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(EDI TED BY
USTIN H. MOORE
OCT 4 1920
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Moore, Justin H. b
The world beyond
1884,
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THE WORLD BEYOND
THE
WORLD BEYOND
Passages from Oriental
and Primitive Religions
COMPILED AND ARRANGED
BY ^
JUSTIN HARTLEY MOORE
OCT 'i 1920 '
NEW YORK
THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1920
By THOMAS Y. CKOWELL COMPANY
To
JOHN HERMAN RANDALL
Prophet
Sage
and
Friend
• ♦
EDITOR'S NOTE
Sincere acknowledgment and thanks are made to
many publishers for kind permission to use in this boot
extracts from copyright publications. The selections
have been adapted and in part rewritten for the sake
of clarity and conciseness. A tribute is due also to
the patient toil of a host of scholars, most of whom
have now passed away, whose painstaking researches
have revealed an underlying unity in all the religious
aspiration of humanity throughout the world.
FOREWORD
Science only serves to widen the horizon of religious
wonder, and in viewing the records which are pre-
served of man's religious thought, present even in the
most primitive tribes, we find traces of mystic aware-
ness of the spirit of God always near at hand. Thus
the sayings of the greatest of the mystics, Jesus of
Nazareth, take on an added significance when they are
found to accord with the aspirations of many who
lived before His time and many who followed Him.
In such unity of purpose in reaching out toward the
Unseen is the best proof of the brotherhood of man,
the essential oneness of humanity throughout the ages.
We hope in subsequent volumes to cull other living
pages on different religious themes from the mass of
material now available.
New York City^ 1^20,
Justin H. Moore.
CONTENTS
THE WORLD BEYOND
PAOB
Death a Process of Adaptation and the Price of Sex 15
The Land of the Dead 18
Death is Near .20
Prayer to Osiris for Everlasting Life ... . .22
Wek-Wek Returns from the Underworld ... 24
None Shall Abide 27
When First Separated from the Body . . . .31
The Various Hells . 34
Ministers of Evil 3^
Karma, the Law of Consequences 41
When the Body Dies 43
Hell a State of Mind 45
Sin Not Fully Realized Until After Death . . 47
Life Stained by Sin . -49
Not Everyone Shall Have Eternal Life . . . 51
Love the Condition of Immortality . . . '53
The Old Persian Worship ...... 54-
The Buddha's Rest 57
Survival of Consciousness 59
There is no Soul 64
What the Senses do not Reveal Cannot Exist . . 66
The Soul Liveth 68
Faith as a Faculty 7^
The Unseen Bond 72
The Grave is the Curtain of Paradise .... 74
Omnipresent Yet Elusive 76
Beyond the Veil 77
II
12 CONTENTS
THE HIGHEE KNOWLEDGE
Genius and Inspiration 83
Escape from the Lesser Self 87
The Mystery of Sleep . 89
Sleep 9'
The Source of Life 93
The Sacredness of Memory 97
The Atomic Size of the Soul 100
What is the Soul ? . 102
The Keys of the Unseen 104
The Immanent God 107
Voices J09
Love TO One's Neighbor, A Jew 112
The Spiritual Body 115
The Holy Spirit 117
Cosmic Consciousness 120
LIFE
Conscious Life 125
What is Your Life? It is Even as a Vapor . . .128
Life and Death 131
A Mohammedan Legend 132
Nearer to the Source of Life 134
The Stuff of the World and the Fountain of Cre-
ation 137
Omnipresence 139
The Pulse of Life 142
The World Beyond
.WHOEVER WOULD SAVE HIS LIFE SHALL
LOSE IT
Death is a Process of Adaptation
and is the Price of Sex
Creatures composed of a single cell, protophytes and
protozoa, algae and unicellular mushrooms, with a
minimum of differentiation, escape the necessity of
death. . . . They are infinitely vulnerable, fragile
and perishable; myriads die at every instant. But
their death is not ordained by fate. They may suc-
cumb to accidents, but never to old age.
Imagine one of these creatures placed in a culture-
medium favorable to the full exercise of his activities,
and of large enough extent so as not to be affected by
the tiny quantities of materials which the animal may
draw from it or excrete into it. Let it be, for example,
an infusoria in the ocean. In these invariable sur-
roundings the creature lives, grows and enlarges in-
cessantly. When he has attained the limits of size
fixed by his own specific laws, he divides in two parts
equal in all respects to each other. He allows one of
these halves to colonize in his vicinity and himself
15
i6 THE WORLD BEYOND
begins again the same evolution all over. There is no
reason why the transaction should not be indefinitely
repeated, since nothing has changed either in the sur-
rounding nor in the animal himself. , . .
Thus immortality belongs in principle to all the
protista whose reproduction takes place by means of
simple and equal division. If we note that these rudi-
mentary organisms, endowed with perennial existence,
must be the first living forms that appeared on the
surface of the globe, and that they doubtless long
preceded other creatures, the polycellular organisms
which, on the contrary, had to undergo decay, the
conclusion to be drawn is very apparent: namely, that
life long existed without death. Death has been a
phenomenon of adaptation appearing in the course of
the ages as a consequence of the evolution of species.
It may be asked at what moment of the history of
our globe, at what period in the evolution of fauna,
this novelty, death, made its appearance. The famous
experiments of Maupas upon the senescence of in-
fusoria seems to permit of a precise answer to this
question. Relying upon these experiments, we may
say that death must have appeared as a kind of convoy
along with sexual reproduction. Death became possi-
ble when this process of generation was established.
THE WORLD BEYOND 17
not in all its fullness, but in its humblest beginnings,
under the rudimentary forms of unequal division and
conjugation. And this came when the infusoria began
to people the waters.
A. Dastre, " I,a Vie et la Mort," p. 336, Paris, 1916.
BUT I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN AND YOUR
HEART SHALL REJOICE
The Land of the Dead
The Aztecs of Mexico belong to the great Nihautl stock of
Western North America, whose institutions, language and
aristocracy were well-nigh exterminated by the Spanish con-
quistadores. Only a few songs and legends have been saved
from oblivion.
Weeping, I, the singer, weave my song of flowers,
of sadness; I call to memory the youths, the shards,
the fragments, gone to the land of the dead ; once noble
and powerful here on earth, the youths were dried up
like feathers, were split into fragments like an emerald,
before the face and in the sight of those who saw them
on earth, and with the knowledge of the Cause of All.
Alas ! alas ! I sing in grief as I recall the children.
Would that I could turn back again; would that I
could grasp their hands once more ; would that I could
call them forth from the land of the dead ; would that
we could bring them again on earth, that they might
rejoice and we rejoice, and that they might rejoice and
delight the Giver of Life; is it possible that we His
i8
THE WORLD BEYOND 19
servants should reject Him or should be ungrateful?
Thus I weep in my heart as I, the singer, review my
memories, recalling things sad and grievous.
Would only that I knew they could hear me, there in
the land of the dead, were I to sing some worthy song.
Would that I could gladden them, that I could console
the suffering and the torment of the children. How
can it be learned? Whence can I draw the inspira-
tion ? They are not where I may follow them ; neither
can I reach them with my calling as one here on earth.
D. G. Brinton, "Ancient Nihuatl Poetry," p. 73.
THE NIGHT COMETH WHEN NO MAN CAN
WORK
Death is Near
Every Egyptian mummy-case has a pair of eyes painted on
the exterior so that the wandering ka or soul may return and
find its previous body. A curious dialogue is extant of a
misanthrope talking with his soul, some fifteen centuries
before Job.
Death is before me today
Like the recovery of a sick man,
Like going forth into a garden after sickness.
Death is before me today
Like the odor of myrrh,
Like sitting under the sail on a windy day.
Death is before me today
Like the odor of lotus flov^ers,
Like sitting on the shore of drunkenness.
Death is before me today
Like the course of the freshet,
Like the return of a man from the war-galley to
his house.
20
THE WORLD BEYOND 2i
Death is before me today
Like the clearing of the sky,
Like a man fowhng therein toward that which
he knew not.
Death is before me today
As a man longs to see his house
When he has spent years in captivity.
J. H. Breasted, " Development of Religion and Thought in
Ancient Egypt," p. 195, Charles Scribner's Sons, N. Y.,
1913.
AND IN THE WORLD TO COME, LIFE
EVERLASTING
Prayer to Osiris for Everlasting Life
At an early date in Egypt, the god Osiris became the friend
and comforter who would sustain the wraith-like souls in
the underworld and keep guard over them until the resurrec-
tion.
Homage to thee, O my divine father Osiris, thou
livest with thy members. Thou didst not decay.
Thou didst not turn into worms. Thou didst not
waste away. Thou didst not suffer corruption. Thou
didst not putrefy. I am the god Khepera, and my
members shall have an everlasting existence. I shall
not decay. I shall not rot. I shall not putrefy. I
shall not turn into worms. I shall not see corruption
before the eye of the god Shu. I shall have my being,
I shall have being. I shall live, I shall live. I shall
flourish, I shall flourish. I shall wake up in peace.
I shall not putrefy. My inward parts shall not perish.
I shall not suffer injury. Mine eye shall not decay.
The form of my visage shall not disappear. Mine ear
shall not become deaf. My head shall not be sepa-
22
THE WORLD BEYOND 23
rated from my neck. My tongue shall not be carried
away. My hair shall not be cut off. Mine eyebrows
shall not be shaved off. No baleful injury shall come
upon me. My body shall be established, and it shall
neither crumble away nor be destroyed on this earth.
E. A. Wallis Budge, "The Literature of tlie
Ancient Egyptians," p. 55.
HE ASKED THEM: DO YE NOW BELIEVE?
Wek-Wek Returns from the Underworld
Fifty-four different American Indian languages are known,
witii various dialects thereof in addition. In civilization the
American Indians belonged to the Stone Age. The Mewan
tribe live to-day on government reservations in California.
After Wek-wek had sent his sister home he stayed
near the caves below Koo-loo-te and dug holes in the
sand and found roots and seeds that were good to eat.
In digging he came to a very deep hole which led down
under the world ; he went down this hole and when he
reached the underworld found other people there,
and got a wife with a little boy. Besides his wife
there were To-to-kon the Sandhill Crane, Wah-ah the
Heron, Cha-poo-kah-lah the Blackbird, and others.
To-to-kon the Sandhill Crane was chief. When he
saw Wek-wek he said, " What shall we do with this
man? he is lost; we had better kill him."
Wek-wek saw a man made ready with his bow and
arrow, and invited him to come and eat. The man
came and ate, and when his belly was full went back.
Captain To-to-kon said, " I didn't send you to eat,
24
THE WORLD BEYOND 25
but to kill him." Then he sent another, and Wek-wek
asked him also to come and eat, and he did as the other
had done. Then Captain To-to-kon sent two men to-
gether to kill him, but Wek-wek called them both to
come and eat, and they did so. Then To-to-kon was
angry ; he sent no more men but went himself and took
his bow and arrow.
Wek-wek said to him, " Come in," whereupon To-
to-kon shot his arrow but missed.
Then Wek-wek came out and faced the people.
They fired all their arrows but could not kill him.
Wek-wek said, " You can't kill me with arrows.
Have you a pot big enough to hold me ? "
" Yes," they answered.
" Then set it up and put me in it," he said.
And they did as they were told and put Wek-wek in
the hot pot and put the cover on. When he was
burned they took out the burnt bones and buried them
in the ground.
Ah-ut the Crow missed his uncle and went to his
uncle's partner, Hoo-loo-e, who was in the hole crying,
and asked where Wek-wek was. Hoo-loo-e pointed
down the hole. Ah-ut went down and found the
rancheria of the underworld people and killed them all.
He then asked Wek-wek's wife where Wek-wek was.
26 THE WORLD BEYOND
She answered that the people had burned and buried
him.
Wek-wek stayed in the ground five days and then
came to life ; he came out and asked his wife where the
people were. She told him that Ah-ut had come and
killed them all. " That is too bad," he exclaimed, '' I
wanted to show them what kind of man I am." Then
he said she should stay there and he would take the
boy and go home.
She answered, "All right."
Then he shot his arrow up through the hole and
caught hold of it, and held the boy also, and the arrow
carried them both up to the upper world.
C. Hart Merriam, " Dawn of the World," p. 197, Cleve-
land, 1910. (Copyright: The Arthur H. Clark Co., by
Permission.)
