During our Yoga practice we pass inwardly through the mind world into the world of memory, and it is on this plane of consciousness that we first contact the memorials of the devic creation.
Beyond the consciousness of memory there is the world of conscious nature. The objective is to find a means of communication between the intelligence of the deva world, with its devic consciousness, and our mind world. This communication is established in our memory world, on the plane of conscious nature.
The Yogi finds that it takes some time before he can find a means of communication between the higher devic creation and himself. The first rule in seeking communication with the finer forces of nature is to purify the mind, and aspire for Truth, for then the objective personality, which we carry about with us, is not projected into this finer state of matter and intelligence.
The devas then instruct us by means of a process of observation, placing before us a pantomime of movement, similar to the pictures we see on a screen in a cinema. Our thought world of mind intelligence, and the world in which the devas live are far apart, and at times it is difficult to communicate with them. Hence, we meet them at the halfway station between the world of thought and the world of intelligence.
Having to step down, as it were, into our consciousness, they present themselves to us in the beginning by taking us rapidly through natural forests and scenery; through wild woods, over mountain tops, and through vistas of time where we watch the wonderful panorama pass before us. Often they will halt us before some titanic tree and show us its manifestation. Yet always we have to attune our minds to comprehend the means by which they communicate their consciousness to us.
Under the devic instruction, for instance, a tree will give us an impression of its characteristics, showing us not only its anatomy, but the qualities of the minerals and essences which have been taken from the earth to make up its fiber and bark. We get an analysis of what it absorbs for nourishment, and what it stands for in nature, and the qualities of its will and aspiration. We learn that it has taken iron out of the earth, transforming it to make up the strength of its body. It will show us a symbol of what iron means to us (strength) and then it will show itself as having the characteristics of iron, but the iron has become flexible and subtle. This is because the tree must have flexible strength in order to move from the roots upwards. It will then show us the qualities of quicksilver (mercury) which build up its atmosphere of intelligence, so that it can respond to and become conscious of the different varieties of intelligence which other trees radiate.
The devas impress on the student that there is a constant conversation or interchange of intelligence between the forest trees, and that really the forest is a sort of talking machine and is seldom silent. The trees can pass communications for a certain distance, and they sense the approach of man by the vibration of his atmosphere, which they analyze and pass on to their surroundings over a wide area. They also analyze the character of the man who approaches them, and pass judgment upon him according to his worth.
Although the ordinary man thinks inanimate things are dumb and speechless, the Yogi knows by experience that everything is endowed with mind, but it is only by going into the world of memory that we can bring about a means of communication between the devas and ourselves.
The devas say that when you rise above your lower mind and enter into the consciousness of its higher counterpart you meet the consciousness of nature on a common level and find a common meeting point, and that common meeting point is love.
I once knew a beautiful soul, who possessed a most wonderful natural garden in the Scottish Highlands. I always knew when she entered her garden, although I might be sitting over half a mile from its entrance, for there was a movement from all the plants and trees that she loved, telling me that she was being welcomed. When she was sent away during the World War to tend to dying soldiers in a hospital, she led me to certain flowers and plants and said, “Whilst I am away, please talk to them.” She was one of those heroic Highland mothers, a descendant of the Bruce, who had entered deeply into nature’s consciousness and we used to call her Demeter.1
During the World War, when a lad appeared to be dying in the hospital the doctors and surgeons discovered that if they could get his mother to him, her atmosphere and mother love would do much to bring him through the crisis. They soon found out that this “daughter of the Bruce” could also give these boys that comfort and mother love which wrought miracles. The doctors did not hesitate to send long distances in order to bring a mother to her stricken son and the Government was most generous in providing financial aid for this purpose. I knew one case of a peasant woman arriving with bare feet, but she brought her son through the crisis and the nurses provided her with fitting raiment.
As we have said in another book, Mother Nature is the great healer and she longs for the return of her children from their long voyage of discovery, that she may heal them and bring them into the consciousness of her Truth.
Nature throws her cloak of protection over youth and, until boys and girls mature, they are looked upon as innocents by nature, no matter how destructive they may be. Often, unknown to humanity, nature protects and guides youth when lost in her domains, but from the time of puberty they must fight their own battles and stand upon their own feet.
