(1) 'These true desires, however, are hidden by what is false; though the desires be true, they have a covering which is false. Thus, whoever belonging to us has departed this life, him we cannot gain back, so that we should see him with our eyes.

(64) But if any will be new born again, he must not yield himself to be a servant to covetousness, pride, state and self-power, to take delight in the will or desires of his flesh; but he must struggle and fight against himself, against the devil, and against all the lusts of the flesh; and he must think and consider that he is but a servant and pilgrim on earth, who must wander through many miserable seas of danger into another world; and there he will be a lord, and his dominion will consist in power, and in perfect delight, beauty and brightness; this I tell as the word of the spirit. Now observe:

(6) 'And as here on earth, whatever has been acquired by exertion, perishes, so perishes whatever is acquired for the next world by sacrifices and other good actions performed on earth. Those who depart from hence without having discovered the Self and those true desires, for them there is no freedom in all the worlds. But those who depart from hence, after having discovered the Self and those true desires , for them there is freedom in all the worlds.

(25) In moving on toward rebirth during the second soul-slumber each soul goes to where it belongs, by reason of what it is. There is no favoritism shown, nor any injustice done it. The soul is not forced to reincarnate against its desires—in fact, it reincarnates because of its unsatisfied desires. It is carried into the current of rebirth because its tastes and desires have created bonds of attractions between it and the things of earth. These desires and tastes can be satisfied only through another experience of earth-life, amidst environment and conditions best suited to allow it to manifest those desires and tastes. It hungers to satisfy its desires and longings, and it moves in the direction in which such satisfaction is possible. Desire is always the great motive power of the soul in determining the conditions of rebirth, and the very fact of rebirth itself.

(14) 'When all desires that dwell in his heart cease, then the mortal becomes immortal, and obtains Brahman.'

(44) But in the new Man (which we attract onto our Souls in the Bosom of the Virgin) we shall spring and flourish again; and therein is no Necessity nor Death, for the Kingdom of this World passes away. Therefore he that has not this Image in the new Birth, shall, in the Restoration of the Spirit of the eternal Nature, have the Image of what his Heart and Confidence has been set upon here [put upon him;] for every Kingdom images [or figures] its Creatures, according to the Essences which were grown here in their Will.

(126) Some people are born again; evil-doers go to hell; righteous people go to heaven; those who are free from all worldly desires attain Nirvâna.

(2) That man who lives completely free from desires, without longing, devoid of the sense of “I” and “mine,” attains peace.

(8) 'But he who has understanding, who is mindful and always pure, reaches indeed that place, from whence he is not born again.'

(25) For him who discerns between the Mind and the Spiritual Man, there comes perfect fruition of the longing after the real being of the Self.

(34) No longer can we wonder that the principle evoking such longing should be utterly free from shape. The very soul, once it has conceived the straining love towards this, lays aside all the shape it has taken, even to the Intellectual shape that has informed it. There is no vision, no union, for those handling or acting by any thing other; the soul must see before it neither evil nor good nor anything else, that alone it may receive the Alone.

Suppose the soul to have attained: the highest has come to her, or rather has revealed its presence; she has turned away from all about her and made herself apt, beautiful to the utmost, brought into likeness with the divine by those preparings and adornings which come unbidden to those growing ready for the vision- she has seen that presence suddenly manifesting within her, for there is nothing between: here is no longer a duality but a two in one; for, so long as the presence holds, all distinction fades: it is as lover and beloved here, in a copy of that union, long to blend; the soul has now no further awareness of being in body and will give herself no foreign name, not "man," not "living being," not "being," not "all"; any observation of such things falls away; the soul has neither time nor taste for them; This she sought and This she has found and on This she looks and not upon herself; and who she is that looks she has not leisure to know. Once There she will barter for This nothing the universe holds; not though one would make over the heavens entire to her; than This there is nothing higher, nothing of more good; above This there is no passing; all the rest, however lofty, lies on the downgoing path: she is of perfect judgement and knows that This was her quest, that nothing higher is. Here can be no deceit; where could she come upon truer than the truth? and the truth she affirms, that she is, herself; but all the affirmation is later and is silent. In this happiness she knows beyond delusion that she is happy; for this is no affirmation of an excited body but of a soul become again what she was in the time of her early joy. All that she had welcomed of old-office, power, wealth, beauty, knowledge of all she tells her scorn as she never could had she not found their better; linked to This she can fear no disaster nor even know it; let all about her fall to pieces, so she would have it that she may be wholly with This, so huge the happiness she has won to.

