The Foundations of Esotericism
GA 93a
9 October 1905, Berlin
Lecture XIV
Again and again we must make clear to ourselves that this sojourn in Devachan is nowhere else than where we ourselves are in physical life. For Devachan, the astral and the physical world are nothing other than three interpenetrating worlds. We can form the most correct idea of Devachan if we think of the world of electric forces before electricity had been discovered. There was a time when all this was contained in the physical world, only it was then an occult world. Everything that is occult has at some time to be discovered. The difference between life in Devachan and that in the physical world is that man in his present epoch is endowed with organs enabling him to perceive the physical world but not with organs that enable him to behold the phenomena of Devachan.
Let us imagine ourselves in the soul of someone living between two incarnations. He has given over his physical body to the forces of the earth and relinquished his etheric body to the life-forces. Furthermore he has given back that part of his astral body into which he himself has not worked. He then finds himself in Devachan. He no longer has as personal possession what the gods had worked into his etheric and astral bodies; all this has been cast aside. He now possesses only what he himself has achieved in the course of many lives. In Devachan this remains his own. All that man has done in the physical world serves the purpose of making him more and more conscious in Devachan.
Let us take the relationship of one person to another. It can be said that this is simply a natural one, for instance the relationship between brothers and sisters who have been brought together through natural circumstances. It is however only partially natural, for moral and intellectual factors are continually playing in. Through his Karma man is born into a particular family; but not everything is conditioned by Karma. The natural relationship, into which nothing else is intermixed, we have in the case of the animals. In the case of human beings there is always a moral relationship also, through Karma. The relationship between two people can however also exist without this being conditioned by nature. For instance a bond of intimate friendship can arise between two people in spite of outer hindrances. As a rather extreme case let us assume that they were at first mutually somewhat unsympathetic to one another and that they found the way to each other on a purely intellectual and moral basis, soul to soul. Let us contrast this with the natural relationship between members of a family. With the relationship of soul to soul we have a powerful means of developing devachanic organs. In no way can devachanic organs be more easily developed at present than by such relationships. Such a relationship is unconsciously a devachanic one.
What a person develops in his present life in the way of soul faculty through friendship of a purely soul nature, in Devachan is wisdom, the possibility of experiencing the spiritual in action. To the extent to which someone enters livingly into such connections he is well prepared for Devachan. If he is unable to form such relationships he is unprepared; for just as colour escapes a blind man, so does soul experience escape him. To the degree to which man fosters purely soul relationships do organs of vision develop in him for Devachan. So that the statement holds good: Whoever lives and moves here in the life of the spirit, will over there perceive just as much of the spiritual as he has gained here through his activity. Hence the immeasurable importance of life on the physical plane. In human evolution no other means of awakening the organs for Devachan exists other than spiritual activity on the physical plane. All this is creative and comes back to us as devachanic sense organs for the devachanic world. As preparation there is nothing better than to have a purely soul relationship with other human beings, a relationship whose origin is in no way based upon natural connections.
This is why people should be brought together into groups, in order to unite on a purely spiritual basis. It is the will of the Masters to pour life in this way into the stream of humanity. What takes place with the right attitude of mind signifies for all the members of the group the opening of a spiritual eye in Devachan. One will then see there everything which is on the same level with what one had united oneself with here. If on the physical plane one has attached oneself to a spiritual endeavour, this actually is among those things which retain their existence after death. Such things belong just as much to the dead as to the one who has survived him. He who has passed over remains in the same connection with the one still on earth and is indeed even more intensely conscious of this spiritual relationship.
Thus one educates oneself for Devachan. The souls of the dead remain in connection with those who were dear to them. The earlier relationships become causes which have their effects in Devachan. This is why the devachanic world is called, the world of effects and the physical world the world of causes. In no other way can man build his higher organs than by implanting the seeds for these organs on the physical plane. For this purpose man is transferred to earthly existence. What the much quoted phrase, ‘To overcome separate existence’ means, will now become clear to us. Before we descended to physical existence we lived with the content of our astral body which was brought about by a Deva. In earlier times sympathy and antipathy in the human being were stimulated by the Devas; he himself was not responsible. Then at the next stage man said to himself: Now I have entered into the physical world as a being who must find his own way. Formerly I was not able to speak the word ‘I’, now I have become for the first time a separate entity. Previously I was indeed a separate entity, but also a member of a devachanic being. On the physical plane I am a separate entity for myself, an ego, because I am enclosed in a physical body.
The higher bodies flow into one another: for instance Atma is in truth a one-ness for the whole of humanity, like an atmosphere shared in common. Nevertheless the Atma of the single human being is to be understood as if each one were to cut a piece for himself out of the common Karma, so that, as it were, incisions are made in it. But the separateness must be overcome. This we do when we form human attachments of a purely soul nature. By so doing we do away with the separateness and recognise the unity of Atma in everything.
By establishing such human relationships I awaken sympathy within me. I then undertake the task of selflessly fitting myself into the world plan. Through this the Divine is awakened in man. That is why we look out into the world.
Today we are surrounded by physical reality, by sun, moon and stars. What man had around him in the Old Moon existence, he has today within himself. The forces of the Moon now live within him. Had man not existed on the Old Moon he would not have possessed these forces. This is why the Egyptian occult teaching in esoteric centres called the Moon Isis, the Goddess of Fertility. Isis is the soul of the Moon, the precursor of the Earth. Then all the forces lived in the environment which now live in plants and animals for the purpose of reproduction. As now fire, chemical ether, magnetism and so on are around us and surround the Earth, so the moon was surrounded by those forces which enabled man, animal and plant to propagate. The forces which at present surround the Earth will in the future play an individualised role in man. What now constitutes the relationship between man and woman was on the Old Moon external physical activity, such as volcanic eruptions are today. These forces surrounded man during the Moon existence and he drew them in through his Moon-senses, in order to evolve them now. What man developed on the Old Moon through involution emerged on Earth as evolution. What man developed after the Lemurian Age as the sexual forces, is due to Isis, the soul of the Moon, which now lives on further in man. Here we have the relationship between the human being and the present moon. The moon has left its soul with man and has therefore become a mere slagheap.
