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    "num": 10,
    "slug": "09-chapter-x",
    "title": "CHAPTER X.",
    "of": 12,
    "words": 4516,
    "text": "## CHAPTER X.\n\nThe Law of Sacrifice.\n\nThe study of the Law of Sacrifice follows naturally\non the study of the Law of Karma, and the under-\nstanding of the former, it was once remarked by a\nMaster, is as necessary for the world as the under-\nstanding of the latter. By an act of Self-sacrifice\nthe Logos became manifest for the emanation of the\nuniverse, by sacrifice the universe is maintained, and\nby sacrifice man reaches perfection.* Hence every\nreligion that springs from the Ancient Wisdom has\nsacrifice as a central teaching, and some of the pro-\nfoundest truths of occultism are rooted in the law of\nsacrifice.\n\nAn attempt to grasp, however feebly, the nature\nof the sacrifice of the Logos may prevent us from\nfalling into the very general mistake that sacrifice\nis an essentially painful thing; whereas the very\nessence of sacrifice is a voluntary and glad pouring\nforth of life that others may share in it ; and pain\n\n* The Hindu will remember the opening words of the Bri-\nhaddranyakopaniskctd^ that the dawn is in sacrifice; the\nZoroastrian will recall how Ahura-Mazd&o came forth from an\nact of sacrifice; the Christian will think of the Lamb— th»\nsymbol of the Logos— slain from the foundation of the world.\n\n2/6 THE ANCIENT WISDOM.\n\nonly arises when there is discord in the nature of the\nsacrificer, between the higher whose joy is in giving\nand the lower whose satisfaction lies in grasping\nand in holding. It is that discord alone that intro-\nduces the element of pain, and in the supreme Per-\nfection, in the Logos, no discord could arise; the\nOne is the perfect chord of Being, of infinite melo-\ndious concords, all tuned to a single note, in which\nLife and Wisdom and Bliss are blended into one\nkeynote of Existence.\n\nThe sacrifice of the Logos lay in His voluntarily\ncircumscribing His infinite life in order that He\nmight manifest. Symbolically, in the infinite ocean\nof light, with centre everywhere and with circum-\nference nowhere, there arises a full-orbed sphere of\nliving light, a Logos, and the surface of that sphere\nis His will to limit Himself that He may become\nmanifest. His veil * in which He incloses Himself\nthat within it a universe may take form. That for\nwhich the sacrifice is made is not yet in existence ;\nits future being lies in the \" thought\" of the Logos\nalone ; to Him it owes its conception and will owe\nits manifold life. Diversity could not arise in the\n\" partless Brahman** save for this voluntary sacrifice\nof Deity taking on Himself form in order to emanate\nmyriad forms, each dowered with a spark of His life\nand therefore xrith the power of evolving into His\n\nf This is the Self-limiting power of the Logos, His M&y&,\nthe limiting principle by which all forms are brought forth.\nHis Life appears as \"Spirit,\" His M&y&as \"Matter,\" and these\nare never disjoined during manifestation.\n\nTHE SACRIFICE OF THE LOGOS. T.'JJ\n\nImage. *' The primal sacrifice that causes the birth\nof beings is named action (karma)/' it is said; * and\nthis coming forth into activity from the bliss of the\nperfect repose of self -existence has ever been recog-\nnized as the sacrifice of the Logos. That sacrifice\ncontinues throughout the term of the universe, for\nthe life of the Logos is the sole support of every\nseparated \"life,\" and He limits His life in each of\nthe myriad forms to which He gives birth, bearing\nall the restraints and limitations implied in each\nform. From any one of these He could burst forth\nat any moment, the infinite Lord, filling the uni-\nverse with His glory ; but only by sublime patience\nand slow and gradual expansion can each form be\nled upward until it becomes a self-dependent centre\nof boundless power like Himself. Therefore does\nHe cabin Himself in forms, and bear all imperfec-\ntions till perfection is attained, and His creature is\nlike unto Himself and one with Him, but with its\nown thread of memory. . Thus this pouring out of\nHis life into forms is part of the original sacrifice,\nand has in it the bliss of the eternal Father sending\nforth His oflEspring as separated lives, that each may\nevolve an identity that shall never perish, and yield\nits own note blended with all others to swell the\neternal song of bliss, intelligence, and life. This\nmarks the essential nature of sacrifice, whatever\nother elements may become mixed with the central\nidea; it is the voluntary pouring out of life that\nothers may partake of it, to bring others into life and\n\n* Bhagavad Giti, viii. 3.