Instant Guide
To Theosophy
The Existence of the Masters
By
C
This is a chapter from
“The Masters and The Path”
published 1925
GENERAL
CONSIDERATIONS
THE existence
of Perfected Men is one of the most important of the many new facts which
Theosophy puts before us. It follows logically from the other great Theosophical
teachings of karma and evolution by reincarnation. As we look round us we see
men obviously at all stages of their evolution-- many far below ourselves in
development, and others who in one way or another are distinctly in advance of
us. Since that is so, there may well be others who are very much further
advanced; indeed, if men are steadily growing better and better through a long
series of successive lives, tending towards a definite goal, there should
certainly be some who have already reached that goal. Some of us in the process
of that development have already succeeded in unfolding some of those higher
senses which are latent in every man, and will be the heritage of all in the
future; and by means of those senses we are enabled to see the ladder of
evolution extending far above us as well as far below us, and we can also see
that there are men standing upon every rung of that ladder.
There is a
considerable amount of direct testimony to the existence of these Perfected Men
whom we call Masters, but I think that the first step which each one of us
should take is to make certain that there must be such men; only as a later
step will it follow that those with whom we have come into contact belong to
that class.
The
historical records of every nation are full of the doings of men of genius in
all the different departments of human activity, men who in their special lines
of work and ability have stood far above the rest-- indeed, so far that at
times (and probably more often than we know) their ideals were utterly beyond
the comprehension of the people, so that not only the work that they may have
done has been lost to mankind, but their very names even have not been
preserved. It has been said that the history of every nation could be written in
the biography of a few individuals, and that it is always the few, towering
above the rest, who initiate the great forward steps in art, music, literature,
science, philosophy, philanthropy, statecraft, and religion.
They stand high
sometimes in love of God and their fellow-men, as great saints and
philanthropists; sometimes in understanding of man and Nature, as great
philosophers, sages and scientists; sometimes in work for humanity, as great
liberators and reformers. Looking at these men, and realizing how high they
stand among humanity, how far they have gone in human evolution, is it not
logical to say that we cannot see the bounds of human attainment, and that
there may well have been, and even now may be, men far further developed even
than they, men great in spirituality as well as knowledge or artistic power,
men complete as regards human perfections-- men precisely such as the Adepts or
Supermen whom some of us have had the inestimable privilege to encounter?
This galaxy
of human genius that enriches and beautifies the pages of history is at the
same time the glory and the hope of all mankind, for we know that these Greater
Ones are the forerunners of the rest, and that They flash out as beacons, as
veritable light-bearers to show us the path which we must tread if we wish to
reach the glory which shall presently be revealed. We have long accepted the
doctrine of the evolution of the forms in which dwells the Divine Life; here is
the complementary and far greater idea of the evolution of that Life itself,
showing that the very reason for that wondrous development of higher and higher
forms is that the ever-swelling Life needs them in order to express itself.
Forms are born and die, forms grow, decay and break; but the Spirit grows on
eternally, ensouling those forms, and developing by means of experience gained
in and through them, and as each form has served its turn and is outgrown, it
is cast aside that another and better form may take its place.
Behind the
evolving form burgeons out ever the Life eternal, the Life Divine.
That Life of
God permeates the whole of nature, which is but the many-coloured cloak which
He has donned; it is He who lives in the beauty of the flower, in the strength
of the tree, in the swiftness and grace of the animal, as well as in the heart
and soul of man. It is because His will is evolution that all life everywhere
is pressing onward and upward; and it is therefore that the existence of
Perfected Men at the end of this long line of ever-unfolding power and wisdom
and love is the most natural thing in the world. Even beyond Them-- beyond our
sight and our comprehension-- stretches a vista of still greater glory; some
hint of that we may endeavour to give later, but it is useless to speak of it
now.
The logical
consequence of all this is that there must be Perfected Men, and there are not
wanting signs of the existence of such Men in all ages who, instead of leaving
the world entirely, to pursue a life of their own in the divine or superhuman
kingdoms, have remained in touch with humanity, through love of it, to assist
its evolution in beauty and love and truth, to help, as it were, to cultivate
the Perfect Man-- just as here and there we find a botanist who has special
love for plants, and glories in the production of a perfect orange or a perfect
rose.
