Annie Besant

(1847-1933) The daughter of William Wood and Emily Morris. Her father, a doctor, died when she was only five years old. Without any savings, Annie's mother found work looking after boarders at Harrow School. Mrs. Wood was unable to care for Annie and she persuaded a friend, Ellen Marryat, to take responsibility for her upbringing. In 1866 Annie met Rev. Frank Besant.

By the time she was twenty-three Annie had two children. Deeply unhappy because her independent spirit clashed with the traditional views of her husband she began to question her religious beliefs. When Annie refused to attend communion, Frank Besant ordered her to leave the family home. A legal separation was arranged. After leaving her husband Annie Besant completely rejected Christianity and in 1874 joined the Secular Society. Annie soon acquired a job working for the National Reformer and during the next few years wrote many articles on issues such as marriage and women's rights.

In 1877 Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh decided to publish The Fruits of Philosophy, Charles Knowlton's book advocating birth control. Besant and Bradlaugh were charged with publishing material that was "likely to deprave or corrupt those whose minds are open to immoral influences". They were both found guilty of publishing an "obscene libel" and sentenced to six months in prison. At the Court of Appeal the sentence was quashed.

Besant also join the socialist group, the Fabian Society, and in 1889 contributed to the influencial book, Fabian Essays. Edited by George Bernard Shaw, the book sold 27,000 copies in two years. In the 1890s Annie Besant became a supporter of Theosophy, a religious movement founded by Madame Blavatsky in 1875. While in India, Annie joined the struggle for Indian Home Rule, and during the First World War was interned by the British authorities. She died in India in 1933.

(See also: Annie Besant , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

KARMA -

1. the belief that one’s thoughts and deed can be counted against or for them to their spirtual growth by counted against or for them to their spirtual growth during several life times in Sanskrit, it means “action”. Follow the law of cause and effect (TRASB)

2. ‘action’, measure of attachment, one’s worldly circumstances, psychological development and level of consciousness, often distinguishes as good of bad Karma, though in Indian tradition, all Karma is to transcended: Imperfections that are washed or burned by yoga, meditation, service, cultivating the Dharma or other spirtual practice. That which is created so long as one doesn’t realize one’s original nature. (Bodhidharma) Consequences of a thought, word or deed; reaping what is sown. Sum of the consequences of one’s thoughts, words, or deeds in this and previous lifetimes. Chain of moral cause and effect. Force generated by consciousness or actions that conditions this and future lives. Fate, the natural and necessary happenings of one’s lifetime, preconditioned by one’s past lifetimes. moral debt, worked out and repaid usually gradually, for past actions. That which the individual has instituted, carried forward, endorsed, omitted to do, or has done right, through the ages until the present moment ’ mythical rock symbolizing peace and courage. (Vietnamese) (NAD)

(See also: KARMA , Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Mysticism:

(1) The doctrine or belief that direct knowledge of the God(s), o spiritual truth, of ultimate reality, or of comparable matters is attainable through immediate intuition, insight or illumination and in a way differing from ordinary sense perception or conscious thought.

(2) The concepts and theories behind the theurgical approach to occultism.

(See also: Mysticism , Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

FAITH

Current sloppiness of language attaches the same simple-minded and lackluster meaning to "belief" and "faith" alike. Faith is not a synonym for superstition, nor does it even mean strong belief. It is a state of mind characterized by a supreme trust in the rightness of whatever may happen and a sublime indifference to one's future well-being or survival. It need not be based on any religion at all. It doesn't even have to be specific.

(See also: FAITH , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

ASTROLOGY - 1. The study of and belief in the effects the movements and placements of planets and other heavenly bodies have on the lives and behavior of human beings. (CMM)

2. science of mapping and interpreting stars, planets and other heavenly influences on life on Earth.

3. the study of celestial order based on the cosmic tones/celestial music. (NAD)

(See also: ASTROLOGY , Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

ECLECTIC: a mixture of beliefs borrowed from various Traditions and Theologies, as opposed to one Tradition or Theology and its set mode of ritual and belief.

