rooms opposite, and\nfinally, clambering out of the window, found themselves on the top of\nthe veranda which ran along in front of the ground floor, between it\nand the garden.\n\nThence it was easy enough to swarm down one of the pillars and reach\nthe garden itself; but even there the heat was intense, and the\ndanger, when the walls should fall, very considerable. So Cyril tried\nto conduct his charge round the end first of one, then of the other\nwing; but in both cases the flames had burst through, and the narrow,\noverhung passages were quite impassable. Finally they took refuge in\none of the pleasure boats which were moored to the steps of the quay\nat the side of the garden next the lake, and, casting loose, rowed out\non to the water.\n\nCyril intended to row round past the burning wing and land the boy whom\nhe had saved; but when they got some little way out, they fell in with\na passing lake steamer, and were seen--for the whole scene was lit up\nby the glare of the burning hotel, till everything was as plain as in\nbroad daylight. The steamer came alongside the boat to take them off;\nbut instead of the two boys they had seen, the crew found only one--for\nhis older friend had promptly allowed Cyril to slip back into his\nastral form, dissipating the denser matter which had made for the time\na material body, and he was therefore now invisible.\n\nA careful search was made, of course, but no trace of the second boy\ncould be found, and so it was concluded that he must have fallen\noverboard and been drowned just as they came alongside. The child\nwho had been rescued fell into a dead faint as soon as he was safe\non board, so they could get no information from him, and when he did\nrecover, all he could say was that he had seen the other boy the moment\nbefore they came alongside, and then knew nothing more.\n\nThe steamer was bound down the lake to a place some two days\u2019 sail\ndistant, and it was a week or so before the rescued boy could be\nrestored to his parents, who of course thought that he had perished in\nthe flames, for though an effort was made to impress on their minds the\nfact that their son had been saved, it was found impossible to convey\nthe idea to them, so it may be imagined how great was the joy of the\nmeeting.\n\nThe boy is still well and happy, and is never weary of relating his\nwonderful adventure. Many a time he has regretted that the kind friend\nwho saved him should have perished so mysteriously at the very moment\nwhen all the danger seemed over at last. Indeed, he has even ventured\nto suggest that perhaps he _didn\u2019t_ perish after all--that perhaps\nhe was a fairy prince; but of course this idea elicits nothing but\ntolerant smiles of superiority from his elders. The k\u00e2rmic link between\nhim and his preserver has not yet been traced, but no doubt there must\nbe one somewhere.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nMATERIALIZATION AND REPERCUSSION.\n\n\nOn meeting with a story such as this, students often enquire whether\nthe invisible helper is perfectly safe amidst these scenes of deadly\nperil--whether, for example, this boy who was materialized in\norder to save another from a burning house was not himself in some\ndanger--whether his physical body would not have suffered in any\nway by repercussion if his materialized form had passed through the\nflames, or fallen from the high ledge on the edge of which he walked so\nunconcernedly. In fact, since we know that in many cases the connection\nbetween a materialized form and a physical body is sufficiently close\nto produce repercussion, might it not have occurred in this case?\n\nNow this subject of repercussion is an exceedingly abstruse and\ndifficult one, and we are by no means yet in a position fully to\nexplain its very remarkable phenomena; indeed, in order to understand\nthe matter perfectly, it would probably be necessary to comprehend the\nlaws of sympathetic vibration on more planes than one. Still, we do\nknow by observation some of the conditions which permit its action,\nand some which definitely exclude it, and I think we are warranted in\nsaying that it was absolutely impossible here.\n\nTo see why this is so we must first remember that there are at least\nthree well-defined varieties of materialization, as any one who has at\nall an extended experience of spiritualism will be aware. I am not\nconcerned at the moment to enter upon any explanation as to how these\nthree varieties are respectively produced, but am merely stating the\nindubitable fact of their existence.\n\n1. There is the materialization which, though tangible, is not visible\nto ordinary physical sight. Of this nature are the unseen hands which\nso often clasp one\u2019s arm or stroke one\u2019s face at a _s\u00e9ance_, which\nsometimes carry physical objects through the air or make raps upon\nthe table--though of course both these latter phenomena may easily be\nproduced without a materialized hand at all.\n\n2. There is the materialization which though visible is not\ntangible--the spirit-form through which one\u2019s hand passes as through\nempty air. In some cases this variety is obviously misty and\nimpalpable, but in others its appearance is so entirely normal that\nits solidity is never doubted until some one endeavours to grasp it.\n\n3. There is the perfect materialization which is both visible and\ntangible--which not only bears the outward semblance of your departed\nfriend, but shakes you cordially by the hand with the very clasp that\nyou know so well.\n\nNow while there is a good deal of evidence to show that repercussion\ntakes place under certain conditions in the case of this third kind\nof materialization, it is by no means so certain that it can occur\nwith the first or second class. In the case of the boy-helper it is\nprobable that the materialization would not be of the third type, since\nthe greatest care is always taken not to expend more force than is\nabsolutely necessary to produce whatever result may be required, and\nit is obvious that less energy would be used in the production of the\nmore partial forms which we have called the first and second classes.\nThe probability is that only the arm with which the boy held his little\ncompanion would be solid to the touch, and that the rest of his body,\nthough looking perfectly natural, would have proved far less palpable\nif it had been tested.\n\nBut, apart from this probability, there is another point to be\nconsidered. When a full materialization takes place, whether the\nsubject be living or dead, physical matter of some sort has to be\ngathered together for the purpose. At a spiritualistic _s\u00e9ance_\nthis matter is obtained by drawing largely upon the etheric double of\nthe medium--and sometimes even upon his physical body also, since cases\nare on record in which his weight has been very considerably decreased\nwhile manifestations of this character were taking place.\n\nThis method is employed by the directing entities of the _s\u00e9ance_\nsimply because when an available medium is within reach it is very\nmuch the easiest way in which a materialization can be brought\nabout; and the consequence is that the very closest connection is\nthus set up between that medium and the materialized body, so that\nthe phenomenon which (although very imperfectly understanding it) we\ncall repercussion, occurs in its clearest form. If, for example, the\nhands of the materialized body be rubbed with chalk, that chalk will\nafterwards be found on the hands of the medium, even though he may have\nbeen all the time carefully locked up in a cabinet under circumstances\nwhich absolutely preclude any suspicion of fraud. If any injury be\ninflicted upon the materialized form, that injury will be accurately\nreproduced upon the corresponding part of the medium\u2019s body; while\nsometimes food of which the spirit-form has partaken will be found to\nhave passed into the body of the medium--at least that happened in one\ncase at any rate within my own experience.\n\nIt would be far otherwise, however, in the case which we have been\ndescribing. Cyril was thousands of miles from his sleeping physical\nbody, and it would therefore be quite impossible for his friend to draw\netheric matter from it, while the regulations under which all pupils\nof the great Masters of Wisdom perform their work of helping man would\nassuredly prevent him, even for the noblest purpose, from putting\nsuch a strain upon any one else\u2019s body. Besides, it would be quite\nunnecessary, for the far less dangerous method invariably employed by\nthe helpers when materialization seems desirable would be ready to\nhis hand--the condensation from the circumambient ether, or even from\nthe physical air, of such an amount of matter as may be requisite.\nThis feat, though no doubt beyond the power of the average entity\nmanifesting at a _s\u00e9ance_, presents no difficulty to a student of\noccult chemistry.\n\nBut mark the difference in the result obtained. In the case of the\nmedium we have a materialized form in the closest possible connection\nwith the physical body, made out of its very substance, and therefore\ncapable of producing all the phenomena of repercussion. In the case of\nthe helper we have indeed an exact reproduction of the physical body,\nbut it is created by a mental effort out of matter entirely foreign\nto that body, and is no more capable of acting upon it by repercussion\nthan an ordinary marble statue of the man would be.\n\nThus it is that a passage through the flames or a fall from a high\nwindow-ledge would have had no terrors for the boy-helper, and that on\nanother occasion a member of the band, though materialized, was able\nwithout any inconvenience to the physical body to go down in a sinking\nvessel (see p. 77).\n\nIn both the incidents of his work that have been described above, it\nwill have been noticed that the boy Cyril was unable to materialize\nhimself, and that the operation had to be performed for him by an older\nfriend. One more of his experiences is worth relating, for it gives\nus a case in which by intensity of pity and determination of will he\n_was_ able to show himself--a case somewhat parallel to that\npreviously related of the mother whose love enabled her somehow to\nmanifest herself in order to save her children\u2019s lives.\n\nInexplicable as it may seem, there is no doubt whatever of the\nexistence in nature of this stupendous power of will over matter of\nall planes, so that if only the power be great enough, practically\n_any_ result may be produced by its direct action, without any\nknowledge or even thought on the part of the man exercising that will\nas to _how_ it is to do its work. We have had plenty of evidence\nthat this power holds good in the case of materialization, although\nordinarily it is an art which must be learnt just like any other.\nAssuredly an average man on the astral plane could no more materialize\nhimself without having previously learnt how to do it than the average\nman on this plane could play the violin without having previously\nlearnt it; but there are exceptional cases, as will be seen from the\nfollowing narrative.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE TWO BROTHERS.\n\n\nThis story has been told by a pen of far greater dramatic capability\nthan mine, and with a wealth of detail for which I have here no space,\nin _The Theosophical Review_ of November, 1897, p. 229. To that\naccount I would refer the reader, since my own description of the case\nwill be a mere outline, as brief as is consistent with clearness. The\nnames given are of course fictitious, but the incidents are related\nwith scrupulous accuracy.\n\nOur _dramatis personae_ are two brothers, the sons of a country\ngentleman--Lancelot, aged fourteen, and Walter, aged eleven--very good\nboys of the ordinary healthy, manly type, like hundreds of others in\nthis fair realm, with no obvious psychic qualifications of any sort,\nexcept the possession of a good deal of Celtic blood. Perhaps the most\nremarkable feature about them was the intensity of the affection that\nexisted between them, for they were simply inseparable--neither would\ngo anywhere without the other, and the younger idolized the elder as\nonly a younger boy can.\n\nOne unlucky day Lancelot was thrown from his pony and killed, and\nfor Walter the world became empty. The child\u2019s grief was so real and\nterrible that he could neither eat nor sleep, and his mother and nurse\nwere at their wits\u2019 end as to what to do for him. He seemed deaf alike\nto persuasion and blame; when they told him that grief was wicked, and\nthat his brother was in heaven, he simply answered that he could not be\ncertain of that, and that even if it were true, he knew that Lancelot\ncould no more be happy in heaven without him than he could on earth\nwithout Lancelot.\n\nIncredible as it may sound, the poor child was actually dying of\ngrief, and what made the case even more pathetic was the fact that,\nall unknown to him, his brother stood at his side all the time, fully\nconscious of his misery, and himself half-distracted at the failure of\nhis repeated attempts to touch him or speak to him.\n\nAffairs were still in this most pitiable condition on the third\nevening after the accident, when Cyril\u2019s attention was drawn to the\ntwo brothers--he cannot tell how. \u201cHe just happened to be passing,\u201d\nhe says; yet surely the will of the Lords of Compassion guided him\nto the scene. Poor Walter lay exhausted yet sleepless--alone in his\ndesolation, so far as he knew, though all the time his sorrowing\nbrother stood beside him. Lancelot, free from the chains of the flesh,\ncould see and hear Cyril, so obviously the first thing to do was to\nsoothe his pain with a promise of friendship and help in communicating\nwith his brother.