THE TESTIMONY
OF THE RELIGIONS
The records
of every great religion show the presence of such Supermen, so full of the
Divine Life that again and again they have been taken as the very representatives
of God Himself. In every religion, especially at its founding, has such an One
appeared, and in many cases more than one.
The Hindus
have their great Avataras or divine incarnations, such as Shri Krishna, Shri
Shankaracharya, and the Lord Gautama Buddha, whose religion has spread over the
Far East, and a great galaxy of Rishis, of Saints, of Teachers; and these Great
Ones took interest not only in awakening men' s spiritual natures, but also in
all affairs that made for their well-being on earth. All who belong to the
Christian
world know, or ought to know, much about the great succession of prophets and
teachers and saints in their own dispensation, and that in some way (perhaps
not clearly understood) their Supreme Teacher, the Christ Himself, was and is
Man as well as God. And all the earlier religions (decadent as some of them may
be amid the decay of nations), down even to those of primitive tribes of men,
show as outstanding features the existence of Supermen, helpers in every way of
the childlike people among whom They dwelt. An enumeration of these,
interesting and valuable as it is, would take us too far aside from our present
purpose, so I will refer the reader for it to Mr. W. Williamson' s excellent
book The Great Law.
RECENT EVIDENCE
There is much
direct and recent evidence for the existence of these Great Ones. In my earlier
days I never needed any such evidence, because I was fully persuaded as a
result of my studies that there must be such people. To believe that there were
such glorified Men seemed perfectly natural, and my only desire was to meet
Them face to face Yet there are many among the newer members of the Society
who, reasonably enough, want to know what evidence there is.
There is a
considerable amount of personal testimony. Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott,
the co-founders of The Theosophical Society, Dr. Annie Besant, our present
President, and I myself-- all of us have seen some of these Great Ones, and
many other members of the Society have also been privileged to see one or two
of Them, and there is ample testimony in what all these people have written.
It is
sometimes objected that those who saw Them, or fancied that they did so, may
have been dreaming or perhaps deluded. The chief reason, I think, for the possibility
of such a suggestion is that we have very rarely seen the Adepts at a time when
both They and we were in our physical bodies. In the early days of the Society,
when only Madame Blavatsky had developed higher faculties, the Masters not
infrequently materialized Themselves so that all could see Them, and showed
Themselves thus physically on various occasions. You will find many records of
such happenings in the earlier history of our Society, but of course the Great
One so showing Himself was not in His physical body, but in a materialized
form.
Many of us
habitually and constantly see Them during our sleep. We go out in our astral
bodies (or in the mental body, according to our development) and we visit Them
and see Them in Their physical bodies; but we are not at that time in ours, and
that is why on the physical plane people tend to be sceptical about such
experiences. Men object: “But in these cases either you who saw Them were out
of the physical body, and may have been dreaming or deluded, or Those who
appeared to you came phenomenally and then disappeared again; so how do you
know that They were what you suppose Them to be?”
There are a
few cases in which both the Adept and the person who saw Him were in the
physical body. It happened with Madame Blavatsky; I have heard her testify that
she lived for some time in a monastery in
PERSONAL
EXPERIENCE
I myself can report
two occasions on which I have met a Master, both of us being in the physical
vehicle. One of Them was the Adept to whom the name of Jupiter was assigned in
the book of The Lives of Alcyone, who greatly assisted in the writing of
portions of Madame Blavatsky' s famous work Isis Unveiled, when that was being
done in Philadelphia and New York. When I was living at Adyar, He was so kind
as to request my revered teacher, Swami T. Subba Row, to bring me to call upon
Him. Obeying His summons we journeyed to His house, and were most graciously
received by Him. After a long conversation of the deepest interest, we had the
honour of dining with Him, Brahman though He be, and spent the night and part
of the next day under His roof. In that case it will be admitted that there
could be no question of illusion.
The other
Adept whom I had the privilege of encountering physically was the Master the
Comte de St. Germain, called sometimes the Prince Rakoczy. I met Him under
quite ordinary circumstances (without any previous appointment, and as though
by chance) walking down the Corso in
Other members
of the Brotherhood I have seen under varying circumstances. My first encounter
with one of them was in a hotel in Cairo; I was on my way out to India with
Madame Blavatsky and some others, and we stayed in that city for a time. We all
used to gather in Madame Blavatsky' s room for work, and I was sitting on the
floor, cutting out and arranging for her a quantity of newspaper articles which
she wanted. She sat at a table close by; indeed my left arm was actually
touching her dress. The door of the room was in full sight, and it certainly
did not open; but quite suddenly, without any preparation, there was a man
standing almost between me and Madame Blavatsky. Within touch of both of us.
