The Lives of Alcyone - I

All who have read Man: Whence How and Whither are acquainted with the idea of the Group of Servers — a band of people who have offered themselves to do a certain amount of hard work of the world, especially the work of the pioneer. When a new country is to be brought under cultivation; there must be men who will be the first to enter it, who will be willing, for a long time, to dispense with all the little conveniences which make existence bearable, to live roughly and to work hard, cutting down trees, clear away undergrowth, digging up and leveling the ground, boring wells and constructing roads, and generally turning the wilderness into a fruitful field and making the jungle habitable; and without such preparatory labor civilized life, and all that it brings in its train in the way of opportunity and achievement, would never be possible at all.

      The same statement is true of other and higher kind of development. When a new Root Race is to begin the Manu incharge of the business must take a certain number of people and deal with them much as the pioneer deals with the new country. He must break up many of their customs, their prejudices, their ways of thought, and implant in them others that are quite different, at the same time he is introducing changes into the shape and build of their physical bodies. Clearly such work difficult and complicated as it must be in any case can be done more easily if the human material is docile, if it is to some extent accustomed to the process, and willing to cooperate to the best of its ability, just as soil that has just been turned over is easier to dig than that which has never been touched. Such members The Manu finds in us who are members of His Band of Servers. Notice the qualities, which He must need in us.

      First, the docility of which we have just spoken. We must be willing to follow Him through all dangers and difficulties, eager to take any hint that he throws to us, always ready to put aside personal desires and feelings for the sake of the work that has to be done.

      Secondly, such comprehension of at least the broad outline of the work as would enable us to cooperate intelligently — as in the present age we call an interest in Theosophy.

      Thirdly, patience, for without that we shall assuredly fall out by the way in the long march of evolution, and discouraged at the scantiness of the visible result from all our endeavors.

      Fourthly, industry, the inflow of energy from behind that keeps us moving in spite of all hindrances — the flywheel that carries us over dead-point of exhaustion and despondency.

      Fifthly, adaptability, and comradeship, so that we may learn to work together as a whole, to trust one another and make allowances for one another.

      Have we then — we who have the honor to belong to this Band — all these qualities fully developed ? Certainly not, but we are in the process of developing them, and every possible opportunity is given to us to hasten their unfolding. After the experience of many incarnations extending over thousands of years, we ought to exhibit these qualifications to an extent markedly greater than that observable among our fellowmen. If we do not so manifest them, if we are not yet what He would have us be, that is evidently our fault and we should instantly set about amending it. The history of our past lives shows us also that with some who are of our party His endeavor has already succeeded to the fullest possible extent. Further, if for the rest of us progress has not been so rapid, the knowledge of what those who are now adepts have done should be to us at once the greatest possible incentive and the most emphatic encouragement. Let us see, then, what can be learned from this past history.

      Since the Book Man was written some further investigations have been made, in the course of preparing for the press the new book, containing an account of forty-eight of the lives of Alcyone. These investigations modify to a certain extent some of our previous conclusions, and alter the relative importance, which we were at first disposed to attach to the various factors governing the successive incarnations of this Group of Servers. When the Lives of Alcyone were first published in The Theosophist, only a few of the dramatis personæ were given after each Life — just those characters which happened to come into close touch with the hero of the story or exercised some definite influences over his life. A few of these people appeared nearly every time, but most of them were irregular; and this seemed to the investigators quite in accordance with what might be expected, for obviously men of widely differing temperaments would make for themselves karma of various kinds, which would carry some in this direction and some in that, and would give some a long life in the heaven world between incarnations while others would find themselves descending into the physical life after a much smaller interval.

      From other lines of study we have realized the existence of three great factors as determining the place and time of each man's birth. First, the force of evolution, which places each man where he can most readily acquire the qualities in which he happens to be deficient; second, the law of karma, which limits the action of that first force by allowing the man so much as he has deserved; third the law of attraction which brings the man again and again into connection with the other egos with whom he has formed links of some kind. We find these laws acting usually in the order above assigned them; and that order conveys their relative importance in the case of the great mass of humanity. It is true as we supposed that the length of a man's life in the heaven world is determined by the amount of spiritual force which he has generated while on earth; it is true that the karma of his previous lives decides to a great extent the kind of existence which he will have now, and the happiness or misery which he shall experience in that existence.

