Theos-Talk Archives (January 2003 Message tt00377)

Jan 16 2003

Dear Munise:

As I consider the statements in the KEY TO THEOSOPHY (HPB), I see
that BUDDHI is the closest to ATMA it is said to be spiritualized
substance of the highest type of refinement. Mula-Prakriti or
"root-matter." Its "Wisdom" is that accumulated over untold ages, but
it is not that of the UNIVERSAL ATMAN or that which is also called the
ABSOLUTE or PARAMAPADATMAVA (G. 240)

The Monad, as defined in The SECRET DOCTRINE and KEY TO THEOSOPHY
(HPB) is "Atma-Buddhi" Since Atma is universal, and unconditioned, it
needs a vahan (vehicle) to focus the wisdom and power of ALL
(UNIVERSAL) on to every single speck of manifested and "personalized"
matter. These innumerable "monads" (as I understand it) are the
Eternal Pilgrims which

Ask how is it possible for "matter" to become divine substance
(Suddha Sattva) THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY p. 311.

It passes through every stage of evolution, and that includes the
Manasic.

MANAS, the Human Soul, has two aspects: 1. that which is cemented to
the BUDDHI ( Higher-Manas); and 2. that which is in contact with
Kama (desires, passions that are selfish and isolate the
"personality" -- the 4 lower principles --) Included in the
mind-powers are many things such as: the power to deduce, to
visualize, to reason, to compare, and to remember . [Patanjali in his
Yoga Sutras ( p. 4 ) gives a catalog of these and then explains them.]

It would seem for the BUDHI to become active and useful to us it has
to envelop itself so to say in the robes of the Mind and make its
wisdom, as Law and Purpose understandable to us. It this way it can
be said it becomes "rational."

As an example, there are millions of vibrations we cannot see or
perceive (without instrumentation) in the whole panorama of the
elctro-magnetic scales. To make them perceptible to us (using our
senses connected to the brain and other neurological perceptors) as
light, or sound, we are compelled to use filters and other electronic
devices of limitation, saturation and amplification. The result is a
controlled perception of specialized and selected transmissions
modified for our everyday use. In history we passé from Marconi's
spark to AM then to FM then to CDs and now we will have DCDs for still
greater refinement.

I found the references in The SECRET DOCTRINE and the KEY TO
THEOSOPHY (HPB) INDEX to be very useful in this study.

Many thanks,

Dallas

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

here are some definitions that might help


B U D D H I

CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS FORMS



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


BUDDHI


"Buddhi is the Immortal Ego. Buddhi cannot be described. It is
feeling, the accumulated experiences--all our experience is in
feeling. Manas is the Higher Mind, that part of the Buddhi which is
in action; the creative power of Buddhi. There is a continuous line
of experience as Perceivers--all beings are Perceivers. They are
limited by the power of their self-created instruments. In all
perceptions is the quality of the instrument through which that
perception comes."	Answers to Quest. p. 6


Buddhi (Sk.) "Universal Soul or Mind. Mahabuddhi is a name of
Mahat (see "Alaya"); also the spiritual Soul in man (the 6th
principle), the vehicle of Atma, exoterically the 7th."
GLOS. 67


Causal Body " This "body," which is no body either objective or
subjective, but Buddhi, the Spiritual Soul, is so called because it is
the direct cause of the Sushupti condition, leading to the Turya
state, the highest state of Samadhi. It is called Karanopadhi, "the
basis of the Cause," by the Taraka Raja Yogis...corresponds to both
the Vignanamaya and Anandamaya Kosha, the latter coming next to Atma,
and therefore being the vehicle of the universal Spirit. Buddhi alone
could not be called a "Causal Body," but becomes so in conjunction
with Manas, the incarnating Entity or EGO." GLOS. 74


Maha Buddhi (Sk) "Mahat. The Intelligent Soul of the World. The 7
Prakritis or 7 "natures" or planes, are counted from Mahabuddhi
downwards."	GLOS. 199


