You know very well, my dear brothers and sisters, that the secret path, the path that Jesus the Christ spoke about is strait, difficult, this is why he said:
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the path, that leads to destruction, and many are they which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the path, which leads unto life, and few are they that find it.”
Matthew 7:13, 14
Hermes Trismegistus, the thrice-great ibis god of Thoth, living incarnation of the god Osiris, granted us the marvelous science of alchemy.
In the Middle Ages, that hermetic science passed from the Arabic world to the lands of Europe, then the enthusiasm for the hermetic art awoke everywhere. Within the doctrine of Hermes is contained — as much in essence as in potency — the greatest keys and the purest knowledge that allows us to walk the “narrow path” mentioned by Jeshua ben Pandira, Jesus the Christ. We know very well that in his past existence, before fulfilling his mission in the holy land, the great Kabir Jesus was Yeshuah, the Son of Nun.
Undoubtedly, “Many are called but few are chosen.” Certainly, one can count on the fingers of one hand those who have perseverance in order to achieve the final goal. Fortunately, we have the doctrine’s body, the principles, the bases, which properly studied and experienced allow us to walk on the path of the razor’s edge.
Those who brought the doctrine for us were always great avatars. Avatars are Logoic crystallizations, since it is impossible to conceive a messenger that descends from the heights that is not an emanation, a crystallization, or manifestation of the Logos in our world.
So, having thus the bases, it is necessary to do the alchemical work. Only in this manner is it possible to achieve the final liberation.
Undoubtedly, my dear brothers and sisters, the human species is submitted to the law of eternal return. We have already repeated many times that each cycle of manifestation, each cycle at its peak, is granted 108 human existences. Thus, the eternal return grants us, assigns to us, 108 human existences, and if during these 108 human existences we do not attain the realization of our Self, it is obvious that then we remain submitted to the law of the metempsychosis of Pythagoras or the transmigration of souls. So, I am addressing the law of the transmigration of souls cited by the great avatar Krishna from Hindustan, who lived about 3,000 years before Jesus.
The souls who do not attain the realization of their Self during their 108 human existences will obviously have to devolve within the submerged mineral kingdom until reaching the Ninth Sphere. There they become cosmic dust; in other words, they pass through the Second Death that was mentioned with great wisdom by the great Kabir Jesus.
After the Second Death — in other words, after the death of all the inhuman elements that we carry within — the Essence, the soul or immortal principle, escapes, emerges back to the surface, to the light of the Sun, in order to re-initiate a new journey or evolution that obviously will have to start from the stone, and that will continue in the vegetable, and later proceed into the animal state, until finally reconquering the humanoid state that was previously lost. When the soul reconquers the human or humanoid state, the law then again assigns it 108 human existences. If the soul attains the realization of the Self in this new cycle of existences, wonderful! Yet, if the soul fails, it is obvious that the process will have to be repeated.
So, my dear brothers and sisters, we either achieve the realization of the Self or we have to remain wandering in the valley of Samsara, incorporating in this great fatal wheel that revolves 3,000 times. Obviously, after the last rotation, the opportunities end, and those who did not achieve the realization of their Self — that is, adepthood — will have to submerge themselves into the Universal Spirit of Life, but without mastery. They will have happiness, but without adepthood. They will reach bliss, yet they will not attain the realization of their Self. They will simply be transformed into elementals of the universe, and that is all!
There is no doubt, my dear brothers and sisters, that the 3,000 rotations of the wheel are very painful.
Those of us who have profoundly studied the doctrine related to the realization of the Inner Self have reached the conclusion that not all human souls are capable of achieving the realization of their Self.
It is also true and all truth that not all the Monads or divine sparks that emanated from the entrails of the universal spirit of life are interested in mastery. When a divine spark really yearns to achieve mastery, it exerts pressure in its soul, its Essence, and fights in order to achieve it.
In this world we see many people, millions of human souls, who do not have any interest in the realization of their inner Self. Someone could object to the former statement and say that these people do not know Gnosis or the body of the doctrine. This is correct to a certain point, yet when we divulge the teachings everywhere, some people come to the call and others are just indifferent, and these unfortunately are the majority.