      But further enquiry has shown us that, in the case of the Band of Servers, these rules, which ordinarily operate, are subordinated to the purpose of the Group. It is of the essence of our membership of that Band that we should be ready to put aside all feelings and interests of the individual for the sake of the whole; and we find that this rule holds good even with regard to the births that we take. For us the third of these factors comes first; and what is primarily considered is not our individual karma, but the need of the group as a whole. In those earlier enquiries we found occasions when few of his friends appeared along with Alcyone, and at the time we took it for granted that the others were probably out of incarnation at that period. By spreading our nets a little wider, by examining generations before and after that in which our hero happened to be born, by searching among neighbors and friends as well as among blood relations, we have in nearly every case been able to find all or almost all of those whom we have specially identified; so while it is true that Alcyone's individual karma, or the necessities of his private evolution, have brought him sometimes into the very midst of the group, and at other times thrown him for the moment aside from it, we must not, therefore assume that there is any change in the evolution of the group as a unity.

      It is now clear that the members of this Band, whether emotional or intellectual, spiritual or material in disposition, have come down through the ages together, and that the fact of their association has always been the really dominant influence in their lives, and the most important influence in their lives, and the most important element in determining the time and place of their rebirth. They have been placed where they were wanted for the work without any consideration, for the moment, of their individual needs or their private progress. We must not suppose that their individual evolution has been neglected, or that their precise personal karma has been neglected, or that their precise personal karma has in anyway failed to produce its due effect; but because of their membership in this remarkable clan those needs have been achieved by methods differing slightly from those which are more usually employed. The greater or lesser amount of spiritual force generated in a given life for example finds its result not in the comparative length of the heaven life, but in its comparative intensity.

      There are considerable intervals during which the Group is not required for work of an occult nature; but even then it still keeps together; its members do not go off separately, each pursuing his own evolution, but they are part so far as we can see, wherever the greatest good of the greatest number can best be consulted. When they are not wanted for outside work, their own evolution is taken into account; but even then it is not that of the individual, but that of the mass. In fact, to a certain extent, the clan may be considered as a little sub-world by itself. Most of the karma of its member's is necessarily generated with their fellows, and therefore tends to work itself out within the Group, and to make the ties stronger between the comrades. It is therefore, evident that in calculating averages for the world in general, it is wiser not to include the members of our Group, as they are under an influence, which differentiates them in various ways from those who are not as yet being specially utilized.

      In the introduction to the Lives published in The Theosophist it was mentioned that we had noted the existence of two classes of egos, who among other things, differed in their usual interval between lives, one taking an average of about twelve hundred years and the other an average of seven hundred. We still find these classes to be clearly marked; but when the members of them come into the Band of Servers their intervals are immediately thereby affected. The distinction still persists in certain pronounced cases; a detailed study of the charts which will be published in the new book of Lives will show that there are occasions on which one may suppose that the inherent tendency proves itself too strong for the new influence, and the clan temporarily breaks itself into two groups, each of which takes the interval to which it had previously been accustomed. But when that happens, we find that the whole clan is again united by the simple plan of synchronizing the third incarnation of one set with the second of the other, so that they are only apart for what is comparatively a very short time. Between these occasional outbreaks of old habit they are only apart for what is comparatively a very short time. Between these occasional outbreaks of old habit they arrive at a sort of compromise and keep together, but with intervals which are somewhat irregular — sometimes a thousand years or more, and sometimes only eight hundred. Single members occasionally break away from the Group for an incarnation or two — presumably because they have generated karma, which necessitates special treatment.

