The Wheel of Samsara is machinery through which the soul that comes down to material reality in order to learn, grow, develop, and to achieve a higher purpose.

In his book “My Return to Tibet”, Samael Aun Weor states the following:

“At the daybreak of the new Cosmic Day, after the profound Night, the Son, the Triad, Horus (the divine Spirit within each one of us), emanates the Essence, His mystic principles, from Himself into the Wheel of Samsara, with the purpose of acquiring a Diamond Soul…

“Ah! How great the joy of Horus is when acquiring a Diamond Soul! Then, He is absorbed within His Divine Mother, and She is also fused with the Father, who together form a unique Diamond Flame, a God of resplendent, interior beauty…

It is said that when our Being divides itself into various parts, its smallest part (the essence or consciousness) eventually reaches to material reality in order to experience duality in its intense form and through it starts with the inner work towards self-realization, to acquire what in esoteric terminology is called “Diamond Soul”.

When the essence descends down to the three dimensional world, it becomes ‘trapped’ in the Wheel of Samsara and its governing laws. One of such laws is the law of evolution and involution. The essence evolves through different kingdoms of nature, starting from the mineral kingdom, then goes through plant and animal kingdoms, until after a long journey it reaches to human kingdom. In the latter it is given 108 lives, during which time it learns through the law of cause and effect (karma). The latter law makes her experience the consequences of her actions, regardless if they are good or bad, and on the unconscious level of her psyche, the essence understands why it experiences these rewards and punishments.

Another important law in play here is the law of recurrence. Through this law the essence (conditioned by the egos), when returns to a new human existences, seeks to repeat the same things that it did in her past lives. So for example, someone who in one of their past lives was a victim of violence by an invading nation, in the next existences he might be drawn to that invading country, in order to repeat the same sensations, but on a different scale. This law relates to the program of nature (the subconscious mind) that governs each person. Through excessive experiences of such kind, the essence might feel the long repetition of this recurrence, understanding that the time has come to cut the egoic cords of attachment between her and other people in question.

And so the essence grows and learns during this 108 lives that it has been given for the purpose of growth and ultimately the self-realization of the Being, which is achieved by treading the path to Liberation. If the essence does not liberate herself of the Wheel of Samsara during the 108 lives that it has been given, then the involutive law takes hold of her and she starts going downwards through the kingdoms (in reverse order then when she evolved), going down to animal kingdom, then plant kingdom, mineral kingdom, to finally enter the infernal dimension located inside the planet to which she is bound. These infernal dimensions are also known as hells in various religions. In them she goes through intense purging process as her egos are slowly eliminated by Nature. Upon completion of this process, the essence went through one cycle of the Wheel of Samsara (one cycle of the law of evolution and evolution is completed).

After a long time in infra dimensions the essence starts a new cycle as a pure elemental essence, living as an elemental of nature on her journey once again through mineral, plant and animal kingdoms, until once again she is transformed into a human being and given again 108 lives.

In total the essence is given three thousand cycles inside the Wheel of Samsara during which time it may reach liberation and become free of the bounds of materiality.

The highest point of evolution that nature brings the essence to is the human state. In order for the essence to liberate itself from the law of evolution and involution, and therefore from the Samsara, it needs to make ‘a step’ from the human state to angelic state. This is described as the inner revolution, or the revolution of consciousness, and it is possible to achieve by doing the Inner work.

Conclusion

Described above are some of the basic laws that govern us in the physical dimension during physical incarnations, but also in the afterlife in the 5th dimension, according to the universal esoteric teachings. It’s possible to gain a direct experience of it through meditation, by traveling in the astral world, and by developing inner perceptions.  For further reading I suggest Hell, Devil, Karma by Samael Aun Weor, and chapters 39 and 40 of the book The Mystery of the Golden Blossom, by the same author. You can download both of these books from the book section of this site.

I will finish this post with a 13th century poem by Mevlana Rumi that poetically touches upon this subject.

The Progress of Man

First he appeared in the realm inanimate;
thence came into the world of plants and lived
the plant-life many a year, nor called to mind
what he had been; then took the onward way
to animal existence, and once more
remembers naught of what life vegetive,
save when he feels himself moved with desire
towards it in the season of sweet flowers,
as babes that seek the breast and know not why.

Again the wise Creator whom thou knowest
uplifted him from animality
to Man’s estate; and so from realm to realm
advancing, he became intelligent,
cunning and keen of wit, as he is now.

No memory of his past abides with him,
and from his present soul he shall be changes.
Though he is fallen asleep, God will not leave him
in this forgetfulness. Awakened, he will laugh
to think what troublous dreams he had,
and wonder how his happy state of being
he could forget, and not perceive that all
those pains and sorrows were the effect of sleep
and guile and vain illusion.

So this world seems lasting,
though ’tis but the sleepers’ dream;
who, when the appointed Day shall dawn, escapes
from dark imaginings that haunted him,
and turns with laughter on his phantom griefs
when he beholds his everlasting home.

HDP