Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00662)

December 24 2002

Dear friends:

In the OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY,

Chapter 7 is devoted to the study of Mind -- the thinking
principle in man -- its existence, powers and operation. Memory,
and its loss, imagination and intuition. The Plan of evolution
and the envisaged results of success in the vast School of Earth
and the Universe.

It is a complex subject, because like the circulatory system in
the body, it touches every aspect of the living human being.

Best wishes

Dallas

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CHAPTER VII ( Ocean of Theosophy -- Answers )


MANAS


Summary CHAPTER VII


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 -- 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
p.88

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
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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?
p.90

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
p.91

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
p.92

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.
p.93


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,
p.94

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
p.95

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
p.96

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
p. 97

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
p.98

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
p.99

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
p.100

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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