(See also: ECLECTIC , Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Hinduism (Hindu Dharma): (Sanskrit) India's indigenous religious and cultural system, followed today by nearly one billion adherents, mostly in India, but with large populations in many other countries. Also called Sanatana Dharma, "eternal religion" and Vaidika Dharma, "religion of the Vedas."

Hinduism is the world's most ancient religion and encompasses a broad spectrum of philosophies ranging from pluralistic theism to absolute monism.

It is a family of myriad faiths with four primary denominations:

• Saivism,
• Vaishnavism,
• Shaktism and
• Smartism.

These four hold such divergent beliefs that each is a complete and independent religion. Yet, they share a vast heritage of culture and belief:

• karma,
• dharma,
• reincarnation,
• all-pervasive Divinity,
• temple worship,
• sacraments,
• manifold Deities,
• the guru-shishya tradition and
• a reliance on the Vedas as scriptural authority.

From the rich soil of Hinduism long ago sprang various other traditions. Among these were Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, which rejected the Vedas and thus emerged as completely distinct religions, disassociated from Hinduism, while still sharing many philosophical insights and cultural values with their parent faith.

Though the genesis of the term is controversial, the consensus is that the term Hindu or Indu was used by the Persians to refer to the Indian peoples of the Indus Valley as early as 500 bce. Additionally, Indian scholars point to the appearance of the related term Sindhu in the ancient Rig Veda Samhita. Janaki Abhisheki writes (Religion as Knowledge: The Hindu Concept, p. 1): "Whereas today the word

Hindu connotes a particular faith and culture, in ancient times it was used to describe those belonging to a particular region. About 500 bce we find the Persians referring to 'Hapta Hindu.' This referred to the region of Northwest India and the Punjab (before partition).

The Rig Veda (the most ancient literature of the Hindus) uses the word Sapta Sindhu singly or in plural at least 200 times. Sindhu is the River Indus. Panini, the great Sanskrit grammarian, also uses the word Sindhu to denote the country or region.

While the Persians substituted h for s, the Greeks removed the h also and pronounced the word as 'Indoi.' Indian is derived from the Greek Indoi."

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan similarly observed,

"The Hindu civilization is so called since its original founders or earliest followers occupied the territory drained by the Sindhu (the Indus) River system corresponding to the Northwest Frontier Province and the Punjab. This is recorded in the Rig Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, the Hindu scriptures, which give their name to this period of Indian history. The people on the Indian side of the Sindhu were called Hindus by the Persians and the later Western invaders. That is the genesis of the word Hindu" (The Hindu View of Life, p. 12).

See: Hindu.

(See also: Hinduism , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Shamanism Generally regarded as spirit worship, commonly and often unjustly classed with the religions of primitive peoples referring particularly to the beliefs of wandering tribes in Siberia, Tartary, and Monglia. Belief in a supreme being is a prominent feature but this supreme being must be propitiated through secondary powers, both beneficent and malevolent, by means of intermediaries -- priests or shamans.

Blavatsky had contacted several shamans and wrote concerning it: "What is now generally known of Shamanism is very little; and that has been perverted, like the rest of the non-Christian religions. It is called the 'heathenism' of Mongolia, and wholly without reason, for it is one of the oldest religions of India. It is spirit-worship, or belief in the immortality of the souls, and that the latter are still the same men they were on earth, though their bodies have lost their objective form, and man has exchanged his physical for a spiritual nature. In its present shape, it is an offshoot of primitive theurgy, and a practical blending of the visible with the invisible world." "The true Shamanism . . . can no more be judged by its degenerated scions among the Shamans of Siberia, then the religion of Gautama-Buddha can be interpreted by the fetishism of some of his followers in Siam and Burmah. It is in the chief lamaseries of Mongolia and Thibet that it has taken refuge" (IU 2:615-6).

"Its followers have neither altars nor idols, and it is upon the authority of a Shaman priest that we state that their true rites, which they are bound to perform only once a year, on the shortest day of winter, cannot take place before any stranger to their faith. . . . Whenever they assemble to worship, it is always in an open space, or a high hill, or in the hidden depths of a forest -- in this reminding us of the old Druidical rites. Their ceremonies upon the occasion of births, deaths, and marriages are but trifling parts of their worship" (IU 2:624).

