Q. Did man originate in the same basic form he has today?
A. Yes. The known history of man reveals that there is no difference in the construction of human form ever since human life commenced on this earth planet.
Q. In 'Man know Thyself!', did you mean we must know ourselves in just this life, or all our past lives?
A. Know thyself is the most ancient aphorism. We have its equivalents in the greek and latin phrases gnothi seauton and nosce te ipsum, and all that these words connote is the actually realized experience within of the life impulse apart from mere theoretical knowledge, whereby we live and all other creatures live and the whole universe in being sustained; for it is by knowing this that all else becomes known and nothing else remains to be known. Self-realization is a stepping stone to God-realization. He who has found himself, can never again lose anything in this world.
Q. Is the nature and extent of our spiritual growth or advancement beyond the tenth door determined by our past lives?
A. Yes – in a way it is determined. A man is in the making. One who has passed primary class will get admission in the next higher grade. One who has just been put on the way will take his or her own time. However, there is no hard and fast rule about it. The one who has been put on the way progresses more by regular devotion of time to meditations with full faith than one with a different background who is not regular in his meditations.