E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Turgut Dincer, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) REINCARNATION AND THE LAW OF KARMA A Study of the Old-New World-Doctrine of Rebirth, and Spiritual Cause and Effect by WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON Published and Sold by Yogi Publication Society Masonic Temple, Chicago, Ill. London Agents L.N. Fowler & Co., 7 Imperial Arcade, Ludgate Circus. E.C. (Reincarnation and the Law of Karma) Copyright, 1908, by Yogi Publication Society All Rights Reserved NOTICE.--This book is protected by Copyright and simultaneous publication in Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and other countries. All foreign rights reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I. THE EARLY RACES 7 What is Reincarnation?--Transmigration of Souls--The Something That Persists After Death--The Soul Not a Fresh Creation, but a Traveler on a Long Journey. CHAPTER II. THE EGYPTIANS, CHALDEANS, DRUIDS, ETC. 20 The Egyptian Idea of the Soul--Forty Centuries of Occult History--The Inner Teachings of Egypt--The Ancient Chinese Teachings and Doctrine--The Ancient Druids and Their Teachings. CHAPTER III. THE ROMANS AND GREEKS 35 The Reasons of Rome's Backwardness in Spiritual Knowledge--Why the Greeks were Advanced--Pythagoras; Orpheus; Plato--The Various Grecian Teachings Regarding the Soul and Its Future Life--Plato's Wonderful Teachings and Philosophy. CHAPTER IV. THE JEWS, ESSENES, AND EARLY CHRISTIANS 49 The Inner Teachings of the Jewish Priests--The Jewish Rabbins and Their Secret Doctrines--The Kaballah, the Zahar, Nichema; Ronach; and Nephesh--A Mysterious Brotherhood--The Christian Inner Doctrine--The Mysteries of Jesus. CHAPTER V. THE HINDUS 64 India the Mother of Reincarnation, Past and Present--The Aryan Teachings--The History of the Belief Among the Hindus--Fundamental Hindu Philosophy. CHAPTER VI. THE MODERN WEST 95 Reincarnation in the Modern Western World--The Revival of Interest and Its Cause--Theosophical Society--Madame Blavatsky--The Western School of Yogi Philosophy: Its Fundamental Teachings--The Spiritists, and Their Doctrine--The Teachings of the "Elect Few" in Their Secret Societies--Is Earth a Hell?--Christian Reincarnationists and Their Beliefs. CHAPTER VII. BETWEEN AND BEYOND INCARNATIONS 117 How Long Between Incarnations?--Necessity for Mental and Spiritual Digestion and Assimilation--The Advanced Teachings--Earth-bound Souls--Advanced Souls and Their Rest Period--Where Does the Soul Dwell Between Incarnations?--What Happens at Death--The Great Astral World and Its Planes and Sub-planes--Where the Soul Goes After Death and What It Does There--Rebirth and Its Laws--What is the Final State of the Soul?--The Message of the Illumined.