Theos-Talk Archives (February 2002 Message tt00005)

Part II	ADEPTS, - MASTERS - MAHATMAS == THEIR WORK


Saturday, February 02, 2002


Dear Friends:

Some mention of the Masters of Wisdom and their influence on the
world came up this week. I seemed to me interesting to look into
what was said by the original writers on Theosophical subjects.

Here are some of their views Divided into Part I and Part II

Best wishes,


Dallas


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



PART II



MONAD and the PERSONAL MAN


"At the birth of the future man, the monad, radiating with all
the glory of its immortal parent which watches it from the 7th
sphere, becomes senseless. It loses all recollection of the
past, and returns to consciousness but gradually, when the
instinct of childhood gives place to reason and intelligence.
After the separation between the life-principle (astral spirit)
and the body takes place, the liberated soul--Monad, exultingly
rejoins the mother and father spirit, the radiant Augoeides, and
the 2 merged into ONE, forever form, with a glory proportioned to
the spiritual purity of the past earth-life, the Adam who has
completed the circle of necessity, and is freed from the last
vestige of his physical encasement. Henceforth, growing more and
more radiant at each step of his upward progress, he mounts the
shining path that ends at the point which he started around the
GRAND CYCLE."	ISIS I 303



WORK OF A GREAT REFORMER: BUDDHA GAUTAMA SIDDARTHA


BUDDHA SIDDHARTHA (Sk.)	The name given to Gautama, the Prince of
Kapilavastu, at his birth...he would not have been a mortal man,
had he not passed through hundreds and thousands of births
previous to his last...through every stage of transmigration from
the lowest animate and inanimate atom and insect, up to the
highest--man, ...the hidden symbolism in the sequence of these
re-births (jataka) contains simply [that] every human being who
has ever existed has passed through the same evolution...as soon
as Gautama had reached the human form he began exhibiting in
every personality the utmost unselfishness, self-sacrifice and
charity...the 4th of the Sapta (7) Buddhas and Sapta
Tathagatas...(67) Esoteric teachings claim that he renounced
Nirvana and gave up the Dharmakaya vesture to remain a "Buddha of
compassion" within the reach of the miseries of this world. And
the religious philosophy he left to it has produced for over
2,000 years generations of good and unselfish men. His is the
only absolutely bloodless religion among all existing
religions...[if the] simple, humane and philosophical code of
daily life left to us by the greatest Man-Reformer ever known,
should ever come to be adopted by mankind at large, then indeed
an era of bliss and peace would dawn on Humanity."	GLOS 65-67



MASTERS and ADEPTS ARE EVERYWHERE: --
RECORDERS OF PROGRESS


"There are scattered throughout the world, a handful of
thoughtful and solitary students, who pass their lives in
obscurity, far from the rumors of the world, studying the great
problems of the physical and spiritual universes. They have
their secret records in which are preserved the fruits of the
scholastic labors of the long line of recluses whose successors
they are. The knowledge of their early ancestors, the sages of
India, Babylon, Nineveh, and the imperial Thebes; the legends
and traditions commented upon by the masters of Solon,
Pythagoras, and Plato, in the (558) marble halls of Heliopolis
and Sais; traditions which in their days, already seemed to
hardly glimmer from behind the foggy curtain of the past;--all
this, and much more, is recorded on indestructible parchment, and
passed with jealous care from one adept to another. These men
believe the story of Atlantis to be no fable...In those submerged
temples and libraries the archaeologist would find, could he but
explore them, the materials for filling the gaps that now exist
in what we imagine is history." ISIS I 557-558	(see LIGHT ON
THE PATH, p. 72-5)



INSPIRATION FROM THE NIRMANAKAYAS

"Most of us believe in the survival of the Spiritual Ego, in
Planetary Spirits and Nirmanakayas, those great Adepts of the
past ages, who, renouncing their right to Nirvana, remain in our
spheres of being, not as "spirits" but as complete spiritual
human Beings. Save their corporeal, visible envelope, which they
leave behind, they remain as they were, in order to help poor
humanity, as far as can be done without sinning against Karmic
law. This is the "Great Renunciation," indeed; an incessant,
conscious self-sacrifice throughout aeons and ages till that day
when the eyes of blind mankind will open and, instead of the few,
all will see the universal truth. These Beings may well be
regarded as God and Gods--if they would but allow the fire in our
hearts, at the thought of that purest of all sacrifices, to be
fanned into the flame of adoration, or the smallest altar in
their honor. But they will not. Verily, "the secret heart is
fair Devotion's (only) temple," and any other in this case, would
be no better than profane ostentation."	HPB ART. III 204


