CHAPTER XXIV

RELIGION AND THE TEMPLES
This practical absence of all regulations gives to the whole place an air of remarkable freedom, al¬ though at the same time the atmosphere of one- pointedness impresses itself upon us very forcibly. Men are of many different types, and are moving along lines of development through intellect, devo¬ tion and action ; but all alike recognise that the Manu knows thoroughly well what He is doing, and that all these different ways are only so many methods of serving Him — that whatever development comes to one comes to him not for himself, but for the Race, that it may be handed on to his children. There are no longer different religions in our sense of the word, though the one teaching is given in different typical forms. The subject of religious worship is, however, of such great im¬ portance that we will now devote a special section to its consideration, following this up with the new methods of education, and the particulars of the personal, social and corporate life of the community.
Theosophy in the Community
Since the two Masters who founded the Theo- sophical Society are also the leaders of this community.
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it is quite natural that the religious opinion current there should be what we now call Theosophy. All that we now hold — all that is known in the inner¬ most circles of our Esoteric Section — is the common faith of the community, and many points on which
as yet our own knowledge is only rudimentary are
%
thoroughly grasped and understood in detail. The outline of our Theosophy is no longer a matter of discussion but of certainty, and the facts of the life after death and the existence and nature of the higher worlds are matters of experimental knowledge for nearly all members of the colony. Here, as in our own time, different branches of the study attract different people ; some think chiefly of the higher philosophy and metaphysics, while the majority prefer to express their religious feelings along some of the lines provided for them in the different Temples. A strong vein of practicality runs through all their think¬ ing, and we should not go far wrong in saying that the religion of this community is to do what it is told. There is no sort of divorcement between science and religion, because both alike are bent entirely to the one object, and exist only for the sake of the State. Men no longer worship various manifestations, since all possess accurate knowledge as to the existence of the Solar Deity. It is still the custom with many to make a salu¬ tation to the Sun as he rises, but all are fully aware that he is to be regarded as a centre in the body of the Deity.
The Devas •
One prominent feature of the religious life is the extent to which the Devas take part in
364 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
it. Many religions of the twentieth century spoke of a Golden Age in the past in which Angels or Deities walked freely among men, but this happy state of things had then ceased because of the grossness of that stage of evolution. As regards our community this has again been realised, for great Devas habitually come among the people and bring to them many new possibilities of development, each drawing to himself those cognate to his own nature. This should not surprise us, for even in the twentieth century much help was being given by Devas to those who were able to receive it. Such opportunities of learning, such avenues of advancement, were not then open to the majority, but this was not because of the unwillingness of the Devas, but because of man’s backwardness in evolution. We were then much in the position of child¬ ren in a primary class in this world-school. The great professors from the universities sometimes came to our school to instruct the advanced students, and we some¬ times saw them pass at a distance ; but their ministra¬ tions were as yet of no direct use to us simply because we were not a«t the age or state of development at which we could make any use of them. The classes were being held. The teachers were there, quite at our disposal as soon as we grew old enough. Our community has grown old enough, and therefore it is reaping the benefit of constant intercourse with these great beings and of frequent instruction from them.
The Temple Services
These Devas are not merely making sporadic appearances, but are definitely working as part
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of the regular organisation • under the direction of the Chief Priest, who takes entire control of the religious development of the community, and of its educational department. For the outward expression of this religion we find that various classes of Temple services are provided, and that the management of these is the especial function of the Devas. Four types of these Temples were observed, and though the outline and objects of the services were the same in all, there were striking differences in form and method, which we shall now endeavour to describe.
The key-note of the Temple service is that each man, belonging as he does to a particular type, has some one avenue through which he can most easily reach the Divine, and therefore be most easily reached in turn by divine influence. In some men that channel is affection, in others devotion,
in others sympathy, in yet others intellect. For
these four kinds of Temples exist, and in each of them the object is to bring the prominent quality in the man into active and conscious relationship with the corresponding quality in the LOGOS, of which it is a manifestation, for in that way the man himself can most easily be up¬
lifted and helped. Thereby he can be raised for a time to a level of spirituality and power far beyond anything that is normally possible for him ; and every such effort of spiritual ele¬ vation makes the next similar effort easier for him, and also raises slightly his normal level.
Every service which a man attends is intended to have a definite and calculated effect upon him,
366 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
and the services for a year or series of years are carefully ordered with a view to the average development of the congregation, and with the idea of carrying its members upward to a certain point. It is in this work that the co-operation of the Deva is so valuable, since he acts as a true priest and intermediary between the people and the LOGOS, re¬ ceiving, gathering together and forwarding their streams of aspirational force, and distributing, applying and bringing down to their level the floods of divine influence which come as a response from on high.