While we are gaining experiences on the Earth we are gathering the forces which during the next Planetary Evolution will become our own being. Our present experiences in Devachan are the preparatory stages for future epochs. Just as man today looks up to the moon and says: ‘You have given us the forces of reproduction,’ so in the future he will look up to a moon that has arisen out of our present physical earth and as a soul-less body of slag will circle round the future Jupiter. On Future Jupiter man will develop new forces which today on the Earth he takes into himself as light and warmth and all physical sense perceptions. Later he will ray out everything which he had previously perceived through the senses. Whatever he had taken in through his soul will then be reality. So the theosophical conception does not lead us to underrate the world on the physical plane, but to understand that we must draw out of the physical plane what we need to have, experiences which will later radiate outwards. The warmth of the earth, the rays of the sun, which now stream towards us, will later stream out from us. As at the present time the sexual forces emanated from us, so it will be with these new forces.
Now let us make clear to ourselves the significance of the Devachan conditions which follow one another. At first Devachan is only short. But ever more and more spiritual organs are being formed in the Mental Body, until at last when his comprehension has embraced the wisdom of the Earth, man will have completely fashioned the organs of the devachanic body.
This will come about for the whole of mankind when all the World-Rounds are completed. Then everything will have become human wisdom. Warmth and light will then have become wisdom. Between the Earth Manvantara and the following Planetary Evolution man lives in Pralaya. Outwardly there is nothing whatever, but all the forces which man has drawn forth from the Earth are within him. In such a Life-Period the outer turns inwards. Everything is then present as seed and its life is carried over to the next Manvantara. Broadly speaking this is a similar condition to that in which we, in the moment of retrospect, forget all that is around us and only remember our experiences in order to preserve them in memory and later make use of them. So in Pralaya mankind as a whole remembers all experiences in order to put them to use once more.
There are always such intermediate conditions which, as it were, consist of memories, and so the devachanic state is also an intermediate one. The initiate already now sees before him those facts which man only gradually has around him in Devachan. It is an intermediate condition. All similar conditions are of an intermediate nature. The initiate describes the world as it is on the other side, in Devachan, in the intermediate state. When he gets beyond Devachan and reaches a still higher condition he again describes an intermediate state.
The first stage of initiation consists in the pupil learning to penetrate through the veil of the external world and to look at the world from the other side. The initiate is homeless here on the earth. He must build himself a home on the other side. When the disciples were with Jesus ‘on the mountain’, they were led into the devachanic world, beyond space and time; they built themselves a ‘tabernacle’—a home. This is the first stage of initiation.
At the second stage of initiation something similar occurs, but on a higher level. At this stage the initiate has a state of consciousness corresponding to the intermediate period between two conditions of form (Globes), a state of Pralaya that comes about when everything is achieved that can be achieved in the physical condition of form and the Earth is metamorphosed into a so-called astral condition of form (Globe).
The third stage of initiate-consciousness is that which corresponds to the intermediate state between two Rounds, from the old Arupa-Globe of the previous Round to the new Arupa-Globe of the following Round. The initiate is in the Pralaya between two Rounds when he raises himself into the third stage. He is then an initiate of the Third Degree. So we can now understand why Jesus had to reach the third stage before he could place his body at the service of Christ. Christ stands above all the spirits who live in the Rounds. The initiate who had raised himself above the Rounds could place his body at the service of Christ.
The human ego-consciousness was to be purified and healed through Christianity. Christ had to raise and purify the self-centred ego, so that when it has reached self-consciousness it may die selflessly. This he could only do in a body which had become one with ... [Gap in text ...]. Thus only an initiate of the third grade could sacrifice his body for the Christ.
In our time it is extraordinarily difficult to attain to a complete awareness of these lofty conditions. The profoundly wise Subba Row47His teachings appeared published as Esoteric Writings. had his own knowledge; he describes three such stages of discipleship.
We see the moon as the lifeless residue of ourselves and we ourselves have in us the forces which once gave the moon its life. That is also the reason for the special sentimental mood in all poets who sing the praises of the moon. All poetical feelings are faint echoes of living occult streams deeply hidden in man.
A being can however become entangled in what should actually remain behind as slag. Something must remain behind from the Earth that is destined to become later what the moon is today. This must be overcome by man. But someone can have a liking for such things and so unites himself with them. A person who is deeply bound up with what is purely of the senses, of the lower instincts, connects himself ever more strongly with what should become slag. This will come about when the number 66648See Rudolf Steiner The Apocalypse of St. John lecture 11 (1908). is fulfilled, the number of the Beast. Then comes the moment when the Earth must draw away from further planetary evolution. If however the human being has connected himself too strongly with the forces of the senses, which should now detach themselves, if he is related to them and has not found the way to attach himself to what is to pass over to the next Globe, he will depart with the slag and become an inhabitant of this body of slag, in the same way as other beings are now inhabitants of the present moon.
Here we have the concept of the Eighth Sphere.49More details in The Occult Movement in the 19th century and its relationship to World Culture (1915). Mankind must go through Seven Spheres. The Seven Planetary Evolutions correspond to the seven bodies.
