In this chapter we shall deal with the part played by the permanent atoms in rebirth, and also with certain further details of the mechanism of rebirth.
It has already been explained, in this series of books, that after the death of the physical body, the ego steadily withdraws through plane after plane, until
eventually he is clothed only in his causal vehicle. At physical death, the life web, together with prana is withdrawn into the heart, round the physical permanent atom. The physical permanent atom then rises along the Sushumna-nadi --- a canal running from the heart to the third ventricle - into the head, to the third ventricle of the brain. Then the whole of the life-web, collected round the
permanent atom, rises slowly to the point of junction of the parietal and occipital sutures, and leaves the physical body - now dead.
As the ego vacates each of his bodies, the permanent atoms of those bodies pass into a dormant condition , and are retained in the causal body in that quiescent state. Wile the man is in his causal body only, he thus has within that body the physical permanent atom, the astral permanent atom, and the mental permanent molecule, or unit,as it is more usually called. These three, wrapped in the buddhic life-web, appear as a brilliant nucleus-like particle in the causal body.
They are, of course, all that now remains to the ego of the physical, astral and mental bodies of his previous incarnation.
These various stages are illustrated by the left-hand portion of Diagram XXV. Whilst the man is in possession of all his vehicles, the permanent atoms are shown with rays projecting from them, indicating that they are actively functioning. As each body dies, and is left behind, the permanent atom concerned becomes dormant, as is shown by the plain ring without rays, and retreats within the causal body. As the permanent atoms thus "go to sleep", the normal flow of life in the spirillae is lessened, and, during the whole period of repose, the flow is small and slow. In the diagram, the causal body is shown, on the causal level, with the three permanent particles within it, all dormant.
The student should realise that it is necessary for evolution that these
permanent, atoms should be carried over, the reason being that the developed man must be master of all planes or worlds, and the permanent atoms form the only direct channel, imperfect though it be, between the spiritual triad, or ego, and the forms he is connected with. If it were conceivable that he could develop without permanent atoms, he might possibly become a glorious, archangel upon higher planes, but he would be entirely useless in these lower worlds, having cut off from himself the power of feeling and thinking. We must not, therefore, drop the permanent atoms: our business is to purify and develop them.
We may note here that permanent atoms are much more evolved than are other atoms, being at the fullest development of seventh round atoms in men who are about to become Adepts. They are thus as highly developed as atoms, can possibly be, and, as we have seen, are charged with all the qualities which they have brought over from previous births.
When a person reaches the level of a Buddha, it is quite impossible for him to find atoms useful to him, except those which have been used as permanent atoms by human beings.
All the permanent atoms of all those who, in connection with this world, or probably even with this chain of worlds, have attained Adeptship and have cast them off, have been collected together and used in the vehicles of the Lord Gautama Buddha. As there were not quite enough of these to make the entire
vehicle, some of the best ordinary atoms available were also employed, being galvanised into activity by the others. They are replaced by permanent atoms, obtained from every new Adept who takes the Sambhogakaya or the
Dharmakaya vesture [see page 322]. This set of bodies is unique and there is no material to make another set. They were used by Gautama Buddha, and
afterwards preserved.
The causal, mental and astral bodies of the Buddha were used also by the Christ, along with the physical body of Jesus, and by Shankaracharya, and are now again being used by the Lord Maitreya.
Returning from this digression on permanent atoms, to the time when the life on the higher mental sub-planes comes to an end, we perceive that Trishna
i.e.,desire for further experience, reasserts itself, and the ego once more turns his attention outwards, stepping over the threshold of devachan into what has been called the plane of reincarnation, bringing with him the results, small or great, of his devachanic work.
With his attention turned outwards, as said, the ego sends forth a thrill of life, which arouses the mental unit. The flow in the spirillae of this unit, and in the other permanent atoms in their turn, which during the period of repose, has been small and slow, is now increased, and the mental unit, thus stimulated, begins to vibrate strongly. This is shown in the diagram, on the right hand side, by a
reappearance of the rays round the mental unit.
The life-web begins to unfold again, and the vibrating mental unit, acting as a magnet, draws around itself mental matter, with vibratory powers resembling, or accordant with, its own.
The devas of the Second Elemental Kingdom bring this material within reach of the mental unit, and, in the earlier stages of evolution, they also shape the matter into a loose cloud around the permanent unit: but, as evolution proceeds, the ego himself exercises an ever increasing influence over the shaping of the material.
This cloud of matter— which is not yet of course a vehicle, properly so-called—is indicated in the diagram by the dotted outline.