\n\n278 THE ANCIENT WISDOM.\n\nto sustain them in it till they become self-dependent,\nand this is but one expression of divine joy. There\nis always joy in the exercise of activity which is the\nexpression of the power of the actor; the bird takes\njoy in the outpouring of song, and quivers with the\nmere rapture of the singinjir: the painter rejoices in\nthe creation of his genius, in the putting into form\nof his idea; the essential activity of divine life must\nlie in giving, for there is nothing higher than itself\nfrom which it can receive; if it is to be active at all —\nand manifested life is active motion — it must pour\nitself out. Hence the sign of the spirit is giving,\nfor spirit is the active divine life in every form.\n\nBut the essential activity of matter, on the other\nhand, lies in receiving; by receiving Hfe-impulses it\nis organized into forms ; by receiving them these are\nmaintained ; on their withdrawal they fall to pieces.\nAll its activity is of this nature of receiving, and\nonly by receiving can it endure as a form. There-\nfore is it always grasping, clinging, seeking to hold\nfor its own-; the persistence of the form depends on\nits grasping and retentive power, and it will there-\nfore seek to draw into itself all it can, and will grudge\nevery fraction with whicr. it parts. Its joy will be\nin seizing and holding; to it giving is like courting\ndeath.\n\nIt is very easy, from this stanQi.^int, to see how\nthe notion arose that sacrifice was suffering. While\nthe divine life found its delight in exercising its\nactivity of giving, and even when embodied in form\ncared not if the form perished by the giving, know-\n\nSUWERING CEASES \\VITH HARMONY. 3/9\n\ning it to be only its passing expression and the\nmeans of its separated growth ; the form which felt\nits life-forces pouring away from it cried out in an-\nguish, and sought to exercise its activity in holding,\nthus resisting the outward flow. The sacrifice\ndiminished the life-energies the form claimed as its\nown ; or even entirely drained them away, leaving\nthe form to perish. In the lower world of form this\nwas the only aspect of sacrifice cognizable, and the\nform found itself driven to the slaughter, and cried\nout in fear and agony. What wonder that men,\nblinded by form, identified sacrifice with the agoniz-\ning form instead of with the free life that gave itself,\ncrjring gladly : \" Lo ! I come to do thy will, O God ; I\nam content to do it. \" Nay, what wonder that men —\nconscious of a higher and a lower nature, and oft\nidentifying their self-consciousness more with the\nlower than with the higher — felt the struggle of the\nlower nature, the form, as their own struggles, and\nfelt that they were accepting suflEering in resignation\nto a higher will, and regarded sacrifice as that de-\nvout and resigned acceptance of pain. Not until\nman identifies himself with the life instead of with\nthe form can the elemer ^ Oi: pain in sacrifice be got-\nten rid of. In a perfectly harmonized entity, pain\ncannot be, for the form is then the perfect vehicle\nof the life, receiving or surrendering with ready\naccord. With the ceasing of struggle comes the\nceasing of pain. For suffering arises from jar,\nfrom friction, from antagonistic movements, and\nwhere the whole nature works in perfect harmony\n\n28c THE ANCIENT WISDOM.\n\nthe conditions that give rise to suffering are not\npresent.\n\nThe law of sacrifice being thus the law of life-\nevolution in the universe, we find every step in the\nladder is accomplished by sacrifice — the life pouring\nitself out to take birth in a higher form, while the\nform that contained it perishes. Those who look\nonly at the perishing forms see Nature as a vast\ncharnel-house; while those who see the deathless\nsoul escaping to take new and higher form hear ever\nthe joyous song of birth from the upward-springing\nlife.