\n\nAs soon as the dead boy\u2019s mind was thus cheered with hope, Cyril turned\nto the living one, and tried with all his strength to impress upon his\nbrain the knowledge that his brother stood beside him, not dead, but\nliving and loving as of yore. But all his efforts were in vain; the\ndull apathy of grief so filled poor Walter\u2019s mind that no suggestion\nfrom without could enter, and Cyril knew not what to do. Yet so deeply\nwas he moved by the sad sight, so intense was his sympathy and so firm\nhis determination to help in some way or other at any cost of strength\nto himself, that somehow (even to this day he cannot tell how) he found\nhimself able to touch and speak to the heart-broken child.\n\nPutting aside Walter\u2019s questions as to who he was and how he came\nthere, he went straight to the point, telling him that his brother\nstood beside him, trying hard to make him hear his constantly repeated\nassurances that he was not dead, but living and yearning to help and\ncomfort him. Little Walter longed to believe, yet hardly dared to\nhope; but Cyril\u2019s eager insistence vanquished his doubts at last, and\nhe said,\n\n\u201cOh! I do believe you, because you\u2019re so kind; but if I could only see\nhim, then I should _know_, then I should be quite sure; and if I\ncould only hear his voice telling me he was happy, I shouldn\u2019t mind a\nbit his going away again afterwards.\u201d\n\nYoung though he was at the work, Cyril knew enough to be aware that\nWalter\u2019s wish was one not ordinarily granted, and was beginning\nregretfully to tell him so, when suddenly he felt a Presence that all\nthe helpers know, and though no word was spoken it was borne in upon\nhis mind that instead of what he had meant to say, he was to promise\nWalter the boon his heart desired. \u201cWait till I come back,\u201d he said,\n\u201cand you shall see him then.\u201d And then--he vanished.\n\nThat one touch from the Master had shown him what to do and how to do\nit, and he rushed to fetch the older friend who had so often helped\nhim before. This older man had not yet retired for the night, but on\nhearing Cyril\u2019s hurried summons, he lost no time in accompanying him,\nand in a few minutes they were back at Walter\u2019s bedside. The poor child\nwas just beginning to believe it all a lovely dream, and his delight\nand relief when Cyril reappeared were beautiful to see. Yet how much\nmore beautiful was the scene a moment later, when, in obedience to a\nword from the Master, the elder man materialized the eager Lancelot,\nand the living and the dead stood hand in hand once more!\n\nNow in very truth for both the brothers had sorrow been turned into\njoy unspeakable, and again and again they both declared that now they\nshould never feel sad any more, because they knew that death had no\npower to part them. Nor was their gladness damped even when Cyril\nexplained carefully to them, at his older friend\u2019s suggestion, that\nthis strange physical reunion would not be repeated, but that all day\nlong Lancelot would be near Walter, even though the latter could not\nsee him, and every night Walter would slip out of his body and be\nconsciously with his brother once more.\n\nHearing this, poor weary Walter sank to sleep at once and proved its\ntruth, and was amazed to find with what hitherto unknown rapidity he\nand his brother could fly together from one to another of their old\nfamiliar haunts. Cyril thoughtfully warned him that he would probably\nforget most of his freer life when he awoke next day; but by rare good\nfortune he did _not_ forget, as so many of us do. Perhaps the\nshock of the great joy had somewhat aroused the latent psychic faculty\nwhich belongs to the Celtic blood; at any rate he forgot no single\ndetail of all that had happened, and next morning he burst upon the\nhouse of mourning with a wondrous tale which suited it but ill.\n\nHis parents thought that grief had turned his brain, and, since he is\nnow the heir, they have been watching long and anxiously for further\nsymptoms of insanity, which happily they have not found. They still\nthink him a monomaniac on this point, though they fully recognize\nthat his \u201cdelusion\u201d has saved his life; but his old nurse (who is a\nCatholic) is firm in her belief that all he says is true--that the Lord\nJesus, who was once a child himself, took pity on that other child as\nhe lay dying of grief, and sent one of His angels to bring his brother\nback to him from the dead as a reward for a love which was stronger\nthan death. Sometimes popular superstition gets a good deal nearer to\nthe heart of things than does educated scepticism!\n\nNor does the story end here, for the good work begun that night is\nstill progressing, and none can say how far the influence of that one\nact may ramify. Walter\u2019s astral consciousness, once having been thus\nthoroughly awakened, remains in activity; every morning he brings\nback into his physical brain the memory of his night\u2019s adventures\nwith his brother; every night they meet their dear friend Cyril,\nfrom whom they have learned so much about the wonderful new world\nthat has opened before them, and the other worlds to come that lie\nhigher yet. Under Cyril\u2019s guidance they also--the living and the dead\nalike--have become eager and earnest members of the band of helpers;\nand probably for years to come--until Lancelot\u2019s vigorous young astral\nbody disintegrates--many a dying child will have cause to be grateful\nto these three who are trying to pass on to others something of the joy\nthat they have themselves received.\n\nNor is it to the dead alone that these new converts have been of use,\nfor they have sought and found some other living children who show\nconsciousness on the astral plane during sleep; and one at least\nof those whom they have thus brought to Cyril has already proved a\nvaluable little recruit to the children\u2019s band, as well as a very kind\nlittle friend down here on the physical plane.\n\nThose to whom all these ideas are new sometimes find it very difficult\nto understand how children can be of any use in the astral world.\nSeeing, they would say, that the astral body of a child must be\nundeveloped, and the ego thus limited by childhood on the astral as\nwell as the physical plane, in what way could such an ego be of use, or\nbe able to help towards the spiritual, mental and moral evolution of\nhumanity, which we are told is the chief concern of the helpers?\n\nWhen first such a question was asked, shortly after the publication of\none of these stories in our magazine, I sent it to Cyril himself, to\nsee what he would say to it, and his answer was this:\n\n\u201cIt is quite true, as the writer says, that I am only a boy, and know\nvery little yet, and that I shall be much more useful when I have\nlearnt more. But I am able to do a little even now, because there are\nso many people who have learnt nothing about Theosophy yet, though they\nmay know very much more than I do about everything else. And you see\nwhen you want to get to a certain place, a little boy who knows the way\ncan do more for you than a hundred wise men who don\u2019t know it.\u201d\n\nIt may be added that when even a child had been awakened upon the\nastral plane the development of the astral body would proceed so\nrapidly that he would very soon be in a position upon that plane but\nlittle inferior to that of the awakened adult, and would of course\nbe much in advance, so far as usefulness is concerned, of the wisest\nman who was as yet unawakened. But unless the ego expressing himself\nthrough that child-body possessed the necessary qualification of a\ndetermined yet loving disposition, and had clearly manifested it in his\nprevious lives, no occultist would take the very serious responsibility\nof awakening him upon the astral plane. When, however, their karma is\nsuch that it is possible for them to be thus aroused, children often\nprove most efficient helpers, and throw themselves into their work\nwith a whole-souled devotion which is very beautiful to see. And so is\nfulfilled once more the ancient prophecy \u201ca little child shall lead\nthem.\u201d\n\nAnother question that suggests itself to one\u2019s mind in reading this\nlast story of the two brothers is this: Since Cyril was somehow able\nto materialize himself by sheer force of love and pity and strength\nof will, is it not strange that Lancelot, who had been trying so much\nlonger to communicate, had not succeeded in doing the same thing?\n\nWell, there is of course no difficulty in seeing why poor Lancelot was\nunable to communicate with his brother, for that inability is simply\nthe normal condition of affairs; the wonder is that Cyril _was_\nable to materialize himself, not that Lancelot was _not_. Not\nonly, however, was the feeling probably stronger in Cyril\u2019s case, but\nhe also knew exactly what he wanted to do--knew that such a thing as\nmaterialization was a possibility, and had some general idea as to how\nit was done--while Lancelot naturally knew nothing of all this then,\nthough he does now.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nWRECKS AND CATASTROPHES.\n\n\nSometimes it is possible for members of the band of helpers to avert\nimpending catastrophes of a somewhat larger order. In more than one\ncase when the captain of a vessel has been carried unsuspecting far\nout of his course by some unknown current or through some mistaken\nreckoning, and has thereby run into serious danger, it has been\npossible to prevent shipwreck by repeatedly impressing upon his mind\na feeling that something was wrong; and although this generally comes\nthrough into the captain\u2019s brain merely as a vaguely warning intuition,\nyet if it occurs again and again he is almost certain to give it some\nattention and take such precautions as suggest themselves to him.\n\nIn one case, for example, in which the master of a barque was much\nnearer in to the land than he supposed, he was again and again pressed\nto heave the lead, and though he resisted this suggestion for some\ntime as being unnecessary and absurd, he at last gave the order in a\nsomewhat hesitating way. The result astounded him, and he at once\nput his vessel about and stood off from the coast, though it was not\nuntil morning came that he realized how very close he had been to an\nappalling disaster.\n\nOften, however, a catastrophe is k\u00e2rmic in its nature, and consequently\ncannot be averted; but it must not therefore be supposed that in such\ncases no help can be given. It may be that the people concerned are\ndestined to die, and therefore cannot be saved from death; but in\nmany cases they may still be to some extent prepared for it, and may\ncertainly be helped upon the other side after it is over. Indeed, it\nmay be definitely stated that wherever a great catastrophe of any kind\ntakes place, there is also a special sending of help.\n\nTwo recent cases in which such help was given were the sinking of the\n_Drummond Castle_ off Cape Ushant, and the terrible cyclone which\ndevastated the city of St. Louis in America. On both these occasions\na few minutes\u2019 notice was given, and the helpers did their best to\ncalm and raise men\u2019s minds, so that when the shock came upon them it\nwould be less disturbing than it might otherwise have been. Naturally,\nhowever, the greater part of the work done with the victims in both\nthese calamities was done upon the astral plane after they had left\ntheir physical bodies; but of this we shall speak later.\n\nIt is sad to relate how often when some catastrophe is impending the\nhelpers are hindered in their kindly offices by wild panic among those\nwhom the danger threatens--or sometimes, worse still, by a mad outburst\nof drunkenness among those whom they are trying to assist. Many a ship\nhas gone to her doom with almost every soul on board mad with drink,\nand therefore utterly incapable of profiting by any assistance offered\neither before death or for a very long time afterwards.\n\nIf it should ever happen to any of us to find ourselves in a position\nof imminent danger which we can do nothing to avert, we should try to\nremember that help is certainly near us, and that it rests entirely\nwith ourselves to make the helper\u2019s work easy or difficult. If we face\nthe danger calmly and bravely, recognizing that the true ego can in\nno way be affected by it, our minds will then be open to receive the\nguidance which the helpers are trying to give, and this cannot but be\nbest for us, whether its object be to save us from death or, when that\nis impossible, to conduct us safely through it.\n\nAssistance of this latter kind has not infrequently been given in cases\nof accidents to individuals, as well as of more general catastrophes.\nIt will be sufficient to mention one example as an illustration of\nwhat is meant. In one of the great storms which did so much damage\naround our coasts a few years ago, it happened that a fishing boat was\ncapsized far out at sea. The only people on board were an old fisherman\nand a boy, and the former contrived to cling for a few minutes to the\noverturned boat. There was no physical help at hand, and even if there\nhad been in such a raging storm it would have been impossible for\nanything to be done, so that the fisherman knew well enough that there\nwas no hope of escape, and that death could only be a question of a\nfew moments. He felt great terror at the prospect, being especially\nimpressed by the awful loneliness of that vast waste of waters, and he\nwas also much troubled with thoughts of his wife and family, and the\ndifficulties in which they would be left by his sudden decease.