The Path to Liberation, Death, and the Elimination of our Defects
An annual festival has arrived, then, for us [Day of the Dead] and [Halloween] for the whole world, quite important, and it is clear that we cannot go through such a date without talking about it. I refer, clearly, to the festival of the dead. Tomorrow (November 1), we will already have it, thus, there is a need, then, for us to explain something about the mysteries of life and death...
The Path
First of all, my dear brothers and sisters, you already know very well that the path is quite difficult. That is why Jesus the Christ spoke to us about the secret path saying:
“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” – Matthew 7: 14
Hermes Trismegistus (the thrice great ibis god of Thoth, living incarnation of the god Osiris), left us the marvelous science of alchemy. In the Middle Ages, that hermetic science passed from the Arab world to the lands of Europe, and then, everywhere, enthusiasm for hermetic art awoke. In that doctrine of Hermes are contained, both in essence and in power, the maximum keys and the pure knowledge that allows us to travel the “strait and narrow gate” of which Yeshua Ben Pander, Jesus the Christ, spoke to us. (We well know that the great Kabir, in his past existence, before the fulfillment of the mission he had in the holy land, was Joshua, son of Nun)... Undoubtedly:
“For many are called, but few are chosen.” – Matthew 22: 14
Certainly, you can count on the fingers of one hand those who have continuity of purpose to reach the goal. Fortunately, we have the body of doctrine, the principles, the foundations that, duly studied and experienced, allow us, in fact and in our own right, to follow the path of the razor's edge.
Those who brought us the doctrine were always great avatars, Logoic crystallizations, since it is impossible for us to conceive of a messenger coming from on high but as an emanation, or crystallization, or manifestation of the Logos in our world. Thus, having the bases, it is necessary to work; Only in this way is it possible to reach final liberation.
The Wheel of Return
Undoubtedly, my dear brothers and sisters, the human species is subject to the law of eternal return. We have already repeated it many times, that each cycle of manifestation, each cycle of the human state is made up of 108 existences. We are always given, we are assigned 108 existences; if we do not self-realize in them, it is obvious that we are then subject to that other law cited by the great avatar Krishna of Hindustan (who lived about a thousand years before Jesus), I am referring, then, to the law of the transmigration of the souls, or "metempsychosis" of Pythagoras.
Those who do not self-realize during the 108 existences, unquestionably, must return within the submerged mineral kingdom, until reaching the ninth sphere. There they become cosmic dust, that is, they go through the "second death" about which the great Kabir Jesus spoke to us with such wisdom...
After the second death, that is, after the death of all the inhuman elements that we carry inside, the essence, the soul or immortal principle escapes, comes to the surface, in the sunlight, to restart the journey, to start a new evolution that must start, undoubtedly, from the stone; that has to continue in the vegetable state and continue, later, in the animal state, until completely reconquering the human state, or better said “humanoid” state, which was once lost.
Returning again to the eastern state of humans, or "humanoids," we are again assigned 108 existences. If we attain the realization of our Self in the new cycle of existences, magnificent; if we fail, it is obvious that the process will continue to repeat itself.
And so, my dear brothers and sisters, so it is up to us, all of us, to attain the realization of our Self, or to continue wandering through the valley of samsara, stuck in this great fatal wheel that always turns 3,000 times. It is obvious that after the last turn, the opportunities are closed, and those who have not achieved self-realization, adepthood, will have to immerse themselves in the universal spirit of life, but without mastery. They will have happiness, but without adepthood; They will achieve bliss, but they will not achieve self-realization. They will simply become elementals of the universe; and that is all!
There is no doubt, my dear brothers and sisters, that the 3,000 revolutions of the wheel are painful. Those of us who have thoroughly studied the doctrine that is related to the intimate self-realization of the Being come to the logical conclusion that not all human beings are capable of attaining the realization of the Being.
It is also true, absolutely true, that not all monads or divine sparks emanated from within the universal spirit of life have an interest in mastery. When some virginal spark truly longs to attain adepthood, she works her soul, her essence, and strives to achieve it.
