Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00115)

Dec 31 2002

Dear Friends:

Ts is an interesting subject and one we deal with all the time.

These questions and answers were exchanged in an OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY
study class

Best wishes for 2003 to all.

Dallas

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MANAS


MANAS the fifth principle.
The first of the real man.
This is the thinking principle and is not the product of brain.
Brain is only its instrument.
How the light of mind was given to mindless men.
Perfect men from older systems gave it to us as they got it from their
predecessors.
Manas is the storehouse of all thoughts.
Manas is the seer.
If the connection between Manas and brain is broken the per son is not
able to cognize.
The organs of the body cognize nothing.
Manas is divided into upper and lower Its four peculiarities.
Buddha, Jesus, and others had Manas fully developed.
Atma the Divine Ego.
The permanent individuality.
This permanent individuality has been through every sort of experience
in many bodies.
Manas and matter have now a greater facility of action than in former
times.
Manas is bound by desire, and this makes reincarnation a necessity.

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Answers "Ocean" Chapter VII -- Manas.


Q. How can we arouse Intuition?

A. Intuition means "Direct cognition and comprehension", without
reasoning from premises to conclusions; it is a power that every human
being has, either latent, or operative in some degree. It is beyond o
above the reasoning faculty; the bar to its operation is our tendency
to depend upon our reasoning powers, based as they are upon our
superficial and incomplete common knowledge. This common knowledge is
based upon our personalities in their relation to the external world,
and does not take into account the spiritual nature of Man, who is the
real Seer and Thinker. To arouse the Intuition, the false views of Man
and Nature so generally held have to be replaced by the knowledge of
these that Theosophy imparts. Not only has the mental perception to be
gained, but all our thinking must be based upon this right knowledge.
We will then stand as the Immortal, changeless Thinker, who witnesses
all appearances as changing expressions of conscious beings, and can
see beyond any and all expressions to the essential spiritual nature
of every entity. Each and every manifestation, physical, psychical or
otherwise, is an expression from within outwards; the "eye of Spirit"
is not limited to, nor deceived by, the manifestation, appearance or
expression, hut with that "inner sight" turned upon the whole nature
within and without of the being gazed upon-so to speak-has a full
comprehension of the purpose and value of the appearance or
expression. :

This is not a reasoning from premises to conclusions, but is a direct
and instantaneous cognition of all the facts and factors as well as
their contingent expressions on all planes. The perfection of this
divine faculty can only be attained when the aspirant is neither
attached to nor disturbed by any externalities whatever, and when he
has that additional knowledge that living the higher life implants. A
Master once wrote, "The more unselfishly one works for his fellow men
and divests him self of the illusionary sense of personal isolation,
the more he is free from Maya and the nearer he approaches Divinity."


Q. If the Perceiver notes all the changes and is constant through all
the changes, why is it that He does not know the change of death from
physical existence ?

A. We are all Perceivers; the question is what do we now perceive or
know of the changes antecedent to birth? Each can answer for himself.
If we were conscious of the change called "birth," how have we come to
forget it? The answer is naturally that the conditions brought about
by the "change" have so absorbed our perceptions that the new
conditions are for the time being "our life." We are conscious during
the state of the body called sleep, but are we conscious of the
"change" from the waking state? We are all Perceivers it is true, but
there are two great classes of Perceivers, namely, those who are
conscious of all changes, and those who are not. The Life of the
Perceiver is continuous and is not dependent upon physical, astral or
other expressions of it. While in the body he is occupied with the
physical objective world; when he leaves the body, he is still
occupied with the thoughts, feelings and de sires of that physical
world and continues to be so until the force of these dies out; he is
continually surrounded by and occupied with a world of his own making,
and in his conception he is still the same person as in life; he is
still the same person when he enters the Devachanic condition, only in
that state, lie is in that condition of bliss which, while living,
represented to him the highest, noblest and most divine state
desirable. Such are the states of all those who while in a physical
body do not know, realize and express their real spiritual nature.
They are the effects of the life last lived. Quite different is the
case of one who during any life has united the purified lower mind to
the Divine Triad; he lives a conscious existence in Spirit, not in
matter, even while occupying bodies of temporary duration; he knows
the purpose and value of each terrestrial embodiment, and gladly
leaves its limiting conditions when that purpose is fulfilled; what we
call "death", to him is but a welcome relief, for he then can resume
his spiritual life and activity unhampered. His rebirths from that
time on will be conscious and chosen ones and for the purpose of
aiding those who are still lost in the clouds of illusion; he will
have no Kama Loka, no Devachan, nor any illusion or predilection for
physical existence; for him there is no death nor sense of it, for he
lives in full consciousness all the time.