\n\nA passing helper seeing all this endeavoured to comfort him, but\nfinding his mind too much disturbed to be impressionable, she thought\nit advisable to show herself to him in order to assist him the better.\nIn relating the story afterwards she said that the change which came\nover the fisherman\u2019s face at sight of her was wonderful and beautiful\nto see; with the shining form standing upon the boat above him he\ncould not but think that an angel had been sent to comfort him in\nhis trouble, and therefore he felt that not only would he himself\nbe carried safely through the gates of death, but his family would\nassuredly be looked after also. So, when death came to him a few\nmoments later, he was in a frame of mind very different from the terror\nand perplexity which had previously overcome him; and naturally when\nhe recovered consciousness upon the astral plane and found the \u201cangel\u201d\nstill beside him he felt himself at home with her, and was prepared to\naccept her advice as regards the new life upon which he had entered.\n\nSome time later the same helper was engaged in another piece of work\nof very similar character, the story of which she has since told as\nfollows:\n\n\u201cYou remember that steamer that went down in the cyclone at the end of\nlast November; I betook myself to the cabin where about a dozen women\nhad been shut in, and found them wailing in the most pitiful manner,\nsobbing and moaning with fear. The ship had to founder--no aid was\npossible--and to go out of the world in this state of frantic terror\nis the worst possible way to enter the next. So in order to calm them\nI materialized myself, and of course they thought I was an angel, poor\nsouls; they all fell on their knees and prayed me to save them, and one\npoor mother pushed her baby into my arms imploring me to save that at\nleast. They soon grew quiet and composed as we talked, and the wee baby\nwent to sleep smiling, and presently they all fell asleep peacefully,\nand I filled their minds with thoughts of the heaven-world, so that\nthey did not wake up when the ship made her final plunge downwards. I\nwent down with them to ensure their sleeping through the last moments,\nand they never stirred as their sleep became death.\u201d\n\nEvidently in this case, too, those who were thus helped had not only\nthe enormous advantage of being enabled to meet death calmly and\nreasonably, but also the still greater one of being received on its\nfarther shore by one whom they were already disposed to love and\ntrust--one who thoroughly understood the new world in which they found\nthemselves, and could not only reassure them as to their safety,\nbut advise them how to order their lives under these much altered\ncircumstances. And this brings us to the consideration of one of\nthe largest and most important departments of the work of invisible\nhelpers--the guidance and assistance which they are able to give to the\ndead.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nWORK AMONG THE DEAD.\n\n\nIt is one of the many evils resulting from the absurdly erroneous\nteaching as to conditions after death which is unfortunately current in\nour western world, that those who have recently shaken off this mortal\ncoil are usually much puzzled and often very seriously frightened at\nfinding everything so different from what their religion had led them\nto expect. The mental attitude of a large number of such people was\npithily voiced the other day by an English general, who three days\nafter his death met one of the band of helpers whom he had known in\nphysical life. After expressing his great relief that he had at last\nfound some one with whom he was able to communicate, his first remark\nwas: \u201cBut if I am dead, where am I? For if this is heaven I don\u2019t think\nmuch of it; and if it is hell, it is better than I expected.\u201d\n\nBut unfortunately a far greater number take things less philosophically.\nThey have been taught that all men are destined to eternal flames except\na favoured few who are superhumanly good; and since a very small amount\nof self-examination convinces them that they do not belong to _that_\ncategory, they are but too often in a condition of panic terror,\ndreading every moment that the new world in which they find themselves\nmay dissolve and drop them into the clutches of the devil, in whom they\nhave been sedulously taught to believe. In many cases they spend long\nperiods of acute mental suffering before they can free themselves from\nthe fatal influence of this blasphemous doctrine of everlasting\npunishment--before they can realize that the world is governed, not\naccording to the caprice of a hideous demon who gloats over human\nanguish, but according to a benevolent and wonderfully patient law of\nevolution, which is absolutely just indeed, but yet again and again\noffers to man opportunities of progress, if he will but take them, at\nevery stage of his career.\n\nIt ought in fairness to be mentioned that it is only among what are\ncalled protestant communities that this terrible evil assumes its most\naggravated form. The great Roman Catholic Church, with its doctrine of\npurgatory, approaches much more nearly to a conception of the astral\nplane, and its devout members at any rate realize that the state in\nwhich they find themselves shortly after death is merely a temporary\none, and that it is their business to endeavour to raise themselves\nout of it as soon as may be by intense spiritual aspiration, while\nthey accept any suffering which may come to them as necessary for the\nwearing away of the imperfections in their character before they can\npass to higher and brighter regions.\n\nIt will thus be seen that there is plenty of work for the helpers to do\namong the newly dead, for in the vast majority of cases they need to be\ncalmed and reassured, to be comforted and instructed. In the astral,\njust as in the physical world, there are many who are but little\ndisposed to take advice from those who know better than they; yet the\nvery strangeness of the conditions surrounding them renders many of the\ndead willing to accept the guidance of those to whom these conditions\nare obviously familiar; and many a man\u2019s stay on that plane has been\nconsiderably shortened by the earnest efforts of this band of energetic\nworkers.\n\nNot, be it understood, that the karma of the dead man can in any way be\ninterfered with; he has built for himself during life an astral body\nof a certain degree of density, and until that body is sufficiently\ndissolved he cannot pass on into the heaven-world beyond; but he need\nnot lengthen the period necessary for that process by adopting an\nimproper attitude.\n\nAll students ought clearly to grasp the truth that the length of\na man\u2019s astral life after he has put off his physical body depends\nmainly upon two factors--the nature of his past physical life, and\nhis attitude of mind after what we call death. During his earth-life\nhe is constantly influencing the building of matter into his astral\nbody. He affects it directly by the passions, emotions, and desires\nwhich he allows to hold sway over him; he affects it indirectly by the\naction upon it of his thoughts from above, and of the details of his\nphysical life--his continence or his debauchery, his cleanliness or his\nuncleanliness, his food and his drink--from below.\n\nIf by persistence in perversity along any of these lines he is so\nstupid as to build for himself a coarse and gross astral vehicle,\nhabituated to responding only to the lower vibrations of the plane, he\nwill find himself after death bound to that plane during a long and\nslow process of that body\u2019s disintegration. On the other hand if by\ndecent and careful living he gives himself a vehicle mainly composed of\nfiner material, he will have very much less _post-mortem_ trouble\nand discomfort, and his evolution will proceed much more rapidly and\neasily.\n\nThis much is generally understood, but the second great factor--his\nattitude of mind after death--seems often to be forgotten. The\ndesirable thing is for him to realize his position on this particular\nlittle arc of his evolution--to learn that he is at this stage\nwithdrawing steadily inward towards the plane of the true ego, and\nthat consequently it is his business to disengage his thoughts as far\nas may be from things physical, and to fix his attention more and more\nupon those spiritual matters which will occupy him during his life in\nthe heaven-world. By doing this he will greatly facilitate the natural\nastral disintegration, and will avoid the sadly common mistake of\nunnecessarily delaying himself upon the lower levels of what should be\nso temporary a residence.\n\nBut many of the dead very considerably retard the process of\ndissolution by clinging passionately to the earth which they have left;\nthey simply will not turn their thoughts and desires upward, but spend\ntheir time in struggling with all their might to keep in full touch\nwith the physical plane, thus causing great trouble to any one who may\nbe trying to help them. Earthly matters are the only ones in which\nthey have ever had any living interest, and they cling to them with\ndesperate tenacity even after death. Naturally as time passes on they\nfind it increasingly difficult to keep hold of things down here, but\ninstead of welcoming and encouraging this process of gradual refinement\nand spiritualization they resist it vigorously by every means in their\npower.\n\nOf course the mighty force of evolution is eventually too strong for\nthem, and they are swept on in its beneficent current, yet they fight\nevery step of the way, thereby not only causing themselves a vast\namount of entirely unnecessary pain and sorrow, but also very seriously\ndelaying their upward progress and prolonging their stay in astral\nregions to an almost indefinite extent. In convincing them that this\nignorant and disastrous opposition to the cosmic will is contrary to\nthe laws of nature, and persuading them to adopt an attitude of mind\nwhich is the exact reversal of it, lies a great part of the work of\nthose who are trying to help.\n\nIt happens occasionally that the dead are earth-bound by\nanxiety--anxiety sometimes about duties unperformed or debts\nundischarged, but more often on account of wife or children left\nunprovided for. In such cases as this it has more than once been\nnecessary, before the dead man was satisfied to pursue his upward\npath in peace, that the helper should to some extent act as his\nrepresentative upon the physical plane, and attend on his behalf to the\nsettlement of the business which was troubling him. An illustration\ntaken from our recent experience will perhaps make this clearer.\n\nOne of the band of pupils was trying to assist a poor man who had died\nin one of our western cities, but found it impossible to withdraw\nhis mind from earthly things because of his anxiety about two young\nchildren whom his death had left without means of support. He had been\na working man of some sort, and had been unable to lay by any money for\nthem; his wife had died some two years previously and his landlady,\nthough exceedingly kind-hearted and very willing to do anything in her\npower for them, was herself far too poor to be able to adopt them, and\nvery reluctantly came to the conclusion that she would be obliged to\nhand them over to the parish authorities. This was a great grief to the\ndead father, though he could not blame the landlady, and was himself\nunable to suggest any other course.\n\nOur friend asked him whether he had no relative to whom he could\nentrust them, but the father knew of none. He had a younger brother,\nhe said, who would certainly have done something for him in this\nextremity, but he had lost sight of him for fifteen years, and did not\neven know whether he was living or dead. When last heard of he had been\napprenticed to a carpenter in the north, and he was then described as a\nsteady young fellow who, if he lived, would surely get on.\n\nThe clues at hand were certainly very slight, but since there seemed no\nother prospect of help for the children, our friend thought it worth\nwhile to make a special effort to follow them up. Taking the dead\nman with him he commenced a patient search after the brother in the\ntown indicated; and after a great deal of trouble they were actually\nsuccessful in finding him. He was now a master carpenter in a fairly\nflourishing way of business--married, but without children though\nearnestly desiring them, and therefore apparently just the man for the\nemergency.\n\nThe question now was how the information could best be conveyed to\nthis brother. Fortunately he was found to be so far impressionable\nthat the circumstances of his brother\u2019s death and the destitution of\nhis children could be put vividly before him in a dream, and this was\nrepeated three times, the place and even the name of the landlady\nbeing clearly indicated to him. He was immensely impressed by this\nrecurring vision, and discussed it earnestly with his wife, who advised\nhim to write to the address given. This he did not like to do, but\nwas strongly inclined to travel down into the west country, find out\nwhether there was such a house as that which he had seen, and if so\nmake some excuse to call there. He was a busy man, however, and he\nfinally decided that he could not afford to lose a day\u2019s work for what\nafter all might well prove to be nothing but the baseless fabric of a\ndream.