BE IT UNTO THEE EVEN AS THOU WILT
None Shall Abide
In Southern India live the Tamil people who probably are
descended from an aboriginal race native to that country at
the time of the great Aryan Invasion from the Northwest (in
the second millennium B. C). Current to-day are many
quatrains of great literary beauty, although filled with resig-
nation and despair.
The things of which you said, " they stand, they
stand," stand not ; mark this, and perform what befits,
yea ! what befits, with all your power ! Your days are
gone, are gone! and death close pressing on is come,
is come !
When you have gained and hold in hand any single
thing, retain it not with the thought, " This will serve
some other day ! " Those who have given betimes
shall escape the desert road along which death, an un-
yielding foe, drags his captives away.
Severed are the ties of friendship; love's bonds are
loosened too ; then look within and say, what profit is
there in this joyous life of thine? The cry comes up
as from a sinking ship !
27
28 THE WORLD BEYOND
My mother bare me, left me here, and went to seek
her mother, who in the selfsame manner has gone in
search ; and thus in ceaseless round goes on the mother-
quest. Such is the grace this world affords!
As the measure of your days the shining orb each
day unfailing rises; so before your joyous days have
passed away, perform ye fitting deeds of grace; for
none abide on earth.
To him, who, although he sees them bear the corpse
to the burning ground, while friends in troops loudly
lament, boldly asserts that wedded life is bliss on
earth, the funeral drum speaks out, and mocks his
vain utterance.
When the soul that, taking its stand in this skin-
clad frame, has fully wrought its works and partaken
of life's experiences, has gone forth, what matters it
whether you attach ropes to the body and drag it away,
or carefully bury it, or throw it aside in any place you
light upon, or if many revile the departed?
Like a bubble, that in pelting rain appears full oft,
and disappears, is this our frame. So sages have
judged, steadfast in wisdom, and have decided to end
this dubious strife. On this wide earth who equal
these ?
Those whoVe gained and held fast by this well-
THE WORLD BEYOND 29
knit frame should take the gain the body they have
gained is intended to yield. Like a cloud that wan-
ders over the hills, the body here appears, and abiding
not, departs leaving no trace behind.
Considering that all things are transient as the dew-
drop on the tip of a blade of grass, now, now at once,
do virtuous deeds ! " Even now he stood, he sat, he
fell, — while his kindred cried aloud, he died; " such is
man's history !
Unasked men come, appear in the home as kinsmen,
and then silently go. As the bird silently deserts the
tree where its nest yet remains, and goes far off, so
these leave but their body to their friends.
Though worthless men untaught should fret my soul
and rave of teeth like jasmine buds and pearls, shall I
forego my fixed resolve, who have seen in the burning
ground those bones — the fallen teeth — strewn round
for all to see?
The skulls of the dead, at the sight of which the
gazer fears, with deep cavernous eyes appear, and
grinning say to those who still survive, " Guard well !
In virtue's path stand fast. This is the body's grace
and worth."
The skulls of the dead, grinning so as to excite dis-
gust, cure the vain lovers of life of their folly. Those
30 THE WORLD BEYOND
who are cured of this folly, seeing the skulls in the
burning ground, say " such is this body," and so value
themselves as nothing.
G. V. Pope, Naladiyar, " Quatrains in Tamil."
BECAUSE I LIVE, YE SHALL LIVE ALSO
When First Separated from the Body
Zoroastrians believe that fire, earth, water and air are
sacred and therefore not to be polluted by dead bodies. To
dispose of them, recourse is had to the " Towers of Silence "
in Bombay, where the bodies are exposed to birds of prey.
The bones are later collected and restored to the relatives.
When the dogs and birds tear the corpse does the
soul know it, and does it occur uncomfortably for it,
or how is it?
The reply is this, that the pain occasioned by the
tearing and gnawing so galls the body of men that,
though the soul were abiding with the body, such soul,
which one knows is happy and immortal, would then
depart from the body, along with the animating life,
the informing consciousness, arid the remaining re-
sources of life.
The body is inert, unmoving, and not to be galled;
and at last no pain whatever galls it, nor is it perceived ;
and the soul, with the life, is outside of the body, and
is not unsafe as regards its gnawing, but through the
spiritual perception it sees and knows it.
31
32 THE WORLD BEYOND
That which is wicked is then again desirous of its
bodily existence, and saith: "In my bodily existence
and worldly progress there was no atonement for sin
and no accumulation of righteousness and in the pros-
perity which this body of mine had, it would have been
possible for me to atone for sin and to save the soul,
but now I am separated from every one and from the
joy of the world, which is great hope of spiritual life;
and I have attained to the perplexing account and more
serious danger." And the gnawing becomes as griev-
ous to it, on account of that body, as a closely-shut
arsenal and a concealed innermost garment are useless
among those with limbs provided with weapons and
accoutrements, and are destroyed.
And the consciousness of men, as it sits three nights
outside of the body, in the vicinity of the body, has to
remember and expect that which is truly fear and
trouble unto the demons, and reward, peace, and glad
tidings unto the spirits of the good; and, on account
of the dispersion and injuring of the body, it utters a
cry spiritually thus: " Why do the dogs and birds gnaw
this organized body, when still at last the body and
life unite together at the raising of the dead? " And
this is the reminding of the resurrection and liberation,
and it becomes the happiness and hope of the spirit of
THE WORLD BEYOND 33
the body and the other good spiiits, and the fear and
vexation of the demons and fiends.
The spirit of the body, on account of being the spiri-
tual life for the heart in the body, is indestructible ; so
is the will which resided therein, even when they shall
release it from its abode.
E. W. West, " Dadistani-Dinik," p. 36.
THERE SHALL BE WEEPING AND GNASH<
ING OF TEETH
The Various Hells
Hell is a familiar conception to most of the world's relig-
ious systems. It is found in all possible classifications of
dreadfulness and generally resembles the Christian hell, save
that the latter is everlastinis: and, on the whole, hotter. Fol-
lowing is a typical Hindu passage:
Now follow the hells. They are called: darkness;
complete darkness ; a place of howling; a place of much
howling; a thread of time or death; great hell; a re-
storing to life; waveless; burning; parching; pressing
together; ravens; bud; stinking clay; iron-spiked; a
frying-pan; rough or uneven roads; thorny Salmali
trees ; a flame river ; a sword-leaved forest ; iron fetters.
In each of those hells successively criminals in the
highest degree, who have not performed the penance
prescribed for their crime, are tormented for an aeon
of time.
There they are devoured by dogs and jackals, by
hawks, crows, herons, cranes, and other carnivorous
34
THE WORLD BEYOND 35
animals, by bears and other animals having fire in their
mouth, and by serpents and scorpions.
They are scorched by blazing fire, pierced by thorns,
divided into parts by saws, and tormented by thirst.
They are agitated by hunger and by fearful troops of
tigers, and faint away at every step on account of the
foul stenches proceeding from pus and from blood.
Here they are boiled in oil, and there pounded with
pestles, or ground in iron or stone vessels. Enveloped
in terrible darkness, they are devoured by worms and
jackals and other horrible animals having flames in
their mouth.
Again they are tormented by frost, or Have to step
through unclean things such as excrements, or the de-
parted spirits eat one another, driven to distraction by
hunger.
In another place, walking upon thorns, and their
bodies being encircled by snakes, they are tormented
with grinding machines, and dragged on by their knees.
Their backs, heads, and shoulders are fractured, the
necks of these poor beings are not stouter than a needle,
and their bodies, of a size fit for a hut only, are unable
to bear torments.
Having thus been tormented in the hells and suf-
fered most acute pain, the sinners have to endure fur-
36 THE WORLD BEYOND
ther pangs in their migration through animal bodies.
Now after having suffered the torments inflicted in the
hells, the evil-doers pass into animal bodies. Crim-
inals in the highest degree enter the bodies of all plants
successively. Mortal sinners enter the bodies of
worms or insects. Minor offenders enter the bodies
of birds.
Criminals in the fourth degree enter the bodies of
aquatic animals.
Those who have committed a crime effecting loss of
caste, enter the bodies of amphibious animals. Those
who have committed a crime degrading to a mixed
caste, enter the bodies of deer. Those who have com-
mitted a crime rendering them unworthy to receive
alms, enter the bodies of cattle. Those who have com-
mitted a crime causing defilement, enter the bodies of
low-caste men such as Kandalas, who may not be
touched.
One who has eaten the food of one whose food may
not be eaten, or forbidden food, becomes a worm or
insect. A thief of other property than gold, becomes
a falcon. One who has appropriated a broad passage,
becomes a serpent or other animal living in holes.
One who has stolen grain, becomes a rat.
One who has stolen water, becomes a water- fowl.
THE WORLD BEYOND 37
One who has stolen honey, becomes a gad-fly.
One who has stolen milk, becomes a crow.
One who has stolen juice of the sugar-cane or other
plants, becomes a dog.
One who has stolen clarified butter, becomes an
ichneumon.
One who has stolen meat, becomes a vulture.
One who has stolen fat, becomes a cormorant.
One who has stolen oil, becomes a cockroach.
(Follows a long list of other thefts and punish-
ments. )
Women, who have committed similar thefts, receive
the same ignominious punishment ; they become females
to those male animals.
J. Jolly, " Institutes of Vishnu," p. 140.
AND IF SATAN RISE UP AGAINST HIMSELF,
AND BE DIVIDED, HE CANNOT STAND,
BUT HATH AN END
Ministers of Evil
The following legendary account of the Master's tempta-
tion just before his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree is
taken from the life of Buddha by Asvagosha (first century
A. D.). Asvagosha was the St. Paul of the Mahayana school
in which form Buddhism, greatly modified since its founder's
time, was adopted by China, Korea and Japan, lasting to this
day.
" Now must I assemble my army-host, and press
him sore by force." Having thought thus awhile, The
Tempter's army suddenly assembled round;
Each severally assumed his own peculiar form ; some
were holding spears, others grasping swords, others
snatching up trees, others wielding diamond maces;
thus were they armed with every sort of weapon;
Some had heads like hogs, others like fishes, others
like asses, others like horses; some with forms like
snakes or like the ox or savage tiger; lion-headed,
dragon-headed, and like every other kind of beast ;
Some had many heads on one body-trunk, with faces
38
THE WORLD BEYOND 39
having but a single eye, and then again with many
eyes; some with great-bellied mighty bodies. And
others thin and skinny, bellyless; others long-legged,
mighty-kneed; others big-shanked and fat-calved;
some with long and claw-like nails. Some were head-
less, breastless, faceless ; some with two feet and many
bodies; some with big faces looking every way; some
pale and ashy-colored. Others were colored like the
bright rising star, others steaming fiery vapor, some
with ears like elephants, with humps like mountains,
some with naked forms covered with hair. Some with
leather skins for clothing, their faces party-colored,
crimson and white; some with tiger skins as robes,
some with snake skins over them.
Some with tinkling bells around their waists, others
with twisted screw-like hair, others with hair di-
shevelled covering the body.
Others body-snatchers, some dancing and shrieking
awhile, some jumping onwards with their feet together,
some striking one another as they went.
Others waving, wheeling round, in the air, others
flying and leaping between the trees, others howling,
or hooting, or screaming, or whining, with their evil
noises shaking the great earth ;
Thus this wicked goblin troop encircled on its four
40 THE WORLD BEYOND
sides the Bodhi tree ; some bent on tearing his body to
pieces, others on devouring it whole ;
From the four sides flames belched forth, and fiery
steam ascended up to heaven ; tempestuous winds arose
on every side ; the mountain forests shook and quaked ;
Wind, fire, and steam, with dust combined, pro-
duced a pitchy darkness, rendering all invisible.
Fiercely staring, grinning with their teeth, flying
tumultuously, bounding here and there; but Bod-
hisattva (Gotama, before his enlightenment under the
Tree of Knowledge), silently beholding them, watched
them as one would watch the games of children.
S. Beal, " Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king," p. 150.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD COMETH NOT
WITH OBSERVATION
Karma, the Law of Consequences
Karma, the law of consequences, according to Brahman and
Buddhist, reached into the next world wherein each person
evolved in high or low station depending on his merits. Since
human existence is fundamentally evil, the sin of suicide, for
example, is taught to be especially heinous, because it pro-
longs the round of rebirths in punishment. But no sin is
sufficiently wicked to impose the penalty of everlasting life.