So, we know when there is inquietude and yearning. If somebody wants to achieve adepthood, he works. When somebody has that yearning, obviously his most intimate Self moves him inwardly, they are working in secret, he is in disquietude. But, who is moving him? His own divine spark, his real Being, because the spark itself wants to achieve mastery. But I repeat, not all the virginal sparks yearn for mastery.
Thus, when the festivity of the Day of the Dead (All Hallow’s day) arrives, it is necessary to reflect on this.
The great law does not abandon those who do not yearn for mastery, nor do they leave those that fight in order to achieve it and fail. The omnimerciful takes cares of all creatures and does not abandon anyone.
In ancient times, the funeral mysteries had special importance.
Egypt was very advanced in the field of embalming and mummification. There is no doubt that the mummies in Egypt are extraordinary. They also achieved the preservation living bodies, not through hibernation, but through a type of mummification that allowed physical bodies to live for thousands of years.
Even now, these physical bodies still exist, underground in the land of the Pharaohs, some under the pyramids or in secret places. They are living bodies of masters that date from 3,000 to 4,000, and even 10,000 years before Christ. At the right time, these masters will once again enter into their physical bodies that sleep underground, and appear under the light of the Sun, as it written in the Book of the Dead, in order to initiate in the world a new Neptunian-Amentian Era.
Sequentially, going back to the base of this subject regarding liberation, just like the Egyptians, the Tibetans, Aztecs, and Mayans taught that it is possible to achieve liberation after death in order not to return to this afflicted world again, but without self-realization. Obviously, there are those who proceeded in this manner; they did it, but without the realization of their self.
Since those who achieve the realization of their Self are few, it is always advisable to know how to escape from this painful valley of Samsara.
So, in order to achieve liberation it is not mandatory, it is not indispensable to wait until the 3,000th rotation of the wheel of Samsara. Therefore, those who yearn for liberation can achieve it even if they do not attain adepthood, since not all human beings were born in order to become adepts, or to become mahatmas, or Logos. Thus, there is always a door to escape for those who feel they are not capable of performing the Great Work.
Obviously, if after the 3,000th cycle we have to be restored into the universal spirit of life as simple elementals of nature without the realization of the Self — understanding that this will be the case for us if we did not really work on ourselves — then it is preferable for us to be liberated once and for all from this fatal wheel. Thus, in this manner we would avoid the terrible sufferings of this valley of tears in each cycle of manifestation and to descent 3,000 times into the infernal worlds.
The Two Ways for Liberation
There are two ways to achieve liberation, two ways to liberate ourselves from this valley of Samsara. The first is to become Self-realized, transformed into a mahatmas or Logos; the second, as simple elementals, without the realization of the Inner Self.
Everyone has to reflect and select a path for themselves. Once it is selected, we have to be serious, because once we step onto the secret path, it is not possible to turn back.
That is why, in the Tibetan mysteries, when somebody is going to receive the initiation, the priests play their trumpets made of human bones, while warning the neophyte: “Stop! Do not try to walk on the path that follows after the threshold. Remember that the path of initiation is full of tears, pains, and suffering… You can still be happy with the religion that was taught to you, and live in the heavens of nature, in the land of the devas, of the holy gods! Why do you insist on following the secret path?”
If despite all this the neophyte says: “Nothing can stop me, I will walk on the path of the razor’s edge. I am going to follow the path of inner realization, nothing can push me aside,” obviously, he or she will receive the initiation. But if he falters, then he would have to forcibly search for the common emancipation by means of “understanding,” which is a type of liberation without the realization of the Self. He will not become a Sun (to rule in a cosmic day), but he will be content with being a little star (within the universal spirit of life).
So, the path of emancipation through comprehension does not transform us into gods, it only allows us to escape and to live in the universal spirit of life as elementals, forever.
