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Chapter XX: Beyond Reincarnation2279
love of the divine and of the divine fragment in their fellow human beings;
others by the use of the intellect and the attainment of wisdom; others by
development of the intuitive faculties; but all these are but different roads
leading to the same end. When the nature of earthly things is realized, they
lose their hold upon the human soul. Desire then dies away, and the soul
is liberated and attains spiritual freedom. Loosened from the attraction of
earth, the soul takes higher flights, and soars to the higher regions of being.
The philosophies of the Orient are filled with this idea. Under various
guises it appears. To the initiated occultist the sacred teachings of the
world—of all religions—are seen to have their esoteric side. And the spirit
of the esoteric teaching is always Liberation. As we write these words, our
eyes fall upon a book lying on our table—a little story of the East, told by
a Western writer. This writer has caught the spirit of the East and expresses
it well. Listen to his words, and see how true they are to the spirit of the
teaching:
“The object of the Sage, according to the old Hindoo doctrine, is to become
absolute master of himself (jitama), to render himself completely superior, or rather
indifferent to the ‘attachment’ of all mundane clogs. The ordinary mortal is a prisoner,
tied, bound in bondage, or attached (sakta), to and by the objects of delusion and
sense. Whoever aims at emancipation must first, by a long and strenuous course
of penance and austerity, sever these attachments, till even though he still remains
among them, they run off him like water from a duck; and he goes on living, according
to the classic formula, like a wheel that continues to revolve when the original impetus
has ceased; or like a branch that goes on swaying after the departure of the bird.
He is awake, as opposed to those who still remain blinded by illusion; he is free, as
contrasted with the bound.”
The above writer, however, has erred when he speaks of the “long and
strenuous course of penance and austerity,” necessary to sever the material
attachments. The best authorities frown upon these ascetic practices and