An impending evil cannot be averted even by a hun-
dred precautions; what reason then for you to com-
plain?
Even as a calf finds his mother among a thousand
cows, an act formerly done is sure to find the per-
petrator.
Of existing beings the beginning is unknown, the
middle of their career is known, and the end again
unknown ; what reason then for you to complain ?
As the body of mortals undergoes successively the
vicissitudes of infancy, youth, and old age, even so
will it be transformed into another body hereafter; a
sensible man is not mistaken about that.
41
42 THE WORLD BEYOND
As a man puts on new clothes in this world, throw-
ing aside those which he formerly wore, even so the
self of man puts on new bodies, which are in accord-
ance with his acts in a former life.
No weapons will hurt the self of man, no fire burn
it, no waters moisten it, and no wind dry it up.
It is not to be hurt, not to be burnt, not to be
moistened, and not to be dried up; it is imperishable,
perpetual, unchanging, immovable, without beginning.
It is further said to be immaterial, passing all
thought, and immutable. Knowing the self of man to
be such, you must not grieve for the destruction of his
body.
J. Jolly, "Institutes of Vishnu," p. 82.
BY THEIR FRUITS SHALL YE KNOW THEM
When the Body Dies
The Brahmans, unlike the Buddhists, believed in the exist-
ence of the soul. Each soul was interpenetrated by its karma
or the heredity of its personal actions. In this sense the
world beyond was merely the continuation of this present life.
And then he heaves a very deep and alarming gasp,
and makes the unconscious body quiver as he goes out
of it. That soul, dropping out of the body, is sur-
rounded on both sides by his own actions, his own pure
and meritorious, as also his sinful ones. Brahmans,
possessed of knowledge, whose convictions are cor-
rectly formed from sacred learning, know him by his
marks as one who has performed meritorious actions
or the reverse. As those who have eyes see a glow-
worm disappear here and there in darkness, so likewise
do those who have eyes of knowledge. Such a soul,
the pious illuminati see with a divine eye, departing
from the body, or coming to the birth, or entering into
a womb. . . . This world is the world of actions,
where creatures dwell. All embodied selfs, having
43
44 THE WORLD BEYOND
here performed good or evil actions, obtain the fruit.
It is here they obtain higher or lower enjoyments
by their own actions. And it is those whose actions
here are evil, who by their actions go to hell.
K. T. Telang, "Anugita," p. 239.
THIS IS YOUR HOUR AND THE POWER OF
DARKNESS
Hell a State of Mind
The Zoroastrian trinity of thoughts, words and deeds may
belong to the Good Spirit (Auharmazd) or to the Evil Spirit
(Aharman). Since humans could guide their own activities
into either channel, the attainment of heaven and hell was a
question of mental choice.
Of hell the first part is that of evil thoughts, the
second is that of evil words, and the third is that of
evil deeds. With the fourth step the wicked person
arrives at that which is the darkest hell ; and they lead
him forwards to the vicinity of Aharman, the wicked
one. And Aharman and the demons, thereupon, make
ridicule and mockery of him thus: "What was thy
trouble and complaint, as regards Auharmazd and the
archangels, and the fragrant and joyful heaven, when
thou approachedst for a sight of us and gloomy hell,
although we cause thee misery therein and do not pity,
and thou shalt see misery of long duration?" And,
afterwards, they execute punishment and torment of
various kinds upon him.
45
46 THE WORLD BEYOND
There is a place where, as to cold, it is such as that
of the coldest frozen snow. There is a place where,
as to heat, it is such as that of the hottest and most
blazing fire. There is a place where noxious crea-
tures are gnawing them, just as a dog does the bones.
There is a place where, as to stench, it is such that
they stagger about and fall down. And the darkness
is always such-like as though it is possible for them to
seize upon it with the hand.
E. W. West, " Dinai Mainog-i Khirad," pp. 30-32.
FATHER, FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW
NOT WHAT THEY DO
Sin not Ftdly Realized Until After Death
Underneath the dogmas of the later Zoroastrians, one finds
a groping consciousness that the individual mind, when freed
at death from the trammels of selfhood, can better apprehend
the wide-spreading influence of past sins.
When he who is righteous passes away, where is the
place the soul sits the first night, the second, and the
third; and what does it do?
The reply is this, that thus it is said, that the soul
of man, itself the spirit of the body, after passing
away, is three nights upon earth, doubtful about its own
position, and in fear of the account ; and it experiences
terror, distress, and fear. And as it sits it notices
about its own good works and sin. And the soul,
which in a manner belongs to that same spirit of the
body which is alike experiencing and alike touching it,
becomes acquainted by sight with the sin which it has
committed, and the good works which it has scantily
done.
And the first night from its own good thoughts, the
47
48 THE WORLD BEYOND
second night from its good words, and the third night
from its good deeds it obtains pleasure for the
soul. . . .
For the remaining sin it undergoes punishment . . .
and the evil thoughts, evil v^ords, and evil deeds are
atoned for; and w^ith the good thoughts, good v^rords,
and good deeds of its own commendable and pleasing
spirit it steps forward tmto the supreme heaven, or
to heaven, or to the ever-stationary of the righteous,
there where there is a place for it in righteousness.
To commit no sin is better than retribution and re-
nunciation of sin.
E. W. West, " Dadistani-Dinik." pp. 63 and 139.
I WILL ARISE AND GO UNTO MY FATHER
Life Stained by Sin
The after-consequences of evil and the resulting hindrance
to the soul's progress are beautifully shown in the greatest
I^atin poem, Vergil's ^neid.
One Life through all the immense creation runs,
One Spirit is the moon's, the sea's, the sun's ;
All forms in the air that fly, on the earth that creep,
And the unknown nameless monsters of the deep, —
Each breathing thing obeys one Mind's control.
And in all substance is a single Soul.
First to each seed a fiery force is given;
And every creature was begot in heaven;
Only their flight must hateful flesh delay
And gross limbs moribund and cumbering clay.
So from that hindering prison and night forlorn
Thy hopes and fears, thy joy and woes are born,
Who only seest, till death dispart thy gloom,
The true world glow through crannies of a tomb.
Nor all at once thine ancient ills decay,
Nor quite with death thy plagues are purged away;
49
50 THE WORLD BEYOND
In wondrous wise hath the iron entered in,
And through and through thee is a stain of sin;
Which yet again in wondrous wise must be
Cleansed of the fire, aboHshed in the sea;
Ay, thro' and thro' that soul unclothed must go
Such spirit-winds as where they list will blow ; —
O hovering many an age ! for ages bare,
Void in the void and impotent in air !
Then, since his sins unshriven the sinner wait,
And to each soul that soul herself is Fate,
Few to heaven's many mansions straight are sped
Past without blame that Judgment of the dead,
The most shall mourn till tarrying Time hath
wrought
The extreme deliverance of the airy thought, —
Hath left unsoiled by fear or foul desire
The spirit's self, the elemental fire.
And last to Lethe's stream on the ordered day
These all God summoneth in great array ;
Who from that draught reborn, no more shall know
Memory of past or dread of destined woe.
But all shall there the ancient pain forgive.
Forget their life, and will again to live.
F. W. H. Myers, " Esiays Clawwcal," p. ITS.
I AM COME THAT YE MAY HAVE LIFE
EVERLASTING
Not Everyone Shall Have Eternal Life
Contemporary with Luther, lived the greatest mediseval
reformer of India, the revered Guru Nanak (1469-1538), who
founded the religion of the Sikhs. Its lofty monotheism
impressed Hindus and Mohammedans alike. Nanak, like
Goethe, held that only those possessed of divine knowledge
could attain the world beyond.
In the briny unfathomable ocean the fish did not
recognize the net.
Why did the clever and beautiful fish have so much
confidence ? For they were caught and perished.
Oh, my brethren, death cannot be averted. Like an
unseen net it hangeth over your heads.
The vi^hole world is in its toils. Who but the Master
can bid death begone?
They who are imbued with the True One, and have
abandoned worthless mammon, are saved.
I am a sacrifice unto those who are found true at the
gate of the True One.
Death is like the hawk among the birds, or the noose
of the fowler.
SI
52 THE WORLD BEYOND
They whom the Master preserved have been saved ; all
others are ensnared.
They who possess not God's name shall be rejected;
no one will assist them.
God is the truest of the true; in His High Place only
truth can dwell.
They who obey the True One meditate on Him in their
hearts.
Even the wicked who obtain divine knowledge from
the Master can be made pure.
Make supplication imto Him to unite thee with the
Friend.
When man meeteth the Friend he obtaineth happiness
and the myrmidons of death poison themselves.
Thou, O God, art the Friend; it is Thou who unitest
men with Thee.
M. A. MacaulIflFe, "The Sikh Religion," Vol. 1,
p. 134, Oxford University Press, 1909.
IF THOU WILT ENTER INTO LIFE KEEP
THE COMMANDMENTS
Love the Condition of Immortality
The deep yearning shown in China toward one's ancestors
led, here and there, toward the conception of love as the bond
between the living and the dead, whereby communion might
be possible.
The rites of mourning are the extreme expression of
grief and sorrow. The graduated reduction of that
expression in accordance with the natural changes of
time and feeling was made by the superior men, mind-
ful of those to whom we owe our being.
Calling the soul back is the way in which love re-
ceives its consummation, and has in it the mind which
is expressed by prayer. The looking for it to return
from the dark region is a way of seeking for it among
the spiritual beings. The turning the face to the north
springs from the idea of its being in the dark region.
J. lycggi, " lyi Ki, Texts of Confucianism," pt. 3, p. 167.
53
NEITHER CAN THEY DIE ANY MORE
The Old Persian Worship
In the Avesta, the Zoroastrian bible, it is taught that every
individual has an immortal counterpart. This ideal, spiritual
body was called fravashi, rendered "memory" in the following
poem. These " memories " peopled the world to come.
We worship the memories of all the holy men and
holy women whose souls are worthy of sacrifice, whose
memories are worthy of invocation.
We worship the memories of all the holy men and
holy women, our sacrificing to whom makes us good
in the eyes of God ; of all of those we have heard that
Zarathustra (i. e. Zoroaster) is the first and best, as
a follower of God and as a performer of the law.
We worship the spirit, conscience, perception, soul,
and memory of men of the primitive law, of the first
who listened to the teaching of God, holy men and
holy women, who struggled for holiness; we worship
the spirit, conscience, perception, soul, and memory
of our next-of-kin, holy men and holy women, who
struggled for holiness.
We worship the men of the primitive law in all
54
THE WORLD BEYOND 55
houses, boroughs, towns, and countries, who obtained
all the perfections of goodness.
We worship Zarathustra, the lord and master of all
the material world, the man of the primitive law;
wisest of all beings, best-ruling, brightest, most glori-
ous, most worthy of sacrifice, most worthy of prayer
and of propitiation, whom we call well-desired and
worthy of sacrifice and prayer as much as any being
can be, in the perfection of his holiness.
We worship this earth ;
We worship those heavens ;
We worship those good things that stand between
the earth and the heavens and that are worthy of
sacrifice and prayer and are to be worshipped by the
faithful man.
We worship the souls of the wild beasts and of the
tame.
We worship the souls of the holy men and women,
born at any time, whose consciences struggle, or will
struggle, or have struggled, for the good.
We worship the spirit, conscience, perception, soul,
and memory of the holy men and holy women who
struggle, will struggle, or have struggled, and teach
the Law, and who have struggled for holiness.
The memories of the faithful, awful and overpower-
56 THE WORLD BEYOND
ing, awful and victorious; the memories of the men of
the primitive law; the memories of the next-of-kin;
may these memories come satisfied into this house;
may they walk satisfied through this house !
May they, being satisfied, bless this house and leave
it satisfied! May they carry back from here hymns
and worship to the Maker, and the Good Spirits!
May they not leave this house of us, the worshippers
of God, complaining!
I bless the sacrifice and prayer, and the strength and
vigor of the awful, overpowering memories of the
faithful; of the memories of the men of the primitive
law; of the memories of the next-of-kin.
Give unto us brightness and glory, . . . give
us the bright, all-happy, blissful abode of the holy
Ones.
J. Darmesteter, " Favardin yast, The Zend-Avesta,"
pt. 2, 228.
BETWEEN US AND YOU THERE IS A GREAT
GULF FIXED
The Buddha's Rest
At the age of eighty, India's greatest religious teacher
passed away (probably about 483 B. C.) and was cremated.