      A phenomenon of interest, which has its influence upon these occasional departures from the regular routine, is the existence of what may be called sub-groups. Some of the principal characters have a small following, which tends to go with them wherever they go. This is fully apparent only when we have the whole series of charts before us so that our readers will not be able to make a complete study of it until they have the new book of Lives before them; but even from the very partial lists which were published in the The Theosophist, it is possible to observe indications of this fact. The close attachment of Herakles to Mars is an instance in point; Mars himself is usually associated with Jupiter and the Manu; while Herakles in turn has a certain more or less regular following, in which Capella, Beatrix, Gemini, Arcor and Capricorn are prominent. A still closer attachment subsists between Alcyone and Mizar, and wherever they are it will usually be found that Sirius, Electra and Fides are not far off. Erato, Melete, Concordia and Ausonia form a group of four, who happen to be closely related in this present incarnation; but this is no exception to their general rule, for in past lives they are constantly in intimate connection. A remarkable couple are Calypso and Amalthea ; for these two are constantly to be found in the relation of husband and wife, and if either of them is so ill advised as to marry somebody else they usually adjust the matter by eloping together. Another group which seems to be closely linked consists of Draco, Andromeda, Argus, Atalanta, Lili, Phoenix and Dactyl; the connection here is so frequent that when, in the course of our investigations, we came across one member of the party we always felt certain of speedily encountering the others, and we were rarely disappointed. Yet another group includes Hector, Albireo, Leo, Leto, Berenice and Pegasus; another comprises Aldebaran, Achilles and Orion. All these form smaller systems within the clan as a whole, much as in the solar system each of the greater planets has a system of satellites of its own. Only in the case of the Group there is this difference, that the subgroups are not inherently coherent; they are together more often than not, but they do break up and intermingle sometimes, and it is evident that such changes of partnership are intentionally arranged.

      Another very curious group is composed of entities whose link with the clan is less defined, for their connection with it seems often rather hostile than friendly. A decided instance of this is Scorpio, who comes down through the ages in violent opposition to Herakles, an attitude still maintained in the present life, in which the hatred and unscrupulousness are as prominent as ever,though the power to harm has obviously decreased with the passage of time. Other members of the same type, but somewhat less violent, are Cancer, Lacerta, Ursa, Hesperia; and they in turn have a set of friends such as Trapezium, Markab, Avelledo, who are sometimes associated with them and sometimes with more difinitely loyal members of the Group. Pollux who is occasionally of this party, has a special link of his own with Melpomene, though it often works along undesirable lines. Some who began forty or fifty thousand years ago as members of this less satisfactory sub-group seem to be gradually coming out of it and allying themselves more and more closely to the main body ; Gamma and Thetis are cases in point. Others there are who are closely and honourably associated with the clan, but almost always in a subordinate capacity; an example of this is Boreas. Egos retained very decidedly certain special characteristics; for example, all the characters are in most of the lives to some extent related to one another, and therefore presumably on the same social level; but whenever we come to an incarnation in which some of them are priests and warriors, and others are traders, one can always guess beforehand which names will be found in each of these classes. There are some who appear in the group only occasionally, and as it were by chance — evidently themselves not regular members of it, but probably karmically associated with some who are members; examples of this kind are Lota, Kappa and Liovtai.

      The Group of Servers is a large one; the two hundred and fifty characters to whom names have been assigned are supposed to be less than one tenth of the whole, it is thought likely that the whole clan is divided into companies for the purpose of special training, and that these companies are taken in hand one after another by the Manu and his subordinates. Our two hundred and fifty may well be such a company, and when one of its members disappears from it for a time, he has probably been gaining experience in one of the other companies. There are various pieces of evidence that point to this. For example: our characters are called together by the Manu about 70,000 BC, when he is making preparations for his new Root Race; many of them were killed in the massacre which took place then, and received a promise from him that those who died for the sake of the Race should be re-incarnated in it immediately under somewhat more suitable conditions. When, ten thousand years later, the race was definitely established, every member of our group appeared in it. When the time came for the formation of the second sub-race our band was utilised both in the first occupation of the valley and again two thousand years later when the actual migration into Arabia took place. Just the same thing happened with regard to the third sub-race, our group passing through three incarnations in the course of its establishment. But when the time came for the founding of the fourth and fifth sub-races, not a single member of our clan of two hundred and fifty is to be found among those who were helping the Manu in his work. It seems evident, then, that at that period the turn of another company had come — and another set of egos must have been going through this training.

      When the Bodhisattva condescended to appear in India as Shri Krishna and in Palestine as Jesus, no single member of our group was in attendance on him, nor were we chosen, as now, to prepare the way for his advent. In each of these cases He had attendants, so the presumption is that they belonged to one of the other companies.