Old Saturn corresponds to the physical body
Old Sun corresponds to the etheric body
Old Moon corresponds to the astral body
The Earth corresponds to the Ego
Future Jupiter corresponds to the Manas
Future Venus corresponds to the Buddhi
Future Vulcan corresponds to the Atma
Beside these there is an Eighth Sphere to which everything goes that cannot make any connection with this continuous evolution. This already forms itself as predisposition in the devachanic state. When a human being uses the life on earth only to amass what is of service to himself alone, only to experience an intensification of his own egotistical self, this leads in Devachan into the condition of Avitchi. A person who cannot escape from his own separateness goes into Avitchi. All these Avitchi men will eventually become inhabitants of the Eighth Sphere. The other human beings will be inhabitants of the continuing chain of evolution. It is from this concept that religions have formulated the doctrine of hell.
When man returns from Devachan, the astral, etheric and physical forces arrange themselves around him according to twelve forces of karma which in Indian esotericism are called Nidanas:
They are as follows:
1. avidja = non-knowledge
2. sanskara = the organising tendencies
3. vijnana* = consciousness
4. nama-rupa = names and form
5. shadayadana = what the intellect makes of things
6. sparsha = contact with existence
7. vedana = feeling
8. trishna = thirst for existence
9. upadana = a sense of comfort in existence
10. bhava = birth
11. jati* = the urge towards birth
12. jaramarana = what frees from earthly existence
In the next lecture we shall study these important aspects of karma in more detail.
* In the Sanscrit words j is pronounced as dj.
XIV
Wir wollen heute sprechen über den Aufenthalt des Menschen im Devachan zwischen zwei Inkarnationen.
Immer wieder müssen wir uns dabei klarmachen, daß der Aufenthalt des Menschen im Devachan nicht irgendwo anders ist als da, wo wir sonst auch sind. Denn Devachan, die astrale und die physische Welt sind durchaus drei ineinandergeschobene Welten. Die richtigste Vorstellung vom Devachan kann man sich machen, wenn man sich die Welt der elektrischen Kräfte denkt, bevor die Menschen die Elektrizität entdeckt haben. Davor schon war alles in der physischen Welt enthalten, nur war es damals eine okkulte Welt. Alles was okkult ist, wird einst entdeckt. Der Unterschied zwischen dem Leben im Devachan und demjenigen in der physischen Welt ist der, daß der Mensch in seinem gegenwärtigen Zyklus mit Organen ausgerüstet ist, die ihn befähigen, die physische Welt zu schauen, aber nicht mit Organen, die ihn befähigen, die Erscheinungen des Devachans zu schauen.
Versetzen wir uns in die Seele eines Menschen, der sich zwischen zwei Inkarnationen befindet. Er hat den physischen Leib den allgemeinen Kräften übergeben und auch den Ätherleib wieder an die Lebenskräfte abgegeben. Ferner hat er den Teil des Astralleibes wieder zurückgegeben, in den er noch nicht selbst hineingearbeitet hat. Dann befindet er sich im Devachan. Er hat als seinen eigenen Besitz nicht mehr das, was die Götter in seinen Äther- und seinen Astralleib hineingearbeitet hatten; alles das ist abgeworfen. Nur was er selbst sich während vieler Lebensläufe erarbeitet hat, ist jetzt sein Besitztum. Das ist ihm auch eigen im Devachan. Alles was der Mensch in der physischen Welt getrieben hat, dient dazu, ihn im Devachan immer bewußter und bewußter zu machen.
Nehmen wir das Verhältnis eines Menschen zu einem anderen. Es kann so sein, daß es durch die bloße Natur bedingt ist; zum Beispiel das Verhältnis zwischen Geschwistern, die einfach durch die natürlichen Verhältnisse zusammengekommen sind. Es ist aber nur teilweise natürlich, denn fortwährend leben sich Moralisches und Intellektuelles in das Natürliche hinein. Der Mensch ist durch sein Karma in eine bestimmte Familie hineingeboren; doch ist nicht alles karmisch bedingt. Das natürliche Verhältnis ohne alle Beimischung haben wir bei den Tieren. Bei den Menschen ist es immer auch ein moralisches Verhältnis durch Karma, Nun kann das Verhältnis zwischen zwei Menschen aber auch bestehen, ohne daß es von der Natur bedingt ist. Zum Beispiel kann sich eine intime Freundschaft zwischen zwei Freunden oder Freundinnen über äußere Hindernisse hinweg anknüpfen. Stellen wir uns ein solches Verhältnis dadurch etwas radikal vor, daß wir annehmen, die Freunde seien sich anfangs etwas unsympathisch gewesen und hätten sich dann gefunden auf rein intellektueller und moralischer Grundlage, von Seele zu Seele. Dieses Verhältnis stellen wir dem natürlichen zwischen zwei Geschwistern gegenüber. Bei dem Verhältnis von Seele zu Seele haben wir nun ein mächtiges Mittel, devachanische Organe auszubilden. Durch nichts werden jetzt devachanische Organe leichter entwickelt als durch solche Verhältnisse. Ein solches Verhältnis ist unbewußt ein devachanisches.