Thus, one is not forced to wait until the 3,000th cycle of the wheel of Samsara. Those who do not want to live, those who have become disenchanted with life, those who have drunk from the chalice of bitterness and do not feel prepared in order to walk on the path that will transform them into gods beyond good and evil, can walk on the path of less effort, the path that can transform them only into elementals, into small elemental buddhas, the path that allows us to return to the Great Reality forever.
Obviously, those who do not achieve realization and have ended their cycle of manifestation normally have to descend into the entrails of the abyss and suffer terribly in order to pass through the Second Death. After that death comes the emancipation of the Essence, which having transformed into an elemental will initiate a new evolution.
So, what we have to do naturally — better said, what nature will have to do for us within the entrails of the earth — can voluntarily be done by us here and now; this is how we can avoid the descent into the entrails of the abyss. If nature has to disintegrate our ego, the myself, mechanically in the abyss, we can do it here instead. In this way we will avoid the necessity of submerging ourselves within the frightful abysses of the submerged mineral kingdom. If after suffering the Second Death we will be transformed into elementals, it is better to be transformed into elementals here and now, and avoid passing through that vast bitterness. So, there is mercy, for the Eternal Cosmic Common Father, the Omnimerciful, never abandons anyone.
There are extraordinary mysteries in relation to death.
For those who really want emancipation, to not ever return, forever, it is indispensable to start by knowing the doctrine regarding the dissolution of the ego, the “I”, the myself, the self-willed.
It is not possible to demand from a human creature the radical elimination of the ego, here and now, if she is not prepared. But it is possible for any creature, if this is what she wants, to eliminate her ego, the “I,” even if it is only partially done, for after physical death, she can continue to perform the rest of the work.
But – here comes the big “but” — if our consciousness is asleep, we will have to return anyway. Then what do we have to do in order to avoid returning to this valley of tears? We have to awaken the consciousness! But when do we have to awaken it: after we are dead, or now? It is clear that we have to work here and now in order to awaken the consciousness! Is there a science that will allow us to achieve the awakening of the consciousness? Yes, there is, and we have taught it, and we will continue teaching it in our different lectures.
Thus, the one who awakens can select his path. The one who awakens will be able to continue his work after physical death, and if he does not want to return, he will not return.
But, how can someone who is asleep avoid the return, the reincorporation into this valley of tears? Is it impossible, right? So, first, it is necessary to awaken. Once awakened, we will be able to continue the work after physical death.
It is obvious that the awakened defunct one will be submitted to tests, if he does not want to be reincorporated into a new physical organism.
First of all, after death the soul passes three days through a faint, a kind of swoon; after these three days the soul feels refreshed, revived.
If the defunct one is vigilant and alert, if she really does not have her consciousness asleep, and if she really has yearnings, she will be able to avoid the reincorporation into this valley of bitterness. And, I repeat, if she does not want to be reincorporated, she will be tested.
Her Divine Mother and her Father who are in secret (or the Father-Mother in their totality, since everyone has their Father that is in secret and their Divine Mother Kundalini) will test her. They will take on, in front of her, a terrible form, a supra-human figure, with the intention of testing the defunct one; but if she remains firm as steel, it is certain that she will be victorious. Nonetheless, that is not the only test, there are many others.
The defunct one who does not want to be reincorporated should not feel any attraction to his relatives, since the attachment towards brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, etc., will hinder his longing. When feeling attraction to his beloved relatives that he left in the world, it is clear that he will return, he will reincorporate once again. Thus, if we do not want to return after physical death, it is necessary to have no attachment towards those that we have left in this valley of tears. After death, nature has many systems in order to make us return, and this is something that we must comprehend.
First of all, it is not irrelevant that you know that after death we have to review the physical existence that just ended. We will start from the last moment, which is the one that preceded our agony.
We will have the inclination to live in the same house that we lived in before we were dead. We will want to walk on the same streets that we used to walk. In other words, we want to collect all our actions, and we collect them when reviewing the different ages of the physical existence that we just ended.
It is clear that this is not a mere intellectual retrospection.