\n\nThe attempt along these lines having apparently failed, it was\ndetermined to try another method, so one of the helpers wrote a letter\nto the man detailing the circumstances of his brother\u2019s death and the\nposition of the children, exactly as he had seen them in his dream. On\nreceipt of this confirmation he no longer hesitated, but set off the\nvery next day for the town indicated, and was received with open arms\nby the kind-hearted landlady. It had been easy enough for the helpers\nto persuade her, good soul that she was, to keep the children with her\nfor a few days on the chance that something or other would turn up for\nthem, and she has ever since congratulated herself that she did so. The\ncarpenter of course took the children back with him and provided them\nwith a happy home, and the dead father, now no longer anxious, passed\nrejoicing on his upward way.\n\nSince some Theosophical writers have felt it their duty to insist in\nvigorous terms upon the evils so frequently attendant upon the holding\nof spiritualistic s\u00e9ances, it is only fair to admit that on several\noccasions good work similar to that of the helper in the case just\ndescribed has been done through the agency of a medium or of some one\npresent at a circle. Thus, though spiritualism has too often detained\nsouls who but for it would have attained speedier liberation, it must\nbe set to the credit of its account that it has also furnished the\nmeans of escape to others, and thus opened up the path of advancement\nfor them. There have been instances in which the defunct has been\nable to appear unassisted to his relatives or friends and explain his\nwishes to them; but these are naturally rare, and most souls who are\nearth-bound by anxieties of the kind indicated can satisfy themselves\nonly by means of the services of the medium or the conscious helper.\n\nAnother case very frequently encountered on the astral plane is that of\nthe man who cannot believe that he is dead at all. Indeed, most people\nconsider the very fact that they are still conscious to be an absolute\nproof that they have not passed through the portals of death; somewhat\nof a satire this, if one thinks of it, on the practical value of our\nmuch-vaunted belief in the immortality of the soul! However they may\nhave labelled themselves during life, the great majority of those who\ndie, in this country at any rate, show themselves by their subsequent\nattitude to have been to all intents and purposes materialists at\nheart; and those who on earth have honestly called themselves so are\noften no more difficult to deal with than others who would have been\nshocked at the very name.\n\nA very recent instance was that of a scientific man who, finding\nhimself fully conscious, and yet under conditions differing radically\nfrom any that he had ever experienced before, had persuaded himself\nthat he was still alive, and merely the victim of a prolonged and\nunpleasant dream. Fortunately for him there happened to be among the\nband of those able to function upon the astral plane a son of an old\nfriend of his, a young man whose father had commissioned him to search\nfor the departed scientist and endeavour to render him some assistance.\nWhen after some trouble the youth found and accosted him, he frankly\nadmitted that he was in a condition of great bewilderment and\ndiscomfort, but still clung desperately to his dream hypothesis as on\nthe whole the most probable explanation of what he saw, and even went\nso far as to suggest that his visitor was nothing but a dream-figure\nhimself!\n\nAt last, however, he so far gave way as to propose a kind of test, and\nsaid to the young man, \u201cIf you are, as you assert, a living person, and\nthe son of my old friend, bring me from him some message that shall\nprove to me your objective reality.\u201d Now although under all ordinary\nconditions of the physical plane the giving of any kind of phenomenal\nproof is strictly forbidden to the pupils of the Masters, it seemed as\nthough a case of this kind hardly came under the rules; and therefore,\nwhen it had been ascertained that there was no objection on the part\nof higher authorities, an application was made to the father, who at\nonce sent a message referring to a series of events which had occurred\nbefore the son\u2019s birth. This convinced the dead man of the real\nexistence of his young friend, and therefore of the plane upon which\nthey were both functioning; and as soon as he felt this established,\nhis scientific training at once reasserted itself, and he became\nexceeding eager to acquire all possible information about this new\nregion.\n\nOf course the message which he so readily accepted as evidence was in\nreality no proof at all, since the facts to which it referred might\nhave been read from his own mind or from the records of the past by\nany creature possessed of astral senses! But his ignorance of these\npossibilities enabled this definite impression to be made upon him,\nand the Theosophical instruction which his young friend is now nightly\ngiving to him will undoubtedly have a stupendous effect upon his\nfuture, for it cannot but greatly modify not only the heaven-state\nwhich lies immediately before him, but also his next incarnation upon\nearth.\n\nThe main work, then, done for the newly dead by our helpers is that of\nsoothing and comforting them--of delivering them when possible from\nthe terrible though unreasoning fear which but too often seizes them,\nand not only causes them much unnecessary suffering, but retards their\nprogress to higher spheres--and of enabling them as far as may be to\ncomprehend the future that lies before them.\n\nOthers who have been longer on the astral plane may also receive much\nhelp, if they will but accept it, from explanations and advice as to\ntheir course through its different stages. They may, for example, be\nwarned of the danger and delay caused by attempting to communicate with\nthe living through a medium, and sometimes (though rarely) an entity\nalready drawn into a spiritualistic circle may be guided into higher\nand healthier life. Teaching thus given to persons on this plane is by\nno means lost, for though the memory of it cannot of course be directly\ncarried over to the next incarnation, there always remains the real\ninner knowledge, and therefore the strong predisposition to accept it\nimmediately when heard again in the new life.\n\nA rather remarkable instance of service rendered to the dead was the\nfirst achievement of a very recent recruit to the band of helpers--one\nwho is hardly as yet a fully-fledged member. This young aspirant\nhad not long before lost an aged relation, for whom he had felt an\nespecially warm affection; and his earliest request was to be taken by\na more experienced friend to visit her in the hope that he might be of\nsome service to her. This was done and the effect of the meeting of the\nliving and the dead was very beautiful and touching. The older person\u2019s\nastral life was already approaching its end, but a condition of apathy,\ndullness and uncertainty prevented her from making any immediate\nprogress.\n\nBut when the boy, who had been so much to her in earth-life, stood\nonce more before her and dissolved by the sunlight of his love the\ngrey mist of depression which had gathered around her, she was aroused\nfrom her stupor; and soon she understood that he had come in order to\nexplain to her her situation, and to tell her of the glories of the\nhigher life toward which her thoughts and aspirations ought now to be\ndirected. But when this was fully realized, there was such an awakening\nof dormant feeling in her and such an outrush of devoted affection\ntowards her earnest young helper, that the last fetters which bound her\nto the astral life were broken, and that one great outburst of love\nand gratitude swept her forthwith into the higher consciousness of the\nheaven-world. Truly there is no greater and more beneficent power in\nthe universe than that of pure, unselfish love.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nOTHER BRANCHES OF THE WORK.\n\n\nBut turning back again now from the all-important work among the dead\nto the consideration of the work among the living, we must briefly\nindicate a great branch of it, without a notice of which our account\nof the labours of our invisible helpers would indeed be incomplete,\nand that is the immense amount which is done by suggestion--by simply\nputting good thoughts into the minds of those who are ready to receive\nthem.\n\nLet there be no mistake as to what is meant here. It would be perfectly\neasy--easy to a degree which would be quite incredible to those who do\nnot understand the subject practically--for a helper to dominate the\nmind of any average man, and make him think just as he pleased, and\nthat without arousing the faintest suspicion of any outside influence\nin the mind of the subject. But, however admirable the result might\nbe, such a proceeding would be entirely inadmissible. All that may be\ndone is to throw the good thought into the person\u2019s mind as one among\nthe hundreds that are constantly sweeping through it; whether the man\ntakes it up, makes it his own, and acts upon it, depends upon himself\nentirely. Were it otherwise, it is obvious that all the good karma of\nthe action would accrue to the helper only, for the subject would have\nbeen a mere tool, and not an actor--which is not what is desired.\n\nThe assistance given in this way is exceedingly varied in character.\nThe consolation of those who are suffering or in sorrow at once\nsuggests itself, as does also the endeavour to guide toward the truth\nthose who are earnestly seeking it. When a person is spending much\nanxious thought upon some spiritual or metaphysical problem, it is\noften possible to put the solution into his mind without his being at\nall aware that it comes from external agency.\n\nA pupil too may often be employed as an agent in what can hardly be\ndescribed otherwise than as the answering of prayer; for though it is\ntrue that any earnest spiritual desire, such as might be supposed to\nfind its expression in prayer, is itself a force which automatically\nbrings about certain results, it is also a fact that such a spiritual\neffort offers an opportunity of influence to the Powers of Good, of\nwhich they are not slow to take advantage; and it is sometimes the\nprivilege of a willing helper to be made the channel through which\ntheir energy is poured forth. What is said of prayers is true to\nan even greater extent of meditation, for those to whom this higher\nexercise is a possibility.\n\nBesides these more general methods of help there are also special lines\nopen only to the few. Again and again such pupils as are fitted for\nthe work have been employed to suggest true and beautiful thoughts to\nauthors, poets, artists and musicians; but obviously it is not every\nhelper who is capable of being used in this way.\n\nSometimes, though more rarely, it is possible to warn persons of\nthe danger to their moral development of some course which they are\npursuing, to clear away evil influences from about some person or\nplace, or to counteract the machinations of black magicians. It is not\noften that direct instruction in the great truths of nature can be\ngiven to people outside the circle of occult students, but occasionally\nit is possible to do something in that way by putting before the minds\nof preachers and teachers a wider range of thought or a more liberal\nview of some question than they would otherwise have taken.\n\nNaturally as an occult student progresses on the Path he attains a\nwider sphere of usefulness. Instead of assisting individuals only,\nhe learns how classes, nations and races are dealt with, and he is\nentrusted with a gradually increasing share of the higher and more\nimportant work done by the adepts themselves. As he acquires the\nrequisite power and knowledge he begins to wield the greater forces of\nthe mental and the astral planes and is shown how to make the utmost\npossible use of each favourable cyclic influence. He is brought into\nrelation with those great Nirm\u00e2nak\u00e2yas who are sometimes symbolized as\nthe Stones of the Guardian Wall, and he becomes--at first of course\nin the very humblest capacity--one of the band of their almoners, and\nlearns how those forces are dispersed which are the fruit of their\nsublime self-sacrifice. Thus he rises gradually higher and higher\nuntil, blossoming at length into adeptship, he is able to take his full\nshare of the responsibility which lies upon the Masters of Wisdom, and\nto help others along the road which he has trodden.\n\nOn the mental plane the work differs somewhat, since teaching can\nbe both given and received in a much more direct, rapid and perfect\nmanner, while the influences set in motion are infinitely more\npowerful, because acting on so much higher a level. But (though it is\nuseless to speak of it in detail at present, since so few of us are\nyet able to function consciously upon this plane during life) here\nalso--and even higher still--there is always plenty of work to be\ndone, as soon as ever we can make ourselves capable of doing it; and\nthere is certainly no fear that for countless \u00e6ons we shall ever find\nourselves without a career of unselfish usefulness open before us.