Questions & Answers With Lobsang Rampa

[lomax]

Here's another question about astral travelling. It is,
“When you are astral travelling how do you go about
finding the zones in which astral cats, dogs, horses, etc.,
live?”

Well, you don't have to go about finding it. If you are a
lover of some particular animal that animal will come to
your own “zone” and will actually invite you to come and
visit him or her in his or her own district or hometown.
Remember that when you get beyond this Earth things
are very very different. Animals are not just stupid creatures
who can't talk and can't do anything. Actually,
humans are the dumb clucks because animals can and do
talk by telepathy. Humans for the most part have to
make uncouth sounds which they term a language,
whereas any animal can do telepathy in any language.
To make it clearer I will say that if you want to go to a
particular zone and you have a right, or a reason, to be in
that particular zone, you can get there merely by thinking
about it. It's as simple as that.

[lomax]

Now for a complete change of theme. This is a question
from a South American country, and the question is
a very sensible one. It is, “When praying what should I
really call my Overself? I do not like a human name,
would it be all right to say ‘God’, ‘Lord’, or ‘Guide’, or
just ‘Overself’? You have mentioned that the Overself has
several puppets to manage, does that mean he manages
other people as well and not only me? Then it is not only
my Overself but also other peoples. Are these people in
any way related to me or not?”

Well, that's a stunner! I started out thinking that was
one question, instead it's a whole bunch of questions, isn't
it? Never mind, let's get on with it; it really does not
matter what you call your Overself any more than it
matters what you call your sub-conscious because so long
as you get over the idea that you are addressing the
Overself or that you are addressing the sub-conscious,
then you could even have a number, number one for
Overself, number two for sub-conscious. Of course, that is not necessarily too facetious because it just doesn't
matter what you call the Overself provided that you are
consistent. You must always use the same name.
Now, I have mentioned many times about the Overself
and the puppets. Let's put it this way; you have your
body, let's call your body the Overself. And then you
have a right hand, a left hand, a right foot and a left foot,
let's call them your puppets. So your hands and feet are
definitely part of you, aren't they, they are definitely related
to each other, so in precisely the same way the
other people who are the puppets of that one Overself
are related, are connected, are dependent upon each
other. And the Overself has to manage each of those
puppets in the same way that you have to manage your
hands and your feet. For example, if your feet can't get
on together you can't walk because supposing the puppets
which you call your feet disliked each other and
both tried to take a right step at the same time, well you
would fall over backwards. I'm not sure it couldn't be
done, and I'm certainly not going to try, but you have to
keep your hands and your feet on a good working relationship
with each other.

[lomax]

When leaving this life must we all
pass the place where those elementals, thought forms, or
whatever they are try to scare us? Is that something inevitable
for all of us, or do the helpers have a chance to
save us from that? If we should die suddenly, for example,
by some traffic accident or aeroplane crash, etc.,
do the helpers have time to get to us at once or must we
then drift alone prey to those awful elementals?
”
Say! I seem to have fallen on a bunch of multiple
questions. Now what have I done to deserve this? Well,
anyway, suppose you are going to travel by train or car
or bus or aeroplane, then you have to cross a certain area
instance, suppose you have a car outside your house and
you want to get in that car. You have to get out of your
house and you have to cross the sidewalk to get in to
your vehicle. In the same way, when you leave your body
you have to cross an area of “public domain for spirits” to
get into the astral, but in ninety-nine percent of the cases
you do not see any elementals. If you are not afraid then
you have nothing to worry about because if you are not
afraid then the elementals can't bother you, they can't
approach you. So what is there to worry about, anyway?
You might be leaving your house and proceeding to your
car and you might see a lot of gaping children at the
sidewalk, but you don't have to bother about them, do
you? So why bother about elementals?
And yes, most certainly helpers have a chance to save
you from anything. It doesn't matter if you have a sudden
crash, the helpers are still there, because you must
remember that time on Earth is a purely artificial thing
and it has no meaning elsewhere. For instance, if you
wanted to go from, say, South America to Australia while
on the Earth you would have quite a commotion getting
tickets, packing up your things, and actually travelling
from South America to Australia. You would have all
sorts of customs and immigration formalities. But in this
other state in the astral, you think of a place and you are
there, it's as quick as that. So that a person in the astral
can be an uncountable distance from you in miles but he
could say, “Oh my goodness, there’s Jim Bugsbottom
about to have an accident, I'm going.” And then the
astral helper would be there at the scene of the accident
even before the thing happened.

[lomax]

Is it important enough for the inhabitants of this
plane to know more of the other planes of existence beyond
the astral? If so, could you elucidate on them, perhaps
give us at least a sketchy idea of the structure of the
planes of existence? Also, what happens when a spirit
evolves to the plane ‘below’ that of the highest, or that
of God? Can a spirit actually evolve to the highest plane,
or is that too preposterous to even discuss?”

