Theos-Talk Archives (January 2002 Message tt00298)

January 21, 2002

REINCARNATION study



Some APHORISMS on REINCARNATION

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THE AREA WHERE REINCARNATION OCCURS


All worlds...are subject to rebirth again and again.	BHAGAVAD
GITA 60


...every atom is alive and has the germ of self-consciousness.
OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 62


Both I [THE UNIVERSAL SPIRIT] and thou [Man] have passed through
many births, O Harasser of thy foes; mine are known unto me, but
thou knowest not of thine...For never to an evil place goeth one
who doeth good... Being thus born again, he comes in contact with
the knowledge which belonged to him in his former
body...[and]...striving with all his might, [he] obtaineth
perfection because of efforts continued through many births.
BHAGAVAD GITA 31


This immortal thinker [man]... having such vast powers and
possibilities, all his because of his intimate connection with
every secret part of Nature, from which he has been built up,
stands at the top of an immense and silent evolution.	OCEAN of
THEOSOPHY 60



SPIRIT-THE PERCEIVER WITHIN ALL


The Knower is never born, nor dies; nor is it from anywhere, nor
did it become anything. Unborn, eternal, immemorial, this
Ancient is not slain when the body is slain...this Self is hidden
in the heart of man...Understanding this great Lord, the Self,
bodiless in bodies, stable among the unstable, the wise man
cannot grieve. KATHA UPANISHAD, p. 41


The soul is the Perceiver; is assuredly vision itself, pure and
simple, unmodified, and looks directly upon ideas. For the sake
of the soul alone, the Universe exists.	YOGA SUTRAS of PATANJALI,
p. 24



JUSTICE AND EQUITY RULE THE UNIVERSE-KARMA


Each man's life, the outcome of his former living is. The bygone
wrongs bring forth sorrows and woes, the bygone right breeds
bliss. LIGHT of ASIA (Bk 8, p. 143)



WHAT AND WHO IS "MAN," "SPIRIT," "LAW" ?


Man is an immortal soul. All nature is sentient. Down to the
smallest atom, all is soul and spirit, ever evolving under the
rule of law, which is inherent in the whole. Nature exists for
no other purpose than the soul's experience.	OCEAN of THEOSOPHY,
p. 2


"...this universe [is] for the experience and emancipation of the
soul, for the purpose of raising the entire mass of manifested
matter up to the stature, nature, and dignity of conscious
god-hood. The great aim is to reach self-consciousness by and
through the perfecting after transformation of the whole mass of
matter as well as what we now call soul. The aim for present man
is his initiation into complete knowledge. As to the whole mass
of matter, the doctrine is that it will all be raised to man's
estate when man has gone further on himself. "
OCEAN of THEOSOPHY, p. 62-3


All the matter which the human Ego gathered to it retains the
stamp or photographic impression of the human being, the matter
transmigrates to the lower level when given an animal impress by
the ego.
OCEAN THEOSOPHY p. 68



THE FIELD OF EVOLUTION AND EXPERIENCE


We are not appearing for the first time when we come upon this
planet; but have pursued a long, an immeasurable course of
activity and intelligent perception on other systems of globes.
OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 2-3


Thou art THYSELF, the object of thy search.	VOICE OF THE SILENCE
p. 23-4


Man is a spiritual being. The Ego of each man is immortal,
reappearing clothed in bodies, on each occasion different, it
only appears to be mortal; it always remains the substratum and
support for the personality acting upon the stage of life.
ECHOES p. 8


At every conceivable point in the Universe there are 'lives;'
nowhere can be found a spot that is dead; and each 'life' is
forever hastening onward to higher evolution.	ECHOES p. 9-10


Reincarnations is the pilgrimage of our own nature...the end to
be reached is self-dependence with perfect calmness and
clearness.	ECHOES p. 32


When a being dies, he emits, as it were, a mass of force or
energy, which goes to make up the new personality when he shall
have reincarnated. In this energy is found the summation of the
life just given up.	ECHOES p. 36