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nTHE QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED.\n\n\nHow, it may be asked, are we to make ourselves capable of sharing in\nthis great work? Well, there is no mystery as to the qualifications\nwhich are needed by one who aspires to be a helper; the difficulty\nis not in learning what they are, but in developing them in oneself.\nTo some extent they have been already incidentally described, but\nit is nevertheless as well that they should be set out fully and\ncategorically.\n\n1. _Single-mindedness._ The first requisite is that we shall have\nrecognized the great work which the Masters would have us do, and\nthat it shall be for us the one great interest of our lives. We must\nlearn to distinguish not only between useful and useless work, but\nbetween the different kinds of useful work, so that we may each devote\nourselves to the very highest of which we are capable, and not fritter\naway our time in labouring at something which, however good it may\nbe for the man who cannot yet do anything better, is unworthy of the\nknowledge and capacity which should be ours as Theosophists. A man who\nwishes to be considered eligible for employment on higher planes must\nbegin by doing the utmost that lies in his power in the way of definite\nwork for Theosophy down here.\n\nOf course I do not for a moment mean that we are to neglect the\nordinary duties of life. We should certainly do well to undertake no\nnew worldly duties of any sort, but those which we have already bound\nupon our shoulders have become a k\u00e2rmic obligation which we have no\nright to neglect. Unless we have done to the full the duties which\nkarma has laid upon us we are not free for the higher work. But this\nhigher work must nevertheless be to us the one thing really worth\nliving for--the constant background of a life which is consecrated to\nthe service of the Masters of Compassion.\n\n2. _Perfect self-control._ Before we can be safely trusted with\nthe wider powers of the astral life, we must have ourselves perfectly\nin hand. Our temper, for example, must be thoroughly under control, so\nthat nothing that we may see or hear can cause real irritation in us,\nfor the consequences of such irritation would be far more serious on\nthat plane than on this. The force of thought is always an enormous\npower, but down here it is reduced and deadened by the heavy physical\nbrain-particles which it has to set in motion. In the astral world it\nis far freer and more potent, and for a man with fully-awakened faculty\nto feel anger against a person there would be to do him serious and\nperhaps even fatal injury.\n\nNot only do we need control of temper, but control of nerve, so that\nnone of the fantastic or terrible sights that we may encounter may be\nable to shake our dauntless courage. It must be remembered that the\npupil who awakens a man upon the astral plane incurs thereby a certain\namount of responsibility for his actions and for his safety, so that\nunless his neophyte had courage to stand alone the whole of the older\nworker\u2019s time would be wasted in hovering round to protect him, which\nit would be manifestly unreasonable to expect.\n\nIt is to make sure of this control of nerve, and to fit them for the\nwork that has to be done, that candidates are always made, now as in\ndays of old, to pass what are called the tests of earth, water, air and\nfire.\n\nIn other words, they have to learn with that absolute certainty that\ncomes not by theory, but by practical experience, that in their astral\nbodies none of these elements can by any possibility be hurtful to\nthem--that none can oppose any obstacle in the way of the work which\nthey have to do.\n\nIn this physical body we are fully convinced that fire will burn us,\nthat water will drown us, that the solid rock forms an impassable\nbarrier to our progress, that we cannot with safety launch ourselves\nunsupported into the ambient air. So deeply is this conviction\nengrained in us that it costs most men a good deal of effort to\novercome the instinctive action which follows from it, and to realize\nthat in the astral body the densest rock offers no impediment to their\nfreedom of motion, that they may leap with impunity from the highest\ncliff, and plunge with the most absolute confidence into the heart of\nthe raging volcano or the deepest abysses of the fathomless ocean.\n\nYet until a man _knows_ this--knows it sufficiently to act upon\nhis knowledge instinctively and confidently--he is comparatively\nuseless for astral work, since in emergencies that are constantly\narising he would be perpetually paralyzed by imaginary disabilities.\nSo he has to go through his tests, and through many another strange\nexperience--to meet face to face with calm courage the most terrifying\napparitions amid the most loathsome surroundings--to show in fact that\nhis nerve may be thoroughly trusted under any and all of the varied\ngroups of circumstances in which he may at any moment find himself.\n\nFurther, we need control of mind and of desire; of mind, because\nwithout the power of concentration it would be impossible to do good\nwork amid all the distracting currents of the astral plane; of desire,\nbecause in that strange world to desire is very often to have, and\nunless this part of our nature were well controlled we might perchance\nfind ourselves face to face with creations of our own of which we\nshould be heartily ashamed.\n\n3. _Calmness._ This is another most important point--the absence\nof all worry and depression. Much of the work consists in soothing\nthose who are disturbed, and cheering those who are in sorrow; and\nhow can a helper do that work if his own aura is vibrating with\nconstant fuss and worry, or grey with the deadly gloom that comes\nfrom perpetual depression? Nothing is more hopelessly fatal to\noccult progress or usefulness than our nineteenth-century habit of\nceaselessly worrying over trifles--of eternally making mountains out\nof molehills. Many of us simply spend our lives in magnifying the most\nabsurd trivialities--in solemnly and elaborately going to work to make\nourselves miserable about nothing.\n\nSurely we who are Theosophists ought, at any rate, to have got beyond\nthis stage of irrational worry and causeless depression; surely we,\nwho are trying to acquire some definite knowledge of the cosmic\norder, ought by this time to have realized that the optimistic view of\neverything is always nearest to the divine view, and therefore to the\ntruth, because only that in any person which is good and beautiful can\nby any possibility be permanent, while the evil must by its very nature\nbe temporary. In fact, as Browning said, \u201cthe evil is null, is naught,\nis silence implying sound,\u201d while above and beyond it all \u201cthe soul of\nthings is sweet, the Heart of Being is celestial rest.\u201d So They who\nknow maintain unruffled calm, and with Their perfect sympathy combine\nthe joyous serenity which comes from the certainty that all will at\nlast be well; and those who wish to help must learn to follow Their\nexample.\n\n4. _Knowledge._ To be of use the man must at least have some\nknowledge of the nature of the plane on which he has to work, and\nthe more knowledge he has in any and every direction the more useful\nhe will be. He must fit himself for this task by carefully studying\nTheosophical literature; for he cannot expect those whose time is\nalready so fully occupied to waste some of it in explaining to him what\nhe might have learnt down here by taking the trouble to read the books.\nNo one who is not already as earnest a student as his capacities and\nopportunities permit, need begin to think of himself as a candidate for\nastral work.\n\n5. _Unselfishness._ It would seem scarcely needful to insist\nupon this as a qualification, for surely everyone who has made the\nleast study of Theosophy must know that while the slightest taint of\nselfishness remains in a man, he is not yet fit to be entrusted with\nhigher powers, not yet fit to enter upon a work of whose very essence\nit is that the worker should forget himself but to remember the good of\nothers. He who is still capable of selfish thought, whose personality\nis still so strong in him that he can allow himself to be turned aside\nfrom his work by feelings of petty pride or suggestions of wounded\ndignity--that man is not yet ready to show the selfless devotion of the\nhelper.\n\n6. _Love._ This, the last and greatest of the qualifications,\nis also the most misunderstood. Most emphatically it is _not_\nthe cheap, namby-pamby backboneless sentimentalism which is always\noverflowing into vague platitudes and gushing generalities, yet\nfears to stand firm for the right lest it should be branded by the\nignorant as \u201cunbrotherly.\u201d What is wanted is the love which is\nstrong enough _not_ to boast itself, but to act without talking\nabout it--the intense desire for service which is ever on the watch\nfor an opportunity to render it, even though it prefers to do so\nanonymously--the feeling which springs up in the heart of him who\nhas realized the great work of the Logos, and, having once seen it,\nknows that for him there can be in the three worlds no other course\nbut to identify himself with it to the utmost limit of his power--to\nbecome, in however humble a way, and at however great a distance, a\ntiny channel of that wondrous love of God which, like the peace of God,\npasseth man\u2019s understanding.\n\nThese are the qualities toward the possession of which the helper must\nceaselessly strive, and of which some considerable measure at least\nmust be his before he can hope that the Great Ones who stand behind\nwill deem him fit for full awakening. The ideal is in truth a high\none, yet none need therefore turn away disheartened, nor think that\nwhile he is still but struggling toward it he must necessarily remain\nentirely useless on the astral plane, for short of the responsibilities\nand dangers of that full awakening there is much that may safely and\nusefully be done.\n\nThere is hardly one among us who would not be capable of performing\nat least one definite act of mercy and good will each night while we\nare away from our bodies. Our condition when asleep is usually one of\nabsorption in thought, be it remembered--a carrying on of the thoughts\nthat have principally occupied us during the day, and especially of\nthe last thought in the mind when sinking into sleep. Now if we make\nthat last thought a strong intention to go and give help to some one\nwhom we know to be in need of it, the soul when freed from the body\nwill undoubtedly carry out that intention, and the help will be given.\nThere are several cases on record in which, when this attempt has been\nmade, the person thought of has been fully conscious of the effort of\nthe would-be helper, and has even seen his astral body in the act of\ncarrying out the instructions impressed upon it.\n\nIndeed, no one need sadden himself with the thought that he can have no\npart nor lot in this glorious work. Such a feeling would be entirely\nuntrue, for everyone who can think can help. Nor need such useful\naction be confined to our hours of sleep. If you know (and who does\nnot?) of some one who is in sorrow or suffering, though you may not\nbe able consciously to stand in astral form by their bedside, you can\nnevertheless send them loving thoughts and earnest good wishes; and\nbe well assured that such thoughts and wishes are real and living and\nstrong--that when you so send them they do actually go and work your\nwill in proportion to the strength which you have put into them.\nThoughts are things, intensely real things, visible enough to those\nwhose eyes have been opened to see, and by their means the poorest\nman may bear his part in the good work of the world as fully as the\nrichest. In this way at least, whether we can yet function consciously\nupon the astral plane or not, we all can join, and we all ought to\njoin, the army of invisible helpers.\n\nBut the aspirant, who definitely desires to become one of the band\nof astral helpers who are working under the direction of the great\nMasters of Wisdom, will make his preparation part of a far wider scheme\nof development. Instead of merely endeavouring to fit himself for\nthis particular branch of their service, he will undertake with high\nresolution the far greater task of training himself to follow in their\nfootsteps, of bending all the energies of his soul to attain even as\nthey have attained, so that his power of helping the world may not be\nconfined to the astral plane, but may extend to those higher levels\nwhich are the true home of the divine self of man.\n\nFor him the path has been marked out long ago by the wisdom of those\nwho have trodden it in days of old--a path of self-development which\nsooner or later all must follow, whether they choose to adopt it of\ntheir own free will, or to wait until, after many lives and an infinity\nof suffering, the slow, resistless force of evolution drives them\nalong it among the laggards of the human family. But the wise man is\nhe who eagerly enters upon it immediately, setting his face resolutely\ntoward the goal of adeptship, in order that, being safe for ever from\nall doubt and fear and sorrow himself, he may help others into safety\nand happiness also. What are the steps of this Path of Holiness, as the\nBuddhists call it, and in what order they are arranged, let us see in\nour next chapter.