Theos-Talk Archives (September 2002 Message tt00073)

Sept 13 2002

Dear N:

Re: Situation of Man in the Universe --
analogies

I would say the quotation is correct.

As I study and learn from Theosophy I see:

The ONE SPIRIT envelops everything and penetrates
everything, yet it does impose or direct individual actions.
This makes all being immortals (not in form, but in
spiritual essence as a CAUSE for their existence and
continuity).

It “over-shadows” everything, every being and also humanity
and its many individuals. In Theosophy it is called
PARABRAHM, and in manifestation it is BRAHMA. In Man it is
the ATMA -- the HIGHER SELF. It is also to be thought of as
the ONE CONSCIOUSNESS and the ONE LAW, OR LIFE UNIVERSAL.

Hence every being you, me, and the rest share in it at the
core essence of. our being. This is the source of UNIVERSAL
BROTHERHOOD. It also provides a reason for our existence --
to seek, to study, to live in, and to learn all abut this
Universe -- until we are able to intelligently, and as a
“brother” assist in the task of raising all beings to our
condition and state. (All being starts with the “little
lives”, then the atoms, molecules, cells, crystals, seeds,
and so on up to the human form which is capable of carrying
the intelligence of a MIND. This mind can encompass the
Universe if it tries to learn to do so. We, as the owners
of this MIND, have to direct and make it work to do this
great task.)

In Man it projects a shadow of itself, and impinging on
the ”intelligent instinctual self” ( which man shares with
all animals as a quality, or a “principle”) it manifests as
the “Personality” of the intelligent Lower Mind -- as a
“mask,” and this is what functions in mankind when their
bodies are awake and active.

Theosophy speaks of 7 “principles in man.” Here is a list
and an explanation.

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Re: 7 Principles

Here are some good statements made by Theosophy:
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SEVEN-FOLD NATURE AND MAN -- " 7 PRINCIPLES"


The universe evolves from the unknown, on seven planes, and
in
seven ways in all worlds. And this sevenfold differentiation
causes all the worlds of the universe, and the beings
thereon, to
have a septenary constitution.

The divisions of the sevenfold universe may be laid down
roughly
as: The Absolute, Spirit, Mind, Matter, Will, Akasa or
AEther,
and Life. In place of "the Absolute" we can use the word
"Space."
For "Space" is that which ever is, and in which all
manifestation
must take place.

Our knowledge begins with differentiation, and all
manifested
objects, beings, or powers are only differentiations of the
Great
Unknown.

The most that can be said of the Absolute" is that IT
periodically differentiates itself, and periodically
withdraws
the differentiated into itself. As to "the Absolute," we
can do
no more than say IT IS. None of the Great Teachers of the
School
ascribe qualities to "the Absolute," although all qualities
exist
in It.

The first differentiation -- speaking metaphysically as to
time -- is Spirit, with which appears Matter and Mind. This
is a
Unit, and, called the "Monad." [ In manifestation, it is a
triune Unity, consisting of: ATMA-BUDDHI-MANAS, or, Spirit -
Wisdom - Mind] The Monad is held to be immortal throughout
the
great life-cycle, whether Manvantara or Kalpa. It is the
basis
for human Individuality.

The term "Akasa," taken from the Sanskrit, is used in place
of
AEther, to properly designate that tenuous state of matter
which
is now sometimes called "Ether" by modern science. Akasa is
produced from Matter and Spirit.

Will is the force of Spirit in action. And Life (Jiva) is a
resultant of the action of Akasa, moved by Spirit, upon
Matter.

But the Matter here spoken of, is not that which is commonly
known as such. It is the Real Matter which is always
invisible,
and has sometimes been called Primordial Matter. In the
Brahmanical system it is called "Mulaprakriti" (or "Root
Matter"). And it is sometimes referred to as "Maha-Buddhi."
[In
considering this, one may think of an "atom" as essentially
an
eternal, individualized field of electro-magnetic Force.
Physical material is condensed in and around it by
attraction.
The formation of worlds, and the reincarnation of human
Souls,
may be thought of in similar terms, and follow a similar
pattern.]

The ancient teaching always held, as is now admitted by
Science,
that we see or perceive only the phenomena but not the
essential
nature, cause or being of Matter.

--------------------------

2
SOUL -- EGO -- MIND


Nearly everyone says he has a soul and a body, and there it
ends.
What the soul is, and whether it is the real person or
whether it
has any powers of its own, are not inquired into, the
preachers
usually confining themselves to its salvation or damnation.
And
by thus talking of it as something different from oneself,
the
people have acquired an underlying notion that they are not
souls
because the soul may be lost by them. From this has come
about a
tendency to materialism causing men to pay more attention to
the
body than to the soul, the latter being left to the tender
mercies of the priest of the Roman Catholics, and among
dissenters the care of it is most frequently put off to the
dying
day. But when the true teaching is known it will be seen
that the
care of the soul, which is the Self, is a vital matter
requiring
attention every day, and not to be deferred without grievous
injury resulting to the whole man, both soul and body....