(See also: Shamanism , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Spiritualism Properly, the philosophy, religion, or pneumatological science held by those who believe in the universal spirit as the cosmic originant of all the hierarchies of evolving monads; its opposite is materialism. Spiritualism is "in philosophy, the state or condition of mind opposed to materialism or a material conception of things.

Theosophy, a doctrine which teaches that all which exists is animated or informed by the Universal Soul or Spirit, and that not an atom in our universe can be outside of this omnipresent principle -- is pure Spiritualism. As to the belief that goes under that name, namely, belief in the constant communication of the living with the dead, whether through the mediumistic powers of oneself or a so-called medium -- it is no better than the materialisation of spirit, and the degradation of the human and the divine souls. Believers in such communications are simply dishonouring the dead and performing constant sacrilege. It was well called 'Necromancy' in days of old" (TG 307).

The modern movement which began about the middle of the 19th century, mainly with the Fox sisters, embraces a large range of differing beliefs, so that any strictures directed against certain phases of it may justly be resented by those to whom such strictures do not apply. But the characteristic doctrine which identifies Spiritualism or astralism as such, is the belief that it is possible for the living to communicate with the departed spirits of the deceased. Theosophy, however, holds that at death the personality disintegrates, the individuality of the person passing into the devachanic state, while its lower components gradually fade out in the kama-loka. It is impossible to obtain communications with the ego in devachan, except when a purely impersonal love of one human being for another reaches into the devachanic condition and comes into spiritual rapport with the devachani. A far lower rapport may be established with the astral or kama-lokic remains which have been left behind to disintegrate in the lower regions of the astral light.

All the apparent proofs of identity of "spirit" can be accounted for otherwise than by supposing the actual presence of the departed individual in the seance room. Such communications as are received evince no knowledge beyond that which we already have, and show no signs of emanating from a high source -- and almost invariably such communications are trifling and paltry. Mediumship and seances are most harmful practice, as they open the door to the entry of pernicious obsessing influences from the lower astral realms. Moreover such practice may obstruct and retard the natural decomposition of the discarded lower elements of the deceased, and thus keep alive his kama-rupa beyond the term of its natural astral death. The appeal of astralism is very powerful to those who feel convinced that they have thereby obtained assurance of immortality and of the continued existence of their lost loved ones.

(See also: Spiritualism , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Superstitions:

(1) Fixed irrational notions held stubbornly in the face of evidence to the contrary; beliefs, practices, concepts or acts resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, morbid scrupulosity, erroneous concepts of causality, etc., as in the words and actions of many critics of parapsychology and the occult.

(2) “A belief not founded in any coherent worldview” (J. B. Russell).

(3) Someone else’s religious or philosophical beliefs.

(See also: Superstitions , Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

conscience: The inner sense of right and wrong, sometimes called "the knowing voice of the soul." However, the conscience is affected by the individual's training and belief patterns, and is therefore not necessarily a perfect reflection of dharma.

In Sanskrit the conscience is known as

-       antaryamin, "inner guide," or

-       dharmabuddhi, "moral wisdom."

Other terms are

-       sadasadvichara shakti "good-bad reflective power" and

-       samjnana, "right conception."

It is the subconscious of the person -  the sum total of past impressions and training -  that defines the creedal structure and colors the conscience and either clearly reflects or distorts superconscious wisdom.

If the subconscious has been impressed with Western beliefs, for example, of Christianity, Judaism, existentialism or materialism, the conscience will be different than when schooled in the Vedic dharma of Shaktism, Smartism, Saivism or Vaishnavism. This psychological law has to do with the superconscious mind working through the subconscious (an interface known as the subsuperconscious) and explains why the dharma of one's sampradaya must be fully learned as a young child for the conscience to be free of conflict.

The Sanatana Dharma, fully and correctly understood provides the purest possible educational creedal structure, building a subconscious that is a clear, unobstructing channel for superconscious wisdom, the soul's innate intelligence, to be expressed through the conscience. Conscience is thus the sum of two things: the superconscious knowing (which is the same in all people) and the creedal belief structure through which the superconscious flows. This explains why people in different cultures have different consciences.