It gave me
great start, and I jumped up in some confusion; Madame Blavatsky was much
amused and said: “If you do not know enough not to be startled at such a trifle
as that, you will not get far in this occult work.” I was introduced to the
visitor, who was not then an Adept, but an Arhat, which is one grade below that
state; He has since become the Master Djwal Kul.
Some months
after that the Master Morya came to us one day, looking exactly as though in a
physical body; He walked through the room where I was in order to communicate
with Madame Blavatsky, Who was in her bedroom inside. That was the first time I
had seen him plainly and clearly, for I had not then developed my latent senses
sufficiently to remember what I saw in the subtle body. I saw the Master
Kuthumi under similar conditions on the roof of our Headquarters at Adyar; He
was stepping over a balustrade as though He had just materialized from the
empty air on the other side of it. I have also many times seen the Master Djwal
Kul on that roof in the same way.
This would, I
suppose, be considered less certain evidence, since the Adepts came as
apparitions do; but, as I have since learned to use my higher vehicles freely,
and to visit these Great Ones in that way, I can testify that Those who in the
early years of the Society came and materialized for us are the same Men whom I
have often since seen living in Their own homes. People have suggested that I
and others who have the same experience may be but dreaming, since these visits
take place during the sleep of the body; I can only reply that it is a
remarkably consistent dream, extending in my own case over forty years, and
that it has been dreamt simultaneously by a large number of people.
Those who
wish to collect evidence about these matters (and it is quite reasonable that
they should wish to do so) should turn to the earlier literature of the
Society. If they meet our President, they can hear from her how many of the
Great Ones she has seen on different occasions; and there are many of our
members who will bear witness without hesitation that they have seen a Master.
It may be
that in meditation they have seen His face, and later have had definite proof
that He is a real being. Much evidence may be found in Colonel Olcott' s Old
Diary Leaves, and there is an interesting treatise called Do the Brothers
Exist? written by Mr. A. O. Hume, a man who stood high
in the Civil Service in
The
possession of extended vision and other faculties resulting from the unfolding
of our latent powers has also brought within our constant experience the fact
that there are other orders of beings than the human, some of whom rank
alongside the Adepts in a grade of existence higher than our own. We meet with
some whom we call Devas or Angels, and with others whom we see to be far beyond
ourselves in every respect.
THE EVOLUTION
OF LIFE
Since in the
course of our development we have become able to communicate with the Adepts,
we have naturally asked Them with all reverence how They have attained to that
level. They tell us with one accord that no long time ago They stood where we
stand now. They have risen out of the ranks of ordinary humanity, and They have
told us that we in time to come shall be as They are now, and that the whole
system is a graded evolution of Life extending up and up, further than we can
follow it, even unto the Godhead itself.
We find that
as there are definite stages in the earlier evolution-- the vegetable above the
mineral, the animal above the vegetable and the human above the animal-- so in
the same way the human kingdom has a definite end, a boundary at which it
passes into a kingdom distinctly higher than itself, that beyond men there are
the Supermen.
In the study
of this system of evolution, we have learnt that there are in every man three
great divisions-- body, soul and spirit; and each of these is capable of
further subdivision. That is the definition which was given by
So far as we
able to see, this Monad, which is a spark of the Divine Fire, cannot descend as
far as our present level, cannot directly reach this physical plane in which we
are now thinking and working-- probably because the rates of its vibration and
those of physical matter differ too widely, so that there must be intermediate
states and conditions. On what plane of nature that divine spark originally
exists we do not know, for it is far above out of our reach. The lowest
manifestation of it, which might be called a reflection of it, descends into
the lowermost of the Cosmic Planes, as described in A Text Book of Theosophy.
We speak
commonly of seven planes of existence, which are subdivisions or subplanes of
the lowest Cosmic Plane, called in our books the Prakritic, meaning the
physical plane of the Cosmos. The Monad can descend to the second of these
subplanes (which we consequently call the Monadic plane) but it does not seem
able to penetrate lower than this. In order to obtain the necessary contact
with still denser matter, it put down part of itself through two whole planes,
and that fragment is what we call the ego or soul.
