Theos-Talk Archives (July 2000 Message tt00014)

Hi Andrew,

Thanks again for your thoughts, what you say makes a lot of sense.

>> Peter: In either process the Mind, as such, is not destroyed but
withdrawn and
> >MERGED into the higher.
>
> Andrew:  There are many similarities between Turya and Devachanic state as
also a
> major different one.

Yes indeed, and you were right to point out my mistake in calling "dreamless
sleep" the Turya State.  I was too keen to make the comparison between what
happens to lower manas prior to Devachan (a 'spiritual dream like state')
and samadhi.  My overall intention was to suggest that the lower Manas is
not destroyed PRIOR to Samadhi but is 'withdrawn' into the higher (as your
passage from HPB stated quite clearly).  This 'withdrawal' happens
automatically and unconsciously after death which results in Devachan.
While this is a 'spiritual' state of sorts, it is far inferior to that state
of samadhi achieved by the Initiate who consciously withdraws the 'lower
Manas' into the higher triad.

The analogy that comes to mind for me, and you may have mentioned something
similar from HPB in your earlier post, is that on entering the castle of the
Self, the drawbridge (the Antakharana) has to be raised AFTER entrance, not
before.  You put it very well when you write:

> The lower Manas, being withdrawn in Turya, ceases to be itself.

The Paul Brunton passage was very good.  I'm glad he wrote it down.  That
part of his book when he finds Ramana Maharshi and spends time with him is
most inspiring, at least to me.  Of all the relatively recent Indian sages,
Ramana Maharshi is the one that has touched me the most.

regards

Peter


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