Charles Leadbeater in
his book "Inner Life II" gave the following explanation (and in
parentheses I added my comments):
THE INTERVALS BETWEEN
LIVES
A certain amount of misconception exists among students with regard to
the average interval which elapses between two incarnations. It seems probable
that we misunderstood the information given on this subject in the early days
of the Society, and the statements then made have been copied without comment
even into some of the later books. Most of the closer students have come to
know more or less accurately the facts of the case, but so far as I am aware
nothing resembling a tabulation of averages for the various classes of egos has
yet been published.
At the end of the chapter on the heaven-world (then called devachan) in
Mr. Sinnett's monumental work Esoteric Buddhism, the statement is made
that the whole period between death and the next physical birth varies greatly
in the case of different persons, but rebirth in less than fifteen hundred
years is spoken of as almost impossible, while the stay in devachan which
rewards a very rich karma is said sometimes to extend to enormous periods.
This statement is based upon passages in the same letters from which is
derived all the rest of this most interesting book, and there is no question
whatever that Mr. Sinnett has quite accurately reported what was told to him.
(Contrary to
what Leadbeater claims, Sinnett did make mistakes, and one of those mistakes
was to ensure that it is almost impossible to be reborn before 1500 years; and
that is why later Blavatsky and William Judge corrected that error by
explaining that the 1500 years is only the general average, but that there are humans
who reincarnate a few years after they have passed away and also there are humans
who take several millennia.)
The same general idea is put forward by Madame Blavatsky in The
Secret Doctrine (ii. 317): “Let us remember that, save in the case of young
children and of individuals whose lives have been violently cut off by some
accident, no spiritual entity can reincarnate before a period of many centuries
has elapsed.”
(Blavatsky
pointed out two exceptions, but there are more, such as: suicidal, heartless, very
bad or extremely materialistic people, insane, etc.)
In those earlier days we took this fifteen hundred years as an average
for humanity, but later investigations have clearly shown us that it could not
have been meant exactly in that way. To make the statement square with the
observed facts, it must be either greatly limited or greatly extended. If
confined to a small group of the most advanced of the human race it would be
approximately correct; and on the other hand, if it were extended to include
not only humanity but the vast hosts of the deva kingdom, it might again be taken as coming very near to the
truth.
(The devic
kingdom does not incarnate as it does not have a physical body and Leadbeater
is repudiating the teaching given by the masters on the basis of his
"clairvoyant investigations" which turned out to be very wrong.)
In the case of the quotation from The Secret Doctrine the
expression spiritual entities may be read as implying that Madame
Blavatsky was speaking only of highly developed persons; but the passage from
Esoteric Buddhism gives us fifteen hundred years almost as a minimum.
(As I
pointed out, Sinnett was wrong, and Blavatsky is referring to humans in general
since in The Key to Theosophy she
wrote: “the term between two rebirths is said to extend from
ten to fifteen centuries”, p.132.)
We are given to understand that the letters upon which Esoteric
Buddhism was founded were written by various pupils of the Masters under
Their general direction; and so, while there is plenty of room for inaccuracies to creep in (as we know
that they have crept in) it is impossible to suppose that the writers did not know facts quite readily
accessible to anyone who can watch the process of reincarnation.
We must remember that the letter was written not to the world at large
but quite definitely to Mr. Sinnett, with possibly a view to the few others who
were at that time studying with him. To state such an average for them
would be reasonably exact, and perhaps this is what was done; but we certainly
cannot accept it as the mean proportion for the whole human race at the present
time.
(Here
Leadbeater is already distorting the original teaching, but William Judge also
pointed out that the average is around 1500 years, and in 14th letter of the
Mahatma Letters, Master Kuthumi gave calculus that give an average of 1200
years, only that there he was covering a larger period of the fourth round.)
It is probably impossible to arrive at a really accurate average, for in
order to do that it would be necessary to know at least approximately the
number in each of the different classes of monads.
(If we
consider what Master Kuthumi and his true disciples said, the current average
is around 1200 to 1500 years.)
Something of the nature of an estimate for each of the main classes may
be given, though even then it must be remembered that there will necessarily be
wide individual variations on each side of it. Three principal factors have to
be taken not account; the class to which an ego belongs, the mode in which he
has attained individualisation, and the length and nature of his last life.
Let us then take up the various classes of humanity in their order,
using the nomenclature decided upon by Mrs. Besant in the table facing page
213.
Lords of
the Moon
At the head of that list appear the Lords of the Moon — those who
attained the arhat level at some time or other during the evolution of the
moon-chain. For that humanity, as for all others, seven paths open when they
have attained the level assigned to their chain; and in this case one of those
paths brought a certain proportion of the Lords of the Moon over to the
earth-chain to direct the earlier stages of its evolution. All of these,
however, have long since attained adeptship, and we need therefore take no
account of them in the consideration of our present subject.