The Crimson Temple
The first Temple entered for the purposes of
examination was one of those which the Deva
•
originally showed in his pictures — one of those where progress is principally made through affec¬ tion, a great characteristic of the services of which is the splendid flood of colour which accompanies them, and is in fact their principal expression. Imagine a magnificent circular building somewhat resembling a cathedral, yet of no order of architecture at present known to us, and much more open to the outer air than it is possible for any cathedral to be in ordinary European climates. Imagine it filled with a reverent congregation, and the Deva- priest standing in the centre before them, on the apex of a kind of pyramidal or conical erection of filigree work, so that he is equally visible from every part of the great building.
It is noteworthy that every worshipper as he enters takes his seat on the pavement quietly and
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reverently, and then closes his eyes and passes before his mental vision a succession of sheets or clouds of colour, such as sometimes pass before one’s eyes in the darkness just before fall¬ ing asleep. Each person has an order of his own for these colours, and they are evidently to some extent a personal expression of him. This seems to be of the nature of the preliminary prayer on entering a church of the twentieth century, and is intended to calm the man, to collect his thoughts, if they have been wandering, and to attune him to the surrounding atmosphere and the purpose which it subserves. When the service commences the Deva materialises on the apex of his pyramid, assuming for the occasion a magnificent and glorified human form, and wearing in these particular Temples flowing vestments of rich crimson (the colour varies with the type of Temple, as will presently be seen).
His first action is to cause a flashing -out above his head of a band of brilliant colours somewhat resembling a solar spectrum, save that on different occasions the colours are in different order and vary in their proportions. It is practically impos¬ sible to describe this band of colours with accuracy, for it is much more than a mere spectrum : it is a picture, yet not a picture ; it has within it geometrical forms, yet we have at present no means by which it can be drawn or represented, for it is in more dimensions than are known to our senses as they are now constituted. This band is the key¬ note or text of that particular service, indicating to those who understand it the exact object
368 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
which it is intended to attain, and the direc¬ tion in which their affection and aspiration must be outpoured. It is a thought expressed in the colour-language of the Devas, and is intelligible as such to all the congregation. It is mater¬ ially visible on the physical plane, as well as on the astral and mental, for although the majority of the congregation are likely to possess at least astral sight, there may still be some for whom such sight is only occasional.
Each person present now attempts to imitate this text or key-note, forming by the power of his will in the air in front of himself a smaller band of colours as nearly like it as he can. Some succeed
far better than others, so that each such attempt
expresses not only the subject indicated by the Deva but also the character of the man who makes it. Some are able to make this so definitely that it is visible on the physical plane, while others can make it only at astral and mental levels.
Some of those who produce the most brilliant
and successful imitations of the form made by the Deva do not bring it down to the physical plane.
The Deva, holding out his arms over the people, now pours out through this colour-form a wonderful stream of influence upon them — a stream which reaches them through their own correspond¬ ing colour-forms and uplifts them precisely in the proportion in which they have been successful in making their colour-forms resemble that of the Deva. The influence is not that of the Deva-priest alone, for above and altogether beyond him, and apart from the Temple or the material world, stands
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a ring of higher Devas for whose forces he acts as a channel. The astral effect of the outpouring is remarkable. A sea of pale crimson light suf¬ fuses the vast aura of the Deva and spreads out in great waves over the congregation, thus acting upon them and stirring their emotions into greater activity. Each of them shoots up into the rose-coloured sea his own particular form, but beautiful though that is, it is naturally of a lower order than that of the Deva, individually coarser and less brilliant than the totality of brilliancy in which it flashes forth, and so we have a curious and beautiful effect of deep crimson flames piercing a rose-coloured sea — as one might imagine volcanic flames shooting up in front of a gorgeous sunset.
To understand to some extent how this activity of sympathetic vibration is brought about we must realise that the aura of a Deva is far more extensive than that of a human being, and it is also far more flexible. The feeling which in an ordinary man expresses itself in a smile of greeting, in a Deva causes a sudden expansion and brightening of the aura, and manifests not only in colour but also in musical sound. A greeting from one Deva to another is a splendid chord of music, or rather an arpeggio; a conver¬ sation between two Devas is like a fugue ; an oration delivered by one of them is a splendid oratorio. A Rupadeva of ordinary development has fre¬ quently an aura of many hundred yards in diameter, and when anything interests him or excites his enthusiasm it instantly increases enormously.
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370 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
Our Deva-priest therefore is including the whole of his congregation within his aura, and is conse¬ quently able to act upon them in a most intimate manner — from within as well as from without. Our readers may perhaps picture to themselves this aura, if they recollect that of the Arhat in Man Visible and Invisible ; but they must think of it as less fixed and more fluidic, more fiery and sparkling — as consisting almost entirely of pulsating fiery rays, which yet give much the same general effect of arrangement of colour. It is as though those spheres of colour remain, but are formed of fiery rays which are ever flowing outward, yet as they pass through each section of the radius they take upon themselves its colour.