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nTHE PROBATIONARY PATH.\n\n\nEastern books tell us that there are four means by which a man may\nbe brought to the beginning of the path of spiritual advancement: 1.\nBy the companionship of those who have already entered upon it. 2.\nBy the hearing or reading of definite teaching on occult philosophy.\n3. By enlightened reflection; that is to say, that by sheer force of\nhard thinking and close reasoning he may arrive at the truth, or some\nportion of it, for himself. 4. By the practice of virtue, which means\nthat a long series of virtuous lives, though it does not necessarily\ninvolve any increase of intellectuality, does eventually develop in\na man sufficient intuition to enable him to grasp the necessity of\nentering upon the path, and show him in what direction it lies.\n\nWhen, by one or another of these means, he has arrived at this point,\nthe way to the highest adeptship lies straight before him, if he\nchooses to take it. In writing for students of occultism it is hardly\nnecessary to say that at our present stage of development we cannot\nexpect to learn all, or nearly all, about any but the lowest steps\nof this path; whilst of the highest we know little but the names,\nthough we may get occasional glimpses of the indescribable glory which\nsurrounds them.\n\nAccording to the esoteric teachings these steps are grouped in three\ngreat divisions:\n\n1. The probationary period, before any definite pledges are taken, or\ninitiations (in the full sense of the word) are given. This carries\na man to the level necessary to pass successfully through what in\nTheosophical books is usually called the critical period of the fifth\nround.\n\n2. The period of pledged discipleship, or the path proper, whose four\nstages are often spoken of in Oriental books as the four paths of\nholiness. At the end of this the pupil obtains adeptship--the level\nwhich humanity should reach at the close of the seventh round.\n\n3. What we may venture to call the official period, in which the adept\ntakes a definite part (under the great Cosmic Law) in the government of\nthe world, and holds a special office connected therewith. Of course\nevery adept--every pupil even, when once definitely accepted, as we\nhave seen in the earlier chapters--takes a part in the great work of\nhelping forward the evolution of man; but those standing on the higher\nlevels take charge of special departments, and correspond in the cosmic\nscheme to the ministers of the crown in a well-ordered earthly state.\nIt is not proposed to make any attempt in this book to treat of this\nofficial period; no information about it has ever been made public, and\nthe whole subject is too far above our comprehension to be profitably\ndealt with in print. We will confine ourselves therefore to the two\nearlier divisions.\n\nBefore going into details of the probationary period it is well to\nmention that in most of the Eastern sacred books this stage is regarded\nas merely preliminary, and scarcely as part of the path at all, for\nthey consider that the latter is really entered upon only when definite\npledges have been given. Considerable confusion has been created by the\nfact that the numbering of the stages occasionally commences at this\npoint, though more often at the beginning of the second great division;\nsometimes the stages themselves are counted, and sometimes the\ninitiations leading into or out of them, so that in studying the books\none has to be perpetually on one\u2019s guard to avoid misunderstanding.\n\nThis probationary period, however, differs considerably in character\nfrom the others; the divisions between its stages are less decidedly\nmarked than are those of the higher groups, and the requirements are\nnot so definite or so exacting. But it will be easier to explain this\nlast point after giving a list of the five stages of this period,\nwith their respective qualifications. The first four were very ably\ndescribed by Mr. Mohini Mohun Chatterji in the first Transaction of the\nLondon Lodge, to which readers may be referred for fuller definitions\nof them than can be given here. Much exceedingly valuable information\nabout them is also given by Mrs. Besant in her books _The Path of\nDiscipleship_ and _In the Outer Court_.\n\nThe names given to the stages will differ somewhat, for in those\nbooks the Hindu Sanskrit terminology was employed, whereas the P\u00e2li\nnomenclature used here is that of the Buddhist system; but although\nthe subject is thus approached from a different side, as it were,\nthe qualifications exacted will be found to be precisely the same in\neffect even when the outward form varies. In the case of each word the\nmere dictionary meaning will first be given in parentheses, and the\nexplanation of it which is usually given by the teacher will follow.\nThe first stage, then, is called among Buddhists:\n\n1. Manodv\u00e2ravajjana (the opening of the doors of the mind, or perhaps\nescaping by the door of the mind)--and in it the candidate acquires a\nfirm intellectual conviction of the impermanence and worthlessness of\nmere earthly aims. This is often described as learning the difference\nbetween the real and the unreal; and to learn it often takes a long\ntime and many hard lessons. Yet it is obvious that it must be the\nfirst step toward anything like real progress, for no man can enter\nwhole-heartedly upon the path until he has definitely decided to \u201cset\nhis affection upon things above, not on things on the earth,\u201d and that\ndecision comes from the certainty that nothing on earth has any value\nas compared with the higher life. This step is called by the Hindus the\nacquirement of Viveka or discrimination, and Mr. Sinnett speaks of it\nas the giving allegiance to the higher self.\n\n2. Parikamma (preparation for action)--the stage in which the candidate\nlearns to do the right merely because it is right, without considering\nhis own gain or loss either in this world or the future, and acquires,\nas the Eastern books put it, perfect indifference to the enjoyment of\nthe fruit of his own actions. This indifference is the natural result\nof the previous step; for when the neophyte has once grasped the unreal\nand impermanent character of all earthly rewards, he ceases to crave\nfor them; when once the radiance of the real has shone upon the soul,\nnothing below that can any longer be an object of desire. This higher\nindifference is called by the Hindus Vair\u00e2gya.\n\n3. Upach\u00e2ro (attention or conduct)--the stage in which what are called\n\u201cthe six qualifications\u201d (the Shatsampatti of the Hindus) must be\nacquired. These are called in P\u00e2li:\n\n(_a_) Samo (quietude)--that purity and calmness of thought which\ncomes from perfect control of the mind--a qualification exceedingly\ndifficult of attainment, and yet most necessary, for unless the\nmind moves only in obedience to the guidance of the will it cannot\nbe a perfect instrument for the Master\u2019s work in the future. This\nqualification is a very comprehensive one, and includes within itself\nboth the self-control and the calmness which were described in chapter\nxiv. as necessary for astral work.\n\n(_b_) Damo (subjugation)--a similar mastery over, and therefore\npurity in, one\u2019s actions and words--a quality which again follows\nnecessarily from its predecessor.\n\n(_c_) Uparati (cessation)--explained as cessation from bigotry or\nfrom belief in the necessity of any act or ceremony prescribed by a\nparticular religion--so leading the aspirant to independence of thought\nand to a wide and generous tolerance.\n\n(_d_) Titikkh\u00e2 (endurance or forbearance)--by which is meant the\nreadiness to bear with cheerfulness whatever one\u2019s karma may bring\nupon one, and to part with anything and everything worldly whenever\nit may be necessary. It also includes the idea of complete absence of\nresentment for wrong, the man knowing that those who do him wrong are\nbut the instruments of his own karma.\n\n(_e_) Sam\u00e2dh\u00e2na (intentness)--one-pointedness involving the\nincapability of being turned aside from one\u2019s path by temptation. This\ncorresponds very closely with the single-mindness spoken of in the\nprevious chapter.\n\n(_f_) Saddh\u00e2 (faith)--confidence in one\u2019s Master and oneself:\nconfidence, that is, that the Master is a competent teacher, and that,\nhowever diffident the pupil may feel as to his own powers, he has yet\nwithin him that divine spark which when fanned into a flame will one\nday enable him to achieve even as his Master has done.\n\n4. Anuloma (direct order or succession, signifying that its attainment\nfollows as a natural consequence from the other three)--the stage in\nwhich is acquired that intense desire for liberation from earthly\nlife, and for union with the highest, which is called by the Hindus\nMumukshatva.\n\n5. Gotrabh\u00fb (the condition of fitness for initiation); in this stage\nthe candidate gathers up, as it were, his previous acquisitions, and\nstrengthens them to the degree necessary for the next great step,\nwhich will set his feet upon the path proper as an accepted pupil.\nThe attainment of this level is followed very rapidly by initiation\ninto the next grade. In answer to the question, \u201cWho is the Gotrabh\u00fb?\u201d\nBuddha says, \u201cThe man who is in possession of those conditions upon\nwhich the commencement of sanctification immediately ensues--he is the\nGotrabh\u00fb.\u201d\n\nThe wisdom necessary for the reception of the path of holiness is\ncalled Gotrabh\u00fb-g\u00f1\u00e2na.\n\nNow that we have hastily glanced at the steps of the probationary\nperiod, we must emphasize the point to which reference was made\nat the commencement--that the _perfect_ attainment of these\naccomplishments and qualifications is not expected at this early\nstage. As Mr. Mohini says, \u201cIf all these are equally strong, adeptship\nis attained in the same incarnation.\u201d But such a result is of course\nextremely rare. It is in the direction of these acquirements that the\ncandidate must easelessly strive, but it would be an error to suppose\nthat no one has been admitted to the next step without possessing all\nof them in the fullest possible degree. Nor do they necessarily follow\none another in the same definite order as the later steps; in fact, in\nmany cases a man would be developing the various qualifications all at\nthe same time--rather side by side than in regular succession.\n\nIt is obvious that a man might easily be working along a great part\nof this path even though he was quite unaware of its very existence,\nand no doubt many a good Christian, many an earnest freethinker is\nalready far on the road that will eventually lead him to initiation,\nthough he may never have heard the word occultism in his life. I\nmention these two classes especially, because in every other religion\noccult development is recognized as a possibility, and would certainly\ntherefore be intentionally sought by those who felt yearnings for\nsomething more satisfactory than the exoteric faiths.\n\nWe must also note that the steps of this probationary period are not\nseparated by initiations in the full sense of the word, though they\nwill certainly be studded with tests and trials of all sorts and on all\nplanes, and may be relieved by encouraging experiences, and by hints\nand help whenever these may safely be given. We are apt sometimes to\nuse the word initiation somewhat loosely, as for example when it is\napplied to such tests as have just been mentioned; properly speaking\nit refers only to the solemn ceremony at which a pupil is formally\nadmitted to a higher grade by an appointed official, who in the name of\nthe One Initiator receives his plighted vow, and puts into his hands\nthe new key of knowledge which he is to use on the level to which he\nhas now attained. Such an initiation is taken at the entrance to the\ndivision which we shall next consider, and also at each passage from\nany one of its steps to the next.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nTHE PATH PROPER.\n\n\nIt is in the four stages of this division of the path that the ten\nSa\u1e43yojana, or fetters which bind man to the circle of rebirth and hold\nhim back from Nirv\u00e2\u1e47a, must be cast off. And here comes the difference\nbetween this period of pledged discipleship and the previous probation.\nNo partial success in getting rid of these fetters is sufficient now;\nbefore a candidate can pass on from one of the steps to the next he\nmust be _entirely_ free from certain of these clogs; and when they\nare enumerated it will be seen how far-reaching this requirement is,\nand there will be little cause to wonder at the statement made in the\nsacred books that seven incarnations are sometimes required to pass\nthrough this division of the path.\n\nEach of these four steps or stages is again divided into four: for each\nhas (1) its Maggo, or way, during which the student is striving to cast\noff the fetters; (2) its Phala (result or fruit) when he finds the\nresults of his action in so doing showing themselves more and more;\n(3) its Bhavagga or consummation, the period when, the result having\nculminated, he is able to fulfill satisfactorily the work belonging to\nthe step on which he now firmly stands; and (4) its Gotrabh\u00fb, meaning,\nas before, the time when he arrives at a fit state to receive the next\ninitiation. The first stage is:\n\nI. Sot\u00e2patti or Sohan. The pupil who has attained this level is\nspoken of as the Sowani or Sot\u00e2panna--\u201che who has entered the\nstream,\u201d--because from this period, though he may linger, though he\nmay succumb to more refined temptations and turn aside from his course\nfor a time, he can no longer fall back altogether from spirituality\nand become a mere worldling. He has entered upon the stream of\ndefinite higher human evolution, upon which all humanity must enter\nby the middle of the next round, unless they are to be left behind as\ntemporary failures by the great life-wave, to wait for further progress\nuntil the next chain of worlds.