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November 1961 to January 1962

Pages 42-43 – The Theosophical Movement – November (p. 35-36)

You raise a very ticklish question — the health of the body. This is not as simple and straightforward as it seems. Health is wholeness, not only of the body but of the whole being. Medical science has made progress but on a wrong foundation — the body everything; human consciousness born of the body is secondary. Beginning in this fashion, they have gone on till the professionals find themselves in a maze. Does one disease-cure beget other diseases? Even psychosomatic medicine proceeds on a false premise. Psyche affects soma — body; how is understood a bit, though there is confusion. But why? Why does not the body affect its child, the psyche? You are right — every new generation suffers in bodily health more than the preceding one. One sees it in one’s own experience. I am afraid bodies will deteriorate with the progress of Kali Yuga. Remedy? Step out of Kali Yuga. It can be done and should be done. This is where our Theosophical application comes in. Our wrong customs, habits and conventions have to be discarded. That is where “asceticism” comes in. Food, exercise, dress, sleep, these are to be changed. Rules of magnetic cleanliness have to be practiced.

I am very sorry to hear about------’s ill health. Modern medicine is not an unmixed blessing and if she is stuffed with injections and potions she might find life more difficult. The philosophy of medical science is wrong; and modern psychology is not only unhelpful but is positively misleading. When one conjectures why the Masters in giving Their Message began insistently with the sevenfold constitution of Man one cannot help deducing that it must have been, among other reasons, to point out to the student world in its entirety the importance of the astral body, the vehicle of Prana and the very basis of the Personal Man. Electric and magnetic matter, its nature and properties and the purpose and place of animal magnetism should be the very soul of medical science. It is all topsy-turvy.

The higher state of the inner consciousness does affect the health of the body, but our Karma and race Karma and Kali Yuga produce an imbalance in the body. If you look at the seven qualifications given in “Chelas and Lay Chelas” you will find that the first demand is perfect physical health. But what does “perfect” health mean? This is the big question. Ailments caused by inner ill health and those by outer circumstances form one factor; then there is the racial factor; unselfish service of the race causes absorption of humanity’s Karma. Most people are human elemental on their way to becoming human Gods. As the former we are compound beings and so divisible; as the latter we are unitary and indivisible. Out of the two a third arises — the Superior Man. Please see the 15th chapter of the Gita — an important classification.

Blind acceptance of medical science is rooted in ignorance; people are so intent on making money or chasing other shadows that they do not care to spend time and give attention to their own body and learn something about it. We have in Theosophy numerous hints and much knowledge indirectly applicable to bodily well-being, but our students do not take the trouble to understand, and when they do, they do not care to apply because procrastination comes in! Magnetism, elementals, etc., but above all the implications of Reincarnation and Karma, should bring them not only solace and comfort but some zest for practice, causing the birth of devotion, of silence, of secrecy.

More and more it is becoming clear even to the doctors that the effects of thought and feeling upon the body are the real cause of hundreds of ailments. We have to work to make it clear to all who will listen that ill health, save in karmic cases, can be handled properly by an inner balance and calm. When the will works harmoniously, as Mr. Judge pointed out in his article, the body responds to it in a very correct way. Even now the body can respond to the spiritual impulses more quickly and better than to kamic impulses. Even now it costs a person some effort to live a sensuous life, and he does not know that in the long run he loses more than he would benefit himself by taking the right course. Even from the selfish and personal point of view there is greater belief and zest in the enjoyment of spiritual things without gaining bodily ill health than in the enjoyment of sensuous things on the kamic and material planes. Read in this line Mr. Judge’s article in Vernal Blooms, “Advantages and Disadvantages in Life.”

Such experiences as you are having, connected with suffering and anguish, are soul-purifiers. H.P.B. says in The Secret Doctrine, Vol. II, p. 475: “Woe to those who live without suffering”; and so also in the seventh chapter of the Gita the “afflicted” are dear to Shri Krishna. Let me assure you that much more of spiritual sustenance is to be got out of bodily illness than is ordinarily conceived. It all depends on our Centre in the shrine of the body. Be calm, therefore, as much as you can; and try, as best as is possible under existing circumstances, to remind yourself that above the pairs of opposites are Peace and Bliss.