He went to no world beyond, it is believed, because he had
attained Nirvana or extinction of desire.
When the Blessed One died, Sakka, at the moment
of his passing away from existence, uttered this stanza:
TheyVe transient all, each being's parts and powers,
Growth is their nature, and decay.
They are produced, they are dissolved again ;
And then is best, when they have sunk to rest !
When the Blessed One died, the venerable Anu-
ruddha, at the moment of his passing away from ex-
istence, uttered these stanzas:
When he who from all craving want was free,
Who to Nirvana's tranquil state had reached,
When the great sage finished his span of life.
No gasping struggle vexed that steadfast heart !
57
58 THE WORLD BEYOND
All resolute, and with unshaken mind.
He calmly triumphed o'er the pain of death.
E'en as a bright flame dies away, so was
His last deliverance from the bonds of life!
T. W. Rhys Davids, " Maha-parinibbana sutta,** p. 117.
NEITHER CAN THEY PASS TO US, THAT
WOULD COME FROM THENCE
Survival of Consciousness
The godlessnpss of the Hinayana school of Buddhism led
to the founding of the Mahayana school, which has proved
far more vital. It is interesting that the Milinda-panha or
" Questions of King Milinda " is the only Mahayana book
which is held in reverence by orthodox members of the older
■chool.
The king said : " He who is born, Nagasena, does he
remain the same or become another? "
" Neither the same nor another."
" Give me an illustration."
" Now what do you think, O king? You were once
a baby, a tender thing, and small in size, lying flat on
your back. Was that the same as you who are now
grown up ? "
" No. That child was one, I am another."
"If you are not that child, it will follow that you
have had neither mother nor father, no! nor teacher.
You cannot have been taught either learning, or be-
havior, or wisdom. What, great king! is the mother
of the embryo in the first stage different from the
59
6o THE WORLD BEYOND
mother of the embryo in the second stage, or the third,
or the fourth ? Is the mother of the baby a different
person from the mother of the grown-up man? Is
the person who goes to school one, and the same when
he has finished his schooling another ? Is it one who
commits a crime, another who is punished by having
his hands or feet cut off? "
" Certainly not. But what w^ould you. Sir, say to
that?"
The Elder replied: *' I should say that I am the same
person, now I am grown up, as I was when I was a
tender tiny baby, flat on my back. For all these states
are included in one by means of this body."
" Give me an illustration."
" Suppose a man, O king, were to light a lamp,
would it burn the night through? "
" Yes, it might do so."
" Now, is it the same flame that burns in the first
watch of the night, Sir, and in the second ? " *' No."
"Or the same that burns in the second watch and in
the third?" "No."
" Then is there one lamp in the first watch and an-
other in the second, and another in the third ? "
" No. The light comes from the same lamp all the
night through."
THE WORLD BEYOND 6i
" Just so, O king, is the continuity of a person or
thing maintained. One comes into being, another
passes away; and the rebirth is, as it were, simul-
taneous. Thus neither as the same nor as another
does a man go on to the last phase of his self-con-
sciousness. It is like milk, which when once taken
from the cow, turns, after a lapse of time, first to
curds, and then from curds to butter, and then from
butter to ghee. Now would it be right to say that the
milk was the same thing as the curds, or the butter, or
the ghee?''
" Certainly not ; but they are produced out of it.'*
" Just so is the continuity of a person or thing main-
tained. One comes into being, another passes away;
and the rebirth is, as it were, simultaneous. Thus
neither as the same nor as another does a man go on to
the last phase of his self-consciousness."
The king then asked: "He who has intelligence,
has he also wisdom? "
" Yes, great king."
" What ; are they both the same ? "
" Yes.''
" Then would he, with his intelligence — which, you
say, is the same as wisdom — be still in bewilderment
or not?"
62 THE WORLD BEYOND
" In regard to some things, yes ; in regard to others,
no."
" What would he be in bewilderment about ? "
** He would still be in bewilderment as to those
parts of learning he had not learnt, as to those coun-
tries he had not seen, and as to those names or terms
he had not heard."
" And wherein would he not be In bewilderment ? '*
"As regards that which has been accomplished by
insight — (the perception, that is,) of the imperma-
nence of all beings, of the suffering inherent in indi-
viduality, and of the non-existence of any soul."
" Then what would have become of his delusions on
those points ? "
" When intelligence has once arisen, that moment
delusion has died away."
" Give me an illustration."
" It is like the lamp, which when a man has brought
into a darkened room, then the darkness would vanish
away, and light would appear."
"And what, Nagasena, on the other hand, has then
become of his wisdom? "
" Wlien the reasoning wisdom has affected that
which it has to do, then the reasoning ceases to go on.
But that which has been acquired by means of it re-
THE WORLD BEYOND 63
mains, — the knowledge, to wit, of the impermanence
of every being, of the suffering inherent in individu-
ahty, and of the absence of any soul."
" Give me an illustration, reverend Sir, of what you
have last said."
" It is as when a man wants, during the night, to
send a letter, and after having his clerk called, has a
lamp lit, and gets the letter written. Then, when that
has been done, he extinguishes the lamp. But though
the lamp had been put out the writing would still be
there. Thus does reasoning cease, and knowledge re-
main."
T. W. Rhys Davids, "Questions of King
Milinda," pt. 1, p. 65.
WHAT IS A MAN PROFITED, IF HE SHALL
GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD AND
LOSE HIS OWN SOUL?
There is no Soul
In the same historical romance is also seen how the later
Buddhists wrestled with the theological doctrine of trans-
migration, whose evils lead to the postulate that there is no
soul.
The king said : " Where there is no transmigration,
Nagasena, can there be rebirth ? "
" Yes, there can."
*' But how can that be ? Give me an illustration."
" Suppose a man, O king, were to light a lamp from
another lamp, can it be said that the one transmigrates
from, or to, the other?**
" Certainly not.'*
" Just so, great king, is rebirth without transmigra-
tion. Do you recollect having learnt, when you were
a boy, some verse or other from your teacher ? **
" Yes, I recollect that.*'
" Well, then, did that verse transmigrate from your
teacher?"
64
THE WORLD BEYOND 65
" Certainly not."
" Just so, great king, is rebirth without transmigra-
tion."
" Very good, Nagasena ! "
The king said : " Is there such a thing, Nagasena,
as the soul ? "
" In the highest sense, O king, there is no such
thing."
" Very good, Nagasena ! "
T. W. Rhys Davids, "Question! of King
Milinda," pt. 1, p. 111.
ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO HIM THAT
BELIEVETH
What the Senses do not Reveal Cannot Exist
In Jainism, originating at the same time as Buddhism, and
adhered to to-day by a million five hundred thousand people,
the same negation of the soul is proclaimed.
The whole soul lives ; when this body is dead, it does
not live. It lasts as long as the body lasts, it does not
outlast the destruction of the body. With the body,
ends life. Other men carry the corpse away to burn
it. When it has been consumed by fire, only dove-
colored bones remain, and the four bearers return with
the hearse to their village. Therefore there is and
exists no soul different from the bod v. Those who
believe that there is and exists no such soul speak the
truth. Those who maintain that the soul is something
different from the body, cannot tell whether the soul
as separated from the body is long or small, whether
globular or circular or triangular or square or sex-
agonal or octagonal or long, whether black or blue or
red or yellow or white, whether of sweet smell or of
66
THE V;ORLD BEYOND 67
bad smell, whether bitter or pungent or astringent or
sour or sweet, whether hard or soft or heavy or light
or cold or hot or smooth or rough. Those, therefore,
who believe that there is and exists no soul, speak the
truth.
H. Jacobi, " Sutrakritanga," p. 340.
THERE SHALL BE NO MORE GRIEF
The Soul Liveth
A possible reason v/hy Buddhism lost its hold on India was
because it went counter to the deep-seated instinct that there
is a soul. The latter belief animates the Bhagavadgita, a poem
(probably antedating the Buddha) sung to-day by millions.
As a man, casting off old clothes, puts on others
and new ones, so the embodied self casting off old
bodies, goes to others and new ones. Weapons do not
divide it into pieces; fire does not burn it; waters do
not moisten it ; the wind does not dry it up. It is not
divisible; it is not combustible; it is not to be moist-
ened; it is not to be dried up. It is everlasting, all-
pervading, stable, firm, and eternal. It is said to be
unperceived, to be unthinkable, to be unchangeable.
Therefore knowing it to be such, you ought not to
grieve. But even if you think that it is constantly
born, and constantly dies, still, you ought not to grieve
thus. For to one that is born, death is certain ; and to
one that dies, birth is certain. Therefore about this
unavoidable thing you ought not to grieve. One looks
upon the self as a wonder ; another similarly speaks of
68
THE WORLD BEYOND 69
it as a wonder; another too hears of it as a wonder;
and even after having heard of it, no one does really
know it. This embodied self within every one's body
is ever indestructible. Therefore you ought not to
grieve for any being.
K. T. Telang, " Bhagavadgita," p. 45.
YET A LITTLE WHILE IS THE LIGHT
WITH YOU
Faith as a Faculty
To the Persian mystics the soul was the flame of everlasting
life, kindled by the creator of the human faculties. By its
light, one can see beyond the veil.
He that is born blind believes not what you say of
colors,
Though you show him instances and proofs for a
century.
White and yellow and red and dark and light green
Are to him naught but darkest black.
See the evil plight of one blind from his birth,
Can he ever gain sight from the physician's eye salve?
Reason cannot see the state of the world to come,
As a man born blind cannot see things in this world.
But in addition to reason man has a certain faculty,
Whereby he perceives hidden mysteries.
Like fire in flint and steel,
God has placed this faculty in man's soul and body ;
When that flint and steel are struck together,
The two worlds are illumined by the flash !
70
THE WORLD BEYOND 71
From that collision is this mystery made clear,
Now you have heard it, go and attend to your Self.
Your Self is a copy made in the image of God,
Seek in your Self all that you desire to know.
E. H. Whinfield, " Gulshan i Raz of Shabistari," p. 44.
He bringeth forth the living out of the dead, and He
bringeth forth the dead out of the living; and He
quickeneth the earth after its death. Thus it is that
ye too shall be brought forth.
J. M. Rodwell, " Koran," Surah 30, 18.
He giveth wisdom to whom He will; and he to
whom wisdom is given, hath much good given unto
him; but none will bear it in mind, except those gifted
with understanding hearts.
J. M. Rodwell, •' Koran," Surah 2, 272.
THE SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER WHICH
SPEAKETH IN YOU
The Unseen Bond
Under the name of Amon, the Egyptians worshipped the
holy spirit that pulses behind each individual soul both now
and in the world beyond.
Praise to Amon !
I make hymns in his name,
I give to him praise,
To the height of heaven,
And the breadth of earth ;
I tell of his prowess
To him who sails down-stream,
And to him who sails up-stream.
Beware of him!
Repeat it to son and daughter.
To great and small,
Tell it to generation after generation.
Who are not yet born.
Tell it to the fishes in the stream,
To the birds in the sky,
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THE WORLD BEYOND 73
Repeat it to him who knoweth it not
And to him who knoweth it.
Thou, O Amon, art the lord of the silent,
Who cometh at the cry of the poor.
When I cry to thee in my affliction.
Then thou comest and savest me.
That thou mayest give breath to him who is
bowed down,
And mayest save me lying in bondage.
Thou, Amon-Re, Lord of Thebes, art he,
Who saveth him that is in the Nether World.
When men cry unto thee,
Thou art he that cometh from afar.
J. H. Breasted, " Development of Religion and
Thought in Ancient Egypt/' p. 350.
MARVEL NOT AT THIS
The Grave is the Curtain of Paradise
Greatest of the Sufis, the Persian religious mystics, was
Jelaruddin Rumi (1207-1273), to whom his passionate friend,
Shamsi Tabriz, personified the Divine Beloved. Like Plotinus,
Jelal in the following lines holds that death means the
achievement of perfect union.
When my bier moveth on the day of death,
Think not my heart is in this world.
Do not weep for me and cry " Woe, woe ! '*
Thou wilt fall in the devil's snare: that is woe.
When thou seest my hearse, cry not " Parted, parted ! "
Union and meeting are mine in that hour.
If thou commit me to the grave, say not " Farewell,
farewell ! "
For the grave is a curtain hiding the communion of
Paradise.