[Maha-Buddhi (Sk) Mahat. The Intelligent Soul of the World. GL.
199 [Cosmic Buddhi, the emanation of the Spiritual Soul Alaya, is the
vehicle of Mahat only when that Buddhi corresponds to Prakriti. Then
it is called Maha-Buddhi. This Buddhi differentiates through 7
planes, whereas the Buddhi in man is the vehicle of Atman, which
vehicle is of the essence of the highest plane of Akasa and therefore
does not differentiate. The difference between Manas and Buddhi in
man is the same as the difference between the Manasaputra and the
Ah-hi in Kosmos."




CONSCIOUSNESS AND MIND


"Q.: Can there be Consciousness without Mind?)

A.: Not on this plane of matter. But why not on some other and
higher plane?... On that higher plane...Mahat--the great Manvantaric
Principle of Intelligence--acts as a Brain, through which the
Universal and Eternal Mind radiates the Ah-hi, representing the
resultant Consciousness or ideation."	TRANS. 28
[ see also Theos. Articles & Notes, p. 208-9 ]


Divine Mind is, and must be, before differentiation takes place. It
is called the divine ideation, which is eternal in its Potentiality
and periodical in its Potency, when it becomes Mahat, Anima Mundi or
Universal Soul...each of these conceptions has its most metaphysical,
most material, and also intermediate aspects." TRANS. 4



ABSOLUTENESS


"When predicated of the Universal Principle it denotes an abstract
noun, which is more correct and logical than to apply the adjective
"absolute" to that which has neither attributes nor limitations, nor
can IT have any." (See KEY p. 61-2)	GLOS. 4


"...Even for the Logos, Mulaprakriti is a veil, the Robes in which the
Absolute is enveloped. Even the Logos cannot perceive the Absolute,
say the Vedantins."	TRANS. 5


Adi-Buddhi (Sk) "Primeval Intelligence or Wisdom; the eternal Budhi
or Universal Mind. Used of Divine Ideation, "Mahabuddhi" being
synonymous with MAHAT." GLOS. 6


Aditi (Sk) "...Mulaprakriti...the abstract aspect of Parabrahman,
though both manifested and knowable...Aditi is the "Mother-God"-dess,
her terrestrial symbol being infinite and shoreless space." GLOS.
7


"...the ever-equilibrizing mother-nature on the purely spiritual and
subjective plane. She is Sakti, the female power or potency of the
fecundating spirit; and it is for her to regulate the behaviour for
the sons born in her bosom." TRANS. 145


Ahankara (Sk) "The conception of "I", Self consciousness or
Self-identity; the "I", the egotistical and mayavic principle in man,
due to our ignorance which separates our "I" from the Universal
ONE-SELF, Personality, Egoism."	GLOS. 11

SOME IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS


Akasa (Sk.) "The subtle, supersensuous spiritual essence which
pervades all space; The primordial substance erroneously identified
with Ether. But it is to Ether what Spirit is to Matter, or Atma to
Kama- rupa. It is, in fact, the Universal Space in which lies
inherent the eternal Ideation of the Universe in its ever-changing
aspects of the planes of matter and objectivity, and from which
radiates the First Logos, or expressed thought...Akasa has but one
attribute, namely sound, for sound is but the translated symbol of the
Logos--"Speech"--in its mystic sense." GLOS. 13


Alaya (Sk.) "The Universal Soul (See SD, Vol. I, 47, et seq.)
The name belongs to the Tibetan system of the contemplative Mahayana
School. Identical with Akasa in its mystic sense, and with
Mulaprakriti, in its essence, as it is the basis or root of all
things." GLOS. p. 14


Atma or Atman (Sk.) The Universal Spirit, the divine Monad, the 7th
Principle, so-called, in the septenary constitution of man. The
Supreme Soul." GLOS. 43