See: antaryamim, creed, dharma, mind (individual mind).

(See also: Conscience , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Magic. The great "Science". According to Deveria and other Orientalists, "magic was considered as a sacred science inseparable from religion" by the oldest and most civilized and learned nations.

The Egyptians, for instance, were one of the most sincerely religious nations, as were and still are the Hindus. "Magic consists of, and is acquired by the worship of the gods", said Plato. Could then a nation, which, owing to the irrefragable evidence of inscriptions and papyri, is proved to have firmly believed in magic for thousands of years, have been deceived for so long a time. And is it likely that generations upon generations of a learned and pious hierarchy, many among whom led lives of self-martyrdom, holiness and asceticism, would have gone on deceiving themselves and the people (or even only the latter) for the pleasure of perpetuating belief in " miracles" ?

Fanatics, we are told, will do anything to enforce belief in their god or idols. To this we reply: in such case, Brahmans and Egyptian Rekhget-amens (q.v.) or Hierophants would not have popularized belief in the power of man by magic practices to command the services of the gods: which gods, are in truth, but the occult powers or potencies of Nature, personified by the learned priests themselves, in which they reverenced only the attributes of the one unknown and nameless Principle. As Proclus the Platonist ably puts it: "Ancient priests, when they considered that there is a certain alliance and sympathy in natural things to each other, and of things manifest to occult powers, and discovered that all things subsist in all, fabricated a sacred science from this mutual sympathy and similarity......and applied for occult purposes, both celestial and terrene natures, by means of which, through a certain similitude, they deduced divine virtues into this inferior abode".

Magic is the science of communicating with and directing supernal, supramundane Potencies, as well as of commanding those of the lower spheres; a practical knowledge of the hidden mysteries of nature known to only the few, because they are so difficult to acquire, without falling into sins against nature. Ancient and medieval mystics divided magic into three classes - Theurgia, Goëtia and natural Magic. "Theurgia has long since been appropriated as the peculiar sphere of the theosophists and metaphysicians", says Kenneth Mackenzie.

Goëtia is black magic, and "natural (or white) magic has risen with healing in its wings to the proud position of an exact and progressive study". The comments added by our late learned Brother are remarkable. "The realistic desires of modern times have contributed to bring magic into disrepute and ridicule. . . . Faith (in one’s own self) is an essential element in magic, and existed long before other ideas which presume its pre-existence. It is said that it takes a wise man to make a fool; and a man’s ideas must be exalted almost to madness, i.e., his brain susceptibilities must be increased far beyond the low, miserable status of modern civilization, before he can become a true magician; (for) a pursuit of this science implies a certain amount of isolation and an abnegation of Self ".

A very great isolation, certainly, the achievement of which constitutes a wonderful phenomenon, a miracle in itself. Withal magic is not something supernatural. As explained by Jamblichus, "they through the sacerdotal theurgy announce that they are able to ascend to more elevated and universal Essences, and to those that are established above fate, viz., to god and the demiurgus: neither employing matter, nor assuming any other things besides, except the observation of a sensible time".

Already some are beginning to recognise the existence of subtle powers and influences in nature of which they have hitherto known nought. But as Dr. Carter Blake truly remarks, "the nineteenth century is not that which has observed the genesis of new, nor the completion of old, methods of thought"; to which Mr. Bonwick adds that "if the ancients knew but little of our mode of investigations into the secrets of nature, we know still less of their mode of research".

(See also: Magic , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Roman Catholicism

The oldest Christian church in the world begun about 312 AD by the Roman Emperor Constantine. Because of its size and scope - both in membership (about a billion people worldwide) and geographically, the actual beliefs held by devout Catholics are widespread and eclectic. One doctrine uniting all Catholics is belief that the Pope is the supreme representative of God on Earth.

Catholicism has been influenced by liberation theology, especially in parts of South America. In Africa, the Caribbean, and elsewhere, attempts have been made to blend Catholicism with spiritism, creating a type of Catholicism with occult elements. In addition, since the 1960s there has been a small but significant element of charismatic Catholics who have been influenced by the larger charismatic movement.