\n\nThe Monad in the mineral kingdom evolves by the\nbreaking up of its forms for the production and\nsupport of plants. Minerals are disintegrated that\nplant-forms may be built out of their materials; the\nplant draws from the soil its nutritive constituents,\nbreaks them up, and incorporates them into its own\nsubstance. The mineral forms perish that the plant-\nforms may grow, and this law of sacrifice stamped\non the mineral kingdom is the law of the evolution\nof life and form. The life passes onward and the\nMonad evolves to produce the vegetable kingdom,\nthe perishing of the lower form being the condition\nfor the appearing and the support of the higher.\n\nThe story is repeated in the vegetable kingdom,\nfor its forms in turn are sacrificed in order that ani-\nmal forms may be produced and may grow ; on every\nside grasses, grains, trees perish for the sustenance\nof animal bodies ; their tissues are disintegrated that\nthe materials comprising them may be assimilated by\n\n..<14\n\nSACRIFICES AND EVOLtJtiON. 28 1\n\nthe animal and build up its body. Again the law of\nsacrifice is stamped on the world, this time on the\nvegetable kingdom ; its life evolves while its forms\nperish; the Monad evolves to produce the animal\nkingdom, and the vegetable is offered up that animal\nforms may be brought forth and maintained.\n\nSo far the idea of pain has scarcely connected it-\nself with that of sacrifice, for^ as we have seen in the\ncourse of our studies, the astral bodies of plants are\nnot sufiiciently organized to give rise to any acute\nsensations either of pleasure or of pain. But as we\nconsider the law or sacrifice in its working in the\nanimal kingdom, we cannot avoid the recognition\nof the pain there involved in the breaking up of\nforms. It is true that the amount of pain caused by\nthe preying of one animal upon another in \" the state\nof nature\" is comparatively trivial in each case, but\nstill some pain occurs. It is also true that man, in\nthe part he has played in helping to evolve animals,\nhas much aggravated the amount of pain, and has\nstrengthened instead of diminishing the predatory\ninstincts of carnivorous animals; still, he did not\nimplant those instincts, though he took advantage of\nthem for his own purposes, and innumerable varie-\nties of animals, with the evolution of which man has\nhad directly nothing to do, prey upon each other,\nthe forms being sacrificed to the support of other\nforms, as in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms.\nThe struggle for existence went on long before man\nappeared on the scene, and accelerated the evolution\nalike of life and of forms, while the pains accom-\n\n2^2 THE ANCIENT WISDOM.\n\npanying the destruction of forms began the long\ntask of impressing on the evolving Monad the transi-\ntory nature of all forms, and the difference between\nthe forms that perished and the life that persisted.\n\nThe lower nature of mr.a was evolved under the\nsame law of sacrifice as ruled in the lower kingdoms.\nBut with the outpouring of divine Life which gave\nthe human Monad came a change in the way in\nwhich the law of sacrifice worked as the law of life.\nIn man was to be developed the will, the self-mov-\ning, self-initiated energy, and the compulsion which\nforced the lower kingdoms along the path of evolu-\ntion could not therefore be employed in his case,\nwithout paralyzing the growth of this new and essen-\ntial power. No mineral, no plant, no animal was\nasked to accept the law of sacrifice as a voUintarily\nchosen law of life. It was imposed upon them from\nwithout, and it forced their growth by a necessity\nfrom which they could not escape. Man was to\nhave the freedom of choice necessary for the growth\nof a discriminative and self-conscious intelligence,\nand the question arose : \" How can this creature be\nleft free to choose, and yet learn to choose to follow\nthe law of sacrifice, while yet he is a sensitive organ-\nism, shrinking from pain, and pain is inevitable in\nthe breaking up of sentient forms?\"\n\nDoubtless icons of experience, studied by a crea-\nture becoming ever more intelligent, might have\nfinally led man to discover that the law of sacrifice is\nthe fundamental law of life; but in this, as in so\nmuch else, he was not left to his own unassisted\n\nSACRIFICES. 