After death one has to vividly portray, relive all the events, situations, and occurrences of the past physical life, and while one is reliving them, one assumes the same aspects that one had in each one of his ages. If one died being an elder, one will see oneself as an elderly person. After this, being a middle aged person, being a young adult, later a teenager, and finally a child. Thus, in this way one will relive the entirety of his resent existence with the purpose of settling a balance of his good and bad actions.
Now, I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that the Being is composed of different parts. Each one of us has their own Being, who is formed by many parts.
For example, within ourselves there is a part of our Being that we may call the “good angel.” There is also another part that we may call the “bad angel.” Understand that what we call “bad” here, is not really bad, it just takes note and gives accounts of all of our personal bad deeds, just as the good angel takes note and gives accounts of our good deeds. So, the good and the bad angels are not external personages, no, they are part of our own individual Spirit, of our own intimate Being. For example, after death, the good genie will count with small stones the quantity of good actions that we have done, and we will also see the bad genie (remember it is called “bad” because of the fact of counting our evil deeds, since it is just a part of our Being) counting with small black stones our wrong actions, but that count will be done only after we have internally relived in a retrospective manner our recent physical existence.
Therefore, the entirety of the existence that just recently passed is reduced to numbers, to additions of good and bad actions. Obviously, at the end of the retrospection and after the balance, the inventory that our own Being has done about our good and bad actions, we will be judged by the lords of karma who will determine the type of existence that awaits us in the future.
However, if we do not want to be reincorporated, we must have been psychologically preparing during our entire physical existence. If we are awakened, we will then be able to defend ourselves, we will then be able to beg our Mother Kundalini for the forgiveness of our errors. We will then be able to concentrate on another part of our Being called the Great Merciful. Then, help, mercy will be granted onto us. But, if our karma is extremely bad, if we were extremely perverse in life, then obviously we will have to enter into the submerged devolution within the infernal worlds, and there will be no other solution, or at the very least we will have to be reincorporated once again against our will. If the karma is not so bad, if there were more good than evil deeds, if during life we were really concerned about the elimination of the ego, the myself, if we were charitable, we will have the right to defend ourselves, with cosmic capital on our side.
Closing Womb-doors to avoid returning
It is necessary, however, to not be attracted to human wombs. The human spirit can pass through a mountain and nothing can stop him; the only thing that can stop him is a womb; behold, this is the problem. The wind of karma will howl, a cold hurricane will approach the defunct one. Multiple apparitions of terrible beings will try to frighten him, but if he remains firm in his desire of not returning, he could become triumphant. But if he yet feels in danger of falling into a human womb, he will have to learn how to close womb-doors, and there are many systems in order to do this: in the inner worlds, the defunct one suddenly feels that it is raining, there is thundering and flashing, lightning falls from heaven during a storm. This is the law of karma trying to connect him to a womb. If he remains serene and immutable, he will close a womb. The untrained one will run trying to find refuge in a cavern, trying to avoid the storm, he does it and when he tries to walk back outside that cavern, he will feel as if he is tied to that cavern. Yes, he is now connected to a womb, to an embryo. That cavern was a womb. So, it is necessary to learn how to close womb-doors, if we do not want to be reincorporated.
The defunct one who does not want to be reincorporated will also see many creatures (men and women) copulating. If he is suddenly attracted to a determined house, and if he feel sympathy for one of the couple and antipathy for the other, obviously right there he will have to return and be reincorporated.
Another example, the defunct one that feels sympathy for the feminine member of a couple will certainly be reborn with a masculine body, and vice versa. If he feels sympathy for the masculine member of a couple and repudiates the female, then he will obviously be born there with a feminine body.
So we are attracted to determined places or homes in accordance with the law of karma, and if pass beyond sympathy and antipathy, if during our life we had been practicing in order to control those feelings, we then will not enter into any human embryo, we will not enter into any womb.
Another system to avoid falling into a womb is to learn during profound meditation how to achieve in ourselves the stillness and silence of the mind in order to achieve the irruption of the Illuminating Void within us. If we learn how to sustain ourselves within the Illuminating Void, we will avoid the attraction of any womb, we will close wombs.