"Remember, thou that fightest for man's liberation * each failure
is success and each sincere attempt wins its reward in time." *
This is an allusion to a well-known belief in the East...that
every additional Buddha or Saint is a new soldier in the army of
those who work for the liberation, or salvation of mankind. In
Northern Buddhist countries, where the doctrine of the
Nirmanakayas--those Bodhisattvas who renounce well-earned Nirvana
or the Dharmakaya vesture (both of which shut them out forever
from the world of men) in order to invisibly assist mankind and
lead it finally to Paranirvana--is taught, every new Bodhisattva,
or initiated great Adept, is called the "liberator of mankind."
VOICE OF THE SILENCE 69



COMPASSION -- SELF-SACRIFICE

"This same popular reverence calls "Buddhas of Compassion" those
Bodhisattvas who, having reached the rank of an Arhat (i.e., have
completed the fourth or seventh Path), refuse to pass into the
Nirvanic state or "don the Dharmakaya robe and cross to the other
shore," as it would then become beyond their power to assist men
even so little as Karma permits. They prefer to remain invisibly
(in Spirit, so to speak) in the world, and contribute towards
man's salvation by influencing them to follow the Good Law, i.e.,
lead them on the Path of Righteousness..."
VOICE OF THE SILENCE 77




WISDOM RELIGION PRESERVED SINCE ANTIQUITY --
ADEPTS WORK WITH HUMANITY

"This ancient body of doctrine is known as the "Wisdom Religion"
and was always taught by adepts or initiates therein who preserve
it through all time. Hence, and from other doctrines
demonstrated, it is shown that man, being spirit and immortal, is
able to perpetuate his real life and consciousness, and has done
so during all time in the persons of an ancient and high
brotherhood who concern themselves with the soul development of
man, held by them to include every process of evolution on all
planes. The initiates, being bound by the law of evolution, must
work with humanity as its development permits. Therefore from
time to time they give out again and again the same
doctrine...this is the wisdom religion, and they are the keepers
of it."	WQJ ARTICLES I pp. 1 - 2



SAVIORS OF NATIONS AND OF MEN --
TEACHERS OF TRUTH -- ALIVE NOW


"At times they come to nations as great teachers and "saviors,"
who only repromulgate the old truths and systems of ethics. This
therefore holds that humanity is capable of infinite perfection
both in time and quality, the saviors and adepts being held up as
examples of that possibility. From this living and presently
acting body of perfected men H.P.Blavatsky declared she received
the impulse to once more bring forward the old ideas, and from
them also received several keys to ancient and modern doctrines.
Added...to the testimony through all time found in the records of
all nations we have this modern explicit assertion that the
ancient learned and humanitarian body of adepts still exists on
this earth and takes an interest in the development of the race."
WQJ ARTICLES I PP. 1-2


"NIRMANAKAYA...is that ethereal form which one would assume when
leaving his physical he would appear in his astral body--having
in addition all the knowledge of an Adept. The Bodhisattva
develops it in himself as he proceeds on the Path. Having
reached the goal and refused its fruition, he remains on Earth,
as an (78) Adept; and when he dies, instead of going into
Nirvana, he remains in that glorious body he has woven for
himself, invisible to uninitiated mankind, to watch over and
protect it...Thus, to be enabled to help humanity, an Arhat who
has won the right to Nirvana, "renounces the Dharmakaya body" in
mystic parlance; keeps, of the Sambhogakaya, only the great and
complete knowledge, and remains in his Nirmanakaya body. The
Esoteric School teaches that Gautama Buddha, with several of his
Arhats, is such a Nirmanakaya higher than whom, on account of the
great renunciation and sacrifice for mankind, there is none
known." Voice 77-8