THE 7-FOLD CLASSIFICATION

H. P. Blavatsky directly from the Great Lodge of
Initiates...places...the old doctrine [of seven-fold Man]
before
western civilization. The classification is:

1. The Body, or Rupa. (physical form, molecules,
cells)
2. Vitality, or Prana-Jiva. (Life principle)
3. Astral Body, or Linga-Sarira. (electro-magnetic form,
atoms and energies)
4. Animal Soul, or Kama-Rupa (Lower Manas & desires)
5. Human Soul, or Manas. (logic and ratiocination -
(Higher manas)
6. Spiritual Soul, or Buddhi. (discrimination, intuition,
wisdom)
7. Spirit, or Atma, (HIGHER SELF overshadows
the other 6)

The Sanskrit language has a wider sense than the English
terms.
This classification stands to this day for all practical
purposes, but it is capable of modification and extension.
For
instance, a later arrangement which places ASTRAL BODY
second
instead of third in the category does not substantially
alter it.
It at once gives an idea of what man is, very different from
the
vague description by the words "body and soul," and also
boldly
challenges the materialistic conception that mind is the
product
of brain, a portion of the body.

No claim is made that these principles were hitherto
unknown, for
they were all understood in various ways not only by the
Hindus
but by many Europeans. Yet the compact presentation of the
sevenfold constitution of man in intimate connection with
the
septenary constitution of a chain of Globes through which
the
being evolves, had not been given out...

Considering these constituents in another manner, we would
say
that the lower man is a composite being, but in his real
nature
is a unity, or immortal being, comprising a trinity of
Spirit,
Discernment, and Mind which requires four lower mortal
instruments or vehicles through which to work in matter and
obtain experience from Nature.

This trinity is that called Atma-Buddhi-Manas in Sanskrit,
difficult terms to render in English. Atma is Spirit, Buddhi
is
the highest power of intellection, that which discerns and
judges, and Manas is Mind. This threefold collection is the
real
man; and beyond doubt the doctrine is the origin of the
theological one of the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost.
The four lower instruments or vehicles are shown in this
table:

Real Man is Triune (3) : (Symbol: a FLAME)

Atma,
Buddhi,
Manas,

Lower Vehicles are 4: (Symbol: a square fire-place or a
cube)

The Passions and Desires,
Life Principle,
Astral Body,
Physical Body.

These four lower material constituents are transitory and
subject
to disintegration in themselves as well as to separation
from
each other. When the hour arrives for their separation to
begin,
the combination can no longer be kept up, the physical body
dies,
the atoms of which each of the four is composed begin to
separate
from each other, and the whole collection being disjointed
is no
longer fit for one as an instrument for the real man.


DEATH of the PHYSICAL

This is what is called "death" among us mortals, but it is
not
death for the real man because he is deathless, persistent,
immortal. He is therefore called the Triad, or
indestructible
trinity, while they are known as the Quaternary or mortal
four.

This quaternary or lower man is a product of cosmic or
physical
laws and substance. It has been evolved during a lapse of
ages,
like any other physical thing, from cosmic substance, and is
therefore subject to physical, physiological, and psychical
laws
which govern the race of man as a whole.

Hence its period of possible continuance can be calculated
just
as the limit of tensile strain among the metals used in
bridge
building can be deduced by the engineer. Any one collection
in
the form of man made up of these constituents is therefore
limited in duration by the laws of the evolutionary period
in
which it exists. Just now, that is generally seventy to one
hundred years, but its possible duration is longer. Thus
there
are in history instances where ordinary persons have lived
to be
two hundred years of age; and by a knowledge of the occult
laws
of nature the possible limit of duration may be extended
nearly
to four hundred years.

* THE VISIBLE PHYSICAL MAN IS:
*
* Brain, Nerves, Blood, Bones, Lymph, Muscles, Organs
of
Sensation and Action, and Skin.
*
* THE UNSEEN PHYSICAL MAN IS:
*
* Astral Body, Passions and Desires, Life Principle
(called
prana or jiva).
*
It will be seen that the physical part of our nature is thus
extended to a second department which, though invisible to
the
physical eye, is nevertheless material and subject to decay.


REAL AND UNREAL

Because people in general have been in the habit of
admitting to
be real only what they can see with the physical eye, they
have
at last come to suppose that the unseen is neither real nor
material. But they forgot that even on the earth plane
noxious
gases are invisible though real and powerfully material, and
that
water may exist in the air held suspended and invisible
until
conditions alter and cause its precipitation.


Let us recapitulate before going into details. The Real Man
is
the trinity of Atma-Buddhi-Manas, or Spirit and Mind, and he
uses
certain agents and instruments to get in touch with nature
in
order to know himself.

These instruments and agents are found in the lower Four --
or
the Quaternary -- each principle in which category is of
itself
an instrument for the particular experience belonging to its
own
field, the body being the lowest, least important, and most
transitory of the whole series.

For when we arrive at the body on the way down from the
Higher
Mind, it can be shown that all of its organs are in
themselves
senseless and useless when deprived of the man within.

Sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smelling do not pertain to
the
body but to the second unseen physical man, the real organs
for
the exercise of those powers being in the ASTRAL BODY, and
those
in the physical body being but the mechanical outer
instruments
for making the coordination between nature and the real
organs
inside.

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

Hope this is of help,

Best wishes,

Dallas

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-----Original Message-----
From: N
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2002
To:
Subject: 7 principles of Man and Nature

Dallas,

This I KNOW also:

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I know there is a world which includes this body and this
mind, but I do not consider them to be more "mine" than
other minds and bodies. They are there, in time and space,
but I am timeless and spaceless.
~Nisargatta Maharaj~

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