Was der Mensch gegenwärtig an seelischer Fähigkeit entwickelt in rein seelischer Freundschaft, das ist im Devachan Weisheit, die Möglichkeit, das Geistige in der Tat zu erfahren. In dem Maße, wie der Mensch sich in solche Beziehungen hineinlebt, ist er gut vorbereitet für Devachan. Wenn er seelische Verhältnisse nicht anknüpfen kann, ist er unvorbereitet für Devachan; denn wie sich einem Blinden die Farbe entzieht, so entzieht sich ihm dann das Seelische. Inwieweit der Mensch rein seelische Beziehungen pflegt, wachsen ihm Augen für Devachan. So daß der Satz gilt: Wer sich hier im Leben des Geistes bewegt, wird drüben ebensoviel vom Geiste wahrnehmen, als er sich hier durch seine Tätigkeit erworben hat. Daher die unendliche Wichtigkeit des Lebens auf dem physischen Plane. Es gibt für die menschliche Evolution kein anderes Mittel, um die Organe für das Devachan zu wecken, als die geistige Tätigkeit auf dem physischen Plane. Alles das ist schöpferisch und kommt uns als devachanische Sinnesorgane zurück für die devachanische Welt. Es gibt als Vorbereitung nichts Besseres, als eine rein seelische Beziehung zu Menschen zu haben, eine solche Beziehung, die ursprünglich gar keine natürliche Grundlage hat.
Darum auch sollen Menschen in Zweigen zusammengeführt werden, um ganz geistige Verhältnisse zu knüpfen. Die Meister wollen dadurch Leben in den Strom der Menschheit hineingießen. Was im Zweige mit der richtigen Gesinnung geschieht, bedeutet für alle Teilnehmer die Öffnung eines geistigen Auges im Devachan. Man sieht dort dann alles dasjenige, was auf gleicher Stufe steht mit dem, was man hier angeknüpft hat. Hat man auf dem physischen Plane eine geistige Beziehung angeknüpft, so gehört diese durchaus zu den Dingen, die nach dem Tode erhalten bleiben. Diese gehört nach dem Tode noch ebenso dem Gestorbenen wie dem Überlebenden. Derjenige, der drüben ist, bleibt in denselben Beziehungen, durch dieselben Bande verknüpft mit dem, der noch da ist. Der Gestorbene ist sich dieses geistigen Verhältnisses sogar in viel stärkerem Maße bewußt.
Man erzieht sich auf diese Weise zum Devachan. Der Gestorbene bleibt mit seinen Lieben nach dem Tode in Beziehung. Die früheren Beziehungen werden zu Ursachen, um im Devachan Wirkungen zu erzeugen. Darum nennt man die devachanische Welt die Welt der Wirkungen und die physische Welt die Welt der Ursachen. Niemals kann der Mensch seine höheren Organe anders bilden, als indem er die Ursachen zu diesen Organen auf dem physischen Plane sät. Zu diesem Zwecke ist der Mensch auf den physischen Plan versetzt. Was das vielgesagte Wort «das Sondersein aufheben» bedeutet, wird uns nun klar werden. Ehe wir zum physischen Dasein heruntergestiegen sind, haben wir mit einem Inhalt des Astralkörpers gelebt, der von einem Deva bewirkt ist. Früher wurde im Menschen Sympathie und Antipathie von den Devas angeregt, er war nicht selbst verantwortlich. Dann sagte sich der Mensch auf der folgenden Stufe: Jetzt bin ich in die physische Welt eingetreten als ein Wesen, das sich selbst zurechtfinden muß. Früher habe ich das Wort «Ich» gar nicht aussprechen können; jetzt bin ich erst ein Sonderwesen für mich selbst geworden. Früher war ich zwar auch ein Sonderwesen, aber Glied eines devachanischen Wesens. Auf dem physischen Plane bin ich ein Sonderwesen für mich, ein Ich, weil ich eingeschlossen bin in den physischen Körper.
Die höheren Körper fließen ineinander; zum Beispiel ist Atma in Wahrheit bei der ganzen Menschheit nur eines, wie eine gemeinschaftliche Atmosphäre. Doch ist das Atma des einzelnen Menschen so zu fassen, wie wenn sich jeder ein Stück für sich aus dem allgemeinen Atma herausschneidet, so daß gleichsam Einschnitte darin gemacht werden. Aber diese Sonderheit müssen wir überwinden. Das tun wir, indem wir menschliche Beziehungen rein seelischer Art anknüpfen. Dadurch heben wir das Sondersein auf und erkennen die Einheit des Atma in allen. Indem ich solche menschliche Beziehungen anknüpfe, erwecke ich Sympathien in mir selbst. Ich übernehme da die Arbeit, mich selbstlos dem Weltenplane einzufügen. Dadurch erwacht im Menschen das Göttliche. Das ist der Zweck des Hinausschauens in die Welt.
Wir sind heute umstellt mit der physischen Wirklichkeit, mit Sonne, Mond und Sternen. Was im alten Mondendasein den Menschen von außen umgab, das hat er heute in sich. Die Kräfte des Mondes leben heute im Menschen selbst. Wäre der Mensch nicht auf dem Monde gewesen, so hätte er diese Kräfte nicht. Deshalb nennt die ägyptische Geheimlehre im Esoterischen den Mond die Isis, die Göttin aller Fruchtbarkeit. Die Isis ist die Seele des Mondes, die Vorgängerin der Erde. Da lebten rundherum alle die Kräfte, die jetzt in den Pflanzen und Tieren leben zum Zwecke der Fortpflanzung. So wie jetzt Feuer, chemische Kräfte, Magnetismus und so weiter um uns herum sind und die Erde umgeben, so umgaben den Mond die Kräfte, die im Menschen, in Tieren und Pflanzen jetzt Fortpflanzungskräfte sind. Die jetzigen die Erde umgebenden Kräfte werden in Zukunft eine gesonderte Rolle spielen im Menschen. Was heute zwischen Mann und Weib wirkt, waren damals auf dem Monde äußere physische Kräfte wie heute Eruptionen von Vulkanen. Diese Kräfte umgaben den Menschen während des Mondendaseins und er sog sie ein durch seine Mondensinne, um sie jetzt zu evolvieren. Was der Mensch auf dem Monde involviert hatte, kam auf der Erde als Evolution heraus. Was der Mensch nach der lemurischen Zeit als sexuelle Kraft herausgegliedert hat, das ist Isis, die Seele des Mondes, die jetzt im Menschen weiterlebt. Das ist die Verwandtschaft zwischen dem Menschen und dem heutigen Monde. Er hat bei dem Menschen seine Seele gelassen und ist deshalb selbst zur Schlacke geworden.