The life of man is held to be a pilgrimage... Starting from the
great ALL, radiating like a spark from the central fire, he
gathers experience in all ages, under all rulers, civilizations
and customs, ever engaged in a pilgrimage to the shrine from
which he came. He is now the ruler and now the slave; to-day at
the pinnacle of wealth and power, to-morrow at the bottom of the
ladder, perhaps in abject misery, but ever the same being.
ECHOES p. 31


The end to be reached is self-dependence with perfect calmness
and clearness ... (the) whole life is a persistent pursuit of
the fast-moving soul, which, although appearing to stand still,
can outdistance the lightening.	ECHOES p. 32-3



RECOGNITION OF LOVED ONES ON REBIRTH


...recognition cannot depend, in the spiritual and mental life,
on physical appearance...those who are like unto each other, and
love each other will be reincarnated together, whenever
conditions permit. Recognition depends on inner sight, and not
on outward appearance.	OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 71-2


When we come again, we do not take up the body of someone else,
nor another's deeds; but, are like an actor who plays many
parts...the great life of the soul is a drama, and each new life
and rebirth, another act in which we assume another part.
OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 74


The friends and relatives which are life unto each other must
incarnate together until, by reason of differentiation of
character, they cannot undo the law of attraction [and so]
remain in company. Not unless and until they become different do
they separate from each other.	ECHOES p. 45


Those whom you help will help you in other lives. The very
moment we come near to where they are, they at once extend
assistance...Thus the members of the whole human family
reciprocally act on one another.	ECHOES. p. 45-6



MIND IS RE-EMBODIED


The powers of mind and the laws governing its motion, its
attachments, and its detachments show that its reembodiment must
be here...To permit the involved entity to transfer itself to
another scene before it had overcome all the causes drawing it
here and without having worked out its responsibilities to other
entities would be contrary to the powerful forces which
continually operate upon it. OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY. p. 79




ONE LIFE INADEQUATE FOR FULL EXPERIENCE


One short human life gives no grounds for the production of the
inner nature...The soul must be reborn until it has ceased to set
in motion the cause of rebirth, after having developed character
up to its possible limit when every experience has been passed
through.	OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY p. 81


There is a vast range of powers latent in man, which may be
developed if opportunity be given. Knowledge, infinite in scope
and diversity, lies before us. We have high aspirations with no
time to reach up to their measure, while the passions and
desires, selfish motives and ambitions, war with us and among
themselves. All these have to be tried, conquered, used,
subdued. One life is not enough for this. OCEAN OF
THEOSOPHY P. 82-3



SENSE OF IDENTITY


Each feels he has an individuality of his own, a personal
identity which bridges over gaps made by sleep, and temporary
lesions in the brain. This identity never breaks from beginning
to end of life in the normal person, and only the persistence and
eternal character of the soul will account for it.	OCEAN OF
THEOSOPHY p. 82


Inherent ideas, common to the whole race, are due to recollection
of such ideas implanted in the human mind at the very beginning
of its evolutionary career by those Brothers and sages who were
perfected in former ages long before the development of this
globe began.	OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY p. 87


The images made in the "Astral Light" (an imponderable, tenuous
medium which inter-penetrates the entire globe, and in which the
acts and thoughts of every man are felt and impressed, to be
afterward reflected again) persist for centuries...upon returning
to earth-life we are affected for good or evil by the conduct,
the doctrine and the aspirations of preceding nations and men.
ECHOES p. 5


Since we are made up of a mass of lives, our thoughts and acts
affect those atoms or lives, and impress them with a darma [duty]
of their own.	ECHOES p. 40


Each man is seen as a fashioner of the fate for his next fleeting
earth personality...in his own hand is the decree...No one but
ourselves punishes or rewards in this or any life.	ECHOES p.
44 - 45


The nature of each incarnation depends upon the balance as struck
of the merit and demerit of the previous life or lives-upon the
way the man has lived and thought; and this law is inflexible and
wholly just.	EPITOME p. 23


"That which is known as 'you' is the result of one continuous
existence of an entity. Your present body and your soul (or the
personality) are the results of a series of co-existence. The
Individuality, or spirit, is the cause of the Soul, and
personality, or what is called 'you.' You are the manifestation
of an entity and are the result of many appearances of that
entity upon the stage of action in various personalities."
W.Q.J. ARTICLES Vol. II p. 452