Well, it is only possible to discuss the plane above, the
astral, and it is much like this world although it has another
dimension. Time, for instance, is not at all the same
as it is on this world. Travel is different, too; if you want
to get to a place you think yourself there. You might be
sitting down looking out across the landscape and feel
that you would like to call on a friend who might be a
certain distance away. Well, if you think of the friend,
and think of his location, then almost imperceptibly you
will find yourself there with your friend.
Nor will you find, in the astral world, prudishness or
pornography. When you get to the astral world you find
—to your considerable astonishment at first—that you are
as bare as a peeled banana and you have quite literally to
“think up” any form of clothing which takes your fancy.matter, the things of the spirit count more, and that is not
as a pun either!
In the astral plane you cannot meet people with whom
you are antagonistic, and of course the higher you go the
more compatible you are with the people around you.
Now, you can usually get up to about the ninth plane
of existence and then you no longer find that the Overself
is sending out puppets. Instead there is only one extension
from the Overself, after the ninth plane.
Of course there are a vast number of planes of existence,
and you go on and on getting more and more dimensions,
but there would be no point in trying to discuss
some of these other dimensions unless you have been
there because there is no point of reference. How would
you, for example, discuss atomic theory with an ant who
was more interested in getting on with the ordinary business
of day to day living? How could you discuss nuclear
thermo electrics with a bee who was far more interested
in going out and collecting pollen, or whatever they collect,
so that the process of making honey could continue?
No, until you have had experience of other dimensions
you are not able to discuss them. It's like having a year
old baby trying to discuss brain surgery with one of our
leading surgeons.
But there is no limit to how high you can go. Remember
the old saying that there is always plenty of room at
the top of the ladder. And, you see, God is not an old
gent with a beard and a shepherd's crook who comes
along and hooks in all the wayward lambs. God is a
different thing altogether, nothing that you can understand
down here. Here your nearest conception of a God
is a Manu, that is, one of the Branch Managers who looks
after this particular departmental store which we call
Earth. Under him he has a lot of Assistant Managers who look after continents, lands, and cities. They seem to have
made a pretty poor show of it of late, don't they? Think
of all the commotion in America, in Cambodia, in Viet-
Nam, in the Middle East, and now in Cyprus. I think all
these Manus should be sent back to take a special post
graduate course or something.
But anyway, that is getting away from the subject. So
the answer is that you can go as high as your capacity
will allow, and there is no reason at all why you should
not reach the top and reach “Buddhahood”, that is what
Buddhism is about, anyway.

[lomax]

Here is another nice question, “Under what conditions
can you gain access to the Akashic Records to find out
another person's future?”

You cannot if you are a normal human without very
very special life-time training. The Akashic Record of
each person is closed and cannot be seen by any other
human ( normally ) until the subject of that Record leaves
the Earth and is in the Hall of Memories where the poor
wretch has to see it all and blush alarmingly with shame!

[lomax]

“You talk about a World Leader whose body is presently
being prepared on the Earth and for the Great
Entity to come and animate it; do you know where the
body is presently living? Could the entity who is going to
come and take over the body be the reincarnation of
Jesus, Mohammed, or Gautama?”

Oh yes, I know precisely where the body is, and I have
actually seen the body. But, of course, I wouldn't say
where he is or we would find some crummy pressman
rushing off and coming back with some fantastic entirely
imaginary article. I definitely know where the body is.
No, Jesus, Mohammed or Gautama are not reincarnations
and they are not coming to take over this particular
body. You see, there is a special group of Entities who
come down to Earth at certain times. I really hesitate to
use a term such as “White Brotherhood” because there
are so many stupid people who think they will start up a
cult called the White Brotherhood, or the Dark Donkeys
or something else. There are so many sick people nowadays
that they seize on anything which they feel might
sound plausible. But there is a definite group of Entities
. . . and you cannot take a correspondence course with
them and you will not find them associated with any of
these crazy cultists on this Earth . . who come down to
this world, and of course also go to other worlds, to set an
example as Teachers. It would be such a waste of time if
they had to get born here when all they have to do would
take, perhaps, a year. So they take over a specially prepared
body, and when their task is done the body disappears
in some way which we need not discuss here.

[lomax]

“Please tell us how to use a crystal. I would like to see the
answer to that one in your next book. Should we make
the room pitch dark before we experiment? Should we
put the glass in a safe place so that it won't be used for
other purposes? Should we use a little imagination in the
matter of making something appear, or what?”