CYCLES FOR THE APPEARANCE OF SAGES


"...there never was yet a great World-reformer, whose name has
passed into our generation, who (a) was not a direct emanation of
the LOGOS (under whatever name known to us), i.e., an essential
incarnation of one of "the seven," of the "divine Spirit who is
sevenfold;" and (b) who had not appeared before, during the (359)
past Cycles. They will recognize, then, the cause which produces
in history and chronology certain riddles of the ages; the
reason why, for instance, it is impossible for them to assign any
reliable date to Zoroaster, who is found multiplied by 12 and 14
in the Dabistan; why the Rishis and Manus are so mixed up in
their numbers and individualities; why Krishna and Buddha speak
of themselves as re-incarnations, i.e., Krishna is identified
with the Rishi Narayana, and Gautama gives a series of his
previous births; and why the former, especially, being "the very
supreme Brahma," is yet called Amsamsavatra--"a part of the part"
only of the Supreme on Earth...The esoteric doctrine explains it
by saying that each of these (as many others) had first appeared
on earth as one of the 7 powers of the LOGOS, individualized as a
God or "Angel" (messenger); then, mixed with matter, they had
re-appeared in turn as great sages and instructors who "taught
the 5th Race," after having instructed the two preceding races,
had ruled during the Divine Dynasties, and had finally sacrificed
themselves, to be reborn under various circumstances for the good
of mankind, and for its salvation at certain critical periods;
until in their last incarnations they had become truly only "the
parts of a part" on earth, though de facto the One Supreme in
Nature."	SD II 358-9



CYCLES FOR THE APPEARANCE OF "SAVIORS"

"It is interesting to turn to the "Esoteric Character of the
Gospels" [ HPB ARTICLES III 169 fn ], by HPB. Theosophists--at
any rate some of them--who understand the hidden meaning of the
universally expected Avatars, Messiahs, and Sosioshes and
Christs--know that it is no end of the world, but the
consummation of the age--that is, the close of the cycle--that is
fast approaching." [This was written November and December,
1887, and January, 1888.] She said, "There are several
remarkable cycles that come to a close at the end of this century
[nineteenth]. First, the 5,000 years of the Kali-Yuga cycle;
again, the Messianic cycle of the Samaritan (also Kabalistic)
Jews, of the Man connected with Pices. It is a cycle historic
and not very long, but very occult, lasting about 2155 years, but
having a true significance only when computed by lunar months.
It occurred 2410 and 255 B.C. or when the equinox entered into
the sign of the Ram, and again into that of Pices. When it
enters in a few years, the sign of Aquarius, psychologists will
have some extra work to do, and the psychic idiosyncrasies of man
will enter on a great change." [ HPB Art III 169 fn ]


This "great change" I think can be stated in three words:
Susceptibility to suggestion, good, bad or indifferent. Look
about you and see if it is not so. Are the "Messiahs" of today
using suggestion? ... Jesus said, "Take heed lest no man lead you
astray, for many shall come in my name, saying, 'I am the
Christ,' and shall lead many astray...If any man shall say unto
you, 'Behold, he is in the wilderness,' go not forth; 'behold he
is in the inner chambers,' believe them not. For as the
lightning (light) cometh from the East, and is seen even in the
West, so shall be the presence of the Son of Man." The esoteric
savior in no man, but is the divine principle in every human
being. What is needed is a knowledge of the Path that leads to
Him or It. Few know the Messenger when He comes, but it is
possible for many to know a true Message by putting it to every
conceivable test. The "Messiah" has come and gone; but (152) He
has left the "Comforter"--His Message. He will return, but not
for several generations of men. it is possible for men to get at
the truth of these things if they will take the trouble to make
the search in all sincerity."	RC -- F P 151-2