MEMORY AND REBIRTH


Memory of a prior life does not prove we passed through that, nor
is non-remembering an objection. We forget the greater part of
the events of the years and days of this life. The entire effect
on the character is kept and made a part of ourselves. The whole
mass of detail is preserved in the inner man to be one day fully
brought back when we are perfected. All are subject to the
limitations imposed on the Ego by the new brain in each life.
OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p 76


By living according to the dictates of the Soul, the brain may
at last be made porous to the Soul's recollections...We should be
very miserable if the deeds and scenes of our former lives were
not hidden from our view until by discipline we became able to
bear a knowledge of them.	OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 76



FUNCTION OF THOSE WHO GRADUATE ON EARTH


The most intelligent being in the universe, man, has never...been
without a friend, but has a line of "elder brothers" who
continually watch over the progress of the less progressed,
preserve the knowledge gained, and continually seek for
opportunities of drawing the developing intelligence of the race
to consider the great truths concerning the destiny of soul.
OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 3


The Elder Brothers of humanity are men who were perfected in
former periods of evolution ... when, out of the Great Unknown,
there came forth the visible universes (which)...are eternal in
their coming and going. The object of these mighty waves is the
production of perfect Man, the evolution...after the struggle to
acquire piety, of the soul which consists in knowing God, and
injuring none, such a soul becomes all intelligence. OCEAN
of THEOSOPHY p. 6


The course of evolution is the drama of the soul. There are
beings in the universe whose intelligence is as much beyond ours,
as ours exceeds that of the black beetle; and, who take an
active part in the government of the natural order of things.
OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 2


Nature intends us to use the matter which comes into our bodies
and astral body for the purpose among others, of benefiting the
matter by the impress it gets from association with the human
Ego...it retains the stamp or photographic impression of the
human being; the matter transmigrates to the lower level when
given an animal impress by the Ego.	OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 68


The most exalted beings still in the flesh are known as Sages,
Rishis, Brothers, Masters. The process of evolution up to
reunion with the Divine is and includes successive elevation from
rank to rank of power and usefulness...the process of spiritual
development (includes)...entire eradication of
selfishness...cultivation of broad, generous sympathy in, and
effort for the good of others...cultivation of the inner,
spiritual man by meditation...control of fleshly appetites and
desires...careful performance of every duty.	EPITOME p. 24-25



SUFFERING: SELF-EDUCATION-NOT PUNISHMENT


The impious soul, however, punishes itself...it cannot enter the
body...of an animal devoid of reason...It [law] preserves the
human soul from such an infamy.	OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY


Once a man, always a man. Evolution, having brought Manas the
Thinker and Immortal Person on to this plane, cannot send him
back to the brute which has not Manas. OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p.
67


Sow kindly acts and thou shalt reap their fruition. Inaction in
a deed of mercy becomes an action in a deadly
sin...Self-Knowledge is of loving deeds the child."	VOICE OF THE
SILENCE p. 33-4


To live to benefit mankind is the first step.	VOICE OF THE
SILENCE p. 36


Give light and comfort to the toiling pilgrim, and seek out him
who knows still less than thou, and, let him hear the law.	VOICE
OF THE SILENCE p. 40


Kill in thyself all memory of past experiences. Look not behind,
or thou art lost.	VOICE OF THE SILENCE p 18


Shun ignorance, and likewise shun illusion. Avert thy face from
world deceptions: mistrust thy senses; they are false. But
within thy body-the shrine of thy sensations-seek in the
Imperishable for the "Eternal Man;" and, having sought him out,
look inward: thou art "Buddha" [the Wise One].	VOICE OF THE
SILENCE p. 28-9



PURPOSE OF EXPERIENCE-THE EDUCATION OF ALL


Fix thy Soul's gaze upon the star whose ray thou art...Have
perseverance, as one who doth for evermore endure. Thy shadows
(personalities) live and vanish; that which in thee shall live
for ever, that which in thee knows, for it is knowledge, is not
of fleeting life; it is the man that was, that is, and will be,
for whom the hour shall never strike.
VOICE OF THE SILENCE p. 34