Well I really thought I had made the matter very clear
on how to use a crystal. Now supposing you do not have
a crystal, supposing you use a glass of water instead;
well, you get a new glass, an absolutely plain glass without
any pattern on it, without any etching, without any
scratches, in fact, a fairly expensive glass which has no
flaws so far as you can see. Then you carefully wash it
and when you have rinsed off all the soapsuds you fill it
with water right up to the top so that you've got a
menuscus (the menuscus is that bump which appears
when you slightly over-fill a glass ). The glass full of
water is now set on a table or somewhere dark and you
make sure that your room is dark or dim, obviously you
must be able to see the glass, you must be able to see
your hands in front of you, but you do not need to be
able to see to read the newspaper. I give you that just as
a guide. The correct amount of darkness is when colours
begin to disappear.
Having the right conditions, you breathe deeply a
few times and settle yourself so that you are comfortable,
there must be no strain, no muscle which is twitching, no
nerve which is flapping. And then you gaze in the direction
of the glass of water but you do not gaze actually at
it, you look through it with your eyes unfocused, imagine
that you are focusing on infinity, Got that clear? You are
looking in the direction of the glass and you are deliberately
defocusing your eyes imagining that you are looking
at some invisible spot in space. You just sit there
letting your mind take over, and the first thing you will
notice is cloudiness, the water seems to turn milky white,
and then, provided you do not jerk or fall off your chair
with shock, the milky whiteness dissipates and then you
see pictures. And that is all there is to it. You do not have
to imagine things, why should you when you can see the
real things?
After you have used your glass you tip out the water,
you rinse it and dry it, and then you wrap it up in a black
cloth and you use it for nothing else at all.
If you are using a crystal then you do the same in the
matter of gazing at it, but after you have used it you
wrap it up in a black cloth because if bright sunlight falls
upon it you will spoil its power in much the same way as
if you allow sunlight to fall on a film which has been
unrolled—the thing will be no good after.

[lomax]

Mermen and mermaids—were these truly a race of people and if so
what intellect did they possess and what happened to
them?”

Actually all that the average person knows about mermaids
and mermen goes back to the days of Atlantis.
Now, Atlantis was a far more technically accomplished
place than this present day civilization.
People could be made, lumps of protoplasm could be
formed in somewhat human shape and they were used as
servants—not as slaves—they were used as servants because
they were people of inferior mentality, they were,
in fact, “made” for the purpose of serving their masters
and mistresses.
Theoretically nowadays it is possible to increase the
mentality of a dog or a horse or something like that by
being irradiated by special rays and by being fed special
chemicals. In that way the brain voltages can be altered
and so the intelligence-factor increased. There is no reason,
for instance, why monkeys should not be altered by
chemicals so that their mentality is greatly increased and
thus they could, in effect, be a sort of servant to people. I
know quite recently at the Calgary Stampede procession
when we had all manner of things going through the city
streets there was one monkey riding a horse, and he was
wearing clothes. He was doffing his hat to the onlookers
and behaving in every way the same as the humans
around him. Except for looks one couldn't have told the
difference so far as behavior was concerned. And that old monkey, he certainly got a lot of applause, too. But
then the applause upset his self-control because he
jumped off the horse and jumped at the spectators and he
was horribly affectionate with them, and it was quite a
task, I understand, to get him back on his horse again!

[lomax]

“You mention that in the astral world we can have
families. Do we leave them for awhile to attend class on
Earth and then return to them at the end of our Earth
class?”

Yes, that is quite possible. You may say that we spend
twenty-four hours a day on Earth. Certainly we do, but
they are Earth hours and time in the astral world is utterly
different from the time on Earth, in fact in some of
the Hindu books there are stories of people going away
from the Earth and spending a little time in the astral
and then on their return to Earth finding that a thousand
years of Earth time has passed. So it is perfectly feasible
for a person to come to Earth and do all manner of things
by day, but the person has to sleep and during the sleep
the astral bodies go back to the astral world NO
MATTER WHETHER PEOPLE REMEMBER IT OR
NOT, and the time they spend in the astral world with
their families may be perhaps twice as long as they stay
on Earth by day. It is all a question of the difference in
time.

[lomax]

“Is there any part of the world in which the original
religion taught by Christ is now practiced?”

No, I am sorry to say that there is not. Christ departed
the scene and for many years the Teachings of Christ
were let lapse. But after a number of years a gang of
people thought they would start something which would
give them some power. Really the early founders of the
Christian Church, as it was then, were a lot of cultists,
they did not teach that which Christ taught, but they
taught that which increased their own power. For example,
most of the bunch were paralyzed with fright at
the thought of women. Christ did not teach that women
were unclean. Mind you, I'm sure Christ would not have
liked that Women's Libber person who writes to me. But
Christ taught that women had rights just as men have
rights, but the founders of the church in the year 60 did
not want women to get any power at all so it was taught
that women had no souls, women were unclean (some of
them are by the amount of stuff they put on their face!)
However, to answer the question, no, on no place at all of
this Earth is the original Teaching of Christ followed.