Cremation

The problem of disposing of the physical body arises at the time of transition, or death. Not all are able to ascend physically as did Elijah, for the actual raising of the physical body into the atmosphere occurs only when the individual has achieved a certain degree of self-mastery before the transition is made.

In the case of those who do not translate their physical bodies, the ascension may take place immediately after death or during the following three days. These ascend from inner levels, elevating the etheric, mental and emotional bodies together with their soul consciousness. This may occur immediately or within twenty-four to seventy-two hours thereafter, or even from several months to several decades as the Law may require.

Whether the soul ascends leaving behind the physical body or prepares at inner levels for reembodiment, the physical body must pass through the natural process of dissolution. Therefore, in order to facilitate the soul’s transition to higher octaves, either to complete the requirements for the ascension or to enter into temple training for the next life, Serapis Bey has recommended that the physical body be placed on ice for a period of three days after death and that it then be cremated.

Instruction for cremation

Sanat Kumara gives these detailed directions for cremation:

Place the body on ice, dry or otherwise, two days and two nights. And on the third day, the commemoration of the resurrection is the invocation of the resurrection flame. Whether on a funeral pyre or in a modern crematorium, let the physical fire pass through the body that is untouched; for both flesh and blood must be intact, and embalming is forbidden by the Brotherhood of Luxor.

This method is safe and sane and healthy for all. It allows the soul the freedom from all earthly ties as the four lower vehicles are demagnetized simultaneously by the physical fire and the spiritual fire. The soul, as the winged symbol of the ka, takes flight with the flying eagle to pursue the initiations of the Mother in the retreats of the Great White Brotherhood.

In this way, the demons have no prey and the vultures no flesh and blood. And the astral sheath, itself consumed by the physical/spiritual fire, may not roam the earth, a ghost of the former self. The astral hordes that would devour the coils of light are themselves put to flight. For the soul has clean escaped the mortal round and is heard singing, heavenbound.

Through this ancient ritual, the light in the heart of the physical atoms is released by the fire element, and the energy that was used to sustain the form is immediately returned to the heart of the God Presence. In most cases the three-day period of rest is required for the soul and its vehicles to withdraw from the form. Cremation eliminates the possibility of the form exercising dominion over the soul through what is called residual magnetism; for the records of the individual’s thoughts and feelings do leave a residue of substance that creates a magnetic forcefield in the body even after interment, which tends to keep the soul earthbound.

The passage of the soul to higher octaves is facilitated by the blessed fiery salamanders, who consume not only the physical body but also that portion of untransmuted substance lodged within it.

The problem of burial

When the physical form is not cremated, the pull of the records and of the residual magnetism within the forcefield of the body is so great that the soul usually remains in the lower astral levels between embodiments. And since little or no progress can be made in the astral realm, the lifestream will return to embodiment in the same frame of mind in which he left.

The soul’s obligation to release the energies imprisoned within the physical form is not fulfilled until the body is committed to the eternal Flame and the light-energy in each atom is returned to the Great Central Sun for repolarization (that is, purification of the impressions stamped upon the energy through the reestablishment of the divine polarity of Alpha and Omega).

Due to custom—based on the mistaken concept that the physical body will be raised at the time of the Second Coming of Christ—most people have had their bodies interred at the close of many lifetimes, so that their responsibility to transmute their human creation necessarily includes the transmutation of the images of their former selves that lie buried in the earth. Without the assistance of either the fire element or the violet transmuting flame, the release of the energies imprisoned within these discarded forms must occur through the slow process of decay, in some cases delaying the process for thousands of years. Needless to say, embalming is a means of even further prolonging the soul's bondage to the form.

If the body is embalmed before cremation, the blood is removed, discarded as waste, and allowed to mingle with the elements; therefore, it is not consigned to the flame with the remains. Since the blood carries the light and the identity pattern of the soul, which cannot be removed except by fire, it is wise to see that the body is not tampered with prior to being placed on ice. Where state laws prevent this practice they can be challenged on the grounds that they interfere with religious freedom. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that the power of the Holy Spirit, when invoked through the violet flame, is able to transmute body, mind and soul, including the cause, effect, record and memory of all that is left of the human, wherever it may appear in the earth’s crust. Truly the universal grace of God is sufficient for man’s salvation.

Cremation and the path of the ascension

Sanat Kumara explains the importance of cremation for those pursuing the path of the ascension:

I do say that it is not necessary that the resurrection be physical, as it was indeed the case with Jesus Christ. For it is the soul who is resurrected in the rapture with Christ. And the wedding garment is provided, the seamless garment thy soul has woven and won. This is the body celestial that supplants the body terrestrial. And in that hour you will be glad to cast aside the outworn garment and to consign it to the sacred fire.

Therefore the law is given by my son of Luxor, Serapis Bey, for the cremation of the physical vehicle. For did He not say that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God?

The morbidity surrounding the people’s consciousness of death and dying is also the demon that must be cast out. For the embalming and the burying of the body is the prolongation of the death entity itself. For the body is composed of light; and the light in the nucleus of every atom and molecule and cell must be demagnetized from the “earth, earthy” and the dust must be allowed to return to dust, even as the light that preserved its matrix is allowed to spiral to the Great Central Sun as it is released from its encasement in form by the fire element. To this end, the fiery salamanders perform their priestly duties of returning the noble work of Elohim, the body of male and female, to the Great Central Sun for repolarization.

Let cremation be the liberation of my people from morbidity and attachment to the form. For nevermore will that form be reborn. But the soul, the soul—it shall be clothed upon with white raiment, with the righteousness of the saints. It is the idolatry of the self that perpetuates the cult of the tombstone and enriches the morticians and fills the coffers and the coffins of the mausoleum operators who capitalize on the false belief of the masses that immortality is to be found in the ground.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” Let the sea, the earth be exorcised of death, the death entity, and the bodies in whom there is no life! For the breath of life hath gone out of them, never to return. And those empty houses are invaded by the foul spirits of death who, as vultures, feed upon the light yet imprisoned in the form. This is God’s light and God’s energy. Let the elementals of fire, air, water, and earth recycle this energy back Home to God and see how the planetary body, blessed Virgo herself, will radiate more light and more light and more light.

Citizens of earth, we deplore the death consciousness on which you have seemed to thrive after the fashion of the black magicians who would destroy you alive—destroy your souls in hell while leaving your bodies to walk the streets of physical cities and astral planes. Saints of God, this is a serious matter! For the whole Matter vehicle of this evolution must be cleared. And the ancient practices of the Egyptian cult of the dead must give way to the culture of life that leads to the ascension.

See also

Ascension

Sources

Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, The Masters and the Spiritual Path, pp. 123–26.