In the world we see many people, millions of human beings who have no interest in the intimate self-realization of the Being. It could be objected that such people do not know gnosis, the body of doctrine. This is valid up to a certain point, because in reality, when we spread the teaching everywhere, some heed the call, others remain indifferent, and unfortunately, they are the majority.
So, we know, we know when there is a restlessness, longing. If someone certainly wants to become adept, he works. When someone has that yearning, it is undoubtedly moved from their most intimate heart of hearts, they are working in secret, they are restless... But who works on him or her? Her own divine spark, his real Being, because that Monad, in itself, wants to achieve mastery. But I repeat: not all virginal sparks yearn for mastery...
When the "day of the dead" arrives, we need to reflect a little. The great law does not abandon those who do not yearn for mastery, nor those who struggle to achieve it and do not achieve it. The all-merciful watches over all creatures and abandons no one.
The Mysteries of Death
In ancient times, special importance was attached to funeral mysteries...
In Egypt much progress was made with embalming, with mummification; there is no doubt that the mummies of Egypt are wonderful. It was also possible to preserve living bodies there, not by "hibernation", but by a kind of "mummification" (bodies that could existed for thousands of years)...
Still, in the land of the pharaohs, there are living bodies of masters dating from 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 and even 10,000 years before Christ. In time, these masters will enter their physical bodies that sleep underground, to emerge again in the light of the sun, as it is written in the "book of the dead", and initiate a new Neptunian-Amentine era in the world.
Going to the bottom of this subject matter, both the Egyptians and the Tibetans, like the Aztecs and the Mayans, taught that it is possible to free oneself after death, never to return to this afflicted world. Those who proceed in this way obviously do so without self-realization; however, since there are few who can self-realize, it is always preferable to escape from the painful valley of samsara.
How to Escape the Wheel
It is not forced, it is not essential to wait until the 3,000th turn of the wheel of samsara; Those who long for liberation can do so even if they do not achieve adepthood, since all human beings were not born for adepts, nor for mahatmas, nor for logos; and there is always an escape door for those who do not feel capable of carrying out the great work...
Obviously, if after the 3,000th cycle we have to re-enter the bosom of the universal spirit of life as simple elementals of nature without any self-realization (this is clear, in the event that we had not really worked), well then, it is preferable to free ourselves once and for all of that fatal wheel; in this way we would avoid the descent into the infernal worlds after each cycle of manifestation and the terrible sufferings of this painful valley of tears.
There are, then, two ways to emancipate ourselves, two ways to escape from the valley of samsara: one, self-realized, converted into mahatmas or logos; another, as simple elementals, without intimate self-realization...
Each one, for himself, must reflect and choose the path. And when choosing it, we need to be serious, because once we have taken the step on the secret path, there is no going back.
That is why in the Tibetan mysteries, when someone is going to receive initiation, the priests blow their trumpets (formed with the bones of the dead), while warning the neophyte, "Stop, walker; do not try to follow the path that is beyond this threshold; remember that the path of initiation is full of tears, pains, sufferings!... you can be happy with the religion that has been taught to you, and live in the paradises of nature, in the land of the devas, of the holy gods, etc.! Why do you insist on taking the secret path?"
If the neophyte, in spite of everything, says, "Nothing can stop me, I will walk the path of the razor's edge; I am going along the path of intimate self-realization, nothing can deviate me!" Obviously, he will receive the initiation. But if he falters, then he will necessarily have to seek common emancipation through comprehension, that type of liberation without self-realization. It may not be a sun, but it will be content to be a smaller light...
The path of emancipation through comprehension does not make us gods; it only allows us to escape as elementals to live in the ocean of the universal spirit of life, definitively.