Those who yearn to be liberated during life, even at the elemental state, without the realization of their Self, must be instructed in that purpose, they have to fight for the elimination of their ego, their “I,” their myself, they must walk on the straight path, tread the path of sanctification, awaken their consciousness, learn how to live consciously in the superior worlds.
In order to awaken consciousness it is necessary to work here and now. We have taught the science for the awakening of the consciousness, it is written in my books; you have read it, but indeed what really counts is to practice it.
Those who learn how to avoid the attraction to the valley of Samsara will be able to be reborn after death not within a physical body, but be reborn in a paradise, in some superior type of realm. It could be in the realm of Gautama Shakyamuni, the realm of Amitabha, or in the realm of Maitreya, or in the realm of the Long Hair, or in the realm of Supreme Happiness; all of this relates to a supra-normal birth.
There also are those who are reborn in the inferno; that is the case of those who have already ended their physical cycle of births and deaths.
However, those who yearn for liberation can be reborn in supra-normal manner, in any of those kingdoms of the superior worlds. When we achieve to be reborn in any of those kingdoms, we will then devote ourselves intensively to the work of the elimination of the inhuman elements that we carry within. Our goal will be to clean up our Essence, to make it transparent as crystal without the adherence of terrestrial dust. It is obvious that those who will proceed in this manner must have had previously passed through some esoteric training here in the physical world.
It is written that what a master does in a higher degree in order to achieve Adepthood, in order to become a Dhyani-Choan, a Kumara, a Mahatma, is done, yet, in a lesser degree, by the one that does not yearn for the realization of the Self, but who simply wants is to avoid the valley of Samsara.
It is written, and this is how the powerful eastern wisdom sustains it, that the path is divided into four stages, namely:
The first we could denominate as the stage of the disciple or “chela.” The second, the stage of the initiate or a person that is “initiated.” The third the stage of the arhat or perfect human, and the fourth the stage of the mahatma, or great soul. These four stages are represented in many temples and ancient monuments. We can see these stages in the Pyramid of the Sun, in Teotihuacan, etc.
So, what the master has to do on a higher scale has to be done on a smaller scale by the one who wants to avoid the valley of Samsara, this valley of tears. If the master has become a great buddha, a god, then the one who wants to avoid this tragic valley will become an elemental buddha.
If a solar system exists in the macrocosmos, a similar system also exists in a molecule, right? What is a molecule? Is not perhaps a molecule a solar system in miniature? Therefore, what the adept does by means of the realization of the Self is to transform himself into a cosmocreator, into a Dhyani-Choan, a child of the flame, a Kumara, is also done by the devout but in a lesser manner, thus transforming himself into an elemental buddha, also by four stages but in an incipient manner.
Therefore, after becoming liberated from the dust of the Earth, the Essence will progress through four stages:
We can call the first the stage of Nirmanakaya; please understand this does not mean that by this name we mean an elemental is a Nirmanakaya who has renounced Nirvana in a cognizant and positive manner, nor anything of the sort, but that elemental will live within a kind of illuminating Void similar to that of the Nirmanakaya, thus that elemental will be developed within that environment.
The second stage, even if we call it the Sambogakaya stage, is related to the experience of an even deeper level of enlightened Void yet more profound, accompanied by wisdom. The elemental will not enjoy a body of Sambogakaya because that elemental has never created it, but it will pass through an analogous or similar state, in its return to the Great Reality.
The third stage is the Adikaya stage, an intelligence illuminated by the Spirit. This will not be the intelligence of a Logos, nor of a Hermes Trismegistus, nor of a Kumara, but only of an innocent elemental.
In the fourth stage, this elemental buddha will have the reward that Dharmakayas receive. Finally, that pure Essence united with the Monad will submerge itself forever within the supreme Parabrahma, or in other words, into the great ocean of the universal spirit of life, within the very pure Alaya of the universe. That elemental buddha will not be a god, but only a spark of the Eternal One. It will be liberated from the wheel of births and deaths. So, despite it did not achieve the realization of its Self, it will be nevertheless a spark of divinity without the realization of its Self, without mastery, but happy, and that is all.