A small percentage of Catholics are doctrinally evangelical, and others (such as Matthew Fox) are part of the New Age movement. As a whole, however, the differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism are still seen most clearly in the issues of the Reformation. The 16th century reformers distinguished themselves from Catholicism in two key ways. First, they saw the Bible as the sole foundation for authority (sola scriptura) rather than the Pope, church dogma or tradition. Second, the reformers taught salvation by Ògrace aloneÓ (sola gracia)\,not by works.

The Roman Catholic Church claimed (and still claims) to affirm sola gracia, but teaches that grace is received and maintained by a combination of faith plus works (religious rites, sacraments, or human endeavor).

(See also: Roman Catholicism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

SUFI

("Of wool.") Posers as "sheep?" Apparently not. Sufism is thought of as a "veil" because the student takes what he wants from his teacher (not necessarily the greater truth which the teacher may wish to impart). Thus it is the veil of the wisemen who are teaching ancient esoteric lore. Others wear fine silks, but Sufis are content with wool. Sufis are found most frequently under the umbrella of Islam, but we are told that they exist in all religions as their most mystical or esoteric element. It is said to be the Islamic equivalent of Neoplatonism or Gnosticism. They follow the "Way" or Tariqah, whence, it is believed the Tarot (>tarocchi, or "four paths") derived. Sufism, at any rate, differs from fundamental Islam in being pantheistic and promoting belief in the immanence of God. Omar Khayyam was said to have been a Sufi (though the Rubayyat in translation conveys little that is Sufic). Jesus has also been called a sufi. A typical sufic answer to the statement that "No sufi ever says he is a sufi!" is "How do you know?"

The best way of eliminating a candidate for sufihood, according to Idries Shah's Pefumed Scorpion, is to use a kind of Catch-22. If he will accept an ignorant student just "as he is," he's probably not a sufi. Sufis don't take students from the rank and file of humanity. We might connect the word to Gk. Sophia (wisdom) although Arkon Daraul says "wise one" is not the highest degree of initiation. Safa ("purity") is the most popular derivation in the East. Daraul goes on to say that Sufism is a secret society (the wisdom passed down from Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet) with varying degrees of initiation and promotion through approval of the teacher (if the devotee acquires baraka, i.e., "blessing" or Power (grace). In the Bektashi order (whence the "janissaries" of Turkey) the degrees are: Ashiq (devotee); Muhib (one assigned to a master); Baba ("father" -- one who has mastered a hakma, or wisdom); Khalifa (deputy or prior); Sainthood or illumination (identification with the One power and being -- but not achievable in Islam). The initiate passes through 2 pillars, similar to those at Mecca (Safa and Marwa). Since the caliph is a secular ruler and since the ultimate degree, illumination, is not achievable, that actually leaves the baba (or master of a wisdom) as the de facto "sufi." Anything that can be said about sufis or sufism is probably incorrect. Sufism is described by Idries Shah as not "a" religion, but "religion." Better yet, simply "life." In fact, science, art and atheism may also be Sufic. What is not Sufic is orthodox, traditional or fundamentalistic belief.

(See also: SUFI , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

animism: The belief that everything (including inanimate objects) is alive with soul or spirit, a conviction pervasive among most indigenous (tribal/pagan/shamanistic) faiths, including Hinduism, Shintoism and spiritualism.

(See also: Animism , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Animism

The belief that all things in the universe are inherently invested with a life force, soul, or mind. This belief is an important component of many primitive religions,

(See also: Animism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

monotheism: "Doctrine of one God."

Contrasted with polytheism, meaning belief in many Gods. The term monotheism covers a wide range of philosophical positions, from exclusive (or pure) monotheism, which recognizes only one God (such as in Semitic faiths), to inclusive monotheism, which also accepts the existence of other Gods.

Generally speaking, the sects of Hinduism are inclusively monotheistic in their belief in a one Supreme God, and in their reverence for other Gods, or Mahadevas. However, such terms which arose out of Western philosophy do not really describe the fullness of Hindu thinking. Realizing this, the author of The Vedic Experience, Raimundo Panikkar, has offered a new word: cosmotheandrism, "world-God-man doctrine," which describes a philosophy that views God, soul and world (Pati, pashu, pasha) as an integrated, inseparable unity.