What we now use as our organic or fleshy matter will have changed
by transformation through evolution into self-conscious thinkers.
OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 62


The passional parts of us coalesce with the astral body after
death, and makes a seeming being, (called the Kama-Rupa, or,
desire form) that has a short life to live while it is
disintegrating.	OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 98



DEATH

Death is certain to all things which are born, and rebirth to all
mortals; wherefore it does not behoove thee to grieve about the
inevitable.	BHAGAVAD GITA p. 13


The man whose devotion has been broken off by death goeth to the
regions of the righteous (Devachan, or "Heaven"), where he dwells
for an immensity of years and is then born again on earth in a
pure and fortunate family; or even in a family of those who are
spiritually illuminated. Being thus born again, he comes in
contact with the knowledge which belonged to him in his former
body...	BHAGAVAD GITA p. 51


When the separation is complete between the body that has died
the higher Triad: Manas (mind), Buddhi (wisdom) and Atma
(Spirit), who are the real man, immediately go into another state
called Devachan (or heaven), and when that state is over they are
attracted back to earth for reincarnation. They are the immortal
part of us, they, are we.
OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 70


Devachan is the land of reward, the domain of spiritual
effects...It is the threshold to another life on earth...[it is]
a state of prolonged subjective happiness after the death of the
body...In Devachan we dream until [we are reborn]...[it is a]
place or state were germinating aspirations, restricted by earth
life, could have their full development...psychic energies also
have their outlet in Devachan...it provides rest for the soul,
its deepest desires, its highest needs are there enjoyed, every
hope blooms out in full and glorious flower.	ECHOES p. 47 - 48


Between adjacent incarnations, after grosser elements are purged
away, comes a period of comparative refreshment called
Devachan-the soul being therein prepared for its next advent
into material life. The state of spiritual but comparative rest
known as Devachan is not an eternal one...nor does 'hell'
correspond to (kama-loka)...All such painful states are
transitory and purificatory states. EPITOME p. 23



CONSTITUTION OF NATURE


[Universe envisioned as]...an endless evolution and re-involution
(or re-absorption) of the Kosmos; a process which...is without a
beginning, or an end. Our Kosmos and Nature will run down only
to reappear on a more perfect plane after every PRALAYA
(Universal 'night' of dissolution).	Secret Doctrine I p. 148 &
149


Man is a spiritual being-a soul-and this soul takes on different
bodies from life to life on earth, in order, at last, to arrive
at such perfect knowledge, through repeated experience, as to
enable one to assume a body fit to be the dwelling place of a
Mahatma or perfected Soul. ECHOES p. 1


The three great qualities: light or truth, passion or desire,
and, indifference or darkness bind the imperishable soul to the
body.	BHAGAVAD GITA p. 101



CONSTITUTION OF MAN


Atma-Buddhi-Manas [Spirit-Wisdom-Mind as a triad] does not yet
fully incarnate in this race. They use and occupy the body by
means of the entrance of Manas (mind) the lowest of the three.
OCEAN of THEOSOPHY. p. 66


Purusha [the Spirit, is] the persisting individuality, which
connects all reincarnations, as if it were the thread, and has,
hence been called the thread-soul."	OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 96 fn.



DUAL MIND IS THE LINK BETWEEN SPIRIT AND MAN


Antaskarana is the lower Manas, the path of communication between
the personality and the higher Manas, or human Soul.
VOICE OF THE SILENCE p. 55 fn.