After beholding descent, consider resurrection;
Why should setting be injurious to the sun and moon?
To thee it seems a setting, but 'tis a rising;
Tho' the vault seems a prison, 'tis the release of the
soul.
74
THE WORLD BEYOND 75
What seed went down into the earth but it grew ?
Why this doubt of thine as regards the seed of man?
What bucket was lowered but it came out brimful?
Shut th}^ mouth on this side and open it beyond,
For in placeless air will be thy triumphal song.
R. A. Nicholson, " Divani Shamsi Tabriz," p. 9S.
NO MAN HATH SEEN GOD AT ANY TIME
Omnipresent yet Elusive
Curiously parallel with Persian mysticism is the Chinese
doctrine of the Perfect Tao, — The Way of God. Laotzc
(born about 604 B. C.) taught the importance of this immortal
spirit of guidance.
The grandest forms of active force
From Tao come, their only source.
Who can of Tao the nature tell ?
Our sight it flies, our touch as well.
Eluding sight, eluding touch,
The forms of things all in it crouch;
Eluding touch, eluding sight,
There are their semblances, all right.
Profound it is, dark and obscure ;
Things' essences all there endure.
Those essences the truth enfold
Of what, when seen, shall then be told.
Now it is so ; 'twas so of old.
Its name — what passes not away!
So, in their beautiful array,
Things form and never know decay.
J. Legge, *' Tao Teh King, Texts of Taoism," pt.
1, p. 64.
76
THAT WHERE I AM THERE YE MAY BE
ALSO
Beyond the Veil
One of the disciples of Plotinus (205-270 A. D.) after his
death went to the oracle of Delphi to inquire "where was now
Plotinus' soul?" The answer came through the Pythian
priestess, who prophesied while in a kind of hypnotic trance.
This poem is one of the most earnest utterances of antiquity.
Pure spirit — once a man — pure spirits now
Greet thee rejoicing, and of these art thou ;
Not vainly was thy whole soul alway bent
With one same battle and one the same intent
Through eddying cloud and earth's bewildering roar
To win her bright way to that stainless shore.
Ay, *mid the salt spume of this troublous sea,
This death in life, this sick perplexity.
Oft on thy struggle through the obscure unrest
A revelation opened from the Blest —
Showed close at hand the goal thy hope would win,
Heaven's kingdom round thee and thy God within.
So sure a help the eternal Guardians gave.
From life's confusion so were strong to save,
77
78 THE WORLD BEYOND
Upheld thy wandering steps that sought the day
And set them steadfast on the heavenly way.
Nor quite even here on thy broad brows was shed
The sleep which shrouds the living, who are dead ;
Once by God's grace was from thine eyes unfurled
This veil that screens the immense and whirling world,
Once, while the spheres around thee in music ran.
Was very Beauty manifest to man; —
Ah, once to have seen her, once to have known her
there,
For speech too sweet, for earth too heavenly fair !
But now the tomb where long thy soul had lain
Bursts, and thy tabernacle is rent in twain ;
Now from about thee, in thy new home above.
Has perished all but life, and all but love, —
And on all lives and on all loves outpoured
Free grace and full, a Spirit from the Lord,
High in that heaven whose windless vaults enfold
Just men made perfect, and an age all gold.
Thine own Pythagoras is with thee there,
And sacred Plato in that sacred air,
And whoso followed, and all high hearts that knew
In death's despite what deathless Love can do.
To God's right hand they have scaled the starry way —
Pure spirits these, thy spirit pure as they.
THE WORLD BEYOND 79
Ah saint! how many and many an anguish past,
To how fair haven art thou come at last !
On thy meek head what Powers their blessing pour,
Filled full with life, and rich for evermore!
F. W. H. Myers, " Essays Classical," p. 98.
The Higher Knowledge
I AM COME THAT YE MAY HAVE LIFE AND
MAY HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY
Genius and Inspiration
If reflection had to seek for the spiritual elements
capable of mutually entwining themselves for the out-
growing expression of the master idea, then a work
of art would be impossible. Consciousness does not
shed its rays over the whole mind; it is not a distinct
light of thought that enables one at will to find what
is sought after, as in some treasure house of imagery
and ideas. Consciousness is not a creative power;
rather it is thought self -beholden and standing apart
as witness of what is spontaneously wrought. The
mind is a living thing composed of spiritual elements.
The idea to which it may give itself is not distinguish-
able from the mind, — subject and object seeming as
one ; for as long as the mind cherishes this idea desir-
ing it to the exclusion of all others, just so long the
idea is the mind.
Life is action in accord, the concert of all the move-
ments accomplished in the organism. To live is to
83
84 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
create and maintain the living form. By the sole fact
that the mind continues to live and tends to organize
itself, the idea, which is imposed by love for it and by
the will, groups all ideas and fancies that can enter
with the master-idea into the unity of some one con-
sciousness, into the unity of a perfect spiritual form.
Little by little, living only from its inner life, this idea
develops, becomes involute and richly diversified,
represents itself at length in the substance of pictures
which are its realization. Such a work is spontaneous,
often surprising consciousness with its unexpected re-
sults. The will, tired by vain efforts, grows lax. Yet
the impulse given by it continues. In silence life seems
to commune more freely. All at once the pictures so
long, so vainly sought, invade one's consciousness.
An artist's first sentiment before his own handiwork
IS surprise. To him It seems as if the work had done
itself with his participation, — that he received it, rather
than gave It to himself. In repose, born out of the
very excess of effort, the idea with a sudden surge had
risen again into consciousness, enriched with new
pictures. Genius is a grace from above, and its work-
ings are like a prayer that is granted. Gladly the
poets speak of God inspiring them, of the torments of
soul which gain this favor, of the joy, when, envaded
THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE 85
by a more puissant personality, and having them-
selves become the Very God who dictates to them his
thoughts, they no longer feel themselves distinguish-
able apart from the beauty they create. . . .
Inspiration is life, freer, more abundant; in some
people more quickly concentrated, in others at first
hindered, distracted, as if divided against itself; more
or less requiring the imperious summons of the will;
but in the hour of creation it is always life gushing
forth, flowing brimmingly, joyously mounting to fill
some work of art with her potent ichor. Very rarely
does it happen that the entire mind is involved in some
single act; more commonly are its powers divided or
in opposition. Reflection is applied in due course to
the various elements which are sought to be coordi-
nated. Reflection brings these together and compares
them. The mind does not live all its life at once, it is
as it acts, by fragments, of an incomplete and divided
life. In inspiration, when, under the action of the
will, the idea has little by little stirred the mind to its
very depths, all faculties, as if now in accord, resound
in unison. . . . The mind exists entire, living all
its life at once. Ideas call each other, and make an-
swer; in their train comes soon the troop of picture-
shapes that express them; all that can enter into the
86 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
unity of this living action presents and disposes of
itself because of the sole fact that all elements, obey-
ing their own free impulses, group themselves accord-
ing to the harmonious laws of life. The joy of the
artist in the moment of inspiration is the joy of loving
and feeling at once all his forces and of finding for an
instant in this perfect accord of the inner being, the
illusion of a divine life. . . .
Genius is mental health . . . it is life itself; it
is the mind no longer attaching itself to any idea with-
out the latter's becoming immediately the principle of
a vital movement . . . it is the mind disengaging
itself from the diversity of confused ideas by the fact
solely that they live in it the unity which commands
them.
Inspiration is defined by life, is not outside of nature,
but is rather the return to nature of a mind developed
by effort and reflection.
G. Seailles, " Essai sur le genie dans Tart," p. 172.
THE SON CAN DO NOTHING OF HIMSELF
Escape from the Lesser Self
Fasusu'l Hikan says: "While men of externals believe that
there is nothing in existence but what is visible to sight,
interior men hold that much is veiled from outer sight, which
can only be seen through a near approach to God and a close
communion with His omnipresent Spirit." In the Masnavi
of Jalal'uddin Rumi also there runs a conviction that religion
is the path to a Higher Knowledge.
The sharpest thorns are welcome, as the roseleaf
soft,
To finite who to th' Infinite can soar aloft.
What signifies to glorify the Lord of heaven;
To humble self to dust; with meekness, pride to
heaven ?
What use to learn to formulate God's unity ;
What use to bow one's self before the Deity?
Wouldst shine as brilliantly in sight of all ?
Annihilate thy darksome self, — thy being's pall.
Let thy existence in God's essence be enrolled.
As copper in alchemist's bath is turned to gold.
87
88 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
Quit " I " and " We," which o'er thy heart exert
control.
'Tis egotism, estranged from God, that clogs thy
soul.
J. W. Redhouse, " Mcsnevi," p. 217.
SLEEP ON NOW AND TAKE YOUR REST
The Mystery of Sleep
Earliest man was puzzled by the dream-state of conscious-
ness. Sleep, or possibly the occasional experience of a dual
personality, led to higher speculations regarding the nature of
thought.
And there are two states for that person, the one
here in this world, the other in the other world, and as
a third an intermediate state, the state of sleep. When
in that intermediate state, he sees both those states to-
gether, the one here in this world, and the other in the
other world. Now whatever his admission to the
other world may be, having gained that admission, he
sees both the evils and the blessings.
And when he falls asleep, then after having taken
away with him the material from the whole world,
destroying and building it up again, he sleeps by his
own light. In that state the person is self-illuminated.
There are no real chariots in that state, no horses,
no roads, but he himself sends forth chariots, horses,
and roads. There are no blessings there, no happiness,
no joys, but he himself sends forth blessings, happi-
89
90 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
ness, and joys. There are no tanks there, no lakes,
no rivers, but he himself sends forth tanks, lakes, and
rivers. He indeed is the maker.
On this there are these verses:
After having subdued by sleep all that belongs to
the body, he, not asleep himself, looks down upon the
sleeping senses. Having assumed light, he goes again
to his place, the golden person, the lonely bird.
Guarding with the breath the lower nest, the im-
mortal moves away from the nest; that immortal one
goes wherever he likes, the golden person, the lonely
bird.
Going up and down in his dream, the god makes
manifold shapes for himself, either rejoicing together
with women, or laughing with his friends, or seeing
terrible sights.
People may see his playground, but himself no one
ever sees. Therefore they say, " Let no one wake a
man suddenly, for it is not easy to remedy, if he does
not get back rightly to his body."
Max Miiller, " Brihadaranyaka-upanishad," p. 164.
WHO HAD GIVEN SUCH POWER XJNTO MEN
Sleep
In the Koran the view prevails that the human mind derives
its energy and tone from God. "He giveth to his beloved
(in) sleep." Supra-sensuous were Mohammed's own visions
and inspirations.
God takes to Himself souls at the time of their
death; and those which do not die He takes in their
sleep; and He holds back those on whom He has de-
creed death, and sends others back till their appointed
time; — verily, in that are signs unto a people who
reflect.
E. H. Palmer, " Qur'an " (Koran), pt. 2, p. 186.
Whatever is in the Heavens and in the earth is
God's ; and whether ye disclose what is in your minds
or conceal it, God will reckon with you for it; and
whom He pleaseth will He forgive, and whom He
pleaseth will He punish ; for God is All-powerful.
The Apostle believeth in that which hath been sent
down from his Lord, as do the faithful also. Each
one believeth in God and His angels and His scriptures
91
92 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
and His Apostles: We make no distinction between
any of His Apostles. And they say, " We have heard
and we obey. Thy mercy, Lord, for unto Thee must
we return."
J. M. Rodwell, " Koran," Surah t, 285-286.
FATHER, GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT TO THEM
The Source of Life
After much schooling, Svetaketu returned home puffed up
with new knowledge. Gently his father Uddalaka dispelled
his conceit by revealing the mystery of sentient life.
The Sage said to his son Svetaketu: " Learn from
me the true nature of sleep. When a man sleeps here,
then, my dear son, he becomes united with the True, he
is gone to his own Self.
" As a bird when tied by a string flies first in every
direction, and finding no rest anywhere, settles down
at last on the very place where it is fastened, exactly in
the same manner, my son, that living Self in the mind,
after flying in every direction, and finding no rest any-
where, settles down on breath; for indeed, my son,
mind is fastened to breath. . . .
" As the bees make honey by collecting the juices of
distant trees, and reduce the juice into one form,
"And as these juices have no discrimination, so that
they might say, I am the juice of this tree or that, in
the same manner, my son, all these creatures, when
9Z
94 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
they have become merged in the True, either in deep
sleep or in death, know not that they are merged in the
True.