As to Prana and health: Animal Magnetism (see Glossary) holds the key. Judge speaks of an “invisible perspiration.” See the article on “Universal Brotherhood a Fact in Nature” in The Heart Doctrine. Physical bodily and hygienic rules have a deeper aspect — like food, bathing, clothes, etc. This is a vast subject.

Pages 44-46 – The Theosophical Movement – December 1961 (p. 72-74)

I know that you have not been well and are in pain. It is cold comfort to say, “You are paying off Karma,” but it is so. And I should like to explain how. You, having proven your ardency to be capable of immortality, must gain the privilege of a healthy body so necessary for Chelaship — see and note that to be the very first condition (“Chelas and Lay Chelas”). Unless in this body which has served you well you are helped to clear away ill-health elementals by pushing them down and out, how are you to be free of them? Karma and Skandhas are intimately linked. Tanhaic elementals are builders and destroyers and their status has to be improved, for they are the bearers of spiritual stamina. So, in a way, it is natural that you are having difficulties with an ailing and aging body. Remedy: A collected Centre of thought, will and feeling should be maintained, and the one and only force which is essential for that task is that of Altruism — Paramartha. The sustaining power of the Universe, called Vishnu, lives by Altruism, imparting it to all persons. Regeneration brings Truth, Knowledge, Satya. Brahma, the Creative Power, is Compassion. This may sound like metaphysics, which again is cold comfort.

So, with a collected centre in deliberate calmness you will be able to put up with pain and you will comprehend what is said in the S.D., II. 475, about suffering and sufferers. I wish I could be with you to comfort and to sustain you. Daily my thoughts go to you, and my best love.

During the last year you have gone through a great deal of bodily suffering, but you have cleansed yourself of many things. Allow me to quote from a less known letter of Mr. Judge and you will see that he lays down a principle which applies to people like you, who have been faithful student-servers of the Great Lodge:—

You may perhaps ask why Mme. Blavatsky does not cure herself if, as I believe, she has that power, and know that she possesses it. You must remember that curing bodily diseases and restoring physical health is not the “be all and end all.” Philosophy as well as religion has always taught that the Soul is purified and strengthened by suffering, and it is sometimes well to suffer. If we could know the action and operation of Karma we would see that by suffering pain in sickness bad Karma is worked off which could not be got rid of if one be suddenly cured as in “mind cure.” Those who know and recognize that facts are cured thereby of the mental distress which is so large a part of the evil of bodily suffering, and this is for them a “'mind cure” on a higher plane than the physical, for then they can bear their sufferings with calmness and resignation.

So much for the past. I must send you my heartfelt wishes for your peace and your enlightenment, the positive and negative aspects of the world of spirit. May the Good Law prove its beneficence to you in the visible world and in the brain! I hope that you have made considerable progress with your physical disability.

I am very much pleased at your remark that the enforced rest is doing you good in directions other than the physical. Therein you must see the mercy aspect of the Law of Karma. Bodily ill health also can be made psychical and spiritual use of from the spiritual unfoldment point of view. To see our aches and pains of the body as different and apart from our real Self leads us in the direction of the Ego. But you will find that out for yourself, and the experiences which follow. There is another aspect — bodily illness enables us to throw off the poisons and clear the system; no disease is wholly physical, and there are physical cleanliness and psychical purity, both aspects of one phenomenon. Rest up not only in your body, therefore, but also mentally and psychically. The lower quaternary so changed will be found to be better adapted to the Spiritual Triad.