"I produce myself among creatures" has reference to voluntary and
conscious incarnation of high spiritual beings--avatars, saviors
of the people --including not only the incarnation itself but the
influence of a spiritual kind that attends the being...The Gita
says that They come "whenever there is an insurrection of vice
and injustice in the world." There is an analogy between this
and what was hinted about earthquakes by WQJ, who wrote at the
time of an earthquake that some soul of use had been born...There
is reason to think that the mission of Jesus was a minor one,
being in a falling cycle, and that it was not so much to disclose
as to cover up the avenues to occult knowledge, so that the
following times of the decadence of spirituality should (202) not
have dangerous weapons left for selfish, unprincipled and
ignorant people to use; hence he accentuated ethics. This does
not mean that the being known as Jesus was inferior to the one
known as Buddha. They might have been one and the same being, in
reality. The statement is that the "missions" or efforts were of
a different nature because of the different cycles and
peoples...We cannot judge of the nature of any of these great
incarnations, to the extent of saying that one is superior to the
other...Allied to our period, if we consider that the quality of
the cycle varies in importance, and, consequently, in the degree
of the being needed at any time, we find the conjunction of the
cycles above spoken of points to a most important period, and
consequently, to important "beings"--which may give us a clue to
what the Messengers HPB and WQJ really were. Other periods of
less importance bring incarnations of probationary chelas who are
on their trial." RC -- FP p. 201-2



NIRMANAKAYAS WORK -- THEIR RELATIONS WITH US

"Nirmanakayas. They are men who have become perfected--who could
if they chose reach up to and hold the very highest state of
bliss, but who refuse that bliss because it would mean forever to
forsake all chance of helping their fellow-men. They can, when
the nature of the person is true and aspiring strongly,
communicate, if it is necessary to help him. But there is no
mistake in these communications. They are personal, meant for
that one as direct help. It is the within which induces any
outside help that we receive. It is a recognition of the
spiritual nature of ourselves and all beings which makes the true
condition. It is from the spiritual that the strength comes.
And it is for the perfection of humanity that all the Divine
Incarnations have labored."	RC -- FP p. 258



"PERFECTED" SOULS -- STAND AS EXAMPLES: - WE CAN EMULATE

"No one can know anything for another. Each one has to know for
himself. Each one has to do his own learning. The object of
Theosophy is to teach man what he is, to show man what he is, and
to present to him the necessity of his knowing for himself. No
vicarious atonement, no vicarious transmission of knowledge, is
possible. But the direction in which knowledge lies can be
pointed out; the steps which will lead us in that direction may
be shown, as can be done only by those who have passed that way
before...It is the doctrine of Krishna, of Buddha, of Jesus, no
less than the doctrine of H.P.B... The very fact of suffering is
a blessing. Karma and Reincarnation show us that suffering is
brought about by wrong thought and action; through our
sufferings we may be brought to a realization that a wrong course
has been pursued. We learn through our sufferings.

Life is one grand school of Being, and we have come to that stage
where it is right for us to learn to understand the purpose of
existence; to grasp our whole nature firmly; to use every means
in our power in every direction...to bring the whole of our
nature into accord, so that our lower instrument may be "in line"
and thus more and more fully reflect our divine natures."	RC --
FP p. 263


SAVIORS MAY TEACH -- WE HAVE TO MAKE THE EFFORT


"Savior after Savior has come to the earth for our benefit, but
no one can give us any more benefit than to point to the truths
that have been given all down the ages. We must take advantage
of that knowledge and advance out of the state in which we have
placed ourselves. No Savior can save us. No God can protect us.
No devil can torment us. For both God and the devil are within.
The devil is the misunderstanding of our nature...It is the God
in us which demands self-advancement, self-induced and
self-devised exertions, and the full acceptance of
responsibility." FP p. 300


"...to realize our own responsibility to all others and to act in
accordance is to have become unselfish, and to have done away
with the prime cause of sin, sorrow and suffering...We must take
care of each other, not of ourselves...truth, as we know, always
explains."	RC--FP p. 308



WE ARE NEVER "LEFT ALONE," or "ABANDONED"

"Never have we been left alone. Always there are beings greater
in evolution than we, who return to this field of physical
existence to help us, to wake us up to a perception of our
natures. Such has been the mission of all Divine Incarnations
down the ages. Those beings have come and lived among us, have
become "in all things like unto us," as was said of Jesus, in
order that the human words They spoke should be words we would
understand. They meet us on the basis of our ideas and try to
clarify them and set them in a true course. They can do nothing
to stop what (338) we have done and what we want to do; They can
not interfere; but They can help us to see the right direction,
if we are so willed...Always They try to help us, even when we
are proceeding along wrong lines and bringing upon ourselves the
suffering such wrong lines entail--even then They try to direct
the results into a better channel..."	RC -- FP p. 337-8