" Whatever these creatures are here, whether a Hon,
or a wolf, or a boar, or a worm, or a midge, or a gnat,
or a mosquito, that they become again and again.
" Now that which is that subtile essence, in it all
that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self,
and thou, O Svetaketu, art it."
" Please, Sir, inform me still more," said the son.
" Be it so, my child," the father replied.
"If some one were to strike at the root of this large
tree here, it would bleed, but live. If he were to strike
at its stem, it would bleed, but live. If he were to
strike at its top, it would bleed, but live. Pervaded by
the living Self that tree stands firm, drinking in its
nourishment and rejoicing. But if the live, the living
Self, leaves one of its branches, that branch withers;
if it leaves a second, that branch withers ; if it leaves a
third, that branch withers. If it leaves the whole tree,
the whole tree withers. Thus the human body indeed
withers and dies when the living Self has left it; the
living Self dies out. That which is that subtile es-
sence, in it all that exists has its self. It is the True.
It is the Self, and thou, Svetaketu, art it."
THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE 95
" Please, Sir, inform me still more," said the son.
" Be it so, my child," the father replied. " Fetch
me from thence a fruit of the Nyagrodha tree."
" Here is one. Sir."
" Break it."
" It is broken. Sir."
" What do you see there? "
** These seeds, almost infinitesimal."
" Break one of them. What do you see there? "
" Not anything, Sir."
The father said : " My son, that subtile essence
which you do not perceive there, of that very essence
this great Nyagrodha tree exists. That which is the
subtile essence, in it all that exists has its self. It is
the True. It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.
Place this salt in water, and then wait on mc in the
morning."
The son did as he was commanded.
The father said to him: " Bring me the salt, which
you placed in the water last night."
The son having looked for it, found it not, for, of
course, it was melted.
The father said: " Taste it from the surface of the
water. How is it ? "
The son replied: " It is salt"
96 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
" Taste it from the middle. How is it? "
The son repHed: " It is salt."
" Taste it from the bottom. How is it? "
The son replied: " It is salt."
Then the father said: " Here also, in this body, for-
sooth, you do not perceive the True, my son ; but there
indeed it is. That which is the subtile essence, in it all
that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self,
and thou, O Svetaketu, art it."
" Please, Sir, inform me still more," said the son.
" Be it so, my child," the father replied. " If a man
is ill, his relatives assemble round him and ask: Dost
thou know me? Dost thou know me? Now as long
as his speech is not merged in his mind, his mind in
breath, breath in heat, heat in the Highest Being, he
knows them. But when his speech is merged in his
mind, his mind in breath, breath in heat, heat in the
Highest Being, then he knows them not. That which
is the subtile essence, in it all that exists has its self.
It is the True. It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu,
art it."
Max Miiller, " Khandogya-upanishad," p. 98 flf.
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO
A TREASURE HIDDEN IN A FIELD
The Sacredness of Memory
In the same Khandagya-upanishad another sage, Sanat-
kumara, discourses to his pupil, Narada, of the sacred lore
that even to-day in India is passed on from generation to
generation.
Said a venerable sage to his pupil :
** He v^ho meditates on memory as God, is, as it
were, lord and master as far as memor>^ reaches — he
who meditates on memory as God."
" Sir, is there something better than memory ? *'
" Yes, there is something better than memory."
'* Sir, tell it me."
" Hope is better than memory. Fired by hope does
memory read the sacred hymns, perform sacrifices, de-
sire sons and cattle, desire this world and the other.
Meditate on hope. He who meditates on hope as God,
all his desires are fulfilled by hope, his prayers are not
in vain ; he is, as it were, lord and master as far as hope
reaches — he who meditates on hope as God."
" Tell me, Sir, is there something better than hope? "
97
98 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
** Yes, spirit is better than hope. As the spokes of a
wheel hold to the nave, so does all this, beginning with
names and ending in hope, hold to spirit. Father
means spirit, mother is spirit, brother is spirit, sister is
spirit. When one understands the True, then one de-
clares the True. One who does not understand it, does
not declare the True. Only he who understands it,
declares the True. This understanding, however, \ye
must desire to understand. When one perceives, then
one understands. One who does not perceive, does
not understand. Only he who perceives, understands.
This perception, however, we must desire to under-
stand."
" Sir, I desire to understand it."
" When one believes, then one perceives. One wKo
does not believe, does not perceive. Only he who be-
lieves, perceives. The Infinite is bliss. There is no
bliss in anything finite. Infinity only is bliss. This
Infinity, however, we must desire to understand."
" Sir, I desire to understand it."
" Where one sees nothing else, hears nothing else,
understands nothing else, that is the Infinite. Where
one sees something else, hears something else, under-
stands something else, that is the finite. The Infinite
is immortal, the finite is mortal. . . . The Infinite
THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE 99
indeed is below, above, behind, before, right and left —
it is indeed all this. Now follows the explanation of
the Infinite as the I ; I am below, I am above, I am be-
hind, before, right and left — I am all this.
" Next follows the explanation of the Infinite as the
Self; Self is below, above, behind, before, right and
left — Self is all this. He who sees, perceives, and
understands this, loves the Self, delights in the Self,
revels in the Self, rejoices in the Self — he becomes a
master of himself.**
Max Miiller, " Khandogya-upanishad," p. 119.
THIS NIGHT SHALL THY SOUL BE RE-
QUIRED OF THEE
The Atomic Size of the Soul
The Vedanta philosophy forms the basis of modem The-
osophy and has not a little in common with New Thought
and Christian Science. Its most revered commentator was
Sankara (lived about 800 A. D.), who may be called the St.
Augustine of Brahmanism. Suggestive and typical is hii
speculation regarding the nature of the soul.
And on account of the two latter {i. e., going and
returning) being connected with their Self (i. e., the
agent), the soul is of atomic size.
We admit that " passing out " might possibly be at-
tributed to the soul even if it does not move, namely,
if that expression be taken to mean the soul's ceasing
to be the ruler of the body, in consequence of the re-
sults of its former actions having become exhausted;
just as somebody when ceasing to-be the ruler of a
village may be said to " go out." But the two latter
activities, namely, going and returning, are not possible
in the case of something v/hich does not move; for they
are both connected with the own Self of the agent,
ICO
THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE loi
going and coming back being activities abiding in the
agent. Now going and coming are possible for a be-
ing that is not of medium size, only if it is of atomic
size. And as going and coming must be taken in their
literal sense, we conclude that the passing out also
means nothing but the soul's actual moving out of the
body. For the soul cannot go and return without first
having moved out of the body. Moreover certain
parts of the body are mentioned as the points from
which the soul starts in passing out, for instance, in the
following scripture passage, " Either from the eye or
from the skull or from other places of the body the
Self passes out." Other passages mention that the
embodied soul goes and comes within the body also;
so, for instance, " He taking with him those elements
of light descends into the heart ; Having assumed light
he again goes to his place." Thereby the atomic size
of the soul is established as well.
Geo. Thibaut, " Vedanta-sutras/* pt. 2, p. 36.
IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE ARE MANY
MANSIONS
What is the Soulf
Like an atom, the soul, say the Upanishads, is not to be ap-
prehended in a materialistic way. Like energy it is everlast-
ing. Like ether it permeates and forms the substratum of
the body.
As large as all space is, so large is that spiritual es-
sence within the heart. Both heaven and earth are
contained within it, both fire and air, both sun and
moon, both hghtning and stars ; and whatever there is
of him, the Self, here in the world, and whatever Is
not, namely, whatever has been or will be, all that is
contained within it.
By the old age of the body this spiritual essence does
not age; by the death of the body, it is not killed.
This inner essence, not the body itself, is the true man-
sion of God. In it all desires are contained. It is the
Self, free from sin, free from old age, from death and
grief, from hunger and thirst, which desires nothing
but what it ought to desire, and imagines nothing but
what it ought to imagine. Now as here on earth peo-
I02
THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE 103
pie follow as they are commanded, and depend on the
object which they are attached to, be it a country or a
piece of land.
And as here on earth, whatever has been acquired by
exertion, perishes, so perishes whatever is acquired for
the next world by sacrifices and other good actions
performed on earth. Those who depart from hence
without having discovered the Self and those true de-
sires, for them there is no freedom in all the worlds.
But those who depart from hence, after having dis-
covered the Self and those true desires, for them there
is freedom in all the worlds.
Max Miiller, " Khandogya-upanishad," p. 126.
AND I WILL MANIFEST MYSELF UNTO HIM
The Keys of the Unseen
Mohammedanism, like its later American parallel, Mor-
monism, was a pre-eminently dynamic creed, less given to
speculation than to action. " Think on the mercies of God,
not on the essence of God " the Prophet taught. Five times
daily, two hundred and twenty million Mohammedans kneel
on their prayer carpets to invoke the Spirit who, as the Koran
teaches, is the source of wisdom and knowledge.
Admonish therewith those who fear that they shall
be gathered unto their Lord; there is no patron for
them but Him, and no intercessor ; haply they may fear.
Repulse not those who call upon their Lord in the
morning and in the evening, desiring His face; they
have no reckoning against thee at all, and thou hast no
reckoning against them at all ; — repulse them and thou
wilt be of the unjust.
So have we tried some of them by others, that they
may say, Are these those unto whom God has been
gracious amongst ourselves? Does not God know
those who give thanks?
And when those who believe in our signs come to
thee, say, Peace be on you! God hath prescribed for
104
THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE 105
Himself mercy; verily, he of you who does evil in
ignorance, and then turns again and does right, —
verily, He is forgiving and merciful.
Thus do we detail our signs, that the way of the
sinners may be made plain. . . .
With Him are the keys of the unseen. None knows
them save He; He knows what is in the land and in
the sea ; and there falls not a leaf save that He knows
it; nor a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor aught
that is moist, nor aught that is dry, save that is in His
perspicuous Book.
He it is who takes you to Himself at night, and
knows what ye have gained in the da}^ ; then He raises
you up again, that your appointed time may be ful-
filled ; then unto Him is your return, and then will He
inform you of what ye have done.
He triumphs over His servants; He sends to them
guardian angels, until, when death comes to any one of
you, our messengers take him away ; they pass not over
any one, and then are they returned to God, their true
sovereign.
E. H. Palmer, " Qur'an " (Koran), pt. 1, p. 121.
Say: I am only a man like you. It is revealed to me
that your God is one God; act uprightly, then, with
io6 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
Him, and implore His pardon. And woe to those who
join gods with God.
And if God had pleased He had surely made you all
one people; but He would test you by what He hath
given to each. Be emulous, then, in good deeds. To
God do ye all return, and He will tell you concerning
the subjects of your disputes.
Mohammed is no more than an apostle; other
apostles have already passed away before him; if, then,
he die or be slain, will ye then turn upon your heels
{i. e., relapse into idolatry) ?
J. M. Rodwell, "Koran," Surah 41, 5; Surah
6, 54; Surah 3, 138; Surah 2, 274.
NOTHING IS HID THAT SHALL NOT BE
MADE MANIFEST
The Immanent God
Analogous to the modern scientific conception of ether is the
doctrine of God-immanent developed in the Bhagavadgita over
two thousand years ago.
I will declare that which is the object of knowledge,
knowing which, one reaches immortality; the highest
Brahman, having no beginning nor end, which cannot
be said to be existent or non-existent. It has hands
and feet on all sides, it has eyes, heads, and faces on all
sides, it has ears on all sides, it stands pervading every-
thing in the world. Possessed of the qualities of all
the senses, but devoid of all senses, unattached, it sup-
ports all, is devoid of qualities, and the enjoyer of
qualities. It is within all things and without them ; it
is movable and also immovable; it is unknowable
through its subtlety; it stands afar and near. Not dif-
ferent in different things, but standing as though dif-
ferent, it should be known to be the supporter of all
things, and that which absorbs and creates them. It is
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io8 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
the radiance even of the radiant bodies ; it is said to be
beyond darkness. It is knowledge, the object of
knowledge, that which is to be attained to by knowl-
edge, and placed in the heart of all.
K T. Telang, " Bkagavadgita," p. 103.
