It is said that "for three thousand years at least the 'mummy,' not
withstanding all the chemical preparations, goes on throwing off to the
last invisible atoms, which, from the hour of death, reentering the
various vortices of being, go indeed through every variety of organized
life-forms. But it is not the soul, the fifth, least of all the sixth
principle, but the life-atoms of the Jiva, the second principle. At the
end of the 3,000 years, sometimes more, and sometimes less, after
endless transmigrations, all these atoms are once more drawn together,
and are made to form the new outer clothing or the body of the same
monad (the real soul) which they had already clothed two or three
thousand years before. Even in the worst case, that of the annihilation
of the conscious personal principle, the monad or individual soul is
ever the same, as are also the atoms of the lower principles, which,
regenerated and renewed in this ever-flowing river of being, are
magnetically drawn together owing to their affinity, and are once more
reincarnated together."
This little passage is a new instalment of occult teaching given to the
public, and opens up a vast field for thought. It suggests, in the
first instance, that the exoteric doctrine of the transmigration of the
soul through lower forms of existence--so generally believed in by the
Hindus, though incorrect as regards the soul (fifth principle)--has some
basis of truth when referred to the lower principles.
It is stated further that the mummy goes on throwing off invisible
atoms, which go through every variety of organized life-forms, and
further on it is stated that it is the life-atoms of the Jiva, the
second principle, that go through these transmigrations.
According to the esoteric teaching, the Jiva "is a form of force
indestructible, and, when disconnected with one set of atoms, becoming
attracted immediately by others."
What, then, is meant by the life-atoms, and their going through endless
transmigrations?
The invisible atoms of the mummy would mean the imperceptibly decaying
atoms of the physical body, and the life-atoms of the Jiva would be
quite distinct from the atoms of the mummy. Is it meant to imply that
both the invisible atoms of the physical body, as well as the atoms of
the Jiva, after going through various life-forms, return again to
re-form the physical body, and the Jiva of the entity that has reached
the end of its Devachanic state and is ready to be reincarnated again?
It is taught, again, that even in the worst case (the annihilation of
the Personal Ego) the atoms of the lower principles are the same as in
the previous birth. Here, does the term "lower principles" include the
Kama rupa also, or only the lower triad of body, Jiva, and Lingasarira?
It seems the Kama rupa in that particular case cannot be included, for
in the instance of the annihilation of the personal soul, the Kama rupa
would be in the eighth sphere.
Another question also suggests itself. The fourth principle (Kama rupa)
and the lower portion of the fifth, which cannot be assimilated by the
sixth, wander about as shells, and in time disperse into the elements of
which they are made. Do the atoms of these principles also reunite,
after going through various transmigrations, to constitute over again
the fourth and the lower fifth of the next incarnation?
--N.D.K.