It is hoped that any reader who has been sufficiently interested to
follow this treatise thus far, may by this time have a general idea of
the astral plane and its possibilities, such as will enable him to
understand and fit into their proper places in its scheme any facts in
connection with it which he may pick up in his reading. Though only
the roughest sketch has been given of a very great subject, enough has
perhaps been said to show the extreme importance of astral perception
in the study of biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, medicine and
history, and the great impulse which might be given by its development
to all these sciences. Yet its attainment should never be regarded as
an end in itself, since any means adopted with that object in view
would inevitably lead to what is called in the East the _laukika_
method of development--a system by which certain psychic powers are
indeed acquired, but only for the present personality; and since their
acquisition is surrounded by no safeguards, the student is extremely
likely to misuse them. To this class belong all systems which involve
the use of drugs, invocation of elementals, or the practices of Hatha
Yoga. The other method, which is called the _lokottara_, consists of
Raj Yoga or spiritual progress, and though it may be somewhat slower
than the other, whatever is acquired along this line is gained for the
permanent individuality, and never lost again, while the guiding care
of a Master ensures perfect safety from misuse of power as long as
his orders are scrupulously obeyed. The opening of astral vision must
be regarded then only as a stage in the development of something
infinitely nobler--merely as a step, and a very small step, on that
great Upward Path which leads men to the sublime heights of Adeptship,
and beyond even that through glorious vistas of wisdom and power such
as our finite minds cannot now conceive.
Yet let no one think it an unmixed blessing to have the wider sight of
the astral plane, for upon one in whom that vision is opened the
sorrow and misery, the evil and the greed of the world press as an
ever-present burden, until he often feels inclined to echo the
passionate adjuration of Schiller: "Why hast thou cast me thus into
the town of the ever-blind, to proclaim thine oracle with the opened
sense? Take back this sad clear-sightedness; take from mine eyes this
cruel light! Give me back my blindness--the happy darkness of my
senses; take back thy dreadful gift!" This feeling is perhaps not an
unnatural one in the earlier stages of the Path, yet higher sight and
deeper knowledge soon bring to the student the perfect certainty that
all things are working together for the eventual good of all--that
Hour after hour, like an opening flower,
Shall truth after truth expand;
For the sun may pale, and the stars may fail,
But the LAW of GOOD shall stand.
Its splendour glows and its influence grows
As Nature's slow work appears,
From the zoophyte small to the LORDS of all,
Through kalpas and crores of years.
* * * * *