The Divine
Spirit far above us merely hovers over us; the soul, which is a small and
partial representation of it (it is as though the Monad puts down a finger of
fire, and the end of that finger is the soul) cannot descend below the higher
part of the mental plane (which is the fifth plane counting downwards, the
physical being the seventh and lowest); and, in order that it may reach a still
lower level, it must in turn put down a small portion of itself, which becomes
the personality that we know. So this personality, which each person commonly
thinks to be himself, is in truth but the fragment of a fragment.
All the
evolution through the lower kingdom is preparatory to the development of this
human constitution. An animal during its life on the physical plane (and for
some time after that in the astral world) has a soul just as individual and
separate as a man' s; but when the animal comes to the end of its astral life,
that soul does not reincarnate again in a single body, but returns to a kind of
reservoir of soul-matter, called in our books a group-soul. It is as though the
group-soul were a bucket of water, supplying the need of several animals of the
same kind-- say, for example, twenty horses. When a horse is to be born from
that group-soul, it is as though one dipped a vessel into that bucket and
brought it out full of water. During the life of that horse all kinds of
experiences come to him which modify his soul, from which it learns lessons,
and these may be compared to various kinds of colouring matter cast into the
vessel of water. When the horse dies, the water in the vessel in emptied back
into the bucket, and the colouring matter which it has acquired spreads all
through the whole bucket. When another horse is born from the same group-soul,
another vessel of water is filled from the bucket; but it will be obvious that
it is impossible to take out it exactly the same drops of water which
constituted the soul of the previous horse.¹
¹ For
further details of this process see
When an
animal has developed far enough to become human, that means that at the end of
his life his soul is not poured back again into the group-soul, but remains as
a separate entity. And now a very curious but very beautiful fate befalls him.
The soul-matter, the water in the vessel, becomes itself a vehicle for
something much higher, and instead of acting as a soul, it is itself ensouled.
We have no exact analogy on the physical plane, unless we think of pumping air
into water under high pressure, and thereby making it aerated water.
If we accept
that symbolism, the water which was previously the animal soul has now become
the causal body of a man ; and the air pumped into it is the ego of which I
have spoken-- that soul of man which is but a partial manifestation of the
Divine Spirit. This descent of the ego is symbolized in ancient mythology by
the Greek idea of the krater or Cup, and by the mediaeval story of the Holy
Grail; for the Grail or the Cup is the perfected result of all that evolution,
into which is poured the Wine of the Divine Life, so that the soul of man may
be born. So, as we have said, this which has previously been the animal soul
becomes in the case of man what is called the causal body, which exists in the
higher part of the mental plane as the permanent vehicle occupied by the ego or
human soul; and all that has been learnt in its evolution is transferred to
this new centre of life.
The evolution
of this soul consists in its gradual return to the higher level on the plane
next below the Monadic, carrying with it the result of its descent in the shape
of experiences gained and qualities acquired. The physical body in all of us is
fully developed, and because that is so we are supposed to have conquered it;
but it should be fully under the control of the soul.
Among the
higher races of mankind at the present day it usually is so, though it may
break away and run wild for a little at times. The astral body is also fully
developed, but it is not yet by any means under perfect control; even among the
races to which we belong, there are many people who are the victims of their
own emotions. Instead of being able to govern them perfectly, they too often
allow themselves to be governed by them. They let their emotions run away with
them, just as a wild horse may run away with its rider, and take him into many
places whereto he does not wish to go.
We may take
it, then, that in all the best men of the more advanced races at the present
day the physical body is fully developed, and fairly under control; the astral
body is also fully developed, but not by any means under perfect control; the
mental body is in process of unfoldment, but its growth is yet very far from
complete. They have a long way to go yet before these three bodies, the
physical, the astral and the mental, are entirely subordinate to the soul. When
that happens the lower self will have been absorbed into the higher self, and
the ego, the soul, will have dominated the man. Though the man is not yet
perfect, the different vehicles are so far harmonized that they have but one
aim.
Up to this
time the soul has been slowly controlling the personal vehicles until they
become one with it, but now the Monad in its turn begins to dominate the soul;
and there will presently come a time when, just as the personality and the soul
have become one, the Spirit and the soul will become one in their turn.
This is the
unification of the ego with the Monad; and when that is achieved the man has
attained the object of his descent into matter-- he has become the Superman, or
Adept.