KRISHNA' s TEACHINGS -- LINE OF TRANSMISSION


"This exhaustless doctrine of Yoga I formerly taught unto
Vivaswat; (the SUN, first manifestation of divine wisdom at the
beginning of evolution) Vivaswat communicated it to Manu (generic
title for the reigning spirit of the sensuous universe; the
present one being Vivaswata Manu) and Manu made it known unto
Ikshwaku; (the founder of the Indian Solar dynasty --
[Suryavansa]) and being thus transmitted from one unto another it
was studied by the Raja-rishees, (Royal Sages) until in the
course of time the mighty art was lost, O harasser of thy foes.
It is even the same exhaustless, secret, eternal doctrine I have
this day communicated unto thee because thou art my devotee and
my friend."	GITA p. 30


"...in the early part of a new creation called a Manwantara...a
great Being descends among men and imparts certain ideas and
aspirations which reverberate all through the succeeding ages
until the day when the general dissolution--the night of
Brahma--comes on...Although "Vivaswata" as a name for the sun
reveals nothing to our western ears, there is a great truth
hidden behind it, just as to-day there is as great a mystery
behind our solar orb [see WQJ ARTICLES II 121]. He was the Being
appointed to help and guide the race at its beginning. He had
himself, ages before, gone through incarnation during other
creations, and had mounted step-by-step the long ladder of
evolution until by natural right he had become a god. The same
process is going on to-day, preparing some Being for similar work
in ages to come. And it has gone on in the limitless past also;
and always the Supreme Spirit as Krishna (104) teaches the Being,
so that he may implant those ideas necessary for our salvation."
GITA NOTES p. 103-4



THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY

"In the Krita age, Vishnu, in the form of Kapila and other
(inspired sages)...imparts to the world true wisdom as Enoch did.
In the Treta age he restrains the wicked, in the form of a
universal monarch (the Chakravartin-- or the 'Everlasting King'
of Enoch) and protects the three worlds (or races). "In the
Dwapara age, in the person of Veda-Vyasa, he divides the one Veda
into four, and distributes it into hundreds (Sata) of branches."
Truly so; the Veda of the earliest Aryans, before it was
written, went forth into every nation of the Atlanto-Lemurians,
off-shoots of the never dying tree of wisdom have scattered their
dead leaves even on Judaeo-Christianity. And at the end of the
Kali. our present age, Vishnu, or the "Everlasting King" will
appear as Kalki, and re-establish righteousness upon earth. The
minds of those who live at that time shall be awakened, and
become as pellucid as crystal. "The men who are those changed by
virtue of that peculiar time (the 6th race) shall be as the seeds
of other human beings, and shall give birth to a race who shall
follow the laws of the Krita age of purity;" i.e., it shall be
the 7th race, the race of "Buddhas," the "Sons of God," born of
immaculate parents." SD II 483


ADEPTS SHIELD AND TRANSMIT SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE

"...there is the true center of which the sun in heaven is a
symbol and partial reflection. This center let us place for the
time with the Dhyan Chohans or planetary spirits. It is all
knowing and so intensely powerful that, were a struggling
disciple to be suddenly introduced to its presence unprepared, he
would be consumed, both body and soul. And this is the goal we
are all striving after, and many of us asking to see even at the
opening of the race. But for our protection a cover, or
umbrella, has been placed beneath IT. The ribs are the Rishees,
or Adepts, or Mahatmas; the Elder Brothers of the race. The
handle is in every man's hand. And although each man is, or is
to be, connected with some particular one of those Adepts, he can
also receive the influence from the true centre coming down
through the handle.

