“Faith alone, unaccompanied by “works”, is reduced to naught in the Bhagavad-Gita. As to the Atharva-Veda, it was and is preserved in such secrecy by the Brahmans, that it is a matter of doubt whether the Orientalists have a complete copy of it. One who has read what Abbe Dubois says may well doubt the fact. “Of the last species – the Artharva – there are very few”, he says, writing of the Vedas, “and many people suppose they no longer exist. But the truth is, they do exist, though they conceal themselves with more caution than the others, from the fear of being suspected to be initiated in the magic mysteries and other dreaded mysteries which the work is believed to teach.” There were even among the highest epoptae of the greater Mysteries who knew nothing of their last and dreaded rite, the voluntary transfer of life from hierophant to candidate.
In Ghost-Land, this mystical operation of the adept’s transfer of his spiritual entity, after the death of his body, into the youth he loves with all the ardent love of a spiritual parent, is superbly described. As in the case of the reincarnation of the lamas of Tibet, an adept of the highest order may live indefinitely. His mortal casket wears out notwithstanding certain alchemical secrets for prolonging the youthful vigor far beyond the usual limits, yet the body can rarely be kept alive beyond ten or twelve scores of years. The old garment is then worn out, and the spiritual Ego forced to leave it, selects for its habitation a new body, fresh and full of healthy vital principle.
In case the reader should feel inclined to ridicule this assertion of the possible prolongation of human life, we may as well refer him to the statistics of several countries. The author of an able article in the Westminster Review for October 1850, is responsible for the statement that in England, they have the authentic instances of one Thomas Jenkins dying at the age of 169, and “Old Parr” at 152; and that in Russia some of the peasants are “known to have reached 242 years.” There are also cases of centenarianism reported among the Peruvian Indians. We are aware that many able writers have recently discredited these claims to an extreme longevity, but we nevertheless affirm our belief in their truth. True or false, there are “superstitions” among the Eastern people such as have never been dreamed even by Edgar Poe or a Hoffmann. And these beliefs run in the very blood of the nations with which they originated. Carefully stripped of exaggeration they will be found to embody a universal belief in those restless, wandering, astral souls, which are called ghouls and vampires.
An Armenian Bishop of the fifth century, named Yeznik, gives a number of such narratives in a manuscript work (Book I., sections 20 and 30), preserved some thirty years ago in the library of the Monastery of Etchmeadzine. Among others, there is a tradition dating from the days of heathendom, that whenever a hero whose life is needed yet on earth falls on the battlefield, the Aralez, the popular gods of ancient Armenia, empowered to bring back to life those slaughtered in battle, lick the bleeding wounds of the victim, and breathe on them until they have imparted a new and vigorous life. After that, the warrior rises, washes off all traces of his wounds, and resumes his place in the fray. But his immortal spirit has fled; and for the remainder of his days, he lives – a deserted temple.
Once that an adept was initiated into the last and most solemn mystery of the life-transfer, the awful seventh rite of the great sacerdotal operation, which is the highest theurgy, he belonged no more to this world. His soul was free thereafter, and the seven mortal sins lying in wait to devour his heart, as the soul, liberated by death, would be crossing the seven halls and seven staircases, could hurt him no more alive or dead; he has passed the “twice seven trials” the twelve labors of the final hour. The High Hierophant alone knew how to perform this solemn operation by infusing his own vital life and astral soul into the adept, chosen by him for his successor, who thus became endowed with a double life.”
H. P. Blavatsky
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 