It is not necessary to reach the 3,000th cycle of the turn of the wheel of samsara. Those who no longer want to live, those who are disenchanted with life, those who have drunk from the chalice of all bitterness, and who in no way feel sufficiently prepared to tread the path that will make them gods, beyond good and evil, they can tread the path of least effort: the one that only makes us elementals, or small “elemental buddhas”; the one that allows us to return to the bosom of the great reality forever...
The Elemental Path
Obviously, those who cannot self-realize and end their cycle of manifestation, normally must descend into the bowels of the abyss and suffer a lot in order to achieve the second death. After it, comes the emancipation of the elemental essence. This, converted into elemental, will initiate a new evolution.
Naturally, what we have to do, or what nature has to do for us within the bowels of the earth, we can do at will, here and now, and avoid descending into the bowels of the abyss. If nature is to disintegrate the ego, the myself, the self-willed, here we can do it and without having to sink into those frightening abysses of the submerged mineral kingdom. If we are to remain converted into elementals after the second death, it is better to remain converted into elementals here and now, without going through that bitterness...
So, there is mercy; the eternal common cosmic father, the omnimerciful, never abandons anyone...
In death there are extraordinary mysteries...
Requirements
Whoever really wants to emancipate oneself and never return must start by knowing the doctrine (it is essential to dissolve the ego, the I, the myself, the self-willed).
A human creature could not be required to achieve the perfect radical elimination of the ego, here and now, if it is not prepared. But yes, any creature can, if it so proposes, if it wants to emancipate itself, eliminate, then, the ego, the I, even if it is in part; after death the rest of the work would continue.
But (and here comes the "but"), if we were with our consciousness asleep, we would have to return anyway... So, how can we not return to this "valley of tears"? Only by awakening the consciousness!
But when do we have to awake our consciousness, after we're dead or now? It is clear that right here we must work to awaken our consciousness! Is there any science that allows us to awaken our consciousness? Yes, it does exist, and we have been teaching it, and will continue to teach it through our various lectures.
Whoever awakens the consciousness can choose his path; whoever awakens the consciousness, after death will be able to work, and if he doesn't want to come back, he won't come back. But, how could a sleeper avoid the return, the return to this "valley of bitterness"? Impossible, right? You need to wake up first. Awake, yes, after death we can continue our work.
What Happens After Death
It is obvious that the deceased will be subjected to ordeals, if he does not want to return. In the first place, after death one goes through a swoon of three days (a kind of blackout), after which, well, one feels comforted, revived.
If the deceased is alert and vigilant, if one truly does not have the consciousness asleep, if one truly longs, one will be able to avoid returning to this “valley of bitterness”. I repeat: if one does not wish to return, one will be tested... The Divine Mother and the Father who is in secret (or the father-mother in totality, since each one has a father who is in secret and a Divine Mother kundalini), will put one to the test; they will assume before one, for example, at a given moment, a terrible, superhuman figure, with the purpose of testing the deceased; but if one remains firm as steel, it is clear that one will be victorious; but that is not the only test, there are many others...
The deceased who does not want to return should not let oneself be attracted by relatives, by attachment to brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, etc., because one harms oneself. Drawn by those loved ones that one left in the world, it is clear that one will return, one will rejoin again. If one wants not to come back, one has to lose all attachment (after death) to those we left in this "valley of tears".
After one has left the body, nature has multiple means, systems to make us return or reincorporate, and we must comprehend...
First of all, it is worth knowing that after death, we must review the life that has just passed; we will start with the last moment, with the one that preceded our agony; we will have a tendency to live in the same house where we died, to go through the same streets where we once walked; In a word, we want to pick up our steps, and we pick them up as we relive the different ages of existence that have just passed.
It is clear that this hindsight is not merely intellective; one re-experiences, after death, all the facts, all the events, all the events of the life that happened, and as one relives them, one also assumes the aspect one had in each of one’s ages: if one died old, one will look old; and then one will see oneself converted into the mature subject, then into the young person, and then into the adolescent, and finally into the child; will revive one’s entire existence in this way with the purpose of "settling accounts", of making a balance on his good and bad deeds...