The Links with the Logos
This first outpouring of influence upon the people has the effect of bringing each person up to his highest level, and evoking from him the noblest affection of which he is capable. When the Deva sees that all are tuned to the proper key, he reverses the current of his force, he concentrates and defines his aura into a smaller spherical form, out of the top of which rises a huge column reach¬ ing upwards. Instead of extending his arms over the people he raises them above his head, and at that signal every man in the congregation sends to¬ wards the Deva-priest the utmost wealth of his affection and aspiration — pours himself out in worship and love at the feet of the Deity. The Deva draws all those fiery streams into himself, and pours
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them upward in one vast fountain of many- coloured flame, which expands as it rises and is caught by the circle of waiting Devas, who pass it through themselves and, trans¬ muting it, converge it, like rays refracted through a lens, until it reaches the great chief Deva of their Ray, the mighty potentate who looks upon the very LOGOS Himself, and represents that Ray in relation to Him.
That great Chieftain is collecting similar streams from all parts of his world, and he weaves these many streams into one great rope which binds the earth to the Feet of its God ; he combines these many streams into the one great river which flows around those Feet, and brings our petal of the lotus close to the heart of the flower. And He answers. In the light of the LOGOS Himself shines forth for a moment a yet greater brilliancy; back to the great Deva Chieftain flashes that instant recognition ; through him on the waiting ring below flows down that flood of power ; and as through them it touches the Deva-priest expectant on his pinnacle, once more he lowers his arms and spreads them out above his people in benediction. A flood of colours gorgeous beyond all description fills the whole vast cathedral ; torrents as of liquid fire, yet delicate as the hues of an Egyptian sunset, are bathing every one in their effulgence ; and out of all this glory each one takes to himself that which he is able to take, that which the stage of his development enables him to assimilate.
All the vehicles of each man present are vivi¬ fied into their highest activity by this stupendous
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down-rush of divine power, and for the moment each realises to his fullest capacity what the life of God really means, and how in each it must express itself as love for his fellow-man. This is a far fuller and more personal benediction than that poured out at the beginning of the service, for here is something exactly fitted to each man, strengthening him in his weakness and yet at the same time developing to its highest possibility all that is best in him, giving him not only a tremendous and transcendent experience at the time, but also a memory which shall be for him as a radiant and glowing light for many a day to come. This is the daily service — the daily religious practice of those who belong to this Ray of affection.
Nor does the good influence of this service affect only those who are present ; its radiations extend over a large district, and purify the astral and mental at¬ mospheres. The effect is distinctly perceptible to any moderately sensitive person even two or three miles from the Temple. Each such service also sends out a huge eruption of rose-coloured thought- forms which bombard the surrounding country with thoughts of love, so that the whole atmosphere is full of it. In the Temple itself a vast crimson vortex is set up which is largely permanent, so that anyone entering the Temple immediately feels its influence, and this also keeps up a steady radiation upon the surrounding district. In addition to this each man as he goes home from the service is himself a centre of force of no mean order, and when he reaches his home the radiations which pour from him are strongly perceptible to any neighbours who have not been able to attend the service.
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The Sermon
Sometimes, in addition to this, or perhaps as a service apart from this, the Deva delivers what may be described as a kind of colour-sermon, taking up that colour-form which we have mentioned as the key-note or text for the day, explaining it to his people by an unfolding process, and mostly without spoken words, and perhaps causing it to pass through a series of mutations intended to convey to them instruction of various kinds. One exceedingly vivid and striking colour-sermon of this nature was intended to show the effect of love upon the various qualities in others with which it comes into contact. The black clouds of malice, the scarlet of anger, the dirty green of deceit, or the hard brown-grey of selfishness, the brownish-green of jealousy, and the heavy dull-grey of depression, were all in turn subjected to the glowing crimson fire of love. The stages through which they pass were shown, and it was made clear that in the end none of them could resist its force, and all of them at last melted into it and were consumed.
Incense
Though colour is in every way the principal feature in this service which we have described, the Deva does not disdain to avail himself of the channels of other senses than that of sight. All through his service, and even before it began, incense has been kept burning in swinging censers
374 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
underneath his golden pyramid, where stand two boys to attend to it. The kind of incense burnt varies with the different parts of the service. The people are far more sensitive to perfumes than we of earlier centuries ; they are able to distinguish accurately all the different kinds of incense, and they know exactly what each kind means and for what purpose it is used. The number of pleasant odours available in this way is much larger than that of those previously in use, and they have discovered some method of making them more volatile, so that they penetrate instantly through every part of the building. This acts upon the etheric body somewhat as the colours do upon the astral, and bears its part in bringing all the vehicles of the man rapidly into harmony. These people possess a good deal of new information as to the effect of odours upon certain parts of the brain, as we shall see more fully when we come to deal with the educational processes.