Während wir auf der Erde Erfahrungen machen, sammeln wir die Kräfte, die auf dem nächsten Planeten unsere eigenen sein werden. Was wir jetzt erfahren im Devachan, das sind die vorbereitenden Stadien für die nächsten Zeiten. Wie der Mensch heute zum Monde hinaufblickt und sich sagt: Der hat uns die Reproduktionskräfte gegeben - so wird der Mensch künftig auch auf einen Mond sehen, der aus unserer jetzigen physischen Erde entstehen und als eine entseelte Schlacke den zukünftigen Jupiter umkreisen wird. Der Mensch wird auf dem Jupiter neue Kräfte entwickeln, die er heute auf der Erde als Licht und Wärme, als alle physischen Wahrnehmungen aufnimmt. Er wird später alles ausstrahlen, was er vorher durch die Sinne wahrgenommen hat. Was er auch immer durch die Seele aufgenommen hat, ist dann alles Wirklichkeit.
So führt uns die theosophische Anschauung nicht dazu, die Welt des physischen Planes zu unterschätzen, sondern zu wissen, daß der Mensch hinausziehen muß auf den physischen Plan, um Erfahrungen zu sammeln, die er später wieder ausstrahlen wird. Die Wärme der Erde, die Sonnenstrahlen, die uns heute zuströmen, werden später aus uns herausstrahlen. So wie aus uns jetzt die Sexualkraft herauskommt, werden dann diese neuen Kräfte herauskommen.
Nun wollen wir uns klarmachen, was die aufeinanderfolgenden Devachanzustände bedeuten. Zunächst ist das Devachan nur kurz. ‚Aber immer mehr und mehr geistige Organe bilden sich im Mentalleibe aus, bis der Mensch zuletzt, wenn er die Weisheit der Erde umfaßt hat, die Organe des devachanischen Leibes ganz ausgestaltet hat. Das wird für alle Menschen eintreten, wenn sämtliche Erdenrunden vollendet sein werden. Dann wird alles Menschenweisheit geworden sein. Wärme und Licht sind dann Weisheit geworden. Zwischen dem Erdenmanvantara und dem nächsten Planeten lebt der Mensch in einem Pralaya. Außen herum ist dann gar nichts; aber alle Kräfte, die der Mensch aus der Erde herausgezogen hat, sind dann in ihm. In einem solchen Lebensabschnitt geht alles Äußere nach innen. Es ist dann alles samenhaft vorhanden und lebt sich hinüber zum nächsten Manvantara. Im Großen ist das ein ähnlicher Zustand, wie wenn wir im Augenblicke des Nachdenkens alles um uns herum vergessen und uns nur erinnern an die Erfahrungen, um sie im Gedächtnis aufzubewahren und später anzuwenden. So erinnert sich im Pralaya die ganze Menschheit an alle Erfahrungen, um sie nachher wieder auszunützen.
Immer gibt es solche Zwischenzustände, die gleichsam Erinnerungen darstellen, und so ist auch der Devachanzustand ein solcher Zustand der Zwischenheit. Der Eingeweihte sieht schon jetzt diejenigen Tatsachen vor sich, die der Mensch erst nach und nach im Devachanzustand um sich hat. Es ist ein Zustand der Zwischenheit. Alle ähnlichen Zustände sind Zustände der Zwischenheit. Der Eingeweihte schildert die Welt so, wie sie im Devachan, auf der anderen Seite, in der Zwischenheit ist. Wenn er über das Devachan hinaus zu einem noch höheren Zustande kommt, schildert er wieder einen Zwischenzustand.
Die erste Stufe der Einweihung besteht darin, daß der Schüler lernt, durch den Schleier der äußeren Welt hindurch die Welt von der anderen Seite anzusehen. Der Eingeweihte ist heimatlos hier auf der Erde. Er muß sich auf der anderen Seite eine Hütte bauen. Als die Jünger mit Jesus «auf dem Berge waren», wurden sie eingeführt in die devachanische Welt, jenseits von Raum und Zeit; sie bauten sich eine Hütte. Das ist die erste Stufe der Einweihung.
Auf der zweiten Stufe der Einweihung tritt etwas Ähnliches ein, aber auf einer höheren Stufe. Auf der zweiten Stufe hat der Eingeweihte einen solchen Bewußtseinszustand, der entspricht der Zeit der Zwischenheit zwischen zwei Formzuständen (Globen), einem Pralayazustand, der dann eintritt, wenn alles das erreicht ist, was in dem physischen Formzustande erreicht werden kann und die Erde sich verwandelt in einen sogenannten astralen Formzustand oder Globus.