I have been greatly distressed to learn of your ill health and the many difficulties through which you have passed. I hope you are a little better now, not only in your bodily health but also in your psychic and mind state. You have gone through many difficulties, but suffering “is the badge of all our tribe”; and if we try to absorb and assimilate the experiences that suffering brings we purify ourselves at the same time as we pay off so much in Karmic debt. But you know all this, and if I write this it is only to remind you and appeal to you to keep close to our books and our great ideas, for they possess real comfort; and the memory of the Great Theosophists always energizes and inspires us to become whole.

Why does the Gita give “honouring the gods, the brahmans, the teachers and the wise” as a mortification of the body? Tapas or the mortifying aspect thereof must be contrary to the object to be mortified. Now the separative and the lower materialistic tendencies are the factors of the gross body. Gods (human Egos or Deva-Monads), Holy Men in general, our teachers who have imparted knowledge of one type or another and the learned in right conduct — all these by precept and example weaken the gross tendencies of the body.

The “body agitated” (Voice, p. 32) means vitally alive — to what? To the mind-soul calmed and enveloped through and through by the spirit-influence. It is not passivity that is to be understood by the term but the body’s receptivity. A medium is passive; a disciple becomes more and more receptive.

Receptivity of the body is, or should be, an orderly process: (1) to Manas freed from Kama, i.e., Antahkarana; (2) to Manas, i.e., No. 1 becomes receptive to No. 2; then (3) to Manas-Taijasi; and (4) to the Monad. That is one line. The second is: (1) the earthly or little guru; (2) the Great Guru as Manasa-Putra — he who lighted up our Manas; (3) the Dhyani-Buddha. The common link between the two lines is one’s own inner divine nature directly connected with the Logos, Ishwara, Krishna or Christos. Here is human evolution to be looked at from a different point of view.

Pages 47-49 – The Theosophical Movement – January 1962 (pp. 114-116)

Dharma is the law of self-nature, not of the lower self-nature but the incarnated ego’s self-nature. The incarnated ray of the human ego is one thing and that ray getting involved with Kama is another thing. We must make a distinction between Kama-Manas and the Antahkaranic being which separates itself from Kama and goes in the direction of the parent overbrooded by Atma-Buddhi. The individual Dharma of the ego is really of the nature of the Atma-Buddhi-Manasic Monad in relationship to its Parent Star or original Dhyani-Buddha.

Narrow and circumscribing feelings and thoughts, which conventions consider good, remain narrow and circumscribing for the soul. This is the real test of the earnest student of Theosophy. As Mr. Judge points out, we often have the defects of our qualities. Do we not often form a wrong conviction or an overestimate of what we call our duty? If we apply the word Dharma, the property of the soul, it must manifest in action as burning is manifested by fire; then we would not be worried about right and wrong duties. The fire gives warmth, but the fire also burns up and destroys; our duties or actions must be such that they give warmth and comfort to others, but at the same time consume and destroy the personal ties and possessions of our own lower nature. This is the idea that you should keep in mind in this period when things must look very grim.

We have to do duties and remain detached. This is the Buddhi Yoga of the second chapter of the Gita. We have to become devoted and think of Masters all the time, and that need not mean neglecting the duties of earning a livelihood or doing tasks at home, which too can and should be theosophized.

Our daily chores may seem bothersome, but they teach (1) patience, (2) steadfastness and (3) how to derive joy by looking up to their archetypes. “Hitch your wagon to a star,” and the slowness and fatigue of the jogging journey begin to disappear. That is what we have to do. We can and should be and are learning. “A calm reliance on the Law,” you say— that is the real thing we need. If we actually had it we would neither fret nor be bothered, and anxiety and worry would vanish. As to patience, if you try to develop it in small things you will not only find it possible but will also speed up the unfoldment.

You will find as you strive that each effort leads to success — however slow in coming that success be. Of course, it is but natural that your ordinary family vocations “bore” you; but don’t be bored, my friend. You are acquiring a new attitude and readjustments are always troublesome. Keep on loving all and working for them. The ties of Home are kindred to the ties of Heaven.