Sound
Naturally every change of colour is accompanied by its appropriate sound, and though this is a subordinate feature in the colour-temple which we have described, it is yet by no means without its effect. We shall now, however, attempt to describe a somewhat similar service in a Temple where music is the predominant feature, and colour comes only to assist its effect, precisely as sound has assisted colour in the Temple of affection. In common parlance, these Temples in which progress
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is made principally by the development of affection are called ‘crimson Temples ’—first because everyone knows that crimson is the colour in the aura which indicates affection, and therefore that is the prevailing colour of all the splendid outpourings which take place in it ; and secondly, because in recognition of the same fact all the graceful lines of the architecture are indicated by lines of crimson, and there are even some Temples entirely of that hue. The majority of these Temples are built of a stone of a beautiful pale grey with a polished surface much like that of marble, and when this is the case only the external decorations are of the colour which indicates the nature of the services performed within. Sometimes, however, the Temples of affection are built entirely of stone of a lovely pale rose-colour, which stands out with marvellous beauty against the vivid green of the trees with which they are always surrounded. The Temples in which music is the dominant factor are similar¬ ly known as ‘blue Temples,’ because since their principal object is the arousing of the highest possible devotion, blue is the colour most prominent in connection with their services, and consequently the colour adopted for both exterior and interior decoration.
The Blue Temple
The general outline of the services in one of the blue Temples closely resembles that which we have already described, except that in their case sound takes the place of colour as the principal agent Just as the endeavour in the colour-Temple
376 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
was to stimulate the love in man by bringing it consciously into relation with the divine love, so in this Temple the object is to promote the evolu¬ tion of the man through the quality of devotion, which by the use of music is enormously uplifted and intensified and brought into direct relation with the LOGOS who is its object. Just as in the crimson Temple there exists a permanent vortex of the highest and noblest affection, so in this music-Temple there exists a similar atmosphere of unselfish devo¬ tion which instantly affects everyone who enters it.
Into this atmosphere come the members of the congregation, each bringing in his hand a curious musical instrument, unlike any formerly known on earth. It is not a violin ; it is perhaps rather of the nature of a small circular harp with strings of some shining metal. But this strange instrument has many remarkable properties. It is in fact much more than a mere instrument ; it is specially magnetised for its owner, and no other person must use it. It is tuned to the owner ; it is an expression of the owner — a funnel through which he can be reached on this physical plane. He plays upon it, and yet at the same time he himself is played upon in doing so. He gives out
and receives vibrations through it.
»
The Devotional Service
When the worshipper enters the Temple, he calls up before his mind a succession of beautiful sounds — a piece of music which fulfils for him the same office as the series of colours which pass
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before the eyes of the man in the colour-Temple at the same stage of the proceedings. When the Deva materialises he also takes up an instrument of similar nature, and he commences the service by striking upon it a chord (or rather an arpeggio) which fulfils the function of the keynote in colour which is used in the other Temple. The effect of this chord is most striking. His instrument is but a small one and apparently of no great power, though wonderfully sweet in tone ; but as he strikes it, the chord seems to be taken up in the air around him as though it were repeated by a thousand invisible musicians, so that it resounds through the great dome of the Temple and pours out in a flood of harmony, a sea of rushing sound, over the entire congregation. Each member of the con¬ gregation now touches his own instrument, and very softly at first, but gradually swelling out into a greater volume, until everyone is taking part in this wonderful symphony. Thus, as in the colour- Temple, every member is brought into harmony with the principal idea which the Deva wishes to emphasise at this service, and in this case, as in the other, a benediction is poured over the people which raises each to the highest level possible for him, and draws from him an eager response which shows itself both in sound and in colour.
Here also incense is being used, and it varies at different points of the service, much as in the other case. Then when the congregation is thorough¬ ly tuned, each man begins definitely to play. All are clearly taking recognised parts, . although it does not seem that this has been arranged or rehearsed
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378 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
beforehand. As soon as this stage is in full opera¬ tion the Deva-priest draws in his aura, and begins to pour his sound inwards instead of out over the people. Each man is putting his very life into his playing, and definitely aiming at the Deva, so that through him it may rise. The effect on the higher emotions of the people is most remarkable, and the living aspiration and devotion of the congregation is poured upwards in a mighty stream through the officiating Deva to a great circle of Devas above, who, as before, draw it into them¬ selves, transmuting it to an altogether higher level, and send it forward in a still mightier stream towards the great Deva at the head of their Ray. Upon him converge thousands of such streams from all the devotion of the earth, and he in his turn gathers all these together and weaves them into one, which, as he sends it upwards, links him with the solar LOGOS Himself.
In it he is bearing his share in a concert which comes from all the worlds of the system, and these streams from all the worlds make somehow the mighty twelve-stringed lyre upon which the LOGOS Himself plays as He sits upon the Lotus of His system. It is impossible to put this into words ; but the writer has seen it, and knows that it is true. He hears, He responds, and He Himself plays upon His system. Thus for the first time we have one brief glimpse o£ the stupendous life which He lives among the other LOGOI who are His peers ; but thought fails, before this glory ; our minds are inadequate to comprehend it. At least it is clear that the great
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music-Devas, taken in their totality, represent music to the LOGOS, and He expresses Himself through them in music to His worlds.