Thus, not everyone is indeed prepared to walk on the strait and narrow path that leads to the light, and this is something upon which we must reflect. Those who are not prepared, those who in their consciousness feel that they are not capable, can then devote themselves to the elimination of their ego and the awakening of their consciousness and seriously devote themselves to tread on the path of sanctity.
The last thought of the dying one is definitive. If the dying person does not want to come back, if he does not want to be reincorporated, he can escape and not return, but only if the karma is not really bad, because there are people who have such very hard karma due to their perversities that naturally they will have to return.
The most grave part of this matter is that the majority of souls will have to descend instead of being reborn and returning into this world; yes, they will have to transfer their existences, whether they like it or not, to the infernal worlds, thus unfortunately this is the case for the majority of souls.
Thus, my dear brothers and sisters, on this night, on the vesper of the Day of the Dead, we have to reflect. We have to put our right hand on our heart and ask ourselves, ‘“Do I really want to walk on the path of the razor’s edge, and work on the realization of my Inner Self?” If perhaps I am not capable, if that is not my longing, if my desire is to leave this world forever, then I will make a resolution. Thus, we must begin with the awakening of our consciousness, to work with our systems in order to achieve such self-awakening, to dissolve the ego by means of the teaching that we have given in a positive, clear, and didactical manner.
So, we are before the dilemma: whether we follow the path of the razor’s edge that will lead us towards the realization of the Inner Self, or we do not follow it. If we are not able to follow it, if we feel that we are not capable, then it is better to make the resolution of not returning to this valley of tears forever. Only we, by ourselves, must choose the path, nobody can do it for us. This is the end of this lecture. If any of the brothers or sisters want to ask a question, they can do it with the most complete liberty.
Question: Master, you were saying that some Monads are interested in realization of the self and others are not, even though all of them emanate from the Absolute. I thought that all of them had the duty of achieving self-realization. Could you speak about this?
Samael Aun Weor: I hear the words of a person and I will answer with pleasure. First of all, my friends, I want you to understand that God, the universal spirit of life, is not dictatorial. If that which is the reality, which is the truth, which is not of time, was dictatorial, what could be our destiny? Friends, God respects in himself his own freedom. With this I want to say to you that amongst the core of divinity, there are no dictatorships. Every divine spark, every Monad, has absolute freedom to accept or to reject the path of mastery. Is this clear?
Question: With your explanation, master, could we say that the Monad is responsible when the Essence goes to the inferno?
Samael Aun Weor: I see a lady in the auditorium that with sincerity has asked a question, and it is evident that I will enjoy answering.
Ladies and gentlemen, when a divine Monad wants mastery, it is obvious that to achieve it, it has to work with intensity on its Essence from within, from the most profound recesses. It is clear that if the Monad does not have an interest in attaining mastery, it will never awaken in the Essence any intimate aspiration. Obviously, in this case, the Essence without any yearning, trapped in the ego, will enter into the infernal worlds. So my answer is emphatic in saying: the Monad is guilty of the Essence’s failure.
If the Monad would really work the Essence, it is obvious that it would never descend to the Tartarus as a failure. In millenarian Tibet, the Bardo Thodol guides the deceased people that want to achieve liberation and not return to the bitterness of the world. In the sacred land of the Pharaohs, many souls would escape from the cloak of Samsara after having worked on the elimination of the ego. Terrible tests await the deceased people who do not want to return to this world. When they successfully pass these tests, they can enter into the suprasensible kingdoms. In those regions, they are instructed and helped in order to happily submerge themselves as innocent children into the Great Ocean. Many of those souls will return in the Golden Age, after the great cataclysm, in order to continue to work on their realization of the Inner Self.
Obviously, it is intelligent to retire on time, before our cycle of existences has ended. It is preferable to retire from the school of life rather than be expelled. The submerged involution amongst the entrails of the Earth, in the tenebrous Tartarus, is certainly very painful…
Samael Aun Weor – Originally published in Spanish as “El Camino Secreto“