Moon-Men
(First Order)
The next class is the first order of the Moon-men, and that is a class
so large and varied that it will be necessary for us to discuss it in the
several subdivisions given in the chapter on monads from the moon.
1st & 2nd class. The first class, as given
there, includes those who even on the moon-chain were already on the Path; and
the second class consists of those who were individualised in the fourth round
of the moon-chain.
In our present chapter we need not consider either of these classes,
since their members have attained adeptship, and so the question of
incarnations and the intervals between them no longer concerns them.
(The adepts
continue to reincarnate, the difference is that they have more and more control
of that process and maintain their consciousness.)
3rd class. Those who attained individualisation in the fifth
round of the moon-chain.
Among these, those who are already on the Path are usually taking a
continuous succession of incarnations, so that for them the question of the
interval between lives does not arise. If, however, they are for some reason
not as yet taking the special series of lives which usually follows upon
initiation, their intervals are very long — probably at the least fifteen
hundred or two thousand years, or even more.
(It is false
that humans who are already on the initiatory path carry out a series of rapid
reincarnations, William Judge explained that they can skip a period in the
Devachan and thus reincarnate quickly, but that can be harmful and only is do
it exceptionally when circumstances require it.)
Though not so usual as the series of rapid incarnations, this does
sometimes occur; for among the cases known to us those who passed the first
initiation some considerable time ago, one ego has been taking successive
incarnations in physical life ever since, with scarcely any break, while
another has been away from physical life for two thousand three hundred years;
and yet the result so far as progress on the Path is concerned seems to have
been exactly the same.
(This is not
true since in order to continue developing, you need to continue to be
reincarnated.)
The apportioning of the different stages of a long interval like this varies
considerably in different cases. The stay upon the astral plane is short, or
the ego may even pass through it rapidly and unconsciously. Most of the time is passed in the highest
level of the heaven-world, and then, after that is over, a certain proportion
of conscious life in the causal body precedes the next descent into birth. This
life of the ego on its own plane is at this stage only about one-tenth of the entire interval between the
earth-lives. But this again is a matter in which no two instances are alike.
(This is false;
Leadbeater greatly distorted the explanation given by masters.)
In the case of those who are approaching the Path the general interval
is not far from twelve hundred years if the ego has been individualized slowly
by intellectual development, and is therefore passing through its blissful
experiences at the ordinary rate. If, however, the ego has been individualized
suddenly by a rush of emotion or by a stupendous effort of will, and is
consequently taking his bliss in the more concentrated form, his interval is
about seven hundred years.
(This Leadbeater is making it up.)
Both these types are little likely to stay long upon the astral plane; probably five years represents for them an
astral life of fair average duration.
(The masters explained that humans remain in the astral plane until what
would normally have been their life on Earth ends, for example if someone was
destined to live 90 years, but had an accident that killed them at 60 years,
then he will remain in the astral plane for 30 years.)
At the other end of their
stay in the heaven-world there most likely comes a certain period of conscious
life in the ego on its own plane, but this does not exceed half a-century at
most.
(Leadbeater
said this asseveration, while Gottfried de Purucker said that the higher ego
makes a journey through the sacred planets of the solar system. But the reality
is that we have not yet been revealed that information about what happens with
the higher ego, and I am very suspicious of these explanations given by those
individuals, especially by Leadbeater because this guy was extremely liar.)
During their more recent lives we find that it has been the tendency of
those people who take the normal interval of twelve hundred years to incarnate
successively in the different sub-races. Often we find them running twice
through the same set of sub-races, first in male and then in female vehicles,
or vice versa.
(I don't see
how Leadbeater could have observed that since his clairvoyance was nil and this
is yet another example of his lies due to Master Kuthumi specifying that gender
choice is largely a matter of random.)
The fates of various people differ greatly. Some go on steadily life
after life, but nothing particular happens to them. Others are constantly in
trouble, shock following shock; and yet both are advancing along the line which
is best for them. It often happens that if a man dies young, he is born again
in the same sub-race, and when a man goes round the sub-races twice, he usually
takes the other sex on the second journey.
(He repeats
that lie again.)
Broadly speaking, the Indians represent the first sub-race of the Aryan
root-race, the Arabs the second, the Parsis the third, the Romance nations the
fourth and the Teutons the fifth.
(Here
Leadbeater makes the mistake of associating sub-races with a specific ethnic
race, when in reality a sub-race is a set of a geographic population, for
example Blavastky specified that the United States is the seed of the future
sixth sub-race, and in this country there is a great variety of ethnic races.)