The Benediction
Then comes the response — a downpouring flood of ordered sound too tremendous to be described, flowing back through the Chieftain of the Ray to the circle of Devas below, and from them to the Deva-priest in the Temple, transmuted at each stage to lower levels, so that at last it pours out through the officiant in the Temple in a form in which it may be assimilated by his congregation — a great ocean of soft, sweet, swelling sound, an outburst of celestial music which surrounds, enwraps, over¬ whelms them, and yet pours into them through their own instruments vibrations so living, so up¬ lifting, that their higher bodies are brought into action and their consciousness is raised to levels which in their outer life it could not even approach. Each man holds out his instrument in front of him, and it is through that that this marvellous effect is produced upon him. It seems as though from the great symphony each instrument selected the chords appropriate to itself — that is to say, to the owner whose expression it is. Yet each harp somehow not only selects and responds, but also calls into existence far more than its own volume of sound.
The whole atmosphere is surcharged by the Gandharvas, or music-Devas, so that veritably every sound is multiplied, and for every single tone is produced a great chord of overtones and
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undertones, all of unearthly sweetness and beauty. This benedictory response from on high is an utterly amazing experience, but words completely fail when we endeavour to find expression for it. It must be seen and heard and felt before it can in any way be understood.
This magnificent final swell goes sounding home with the people, as it were ; it lives inside them still even though the service is over, and often the member will try to reproduce it in a minor degree in a kind of little private service at home. In this Temple also there may be what corresponds to a sermon, but in this case it is delivered by the Deva through his instrument and received by the people through theirs. It is clear that it is not the same to all — that some get more and some less of the meaning of the Deva and of the effect which he intends to produce.
Intellect
All the effects which are produced in the crimson Temple through affection by the gorgeous seas of colour are attained here through devotion by this marvellous use of music. It is clear that in both cases the action is primarily on the in¬ tuitional and emotional bodies of the people — on the intuitional directly, in those who have developed it to the responsive stage, and on the intuitional through the emotional for others who are some¬ what less advanced. The intellect is touched only by reflection from these planes, whereas in the next variety of Temple to be described this action
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is reversed, for the stimulation is brought to bear directly upon the intellect, and it is only through and by means of that that the intuitional is presently to be awakened. Eventual results are no doubt the same, but the order of procedure is different.
The Yellow Temple
If we think of the men of the crimson Temple as developing through colour, and those of the blue as utilising sound, we might perhaps put form as the vehicle principally employed in the yellow Temple — for naturally yellow is the colour of the Temple especially devoted to intellectual development, since it is in that way that it symbolises itself in the various vehicles of man.
Once more the architecture and the internal structure of the Temple are the same, except
that all decorations and outlinings are in yellow instead of blue or crimson. The general scheme of the service, too, is identical — the text or key¬ note first, which brings all into union, then the aspiration or prayer or effort of the people, which calls down the response from the LOGOS. The form of instruction which, for want of a better name, I have called the sermon also has its part in all
the services. All alike use incense, though the difference between the kind used in this yellow
Temple and that of the blue and the crimson is
noticeable. The vortex in this case stimulates intellectual activity, so that merely to enter the Temple makes a man feel more keenly alive men¬ tally, better able to understand and to appreciate.
382 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
These people do not bring with them any physical instruments, and instead of passing before their eyes a succession of clouds of colour, they begin, as soon as they take their seats, to visualise certain mental forms. Each man has his own form, which is clearly intended to be an expression of himself, just as was the physical instrument of the musician, or the special colour-scheme of the worshipper in the Temple of affection. These forms are all different, and many of them distinctly imply the power to visualise in the physical brain some of the simpler four-dimensipnal figures. Naturally the power of visualisation differs ; so some people are able to make their figures much more complete and definite than others. But, curiously, the in¬ definiteness seems to show itself at both ends of the scale. The less educated of the thinkers — those who are as yet only learning how to think — often make forms which are not clearly cut, or even if at first they are able to make them clear they are not able to maintain them so, and they constantly slip into indefiniteness. They do not actually materi¬ alise them, but they do form them strongly in mental matter, and almost all of them, even at quite an early stage, seem to be able to do this. The forms are evidently at first prescribed for them, and they are told to hold them rather as a means than as an object of contemplation. They are clearly intended to be each an expression of its creator, whose further progress will involve modifications of the form, though these do not change it essentially. He is intended to think through it and to receive vibrations through it.
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just as the musical man received them through his instrument, or the member of the colour con¬ gregation through his colour-form. With the more intelligent persons the form becomes more definite and more complicated; but with some of the most definite of all it is again taking on an appearance suggesting indefiniteness, because it is beginning to be so much upon a still higher plane — because it is taking on more and more of the dimensions, and is becoming so living that it cannot be kept still.
