This little passage is a new instalment of occult teaching given to the public, and opens up a vast field for thought.  It suggests, in the first instance, that the exoteric doctrine of the transmigration of the soul through lower forms of existence—­so generally believed in by the Hindus, though incorrect as regards the soul (fifth principle)—­has some basis of truth when referred to the lower principles.

It is stated further that the mummy goes on throwing off invisible atoms, which go through every variety of organized life-forms, and further on it is stated that it is the life-atoms of the Jiva, the second principle, that go through these transmigrations.

According to the esoteric teaching, the Jiva “is a form of force indestructible, and, when disconnected with one set of atoms, becoming attracted immediately by others.”

What, then, is meant by the life-atoms, and their going through endless transmigrations?

The invisible atoms of the mummy would mean the imperceptibly decaying atoms of the physical body, and the life-atoms of the Jiva would be quite distinct from the atoms of the mummy.  Is it meant to imply that both the invisible atoms of the physical body, as well as the atoms of the Jiva, after going through various life-forms, return again to re-form the physical body, and the Jiva of the entity that has reached the end of its Devachanic state and is ready to be reincarnated again?

It is taught, again, that even in the worst case (the annihilation of the Personal Ego) the atoms of the lower principles are the same as in the previous birth.  Here, does the term “lower principles” include the Kama rupa also, or only the lower triad of body, Jiva, and Lingasarira?  It seems the Kama rupa in that particular case cannot be included, for in the instance of the annihilation of the personal soul, the Kama rupa would be in the eighth sphere.

Another question also suggests itself.  The fourth principle (Kama rupa) and the lower portion of the fifth, which cannot be assimilated by the sixth, wander about as shells, and in time disperse into the elements of which they are made.  Do the atoms of these principles also reunite, after going through various transmigrations, to constitute over again the fourth and the lower fifth of the next incarnation?

—­N.D.K.

Note

We would, to begin with, draw attention to the closing sentence of the passage quoted above:  “Such was the true occult theory of the Egyptians,” the word “true” being used there in the sense of its being the doctrine they really believed in, as distinct from both the tenets fathered upon them by some Orientalists, and that which the modern occultists may be now teaching.  It does not stand to reason that, outside those occult truths that were known to, and revealed by, the great Hierophants during the final initiation, we should accept all that either the Egyptians or any other people may have regarded