Theos-Talk Archives (September 2000 Message tt00009)

Aug 7th 2000

        Re Jerry S comments.  Here are some further observations
ON MEDITATION

Dallas offers:

As I understand it:  [ And, the KEY TO THEOSOPHY explains this at
length. ]

1.      MANAS is a universal principle and appertains to the
INDIVIDUALITY.  It is the basis for permanency in every
"personal" incarnation as it serves as "vehicle" for ATMA-BUDDHI.
It also serves as the link between ATMA-BUDDHI and the
Consciousness that acts ion and through the "Personality."

2.      When Manas is enveloped in the selfish desires and
ambitions of KAMA, then it assumes the character and being of
LOWER-MANAS  (or Kama-Manas -- and is limited to the personality
of that particular incarnation.  The "skandhas" involved may be
carried over by personal Karma to succeeding incarnations.)

3.      For us at our present level of human evolution the
"waking state" is the one in which we learn to control our
"Personal Mind (Kama-Manas) by a recognition of the illusions
that Kama impose on that aspect of embodied Manas which is our
basis for present identity and Consciousness.  The "Lower-Self"
becomes aware of and can learn to "see" the Higher-Self.  This
has to be done by control (will) imposed voluntarily and with
increasing accuracy in the "waking state."  If we are asleep or
unconscious on this plane, how could we direct any changes with
accuracy on another we have no contact or control over ?  If we
try to direct our "dreams," do we not try to set parameters while
w are "awake?"

4.      It is perfectly true that any deeper study of the
processes of mediation and the power to move from state to state
is not fully covered in my brief article.  This is because a
thorough study would require a book.  In fact, if we study the
hints given in Theosophical literature on the subject of
meditation, these are to be found, and can be assembled by the
student.

5.      The Key to grasping at this lies, I would say, in an
apprehension of the ONE SELF (ATMAN) resident at all times in the
various vehicles that it uses.  The 7-fold nature of our Universe
and of Mankind is one of the keys to this.  Next, to study the
"Powers of the Mind."

Best wishes,


D. T. B.


==============================================


-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald Schueler [mailto:gschueler@earthlink.net]
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2000 9:05 AM
To: Theosophy Study List
Subject: Response to Dallas on Meditation


My good friend, Dallas, wrote a nice article on meditation which
was
published in the latest Theos World. In that article, he wrote,
"Meditation
is serious and concentrated thought" and he goes to some length
to quote the
Theosophical founders as to exactly what meditation is and why we
do it. He
writes,

"It is a quiet and unobtrusive mind exercise. It is something
that requires
that we be fully awake and totally concentrated in the waking
state. There
is no "blanking of the mind." ... It is not
passivity, but a time of most active mental effort."

As a Theosophist and a practitioner of meditation for some years,
I would
like to offer an opposing view to some of Dallas' ideas,
especially those
quoted above. Obviously some forms of yogic meditation are
exactly as Dallas
describes - mental exercises and psychic gymnastics. This is not,
however,
what meditation is supposed to be all about - especially yogic
meditation in
the Patanjali sense.

He also writes,

"Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by W. Q. Judge, is most
valuable in a study of the nature and procedures of meditation,
especially the first three books. It gives a clue as to what
true meditation is. It is the attempt of the embodied mind (the
Lower Manas) to reach up to and understand the work of the Higher
Manas within. And from there the lower Manas participates in the
work of the HIGHER SELF."

And he points out (rightly) that the goal of meditation is to
become aware
of atma-buddhi, rather than our normal atma-buddhi-manas. To me,
this
suggests a possible conflict and perhaps some confusion on
Dallas' part. We
will never eliminate manas, the human mind, and reach the
spirituality of

atma-buddhi by using mental exercises. Thought is to be
transcended, not
used. As long as we are still thinking, using logic and reason,
we are still
within manas, and our goal remains outside our grasp. "Serious
and
concentrated thought" is a good mental exercise, but does nothing
at all to
help us understand atma-buddhi.

Dallas' use of the "waking state" is also misleading. Technically
we are
only in the waking state when our consciousness is focused on the
physical
plane via our physical body. Only Adepts can function in
atma-buddhi while
in the normal everyday waking state. This is one of the ultimate
goals of
meditation, but not something that any of us can do (probably).
It is
generally known as a post-meditation exercise because true
meditation is
when our thinking stops, manas is temporarily suspended, and our
consciousness is fully focused in atma-buddhi which is to say on
a spiritual
plane.

Consciousness can focus on any of the seven planes of our solar
system. When
it focuses on the physical plane, the lowest, we are said to be
in the
waking state. When focused on the astral plane, we are said to be
in the
dream state, and when focused on the mental plane we are said to
be in the
sleep state, and when focused on the causal plane we are said to
be in the
"fourth" state (turiya). Please note that I am speaking here in
gross
generalities, but the idea is that we humans normally can only
focus our
consciousness on the lower four planes.

Meditation, if it is anything at all, is a technique that we use
to allow us
to focus our consciousness on any of the three higher cosmic
planes. These
three planes are formless, spiritual, and transcend mentation. No
mental
exercises whatsoever will allow us to focus our consciousness on
the higher
three planes - only stopping thoughts will do this. Why? Because
these
planes transcend the human mind, manas, completely. They are
transpersonal
states, the lowest of which is generally called samadhi. We have
no thoughts
when we enter samadhi, concentrated or otherwise.

Dallas speaks, like many folks, of the possibility of "blanking
of the
mind." It is, to put it in plain terms, completely impossible to
blank the
mind of any content. We are always conscious of something, albeit
formless
content is often interpreted as a "blank." In yogic meditation,
when done
properly, we remain fully aware, even in a formless state.

My objection to Dallas' article is primarily his use of the
general term
"meditation." For what I would call lower meditational exercises,
aimed at
beginners, his article is quite good. But I feel that the real
goal,
transcendence of manas altogether, is missed in his article, and
thus tends
to make his entire article misleading.

I welcome thoughts on this. I think that meditation is a good
topic for
Theosophical discussion.

Jerry S.




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