n_--the
sense of oneness with all that is, that has ever been and that can ever
be--the sense that shall _enlarge the horizon of your being_, to the limits
of the universe; to the boundaries of time and space; that shall lift you
up into a new plane far beyond, outside all mean and miserable care for
self. Why stand shrinking there? Give up the fool's paradise of 'This is
I'; 'This is mine.' It is the great reality you are asked to grasp. Leap
forward without fear. You shall find yourself in the ambrosial waters of
Nirvana and sport with the Arhats who have conquered birth and death."

This admonition to give up the struggle and strife for separateness is
interpreted by many to declare for annihilation of consciousness of
identity, but we contend that _union_ is in no wise akin to annihilation,
and since this assurance of union is further described as an enlargement of
the horizon of _your being_, it is evident that your being can not be
enlarged by becoming annihilated, or even _absorbed into_ The Absolute, as
in that event it would cease to be _your being_. Moreover, you are told
that you will "sport with the Arhats who have conquered birth and death."
Arhats are alluded to in the plural, and not as One Being.

To be sure there may be a final state of absorption of consciousness far
beyond this state of being which is described as Nirvana.

Theosophy lays much stress upon the assumption that the attainment of
godhood is possible to every human soul, but that this godhood must
inevitably have an ultimate conclusion. That is, there is a _place_ or
heaven, which is called the Devachanic plane, and this plane, or place,
is inhabited by "gods," for a definite period, approximating thousands of
years, but that the final conclusion must be, absorption of identity into
the universal reservoir of mind, or consciousness. But we may readily see
that beyond the Devachanic plane, we may not penetrate with the limited
consciousness which takes cognizance of external conditions. Any attempt,
therefore, at a description of what occurs to the individual consciousness
beyond the areas of Devachan, must be futile.

The argument that most logically postulates the assumption that all
identity, or differentiation of consciousness, becomes absorbed into The
Absolute, is based upon the fact that we remember nothing of previous
states of consciousness. That is, the devious pathway by which the
advanced and progressive individual has reached