by the motive. But, speaking broadly, motive will have its effect mainly on the mental conditions, the character and the tendencies, while the action itself will mainly affect the physical conditions and surroundings. There are many passages in the teachings of Christ bearing on these principles, pointing out that the inner thought is more important than the acts, and also pointing out the importance of consistency in thought, profession, and act. Speaking of the Scribes and Pharisees, He says:"All their works they do for to be seen of men......... they love the chief place at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the market-place, and to be called of men, Rabbi. ......... Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for ye devour widow's houses, even while for a pretence ye make long prayers; therefore shall ye receive the greater condemnation ;...... ye make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full of corruption and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also............ ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (Matt., XXIII., 5-14 et seq.; Luke, XI., 39-44). Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matt., VII., 21). "Ye have heard that it was said of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the Judgment; but I say unto you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the Judgment, etc." (Matt., V., 21, et seq). With this last quotation we may compare a verse from one of the Epistles:-"Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." (1 John, III., 15). For here we find the teaching, familiar to every student of Theosophy, that a thought, cherished and indulged in continually, will at last crystallise in action.*

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Opportunity also is an important factor in the modification of Karmic results. A good action done in the midst of abundance of opportunity weighs but lightly against a much more insignificant action done under difficulties. The measure of virtue, indeed, is not the act, but the ratio of the good done, to the opportunity of doing it. The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here." (Matt., XII., 41-42; Luke, XI., 31-32). "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Howbeit, I say unto

* See "Ancient Wisdom,” A. Besant, pp. 342—344,

you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judg ment than for you, etc." (Matt., XI., 21, et seq.; Luke, X., 13, et seq. ; cf. Luke X., 10-11; Matt., X., 14-15; Matt., VIII., 11-12.) The widow who gave but two mites to the treasury was commended more than those who gave much, for she gave " of her want," while they cast in "of their superfluity." (Mark, XII., 41-44 ; Luke XXI., 1-4). Somewhat similar to the thought conveyed in these passages is that suggested by the following: "That servant which knew his lord's will, and....................... did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required; and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask much," (Luke, XII., 47-48). There is also a curious parable on which these thoughts perhaps throw some light. A certain householder" went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing in the market place idle; and to them he said, Go ye also into the vine. yard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. And he went out about the sixth hour, and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he saith unto them, why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, go ye also into the vineyard." In the evening he paid to these last the same wage those who had worked all day, thus arousing discontent in the latter at what appeared an injustice. (Matt., XX., 1-16). No explanation of this is given, save that it was the householder's will to give unto these last even as unto the first. "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Or is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last." May it not be that a lesson is here intended to be taught that the will to serve, even though opportunity be lacking, shall be "accounted for righteousness"? that a little service will bring as great a reward as a great one, provided in each case there has been full use of the opportunity offered? "They also serve, who only stand and wait." But the standing and waiting must be active, not passive; all must be done that lies in our power to find the opportunity. The labourers who came in at the eleventh hour had not spent half the day sitting idly in their homes, waiting till work. should come to them; they went forth into the market-place, that their readiness to work should be known, and thus did all that was incumbent on them.

as to

There are many other passages that might be quoted, but these will suffice to show that the Law of Karma was taught by Jesus, not merely in its simplest form as the law of cause and effect, but also

in its broader aspect as the law of all activity; and also that He touched on many of the same detailed teachings connected with its application that are well recognised in the East. He also strove to lead His followers a step higher in their motive for obedience to the law of progress, pointing out, as in all His other teaching, that the inner is of far more importance than the outer.

In the Eastern Scriptures there are still higher stages, leading up to the teaching as to how man may escape from the binding power of Karma, by doing all actions, not for the sake of results, but first because they are right, and afterwards as a joyful sacrifice to the Lord. This higher stage I have not been able to find definitely taught in the sayings of Christ Himself, so far as these are preserved in the four Gospels. Probably it was reserved for the circle of His immediate disciples, one of those "mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven" that could be revealed to them, and not to the multitude. There are passages in some of the Epistles that would seem to imply that this was so, and that later on, the followers of Christ imparted this higher teaching to the churches that sprang up under their care. Such a passage is the following:-"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service," (Rom., XII., 1); a passage that at once brings to our mind the following from the Bhagavad Gîtâ:—" Whatsoever thou doest, whatsoever thou eatest, whatsoever thou offerest, whatsoever thou givest, whatsoever thou doest of austerity, O Kaunteya! do thou as an offering unto Me. Thus shalt thou be liberated from the bonds of actions of good and evil fruits." (IX., 27-28). But we will not follow up this line of thought, as our present study is confined to the reported sayings of Christ Himself.

(To be continued).

LILIAN EDGER.

CONSCIOUSNESS.

(Concluded from p. 742.)