\n\nThe pupil who is able to take this initiation has therefore already\noutstripped the majority of humanity to the extent of an entire round\nof all our seven planets, and in doing so has definitely secured\nhimself against the possibility of falling out of the stream in the\nfifth round. He is consequently sometimes spoken of as \u201cthe saved\u201d\nor \u201cthe safe one.\u201d It is from a misunderstanding of this idea that\nthere arises the curious theory of salvation promulgated by a certain\nsection of the Christian community. The \u201c\u00e6onian salvation\u201d of which\nsome of its documents speak is not, as has been blasphemously supposed\nby the ignorant, from eternal torture, but simply from wasting the rest\nof this \u00e6on or dispensation by falling out of its line of progress.\nThis also is the meaning, naturally, of the celebrated clause in the\nAthanasian Creed, \u201cWhosoever will be saved, before all things it is\nnecessary that he hold the catholic faith\u201d (See _The Christian\nCreed_, p. 91). The fetters which he must cast off before he can\npass into the next stage are:\n\n1. Sakk\u00e2yadi\u1e6d\u1e6dhi--the delusion of self.\n\n2. Vichikichchh\u00e2--doubt or uncertainty.\n\n3. S\u00eelabbatapar\u00e2m\u00e2sa--superstition.\n\nThe first of these is the \u201cI am I\u201d consciousness, which as connected\nwith the _personality_ is nothing but an illusion, and must be\ngot rid of at the very first step of the real upward path. But to cast\noff this fetter completely means even more than this, for it involves\nthe realization of the fact that the individuality also is in very\ntruth one with the All, that it can therefore never have any interests\nopposed to those of its brethren, and that it is most truly progressing\nwhen it most assists the progress of others.\n\nFor the very sign and seal of the attainment of the Sot\u00e2patti level\nis the first entrance of the pupil into the plane next above the\nmental--that which we usually call the buddhic. It may be--nay, it\nwill be--the merest touch of the lowest sub-plane of that stupendously\nexalted condition that the pupil can as yet experience, even with his\nMaster\u2019s help; but even that touch is something that can never be\nforgotten--something that opens a new world before him, and entirely\nrevolutionizes his feelings and conceptions. Then for the first time,\nby means of the extended consciousness of that plane, he truly realizes\nthe underlying unity of all, not as an intellectual conception merely,\nbut as a definite fact that is patent to his opened eyes; then first he\nreally knows something of the world in which he lives--then first he\ngets some slight glimpse of what the love and compassion of the great\nMasters must be.\n\nAs to the second letter, a word of caution is necessary. We who have\nbeen trained in European habits of thought are unhappily so familiar\nwith the idea that a blind unreasoning adhesion to certain dogmas may\nbe claimed from a disciple, that on hearing that occultism considers\n_doubt_ as an obstacle to progress, we are likely to suppose that\nit also requires the same unquestioning faith from its followers as\nmodern superstitions do. No idea could be more entirely false.\n\nIt is true that doubt (or rather uncertainty) on certain questions is a\nbar to spiritual progress, but the antidote to that doubt is not blind\nfaith (which is itself considered as a fetter, as will presently be\nseen) but the certainty of conviction founded on individual experiment\nor mathematical reasoning. While a child doubted the accuracy of the\nmultiplication table he would hardly acquire proficiency in the higher\nmathematics; but his doubts could be satisfactorily cleared up only by\nhis attaining a comprehension, founded on reasoning or experiment, that\nthe statements contained in the table are true. He believes that twice\ntwo are four, not merely because he has been told so, but because it\nhas become to him a self-evident fact. And this is exactly the method,\nand the only method, of resolving doubt known to occultism.\n\nVichikichchh\u00e2 has been defined as doubt of the doctrines of karma and\nreincarnation, and of the efficacy of the method of attaining the\nhighest good by this path of holiness; and the casting off of this\nSa\u1e43yojana is the arriving at absolute certainty, based either upon\npersonal first-hand knowledge or upon reason, that the occult teaching\nupon these points is true.\n\nThe third fetter to be got rid of comprehends all kinds of unreasoning\nor mistaken belief, all dependence on the efficacy of outward rites and\nceremonies to purify the heart. He who would cast it off must learn to\ndepend upon himself alone, not upon others, nor upon the outer husk of\nany religion.\n\nThe first three fetters are in a coherent series. The difference\nbetween individuality and personality being fully realized, it is\nthen possible to some extent to appreciate the actual course of\nreincarnation, and so as to dispel all doubt on that head. This done,\nthe knowledge of the spiritual permanence of the true ego gives rise to\nreliance on one\u2019s own spiritual strength, and so dispels superstition.\n\nII. Sakad\u00e2g\u00e2m\u00ee. The pupil who has entered upon this second stage is\nspoken of as a Sakrid\u00e2g\u00e2min--\u201cthe man who returns but once\u201d--signifying\nthat a man who has reached this level should need but one more\nincarnation before attaining arahatship. At this step no additional\nfetters are cast off, but the pupil is occupied in reducing to a\nminimum those which still enchain him. It is, however, usually a period\nof considerable psychic and intellectual advancement.\n\nIf what are commonly called psychic faculties have not been previously\nacquired, they must be developed at this stage, as without them it\nwould be impossible to assimilate the knowledge which must now be\ngiven, or to do the higher work for humanity in which the pupil is\nnow privileged to assist. He must have the astral consciousness at\nhis command during his physical waking life, and during sleep the\nheaven-world will be open before him--for the consciousness of a man\nwhen away from his physical body is always one stage higher than it is\nwhile he is still burdened with the house of flesh.\n\nIII. An\u00e2g\u00e2m\u00ee. The An\u00e2g\u00e2min (he who does not return) is so called\nbecause, having reached this stage, he ought to be able to attain\nthe next one in the life he is then living. He enjoys, while moving\nthrough the round of his daily work, all the splendid possibilities\nof progress given by the full possession of the priceless faculties\nof the heaven-world, and when he leaves his physical vehicle at\nnight he enters once more into the wonderfully-widened consciousness\nthat belongs to the buddhi. In this step he finally gets rid of any\nlingering remains of the two fetters of\n\n4. K\u00e2mar\u00e2ga--attachment to the enjoyment of sensation, typified by\nearthly love, and\n\n5. Patigha--all possibility of anger or hatred.\n\nThe student who has cast off these fetters can no longer be swayed by\nthe influence of his senses either in the direction of love or hatred,\nand is free from either attachment to or impatience of physical plane\nconditions.\n\nHere again we must guard against a possible misconception--one with\nwhich we frequently meet. The purest and noblest human love _never_\ndies away--is _never_ in any way diminished by occult training; on\nthe contrary, it is increased and widened until it embraces all with\nthe same fervor which at first was lavished on one or two. But the\nstudent does in time rise above all considerations connected with the\nmere _personality_ of those around him, and so is free from all the\ninjustice and partiality which ordinary love so often brings in its\ntrain.\n\nNor should it for a moment be supposed that in gaining this wide\naffection for all he loses the especial love for his closer friends.\nThe unusually perfect link between \u00c2nanda and the Buddha, as between\nS. John and Jesus, is on record to prove that on the contrary this is\nenormously intensified; and the tie between a Master and his pupils is\nstronger far than any earthly bond. For the affection which flourishes\nupon the path of holiness is an affection between egos, and not merely\nbetween personalities; therefore it is strong and permanent, without\nfear of diminution or fluctuation, for it is that \u201cperfect love which\ncasteth out fear.\u201d\n\nIV. Arahat (the venerable, the perfect). On attaining this level the\naspirant constantly enjoys the consciousness of the buddhic plane, and\nis able to use its powers and faculties while still in the physical\nbody; and when he leaves that body in sleep or trance he passes at\nonce into the unutterable glory of the nirv\u00e2\u1e47ic plane. In this stage\nthe occultist must cast off the last remnants of the five remaining\nfetters, which are:\n\n6. R\u00fbpar\u00e2ga--desire for beauty of form or for physical existence in a\nform, even including that in the heaven-world.\n\n7. Ar\u00fbpar\u00e2ga--desire for formless life.\n\n8. M\u00e2no--pride.\n\n9. Uddhachcha--agitation or irritability.\n\n10. Avijj\u00e2--ignorance.\n\nOn this we may remark that the casting off of R\u00fbpar\u00e2ga involves not\nonly getting rid of desire for earthly life, however grand or noble\nthat life may be, and astral or devachanic life, however glorious,\nbut also of all liability to be unduly influenced or repelled by the\nexternal beauty or ugliness of any person or thing.\n\nAr\u00fbpar\u00e2ga--desire for life either in the highest and formless planes of\nthe heaven-world or in the still more exalted buddhic plane--would be\nmerely a higher and less sensual form of selfishness, and must be cast\noff just as much as the lower. Uddhachcha really means \u201cliability to\nbe disturbed in mind,\u201d and a man who had finally cast off this fetter\nwould be absolutely unruffled by anything whatever that might happen\nto him--perfectly impervious to any kind of attack upon his dignified\nserenity.\n\nThe getting rid of ignorance of course implies the acquisition of\nperfect knowledge--practical omniscience as regards our planetary\nchain. When all the fetters are finally cast off the advancing ego\nreaches the fifth stage--the stage of full adeptship--and becomes\n\nV. Asekha, \u201cthe one who has no more to learn,\u201d again as regards our\nplanetary chain. It is quite impossible for us to realize at our\npresent level what this attainment means. All the splendor of the\nnirv\u00e2\u1e47ic plane lies open before the waking eyes of the adept, while\nwhen he chooses to leave his body he has the power to enter upon\nsomething higher still--a plane which to us is the merest name. As\nProfessor Rhys Davids explains, \u201cHe is now free from all sin; he sees\nand values all things in this life at their true value; all evil\nbeing rooted from his mind, he experiences only righteous desires for\nhimself, and tender pity and regard and exalted love for others.\u201d\n\nTo show how little he has lost the sentiment of love, we read in the\nMetta Sutta of the state of mind of one who stands at this level: \u201cAs\na mother loves, who even at the risk of her own life protects her only\nson, such love let there be toward all beings. Let good will without\nmeasure prevail in the whole world, above, below, around, unstinted,\nunmixed with any feeling of differing or opposing interests. When a man\nremains steadfastly in this state of mind all the while, whether he be\nstanding or walking, sitting or lying down, then is come to pass the\nsaying which is written, \u2018Even in this life has holiness been found.\u2019\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nWHAT LIES BEYOND.\n\n\nBeyond this period it is obvious that we can know nothing of the new\nqualifications required for the still higher levels which yet lie\nbefore the perfect man. It is abundantly clear, however, that when a\nman has become Asekha he has exhausted all the possibilities of moral\ndevelopment, so that further advancement for him can only mean still\nwider knowledge and still more wonderful spiritual powers. We are told\nthat when man has thus attained his spiritual majority, whether in the\nslow course of evolution or by the shorter path of self-development, he\nassumes the fullest control of his own destinies, and makes choice of\nhis future line of evolution among seven possible paths which he sees\nopening before him.\n\nNaturally at our present level we cannot expect to understand much\nabout these, and the faint outline of some of them which is all that\ncan be sketched in for us conveys very little to the mind, except that\nmost of them take the adept altogether away from our earth-chain,\nwhich no longer affords sufficient scope for his evolution.\n\nOne path is that of those who, as the technical phrase goes, \u201caccept\nNirv\u00e2\u1e47a.