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The Twelfth Lesson: Occult Miscellany.899
Hindu writer speaking of them has said: “To him who hath traveled far along
The Path, sorrow ceases to trouble; fetters cease to bind; obstacles cease to
hinder. Such an one is free. For him there is no more fever or sorrow. For him
there are no more unconscious re-births. His old Karma is exhausted, and he
creates no new Karma. His heart is freed from the desire for future life. No
new longings arise within his soul. He is like a lamp which burneth from the
oil of the Spirit, and not from the oil of the outer world.” Lillie in his work
on Buddhism, tells his readers: “Six supernatural faculties were expected of
the ascetic before he could claim the grade of Arhat. They are constantly
alluded to in the Sutras as the six supernatural faculties, usually without
further specification.…In this transitory body the intelligence of Man is
enchained. The ascetic finding himself thus confused, directs his mind to
the creation of Manas. He represents to himself, in thought, another body
created from this material body,—a body with a form, members and organs.
This body in relation to the material body is like a sword and the scabbard,
or a serpent issuing from a basket in which it is confined. The ascetic then,
purified and perfected, begins to practice supernatural faculties. He finds
himself able to pass through material obstacles, walls, ramparts, etc.; he
is able to throw his phantasmal appearance into many places at once. He
acquires the power of hearing the sounds of the unseen world as distinctly
as those of the phenomenal world—more distinctly in point of fact. Also by
the power of Manas he is able to read the most secret thoughts of others,
and to tell their characters.”
These great Masters are above all petty sectarian distinctions. They may
have ascended to their exalted position along the paths of the many religions,
or they may have walked the path of no-denomination, sect, or body. They
may have mounted to their heights by philosophical reasoning alone, or
else by scientific investigation. They are called by many names, according to
the viewpoint of the speaker, but at the last they are of but one religion; one
philosophy; one belief—Truth.