283\n\nefforts. Divine Teachers were there at the side of\nman in his infancy, and they authoritatively pro-\nclaimed the law of sacrifice, and incorporated it in a\nmost elementary form in the religions by which\nThey trained the dawning intelligence of man. It\nwould have been useless to have suddenly demanded\nfrom these child-souls that they should surrender\nwithout return what seemed to them to be the most\ndesirable objects, the objects on the possession of\nwhich their life in form depended. They must be\nled along a path which would lead gradually to the\nheights of voluntary self-sacrifice. To this end they\nwere first taught that they were not isolated units,\nbut were parts of a larger whole, and that their lives\nwere linked to other lives both above and below\nthem. Their physical lives were supported by lower\nlives, by the earth, by plants ; they consumed these,\nand in thus doing they contracted a debt which they\nwere bound to pay. Living on the sacrificed lives\nof others, they must sacrifice in turn something\nwhich should support other lives; they must nourish\neven as they were nourished ; taking the fruits pro-\nduced by the activity of the astral entities that\nguide physical Nature, t'^ey must recruit the ex-\npended forces by suitable offerings. Hence have\narisen all the sacrifices to these forces — as science\ncalls them— to these intelligences guiding physical\norder, as religions have always taught. As fire\nquickly disintegrated the dense physical, it quickly\nrestored the etheric particles of the burnt offerings to\nthe ethers ; thus the astral particles were easily set\n\n^§4 ^^^ AKClfeiJT WISDOM.\n\nfree to be assimilated by the astral entities concerned\nwith the fertility of the earth and the growth of\nplants. Thus the wheel of production was kept\nturning, and man learned that he was constantly\nincurring debts to Nature which he must as con-\nstantly discharge. Thus the sense of obligation\nwas implanted and nurtured in his mind, and the\nduty that he owed to the whole, to the nourishing\nmother Nature, became impressed on his thought.\nIt is true that this sense of obligation was closely\nconnected with the idea that its discharge was\nnecessary for his own welfare, and that the wish to\ncontinue to prosper moved him to the payment of\nhis debt. He was but a child-soul, learning his first\nlessons, and this lesson of the interdependence of\nlives, of the life of each depending on the sacrifice of\nothers, was of vital importance to his growth. Not\nyet could he feel the divine joy of giving; the reluc-\ntance of the form to surrender aught that nourished\nit had first to be overcome, and sacrifice became\nidentified with this surrender of something valued,\na suri'ender made from a sense of obligation and the\ndesire to continue prosperous.\n\nThe next lesson removed the reward of sacrifice\nto a region beyond the physical world. First, by a\nsacrifice of material goods material welfare was to\nbe secured. Then the sacrifice of material goods\nwas to bring enjoyment in heaven, on the other side\nof death. The reward of the sacrificer was of a\nhigher kind, and he learned that the relatively per-\nmanent might be secured by the sacrifice of the\n\nTRAINING THE BODY. 285\n\nrelatively transient — a lesson that was important as\nleading to discriminative knowledge. The clinging\nof the form to physical objects was exchanged for\na clinging to heavenly joys. In all exoteric relig-\nions we find this educative process resorted to by\nthe Wise Ones — too wise to expect from child-souls\nthe virtue of unrewarded heroism, and content, with\na sublime patience, to coax their wayward charges\nslowly along a pathway that was a thorny and a\nstony one to the lower nature. Gradually men\nwere induced to subjugate the body, to overcome\nits sloth by the regular daily performance of relig-\nious rites, often burdensome in their nature, and to\nregulate its activities by directing them into useful\nchannels ; they were trained to conquer the form and\nto hold it in subjection to the life, and to accustom\nthe body to yield itself to works of goodness and\ncharity in obedience to the demands of the mind,\neven while that mind was chiefly stimulated by a\ndesire to enjoy reward in heaven. We can see\namong the