Q. 1 such an one be conscious in the body?

A. He would be conscious all the time, whether entering a body, living
in it, or leaving it temporarily or wholly.


Q. On page 53, it is stated that mind is given to the mindless monads
by others who have passed through the same process. It does not state
how that is done.

A. No doubt much is left out that might be said, in occult teaching,
one reason being that with our present knowledge and conceptions no
explanation could be offered that we would understand, and another is,
that in all Theosophic teaching there is an endeavor to arouse the
Intuition by presenting universal principles, processes and analogies,
which the student shall apply and thus find the answer to his
questions. There is an old occult maxim which says, "As above, so
below"; the reverse is also true, "as below, so above", for the
"below" is a transformed and conditioned expression of the "above".
Taking this into consideration, and remembering that all beings are
septenary in nature, and that in the case of beings below Man the
principle of Manas is latent and must in the course of evolution be
energized and lighted up by those who had become active Manasic beings
in previous periods of evolution; taking all these facts into
consideration, what can we find within our experience that would give
us an idea of how "mind" is given to the "mindless". In taking any
example within our experience we should understand that the word
"mind", as used in the text, refers to the active, operative, Manasic
principle, and "mindless" to the same principle, neither active nor
operative, but latent. Now take the case of an infant born into the
world-so far as this plane of perception and expression is concerned,
the child is "mindless"; those who are its parents or guardians by
degrees arouse into action the latent power of understanding, the
mind, and give to the child as much of their knowledge as the growing
mind is able to. receive. Can we not conceive of an incipient humanity
in its early stages of instructability being given by degrees the
knowledge of those with "mind"? And is it not true that while we as an
incipient humanity were so instructed in those early periods, we are
still in need of further instruction, and are receiving it through the
sacrifice and effort of those who gave Theosophy to the world in
general?


Q. Is Manas a changeless principle?

A. Manas is the third principle of the Triad-Atma, Buddhi-Manas, which
constitute the Ego; as a principle it is changeless; its possibilities
of manifestation are endless.


Q. The Secret Doctrine states in effect that those with minds, entered
into and ensouled the "mindless"; this implies contact rather than
instruction, does it not?

A. It implies both, for instruction requires some kind of contact,
psychical, mental or physical. The analogy may be found in the case of
the infant: the infant body is a mindless entity; the incarnating ego
is a manasic entity who needs the help of egos in bodies in order to
gain a knowledge of the physical world as it exists at the time of
birth, and to the degree that its Karma permits. On the other hand the
responsibility of the parents or guardians is great in that the
budding perceptions should be rightly guided; especially is this so
with Theosophical parents.


Q. Then "lighting up" is a matter of thought?

A. In occultism Thought is the plane of Action. Everything flows from
Thought; according to the nature and kind of thought will be the
action. Right thought is accompanied by right feeling, and will to
perform. So when we think of a thing, there is Will and Feeling
present to some degree. All human beings think, their thoughts being
founded upon their ignorance or their knowledge; the term therefore of
"a matter of thought" would be misleading to those who imagine that by
thought "they can add one cubit to their stature", or dodge their
karma. Everything depends upon the
character of thought, the motive, and the knowledge possessed.
"Lighting up" means the arousing of the thinking faculty, which is
probably what the question in tended.


Q. Are not thought" and "intellect" one and the same?

A. It depends upon what we consider to be the meaning of the words.
Everybody thinks and therefore u "thought". but we would not consider
everybody to be intellectual. From a theosophical point of view
"intellectuality" pertains to the brain-mind and denotes a facility in
mental technique, rather than a soul perception and understanding.
Intellectuality per se is hard, cold and mechanical, but as an
instrument used by the real Man within, it is of the greatest value;
in the former case it is a prideful expression of the personality; in
the latter an instrument of the soul subserving the highest interests
of humanity. In the Gita, a foot-note describes Buddhi as the highest
intellection, in other words "divine intellection"; its opposite would
be Kama, the lowest intellection, or that which is based upon personal
desires and physical existence. The word "thought" is abstract and
universal, and therefore has not the conditioned meanings that the
word "intellect" presents.


