10
THE GURU AND THE CHELA BY THE ASCENDED
MASTER KUTHUMI
(Note: As this subject is so pertinent at present, I
offer my column to this article inspired by my humble self through the Curtis'
personality long ago.)
Excerpts of
Instruction on
"The Memory of Past Lives"
(from Voice of
Isis by Curtis written in 1914)
The memory of past lives is given not for amusement, nor to satisfy
vain curiosity, but to inculcate a needed lesson. The destiny of each Soul is
ultimately to take its proper place in the Divine Plan. All follows an exact
law. Remembrance only comes when the Higher Self sees that the personality is
ready when the physical brain has been trained to vibrate to some extent in
response to the will of the Higher Self.
Many ask: "Why is not the memory of past lives more common?" There
is a deep reason for this. In our evolution we have passed through many sad and
embittering experiences which, if remembered, would so depress our spirits, so
discourage and hamper us that we would make little progress. Also, did we
remember who we were and who our present companions were, in many cases we would
find it so hard to forgive the injuries; so hard to forget the troubles we had
passed through in connection with them, that our spiritual growth would be
retarded. Since the Law, acting as Karma, demands perfect compensation or
adjustment, one great object in each new life is to readjust the mistakes of the
past. When an opportunity to do so comes to us in this life, if we could
remember all that had passed it would be far harder to "Love your enemies, do
good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you and pray for them which
despitefully use you." Hence it is in love and wisdom that the knowledge of past
lives is withheld.
Many think that could they remember who they were in the past it
would be all joy and wonder. However, in the majority of cases it would be a
bitter disappointment and a sad, depressing remembering. Therefore, we shall
never be permitted to remember our past lives until we have advanced beyond the
point where the grieves, the ills and the unkindnesses done us can affect us;
make us worry or become discouraged and thus retard our progress. We shall not
remember until we have gained that poise which nothing can disturb; until we
have become centered in the thought that to manifest Divine Love is all there is
worth striving for.
Most souls find the memory of the trials and sorrows of one life as
much as the personality can bear; therefore, the complete remembrance of all it
had endured in its many lives would tend to crush it. It is memory that haunts;
that drives to insanity. No one day can hold enough sorrow to dishearten utterly
the personality; it is the accumulated burden that overwhelms. A most important
lesson to learn is to put from you all that is past. Live in the present. "Let
the dead past bury its dead." Until the soul has learned that what is passed is
registered within the Real Self as a lesson learned, a needed experience gained
and can let it go not being crushed by its memory; until the personality shows
its strength of character by not brooding over mistakes; until it has
exemplified this stability in its present life, its Heavenly Father, in loving
mercy, draws a veil over the memory of previous incarnations. When it can bear
without flinching or shrinking, the memory of the sorrows of one life, it will
be ready to bear a more extended memory.
Another reason why we do not remember is that at each incarnation
the soul clothes itself in a new body, the brain cells of which have never
responded to the past conditions and only when the brain is capable of
responding to the memory stored up in the Higher Self, can that memory be
impressed upon the waking consciousness. In other words, the personality, per
se, cannot remember the past because it has experienced but the present life.
Another reason is that many, many of our lives have been so commonplace or
trivial that they have registered little of value in the Real Self; hence have
little of importance to remember. For out of each life it is only those
experiences and those lessons which have made for soul-growth that are
immortalized by being registered in the Real Self. Only good is immortal; evil
is but transitory.
The memory of a past life is often awakened by reading about or
seeing the picture of some historical character. This arouses a consciousness of
having lived at that time or in that place, or perhaps, that the reader was
himself the character mentioned. This is apt to give rise to ridicule, for many
upon whom the memory of past lives is dawning seem never to have been anything
but kings and queens, or notable characters in history. There is a reason for
this for, like most mistakes, it is rather a misunderstanding or misapplication
of the remembrance than a deliberate attempt to deceive. It is a result of
ignorance of the Law. In such a case the probability is that the person did live
at the period remembered, and perhaps took a prominent part in the events
enacted, but he was not necessarily the principal character. The feeling of
peculiar sympathy or aversion that one feels in such a case is precisely what he
felt at the time of the event. In the past he may have been deeply interested in
the characters under consideration, and fond of imagining himself in their
place. Thus, when the attention is turned to those old times it awakens the old
currents of feeling and he thinks he actually was what in the past he had wished
to be. Often there is another explanation. The noted personage may have stood
out as the keynote of his time and the circumstances that produced his eminence
were lessons that many other souls learned. In fact, the leading character
enacted the drama for all the lesser personalities belonging to the same group
and all learned the lesson through the one.