Hindus, the Persians, the Chinese, how\nmen were taught to recognize their manifold obli-\ngations ; to make the body yield dutiful sacrifice of\nobedience and reverence to ancestors, to parents, to\nelders; to bestow charity with courtesy; and to show\nkindness to all. • Slowly men were helped to evolve\nboth heroism and self-sacrifice to a high degree, as\nwitness the martyrs who joyfully flung their bodies\nto torture and death rather than deny their faith or\nbe false to their creed. They looked indeed for a\n\" crown of glory\" in heaven as a recompense for the\n\nTHE ANCIENT WISDOM\n\nsacrifice of the physical fortn, but it was much to\nhave overcome the clinging to that physical form,\nand to have made the invisible world so real that it\noutweighed the visible.\n\nThe next step was achieved when the sense of duty\nwas definitely established ; when the sacrifice of the\nlower to the higher was seen to be \"right,\" apart\nfrom all question of a reward to be received in\nanother world; when the obligation owed by the part\nto the whole was recognized, and the yielding of ser-\nvice by the form that existed by the service of others\nwas felt to be justly due withoiit any claim to wages\nbeing established thereby. Then man began to per-\nceive the law of sacrifice as the law of life, and\nvoluntarily to associate himself with it ; and he began\nto learn to disjoin himself in idea from the form he\ndwelt in and to identify himself with the evolving\nlife. This gj-adually led him to feel a certain in-\ndifference to all the activities of form, save as they\nconsisted in \"duties that ought to be done,\" and to\nregard all of them as mere channels for the life-\nactivities that were due to the world, and not as\nactivities performed by him with any desire for their\nresults. Thus he reached the point already noted,\nwhen karma attracting him to the three worlds\nceased to be generated, and he turned the wheel of\nexistence because it ought to be turned, and not be-\ncause its revolution brought any desirable object tor-\nhimself. '\n\nThe full recognition of the law of sacrifice, how'\never, Ufts man beyond the mental plane — whereon\n\nACTIONS AS SACRIFICE. 28/\n\nduty is recognized as duty, as \"what ought to be\ndone because it is owed\" — to that higher plane of\nBuddhi where all selves are felt as one, and where\nall activities are poured out for the use of all, and\nnot for the gain of a separated self. Only on that\nplane is the law of sacrifice felt as a joyful privilege,\ninstead of only recognized intellectually as true and\njust On the buddhic plane man clearly sees that\nlife is one, that it streams out perpetually as the free\noutpouring of the love of the Logos, that life holding\nitself separate is a poor and a mean thing at best, and\nan ungrateful one to boot. There the whole heart\nrushes upwards to the Logos in one strong surge of\nlove and worship, and gives itself in joyfuUest\nself-surrender to be a channel of His life and love\nto the world. To be a carrier of His light, a messen-\nger of His compassion, a worker in His realm — that\nappears as the only life worth living; to hasten hu-\nman evolution, to serve the Good Law, to lift part of\nthe heavy burden of the world — that seems to be\nthe very gladness of the Lord Himself.\n\nFrom this plane only can a man act as one of the\nSaviours of the world, because on it he is one with the\nselves of all. Identified with humanity where it is\none, his strength, his love, his life, can flow down-\nwards into any or into every separated self. He has\nbecome a spiritual force, and the available spiritual\nenergy of the world-system is increased by the pour-\ning into it of his life. The forces he used to expend\non the physical, astral, and mental planes, seeking\nthings for his separated self, are now all gathered\n\n288 THE AN'CIENT WISDOX.