When the mental body is partially formed, the life-thrill from the ego awakens the astral permanent atom, and a similar procedure takes place, a cloud of astral matter being drawn round the astral permanent atom.
In his descent to incarnation, we thus see that the ego does not receive ready-made mental and astral bodies: instead, he receives material out of which these bodies will be built, in the course of the life that is to follow. Moreover, the matter which he receives is capable of providing him with mental and astral bodies, of exactly the same type as those he had at the end of his last mental and astral lives, respectively.
The method whereby the ego obtains a new etheric body, into which, as into a mould, the new physical body is built, has been, fully described in The Etheric Double,p.67, and so need not be repeated here. We may add, however, that during human ante-natal life the prolongation of the Sutratma is formed, consisting of a single thread, which weaves a network, a shimmering web of inconceivable fineness and delicate beauty, with minute meshes, reminding one of the closely woven cocoon of the silkworm.
Within the meshes of this web the coarser particles of the bodies are built
together. Thus if the bodies are looked at with buddhic vision, they all disappear, and in their places is seen this web of life, as it is called, which supports and vivifies all the bodies.
During the ante-natal life, the thread grows out from the physical permanent atom and branches out in every direction, the growth continuing until the physical, body is full grown. During physical life the prana, or vitality, courses along the branches and meshes.
It appears that it is usually the presence of the permanent atom which renders possible the fertilisation of the ovum, from which the new body is to grow.
Nevertheless, when a child is stillborn, there has usually been no ego behind, it [and presumably, therefore, no permanent atom] , and of course no etheric elemental [vide The Etheric Double, p.67] . Although there are vast hosts of egos seeking incarnation, many of them still at so early a stage that almost any
ordinary surroundings would be equally suitable for them, yet it does sometimes happen that, at a given time, there is no ego able to take advantage of a
particular opportunity; in that case, though the body may be formed, to a certain extent, by the thought of the mother, yet, as there is no ego, it is never really alive.
The ordinary ego is, of course, by no means in a position to choose a body for himself. The place of his birth is usually determined by the combined action, of three forces: these are: [1] the law of evolution, which causes an ego to be born under conditions which will give him an opportunity of developing exactly those qualities, of which he stands most in need; [2] the law of karma. The ego may not have deserved the best possible opportunity, and so he has to put up with the second or third best. He may not even have deserved any great opportunity at all, and so a tumultuous life of small progress may be his fate. We shall return a little later to this question, of the karma of an ego; [3] the force of any personal ties of love or hate that the ego may have previously formed. Sometimes a man may be drawn into a position, which he cannot be said to have deserved in any other way than by the strong personal love, which he felt for some one higher in evolution than himself.
A more advanced man, who is already on the Path, may be able to exercise a certain amount of choice as to the country and family of his birth. But such a man would be the first to put aside entirely any personal wish in the matter, and resign
himself wholly into the hands of the eternal law,confident that what ever it brings to him must be far better for him than any selection of his own.
Parents cannot choose the ego who shall inhabit the body to which they give birth, but by so living as to offer an unusually good opportunity for the progress of an advanced ego, they can make it exceedingly probable that such an ego will come to them.
We have seen that as the ego descends to a fresh incarnation, he has to take up the burden of his past, much of which has been stored as vibratory tendencies in his permanent atoms. These germs or seeds are known to Buddhists as
Skandhas, a convenient word for which there seems to be as yet no exact equivalent in English. They consist of material qualities, sensations, abstract ideas, tendencies of mind, mental powers, the pure aroma of all these having been built into the causal body, the remainder being stored, as stated, in the permanent atoms and mental unit.
H.P. Blavatsky, in her vivid, forceful and inimitable language, gives the following, description of the ego coming to rebirth., and being met by his Skandhas :
"Karma , with its arm of Skandhas, waits at the threshold of Devachan, whence the Ego re-emerges to assume a new incarnation. It is at this moment that the future destiny of the now-rested Ego trembles in the scales of just retribution, as it now falls once again under the sway of active Karmic Law. It is in this rebirth.
which is ready for it, a rebirth selected and prepared by this mysterious,
inexorable, but in the equity and wisdom of its decrees, infallible LAW, that the sins of the previous life of the Ego are punished. Only it is into no imaginary Hell, with theatrical flames and ridiculous tailed and horned devils, that the Ego is cast, but verily on to this earth, the plane and region of his sins, where he will have to atone for every bad thought and deed. As he has sown, so will he reap.
