r Adepts are human beings who have passed from lower to
higher planes of consciousness, thus gaining wisdom, power and
qualities that seem almost miraculous to the man of the ordinary
consciousness. A Hindu writer speaking of them has said: "To him who
hath traveled far along The Path, sorrow ceases to trouble; fetters
cease to bind; obstacles cease to hinder. Such an one is free. For him
there is no more fever or sorrow. For him there are no more unconscious
re-births. His old Karma is exhausted, and he creates no new Karma. His
heart is freed from the desire for future life. No new longings arise
within his soul. He is like a lamp which burneth from the oil of the
Spirit, and not from the oil of the outer world." Lillie in his work on
Buddhism, tells his readers: "Six supernatural faculties were expected
of the ascetic before he could claim the grade of _Arhat_. They are
constantly alluded to in the _Sutras_ as the six supernatural
faculties, usually without further specification.... In this transitory
body the intelligence of Man is enchained. The ascetic finding himself
thus confused, directs his mind to the creation of _Manas_. He
represents to himself, in thought, another body created from this
material body,--a body with a form, members and organs. This body in
relation to the material body is like a sword and the scabbard, or a
serpent issuing from a basket in which it is confined. The ascetic
then, purified and perfected, begins to practice supernatural
faculties. He finds himself able to pass through material obstacles,
walls, ramparts, etc.; he is able to throw his phantasmal appearance
into many places at once. He acquires the power of hearing the sounds
of the unseen world as distinctly as those of the phenomenal
world--more distinctly in point of fact. Also by the power of _Manas_
he is able to read the most secret thoughts of others, and to tell
their characters."

These great Masters are above all petty sectarian distinctions. They
may have ascended to their exalted position along the paths of the many
religions, or they may have walked the path of no-denomination, sect,
or body. They may have mounted to their heights by philosophical
reasoning alone, or else by scientific investigation. They are called
by many names, according to the viewpoint of the speaker, but at the
last they are of but one religion; one philosophy; one belief--TRUTH.

The state of Adeptship is reached only after a long and arduous