I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that the Being is made up of many parts. Each of us has his own Being. This is made up of various parts. In us, there is, for example, within ourselves, in the Being (or in a part of the Being), something that we could call the “good angel”; There is also something that we could call the “bad angel”, not because it is bad, no, but because it is in charge of doing accounts, of writing down all our personal mistakes. The "good angel" is concerned with writing down good deeds. But it is not that the "good angel" and the "bad angel" are strange people, no, they are parts of our own individual spirit, of our own intimate Being... After death, for example, the "genius of good ” will count with pebbles the amount of good deeds we have done, and we will also see the “little evil genius” (which is not that he is evil, but simply that he will write down our mistakes, because it is another part of our Being) counting with black pebbles our bad deeds; but such an account will be made after the life that passed, after having internally relived it, retrospectively...
Thus, the entire existence that has passed comes to be reduced to numbers, to sums of good and bad actions. Obviously, at the end of this retrospection, and after our own Being has made the balance, the inventory we would say, of our good and bad actions, the lords of karma will do justice and determine the existence that awaits us in the future...
But if we wish not to return, if we have been preparing ourselves for this throughout existence, if we are awake, we will be able to defend ourselves, we will be able to ask our mother kundalini for forgiveness for our mistakes, we will be able to concentrate on another part of our Being that is called "the great merciful”, and we will get help..., there will be mercy...
But if the karma is too bad, if in life we were exaggeratedly perverse, obviously we will have to enter the submerged return of the infernal worlds, and there will be no remedy, or at least we will have to reincorporate against our will.
But if karma is not so bad, if there were more good actions than bad, if we had really worried in life about the dissolution of the ego, of the myself, of the self-willed, if we had been charitable, we will have the right to defend ourselves, with capital cosmic in our favor.
Avoiding Wombs
However, it is necessary not to let ourselves be attracted by human matrices. The human spirit can traverse a mountain from side to side and nothing stops him; the only thing that can stop him is a womb (behold the problem)...
The wind of karma will howl (a cold hurricane will reach the deceased), multiple appearances of terrible beings will try to intimidate him, but if he remains firm in the desire not to return, he will be able to triumph; but if he still feels in danger of falling into any human womb, he will have to learn to "close wombs" (and there are many systems) ...
In the internal worlds, the deceased suddenly feels that it is raining; it thunders and flashes, lightning strikes, there is a lot of rain: it is the law of karma, looking for a way to bring it closer to a womb; if he remains serene, immutable, "he closes a matrix"...
The inexperienced will run to hide inside some cave, trying to avoid the storm, and when he tries to get away, he will feel that something..., that with something he has linked himself to that cave; yes, he has been linked to a matrix, to a germ; that cavern was a womb. So, one has to learn how to "close matrixes", if what one wants is not to come back...
The deceased who wishes not to return, will se many creatures (males and females) copulating; if he is suddenly attracted to this or that house, and he felt sympathy for one of the couple and antipathy for the other, obviously, he would have to return there, to reincorporate...
The deceased who feels sympathy, for example, for the feminine element of a couple, will surely be born there with a male body, and vice versa: if he feels sympathy for the masculine element of the couple, and repudiates the feminine, he will be born there, obviously, with a female body.
Thus, we are attracted to certain places or homes according to the law of karma. If we go beyond sympathy and antipathy, if we have trained ourselves in life for that, we will not enter any human germ, we will not penetrate any matrix...
Another system to avoid falling into any matrix is deep meditation, learning to achieve stillness and silence of the mind, achieve the eruption of the illuminating void in ourselves and within ourselves; if we manage to keep ourselves in the illuminating void, we will be able to elude the attraction of any matrix, "we will close the matrix"...
In life, those who aspire to liberate themselves, even in an elemental state without self-realization, must be instructed for that purpose; to fight for the dissolution of the ego, of the I, of myself, of oneself, to walk the right path, tread the path of sanctification, awaken the consciousness, to learn how to live consciously in the superior worlds.