YE KNOW NOT WHAT MANNER OF SPIRIT
YE ARE OF
Voices
It remained for Buddhism in India to develop one practical
human aspect of the foregoing philosophy, namely, that the
interplay of individual personalities often affords illuminating
insights into a larger field of consciousness. Unusually
touching is the following instance of one of the Brethren
converted by an old woman's piety.
Now a certain woman, a distinguished follower of
the faith, had for thirty years and more administered
to the wants of the venerable Assagutta. And at the
end of that rainy season she came one day to him, and
asked whether there was any other brother staying
with him. And when she was told that there was one,
named Nagasena, she invited the Elder, and Nagasena
with him, to take their midday meal the next day at her
house. And the Elder signified, by silence, his con-
sent. The next forenoon the Elder robed himself, and
taking his bowl in his hand, went down, accompanied
by Nagasena as his attendant, to the dwelling-place of
109
no THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
that disciple, and there they sat down on the seats pre-
pared for them. And she gave to both of them food,
hard and soft, as much as they required, waiting upon
them with her own hands. When Assagutta had fin-
ished his meal, and the hand w^as withdrawn from the
bowl, he said to Nagasena: '* Do thou, Nagasena, give
the thanks to this distinguished lady." And, so say-
ing, he rose from his seat, and went away.
And the lady said to Nagasena: " I am old, friend
Nagasena. Let the thanksgiving be from the deeper
things of the faith."
And Nagasena, in pronouncing the thanksgiving dis-
course, dwelt on the profounder side of the Higher
Law, not on matters of mere ordinary morality, but on
those relating to perfect peace and calm. And as the
lady sat there listening, there arose in her heart the In-
sight into the Truth, clear and stainless, which per-
ceives that whatsoever has beginning, that has the
inherent quality of passing away. And Nagasena
also, when he had concluded that thanksgiving dis-
course, felt the force of the truths he himself had
preached, and he too arrived at insight — ^he too en-
tered, as he sat there, upon the stream, that is to say,
upon the first stage of the Excellent Way.
Then the venerable Assagutta, as he was sitting in
THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE iii
his arbour, was aware that they both had attained to
insight, and he exclaimed: "Well done! well done,
Nagasena! by one arrow shot you have hit two noble
quarries ! "
T. W. Rhys Davids, "Questions of King
Milinda," pt. 1, p. 24.
AND YE ARE WITNESSES OF THESE
THINGS
Love to One's Neighbor, a Jew
The central idea of the Masnavi of Jelal'uddin Rumi is that
the only true basis of spiritual religion is love, and that all
seeming faith and piety which do not grow from love profit
nothing. Like all true mystics Jelal took a sacramental view
of nature and human nature. The Masnavi has been called
the " Divina Commedia " or " Paradise Lost " of Islam.
Jelal was one day lecturing, when a young man of
distinction came in, pushed his way, and took a seat
higher up than an old man, one of the audience.
Jelal at once remarked: " In days of yore it was the
command of God, that, if any young man should take
precedence of an elder, the earth should at once swal-
low him up ; such being the divine punishment for that
offence. It happened that one morning the Victorious
Lion of God, AH, son of Abu-Talib, was hasting from
his house to perform his devotions at dawn in the
mosque of the Prophet. On his way, he overtook an
old man, a Jew. Out of innate nobility and politeness
of nature, he had respect for the Jew's age, and would
not pass him, though the Jew's pace was slow. When
112
THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE 113
Ali reached the mosque, the Prophet was already
bowed down in his devotions, and was about to chant
the " Gloria " ; but, by God's command, Gabriel came
down, laid his hand on the Prophet's shoulder, and
stopped him, lest Ali should lose the merit attaching to
his being present at the opening of the dawn service;
for it is more meritorious to perform that early service
once, than to fulfil the devotions of a hundred years at
other hours of the day. The Prophet has said: " The
first act of reverence at dawn worship is of more value
than the world and all that is therein.'*
When the x\postle of God had concluded his wor-
ship, offered up his customary prayers, and recited his
usual lessons from the Koran, he turned, and asked of
Gabriel the cause of his interruption. Gabriel replied
that God had not seen fit that Ali should be deprived of
the merit attaching to the performance of the first por-
tion of the dawn worship, through the respect he had
shov/n to the old Jew he had overtaken, but whom he
would not pass.
" Now," remarked Jelal, " when a saint like Ali
showed so much respect for a poor old misbelieving
Jew, and when God viewed his respectful consideration
in so highly favorable a manner, you may all infer how
He will view any honor and veneration shown to an
114 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
elderly saint of approved piety, whose beard has grown
grey in the service of God, and whose companions are
the elect of their Maker, whose chosen servant he is;
and what reward He will mete out in consequence.
For, in truth, glory and power belong to God, to the
Apostle, and to the believers, as God hath Himself de-
clared * Unto God belongeth the power, and to the
apostle, and to the believers.' "
J. W. Redhouse, " Mcinevi." p. 40.
THEN OPENED HE THEIR MIND THAT
THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND
The Spiritual Body
In some of the occult Oriental cults there is a prevalent
belief that by higher knowledge man can separate his soul or
astral body from its physical counterpart and thus transcend
the usual bourn of space and time. This passage from one
of the ancient Upanishads might be cited as authority for such
a dogma.
This body is mortal and always held by death. It
is the abode of that Self which is immortal and without
body. When in the body, by thinking this body is I
and I am this body, the Self is held by pleasure and
pain. So long as he is in the body, he cannot get free
from pleasure and pain. But when he is free of the
body, when he knows himself different from the body,
then neither pleasure nor pain touches him.
The wind is without body, the cloud, lightning, and
thunder are without body, without hands, feet, etc.
Now as these, arising from this heavenly ether, appear
in their own form, as soon as they have approached
the highest light.
"5
ii6 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
Thus does that serene being, arising from this body,
appear in its own form, as soon as it has approached
the highest light, the knowledge of Self. He in that
state is the highest person. He moves about there
laughing or eating, playing and rejoicing in his mind,
be it with women, carriages, or relatives, never mind-
ing that body into which he was born.
Max Muller, " Khandogya-upanishad," p. 140,
THOU ART NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM
OF GOD
The Holy Spirit
In another Upanishad the following conversation is reported
of Yagnavalkya and his wife, Maitreyi. Unlike the orthodox
Moslems who are said to believe that women have no souls,
the Brahmans taught that women were capable of spiritual
illumination.
Now if a man departs this life without having seen
his true future Hfe in the Self, then that Self, not being
known, does not receive and bless him, as if the Veda
had not been read, or as if a good work had not been
done. Nay, even if one who does not know that Self
should perform here on earth some great holy work, it
will perish for him in the end. Let a man worship the
Self only as his true state. If a man worships the Self
only as his true state, his work does not perish, for
whatever he desires that he gets from that Self. . . .
And Maitreyi said: "What should I do with that
by which I do not become immortal ? What my Lord
knoweth of immortality, tell that to me."
Yagnavalkya replied : " Thou who art truly dear to
117
ii8 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
me, thou speakest dear words. Come, sit down, I will
explain it to thee, and mark well what I say. Verily,
a husband is not dear, that you may love the husband ;
but that you may love the Self, therefore a husband is
dear. Verily, a wife is not dear, that you may love the
wife ; but that you may love the Self, therefore a wife
is dear. Verily, sons are not dear, that you may love
the sons ; but that you may love the Self, therefore sons
are dear. Verily, wealth is not dear, that you may
love wealth; but that you may love the Self, therefore
wealth is dear.
" Verily, the Brahman-class is not dear, that you
may love the Brahman-class ; but that you may love the
Self.
" Verily, the Kshatra-class is not dear, that you may
love the Kshatra-class ; but that you may love the Self.
" Verily, the worlds are not dear, that you may love
the worlds ; but that you may love the Self.
" Verily, the angels are not dear, that you may love
the angels ; but that you may love the Self.
" Verily, creatures are not dear, that you may love
the creatures ; but that you may love the Self.
" Verily, everything is not dear that you may love
everything; but that you may love the Self, therefore
everything is dear.
THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE 119
" Verily, the Self is to be seen, to be heard, to be
perceived, to be marked, O Maitreyi! When we see,
hear, perceive, and know the Self, then all this is
known."
Max Miiller, " Brihadaranyaka-upanishad," pp. 90, 109.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU
Cosmic Consciousness
Nirvana, greatest of Gotama's teachings, is a state attainable
in this life by those who elect and persistently follow the
Path. Nirvana is round us from our infancy, an encircling
medium of which we grow aware only through religious
enlightenment. It means the eternal within the temporal,
cosmic consciousness, a heaven here and now.
If thou art desirous of omniscience, direct thy at-
tention to transcendent wisdom; then betake thyself to
the wilderness and meditate on the pure law ; by it thou
shalt acquire the transcendent faculties.
The man catches the meaning, goes to the wilder-
ness, meditates with the greatest attention, and, as he
is endowed with good qualities, ere long acquires the
five transcendent faculties.
Similarly all disciples fancy having reached Nirvana,
but the Gina instructs them by saying: This is a tem-
porary repose, no final rest.
It is an artifice of the Buddhas to enunciate this
dogma. There is no real Nirvana without all-know-
ingness ; try to reach this.
The boundless knowledge of the three paths of time,
1 20
THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE 121
the six utmost perfections, voidness, the absence of
purpose or object, the absence of finiteness;
The idea of enhghtenment and the other laws lead-
ing to Nirvana, both such as are mixed with imperfec-
tion and such as are exempt from it, such as are tran-
quil and comparable to ethereal space ;
The four exercises to develop benevolence, compas-
sion, cheerful sympathy, and equanimity, and the four
articles of sociability, namely, liberality, affability, pro-
moting another's interest, and pursuit of a common
aim, as well as the laws sanctioned by eminent sages
for the education of creatures ;
He who knows these things and that all phenomena
have the nature of illusion and dreams, that they are
pithless as the stem of the plantain, and similar to an
echo ;
And who knows that the triple world throughout is
of that nature, not fast and not loose, he knows rest.
He who considers all laws to be alike, void, devoid
of particularity and individuality, not derived from an
intelligent cause ; nay, who discerns that nothingness is
law;
Such a one has great wisdom and sees the whole of
the law entirely. There are no three vehicles by any
means ; there is but one vehicle in this world.
122 THE HIGHER KNOWLEDGE
All laws or the laws of all are alike, equal, for all,
and ever alike. Knowing this, one understands im-
mortal, blest Nirvana.
H. Kern, " Saddharma-pundarika," p. 139.
Life
CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE
TIMES ?
Conscious Life
The ordered beauty of the world of Nature suggests
an infinite intelHgence with powers of action such as
no man or other creature possesses, and evolution,
which was so hotly contested by the theologians of a
generation ago, suggests the beautiful conception of
continued action, but when man commences to specu-
late as to the nature of this intelligence which rules the
universe, however much of a theologian he may be, he
is driven back upon materialistic models, and his deity
cannot rise above a perfected superman. In the pres-
ent state of human evolution, even revelation from the
deity could not conceivably take any other form than
this, for man with such senses and experiences as he
has been provided with, could not understand anything
else.
Science can readily strip away from any earlier sys-
tem of religion, mythological accounts of creation
which represent the state of natural knowledge when
125
126 LIFE
the system was growing, and can disprove or reject
accounts of natural phenomena which are now known
clearly to be errors, but when this has all been done the
real kernel still remains in any religious system worthy
of the name. Man is still left venerating the great
causes of creation, and worshipping at the shrine of an
infinite and all-powerful creator. Nor is it any bar to
this worship that he possesses no rigorous proof nor
exact knowledge in terms of material things. The
mysticism only stimulates devotion, and urges him on-
wards towards higher realization of divinity and ideal-
ization of all that is highest in the deity that he personi-
fies and worships.
To such a worshipper every scientific advance
brings only a more beautiful appreciation of the divine
in nature, and he strains upwards towards it in his own
life, and is impelled by his religion to a nobility of life
and character, which could scarcely arise in any other
wav.
If this attribute of mind, to recognize something as
the highest in the whole range of consciousness which
compels the mind towards its highest efforts, exists in
millions of the most highly developed of mankind there
must be some cause for it other than ignorance.