The Intellectual Stimulus
When the Deva appears he also makes a form — not a form which is an expression of himself, but, as in the other Temples, one which is to be the keynote of the service, which defines the special object at which on this occasion he is aiming. His congregation then project themselves into their forms, and try through those to respond to his form and to understand it. Sometimes it is a changing form — one which unfolds or unveils itself in a number of successive movements. Along with the formation of this, and through it, the Deva-priest pours out upon them a great flood of yellow light which applies intense stimulus to their intellectual faculties along the particular line which he is indicating. He is acting strongly upon both their causal and mental bodies, but very little comparatively on the emotional or the intu¬ itional. Some who have not normally the conscious¬ ness of the mental body have it awakened in them by this process, so that for the first time
384 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
they can use it quite freely and see clearly by its means. In others, who have it not normally, it awakens the power of four-dimensional sight for the first time ; in others less advanced it only makes them see things a little more clearly, and comprehend temporarily ideas which are usually too metaphysical for them.
Intellectual Feeling
The mental effort is not entirely unaccom¬ panied by feeling, for there is at least an intense delight in reaching upwards, though even that very delight is felt almost exclusively through the mental body. They all pour their thoughts through their forms into the Deva-priest, as before, and they offer up these individual contributions as a kind of sacrifice to the LOGOS of the best that they have to give. Into him and through him they give themselves in surrender to the burning Light above ; they merge themselves, throw themselves, into him. It is the white heat of intellectuality raised to its highest power. As in the other Temples, the Deva-priest synthesises all the different forms which are sent to him, and blends to¬ gether all the streams of force, before for¬ warding it to the circle above him, which this time consists of that special class which for the present we will call the yellow Devas — those who are developing intellect, and revel in assisting and guiding it in man.
As before, they absorb the force, but only to send it out again at a higher level and enormously
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increased in quantity to the great Chieftain who is the head of their Ray, and a kind of centre for the exchange of forces. The intellect aspect of the LOGOS plays upon him and through him from above, while all human intellect reaches up to him and through him from below. He receives and forwards the contribution from the Temple, and in turn he opens the flood-gates of divine intelligence which, lowered through many stages on the way, pours out upon the waiting people and raises them out of their every-day selves into what they will be in the future. The temporary effect of such a down¬ pouring is almost incalculable. All egos present are brought into vigorous activity, and the conscious¬ ness in the causal body is brought into action in all of those in whom it is as yet in any way possible. In others it means merely greatly in¬ creased mental activity ; some are so lifted out of themselves that they actually leave the body, and others pass into a kind of Samadhi, because the conscious¬ ness is drawn up into a vehicle which is not yet sufficiently developed to be able to express it.
The response from above is not merely a stimulation. It contains also a vast mass of forms — it would seem all possible forms along whatever is the special line of the day. These forms also are assimilated by such of the congregation as can utilise them, and it is noteworthy that the same form means much more to some people than to others. For example, a form which conveys some interesting detail of physical evolution to one man may to another represent a whole vast stage of cosmic development. For many people it is as
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though they were seeing in visible form the Stanzas of Dzyan. All are trying to think on the same line, yet they do it in different ways, and consequently they attract to themselves different forms out of the vast ordered system which is at their disposal. Each man draws out of this multitude that which is most suited to him. Some people, for example, are simply getting new lights on the subject, substituting for their own thought-form another which is in reality in no way superior to it, but simply another side of the question.
Men are evidently raised into the intuitional consciousness along these lines. By intense think¬ ing, by comprehension of the converging streams, they attain first an intellectual grasp of the constitu¬ tion of the universe, and then by intense pressure upwards they realise it and break through. It usually comes with a rush and almost overwhelms the man — all the more so as along his line he has had little practice before in understanding the feelings of humanity. From his intellectual point of view he has been philosophically examining and dis¬ secting people, as though they were plants under a microscope ; and now, in a moment, it is borne in upon him that all these also are divine as himself, that all these are full of their own feel¬ ings and emotions, understandings and misunder¬ standings, that these are more than brothers, since they are actually within himself and not without. This is a great shock for the man to whom it comes, and he needs time to readjust himself and to develop some other qualities which he has been hitherto to some extent neglecting. The service
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ends much as the others did, and each man’s mental form is permanently somewhat the better for the exercise through which he has passed.
Mental Magic
Here also we have the form of instruction which we have called the sermon, and in this case it is usually an exposition of the changes which take place in a certain form or set of forms. In this case the Deva occasionally makes use of spoken words, though only few of them. It is as though he were showing them changing magic-lantern pictures, and naming them as they pass before them. He materialises strongly and clearly the special thought-form which he is showing them, and each member of the congregation tries to copy it in his own mental matter. In one case which is observed, that which is described is the transference of forms from plane to plane — a kind of mental magic which shows how one thought can be changed into another. On the lower mental plane he shows how a selfish thought may become unselfish. None of his people are crudely selfish, or they would not be in the community ; but there may still remain subtle forms of self-centred thought. There is a certain danger also of intellectual pride, and it is shown how this can be transmuted into worship of the wisdom of the LOGOS.