And in order to awake the consciousness, one has to work here and now. We have taught the science to awaken the consciousness; it is written in my books; you have read it; the important thing is to take it, yes, to practice...
Those who manage to elude the attraction of the "valley of samsara", will be able to be reborn after death, not with a physical body, but to be reborn, for example, in a paradise, in some higher kingdom, already in the kingdom of Gautama Sakyamuni Buddha, or in that of Amitabha, or in that of Maitreya, or in that of long hair, or in that of supreme happiness; that is the supernormal birth...
There are also those who are reborn in hell; that is the case of those who have already concluded their cycle of births and deaths; but those who aspire to liberation must be born in a supranormal form, in any of those kingdoms of the superior worlds.
When we are born in any of those kingdoms, we will fully dedicate ourselves to working, intensely, in the elimination of the inhuman elements that we carry inside, with the purpose of ensuring that the essence remains clean, transparent like glass, without adherences of earthly dust. It is obvious that those who aspire in this way must have gone through a previous esoteric preparation, here in the physical world.
It is written that what a master does on a greater scale in order to reach adepthood, in order to become a Dhyan-Chohan, a Kumara, a Mahatma, must be done on a smaller scale by the one who does not aspire to self-realization, but who simply wants to escape from the "valley of samsara.”
It is written that the path is divided into four major stages; so, holds the powerful oriental wisdom. The first we can call chela-hood or disciple-hood; the second, that of the initiate, that of the individual who begins; to the third that of the Arhat, or perfect one; and fourth that of the mahatma, or “great soul”.
These four scales are represented in many ancient temples and monuments, we even see them in the pyramid of the sun, in Teotihuacán, etc.
That which the master does on a large scale, is done in miniature by those who want to escape from this "valley of samsara", this "valley of tears". If the master has become a great buddha, a god, who wants to escape from this tragic valley, one can become an elemental buddha...
If the solar system exists in the macrocosm, it also exists in a molecule, right? Because what is a molecule? Isn't it a miniature solar system?
So what the adept does by self-realization, becoming a cosmocreator, a Dhyan-Chohan, a son of the flame, a Kumara, the miniature devotee does it by becoming an elemental buddha by traversing the four stages in incipient form...
Thus, in this state of progression, the essence will march, after freeing itself from the dust of the earth, through four stages:
One, we could call it "nirmanakaya" (this does not mean that for this reason, an "elemental" is a "nirmanakaya" who has consciously and positively renounced nirvana, or anything like that, but will live in a kind of “illuminating void”, similar to that of the nirmanakaya, and will develop in that environment).
Second, that although we could call it, let's say, "sambhogakaya" (an "emptiness" that is even more enlightened, deeper, accompanied by wisdom), it will not enjoy a sambhogakaya body, because it has never been manufactured, but it will pass through a state analogous or similar, in his return to the great reality.
Third: “adikaya”, an intelligence illuminated by the spirit (it will not be the intelligence of a Logos, nor of a Hermes Trismegistus, nor of a kumara, but that of an innocent "elemental").
Fourth: it will have the prize that is given to the dharmakayas, and finally, that most pure essence, fused with the “monad, will be submerged forever within the supreme Para Brahman, that is, within the great ocean of the universal spirit of life, in the Alaya purest of the universe...
He will not be a god, but a spark of the eternal; it will be free from the wheel of births and deaths, even though it is not self-realized; it will be a spark of divinity without self-realization, without mastery, but it will be happy; and that is all ...
Thus, not everyone is truly prepared to enter the straight, narrow and difficult path that leads to the light, and this is something that we should reflect on...
The unprepared, those who in their consciousness feel that they are not capable, then dedicate themselves to the dissolution of the ego and awaken their consciousness, and seriously dedicate themselves to treading the path of holiness...
The last thought of the dying person is definitive: if that dying person does not want to return, does not want to reincorporate, he can escape and not return, provided that the karma is not so bad, because there are people who have such a hard karma, due to their perversities, which will naturally have to return...