Der dritte Bewußtseinszustand des Eingeweihten ist der Zustand, der der Zwischenheit von zwei Runden entspricht, vom alten Arupaglobus der vorhergehenden Runde bis zum neuen Arupaglobus der folgenden Runde. In dem Pralaya zwischen zwei Runden ist der Eingeweihte in dem Augenblicke, wo er sich in den dritten Zustand erhebt; er ist dann ein Eingeweihter dritten Grades. So können wir begreifen, warum Jesus erst im dritten Stadium seinen Leib dem Christus zur Verfügung stellen konnte. Christus steht über allen Geistern, die in den Runden leben. Der Eingeweihte, der über die Runden sich erhoben hatte, konnte dem Christus seinen Leib zur Verfügung stellen.
Das menschliche Ich-Bewußtsein sollte durch das Christentum geläutert, geheiligt werden. Christus mußte das selbstische Ich heben, läutern, das sogleich, nachdem es das Selbstbewußtsein erlangt hat, selbstlos stirbt. Das konnte er nur in einem Leibe, der eins geworden war mit... (Lücke im Text.) Daher konnte nur der Eingeweihte der dritten Stufe seinen Leib dem Christus opfern.
Es ist in unserer Zeit außerordentlich schwer, zu einem völligen Bewußtsein dieser hochentfalteten Zustände zu kommen. Der tiefwissende Subba Row hatte eigenes Wissen; er schildert solche drei Zustände der Chelaschaft.
Den Mond sehen wir als den entseelten Überrest von uns selbst an, und wir selbst haben in uns die Kräfte, die einstmals dem Monde das Leben gaben. Das ist auch die Grundlage für die eigentümlichen, sentimentalen Gefühle der Dichter, die den Mond besingen. Alle dichterischen Empfindungen sind schwache Nachklänge tief im Menschen lebender okkulter Strömungen.
Nun kann aber ein Wesen verwachsen mit dem, was eigentlich als Schlacke zurückbleiben soll. Es muß von der Erde etwas zurückbleiben, was später das sein soll, was heute der Mond ist. Das muß der Mensch überwinden. Aber der Mensch kann das gern haben, dann verbindet er sich damit. Ein Mensch, der tief verwoben ist mit dem bloß Sinnlichen, dem bloß Triebhaften, der verbindet sich immer mehr mit dem, was Schlacke werden soll. Das wird dann sein, wenn die Zahl 666 erfüllt sein wird, die Zahl des Tieres. Dann kommt der Moment, wo sich die Erde herausbewegen muß aus der fortlaufenden Evolution der Planeten. Wenn dann der Mensch sich zu sehr verwandt gemacht hat mit den sinnlichen Kräften, die heraus sollen, dann geht das, was damit verwandt ist und nicht den Anschluß gefunden hat, um zum nächsten Globus hinüberzugehen, mit der Schlacke mit und wird Bewohner dieser Schlacke, so wie jetzt solche Wesen Bewohner des heutigen Mondes sind.
Da haben wir den Begriff von der achten Sphäre. Der Mensch muß durch sieben Sphären hindurchgehen. Die sieben Planeten entsprechen den sieben Körpern:
Der Saturn entspricht dem physischen Körper
Die Sonne entspricht dem Ätherkörper
Der Mond entspricht dem Astralkörper
Die Erde entspricht dem Ich
Der Jupiter entspricht dem Manas
Die Venus entspricht der Buddhi
Der Vulkan entspricht dem Atma.
Daneben gibt es eine achte Sphäre, wo alles dasjenige hingeht, was sich nicht dieser fortlaufenden Entwickelung anschließen kann. Das bildet sich in der Anlage auch schon im devachanischen Zustande. Wenn der Mensch das Leben auf der Erde nur dazu benützt, zu sammeln, was ihm allein dient, um nur eine Erhöhung seines eigenen egoistischen Selbstes zu erfahren, so führt das im Devachan in den Zustand des Avitchi. Der Mensch, der nicht aus der Sonderheit heraus kann, kommt nach Avitchi. Alle diese Avitchi-Menschen werden einmal Bewohner der achten Sphäre. Avitchi ist die Vorbereitung zur achten Sphäre. Die anderen Menschen werden Bewohner der fortlaufenden Evolutionskette. Die Religionen haben aus diesem Begriffe die «Hölle» formuliert.
Wenn der Mensch aus dem Devachan zurückkommt, ordnen sich die astralen, ätherischen und physischen Kräfte um ihn herum nach zwölferlei Karmakräften, die man in der indischen Esoterik Nidanas nennt. Das sind:
1. avidya = Unwissenheit
2. samskara = die organisierenden Tendenzen
3. vijnana* = Bewußtsein
4. nama rupa = Namen und Form
5. shadayadana = was der Verstand aus der Sache macht
6. sparsha = Berührung mit dem Dasein
7. vedana = Gefühl
8. trishna = Durst nach Dasein
9. upadana = Behagen im Dasein
10. bhava = Geburt
11. jati* = was zur Geburt gedrängt hat
12. jaramarana* = was von dem Erdendasein befreit.
In den nächsten Vorträgen werden wir diese wichtigen Aspekte des Karma genauer betrachten.
* In diesen Sanskritworten ist j als dsch auszusprechen: vidschnana, dschati, dscharamarana.
XIV
Today we want to talk about the human being's stay in Devachan between two incarnations.
We must repeatedly remind ourselves that the human being's stay in Devachan is not somewhere else than where we usually are. For Devachan, the astral world, and the physical world are three worlds intertwined. The most accurate idea of Devachan can be formed by imagining the world of electrical forces before humans discovered electricity. Even before that, everything was contained in the physical world, only at that time it was an occult world. Everything that is occult will one day be discovered. The difference between life in Devachan and life in the physical world is that in their present cycle, human beings are equipped with organs that enable them to see the physical world, but not with organs that enable them to see the phenomena of Devachan.