About the duty of another being dangerous: Judge’s Aphorisms clarify several points. It always seems to me that much simplification results by a primary application of the teaching — “That which is not necessary for you to do is not your duty.” A big bulk falls away; among it all “the duty of another.” Lending a helping hand is our duty; Judge’s Aphorism is very clear. There the genuine difficulty is that the “help” depends on our knowledge and capacity to understand so as to help. Of course it is a very difficult problem: but Vairagya as one of the seven aspects of Compassion Absolute gives us the clue and very often reveals what should be done and how. One factor: in helping another we must not do his job but must aid him to accomplish it.

Our duty to our Higher Self may produce what looks like conflict of duties in the personal life; but if we apply to our myriad duties the Law of Necessity we see daylight and are able to resolve the conflict. That which is necessary alone is regarded as duty. It does estrange us sometimes from family and friends. But if we live truly according to Esoteric Principles the bonds and bondage of Karma fall away. One should not break them; the Good Law and Its Custodians remove afflictions of personal Karma. It is said. Karma always opens the door.

Of course the Law of Necessity is difficult of application. But it certainly helps us to eliminate many a so-called duty. Then naturally arises conflict of duties on a higher spiral. There the need must be felt by the soul. Helping of others — kin, friends or strangers — is the need of one’s own soul, as much as it is needed by those others. But in this “Let Every Man Prove His Own Work” becomes our guide. Between duty and inclination, the choice is to be made: also, to avoid impulsive words and actions and to be deliberate in speech and deeds is necessary. It is a Great Game — the recreation side of the School of Occultism.

The Law of Necessity offers awkwardnesses and obstacles; inclinations call out in the name of necessity. Sva-dharma’s one aspect is duties which are congenital; but the perceiver and determinator of every dharma is the lower self of likes and inclinations. Then comes the next stage—the conflict of duties; that is where you now are. Immediately follow higher motives and inclinations and the conflict is between the lower and the higher, as you are experiencing at this hour. It is at this stage that we have H.P.B.’s pointer — justice to one’s own soul-self. Theosophical work is not a matter of choice only. Do we not need it? Do we not feel the deep necessity to attend to the chosen job? Body needs nourishment— all recognize that; some of us recognize the need for mental and for soul food and the latter Theosophical work and service develop discrimination we are able to see to which is to be given and in that resignation (inner) is the aid. Conservation of time and energy goes a great way in our success.

Once again, I am exceedingly sorry to point out to you that in trying to do many things your execution of your own duties is becoming poorer. Why meddle in things which don’t concern you? Well, I know you have not been well bodily; then why not strictly attend to your own dharma and not try to help here and there? All that is necessary for you in your relationship to others is to be friendly, not to do things for them involving time and energy. Unless you learn to use your leisure to recoup your own strength and magnetism you will fast deteriorate in doing your own work. This is not a threat; it is a warning. I suppose I can never make you catch up with the work so as to have respite. Whenever you have time it is spent in unnecessary work. You would be able to accomplish more if you minded your own duties, without inventing something in the name of duties. 

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When one stops to think, to weigh, and to consider what is one’s duty, or which of many duties should be performed first, it is indeed perplexing and difficult to know what to do. But if you will do just what lies before you without thinking about all the other things and without troubling your mind about all the things you can't do, then it will be all different and everything will grow brighter for you. Do what you have to do now, don't trouble about other things; they will be look after in due time; but what will help you in all those matters is to be content to do what you can, and to let the rest go; act with a high motive; have Kindle feelings towards all; do some little act of kindness every day and try to realize that the end of all this will be happiness and peace for all humanity. Then a foretaste of that peace will enter your own heart. There is a bright side to life and what makes the brightness is the love which each of us may have for humanity.

I trust you will go on unfalteringly. Do not be depressed by anything. It is of no use. Besides it may be accorded if you will avoid setting down, to be achieved, any certain results as to persons, numbers, times, or otherwise. We must be satisfied with what the time and Karma give us after we have done our duty and best.

W.Q. Judge