All is impermanent in man except the pure bright essence of Alaya
(the Universal SOUL). Man is its crystal ray; a beam of light
immaculate within; a form of clay material upon the lower
surface. VOICE OF THE SILENCE p. 63


Man is to rely on the One Consciousness, which in him is his
Higher Self [Atma-Buddhi--Spirit].	GITA NOTES p. 98


The one consciousness of each person is the Witness or Spectator
of the actions and experiences of every state we are in or pass
through.	GITA NOTES p. 99



REINCARNATION AS A LAW OF NATURE


Reincarnation is the law of nature. The complete trinity of
Atma, Buddhi, Manas does not yet fully incarnate. They use and
occupy the body by means of the entrance of Manas (mind), the
lowest of the three, and the other two shine upon it from above.
The head, Atma and Buddhi, are yet in "heaven," and the feet,
Manas, walk in hell, which is the body and physical life.	OCEAN
of THEOSOPHY p. 71


Man is not yet fully conscious, and reincarnations are needed to
at last complete the incarnation of the whole trinity in the
body. When that has been accomplished the race will have become
as gods, and as the godlike trinity being in full possession, the
entire mass of matter will be perfected and raised up for the
next step.
OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 71


We come back to earth because on it and with the beings upon it
our deeds were performed; it is the only proper place where
punishment and reward can be justly meted out; here is the only
natural spot in which to continue the struggle toward perfection,
development of the faculties we have, and the destruction of the
wickedness in us.
OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY p. 84



JUSTICE, EQUITY, UNIVERSAL LAW


No man can by any possibility, or favor, or edict, or belief
escape the consequences of the causes he sets up, and each one
who grasps this doctrine will be moved by conscience and the
whole power of nature to do well in order that he may receive
good and become happy.	OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 70


The law of Reincarnation drags us into life again and again,
bringing with us uncounted times the various Egos whom we have
known in prior births...in order that the causes generated in
company with those Egos may be worked out.	ECHOES p. 39


We are, in this life, responsible for the civilization in which
we now appear. OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 73


Reward and punishment must be the just desert for prior conduct.
Nature's law of justice is not imperfect. In a prior life the
doer was then quite aware of what he did, and, nature affixes
consequences to his acts, being thus just.	OCEAN of THEOSOPHY
p. 75



HEREDITY


Heredity in giving us a body in any family provides the
appropriate environment for the Ego, which goes only in to the
family which either completely answers to its whole nature, or
which gives an opportunity for the working out of its evolution.
OCEAN of THEOSOPHY. p. 72


Heredity provides the tenement, and also imposes those
limitations of capacity of brain or body, which are often a
punishment, and sometimes, a help; but it does not affect the
Real Ego. The limitations of any family heredity are exact
consequences of that Ego's prior lives.	OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p.
73


Each human has a definite character, different from every other.
These differences, both individual and national, are not due to
education. Heredity furnishes the appropriate place for
receiving reward and punishment, and is not the cause for the
essential nature shown by everyone.	OCEAN of THEOSOPHY p. 85-6



THE WORLD REINCARNATES WITH ALL ITS MANY BEINGS


The world evolves just as man does. It is now conditioned as the
actual result of its past. It is born, grows old, dies, and is
reincarnated. This goes on many times, and during those
incarnations it suffers and enjoys in its own way for its
previous evolutions.	ECHOES p. 40


Our Earth is one of a chain of planets, it alone being on the
visible plane. Humanity passes from globe to globe in a series
of 'rounds,' first circling about each globe, and reincarnating
upon it a fixed number of times. This incarnation is not single,
but repeated; each individuality becomes re-embodied during
numerous existences in successive races and planets of our
chain, and accumulating the experiences of each incarnation
towards its perfection.	EPITOME p. 16, 22



POPULATION FLUCTUATIONS


So far as concerns this globe the number of Egos belonging to it
is definite. The total is vast. Each Ego, for itself, varies
the length of stay in the Post mortem states. Whenever there
occurs a great number of deaths by war, pestilence, or famine,
there is at once a rush of souls to incarnation, either in the
same place or in some other place or race.	OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY.
p. 77



SAVAGERY-EXTINCTION OF RACES


Savagery remains because there are still Egos whose experience is
so limited that they are still savage
OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY p. 89


Races die out because the Egos had enough of the experience that
sort of race gives, other souls who have had no higher life in
the past enter into the bodies of the race to go on using them
for the purpose of gaining such experience as the race body will
give. OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY p. 84


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I hope this may prove of use. Questions and comments welcome.

Best wishes,


Dallas