      From the glimpses we have had of the beginnings of the Sixth Root Race we know that our clan of Servers is to have the honour of being employed in that connection, and there is also reason to suppose that we should have a part to play in the development of the sixth sub race of this present Root Race. But the purpose for which we are now called together is neither of these, though it is still of the usual preparatory nature. We are now called upon to prepare the way of the Lord — to help to make ready the world for the descent of the Bodhisattva. Because that is so, the method of this incarnation differs from all those that have preceded it. When we were founding a physical race, we were born in the same country and thrown into close physical relationship, but that is not at all what is needed now. The coming teacher needs heralds to prepare his way in all countries, and so that ancient and compact Band of Servers finds itself scattered loosely over the whole civilised world.

      Having thus scattered us, they bring this together again, but this time intellectually, on the mental plane instead of the physical. They draw us altogether through a common interest in Theosophy, and they are trying upon us this interesting experiment, to see whether after all the experience we have had, we can preserve the clan spirit and work equally well together for a common object when we are born in different races and different families. The subjects of the experiment at first known nothing about it. They find themselves in relation to people of other races and of many types, all with their various peculiarities, and the first idea that occurs to them is how tiresome these peculiarities are, and how difficult it is to get on with these people. But presently they get through the surface differences to the common humanity behind. The ego breaks through the veil of his vehicles, and the old sense of comradeship reasserts itself. We must needs be in every land because He needs his agents in every land; we must needs be a coherent all those agents must work together as one great body animated by one mighty spirit.

      And those older lives we usually find our people gathered together into three or four large families, springing often from a single couple, or from two or three couples. The descendants of these couples for three or four generations generally consist almost wholly of members of our group. Then suddenly the stream dries up, and the next generation consists of strangers. But many among these strangers have been observed as recurring frequently, and it is possible that they might prove on further examination to be members of that second group whose existence we had been inferring. It may well be that that second group, whose members are as yet unidentified, may have been employed to follow our group in the case of the first, second and third sub races, and that they were tried in the leading role in the case of the fourth and fifth. It is likely that on so important an occasion as the descent of the Bodhisattva both of these groups, and quite possibly a dozen more, may be brought into incarnation.

      Our investigations were undertaken for the special purpose in connection with the past lives of Alcyone, and the egos to whom names have been given are those who appear most closely in association with him — those who were going through the same training at the same time. Those who appear to be training in another squad naturally do not appear at all, although it is obvious that their work must have been just as important in connection with other sub races. Even in our own squad many other entities are recognizable as recurring frequently, and might no doubt be identified among existing fellows of the Theosophical Society, if the same amount of individual trouble were given to them that was given in the beginning to the others.

      Sometimes theosophists have asked us whether they were not among this Band of Servers in the past, as they feel themselves so strongly drawn to some of the Great Ones, or to the President, that they feel sure they must have met them before. I think it is quite certain that almost every member of the society (at any rate, every member who is working strongly and disinterestedly for it) must have been in one or other of these groups at one time or another. Some of them may form that later generation which we so often half recognize. Round the families which we have catalogued there is a sort of a penumbra, an outer fringe which probably contains thousands who are now students of the sacred wisdom. Indeed, some who were not specifically mentioned may be as closely related to the Great Ones as those on our list; for we often recognise but two or three children out of a family of eight or ten; no doubt the unidentified children are Fellows of the Society also !

      Sometimes a character almost forces himself upon our notice. For example, I noticed on several occasions a grand but unknown figure appearing in close connection with some of our most honoured names — an ego, evidently, of great importance. Having met with this character two or three times, we at last decided to follow him down to the present day, and discovered him to be the Master of the Master K. H. — a senior adept, to whom in our charts we have given the name of Dhruva. Quite recently I came across another character, apparently by the merest accident. One of our members brought to my notice a young friend of his, because he had heard that we happened to have a certain interest in common; and the moment that this younger stranger was introduced to me I saw that he was not a stranger, but, on the contrary, a prominent character in many of those lives of old — one whom I had supposed to be at present out of incarnation. He came into my life this time as the proofs of the new book on the Lives of Alcyone were already in hand; he was just in time to be included in chart number I, but just too late to take his place in the specimen ledger-page, as that was already "struck off". What happened then may occur again; at any moment we may come across a person who held an important position among us in those days of old. Even if we do, however, he'll be too late for inclusion in this edition of the book; the door is shut for this particular cycle of manifestation! Indeed, in any case, no more names are now being given, as the number is already somewhat unwieldy for our charts and ledgers. Also, no useful purpose is to be served by adding to the list; we have already enough instances from which to draw deductions with regard to the Servers; if further investigations are made, they would be more profitably undertaken among some entirely different class of entities.

