A Review Of Erato's Lives: i--viii By C. J. Leadbeater

A Review Of Erato's Lives: i---viii By C. J. Leadbeater

With his eighth life we come to the close of a minor cycle of soul-evolution. In his earlier life in Chaldea he was thrown into surroundings which made a good life eminently probable for him. Born in the priestly caste, he encountered none but virtuous examples. Virtue was universally expected of him and was made easy for him. To have been sinned seriously would have been difficult; it would have been to fly in the face of all comfortable conventions; it would have needed a determination in the direction of wickedness which our hero happily did not possess.

A Review Of Erato's Lives: 1--8 By C. W. Leadbeater

 The Miracle

The blue was about to conquer the eye and at the fading moment
the mind and the heart strayed away.
The jewel dropped from the blue, suddenly in my lap
when nothing was in its place.
Neither the mind nor the heart, neither the thought nor the act of seeing,
The jewel shone out of the sky it brought the word
and I heard!
The Master speaks and that's the miracle
which happens only once!

The Soul's Growth Through Reincarnation: C. W. Leadbeater

From the Introduction to 'FROM THE SOUL'S GROWTH THROUGH INCARNATION; LIVES OF ERATO AND SPICA BY C. W. LEADBEATER
The introduction is by C. Jinrajadasa.

The Theosophical answer to the question: " What is the meaning of Reincarnation?" is that each soul has, as his purpose in existence, to give a noble contribution of work to the fulfilment of the Great Plan. The purpose of existence is not postulated as any kind of Nirvana which brings the final consummation described in the phrase, "the dewdrop slips into the shining sea." On the other hand Salvation or Liberation is certainly postulated in Theosophy as the union of the soul's consciousness with that of the Divine; but at the same time, the wonder and beauty of that union is to be continually manifested in noble creations for the helping of the souls , the young souls just entering their career to Deification.

In the many lives of Erato, wherever there is an opportunity, he is drawn to art.

There are four lines of Tennyson which suggest the meaning of life as seen in the light of Reincarnation:
"Act first, this Earth, a stage so gloom'd with woe,
You all but sicken at the shifting scenes.
And yet be patient. Our Playwright may show
In some fifth Act what this wild Drama means.