Theos-Talk Archives (June 2000 Message tt00084)

----- Original Message -----
From: Michele Lidofsky <officerjenny@mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: Theos-World - Christ in Nairobi.


>
>   I later read another HPB quote somewhere in the literature that the
> masses, as peasants on the hillside, mostly live happy, even good and
> decent lives, but because unexamined and unenlightened, these masses are
> mostly annihilated. (This quote I will have to research to supply the
> reference for; has anyone else ever seen it)?
>
>   Has anybody  ever heard of this idea as a basic theosophical
> postulate?  As a CONTROVERSIAL theosophical postulate, even?  Or is this
> just the accepted wisdom?  The members of our group of ten or twelve in
> our TS lodge couldn't agree. (So what else is new...)
>
>   I'd appreciate any input on this question, and thanks in advance!


Dear Michele,

In my paper on K I used the following quotes from HPB to make the point "that
certain doctrines in exoteric Vedantism--which are very similar to Krishnamurti'
s teachings--might have the effect of disconnecting the soul or the personal
self from its higher source, the higher self.(7)  This in turn might cause the
'second death' of the soul, which is like an implosion of consciousness into
nothingness (8) as opposed to the 'second birth' of the soul when she expands
into divinity by first uniting with the higher self and ultimately with the
divine self."

7. Blavatsky wrote:

"In order not to confuse the mind of the western student with the abstruse
difficulties of Indian metaphysics, let him view the lower manas, or mind, as
the personal ego [personal self] during the waking state, and as Antahkarana
only during those moments when it aspires towards its higher Ego [higher self],
and thus becomes the medium of communication between the two. It is for this
reason called the 'Path.'... Seeing that the faculty and function of Antahkarana
is as necessary as the medium of the ear for hearing, or that of the eye for
seeing; then so long as the feeling of ahamkāra, that is, of the personal "I" or
selfishness [the synthetic self], is not entirely crushed out in man, and the
lower mind not entirely merged into and become one with the higher Buddhi-Manas
[higher self], it stands to reason that to destroy Atahkarana is like destroying
a bridge over an impassable chasm; The traveler can never reach the goal on the
other shore. And there lies the difference between the exoteric and the esoteric
teaching. The former makes the Vedānta state that so long as mind (the lower)
clings through Antahkarana to Spirit (Buddha-Manas) [higher self] it is
impossible for it to acquire true Spiritual Wisdom, Jnyāna, and that this can
only be attained by seeking to come en rapport with the Universal Soul (Atmā)
[the divine self]; that, in fact, it is by ignoring the higher Mind [higher
self] altogether that one reaches Rāja Yoga. We say it is not so. No single rung
of the ladder leading to knowledge can be skipped. No personality can ever reach
or bring itself into communication with Atmā, except through Buddhi-Manas; to
try to become a Jivanmukta or a Mahātmā, before one has become an adept or even
a Naljor (a sinless man) is like trying to reach to Ceylon from India without
crossing the sea. Therefore we are told that if we destroy Antahkarana before
the personal [personal self] is absolutely under the control of the impersonal
Ego [the higher self], we risk to lose the latter and be severed for ever from
it, unless indeed we hasten to re-establish the communication by a supreme and
final effort. It is only when we are indissolubly linked with the essence of the
divine Mind [higher self] that we have to destroy Antahkarana."

H.P.Blavatsky, The Esoteric Writings, pp. 413-414.

Krishnamurti's teaching neatly corresponds to the exoteric position as presented
here by Blavatsky, for he proposes to access directly the impersonal universal
creative intelligence (Atma) by tossing out aspiration (Antahkarana) and denying
the existence of the higher self (Buddhi-Manas).

8. "Be it far from me the suspicion that any of the esoteric students have
reached to any considerable point down the plane of spiritual descent. All the
same I warn you to avoid taking the first step. You may not reach the bottom in
this life or the next, but you may now generate causes which will insure you
spiritual destruction in your third, fourth, fifth, or even some subsequent
birth... Finally, keep ever in mind the consciousness that though you see no
Master by your bedside, nor hear one audible whisper in the silence of the still
night, yet the Holy Power is about you, the Holy Light is shining into your hour
of spiritual need and aspirations, and it will be no fault of the MASTERS, or of
their humble mouthpiece and servant, if through perversity or moral feebleness
some of you cut yourselves off from these higher potencies, and step upon the
declivity that leads to Avitchi [state of soulless-ness]."

H.P.Blavatsky, The Esoteric Writings, p. 418.



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