SUPERHUMAN
LIFE
Now only, for
the first time; does he enter upon his real life, for the whole of this
stupendous process of evolution (through all the lower kingdoms and then
through the human kingdom up to the attainment of Adeptship) is but a
preparation for that true life of the Spirit which begins only when man becomes
more than man. Humanity is the final class of the world-school; and when a man
has been trained therein he passes out into the real life, the life of the
glorified Spirit, the life of the Christ. What that is we know but little as
yet, though we see some of Those who are sharing it. It has a glory and a
splendour which is beyond all comparison, beyond our comprehension ; and yet it
is a vivid and living fact, and the attainment of it by every one of us is an
absolute certainty from which we cannot escape even if we would. If we act
selfishly, if we set ourselves against the current of evolution, we can delay
our progress; but we cannot finally prevent it.
Having
finished with human life, the Perfected Man usually drops His various material bodies.
but He retains the power to take up any of them if ever He should need them in
course of His work. In the majority of cases, one who gains that level no
longer needs a physical body. He no longer retains an astral, a mental or even
a causal body, but lives permanently at His highest level.
Whenever for
any purpose He needs to deal with a lower plane, He must take a temporary
vehicle belonging to that plane, because only through the medium of its matter
can He come into contact with those who live therein. If He wishes to talk to
men physically, He must take a physical body; He must have at least a partial
materialization, or He cannot speak. In the same way, if He wishes to impress
our minds, He must draw round himself a mental body. Whenever He needs in His
work to take a lower vehicle, He has the power to do so; but He holds it only
temporarily. There are seven lines of still further progress along which the
Perfected Man can go, a list of which we shall give in a later chapter.
THE
BROTHERHOOD OF ADEPTS
The world is
guided and directed to a large extent by a Brotherhood of Adepts to which our
Masters belong. Theosophical students make all sorts of mistakes about Them.
They often regard Them as a great monastic community, all living together in
some secret place. They suppose Them sometimes to be
Angels, and many of our students have thought that They were all Indian, or
that They all resided in the
As will be
explained later on, there are seven types of men, for every one belongs to one
of the seven Rays into which the great wave of evolving life is distinctly divided.
It would seem that one Adept on each of the Rays is appointed to attend to the
training of beginners, and all those who are coming along His particular Ray of
evolution pass through His hands.
No one below
the rank of Adept is permitted to assume full responsibility for a novice,
though those who have been chelas for a number of years are often employed as
deputies, and receive the privilege of helping and advising promising young
aspirants. These older pupils are gradually being trained for their future work
when they in turn shall become Adepts, and they are learning to take more and
more of the routine work off the hands of their Masters, so that the latter may
be set free for higher labours which only They can undertake. The preliminary
selection of candidates for discipleship is now left to a large extent in the
hands of these older workers, and the candidates are temporarily linked with
such representatives rather than directly with the great Adepts. But the pupils
and the Master are so wonderfully one that perhaps this is almost “a
distinction without a difference.”
THE POWERS OF
THE ADEPT
The powers of
the Adept are indeed many and wonderful, but they all follow in natural
sequence from faculties which we ourselves possess. It is only that They have
these faculties in a very much greater degree. I think that the outstanding
characteristic of the Adept, as compared with ourselves, is that He looks upon
everything from an absolutely different point of view; for there is in Him
nothing whatever of the thought of self which is so prominent in the majority
of men.
The Adept has
eliminated the lower self, and is living not for self but for all, and yet, in
a way that only He can really understand, that all is truly Himself also. He
has reached that stage in which there is no flaw in His character, nothing of a
thought or feeling for a personal, separated self, and His only motive is that
of helping forward evolution, of working in harmony with the Logos who directs
it.
Perhaps the
next most prominent characteristic is His all-round development. We are all of
us imperfect; none has attained the highest level in any line, and even the
great scientist or the great saint has usually reached high excellence in one
thing only, and there remain other sides of his nature not yet unfolded.
All of us
possess some germ of all the different characteristics, but always they are but
partially awakened, and one much more than another. An Adept, however, is an
all-round Man, a Man whose devotion and love and sympathy and compassion are
perfect, while at the same time His intellect is something far grander than we
can as yet realize, and His spirituality is wonderful and divine. He stands out
above and beyond all men whom we know, because of the fact that He is fully
developed.
The Mahatmas as Ideals and Facts
By W Q Judge
The Masters as Ideals and Facts
By Annie Besant
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