E have so far studied the evolution of consciousness in each separate vehicle or body and we come now to the stage when links between the different vehicles are set up and man learns to function in unbroken consciousness from the physical up to the Nirvanic plane. "The handing down to the lower vehicles of such part of the consciousness belonging to the higher as we are able to receive, does not immediately follow on the successive quickening of vehicles. In this matter individuals differ very widely, according to their circumstances and their work, for this quickening of the vehicles above the physical rarely occurs till probationary discipleship is reached. The disciple and even the aspirant for discipleship

is taught to hold all his powers entirely for the service of the world and the sharing of the lower consciousness in the knowledge of the higher is for the most part determined by the needs of the work in which the disciple is engaged. It is necessary that the disciple should have the full use of his vehicles of consciousness on the higher planes, as much of his work can only be accomplished in them; but the conveying of a knowledge of that work to the physical vehicle, which is in no way concerned with it, is a matter of no importance and the conveyance or non-conveyance is generally determined by the effect that the one course or the other would have on the efficiency of his work on the physical plane. The strain on the physical body when the higher consciousness compels it to vibrate responsively is very great at the present stage of evolution and unless the external circumstances are favourable, this strain is apt to cause nervous disturbance, hypersensitiveness with its attendant evils." "In the physical body there are nervous centres, little groups of nervous cells, and both impacts from without and impulses from the brain pass through these centres. If one of these is out of order then at once disturbances arise and physical consciousness is disturbed."+ "There are analogous centres in the astral body, the chakras and the nervous system is linked to the chakras in the astral body chiefly through what is called the sympathetic system. There are certain nervous cells of a peculiar kind in that system, of which modern science does not say much, beyond giving the forms and contents, and these are the links between consciousness in the physical body and in the astral body. As evolution proceeds these links are vivified by the will, setting free and guiding the "serpent fire," called Kundalini in Indian books; as it wakes up it gives the man the power to leave the physical body at will, for as it is led from chakram to chakram it disengages the astral from the physical and sets it free. Then without break of consciousness, without any chasm of blankness separating one world from the other, a man is able to pass out of the physical body into the invisible world and is able to work there in full consciousness and to bring back all knowledge of the work that he has there accomplished. The preparatory stage for the direct action that liberates Kundalini is the training and purifying of the vehicles, for if this be not thoroughly accomplished the fire is a destructive instead of a vivifying energy. That is why so much stress is laid on purification as a necessary preliminary for all true yoga.

Similarly links are evolved between the astral and the mind bodies and when these links between the physical, astral, and mental bodies are developed into functional activity the Ego while in his physical body may impress on the physical brain the conscious

*"Ancient Wisdom," pp. 297-298.

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+ Man and his Bodies," by A. Besant, p. 104.

"Evolution of Life and Form," p. 147 and "The Path of Discipleship," p. 102.

ness of his astral and mental bodies; further he learns, as already stated, to separate one vehicle from another, to leave and re-enter the physical body at will as we unconsciously leave it during sleep, and to link, on re-entering it, his experiences on the astral and mental planes with his brain consciousness.

Ere this stage is fully attained we may, while in our physical body, get glimpses of astral consciousness, experiences of clairvoyance and clairaudience, or some impression may be made from the astral plane during sleep by means of vivid and coherent dreams. These are preliminary stages showing that the different vehicles of consciousness are beginning to come under control. There is however a low form of etheric and astral sight to be met with among savage tribes and even among animals and it is necessary to make a distinction" between the higher and lower forms of clairvoyance depending on the use of different organs." "In the process of evolution the sympathetic nervous system was first developed and it is through this system that all the lower forms of clairvoyance manifest themselves. This fact is important as explaining the coincident clairvoyance of many animals, especially horses, dogs and cats and also that of the numerous untrained psychics who are to be met with both among the less advanced races of mankind and among undeveloped people among ourselves. Such sporadic and uncontrolled vision may be an indication of a less devoloped Manas and tends back to the animal type. As the Ego grows in intellect and gets more fully in control of his vehicles, his influence is exerted on the cerebro-spinal nervous system and through that, and not through the ganglia of the sympathetic system, the higher clairvoyance is obtained. In Hatha Yoga, attempts are made to bring the sympathetic system under control of the will, working through the medulla oblongata, and this sometimes results in producing low forms of clairvoyance, owing to the possibility of response to lower astral vibrations in the astral matter of the nervous ganglia of that system; but this is working from below, is often injurious and always impermanent and uncertain in results. It is in fact a reversion to the type of animal clairvoyance and not a development of higher vision. He who would develop real occult powers must purify, develop and improve his physical brain, increasing its sensitiveness to higher vibrations, which depends on the presence of the finer ethers. In the lower forms of clairvoyance there is an entire absence of the "sacred fire" which characterises the higher. In the lower form, the whole astral body is set vibrating, in the higher only the chakraswhich correspond to the cerebro-spinal chakras in the physical body-are directly impulsed by the will."

The organs in the brain on which the higher clairvoyance depends are the Pituitary body and the Pineal gland. "These organs are composed of matter in its gaseous, liquid and solid states,