Q. Cannot spiritual self-consciousness be attained after death when
the soul is relieved from the struggle of life?

A. The states after death are but the effects of the life last lived ;
they therefore present a continuation of that life in its different
degrees, and an interim between lives; the only basis that the
"departed" has to work with is what was obtained and held to during
life in the body; spiritual self-consciousness and release from the
necessity of re-birth can only be attained while occupying a body.


Q. The chapter speaks of Manas as being the principle which carries
forward the memory from day to night and night to day, and from one
life to another. 1 understood it was Buddhi?

A. Man is a Triad; the three principles which com pose the Triad are
named as Atma-Buddhi-Manas; there is no Manas without Buddhi, no
Buddhi without Atma. If we do not materialize the idea too much, we
might conceive of Buddhi as a specialization of Atma, and Manas as a
specialization of Buddhi. Buddhi is the Spiritual Ego; Manas is the
Higher Human Mind, the creative manifesting aspect of the being.
Buddhi is the store-house of Wisdom, Manas the use of it. As memory
implies action and Manas is the aspect employed in action, it is
correct to say that Manas carries forward the memory of that which it
instituted and experienced.


Q. Animals have memory apparently; is it the action of Manas in them ?

A. The animals have not arrived at self-conscious ness, therefore
Manas is latent in them; what they possess is Instinct-or established
habit, which will repeat itself under proper stimulation or
conditions. Habit is memory in the cells and organs of the body;
animals, especially the higher ones, have a strongly marked memory of
this kind, but it is far from the human kind with its re-collection,
remembrance and reminiscence.


Q. On page .59 the statement is made that the inner body of Man is
made of thought ?

A. No doubt this statement was formulated-like many others in the
book-in order to make students think. The word "thought" may be used
in two ways, one, the abstract-the power to think-without any exercise
of the faculty, and "thought" in regard to one or many things. It has
been stated that Thought is the plane of Action; all actions flow from
thought; also, it is clear that there can be no thinking unless there
is something to think about. Any body, inner or outer, is formed from
substance, the higher states of which are more responsive to the power
of thought than the lower, and we can conceive of a state of substance
so homogeneous in its nature as to respond instantaneously to any
thought projected by the Thinker, the Real Man, the more concrete
states of substance of course requiring persistent concentrated
thought in order to effect changes, especially in what we call
"matter" of which our physical bodies are composed. We have to
remember also that every state and plane of substance is com posed of
homogeneous lives, or those that have become more or less
differentiated; each of those lives is a conscious center, whatever
its particular differentiated expression may be; this conscious center
is the same as the conscious center of Man and may be called "Thought"
in the abstract sense. It is through this inherent power to perceive
on the part of all lives, that direction or impulse can be given or
received. When we consider all these things we may obtain some
conception of what was in the Teacher's mind when he wrote the
statement referred to.


Q. Is speech a product of the Mind?

A. What else could it be? The desire to communicate with others must
have arisen first in the mind; then the means by which that could be
brought about had to be worked out in sounds having agreed
meanings-all arising from desirability perceived by the Mind.


Q. Why is it that when we are awake we can remember the waking state,
and know it and compare it with the dream state; yet in the dream
state we cannot remember the waking state?

A. When one says "I dreamed," he is in the waking state and is
surrounded by the external conditions that go to make up that state of
consciousness; he is therefore comparing the state in which he finds
himself with another state whose surroundings are not then present or
evident. On the other hand in the dreaming state, all that made up his
waking state is absent from his perceptions and he is surrounded by a
world of his own creation, which for the time being is objective a and
real to him; his perceptions are "awake" to the dream and immersed in
it, so he has nothing before him to compare the states of waking and
dreaming with. Should he be able to make comparisons, the dream state
would cease and he would be awake. There are many kinds of "dreams"
so-called, the highest of them being recollections of the activity and
real awakeness of the Inner Man, hut these are not ordinarily
translatable into terms of bodily consciousness.