In other cases most interesting metamorphoses are shown — forms changing into one another by turning inside out like a glove. In this way, for
388 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
example, a dodecahedron becomes an icosahedron. Not only are these changes shown, but also their inner meaning on all the different planes is ex¬ plained, and here also it is interesting to see the unfoldment of the successive esoteric meanings and to notice how some members of the congregation stop at one of these, feeling it to the highest possible degree, and well satisfied with them¬ selves for being able to see it, while others go on one, two or more stages beyond them, further into the real heart of the meaning. What is applied only as a transmutation of their own thoughts by the majority of the congregation may be to the few who have gone further a translation of cosmic force from one plane to another. Such a sermon is a veritable training in mental intensity and activity, and it needs a closely sustained attention to follow it.
In all these Temples alike a great point is made of the training of the will which is necessary in order to keep the attention focused upon all the different parts of their variations in the pictures, the music, or the thought-forms. All this is shown most prominently by the intense glow of the causal bodies, but it reacts upon the mental vehicles and even upon the physical brain, which appears on the whole to be distinctly larger among these pioneers of the Sixth Root Race than with men of the fifth. It used to be thought by many that much study and intellectual develop¬ ment tended greatly to atrophy or destroy the power of visualisation, but that is not at all the case with the devotees of the yellow Temple. Perhaps
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the difference may be that in the old days study was so largely a study of mere words, whereas in the case of all these people they have for many lives been devoting themselves also to meditation, which necessarily involves the constant practice of visualisation in a high degree.
The Green Temple
Yet one more type of Temple remains to be described — a type which is decorated in a lovely pale green, because the thought-forms generated in it are of precisely that colour. Of the Temples al¬ ready mentioned the crimson and the blue seem to have many points in common, and a similar link seems to join the yellow and the green. One might perhaps say that the blue and the crimson correspond to two types of what in India is called Bhakti-yoga ; in that case the yellow Temple might be thought of as offering us the Jnana-yoga, and the green Temple the Karma-yoga ; or in English we might characterise them as the Temples of af¬ fection, devotion, intellect and action respectively. The congregation of the green Temple works also chiefly on the mental plane, but its particular line is the translating of thought into action — to get things done. It is part of its regular service to send out intentionally arranged thought-currents, primarily to¬ wards its own community, but also through them to the world at large. In the other Temples too they think of the outside world, for they in¬ clude it in their thoughts of love and devotion or treat it intellectually ; but the idea of these
390 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
people of the green Temple is action with regard to everything, and they consider that they have not surely grasped an idea until they have translated it into action.
The people of the yellow Temple, on the other hand, take the same idea quite differently, and consider it perfectly possible to have the fullest comprehension without action. But the devotees of this green Temple cannot feel that they are really fulfilling their place in the world unless they are constantly in active motion. A thought-form to them is not an effective thought-form unless it contains some of their typical green — because, as they say, it is lacking in sympathy — so that all their forces express themselves in action, action, action, and in action is their happiness, and through the self- sacrifice in the action they attain.
They have powerful and concentrated plans in their minds, and in some cases it is noticed that many of them combine to think out one plan and to get the thing done. They are careful to accumulate much knowledge about whatever subject they take up as a speciality. Often each one takes some area in the world into which he pours his thought-forms for a certain object. One, for example, will take up education in Greenland, or social reform in Kamchatka. They are natural¬ ly dealing with all sorts of out-of-the-way places like these, because by this time everything con¬ ceivable has already been done in every place of which we have ever heard in ordinary life. They do not use hypnotism, however ; they do not in any way try to dominate the will of any man
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whom they wish to help ; they simply try to impress their ideas and improvements on his brain.
The Line of the Healing-Devas
*
Once more, the general scheme of their service is like that of the others. They do not bring with them any physical instruments, but they have their mental forms just as the intellectual people have, only in this case they are always plans of activity. Each has some special plan to which he is devot¬ ing himself, though at the same time through it he is devoting himself to the LOGOS. They hold their plans and the realisation of them before them, just in the same way as the other men do their thought- or colour-forms. It is noteworthy that these plans are always carried to a great height of conception. For example, a man’s plan for the organisation of a backward country would include and be mainly centred in the idea of the mental and moral uplifting of its inhabitants. These devotees of the green Temple are not actually phil- anthropical in the old sense of the word, though their hearts are filled with sympathy with their fellow-men which expresses itself in the most beauti¬ ful shade of their characteristic colour. Indeed, from what glimpses have been caught of the outer world it seems evident that ordinary philanthropy is quite unnecessary, because poverty has disappeared. Their schemes are all plans for helping people, or for the improvement of conditions in some way.
Suggestions of all kinds and sorts of activity find their place here, and they appeal to the
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active or healing-Devas, the type identified by Chris¬ tian Mystics with the hierarchy of the Archangel Raphael. Their Deva-priest puts before them as his text, or as the dominant idea of the service, something which will be an aspect of all their ideas and will strengthen every one of them. They try to present clearly their several schemes, and through that they gain development for them¬ selves in trying to sympathise with and help other people. After the preliminary tuning up and the opening benediction, there comes once more the offering of their plans. The opening benediction may be thought of as bringing the sympathy of the Devas for all their schemes and the identification of the Deva-priest with each and all of them.