If a man takes a birth in France, he does not need one in Italy or
Spain, and the same is true of Germany and England.
Students taking the seven hundred years interval seem to have more the
habit of attaching themselves to one sub-race and returning to it whenever
possible, and diverging into others only occasionally in order to develop
special qualities. As a general rule successive incarnations in the same race
intensify its characteristics; equilibrium is brought about by incarnating in
various races, or by travel and living among different people. With regard to
this matter, the idiosyncrasies of the ego play a considerable part.
I mentioned elsewhere how the strong prepossession in the mind of the
Jews that they are a special and chosen people tends to bring them back into
the same race; and pride of race generally, if unusually intense, is likely to
work in that direction.
Even pride of family is not without its result also, and I have known of
several cases in which, when abnormally developed, it has brought the ego back
into the line of his direct descendants two or three times before he got free.
In the beginning of these studies it was given to us as a general rule that a
man usually takes not less than three and not more than seven incarnations in
one sex before passing over to the other.
Although the many researches which we have since undertaken have to a
large extent confirmed this general rule, they have also shown us a great
number of exceptions to it, some people taking long lines of incarnations in
one sex before turning to the other, and others for a time incarnating
alternately in male and female bodies; but most of these were in the case of
egos who were already advanced somewhat beyond the average, and were therefore
probably receiving special treatment.
(Here
Leadbeater continues with that lie and below I transcribe what exactly Master
Kuthumi said so that you will see that Leadbeater is wrong.
"Generally a chance work,
yet guided by individual Karma, — moral aptitudes, characteristics and deeds of
the previous birth." ML 17, p.117.
And this is
further proof that Leadbeater was not a disciple of Master Kuthumi since he
says things contrary to what Kuthumi taught.)
Evidently there is no hesitation in modifying the general rule to suit
particular cases, when for any reason that is seen to be desirable. Though the
laws governing reincarnation are allowed to work mechanically upon the vast
majority of undeveloped egos, it seems clear from the instances observed that
as soon as any one ego makes a little progress of any sort and so becomes
hopeful from the evolutionary point of view, considerable elasticity is
introduced into the arrangements, and within certain definite limits he is born
into the sex, race and conditions which are best suited to give him an
opportunity of strengthening the weak points in his character.
In the case of men who have distinguished themselves greatly along
artistic, scientific or religious lines, the interval is usually much the same,
though the apportioning may differ slightly. The general tendency is to a
longer astral and a shorter causal life, especially in the case of the
religious and the artistic. A great philosopher sometimes enormously extends
his life in the heaven-world; I remember that Madame Blavatsky has somewhere
stated that Plato would be likely to stay away from earth for at least ten
thousand years, though I imagine that this is an entirely exceptional ease.
(Surely
Leadbeater is making this up too.)
4th class. Those who attained individualization in the sixth
round of the moon-chain; typical examples of whom are the country gentlemen and
professional men.
Their intervals vary greatly, say from six hundred to a thousand years,
of which perhaps twenty or twenty-five may be spent upon the astral plane, and
all the rest in various stages of the heaven-world. There is probably just a
touch of consciousness in the ego on its own plane, but only a touch.
(This is
false, as well as everything else he says below, and the reasons why it is
false I will explain at the end.)
5th Class. Those who individualized in the seventh round of
the moon-chain — the upper middle class. This class generally has an interval
between lives of perhaps five hundred years, of which about twenty-five are
passed on the astral plane and the rest in the heaven-world. In such a case
there is no conscious life in the causal body, though of course, like all other
human beings, they have the flash of memory and of prescience which is always
vouchsafed to each ego when he touches his own plane between two physical
incarnations.
Moon-men,
Second Order
It is the bourgeoisie. Their interval between lives is commonly two
hundred to three hundred years, of which about forty are usually spent upon the
astral plane, and the rest in the lower levels of the heaven-world.
In this, as in all the other types, individualization may have been
obtained by intelligence or by emotion, and there will be a corresponding
difference in the average length of the intervals between successive
incarnations, but in all these lower classes the difference caused by the mode
of individualization is much less in proportion than in the higher class.
Moon
Animal-men
The pioneers of the first round of the earth-chain, represented now by
the skilled workers of the world. Such men have usually an interval between
lives varying from one hundred to two hundred years, about forty of which are
spent on the middle level of the astral plane, and the rest on some of the
lower sub-planes of the heaven-world.
Moon-animals,
First class
Now the un-skilled laborers. Their interval between lives varies from
sixty to a hundred years, of which from forty to fifty are spent on the lower
parts of the astral plane, and the remainder on the lowest division of the
heaven-world.
Moon-animals,
Second class
The drunkards and the unemployable. Such people are generally absent
from the world some forty or fifty years, which they spend entirely on the
astral plane — usually on the lowest subdivision but one.