(42) For the Desiring is the attracting of whatsoever the Will desires; and that Will is first pure, neither Darkness nor Light, for it dwells in itself, and it is even the Gate of the divine Virtue that fills all Things. And thus the Attracting fills the Will with the Things which the Will desires; and although it be pure, and desires nothing but the Light, yet there is no Light in the dark Anxiety that it can attract, but it draws the Spirit of the Essences of the Stars and Elements into itself, and therewith the Will of the divine Virtue is filled, and the same is all rough and dark. And thus the Will is set in the Darkness, and this is done also in the Heart.

(187) Even in heavenly pleasures he finds no satisfaction, the disciple who is fully awakened delights only in the destruction of all desires.

(56) But thou must know this, that he sticketh in a continual, anxious birth or geniture, but would fain be rid of the wrath and wickedness, and yet cannot. For he is as the whole house of this world, wherein love and wrath always wrestle the one with the other, and the new body always generateth itself in the midst or centre of the anguish. For so it must be, if thou wilt be born anew, otherwise no man can reach the regeneration.

(26) A writer on the subject has well said: "The soul, preserving its desire for material things—the things of flesh and material life—and not being able to divorce itself from these things, will naturally fall into the current of rebirth which will lead it toward conditions in which these desires will flourish and become manifest. It is only when the soul, by means of many earth-lives, begins to see the worthlessness and illusory nature of earthly desires, and it begins to become attracted by the things of the life of its higher nature, and, escaping the flowing currents of earthly rebirth, it rises above them and is carried to higher spheres. The average person, after years of earthly experience, is apt to say that he or she has no more desire for earth life, and that his or her only desire is to leave the same behind forever. These persons are perfectly sincere in their statements and beliefs, but a glance into their inmost souls would reveal an entirely different state of affairs. They are not, as a rule, really tired of earth life, but are merely tired of the particular kind of earth life which they have experienced during that incarnation. They have discovered the illusory nature of a certain set of earthly experiences, and feel disgusted at the same. But they are still full of another set of experiences on earth. They have failed to find happiness or satisfaction in their own experience, but they will admit, if they are honest with themselves, that if they could have had things 'just so and so,' instead of ' thus and so,' they would have found happiness and satisfaction. The 'if' may have been satisfied love, wealth, fame, gratified ambition, success of various kinds, etc.,—but be it what it may, the 'if' is nearly always there. And that IF is really the seed of their remaining desires. And the longing for that IF is really the motive for rebirth. Very few persons would care to live over their earth life in the same way. But, like old Omar, they would be perfectly willing to remake the world according to their heart's desire, and then live the earth life. It is really not the earth life at all which is distasteful to them, but merely the particular experiences of earth life which are disdained. Give to the average man and woman youth, health, wealth, talent and love, and they will be very willing to begin the round of earth life afresh. It is only the absence of, or failure in, these or similar things, which causes them to feel that life is a failure, and a thing to be joyfully left behind. The soul, in its sojourn upon the Astral Plane, is rested, refreshed and reinvigorated. It has forgotten the weariness of life which it had experienced during the previous incarnation. It is again young, hopeful, vigorous, and ambitious. It feels within itself the call to action—the urge of unfulfilled desires, aspirations, and ambitions—and it readily falls into the currents which lead it to the scene of action in which these desires, are manifested." The same writer also says: "Another point which should be cleared up is that regarding the character of the desires which serve as the motive power for rebirth. It is not meant that these desires are necessarily low or unworthy desires or longings. On the contrary, they may be of the highest character, and might be more properly styled aspirations, ambitions, or high aims, but the principle of desire is in them all. Desires, high and low, are the seeds of action. And the impulse toward action is always the distinguishing feature of desire. Desire always wants to have things, or to do things, or to be things. Love, even of the most unselfish kind, is a form of desire; so is aspiration of the noblest kind. A desire to benefit others is as much a desire as its opposite. In fact, many unselfish souls are drawn back into rebirth simply by the insistent aspiration to accomplish some great work for the race, or to serve others, or to fulfill some duty inspired by love. But, high or low, if these desires are connected in any way with the things of earth, they are rebirth motives and rudders. But in conclusion, let us say that no soul which does not in its inmost soul desire to be reborn on earth will ever be so reborn. Such a soul is attracted toward other spheres, where the attractions of earth exist not. In that case, the law of attraction carries the soul away from earth, not toward it. There are many souls which are now on the Astral Plane, undergoing the final stages of the casting off of the earthly bonds. And there are many souls now in earth life which will never again return to earth, but which after their next sojourn on the Astral Plane will rise to the higher planes of existence, leaving the earth and all earthly things behind forever. At the present time we are nearing the end of a cycle in which a very great number of souls are preparing for their upward flight, and many who read these lines may be well advanced in that cyclic movement."