When the time of aspiration comes, each offers his plan as something of his own which he has to give, as his contribution, as the fruit of his brain, which he lays before the Lord, and also he has the thought that thus he throws himself and his life into his schemes as a sacrifice for the sake of the LOGOS. Once more we get the same magnificent effect, the splendid sheet and fountains, the great glowing sea of pale luminous sunset green, and among it the flames of darker green shooting up from the sympathetic thought of each member present. Just as before, all this is gathered into a focus by the Deva-priest, is sent up by him to a circle of healing-Devas above, and through them to the Chieftain of their Ray, who once more presents this aspect of the world to the
Logos.
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When they thus offer themselves and their thoughts, there comes back the great flow of re¬ sponse, the outpouring of good-will and of blessing, which in turn illuminates the sacrifice which they have offered through the line to which each has directed himself. The great Devas seem to magnetise the man and increase his power along this and cognate lines, raising it to higher levels, even while they increase it. The response not only strength¬ ens such thoughts of good as they already have, but also opens up to them the conception of further activities for their thoughts. It is a definite act of projection, and it is done by them in a time of silent meditation after the reception of the blessing.
There are many types among these people ; they bring different chakrams or centres in the mental body into activity, and their streams of thought-force are projected sometimes from one chak- ram and sometimes from another. In the final benediction it seems as though the LOGOS pours Himself through His Devas into them, and then again out through them to the objects of their sympathy, so that an additional transmutation of the force takes place, and the culmination of their act is to be an active agent for His action. Intense sympathy is the feeling most cultivated by these people ; it is their key-note, by which they gradually rise through the mental and causal bodies to the intuitional, and there find the acme of sympathy, because there the object of sympathy is no longer outside themselves, but within.
The sermon in this case is frequently an ex¬ position of the adaptability of various types of
51
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elemental essence to the thought-force which they require. Such a sermon is illustrated as it goes on, and the thought-forms are constructed before the congregation by the Deva and materialised for them, so that they may learn exactly the best way to produce them and the best materials of which to build them.
Independents
V
In the special lines of development of these Temples there seems a curious half-suggestion of the four lower sub-planes of the mental plane as they present themselves during the life after death, for it will be remembered that affection is the chief characteristic of one of these planes, devotion of another, action for the sake of the Deity of a third, and the clear conception of right for right’s sake of the fourth. It is, however, quite evident that there is no difference in advancement between the egos who follow one line and those who follow another; all these paths are clearly equal, all alike are stairways leading from the level of ordinary humanity to the Path of Holiness which rises to the level of Adeptship. To one or other of these types belong the great majority of the people of the community, so that all these temples are daily filled with crowds of worshippers.
A few people there are who do not attend any of these services, simply because none of these are to them the most appropriate ways of development. There is not, however, the slightest feeling that these few are therefore irreligious or
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in any way inferior to the most regular attendants. It is thoroughly recognised that there are many paths to the summit of the mountain, and that each man is absolutely at liberty to take that which seems best to him. In most cases a man selects his path and keeps to it, but it would never occur to him to blame his neighbour for selecting another, or even for declining to select any one of those provided. Every man is trying his best in his own way to fit himself for the work that he will have to do in the future, as well as to carry out to the best of his ability the work at present before him. Nobody harbours the feeling : “ I am in a better way than so-and-so,” because he sees another doing differently. The habitual attendants of one Temple also quite often visit the others ; indeed, some people try them all in turn rather according to their feeling of the moment, saying to themselves : “ I think I need a touch of yellow this morning to brighten up my intellect”; or: “perhaps I am becoming too meta¬ physical, let me try a tonic of the green Temple ” ; or on the other hand : “ I have been straining hard lately along intellectual lines ; let me now give a turn to affection or devotion.”
Congregation of the Dead
Many people also make a practice of attending the magnificent, though more elementary, services which are frequently held in the Temples, ostensibly for children ; these will be described in detail when we come to the subject of education. It is interesting
396 MAN: WHENCE, HOW AND WHITHER
to observe that the peculiar nature of the Temple services of this community has evidently attracted much attention in the astral world, for large numbers of dead people make a practice of attending the services. They have discovered the participation of the Devas and the tremendous forces which are consequently playing through them, and they evidently wish to partake of the advantages. This congregation of the dead is recruit¬ ed exclusively from the outside world ; for in the community there are no dead, since every man, when he puts aside one physical body, promptly assumes another in order to carry on the work to which he has devoted himself.
The Master of Religion •
The religious and educational side of the life of the community is under the direction of the Master K. H. ; and He Himself makes it a point to visit all the Temples in turn, taking the place of the officiating Deva, and in doing so show¬ ing the fact that He combines within Himself in the highest possible degree all the qualities of all the types. The Devas who are doing work connected with religion and education are all mar¬ shalled under His orders. Some members of the community are being specially trained by the Devas, and it seems probable that such men will in due course pass on to the line of the Deva evolution.