Moon-animals,
Third class
The lowest of humanity. Their interval between lives is often about five
years, spent on the lowest sub-plane of the astral — unless they are
earth-bound by crime, which not infrequently happens.
- - -
(I am very distrustful about this classification of
"the different classes of men" that Leadbeater put, which I suspect
is another invention of that individual.
It is
incorrect to associate the lunar monads with the different social and moral
strata that exist in our society because there are thousands of reincarnations
that have happened since then and therefore it does not make sense to do that.
To give you
an analogy, it is as if Leadbeater had said that the child who finished with
the best grades in the first year of elementary school is going to be a great
entrepreneur, while the child who finished with the worst grades is going to be
a delinquent.
And as you
yourself can see, it does not make sense to say that because it takes a long
time for these children to become adults and there are many other factors that
also intervene.
And it is
also false that the higher a person is on the social scale, the longer he will
take to reincarnate again, and vice versa. And this is false because Master
Kuthumi explained that the two main factors involved in the duration of
Devachan are the amount of positive karma and psychic impulses generated during
physical life.
In other
words, the more you do good, and the more you experiment, and the more you
develop, and the more you acquire knowledge; then the more you will accumulate
that type of energy and the more you will remain in Devachan before
reincarnating again.
And this is
contrary to what Leadbeater says because for example, a bank manager who is
rich but who spent his whole life working in a monotonous way and without
paying attention to life, this individual is going to accumulate a small amount
of that energy.
On the other
hand, a poor person who spent his time studying in the public library, or who
sought to develop spiritually, or who was interested in living life; this
person will generate much more that energy and therefore will remain for much
longer in Devachan than the general average of 1500 years, because his soul
will require much more time to integrate all that energy of experiences,
development and knowledge that he accumulated during his physical life.
And we can
say something similar between a rich bad and a poor good.)
_ _ _
And
Leadbeater ended by saying:
In all the cases mentioned above, a certain difference is produced by
the mode of individualization, but this difference is much less in proportion
in the lower classes. Still on the whole those individualized through intellect
tend always to take the longer of the two intervals mentioned as possible for
them, whereas those who come along other paths tend to take the shorter.
A third factor which exercises great influence is the length and nature
of the individual life. Obviously an ego who casts aside his physical body in
childhood has not had the opportunity in that body to generate a sufficient
amount of spiritual force to keep him on the higher planes for the length of
time common to his type.
Generally speaking, then, a man who dies young will have a shorter
interval than his neighbor who lives to old age. Generally speaking, again, the
man dying young is likely to have a greater proportion of astral life, because
most of the strong emotions which work themselves out in astral life are
generated in the earlier part of the physical existence, whereas the more
spiritual energy which finds its result in the heaven-life is likely to
continue until the end or near the end of the period spent upon earth.
(This is
false, the human who dies young will usually stay longer on the astral plane
because his energy body will continue to exist longer.)
The character of the man during his earth-life is a consideration of the
utmost importance. Some men lead a long life in which there is scarcely
anything of spirituality, and that naturally tends to shorten the interval
between their incarnations and brings it far below what is common for their
class. Probably, too, in such a case quite an undue proportion of the interval
would be spent on the astral plane. The averages given, therefore, are only
averages, and it must be clearly understood that a wide range on each side of
them is usually possible, so that the various classes may considerably over-lap
one another.
We have only recently come to understand the importance, in this regard,
of strong mutual affection. From our study of past lives it has become clear to
us that egos are closely associated in families or group, and that this
connection tends on the whole to equalize the intervals between the lives of
the members of such a group. It is evidently considered necessary that they
should prepare for future work together by constant association as they evolve,
and it is manifest that intervals which would otherwise be shorter or longer
are so dealt with as to bring the entire party into incarnation together, not
once but many times.
This unquestionably involves an increase or decrease of the rate at
which the spiritual force discharges itself, and it is clear that this must be
a matter of careful regulation by the Authorities in charge of evolution.
Though we have not yet discovered the exact law which regulates it, there is
little doubt that when we do we shall find that it works automatically, so that
the maximum of result may be achieved without injustice to any individual
concerned.
There seems to be a type of students who are always yearning to discover
injustice in the working of the evolutionary machinery; but those who have
spent many years in the investigation of the processes of nature know more and
more certainly as they go on that injustice is an impossibility, and that any
case in which we think we descry it is only a case in which our knowledge is as
yet imperfect. Those who have probed the mysteries of nature most deeply are
precisely those who have acquired the utter certainty that He who doeth all
things doeth all things well.
(Section
7)
OBSERVATION
This is one more example of how Leadbeater
misrepresented the original teaching and added many falsehoods to his
neo-theosophy.