Let us put ourselves in the soul of a person who is between two incarnations. He has surrendered his physical body to the general forces and also returned his etheric body to the life forces. Furthermore, he has returned the part of the astral body that he has not yet worked into himself. Then he finds himself in Devachan. He no longer possesses what the gods had worked into his etheric and astral bodies; all of that has been cast off. Only what he himself has worked out during many lifetimes is now his possession. This is also his own in Devachan. Everything that the human being has done in the physical world serves to make him more and more conscious in Devachan.
Let us take the relationship between one person and another. It may be that it is determined by mere nature; for example, the relationship between siblings who have simply come together through natural circumstances. However, it is only partly natural, because moral and intellectual factors are constantly intertwined with the natural. Through their karma, people are born into a particular family; but not everything is determined by karma. We see natural relationships without any admixture in animals. In humans, it is always also a moral relationship through karma. However, the relationship between two people can also exist without being determined by nature. For example, an intimate friendship between two friends can develop despite external obstacles. Let us imagine such a relationship in a somewhat radical way, assuming that the friends were initially somewhat unsympathetic to each other and then found each other on a purely intellectual and moral basis, from soul to soul. We contrast this relationship with the natural one between two siblings. In the relationship from soul to soul, we now have a powerful means of developing devachanic organs. Nothing develops devachanic organs more easily than such relationships. Such a relationship is unconsciously devachanic.
What human beings currently develop in terms of soul capacity in purely soul friendship is wisdom in devachan, the possibility of actually experiencing the spiritual. To the extent that human beings live themselves into such relationships, they are well prepared for devachan. If they cannot establish soul relationships, they are unprepared for devachan; for just as color eludes a blind person, so the soul eludes them. To the extent that human beings cultivate purely soul relationships, their eyes for devachan grow. So that the following statement applies: Those who move in the life of the spirit here will perceive as much of the spirit over there as they have acquired here through their activities. Hence the infinite importance of life on the physical plane. There is no other means for human evolution to awaken the organs for Devachan than spiritual activity on the physical plane. All of this is creative and returns to us as devachanic sense organs for the devachanic world. There is no better preparation than to have a purely spiritual relationship with people, a relationship that originally has no natural basis.
That is why people should be brought together in branches to form purely spiritual relationships. The Masters want to pour life into the stream of humanity in this way. What happens in the branch with the right attitude means the opening of a spiritual eye in Devachan for all participants. There, one then sees everything that is on the same level as what one has established here. If one has established a spiritual relationship on the physical plane, this is definitely one of the things that remain after death. After death, it belongs just as much to the deceased as to the survivor. The one who is on the other side remains in the same relationships, linked by the same bonds to the one who is still here. The deceased is even more aware of this spiritual relationship.
In this way, one educates oneself for Devachan. The deceased remains in relationship with their loved ones after death. The former relationships become causes for producing effects in Devachan. That is why the devachanic world is called the world of effects and the physical world the world of causes. Human beings can never form their higher organs other than by sowing the causes for these organs on the physical plane. For this purpose, human beings are transferred to the physical plane. The meaning of the much-used phrase “abolishing specialness” will now become clear to us. Before we descended into physical existence, we lived with a content of the astral body that was brought about by a deva. In the past, sympathy and antipathy were stimulated in humans by the devas; humans were not responsible for themselves. Then, on the next stage, humans said to themselves: Now I have entered the physical world as a being that must find its own way. Previously, I could not even utter the word “I”; now I have become a separate being in my own right. Previously, I was also a separate being, but a member of a devachanic being. On the physical plane, I am a separate being in my own right, an I, because I am enclosed in the physical body.
The higher bodies flow into one another; for example, Atma is in truth only one for all of humanity, like a communal atmosphere. However, the Atma of the individual human being can be understood as if each person cuts out a piece for themselves from the general Atma, so that incisions are made in it, as it were. But we must overcome this separateness. We do this by establishing human relationships of a purely spiritual nature. In this way, we abolish separateness and recognize the unity of the Atma in all. By establishing such human relationships, I awaken sympathy within myself. I take on the task of selflessly integrating myself into the world plan. This awakens the divine in human beings. That is the purpose of looking out into the world.
Today we are surrounded by physical reality, by the sun, moon, and stars. What surrounded human beings from outside in the ancient moon existence, they now have within themselves. The forces of the moon now live within human beings themselves. If human beings had not been on the moon, they would not have these forces. That is why Egyptian esoteric teachings refer to the moon as Isis, the goddess of all fertility. Isis is the soul of the moon, the predecessor of the earth. All the forces that now live in plants and animals for the purpose of reproduction lived around them. Just as fire, chemical forces, magnetism, and so on are now around us and surround the Earth, so the forces that are now reproductive forces in humans, animals, and plants surrounded the Moon. The forces that now surround the Earth will play a special role in humans in the future. What now acts between man and woman were then external physical forces on the Moon, like volcanic eruptions today. These forces surrounded humans during the Moon's existence, and humans absorbed them through their lunar senses in order to evolve them. What humans had involved on the Moon came out as evolution on Earth. What humans separated out as sexual power after the Lemurian period is Isis, the soul of the Moon, which now lives on in humans. This is the relationship between humans and the present-day moon. It left its soul with humans and therefore became slag itself.
As we gain experience on Earth, we gather the forces that will be our own on the next planet. What we are now experiencing in Devachan are the preparatory stages for the next times. Just as humans today look up at the moon and say to themselves: It has given us the powers of reproduction — so in the future, humans will also look at a moon that will emerge from our present physical Earth and orbit the future Jupiter as a soulless slag. On Jupiter, humans will develop new powers that they today receive on Earth as light and warmth, as all physical perceptions. Later, they will radiate everything they have previously perceived through the senses. Whatever they have absorbed through the soul will then become reality.