(48) Thou will ask, What is the New Regeneration? Or how is that done in Man? Hear and see, stop not thy Mind, let not thy mind be filled by the Spirit of this World, with its Might and Pomp. Take thy Mind, and break through [the Spirit of this World] entirely, incline thy Mind into the kind Love of God; make thy Purpose earnest and strong, to break through the Pleasure of this World with thy Mind, and not to regard it; consider that thou art not at Home in this World, but that thou art a strange Guest, captivated in a close Prison, cry and call to him, who has the Key of the Prison; yield thyself up to him, in Obedience, Righteousness, Modesty, Chastity, and Truth. And seek not so eagerly after the Kingdom of this World, it will stick close enough to thee without that; and then the chaste Virgin will meet thee in thy Mind highly and deeply, and will lead thee to thy Bridegroom, who has the Key to the Gate of the Deep; thou must stand before him, who will give thee to eat of the heavenly Manna, which will refresh thee, and thou will be strong, and struggle with the Gate of the Deep, and thou wilt break through as the i Day -break; and though thou liest captive here in the Night, yet the Rays of the Break of Day will appear to thee in the Paradise, in which Place thy chaste Virgin stands, waiting for thee with the Joy of the Angels, who will very kindly receive thee in thy new-born Mind and Spirit.

(1) [This chapter is supplementary to chapter iii.] Those who understand the conditions of life devote no attention to things which life cannot accomplish. Those who understand the conditions of destiny devote no attention to things over which knowledge has no control. For the due nourishment of our physical frames, certain things are needful. Yet where such things abound, the physical frame is not always nourished. For the preservation of life it is necessary that there should be no abandonment of the physical frame. Yet where the physical frame is not abandoned, life does not always remain. Life comes, and cannot be declined. It goes, and cannot be stopped. But alas! the world thinks that to nourish the frame is enough to keep life. And if indeed it is not enough, what then is the world to do? Although not enough, it must still be done. It cannot be neglected. For if one is to neglect the physical frame, better far to retire at once from the world. By renouncing the world, one gets rid of the cares of the world. The result is a natural level, which is equivalent to a re-birth. And he who is re-born is near.

(8) Yet this first Will in the Mind ought not to stay behind in the Abyss of the sour Fierceness, (in which the fierce Malice is,) but ought to go forward in the Center of the Breaking forth out of the Darkness into the Light, for in the Light there is mere Meekness, Lowliness, Humility, Good- Will, and friendly Desires, that it might with its re-conceived Will go out of itself, and to Or earnest Will. open itself in its precious Treasury. For in the re-conceived Will to the Birth of the Light, there is no Source of Anxiety, but only mere friendly Desires; for the Glimpse rises up out of the Darkness in itself, and desires the Light; and the Desiring draws the Light into itself, and there the Anguish becomes an exulting Joy in itself, an humble Chearfulness, a pleasant Habitation. For the re-conceived Will in the Light is impregnated, and its Fruit in the Body is Virtue [or Power,] which the Will desires to generate, and to live therein; and this Desiring brings the Fruit out of the impregnated Will, [and presents it] before the Will, and the Will discovers itself [glimmers or shines] in the Fruit in an infinite pleasant Number; and there goes forth, in the pleasant Number, in the discovered [or manifested] Will, the high Benediction [or Blessing,] Favour, loving Kindness, pleasant Inclination [or yielding Pliableness,] the Taste of Joy, the Well-doing of Meekness [or Affability,] and [further] what my Pen cannot express. The Mind would much rather be freed from Vanity, and live therein without Molestation or Disturbance.

(348) Give up what is before, give up what is behind, give up what is in the middle, when thou goest to the other shore of existence; if thy mind is altogether free, thou wilt not again enter into birth and decay.

(4) But if it happens, that the outward does not what its Desire wills, that proceeds not from its Wisdom, but the Heaven has altered it by another P Conjunction; but if it be compelled to leave off that which is evil, that is not rby the Course of the Heavens, but the new regenerated Man (who is in Strife with the earthly) does many Times overcome, but cannot swallow up the earthly; for the earthly gets up again, as we see by our Anger; for if my new Man has the Upperhand, he will have no Anger, nor any evil Desire; but if this World's Driver assaults him, then the Fire of Anger rises up in the old Man, and his Desire is often kindled to do what he rejected, and reproved a little before.