STUDENTS OF OCCULTISM-- even those who have been students
for many years-- sometimes seem to fail to realise the
Masters as They truly are. I have often found people
thinking of Them as some kind of angels or devas, or, at
any rate, as so far removed from us by Their greatness
that it is scarcely possible for us to derive much help
from Them. Their greatness is indisputable, and from that
point of view the gulf between Them and ourselves may well
seem incalculable in its extent; and yet from another point
of view They are very close to us, so that Their sympathy
and help are very near and very real. That our thought on
the subject may be clear, let us first of all try to
define exactly what we mean by the term "Master."
All I did was search onBelow are given some passages.
Can anybody tell name of the book.
Anand Gholap
Even those who have been students for many years-- sometimes seem to
fail to realise the Masters as They truly are. I have often found
people thinking of Them as some kind of angels or devas, or, at any
rate, as so far removed from us by Their greatness that it is
scarcely possible for us to derive much help from Them. Their
greatness is indisputable, and from that point of view the gulf
between Them and ourselves may well seem incalculable in its extent;
and yet from another point of view They are very close to us, so that
Their sympathy and help are very near and very real. That our thought
on the subject may be clear, let us first of all try to define
exactly what we mean by the term "Master."
We mean by it always one who is a member of the Great White
Brotherhood-- a member at such a level that He is able to take
pupils. Now the Great White Brotherhood is an organization unlike any
other in the world, and for that reason it has often been
misunderstood. It has sometimes been described as the Himalayan or
the Tibetan Brotherhood, and the idea has been conveyed of a body of
Indian ascetics residing together in a monastery in some inaccessible
mountain fastness. Perhaps this has risen largely from the knowledge
of the facts that the two Brothers principally concerned in the
foundation and work of the Theosophical Society happen at the moment
to be living in Tibet, and to be wearing Indian bodies. To comprehend
the facts of the case it may be better to approach its consideration
from another point of view.
Most of our students are familiar with the thought of the four stages
of the Path of Holiness, and are aware that a man who has passed
through them and attained to the level of the Asekha has achieved the
task set before humanity during this chain-period, and is
consequently free from the necessity of reincarnation on this planet
or on any other. Before him then open seven ways among which he must
choose. Most of them take him away from this earth into wider spheres
of activity, probably connected with the solar system as a whole, so
that the great majority of those members of our humanity who had
already reached this goal have passed entirely out of our ken.
The limited number who are still working directly for us may be
divided into two classes-- those who retain physical bodies, and
those who do not. The latter are frequently spoken of under the name
of Nirmanakayas. They hold themselves suspended as it were between
this world and nirvana, and They devote the whole of Their time and
energy to the generation of spiritual force for the benefit of
mankind. This force They pour into what may be described as a
reservoir, upon which the Masters and their pupils can draw for the
assistance of Their work with humanity. The Nirmanakaya, because He
remains to this extent in touch with the lower planes, has been
called ` a candidate for woe,' but that is misleading. What is meant
is that He has not the joy of the higher work, or of the nirvanic
levels. He has chosen to remain upon lower planes in order to help
those who still suffer. It is quite true that to came back from the
higher life into this world is like going down from the fresh air and
glorious sunlight into a dark and evil-smelling dungeon; but the man
who does this to help some one out of that dungeon is not miserable
and wretched while there, but full of the joy of helping,
notwithstanding the greatness of the contrast and the terrible
feeling of bondage and compression. Indeed, a man who refused such an
opportunity of giving aid when it came to him would certainly feel
far more woe afterwards, in the shape of remorse. When we have once
really seen the spiritual misery of the world, and the condition of
those who need such help, we can never again be careless or
indifferent about it, as are those who have not seen.
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