Q. How can Lower Manas be united to Higher Manas?

A. There is but one Manas in reality; what is called Lower Manas is a
temporary aspect of the One Manas, connected with, and conditioned by,
physical existence under Karmic re-action. In this relation it
produces the illusion of separateness, from which flow desire and
selfishness. Ignorance of our real spiritual and egoic nature produces
a separate and personal basis of thought and action which bring their
karmic results. Knowledge and understanding of our real nature,
together with thought and action based upon it consistently and
persistently, make Manas one again; the lower temporary "self"
disappears. The "Voice of the Silence" says, "The self of Matter and
the Self of Spirit can never meet; there is no place for both."


Q. Have the Egos a universal language?

A. Not in the ordinary sense of the term, that is, some special mode
of speech, or mode of communication, common to all egos. It is more
nearly described as communication of ideas and experiences by means of
pictures. In the Secret Doctrine "Kriyasakti" is de scribed as "the
mysterious power of thought which enables it to produce external,
perceptible, phenomenal results by its own inherent energy". This is
an egoic power which has no need of language in our sense, that is,
sounds and corresponding signs, but can use a "living picture"
exhibiting all the qualities contained in the idea which it
represents. This question brings up an important point: we have to
learn the "language" of the Inner Ego, so that we can make proper
translation in terms of our thinking. For at all times the "language"
of the plane through which the Ego floats nightly is a foreign one to
the brain we use; on this higher plane a sound may be pictured as a
color or a figure; a historical event may not only be shown as a
picture, but as a light or shadow, etc. We need to be able not only to
perceive and record in the physical memory these impressions, but to
understand their meanings; this is one possible by making ourselves
porous, so to speak, to the influences from the higher Self, and by
living and thinking in such a manner as will be most likely to bring
about the aim of the soul. This leads us unerringly to virtue and
knowledge, for the vices and the passions eternally becloud our
perception of what the Ego tries to tell us. The hindrance is found in
our own daily life and terms of speech, thought and feeling which form
the basis of our personal existences.


Q. What is Polarity?

A. Everything in Nature has its own kind of Polarity; that is, each
object or element is attracted by certain other objects or elements,
and is repelled by still others. The normal polarity of our bodies
causes them to remain on the earth, the latter being positive to our
bodies and our bodies negative to the earth. Yet there are many
attested instances where the polarity of the body becomes so changed
as to cause it to be held in suspension sonic little distance above
the earth; this change is called "levitation"-a misnomer, for it pre
supposes that the body becomes lighter and therefore floats in the
air; the condition is due to a change in polarity whereby the body
becomes more positive to the earth's positivity, the two positives
repelling each other to a greater or less extent according to the
degree of positivity aroused in the body. Polarity is a state which
includes the two poles-positive and negative.


Q. Page 57 speaks of memory presenting pictures to Lower-Manas and
therefore Higher Manas is obscured. Please explain?

A. Lower-Manas is that aspect of Manas which is connected with, and
interested in, physical existence; the astral-physical brain is the
instrument of registration and expression of the memories of physical
life, the storehouse, so to speak, of personal experiences. When the
person is not occupied actively in thought and action with some
subject or object, the astral- physical brain presents pictures of
past scenes, thoughts and feelings; herein lies the cause of most
dreams. Even when awake and active, there underlies our mental
activity this memory stratum of personality which colors what we
think, say and do. In all ways, in the generality of human beings,
this automatic resurgence obscures the action of the Higher Mind, the
Real Ego.


Q. Would Nature impel us under a working of the Law of Periodicity?

A. It should be understood when using the term "Nature" that it means
"the collective action of all beings of every grade". It is not a
guide or overseer who will look after us and propel us in the right,
or any direction. The Law of Periodicity brings back that which had
been; the individual is either prepared through right ideas to go
forward, or he is not, because of false conceptions; he feels the
effects of the Law of Periodicity according to his advance or
retrogression; he takes his own place in the general grind of the
wheel of Collective Karma.


Q. Would it be desirable to live nearer the Sun?

A. It is not a question of desirability with any being; it is always a
question of karmic affinity. The law of our own being places us where
we belong, and from the point of view of progress, we cannot start
from any place than where we are. If the question intended to ask if
planets nearer the Sun are inhabited by more advanced humanities, it
is stated that they are.