See: Advaita Ishvaravada, monistic theism, Pati-pashupasha, polytheism.

(See also: Monotheism , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Meaning of Dreams in Islam

Dreams are broken into three parts according to the Sunnah:

Ru'yaa - good visions (dreams)

Hulum - bad dreams

Dreams from one's self

Abu Hurayrah narrated Muhammad (S) said, "There are three types of dreams: a righteous dream which is glad tidings from Allah, the dream which causes sadness is from Shaitan, and a dream from the ramblings of the mind." (Sahih Muslim)

Read more here: » Islamic Dream Interpretation: Meaning of Dreams in Islam II

Monotheism Belief in a single or supreme god; opposed to polytheism and pantheism, although all polytheistic forms of thought recognize a supreme divinity, of which all others were children or offspring; and pantheism itself, when properly understood, likewise includes all forms or varieties of polytheistic belief.

The Hebrews are a notable example of a people following a very definite monotheism in their religious beliefs; subsequent to this were the systems of Christianity and Islam. If deity be regarded as periodic cosmic mind or intelligence incessantly evolving through its emanated hierarchies -- the structure inner and outer of the universe -- which is the abode of such divinity, governed in its operations by its own spirit-wisdom, far transcending the remotest shadow of the limitations we call personality, then in this sense theosophists might be called pantheists, polytheists, and even monotheists, all in one.

But where deity is by human imagination endowed with human attributes, however sublimated, and with human limitations of personality, an unphilosophical, impossible, and unnatural monotheism results. Such a god -- being the offspring of human imagination, a creature of human fancy -- cannot be universal, and must submit to rivalry with the humanly imagined gods of other religions.

(See also: Monotheism , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Judaism

World religion founded approximately 1500 BC by the prophet Moses (Thothmoses - prince and high-priest of Egypt)

The foundation of Judaism is the Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy), which is said to have been written by Moses. The Israelites returned to the promised land of Canaan and became a small but powerful nation there under the rule of King David and his son Solomon.

After Solomon's death the kingdom split into a northern kingdom called Israel and a southern kingdom called Judah (the name of David's tribe). The northern kingdom was conquered and decimated by the Assyrians in 722 BC, after which the term Judeans, or Jews, gradually came into use to refer to all Israelites.

The Jews suffered conquests by a succession of foreign powers - the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and finally the Romans in the first century BC. Throughout this period the Jews developed a strong sense of national identity, identification with the Promised Land, and anticipation of a coming Messiah (ÒAnointed PrinceÓ).

There are three main branches of modern Judaism: Orthodox (traditional, literal adherence to the Torah as interpreted by the Talmud), Conservative (a middle position advocating traditional beliefs and practices up to a point), and Reform (liberal, non-literal stance on the Torah and Talmud; often non-religious or secular with emphasis on Jewish culture).

(See also: Judaism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Reincarnation. The doctrine of rebirth, believed in by Jesus and the Apostles, as by all men in those days, but denied now by the Christians. All the Egyptian converts to Christianity, Church Fathers and others, believed in this doctrine, as shown by the writings of several.

In the still existing symbols, the human-headed bird flying towards a mummy, a body, or "the soul uniting itself with its sahou (glorified body of the Ego, and also the kamalokic shell) proves this belief. "The song of the Resurrection" chanted by Isis to recall her dead husband to life, might be translated "Song of Rebirth", as Osiris is collective Humanity. "Oh! Osiris [here follows the name of the Osirified mummy, or the departed], rise again in holy earth (matter), august mummy in the coffin, under thy corporeal substances", was the funeral prayer of the priest over the deceased.

"Resurrection" with the Egyptians never meant the resurrection of the mutilated mummy, but of the Soul that informed it, the Ego in a new body. The putting on of flesh periodically by the Soul or the Ego, was a universal belief; nor can anything be more consonant with justice and Karmic law. (See "Pre-existence".)

(See also: Reincarnation , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)