      The charts are prepared on the principle of a genealogical tree, and each gives the relationship of the characters at a given date. From them it is easy, though laborious, to prepare a kind of ledger in which each character has his own page, and his relationships in successive lives are entered in due order, thus enabling us to see at a glance what position he has held, and how often he has been in touch with this person or that. A specimen page of such a ledger may be given in the new book, as a guide for anyone who wishes to construct such a volume.

      A friend recently remarked that the length of physical life of the characters mentioned is always much above the average given in the present day by insurance statistics. That is true; but actuarial tables have so far concerned themselves only with an average based upon the present lives of a number of different egos, not with the successive lives of one ego. For anything we know, egos may have idiosyncrasies in this matter; some may be in the habit of taking the longest physical lives that their karma permits, while the others may prefer more frequent changes. Or it may be all decided for us from outside.

      Students will notice that all through the ages almost all our characters have been practically monogamous. This must not be taken to indicate that the civilisations in which they were living had never admitted the practice of polygamy. The taking of one wife only may perhaps have been an instruction of the Manu; or it may have been largely a matter of practical convenience, as it is in India today. I understand that Hindu custom places little restriction on the number of wives any man may simultaneously have, yet among my many friends in India I know none, outside of certain royal families, who has more than one wife.

      Families in our charts are often fairly large — though not unusually so, when compared with some of those of the present day, for in this twentieth-century incarnation one of our most illustrious members belonged to a family of thirty-five — a larger number than any which we have yet found in our charts ! The intelligent care of the children was always a prominent part of instructions of manu and for that reason you find little infant mortality among the characters. It was by his instruction also that the families inter married so sedulously, in order that the newly established race might be kept pure from inter mixture — the result being that we comparatively rarely find one of our characters marrying one of the unrecognised.

      We are usually scattered over three or four generations, and is it curious to note the groupings which occur. The two or three couples with which the families begin are often those who are now among the Great Ones, and we can understand that by supposing it necessary to have strongly developed characters to set the type. These Great Ones are themselves usually brothers or sisters in a family, the other members of which are unknown to us. Their parents are sometimes obviously highly developed people, and one may assume that they have probably since then attained Adeptship, and are beyond our ken. The immediate descendants of those two or three couples are usually certain people who are even in the present day closely following Them . These people in turn inter marry, and then we get the bulk of the group. But there is generally a sharply defined bottom line to the chart, below which there are rarely any stragglers. Even in the lowest line our characters almost invariably find husbands or wives who are recognised, but their families, though numerous as ever, contained no characters whom we know. This arrangement is sufficiently common to make it reasonably certain that it is not accidental, but intended.

      It is interesting to notice that some characters occur almost always in this bottom line, and so, so far as our charts and ledgers are concerned, appear to have no offspring, because their children are not among those who have been identified; others on the contrary usually occur near the top of the chart, and consequently show plenty of children, though their grandparents, and sometimes even their parents, are unknown, others have the habit of falling always in the middle of the chart, so that we are able to fill into a ledger both their ancestors and their descendants. It is too early as yet to speculate on the meaning of this arrangement, though no doubt it will emerge as the result of further study. It may be assumed that those who have members of the group as his children are learning how to train vehicles for the use of these helpful egos; but speculation is hardly likely to be profitable until we have the whole mass of facts before us in tabular form, and have time to consider them from all points of view. Admirable work has already been done along this line by Monsieur Gaston Revel, but unfortunately he had at his command only the very small body of statistics published in The Theosophist, and consequently many of his conclusions will need revision — as indeed is the case with most of our earlier attempts to generalise. For example, we embarked upon an interesting inquiry as to whether on the average the period between lives was longer after the male or the female incarnation; but now that we see that among us the interval for men and women alike is determined by the requirements of the group as a whole, it is obviously useless to persue that line of investigation any further.

      It is evident that the experiment which is being tried in this present incarnation with the Band of Servers is quite a new one. Not only have they always in the past been in physical relationship, but it is clear that the details of the relationship were not left to chance, but were carefully arranged as part of a definite plan, in which the close association of the semi-patriarchal family life of those times was utilised to attain the required results, just as in the present day of semi detached families quite in other means are used, and advantage is take of the mental association of societies and clubs of various kinds.