\n\nup in one act of sacrifice, and, transmuted thereby\ninto spiritual energy, they pour down upon the\nworld as spiritual life. This transmutation is\nwrought by the motive which determines the plane\non which the energy is set free. If a man's motive\nbe the gain of physical objects, the energy liberated\nworks only on the physical plane; if he desire astral\nobjects, he liberates energy on the astral plane; if\nhe seek mental joys, his energy functions on the\nmental plane; but if he sacrifice himself to be a\nchannel of the Locos, he liberates energy on the\nspiritual plane, and it works everywhere with the\npotency and keenness of a spiritual force. For such\na man action and inaction are the same ; for he does\neverything while doing nothing, he does nothing\nwhile doing everything. For him, high and low,\ngreat and small are the same ; he fills any place that\nneeds filling, and the Logos is alike in every place\nand in every action. He can flow into any form,\nhe can work along any line, he knows not any longer\nchoice or difference; his life by sacrifice has been\nmade one with the life of the Logos— he sees God\nin everything and everything in God. How then can\nplace or form make to him any diflEerence? He no\nlonger identifies himself with form, but is self-con-\nscious Life. \"Having nothing, he possesseth all\nthings;\" asking for nothing, everything flows into\nhim. His life is bliss, for he is one with his Lord,\nwho is Beatitude ; and, using form for service with-\nout attachment to it, \" he has put an end to pain. \"\nThose who grasp something of the wonderful pos-\n\nPRACTICE OP SACRIFICE. 289\n\nsibilities which open out before us as we voluntarily\nassociate ourselves with the law of sacrifice will\nwish to begin that voluntary association long ere\nthey can rise to the heights just dimly sketched.\nLike other deep spiritual truths, it is eminently prac-\ntical in its application to daily life, and none who\nfeel its beauty need hesitate to begin to work with\nit. When a man resolves to begin the practice of\nsacrifice, he will train himself to open every day\nwith an act of sacrifice, the offering of himself, ere\nthe day's work begins, to Him to whom he gives\nhis life ; his first waking thought will be this dedica-\ntion of all his power to his Lord. Then each thought,\neach word, each action in daily life will be done as a\nsacrifice— not for its fruit, not even as duty, but as\nthe way in which, at the moment, his Lord can be\nserved. All that comes will be accepted as the ex-\npression of His will; joys, troubles, anxieties, suc-\ncesses, failures, all to him are welcome as marking\nout his path of service ; he will take each happily\nas it comes and offer it as a sacrifice ; he will loose\neach happily as it goes, since its going shows that\nhis Lord has no longer need for it. Any powers he\nhas he gladly uses for service ; when they fail him,\nhe takes their failure with happy equanimity; since\nthey are no longer available he cannot give them.\nEven suffering that springs from past causes not yet\nexhausted can be changed into a voluntary sacrifice\nby welcoming it ; taking possession of it by willing\nit, a man may offer it as a gift, changing it by. this\nmotive into a spiritual force. Every human life\n\n290 THE ANCIENT WISDOM.\n\noffers countless opportunities for this practice of the\nlaw of sacrifice, and every human life becomes a\npower as these opportunities are seized and utilized.\nWithout any expansion of his waking consciousness,\na man may thus become a worker on the spiritual\nplanes, liberating energy there which pours down\ninto the lower worlds. His self -surrender here in\nthe lower consciousness, imprisoned as it is in the\nbody, calls out lesponsive thrills of life from the\nbuddhic aspect of the Monad which is his true Self,\nand hastens the time when that Monad shall become\nthe spiritual Ego, self-moved and ruling all his\nvehicles, using each of them at will as needed for\nthe work that is to be done. In no way can progress\nbe made so rapidly, and the manifestation of all the\npowers latent in the Monad be brought about so\nquickly, as by the understanding and the practice of\nthe law of sacrifice. Therefore was it called by a\nMaster, \"The law of evolution for the man.\" It\nhas indeed prof ounder and more mystic aspects than\nany touched on here, but these will unveil them-\nselves without words to the patient and loving heart\nwhose life is all a sacrificial offering. There are\nthings that are heard only in stillness; there are\nteachings that can be uttered only by \" the Voice of\nthe Silence.\" Among these are the deeper truths\nrooted in the law of sacrifice.",
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