For example, through the action of Abraham Lincoln the whole nation
learned that slavery should be and could be abolished, and the lesson was
impressed more or less deeply on each soul according to its sympathy or activity
in the matter; but only Abraham Lincoln actually freed the slaves. He could not
have done this, however, without the aid of the thoughtforce of the Nation. He
was the Executor of the Will of those who thought freedom!
Every character in history had many persons who belonged to the same
group, to the same Nation, who were carried along in evolution by the same
current; who learned by the failure or profited by the success of that
character. As the soul at first remembers only the most important events,
personages and lessons impressed upon its consciousness, when that memory begins
to be awakened it is natural for it to think it was the central figure.
There are hundreds who are sure they were Mary, Queen of Scots;
hundreds who were Martin Luther, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, etc.
If they understood the Law, however, it would be quite easy to determine whether
or not they were the great personages whose names are given. A careful study of
the character (physical, mental, emotional and spiritual) will readily determine
this. Study their mistakes and successes and try to calculate what would be
needed, according to the Law of Compensation (Karma) , to overcome the mistakes
or reap the rewards. Study their mentality and your own and know well there is
no retrogression. There are ups and downs that may seem like retrogression but
they are like the ups and downs of a gravity railway; the downs are always above
the level of the starting point. A personage of historical prominence may at
this time be incarnated in a very lowly station, but he will still have the same
characteristics that made him great, and the important lesson learned in the
prominent life will be indelibly impressed upon his present personality. If he
were the Central Figure of the group, either for good or evil, he will always be
a central figure, no matter in what walk of life he may incarnate. An Abraham
Lincoln might incarnate as a plough-boy where conditions made education and
culture almost impossible, but he would always have the ability of a Lincoln to
master conditions.
The general rule is that, after one has cultivated his mental
faculties and developed his brain to a high degree, he passes through an
incarnation devoid of all chance for education. This is, firstly, to give him an
opportunity to develop his heart qualities; and, secondly, to prove how much of
the former culture he has really assimilated. No one can prove his character
unless he is forced to depend on his real inner powers. Hence, no matter what
the gain has been in the past, whether toward physical, intellectual or
spiritual perfection, he must, of necessity, pass through an incarnation where
all outward helps toward the things attained are lacking, that he may prove
himself.
When one is told that in the past he was some great personage, it is
wise to look up the history and customs of the time indicated and search for any
glaring discrepancies between his own character and the character of the person
under consideration. If discrepancies are found they indicate error somewhere.
For example, if a woman is told that she was an Egyptian Priestess, a glance at
history will show that the Egyptians admitted only women of high rank as
Priestesses, while there were many women attendants, nuns, etc. The Priestesses
were specially trained to transmit the deepest Mysteries, hence unless the
person making the claim can prove that she possesses such powers today she
probably was merely an attendant or perhaps a nun whose great ideal was to
become a Priestess. A woman who today possesses no independent psychic power
could scarcely have been an Egyptian Priestess, for such gifts once gained are
never lost. Thus, an exceptional woman might have been an Egyptian Priestess
but, if so, she would today display the characteristics which enabled her to
hold that high office. This will show how easily psychic messages can be
confused and how absurd it makes one to repeat them without verifying them.
While such discrepancies do not always mean that the one giving the information
has misled him, yet under such circumstances, a careful investigation of the
message, and a consideration of its source, is advisable.
Absolute obedience to the Higher Guidance is required of all who
would do the Master's work, but such guidance never violates common sense and
even the vow of obedience is never required until the pupil, through repeated
experiences, has learned to have implicit faith in his Guidance.