\u201d Through what incalculable \u00e6ons they remain in that sublime\ncondition, for what work they are preparing themselves, what will\nbe their future line of evolution, are questions upon which we know\nnothing; and indeed if information upon such points could be given it\nis more than likely that it would prove quite incomprehensible to us at\nour present stage.\n\nBut this much at least we may grasp--that the blessed state of Nirv\u00e2\u1e47a\nis not, as some have ignorantly supposed, a condition of blank\nnothingness, but on the contrary of far more intense and beneficent\nactivity; and that ever as man rises higher in the scale of nature his\npossibilities become greater, his work for others ever grander and more\nfar-reaching, and that infinite wisdom and infinite power mean for\nhim only infinite capacity for service, because they are directed by\ninfinite love.\n\nAnother class chooses a spiritual evolution not quite so far removed\nfrom humanity, for though not directly connected with the next chain\nof our system it extends through two long periods corresponding to its\nfirst and second rounds, at the end of which time they also appear to\n\u201caccept Nirv\u00e2\u1e47a,\u201d but at a higher stage than those previously mentioned.\n\nOthers join the deva evolution, whose progress lies along a grand\nchain consisting of seven chains like ours, each of which to them is\nas one world. This line of evolution is spoken of as the most gradual\nand therefore the least arduous of the seven courses; but though it\nis sometimes referred to in the books as \u201cyielding to the temptation\nto become a god,\u201d it is only in comparison with the sublime height\nof renunciation of the Nirm\u00e2nak\u00e2ya that it can be spoken of in this\nhalf-disparaging manner, for the adept who chooses this course has\nindeed a glorious career before him, and though the path which he\nselects is not the shortest, it is nevertheless a very noble one.\n\nYet another group are the Nirm\u00e2nak\u00e2yas--those who, declining all these\neasier methods, choose the shortest but steepest path to the heights\nwhich still lie before them. They form what is poetically termed the\n\u201cguardian wall,\u201d and, as _The Voice of the Silence_ tells us,\n\u201cprotect the world from further and far greater misery and sorrow,\u201d not\nindeed by warding off from it external evil influences, but by devoting\nall their strength to the work of pouring down upon it a flood of\nspiritual force and assistance, without which it would assuredly be in\nfar more hopeless case than now.\n\nYet again there are those who remain even more directly in association\nwith humanity, and continue to incarnate among it, choosing the path\nwhich leads through the four stages of what we have called above the\nofficial period; and among these are the Masters of Wisdom--those from\nwhom we who study Theosophy have learnt such fragments as we know of\nthe mighty harmony of evolving Nature. But it would seem that only a\ncertain comparatively small number adopt this course--probably only so\nmany as are necessary for the carrying on of this physical side of the\nwork.\n\nIn hearing of these different possibilities, people sometimes exclaim\nrashly that there could of course be no thought in a Master\u2019s mind\nof choosing any but that course which most helps humanity--a remark\nwhich greater knowledge would have prevented them from making. We\nshould never forget that there are other evolutions in the solar system\nbesides our own, and no doubt it is necessary for the carrying out of\nthe vast plan of the Logos that there should be adepts working on all\nthe seven lines to which we have referred. Surely the choice of the\nMaster would be to go wherever his work was most needed--to place his\nservices with absolute selflessness at the disposal of the Powers in\ncharge of this part of the great scheme of evolution.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThis then is the path which lies before us, the path which each one of\nus should be beginning to tread. Stupendous though its heights appear\nwe should remember that they are attained but gradually and step by\nstep, and that those who now stand near the summit once toiled in the\nmire of the valleys, even as we are doing. Although this path may at\nfirst seem hard and toilsome, yet ever as we rise our footing becomes\nfirmer and our outlook wider, and thus we find ourselves better able to\nhelp those who are climbing beside us.\n\nBecause it is at first thus hard and toilsome to the lower self, it\nhas sometimes been called by the very misleading title of \u201cthe path of\nwoe;\u201d but, as Mrs. Besant has beautifully written, \u201cthrough all such\nsuffering there is a deep and abiding joy, for the suffering is of the\nlower nature, and the joy of the higher. When the last shred of the\npersonality is gone all that can thus suffer has passed away, and in\nthe perfected Adept there is unruffled peace and everlasting joy. He\nsees the end toward which all is working, and rejoices in that end,\nknowing that earth\u2019s sorrow is but a passing phase in human evolution.\n\n\u201cThat of which little has been said is the profound content which comes\nfrom being on the path, from realizing the goal and the way to it, from\nknowing that the power to be useful is increasing, and that the lower\nnature is being gradually extirpated. And little has been said of the\nrays of joy which fall upon the path from loftier levels, the dazzling\nglimpses of the glory to be revealed, the serenity which the storms of\nearth cannot ruffle. To any one who has entered on the path all other\nways have lost their charm, and its sorrows have a deeper bliss than\nthe best joys of the lower world.\u201d (V\u00e2han, vol. v., No. 12.)\n\nLet no man therefore despair because he thinks the task too great for\nhim; what man has done man can do, and just in proportion as we extend\nour aid to those whom we can help, so will those who have already\nattained be able in their turn to help us. So from the lowest to the\nhighest we who are treading the steps of the path are bound together\nby one long chain of mutual service, and none need feel neglected or\nalone, for though sometimes the lower flights of the great staircase\nmay be wreathed in mist, we know that it leads up to happier regions\nand purer air, where the light is always shining.\n\n\n\n\n  INDEX.\n\n\n  Adept, 26, 95, 109, 127, 129, 133\n\n  Adeptship, 109, 115, 127\n\n  An\u00e2g\u00e2m\u00ee, 124\n\n  \u00c2nanda and the Buddha, 125\n\n  Angels and Gods, Hierarchies of, 7, 8\n\n  Angel Story, 42\n\n  Anuloma, 114\n\n  Arahat, consciousness of, 126\n\n  Ar\u00fbpar\u00e2ga, 126\n\n  Asekha, 127, 129\n\n  Astral body, 36, 37\n    of children, 69\n    after death, 81, 82\n    active consciousness in, 37, 67\n    physical elements, no obstacle to, 99, 100\n\n  Astral world, power of thought in, 99\n\n  Athanasian Creed, 120\n\n  Avijj\u00e2, 126\n\n  Awakening pupils on the astral plane, tests for, 99-100\n\n\n  Bhavagga, 119\n\n  Black magicians, 94\n\n  Bodies, effect of coarse ones, after death, 81\n\n  Buddha and \u00c2nanda, 125\n\n  Buddhas, some in early races, from deva evolution, 28\n\n\n  Calmness, a requirement on the Path, 101\n\n  Children, useful as helpers, 69, 70\n\n  Consciousness, apart from physical body, 29, 33-37, 124\n    active astral, 37, 67, 68\n    of the Arahat, 126\n    buddhic, 121, 124, 126\n\n  Cyril, Angel Story, 42-48\n    Fire Story, 50-55\n    Two Brothers, 63-71\n    materialized form, 56, 58, 59, 60, 71\n\n\n  Dead entity, not realizing his death, 87\n\n  Devas, kinds of help given by, between incarnations, 26, 27\n    help on the mental plane, 27\n    supplied Buddhas in early races, 28\n    evolution of, 131\n\n  Discipleship, 109, 116, 118\n\n  Dreams, impressed on living, 85\n\n\n  Earthbound entitles, 83, 87\n    Story of a father, 84\n\n  Ego, 74, 82, 125\n\n  Eternal punishment, belief in, after death, 79\n\n  Evil, counteracting effects of black magicians, 94\n\n  Evolution, accelerated in lower kingdoms, 39\n    deva, 131\n    current of, too strong to resist, 83, 103\n\n\n  Faith, true meaning of, 122\n\n  Fifth Round, critical period of, 109, 119\n\n\n  Gotrabh\u00fb, 114, 119\n\n  Guardian Wall, 95, 131\n\n\n  Hell, effect of belief in, after death, 78\n\n  Holiness, four paths of, 109\n\n\n  Immortality of the Soul, 6, 7, 87\n\n  Initiation, 109, 114, 116, 119\n\n  Invisible Helpers, classes of, 25, 28\n    pupils of the Masters, 29\n    danger of repercussion, 58, 60, 61\n    work with the dead, 73, 83, 89\n    work hindered by fear, 74, 78, 80\n    methods of impressing the living, 14, 40, 73, 75, 85, 86, 92, 93, 94\n    spiritual instruction, given by, 89, 93, 94\n    qualifications necessary for becoming, 97\n\n\n  Jesus and S. John, 125\n\n\n  Kamaloka, factors deciding length of stay in, 81, 83\n    entity in, not realizing death, 87\n\n  K\u00e2mar\u00e2ga, 124\n\n  Knowledge, kind required on the Path, 100, 102\n\n  Karma, interference with another\u2019s, impossible, 30, 80\n    illustrated by Angel Story, 48\n    how carried out by Masters, 21\n    determines possibilities of becoming helpers, 70\n    inevitable catastrophes, 73\n    ties of karma, in astral work, 48, 55\n    after death, 81\n    of the Invisible Helpers, 93, 98\n\n  K\u00e2rmic obligations, 98\n\n\n  Love, 103, 125, 128\n\n\n  Maggo, 118\n\n  M\u00e2no, 126\n\n  Manus, some from deva evolution, 28\n\n  Manodv\u00e2ravajjana, 111\n\n  Materialists, after death, 87\n\n  Materialization, three kinds of, 57\n    production of, at s\u00e9ances, 59, 60\n    matter for, where drawn from, 59\n    economy in using force for, 58\n    exceptional cases of, 61, 62, 65, 67, 71\n    knowledge necessary for, 71\n    in cabin of sinking ship, 76\n    in railway carriage, 23\n\n  Materialized body not injured by fire or water, 61, 77\n\n  Masters training Helpers, 28, 60, 95, 97, 102, 106, 121, 125, 132\n    guarding an advancing soul, 21\n    Lords of Compassion, 64\n    felt as a Presence, 66\n    restrictions placed upon Helpers by, 88\n    confidence in, 114\n    and pupils, love between, 125\n\n  Medium, possibilities of repercussion, 59, 60\n    occasional good work done by, 86\n    dangers of communication through, 87, 90\n\n  Memory, waking, of night\u2019s experience, 37\n    waking, caused by great shock, 67, 68\n    of teachings received after death, 90\n\n  Mental plane, work upon, 111\n\n  Mind, effect of attitude of, after death, 81, 82, 87, 89\n    how easily influenced, 92\n    helps in problems of study, 93\n\n  Mother-love, value of, 14, 32, 128\n\n  Mumukshatva, 114\n\n\n  Nature-spirits, help to man, rare, 31\n\n  Nirm\u00e2nak\u00e2yas, 95, 131\n\n  Nirv\u00e2\u1e47a, 118, 126, 127, 130\n\n\n  Parikamma, 112\n\n  Path, The, 94, 97, 106, 107, 113\n    four means of reaching, 108\n    three divisions of, 109\n    of holiness, four stages of, 109\n    probationary, 110, 116\n    official period of, 109, 132\n\n  Patigha, 124\n\n  Personality, 123, 125, 133\n\n  Phala, 118\n\n  Prayer, answer to, 11, 12, 93\n\n  Proofs, phenomenal, forbidden, 88\n\n  Psychic faculties, 123\n\n  Purgatory, teaching of, helpful, after death, 79\n\n\n  Qualifications for becoming Invisible Helpers, 97-106\n\n\n  Repercussion, when possible, 56, 58, 59, 60\n\n  Rounds, critical period of Fifth, 109, 119\n    Seventh, 109\n\n  R\u00fbpar\u00e2ga, 126\n\n\n  Saddh\u00e2, 114\n\n  Sakad\u00e2g\u00e2m\u00ee, 123\n\n  Sakk\u00e2yadi\u1e6d\u1e6dhi, 120\n\n  Salvation, origin of Christian idea, 120\n\n  Sam\u00e2dh\u00e2na, 114\n\n  Samo, 113\n\n  Sa\u1e43yojana, 118, 122\n\n  S\u00e9ances, 57, 59, 60, 86, 90\n\n  Self-control, qualification required, 98\n\n  Seventh Round, 109\n\n  Shatsampatti, 113\n\n  S\u00eelabbatapar\u00e2m\u00e2sa, 120\n\n  Single-mindedness, qualification required, 97\n\n  Sot\u00e2patti or Sohan, 119, 121\n\n  Stories of Invisible Helpers, saved from fire, 9, 10, 11, 48\n    saved from falling into a well, 14\n    saved from drowning, 12\n    saved from being injured by horses, 15\n    saved from being lost in the woods, 16\n    saved from massacre, 40\n    help given in cabin of sinking ship, 76\n    help given an earth-bound father, 84\n    help given materialistic scientist, 88\n    help given in catastrophes, 72, 73\n    help given drowning man, 75\n    rescue from a mob, 20\n    rescue from falling over a cliff, 43\n    warnings given the author, 19\n    warnings to captain of a boat, 72\n    the two brothers, 63\n    protection in railway carriage, 23\n    release from astral world, 90\n\n  Suggestion, power of, 92-93\n\n\n  Teachings given by Invisible Helpers after death, 82, 83, 89, 90, 91\n    during life, 92, 93\n\n  Tests of earth, water, air and fire, 99\n\n  Thought, power of, on astral plane, 99\n\n  Titikkh\u00e2, 113\n\n\n  Uddhachcha, 126\n\n  Upach\u00e2ro, 113\n\n  Uparati, 113\n\n\n  Vair\u00e2gya, 113\n\n  Vichikichchh\u00e2, 120, 122\n\n  Viveka, 112\n\n\n  Warnings given by Helpers, 19, 72, 90, 94\n\n  Will, power of, over matter, 61\n    man\u2019s, never dominated by Helpers, 92\n    cosmic, not to be overcome, 83, 103\n    free, of the Asekha, 129\n\n\n\n\n\n  TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES:\n\n  1. Original spellings were standardised only when a dominant version\n  was found.\n  2. Misspellings of words that occur only once have been corrected.\n  3. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.\n  4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.","title":"Invisible helpers","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":29046}