THE PATH PROPER.
It is in the four stages of this division of the path that the ten
Saṃyojana, or fetters which bind man to the circle of rebirth and hold
him back from Nirvâṇa, must be cast off. And here comes the difference
between this period of pledged discipleship and the previous probation.
No partial success in getting rid of these fetters is sufficient now;
before a candidate can pass on from one of the steps to the next he
must be _entirely_ free from certain of these clogs; and when they
are enumerated it will be seen how far-reaching this requirement is,
and there will be little cause to wonder at the statement made in the
sacred books that seven incarnations are sometimes required to pass
through this division of the path.
Each of these four steps or stages is again divided into four: for each
has (1) its Maggo, or way, during which the student is striving to cast
off the fetters; (2) its Phala (result or fruit) when he finds the
results of his action in so doing showing themselves more and more;
(3) its Bhavagga or consummation, the period when, the result having
culminated, he is able to fulfill satisfactorily the work belonging to
the step on which he now firmly stands; and (4) its Gotrabhû, meaning,
as before, the time when he arrives at a fit state to receive the next
initiation. The first stage is:
I. Sotâpatti or Sohan. The pupil who has attained this level is
spoken of as the Sowani or Sotâpanna--“he who has entered the
stream,”--because from this period, though he may linger, though he
may succumb to more refined temptations and turn aside from his course
for a time, he can no longer fall back altogether from spirituality
and become a mere worldling. He has entered upon the stream of
definite higher human evolution, upon which all humanity must enter
by the middle of the next round, unless they are to be left behind as
temporary failures by the great life-wave, to wait for further progress
until the next chain of worlds.
The pupil who is able to take this initiation has therefore already
outstripped the majority of humanity to the extent of an entire round
of all our seven planets, and in doing so has definitely secured
himself against the possibility of falling out of the stream in the
fifth round. He is consequently sometimes spoken of as “the saved”
or “the safe one.” It is from a misunderstanding of this idea that
there arises the curious theory of salvation promulgated by a certain
section of the Christian community. The “æonian salvation” of which
some of its documents speak is not, as has been blasphemously supposed
by the ignorant, from eternal torture, but simply from wasting the rest
of this æon or dispensation by falling out of its line of progress.
This also is the meaning, naturally, of the celebrated clause in the
Athanasian Creed, “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is
necessary that he hold the catholic faith” (See _The Christian
Creed_, p. 91). The fetters which he must cast off before he can
pass into the next stage are:
1. Sakkâyadiṭṭhi--the delusion of self.
2. Vichikichchhâ--doubt or uncertainty.
3. Sîlabbataparâmâsa--superstition.
The first of these is the “I am I” consciousness, which as connected
with the _personality_ is nothing but an illusion, and must be
got rid of at the very first step of the real upward path. But to cast
off this fetter completely means even more than this, for it involves
the realization of the fact that the individuality also is in very
truth one with the All, that it can therefore never have any interests
opposed to those of its brethren, and that it is most truly progressing
when it most assists the progress of others.
For the very sign and seal of the attainment of the Sotâpatti level
is the first entrance of the pupil into the plane next above the
mental--that which we usually call the buddhic. It may be--nay, it
will be--the merest touch of the lowest sub-plane of that stupendously
exalted condition that the pupil can as yet experience, even with his
Master’s help; but even that touch is something that can never be
forgotten--something that opens a new world before him, and entirely
revolutionizes his feelings and conceptions. Then for the first time,
by means of the extended consciousness of that plane, he truly realizes
the underlying unity of all, not as an intellectual conception merely,
but as a definite fact that is patent to his opened eyes; then first he
really knows something of the world in which he lives--then first he
gets some slight glimpse of what the love and compassion of the great
Masters must be.
As to the second letter, a word of caution is necessary. We who have
been trained in European habits of thought are unhappily so familiar
with the idea that a blind unreasoning adhesion to certain dogmas may
be claimed from a disciple, that on hearing that occultism considers
_doubt_ as an obstacle to progress, we are likely to suppose that
it also requires the same unquestioning faith from its followers as
modern superstitions do. No idea could be more entirely false.
It is true that doubt (or rather uncertainty) on certain questions is a
bar to spiritual progress, but the antidote to that doubt is not blind
faith (which is itself considered as a fetter, as will presently be
seen) but the certainty of conviction founded on individual experiment
or mathematical reasoning. While a child doubted the accuracy of the
multiplication table he would hardly acquire proficiency in the higher
mathematics; but his doubts could be satisfactorily cleared up only by
his attaining a comprehension, founded on reasoning or experiment, that
the statements contained in the table are true. He believes that twice
two are four, not merely because he has been told so, but because it
has become to him a self-evident fact. And this is exactly the method,
and the only method, of resolving doubt known to occultism.
Vichikichchhâ has been defined as doubt of the doctrines of karma and
reincarnation, and of the efficacy of the method of attaining the
highest good by this path of holiness; and the casting off of this
Saṃyojana is the arriving at absolute certainty, based either upon
personal first-hand knowledge or upon reason, that the occult teaching
upon these points is true.
The third fetter to be got rid of comprehends all kinds of unreasoning
or mistaken belief, all dependence on the efficacy of outward rites and
ceremonies to purify the heart. He who would cast it off must learn to
depend upon himself alone, not upon others, nor upon the outer husk of
any religion.
