Last Judgment

The Last Judgment (or Judgment Day) is a concept present in the Abrahamic religions. In Christian theology, it is the final and eternal judgment by God of every nation. In Islam the "Day of Resurrection" or "Day of Judgment" is a sequence of events that includes the annihilation of all creatures, resurrection of the body, and the judgment of all sentient creatures. In Judaism, the day of judgment happens every year on Rosh Hashanah (a day which is also known as Yom HaDin, Judgment Day), therefore the belief in a last day of judgment for all mankind is disputed. Some Rabbis hold that there will be such a day following the resurrection of the dead. Others hold that there is no need for that because of Rosh Hashanah. While yet others hold that this accounting and judgment happens when one dies.

Theosophical view

In the Theosophical view, this concept has been used in different ways. For example, Mme. Blavatsky relates it to the end of the manvantaric evolution:

The day of "Be-With-Us" is this period of rest or Paranirvana. . . . It corresponds to the Day of the Last Judgment of the Christians, which has been sorely materialised by their religion.

In one of his letters, Master K.H. uses the phrase in connection to the "Death struggle" that happens after death:

The hour of the last Judgment, which is that hour of the supreme struggle between the sixth and seventh, and the fifth and fourth at the threshold of the gestation state.

In another letter, Master M. seems to be referring to some kind of "judgment day" when he writes:

On their fifth round . . . they will be held responsible henceforth in their descents from sphere to sphere, as they will have to appear on this earth as a still more perfect and intellectual race. This downward course has not yet begun but will soon. Only how many—oh, how many will be destroyed on their way!

According to C. W. Leadbeater

C. W. Leadbeater referred to an event that is supposed to take place half-way through the fifth round which he identified with the concept of "last judgment". He explains:

It will not be the whole of humanity that will succeed in this lofty [evolutionary] aim, but only a certain part of it. We are told that in the middle of the next round a separation will occur between those souls who are strong enough to undertake the higher stages of evolution and those who are not.

This separation has been prefigured by the many legends of a "last judgment" at which the future destiny of the souls for this aeon would be decided. The diseased imagination of the mediaeval monk, always seeking an opportunity to introduce grotesquely exaggerated horrors into his creed in order to terrify an incredibly ignorant peasantry into more liberal donations for the support of Mother-Church, distorted into “eternal damnation” the perfectly simple idea of aeonian suspension.

Those who are left behind at this period have sometimes been described as “the failures of the fifth round,” though perhaps even this is somewhat too harsh a term. There may well be some among them who by greater exertion might have qualified themselves to pass onward, and these are rightly spoken of as failures; but the majority will be left behind simply because they are too young to go on, and so not strong enough for the more difficult work.

It is calculated that the proportion who will be prepared to go on will amount to about three-fifths of the total population of the earth (not merely of the physical population, it will be understood, but of the total number of egos who constitute the human life-wave evolving through this chain) while the remaining two-fifths will be left behind.