Surely it is part of mental evolution towards the high-
LIFE 127
est — an intensification of that same process which led
creation up from undifferentiated matter through the
long course of organic evolution to man. Man has
now become aware of this organic evolution, and there
is a consciousness developing in regard to it and mak-
ing for social progress, which is rapidly becoming the
latest and highest development of religion. Environ-
ment, acting as a directing and selecting power upon
mutable forms of matter, and lasting through long
epochs of time, finally brought man upon the earth;
purely material environment cannot raise him higher,
but in religion in the true sense of the word, increased
and intensified by a study of the mind, and of our re-
lationship and duties towards other minds, we see thit
factor in our environment which will lead us on to
higher things.
The fact that the creature actually in process of evo-
lution has gained consciousness of his own evolution
will give a definite purpose to his whole social system
as a community, and will enormously increase the
velocity in future generations of the process of evolu-
tion.
Benj. Moore, "The Origin and Nature of Life,"
p. 23 ff., N. Y., 1912. (Copyright, Henry Holt
& Co.)
IT IS GIVEN UNTO YOU TO KNOW THE
MYSTERIES OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
What is Your Life? It is Even as a Vapor
Life's apparent impermanence, its mysteries of origin and
purpose, the inexplicable balance of forces which maintain it
for a little while, — all this caused the upreachin^ mind of all
races to grope toward the light. The Alahabharata sings of
this age-long enigma.
The body — is it not like foam
The tossing wave an instant cresting?
In it the spirit, bird-like, resting,
Soon flies to seek another home.
In this thy frail abode, so dear.
How canst thou slumber free from fear?
Why dost thou not wake up, when all
Thy watchful enemies ever seek
To strike thee there where thou art weak,
To bring about thy longed-for fall?
Thy days are numbered, — all apace
Thy years roll on, — thy powers decay.
Why dost thou vainly then delay,
And not arise, and haste awav
To some unchanging dwelling-place?
128
LIFE 129
The Watchtoiver of Wisdom
As men who climb a hill behold
The plain beneath them all unrolled,
And thence with searching eye survey
The crowds that pass along the way,
So those on wisdom's mount who stand
A lofty vantage-ground command.
They thence can scan the world below,
Immersed in error, sin and woe;
Can mark how mortals vainly grieve.
The true reject, the false receive.
The good forsake, the bad embrace.
The substance flee and shadows chase.
But none who have not gained that height,
Can good and ill discern aright.
What Determines the Character of Actions
'Tis from the soul, the man within.
That actions all their value win;
No outward state, whate'er it be.
Affects an action's quality.
I30 LIFE
Would he not sin, a Brahman sage
Who slew within a hermitage?
Bring gifts no fruit, howe'er profuse,
Unless bestowed by a recluse?
J. Muir, " Metrical Translationi from Sanskrit
Writers," p. 26.
IF ANY MAN EAT OF THIS BREAD HE
SHALL LIVE FOREVER
Life and Death
To mystics life and death are equally transitory, being part
of a larger cycle. To the Taoists immoriaiity is more than a
mere word.
Life is a state which follows upon Death. Death
is a state which precedes Life. Which of us under-
stands the laws that govern their succession?
The life of man is the resultant of forces. The ag-
gregation of these forces is life ; their dispersion, death.
If, then, Life and Death are but consecutive states of
existence, what cause for sorrow have I?
And so it is that all things are but phases of unity.
What men delight in is the spiritual essence of life.
What they loathe is the material corruption of death.
But this state of corruption gives place to that state of
spirituality, and that state of spirituality gives place in
turn to this state of corruption. Therefore we may
say that all in the universe is comprised in unity; and
therefore the inspired among us have adopted unity as
their criterion.
H. A. Giles, " Gems from Chinese L,iterature/' p. 21.
O THOU OF LITTLE FAITH WHEREFORE
DIDST THOU DOUBT?
A Mohammedan Legend
Because Jesus treated religion and life as one and the same
thing, the vitality of his faith impressed those Mohammedans
to whom his non-sectarian appeal came in terms not of
theology but of healing.
*' The house of Jesu was the banquet of men of heart,
Ho! afflicted one, quit not this door!
From all sides the people ever thronged.
Many blind and lame, and halt and afflicted,
To the door of the house of Jesu at dawn,
That with his breath he might heal their ailments.
As soon as he had finished his orisons.
That holy one would come forth at the third hour;
He viewed those impotent folk, troop by troop,
Sitting at his door in hope and expectation ;
He spoke to them, saying, ' O stricken ones !
The desires of all of you have been granted by God ;
Arise, walk without pain or affliction,
Acknowledge the mercy and beneficence of God! *
Then all, as camels whose feet are shackled,
132
LIFE 133
When you loose their feet in the road,
Straightway rush in joy and delight to the halting-
place,
So did they run upon their feet at his command."
S. M. Zwemer, " The Moslem Christ."
And it is not for a believer, man or woman, to have
any choice in their affairs, when God and His Apostle
have decreed a matter; and whoever disobeyeth God
and His Apostle hath erred with palpable error.
J. M. Rodwell, " Koran," Surah 33, 37.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND
Nearer te the Source of Life
That spiritual life is just as real as physical life is pro-
claimed by Hsuan-yang Zze (1280-1367 A. D.), a follower of
the Tao and a contemporary of Dante.
The Heaven-honored One says, " All you, Heaven-
endowed men, who wish to be instructed about the
Perfect Tao, the Perfect Tao is very recondite, and by
nothing else but Itself can it be described. Since ye
wish to hear about it, ye cannot do so by the hearing of
the ear; — that which eludes both the ears and eves is
' ml
the True Tao; what can be heard and seen perishes,
and only this survives. There is much that you have
not yet learned, and especially you have not acquired
this ! Till you have learned what the ears do not hear,
how can the Tao be spoken about at all? "
The Heaven-honored One says, " Sincerity is the
first step towards the knowledge of the Tao; it is by
silence that that knowledge is maintained; it is with
gentleness that the Tao is employed. The employment
134
LIFE 135
01 sincerity looks like stupidity; the employment of
silence looks like difficulty of utterance; the employ-
ment of gentleness looks like want of ability. But
having attained to this, you may forget all bodily
form ; you may forget your personality ; you may for-
get that you are forgetting.'*
" He who has taken the first steps towards the
knowledge of the Tao knows where to stop; he who
maintains the Tao in himself knows how to be dili-
gently vigilant ; he who employs It knows what is most
subtle.
" When one knows what is most subtle, the light of
intelligence grows around him ; when he can know how
to be diligently vigilant, his sage wisdom becomes com-
plete ; when he knows where to stop, he is grandly com-
posed and restful.
" When he is grandly composed and restful, his sage
wisdom becomes complete ; when his sage wisdom be-
comes complete, the light of intelligence grows around
him ; when the light of intelligence grows around him,
he is one with the Tao.
" This is the condition which is styled the True For-
getfulness; — a forgetting which does not forget; a for-
getting of what cannot be forgotten.
. " That which cannot be forgotten is the True Tao.
/
136 LIFE
The Tao is in heaven and earth, but heaven and earih
are not conscious of It. Whether It seem to have
feehngs or to be without them, It is always one and
the same."
J. IvCgge, Yu Shu King, "The Classic of the
Pivot of Jade," texts of Taoism, pt. 2, p. 265.
BEHOLD, I HAVE FORETOLD YOU ALL
THINGS
The Stuff of the World and the Fountain of Creation
The Persian mystics conceive of physical life as a necejssary
basis for the higher life of the Spirit. Thus a human body is
but a wonderful apparatus for the evolution of a soul. They
view all life as but ripples of the imperishable substance of
God.
Every form you see has its archetype in the placeless
world ;
If the form perished, no matter, since its original is
everlasting.
Every fair shape you have seen, every deep saying you
have heard,
Be not cast down that it perished ; for that is not so.
Whereas the spring-head is undying, its branch gives
water continually ;
Since neither can cease, why are you lamenting?
Conceive the Soul as a fountain, and these created
things as rivers:
While the fountain flows, the rivers run from it.
Put grief out of your head and keep quaffing this river-
water;
137
138 LIFE
Do not think of the water failing; for this water is
without end.
From the moment you came into the world of being,
A ladder was placed before you that you might escape.
First you were mineral, later you turned to plant,
Then you became animal: how should this be a secret
to you?
Afterwards you were made man, with knowledge, rea-
son, faith;
Behold the body, which is a portion of the dust-pit,
how perfect it has grown !
When you have travelled on from man, you will doubt-
less become an angel:
After that you are done with this earth: your station is
in heaven.
Pass again even from angelhood: enter the ocean,
That your drop may become a sea which is a hundred
seas of " Oman."
Leave this " Son," say ever " One " with all your soul ;
If your body has aged, what matter, when the soul is
young ?
R. A. Nicholson, "Divani Shamsi Tabriz," p. 47.
EVEN SO KNOW I THE FATHER
Omnipresence
This sufi conception is not wholly original to Asia Minor, since
it is akin to the Upanishad doctrine of India and has affinities
with Neo-platonism and even with some early Christian
mysticism. Thus one spiritual life pulses through all human
intellects the world over.
The knowing Self is not born, it dies not; it sprang
from nothing, nothing sprang from it. The Ancient
is unborn, eternal, everlasting; he is not killed, though
the body is killed.
If the killer thinks that he kills, if the killed thinks
that he is killed, they do not understand; for this one
does not kill, nor is that one killed.
The Self, smaller than small, greater than great, is
hidden in the heart of that creature. A man who is
free from desires and free from grief sees the majesty
of the Self by the grace of the Creator.
Though sitting still, he walks far; though lying
down, he goes everywhere. Who, save myself, is able
to know that God who rejoices and rejoices not ?
139
140 LIFE
The wise who knows the Self as bodiless within the
bodies, as unchanging among changing things, as great
and omnipresent, does never grieve.
That Self cannot be gained by the Sacred Book nor
by understanding, nor by much learning. He whom
the Self chooses, by him the Self can be gained. The
Self chooses him (his body) as his own.
But he who has not first turned away from his wick-
edness, who is not tranquil, and subdued, or whose
mind is not at rest, he can never obtain the Self even
by knowledge.
Who then knows where He is, He to whom all
classes are, as it were, but food, and death itself a con-
diment ?
Know the Self to be sitting in the chariot, the body
to be the chariot, the intellect the charioteer, and the
mind the reins.
The senses they call the horses, the objects of the
senses their roads. When he, the Highest Self, is in
union with the body, the senses, and the mind, then
wise people call him the Enjoyer.
He who has no understanding and whose mind, the
reins, is never firmly held, his senses, horses, are un-
manageable, like vicious horses of a charioteer.
But he who has understanding and whose mind is
LIFE 141
always firmly held, his senses are under control, like
good horses of a charioteer.
He who has no understanding, who is unmindful
and always impure, never reaches that place, but enters
into the round of births.
But he who has understanding, who is mindful and
always pure, reaches indeed that place, from whence
he is not born again.
But he who has understanding for his charioteer,
and who holds the reins of the mind, he reaches the
end of his journey, and that is the highest place of
Vishnu.
Beyond the senses there are the objects, beyond the
objects there is the mind, beyond the mind there is the
intellect, the Great Self is beyond the intellect.
That Self is hidden in all beings and does not shine
forth, but it is seen by subtle seers through their sharp
and subtle intellect.
Max Miiller, " Katha-upanishad," p. 11.
BUT MY WORDS SHALL NOT PASS AWAY
The Pulse of Life
Even when all is over, it will begin again, this life-process,
whether here or on a distant planet in some unknown cranny
of boundless space. Mankind is subject also, perhaps, to the
same indefinite renewal. And thus the untutored Maori of
New Zealand stand on the same shore of limitless wonder as
the greatest seers and scientists present or past.
Seeking, earnestly seeking in the gloom.
Searching — yes, on the coastline —
On the bounds of light of day.
Looking into night
Night had conceived
The seed of night.
The heart, the foundation of night,
Had stood forth the self -existing
Even in the gloom —
The sap and succulent parts,
The life pulsating,
And the cup of life.
The shadows screen
The faintest gleam of light
The procreating power,
142
LIFE 143
The ecstasy of life first known.
And joy of issuing forth,
From silence into sound,
Thus the progeny
Of the Great extending
Filled the heaven's expanse ;
The chorus of life
Rose and swelled into ecstasy,
Then rested
In bliss of calm and quiet.
J. White, "Ancient History of the Maori," Vol. 1,
p. 152. (Quoted in R. B. Nixon, "Oceanic
Mythology," " Mythology of All Races/' Vol.
9, p. 27, Boston, 1916.)
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