H
P Blavatsky
Mahatmas and Chelas
Anonymous Article
A Mahatma is an
individual who, by special training and education, has evolved those higher
faculties, and has attained that spiritual knowledge, which ordinary humanity
will acquire after passing through
numberless series of
re-incarnations during the process of cosmic evolution, provided, of course,
that they do not go, in the meanwhile, against the purposes of Nature and thus
bring on their own annihilation.
This process of the
self-evolution of the MAHATMA extends over a number of
"incarnations," although, comparatively speaking, they are very few.
Now, what is it that incarnates? The
occult doctrine, so far as it is given out, shows that the first three principles
die more or less with what is called the physical death. The fourth principle, together with the lower
portions of the fifth, in which reside the animal propensities, has Kama Loka
for its abode, where it suffers the throes of disintegration in proportion to
the intensity of those lower desires; while it is the higher Manas, the pure
man, which is associated with the sixth and seventh principles, that goes into
Devachan to enjoy there the effects of its good Karma, and then to be
reincarnated as a higher personality.
Now an entity that is
passing through the occult training in its successive births, gradually has
less and less (in each incarnation) of that lower Manas until there arrives a
time when its whole Manas, being of an entirely elevated character, is centred in the individuality, when such a person may be
said to have become a MAHATMA.
At the time of his
physical death, all the lower four principles perish without any suffering, for
these are, in fact, to him like a piece of wearing apparel which he puts on and
off at will. The real MAHATMA is then
not his physical body but that higher Manas which is inseparably linked to the
Atma and its vehicle (the sixth principle)--a union effected by him in a
comparatively very short period by passing through the process of
self-evolution laid down by Occult Philosophy.
When
therefore, people express a desire to "see a MAHATMA," they
really do not seem to understand what it is they ask for. How can they, with their physical eyes, hope
to see that which transcends that sight?
Is it the body--a mere shell or mask--they crave or hunt after? And supposing they see the body of a MAHATMA,
how can they know that behind that mask is concealed an exalted entity? By what standard are they to judge whether
the Maya before them reflects the image of a true MAHATMA or not? And who will say that the physical is not a
Maya?
Higher things can be
perceived only by a sense pertaining to those higher things; whoever therefore
wants to see the real MAHATMA, must use his
intellectual sight. He must so elevate
his Manas that its perception will be clear and all mists created by Maya be
dispelled. His vision will then be
bright and he will see the MAHATMA wherever he may be, for, being merged into
the sixth and the seventh principles, which know no distance, the MAHATMA may
be said to be everywhere. But, at the
same time, just as we may be standing on a mountain top and have within our
sight the whole plain, and yet not be cognizant of any particular tree or spot,
because from that elevated position all below is nearly
identical, and as our
attention may be drawn to something which may be dissimilar to its
surroundings--in the same manner, although the whole of humanity is within the
mental vision of the MAHATMA, he cannot be expected to take special note of
every human being, unless that being by
his special acts draws particular attention to himself. The highest interest of humanity, as a whole,
is the MAHATMA's special concern, for he has
identified himself with that Universal Soul which runs through Humanity; and to draw his
attention one must do so through that Soul.
This perception of the
Manas may be called "faith" which should not be confounded with blind
belief. "Blind faith" is an
expression sometimes used to indicate belief without perception or
understanding; while
the true perception of the Manas is that enlightened belief which is the real
meaning of the word "faith."
This belief should at the same time be accompanied by knowledge, i.e.,
experience, for "true knowledge brings with it faith." Faith is the perception of the Manas (the
fifth principle), while knowledge, in the true sense of the term, is the capacity
of the Intellect, i.e., it is spiritual perception.
In short, the
individuality of man, composed of his higher Manas, the sixth and the seventh
principle, should work as a unity, and then only can it obtain "divine
wisdom," for divine things can be sensed only by divine faculties. Thus a chela should
be actuated solely by a desire to understand the operations of the Law of
Cosmic Evolution, so as to be able to work in conscious and harmonious accord
with Nature.
--Anon.
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