Thus, the theosophical view does not lead us to underestimate the world of the physical plane, but to know that human beings must go out into the physical plane to gather experiences that they will later radiate back out again. The warmth of the earth and the sun's rays that flow to us today will later radiate from us. Just as sexual energy now flows from us, these new powers will then flow out.
Now let us clarify what the successive states of devachan mean. At first, devachan is only brief. But more and more spiritual organs develop in the mental body until, when the human being has finally embraced the wisdom of the earth, the organs of the devachanic body are fully developed. This will happen for all human beings when all the Earth cycles have been completed. Then everything will have become human wisdom. Warmth and light will then have become wisdom. Between the Earth manvantara and the next planet, human beings live in a pralaya. There is nothing around them, but all the powers that human beings have drawn out of the Earth are then within them. In such a phase of life, everything external goes inward. Everything is then present in seed form and lives on until the next Manvantara. In general, this is a similar state to when, in a moment of reflection, we forget everything around us and remember only our experiences in order to store them in our memory and apply them later. In Pralaya, the whole of humanity remembers all its experiences in order to make use of them again later.
There are always such intermediate states, which represent memories, as it were, and so the Devachan state is also such a state of intermediateness. The initiate already sees before him those facts which man only gradually encounters in the Devachan state. It is a state of intermediateness. All similar states are states of intermediateness. The initiate describes the world as it is in Devachan, on the other side, in the intermediate state. When he goes beyond Devachan to an even higher state, he again describes an intermediate state.
The first stage of initiation consists of the disciple learning to see the world from the other side through the veil of the outer world. The initiate is homeless here on earth. He must build himself a hut on the other side. When the disciples were “on the mountain” with Jesus, they were introduced to the devachanic world, beyond space and time; they built themselves a hut. This is the first stage of initiation.
At the second stage of initiation, something similar occurs, but at a higher level. At the second stage, the initiate has a state of consciousness that corresponds to the time of interim between two states of form (globes), a pralaya state that occurs when everything that can be achieved in the physical state of form has been achieved and the earth is transformed into a so-called astral state of form or globe.
The third state of consciousness of the initiate is the state that corresponds to the interlude between two rounds, from the old Arupaglobus of the previous round to the new Arupaglobus of the following round. In the Pralaya between two rounds, the initiate is in the moment when he rises to the third state; he is then an initiate of the third degree. Thus we can understand why Jesus was only able to place his body at the disposal of Christ in the third stage. Christ stands above all spirits who live in the rounds. The initiate who had risen above the rounds was able to place his body at the disposal of Christ.
Human ego consciousness should be purified and sanctified through Christianity. Christ had to lift up and purify the selfish ego, which dies selflessly as soon as it has attained self-consciousness. He could only do this in a body that had become one with... (gap in the text). Therefore, only the third-degree initiate could sacrifice his body to Christ.
In our time, it is extremely difficult to attain complete awareness of these highly developed states. The deeply knowledgeable Subba Row had his own knowledge; he describes three such states of chelaship.
We see the moon as the soulless remnant of ourselves, and we ourselves have within us the forces that once gave life to the moon. This is also the basis for the peculiar, sentimental feelings of poets who sing the praises of the moon. All poetic feelings are faint echoes of occult currents living deep within human beings.
Now, however, a being can become overgrown with what should actually remain as dross. Something must remain behind on Earth that will later become what the moon is today. Humanity must overcome this. But humanity can enjoy it, and then it connects with it. A person who is deeply interwoven with the merely sensual, the merely instinctual, connects more and more with what is to become slag. This will happen when the number 666, the number of the beast, is fulfilled. Then comes the moment when the earth must move out of the ongoing evolution of the planets. If human beings have made themselves too closely related to the sensual forces that are to be eliminated, then what is related to them and has not found a connection to pass over to the next globe goes along with the slag and becomes inhabitants of this slag, just as such beings are now inhabitants of today's moon.
This brings us to the concept of the eighth sphere. Human beings must pass through seven spheres. The seven planets correspond to the seven bodies:
Saturn corresponds to the physical body
The sun corresponds to the etheric body
The moon corresponds to the astral body
Earth corresponds to the ego
Jupiter corresponds to manas
Venus corresponds to buddhi
Vulcan corresponds to atma.
In addition, there is an eighth sphere, where everything that cannot join this ongoing development goes. This is already formed in the devachanic state. If a person uses their life on Earth only to gather what serves them alone, to experience only an elevation of their own selfish self, this leads to the state of Avitchi in Devachan. The person who cannot escape their peculiarity comes to Avitchi. All these Avitchi people will one day become inhabitants of the eighth sphere. Avitchi is the preparation for the eighth sphere. The other people become inhabitants of the ongoing chain of evolution. Religions have formulated the concept of “hell” from this idea.
When a person returns from Devachan, the astral, etheric, and physical forces around them are arranged according to twelve karmic forces, which are called nidanas in Indian esotericism. These are:
1. avidya = ignorance
2. samskara = the organizing tendencies
3. vijnana* = consciousness
4. nama rupa = name and form
5. shadayadana = what the mind makes of things
6. sparsha = contact with existence
7. vedana = feeling
8. trishna = thirst for existence
9. upadana = pleasure in existence
10. bhava = birth
11. jati* = what has led to birth
12. jaramarana* = what liberates from earthly existence.
In the next lectures, we will take a closer look at these important aspects of karma.
* In these Sanskrit words, j is pronounced as dzh: vidzhnana, dzhati, dzharamarana.