Reincarnation will gather around him all those other Egos who have suffered, whether directly or indirectly, at the hands, or even through the unconscious instrumentality, of the past personality. They will be thrown by Nemesis in the way of the new man, concealing the old Eternal Ego…The new personality is no better than a fresh suit of clothes with its specific characteristics colour, form and qualities: but the real man who wears it is the same culprit as of old". [The Key To Theosophy, pp. 141-2].
Hence it is the law of Karma which guides the man unerringly towards the race and nation herein are to be found the general characteristics that will produce a body and provide a social environment fitted for the manifestation of the general character, built up by the Ego in previous earth-lives, and for reaping of the harvest he has sown.
Karma thus traces the line, which forms the Ego's path to the new incarnation, this Karma being the collectivity of causes set going by the Ego himself.
In considering this play of karmic forces, however, there is one factor to which
due weight should be given viz., the ready acceptance by the ego, in his clear-sighted vision, of conditions for his personality for other than those of the personality might be willing to choose for itself. The schooling of experience is not always pleasant, and, to the limited knowledge of the personality, there must be much of earth experiencewhich sems needlessly painful unjust and useless.
But the Ego, ere he plunges into the "Lethe of the body-" sees the causes which result in the conditions of the incarnation, on which he is to enter, and the
opportunities which will be afforded for growth: hence it is easy to see how lightly will weigh in the balance all passing griefs and pains trivial, to that piercing, farseeing gaze, the joys and woes of earth.
For what is each life but a step in the "Perpetual progress for each incarnating, Ego, or divine soul, in an evolution from the outward to the inward, from the material to the Spiritual, arriving at the end of each stage of absolute unity with the Divine Principle. From strength to strength, from the beauty and perfection of one plane to the greater beauty and perfection of another, with accessions of new glory, of fresh knowledge and power in each cycle, such is the destiny of every Ego". [Key To Theosophy, p.155].
And as Annie Besant graphically puts it, "with such a destiny, what boots the passing suffering of a moment, or even the anguish of a darkened life?"
Continuing with our brief examination of the question of the karma of an ego, it is possible to see the great mass of the accumulated karma - know as the sanchita or piled-up karma—hovering over the ego. Usually it is not a pleasant sight, because, by the nature of things, it contains more evil than good. The reason for this is as follows.
In the earlier stages of their development most men have, through ignorance, done may things that they should not have done, and consequently have laid up for themselves, as a physical result, a good deal of suffering on the physical plane. The average civilised man, on the other hand, is trying to do good rather than harm, and therefore, on the whole, is likely to be making more good karma than bad. But by no means all of the good karma goes into the accumulated mass and so we get the impression in that mass of a preponderanceof evil over good.
This again needs further explanation. The natural result of good thoughts, or good actions, is to improve the man himself, to improve the quality of his
vehicles, to bring out in him qualities of courage, affection, devotion, and so forth.
These effects thus show themselves in the man himself, and in his vehicles, but not in the mass of piled-up karma which is waiting for him.
If, however, he performs a good action, with the thought of its reward in his mind, then good karma for that action will come to him, and it will be stored up, with the rest of the accumulation, until such time as it can be brought forward, and
materialised into activity.
Such good karma naturally binds the man to earth just as effectually as evil karma: consequently, the man who is aiming at real progress learns to do all actions entirely without thought of self, or of the result of his action. This is not to say that any man can avoid the result of his actions, be they good or bad: but he can change the character of the result. If he forgets himself entirely, and does good actions out of the fulness of his heart, then the whole force of the result is spent in the building of his own character,and nothing of it remains to bind him to the lower planes. The fact is that in each case the man gets what he wants: in the words of the Jesus: "Verily I say unto you, they have their reward".
An ego may sometimes choose whether he will take certain karma in the present life, though often the brain consciousness may know nothing of the choice: the very adverse circumstances, at which a man is grumbling, may thus be exactly what he has deliberately chosen for himself, in order to forward his evolution.
A pupil of a Master may often dominate and largely change his karma, setting in motion new forces in many directions, which naturally modify the working out of the old ones.
All of us have more or less of evil karma behind us, and, until that is disposed of it will be a perpetual hindrance to us in our higher work. Hence one of the earliest steps, in the direction of serious progress, is to work out whatever of this evil still remains to us.This results in the Agents of Karma giving us the opportunity of paying off more of this debt, in order that the way may be cleared for our future work; this, of course, may, and often does, involve a considerable increase of suffering in various directions.
The portion of karma selected for discharge in a particular life is known as "ripe",
The portion of karma selected for discharge in a particular life is known as "ripe",