      That the method employed have been effective is shown by the case of Alcyone. In this present twentieth-century life, only one member of the group which we have so often found surrounding him was born in cosanguinity with him, yet every member of that Group, on meeting him in this life, for what was then supposed to be the first time, instantly recognised the spiritual relationship which means so much more than any earthly tie. And what is true of Alcyone and his immediate and closest friends, is also true of the other groups or subdivisions of the clan of Servers, and to a somewhat less extent of the clan as a whole. Forty or fifty lives ago we find Alcyone engaged in riveting certain special links; later we find him meeting these same people frequently, it is true, but still somewhat less closely associated with them, because he is then engaged in forming certain other links — making efforts the results of which are perhaps still in the future.

      As the real object of these incarnations is the formation of these links, so that the members of the clan may learn to understand and trust one another, and thus gradually become a pliable, reliable, intelligent unit that can be employed by the Great Ones as an instrument, it is obvious that we cannot measure the importance of any life by the superficial incidents which are all that we can describe in our series of stories. Picturesque occurrences may sometimes offer opportunity for heroical effort, and so may suddenly crystallise into visibility the results of long slow interior growth; but on the other hand a life barren of adventure may yet be fruitful in the quiet development of necessary qualities — a life happy, industrious, unsensational, pleasantly, placidly progressive. Putting aside the recurrent relationships due to the association in small subgroups, it can be found that each unit has during this series of lives being brought into intimate connection with a large number of the other units. If, for example, we opened the ledger at hazard, and look down the columns of husbands or wives, we should find on the whole very few repetitions. Sometimes one ego will marry another over and over again, but more frequently the forty-eight lives will show forty-eight different experiments in marital life. It seems clear that the authorities who direct these matters are mixing us intentionally, in order that by entering into most intimate affinity with a number of different people, we may know them thoroughly and learn to work with them.

      To be a member of this Band of Servers is indeed a noble ambition, but it is not one of those that bring honor in the eyes of men. In the founding of races and sub-races, it was often necessary for some of our characters to hold high office as kings and chief priests, though the communities with whom they were thus associated were usually but small. In later days, however, and especially within historical times, we have been content with humbler positions, though we should find that we have always been among the cultured people of our time. Few of us have borne names known in history, and those few have in most cases since reached Adeptship, as may be seen by referring to the tables published in Man.

      Most of us are by no means upon that intellectual level, but what is asked of us is not the position of genius, but of those qualities which I mentioned in the beginning of this article. Since that is obviously what is required of us, our business is to work at that development, and that with all speed, so that when the Lord comes he may find in our group an instrument ready to his hand, an instrument as nearly perfect as we can make it.

      The more we see of this Band of Servers, the more thankful I personally am to have the honor of belonging to it, for it has clearly a definite work to do for Him; and to have the opportunity of doing that is indeed a rare felicity. Feeling this as I do, I cannot but regret most poignantly that some who formed part of this Band in long-past centuries should have fallen away from it in this life. I know that they cannot fall away permanently, that their wanderings are only those of the naughty child who snatches his hand from that of his father and takes a little run on his own account — ending often in a tumble in the mud; I know that in their next incarnation they will be back amongst us studying the same philosophy, working for the same great end. They will surely take future opportunities; but what a pity to miss this one. Remember the story of the Lord Buddha, and the tremendous impetus which his blessed presence gave to all who came within its influence. The coming of the Lord of Love would have the same effect upon those who stand around him; why should any man shut himself out from participation in such benefits? May we hope that this marvelous magnetic force will draw them all back to his feet, that his glorious light will open the eyes of the blind, that misunderstandings, jealousies and envyings will melt away before the fire of His Love? So mote it be! but if some are missing who should be among us, all the more zeal and energy must we show, so that the total of work done maybe no less — so that, if it may be, our comrades' absence may pass unmarked until they had time to recover from their temporary disability and returned to the ranks. Above all must we remember the golden rule that "hatred never ceaseth by hatred; hatred ceaseth only by love"; for only by all observing that can we be worthy to know and to serve the Lord of Love when he comes.

C. W. LEADBEATER

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