The light, life, knowledge, and power falling upon this cover
permeate in innumerable streams the whole mass of men beneath,
whether they be students or not. As the disciple strives upward,
he begins to separate himself from the great mass of human
beings, and becomes in a more or less definite manner connected
with the ribs. Just as the streams of water flow down from the
points of the ribs of our umbrellas, so the spiritual influences
pour out from the adepts who form the frame of the protecting
cover, without which poor humanity would be destroyed by the
blaze from the spiritual world."	WQJ ARTICLES II 38



INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR CHOICE PREVAILS

"Admitting that the Adepts have great powers, they have
disclaimed the power to alter human nature in any other was than
through the processes of evolution and always strictly under a
rigid law of justice."

"The Adepts do not yet appear publicly and proclaim themselves to
the world...because the cycle must run its course, since, if they
proclaimed themselves out of time a wrong result would be
produced, just as a note, good in itself, is a producer of
discord when sounded out of time, place or tune. This reason is
the reason deduced from the law of cycles."	WQJ ARTICLES II 53-4



ADEPT WORK NOW

"In this civilization especially we are inclined to look outside
instead of inside ourselves. Nearly all our progress is material
and thus superficial. Spirit is neglected or forgotten, while
that which is not spirit is enshrined as such. The intuitions of
the little child are stifled until at last they are almost lost,
leaving the many at the mercy of judgments based upon exterior
reason. How then can one who has been near the Golden
Gates--much more he who passed through them--be other than silent
in surroundings where the golden refulgence is unknown or denied.
Obliged to use the words of his fellow travelers, he gives them a
meaning unknown to them, or detaches them from their accustomed
relation. Hence he is sometimes vague, often misleading, seldom
properly understood. But not lost are any of these words, for
the sound through the ages, and in future eras they will turn
themselves into sentences of gold in the hearts of disciples yet
to come."	WQJ ARTICLES II 354



SACRIFICE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS FOR BENEFITING MATTER

"...the surname Christos is based on, and the story of the
Crucifixion derived from, events that preceded it. Everywhere,
in India as in Egypt, in Chaldea as in Greece, all these legends
were built upon one and the same primitive type; the voluntary
sacrifice of the logoi--the rays of the one LOGOS, the direct
manifested emanation from the One ever-concealed Infinite and
Unknown--whose rays incarnated in mankind. They consented to
fall into matter, and are, therefore, called the "Fallen Ones."
HPB ART III 189



REFINEMENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS and
DEFINITION OF RESPONSIBILITY


"...an absolute consciousness, "Adi-Buddhi"; and the Buddhist
philosopher knows that there are Planetary Spirits, the "Dhyan
Chohans."... If the Dhyan Chohans and all the invisible
Beings--the Seven Centres and their direct Emanations, the minor
centres of Energy--are the direct reflex of the ONE LIGHT, yet
men are far removed from these, since the whole of the visible
Kosmos consists of "self-produced beings, the creatures of
Karma." ... they teach that only "two things are (objectively)
eternal, namely Akasa and Nirvana;" and that these are ONE in
reality, and but a maya when divided."	SD I 635-6



SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION

"It is the Spiritual evolution of the inner, immortal man that
forms the fundamental tenet in the Occult Sciences...the ONE
Universal Life, independent of matter... and... the individual
intelligences that animate the various manifestations of this
Principle...The ONE Life is closely related to the one law which
governs the World of Being--KARMA." SD I 634



INTELLIGENCE INNATE IN ALL BEINGS DEMONSTRATED BY CYCLES

"The essential faculty possessed by all the cosmic and
terrestrial elements, of generating within themselves a regular
and harmonious series of results, a concatenation of causes and
effects is an irrefutable proof that they are either animated by
an extra or intra INTELLIGENCE, or conceal such within or behind
the manifested veil...Newton...recognized fully the limits that
separate the action of natural Forces from that of the
INTELLIGENCES that set the innumerable laws into order and
action... To become complete and comprehensible, a cosmological
theory has to start with a primordial Substance diffused
throughout boundless Space, of an intellectual and divine Nature.
That substance must be the Soul and Spirit, the Synthesis and 7th
Principle of the manifested Kosmos, and to serve as a spiritual
Upadhi to this, there must be the 6th, its vehicle--primordial
physical matter...though its nature must for ever escape our
limited normal senses."	SD I 59