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REMARKS


We have concluded the Seventh chapter; it might be well to run briefly
over the ground that has been traversed and grasp something of the
sequence of the chapters.

The first chapter deals with the existence of living beings who have
become perfected in wisdom, knowledge and power during past vast
periods, to whom the title of "Masters of Wisdom" has been given. This
chapter is largely devoted to pointing to the fact of the existence of
such beings making Their presence felt among men at certain periods;
that what is called Theosophy is a portion of the knowledge of those
perfected beings, and that They are the custodians of all knowledge
gained through the vast periods that have passed. It is important for
the student to grasp and hold to these facts, for on the one hand they
point to the Masters as ideals and as facts, as well as the goal
towards which mankind should aspire, and on the other, to Theosophy as
Their Message to Mankind, as a knowledge gained through observation
and experience, and not a theory or dogma invented by man. There is
also another fact known to older students and one which beginners
would do well to hear in mind, namely, that the student's acceptance
and recognition of Theosophy and the Masters as stated brings about a
subtle connection between the inner nature of the student and those
Masters, and renders help from Them possible through that inner
nature.

The Second chapter begins, as all study should be gin, with a
statement of general principles, the general laws governing the Cosmos
and the seven-fold division throughout manifestation. It also gives
the real age of the world as well as that of Humanity, and shows that
Mind is the intelligent portion of the Cosmos, and that the process of
becoming is under the Law of Periodicity, that is, the return of that
which was, plus the intelligence gained; for evolution is accomplished
by the Egos within, who at last become the users of human forms.

The Third chapter deals with our Earth, showing it to be also
seven-fold in composition and nature, and to be subject to the general
laws governing the Universe. Applying the Law of Periodicity to the
Earth, it is shown as a re-embodiment of a planet which pre ceded
it-the Moon in fact; that a mass of Egos be long to each planet-such
as Venus, Mars, etc., and that they constitute the evolutionary forces
behind and within each of these planets; that our Earth is in the
fourth stage of evolution, other planets being more or less advanced
than we.

Chapter Four treats of the Constitution of Man, giving his seven-fold
principles, divided into the three higher principles which constitute
the Real Man, and the four lower ones which are the transitory aspects
on earth of the three higher principles-the Real Man.

Chapter Five treats of the Body and Astral as the lowest of the
classification given. The physical body is shown to be an illusion in
the sense that its component parts are constantly undergoing change;
that Life is not the result of the bodily organism, but that our
perceptions proceed from, and are received by, our sense organs in the
Astral body, so far as the physical experiences are concerned, the
Astral body being in fact the point of physical contact for embodied
creatures. There is also shown the part that the Astral body plays at
seances, and that it also accounts for
telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience, and all such psychical
phenomena. There is no particular chapter de voted to Prana, because
it is an aspect of the One Life, which flows from and is the
expression of each degree of acquired intelligence-or power of
perception and action.

Chapter Six considers the fourth principle, Desire or Kama. It is
called "the balance principle" because according to the nature of the
desire will the trend of the entity be, either towards the spiritual,
or the earthly. This principle is in the astral body and is the cause
for the physical body; the body does not give rise to it, but only
affords a means for its physical expression. Desire has both a lower
and higher aspect.

Chapter Seven treats of the Fifth principle-Manas, the first from
below of the Real Man. During incarnation Manas, the thinker, is
connected with and immersed in physical existence; this connection is
called Lower Manas as distinguished from Higher Manas, that aspect of
the Thinker which relates to His real spiritual nature. As long as
Manas is bound by desire, reincarnation is a necessity. As Higher
Manas, it is the permanent individuality which carries the results and
values of all the different lives lived on earth and elsewhere. As
Lower-Manas it interferes with the action of Higher Manas, because at
the present point of evolution, Desire and all corresponding powers,
faculties and senses are most fully developed, and occupy the
attention of the entity while in the body, thus obscuring the action
of Higher-Manas, the spiritual and permanent individuality.
Lower-Manas uses the human brain to reason from premises to
conclusions, but this is the lower aspect of Manas and not, as many
sup pose, the highest and best. The higher aspect of Manas is the
intuitional, which knows, and does not depend upon reason; in this
case it is Manas lighted by Budd hi; in the other, Manas involved in
Desires.

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best wishes as always

Dallas