The most serious thing is that the majority will have to go down instead of being reborn, of returning to this world; they will have to be born, transfer their existence, whether they like it or not, to the infernal worlds, and those are the majority, unfortunately.
So, my dear brothers and sisters, on this night (of Halloween), the eve of the "festival of the dead", we must reflect, we must put our right hand on our hearts and ask ourselves: "Do I really want to tread the path of the razor’s edge and work on the intimate self-realization of the being?”
If I am not capable, if that is not my desire, if my desire is to leave forever, then make a resolution: also begin to awaken the consciousness, to work with our systems to achieve that self-awakening, to dissolve the ego, through the teaching that we have given clearly and positively...
We are, therefore, faced with the dilemma: either we follow the path of the razor's edge that will lead us to the intimate self-realization of the Being, or we do not follow it! If we are not willing to follow it, if we do not feel capable, it is better that we resolve not to return to this "valley of tears"... it is we ourselves who must choose the path; no one can choose it for us!...
So ends this lecture. If there is someone who wants to ask a question, she or he can do it with the most complete freedom... Let's see, brother...
Disciple: Venerable master, does the fact that the physical body is cremated or not, have something to do with liberation?
Samael Aun Weor: Well, no. Although it is often preferable to cremate the body, because any attraction that can be felt for the body after death is cut off when the physical body has been cremated.
However, it is not a very serious factor. Some may feel a certain attraction to the body: they will go from here to there looking for their body, they will want to get within it, they will regret having lost it; those, of course, are candidates to return to the world.
Others do not feel any attraction to the physical body and prefer to leave permanently; That depends on the life we have led.
But, nevertheless, it is convenient many times, it is better to cremate the body, in this way even the most insignificant attractions are lost (with the vehicle), all subtle attraction that one could feel for the body, is in fact cut off when the body is burned.
Is there any other question, brothers... Speak sister...?
Disciple: With regard to women, what happens...?
Samael Aun Weor: There is a factor that greatly influences the question of sex, and it is what is called “antipathy” and “sympathy”. That comes to define a lot, to practically define, let's say, the sex that must be had in a new birth.
For example: after death we feel attracted to a certain home (sometimes it is the home of our own relatives, our descendants, etc.). When approaching, therefore, before a couple of those (to which we will feel by the law of destiny, of karma, attracted to them, and very especially at the moment in which they are copulating), we will feel, or the deceased will feel, to speak more clearly, specific attraction for a certain element.
If he feels it for the woman that is copulating, he can be born there, he remains trapped there, he remains related to that seed, and he will have a male body. But if he feels more attraction, more sympathy, love for the father and antipathy for the woman who is there, well, obviously, by being related to that seed, well, he takes on a female body.
Notice that boys are more attracted to their mother; you see, in a very special way, how the girls love their father more... This question of sympathy and antipathy, that sympathy that you see in girls for their fathers and in boys for their mothers, was what determined their sex. That sympathy does not exist only after you were born, it exists before you were born and it was what brought you into existence. When you have specific sympathy for the mother, you are born with a male body. And if the sympathy is very special for the father, he is born with a female body.
So, if a deceased wishes not to return, he will have to know how to go beyond sympathies and antipathies; if it is that he wishes not to return...
Is there any other question, brothers or sisters.
Disciple: Venerable master, in your book on plants it says that the cemetery is a black magic hall and that we should not bury our relatives there, so it is the same question that the former brother asked, is it always better to cremate the bodies?
Samael Aun Weor: Yes, it is preferable to incinerate them. And naturally, in the pantheons, there are within the higher dimensions, in the fifth dimension, in the molecular region, certain dens of black magic and personages of the "left hand", tenebrous, who usually dwell in the pantheons, and use, even the specters of the dead to cause harm to the living.
There are many things that happen in cemeteries, about which I have spoken in my book Esoteric Medicine and Practical Magic...
Inverential Peace