The first three fetters are in a coherent series. The difference
between individuality and personality being fully realized, it is
then possible to some extent to appreciate the actual course of
reincarnation, and so as to dispel all doubt on that head. This done,
the knowledge of the spiritual permanence of the true ego gives rise to
reliance on one’s own spiritual strength, and so dispels superstition.
II. Sakadâgâmî. The pupil who has entered upon this second stage is
spoken of as a Sakridâgâmin--“the man who returns but once”--signifying
that a man who has reached this level should need but one more
incarnation before attaining arahatship. At this step no additional
fetters are cast off, but the pupil is occupied in reducing to a
minimum those which still enchain him. It is, however, usually a period
of considerable psychic and intellectual advancement.
If what are commonly called psychic faculties have not been previously
acquired, they must be developed at this stage, as without them it
would be impossible to assimilate the knowledge which must now be
given, or to do the higher work for humanity in which the pupil is
now privileged to assist. He must have the astral consciousness at
his command during his physical waking life, and during sleep the
heaven-world will be open before him--for the consciousness of a man
when away from his physical body is always one stage higher than it is
while he is still burdened with the house of flesh.
III. Anâgâmî. The Anâgâmin (he who does not return) is so called
because, having reached this stage, he ought to be able to attain
the next one in the life he is then living. He enjoys, while moving
through the round of his daily work, all the splendid possibilities
of progress given by the full possession of the priceless faculties
of the heaven-world, and when he leaves his physical vehicle at
night he enters once more into the wonderfully-widened consciousness
that belongs to the buddhi. In this step he finally gets rid of any
lingering remains of the two fetters of
4. Kâmarâga--attachment to the enjoyment of sensation, typified by
earthly love, and
5. Patigha--all possibility of anger or hatred.
The student who has cast off these fetters can no longer be swayed by
the influence of his senses either in the direction of love or hatred,
and is free from either attachment to or impatience of physical plane
conditions.
Here again we must guard against a possible misconception--one with
which we frequently meet. The purest and noblest human love _never_
dies away--is _never_ in any way diminished by occult training; on
the contrary, it is increased and widened until it embraces all with
the same fervor which at first was lavished on one or two. But the
student does in time rise above all considerations connected with the
mere _personality_ of those around him, and so is free from all the
injustice and partiality which ordinary love so often brings in its
train.
Nor should it for a moment be supposed that in gaining this wide
affection for all he loses the especial love for his closer friends.
The unusually perfect link between Ânanda and the Buddha, as between
S. John and Jesus, is on record to prove that on the contrary this is
enormously intensified; and the tie between a Master and his pupils is
stronger far than any earthly bond. For the affection which flourishes
upon the path of holiness is an affection between egos, and not merely
between personalities; therefore it is strong and permanent, without
fear of diminution or fluctuation, for it is that “perfect love which
casteth out fear.”
IV. Arahat (the venerable, the perfect). On attaining this level the
aspirant constantly enjoys the consciousness of the buddhic plane, and
is able to use its powers and faculties while still in the physical
body; and when he leaves that body in sleep or trance he passes at
once into the unutterable glory of the nirvâṇic plane. In this stage
the occultist must cast off the last remnants of the five remaining
fetters, which are:
6. Rûparâga--desire for beauty of form or for physical existence in a
form, even including that in the heaven-world.
7. Arûparâga--desire for formless life.
8. Mâno--pride.
9. Uddhachcha--agitation or irritability.
10. Avijjâ--ignorance.
On this we may remark that the casting off of Rûparâga involves not
only getting rid of desire for earthly life, however grand or noble
that life may be, and astral or devachanic life, however glorious,
but also of all liability to be unduly influenced or repelled by the
external beauty or ugliness of any person or thing.
Arûparâga--desire for life either in the highest and formless planes of
the heaven-world or in the still more exalted buddhic plane--would be
merely a higher and less sensual form of selfishness, and must be cast
off just as much as the lower. Uddhachcha really means “liability to
be disturbed in mind,” and a man who had finally cast off this fetter
would be absolutely unruffled by anything whatever that might happen
to him--perfectly impervious to any kind of attack upon his dignified
serenity.
The getting rid of ignorance of course implies the acquisition of
perfect knowledge--practical omniscience as regards our planetary
chain. When all the fetters are finally cast off the advancing ego
reaches the fifth stage--the stage of full adeptship--and becomes
V. Asekha, “the one who has no more to learn,” again as regards our
planetary chain. It is quite impossible for us to realize at our
present level what this attainment means. All the splendor of the
nirvâṇic plane lies open before the waking eyes of the adept, while
when he chooses to leave his body he has the power to enter upon
something higher still--a plane which to us is the merest name. As
Professor Rhys Davids explains, “He is now free from all sin; he sees
and values all things in this life at their true value; all evil
being rooted from his mind, he experiences only righteous desires for
himself, and tender pity and regard and exalted love for others.”
To show how little he has lost the sentiment of love, we read in the
Metta Sutta of the state of mind of one who stands at this level: “As
a mother loves, who even at the risk of her own life protects her only
son, such love let there be toward all beings. Let good will without
measure prevail in the whole world, above, below, around, unstinted,
unmixed with any feeling of differing or opposing interests. When a man
remains steadfastly in this state of mind all the while, whether he be
standing or walking, sitting or lying down, then is come to pass the
saying which is written, ‘Even in this life has holiness been found.’”