It has been foretold that science will in time be able to measure the push of nature and her elemental kingdoms. Elemental spirits certainly have the power of propulsion, especially in wet weather, being partly ensouled by nature’s coordinating forces, they may become destructive agents, bringing giddiness to the brain and illusioning the mind to such an extent that their pressure can bring the individual to self-destruction. Often, people looking down from a height of less than three hundred feet, will feel a strong impulse to jump. As they ascend to a higher and clearer atmosphere, where the lower elemental nature forms cannot reach, the impulse will disappear, for the grandeur of God and his creation take the first place in their thoughts.
The student will be very much interested when the deva takes him into the forest and shows him the huts of the modern anchorites and initiates, and their places of retreat. The great American initiate, although working among the master minds of commerce and politics in the thick of humanity in times of great crises, is often found in one of these retreats where he may be seen manipulating the titanic forces of nature, in order to bring about the emancipation of struggling humanity. I once asked a student if he would like to go with me on a trip “out of the body.” I took him across the sea into the wilds of North America, and the initiate left his abode among the tall trees to meet us. The student exclaimed, “He is an Adamite man. Do you see the light about him?” Then he suddenly turned to me and said, “Do you think that Cynthia loves me?” With that we came back to our bodies, and he had missed a most golden opportunity to bathe in an atmosphere of peace and intelligence.
These hermits, who live at times so close to nature, often return from service in the world showing traces of suffering, but the light of realization is in their eyes. One must remember that although there are different degrees among these students of nature, when you meet them in the different capitals of Europe and other continents, they always speak of their longing to get back to nature. I am thinking now of a great soul, a scientific benefactor whose statue, erected by loving hearts, adorns a public place in Paris and he sleeps among the illustrious dead in the Holy of Holies of France. When I first met him, I felt his cultured distinction, but when he began to speak with authority about things of which I was ignorant, I thought that perhaps he was a “crank,” yet I can never forget the look back of his eyes, the look of realization and sacrifice, nor the atomic link of love which can never be broken. I was young then, and so ignorant! It is the memory of these great souls, who have made so many sacrifices for the world, which helps us to be patient with all we contact. We have to learn by experience to reverence the living, and not wait until they are dead.
What wonderful specialists some of these noble men and women are, who have asked nothing but light, but who give their services unselfishly that youth may more easily gain knowledge. The teacher who has gained the knowledge of one slight division in nature can demonstrate that truth. Idle talk is not becoming, humanity desires manifestation. As an American said, “If you have got the goods, give it,” but few people realize the persistence and struggle which is demanded of one for a simple demonstration of an additional degree of consciousness.
The story of Moses and his master, Melchizedek, is related in the Koran. It should be read by every searcher for Truth and every occult student, for it teaches that the Kingdom of Heaven can only be taken by energy.
There are times when whole nations are plunged into darkness, when guidance and direction are denied to their political leaders. This is the beginning of moral decay and, until the united people seek direction from the Lord God of Truth within, their lawgivers will not attain the consciousness of intuition. The lords of nature scourge and afflict man until he appeals to God for right direction, which nature can bestow upon him.
What did the worthy ideals of the League of Nations amount to? Nothing, because the whole body served not in united movement, for a weaker member destroyed the united effort of the whole group. People must realize that there is a law of cause and effect and that as you do unto others, so you will be done by. Nations like individuals, must suffer for the wrong and suffering they have caused. The persecuted of the past are today persecuting those who wronged them. People ask why they should suffer for the misdoing of their fathers, but in reality they are suffering the penalty of the wrong they themselves did to others in past lives.
It is far better after a fight to shake hands and sit down and become friendly, for when disputes are heard from both sides in a friendly fashion it is invariably realized that lack of understanding in the beginning has brought about the disagreements.
Humanity has gained nothing from the past great war, except the prospect of the next.2 Perhaps someday we shall realize the wisdom of our prophets, and listen to the words of the wise men of our own time. Someday people will realize that their souls demand freedom and love, and the opportunity to create. Then they will know that they must first remove the beam from their own eye, before they can be of real service to others.
The student must know that man is only four-sevenths developed, yet he has a universe within himself and possesses the power to become at one with his creator. Imagine yourself, through Yoga, leaving the world of man, entering the environment of a great forest, and listening to a redwood tree! It can relate to you, like a historian, the movements of nature. Perhaps it was born and first appeared above the surface of the earth in the year of the Nativity and has witnessed the setting of the landmarks of time. It has seen the rise and fall of many nations, and its atmosphere is vibrant with history. But until you are in tune with nature you cannot hear its message.