Augoeides (Gr.) ... "Luminous Self," or our Higher Ego. But
Occultism makes of it something distinct from this. It is a mystery.
The Augoeides is the human divine radiation of the EGO which, when
incarnated, is but its shadow--pure as it is yet. This is explained
in the Amshaspends and is their Ferouer."	GLOS. 43-4


Brahma (Sk) "...distinguish between Brahm the neuter, and Brahma,
the male creator of the Indian Pantheon...Brahm or Brahman, is the
impersonal, supreme and uncognizable Principle of the Universe from
the essence of which all emanates, and into which all returns, which
is incorporeal, immaterial, unborn, eternal, beginningless and
endless. It is all-pervading, animating the highest god as well as
the smallest mineral atom. Brahma, on the other hand, the male and the
alleged Creator, exists periodically in his manifestations only, and
then again goes into pralaya, i.e., disappears and is annihilated."
GLOS. 62


Daivi-Prakriti (Sk.) "Primordial homogeneous light, called by
some...the "Light of the Logos"; when differentiated this light
becomes FOHAT."	GLOS. 94


Duration is; it has neither beginning nor end...Duration is
beginningless and endless; Time is finite....Time can be divided;
Duration...cannot. Time is divisible in Duration ...(or) the One is
sometimes within Time and Space, whereas the other is outside of
both...Duration...is the one eternity, not relative, but
absolute...existence has limited and definite periods, whereas
Duration, having neither beginning nor end, is a perfect abstraction
which contains Time. Duration is like Space, which is an abstraction
too, and is equally without beginning or end."
TRANS. 11


Fohat (Tib.) "...the active male potency of the Sakti (female
reproductive power) in nature. The essence of cosmic
electricity...Daiviprakriti, primordial light: and in the universe of
manifestation the ever-present electrical energy and ceaseless
destructive and formative power. Esoterically it is the same, Fohat
being the universal propelling Vital Power, at once the propeller and
the resultant." GLOS. 120-1


Higher Self "The Supreme Divine Spirit overshadowing man. The
crown of the upper spiritual Triad in man--Atman."	GLOS. 141


Hiranya Garbha (Sk.) "The radiant or golden egg or womb.
Esoterically the luminous "fire mist" or ethereal stuff from which the
Universe was formed." GLOS. 142


Individuality "One of the names given in Theosophy and Occultism to
the Human Higher EGO. We make a distinction between the immortal and
divine Ego, and the mortal human Ego which perishes. The latter, or
"personality" (personal Ego) survives the dead body only for a time in
the Kama Loka; the Individuality prevails forever." GLOS. 154-5


Kama (Sk) "Evil desire, lust, volition; the cleaving to existence.
Kama is generally identified with Mara, the tempter."	GLOS. 170


Kamadeva (Sk) "...the first conscious, all embracing desire for
universal good, love, and for all that lives and feels, needs help and
kindness, the first feeling of infinite tender compassion and mercy
that arose in the consciousness of the creative ONE FORCE, as soon as
it came into life and being as a ray from the ABSOLUTE..."Desire first
arose in IT, which was the primal germ of mind, and which Sages,
searching with their intellect, have discovered in their heart to be
the bond which connects Entity with non-Entity," or Manas with pure
Atma-Buddhi."	(see SD II 176 ) ... There is no idea of sexual love
in the conception. Kama (deva) is pre- eminently the divine desire of
creating happiness and love ... is represented as the Supreme Deity
and Creator ... is the child of Dharma, the god of Law and Justice,
of Sraddha, faith...springs from the heart of Brahma...born from
water, i.e., from primordial chaos, or the "Deep"...one of his many
names, Ira-ja, "the water-born;" and Aja, "unborn;" and Atma bhu or
"Self-existent...the sign of Makara (Capricornus) on his banner, he
is also called "Makara Ketu." The allegory about Siva, the "Great
Yogin," reducing Kama to ashes by the fire from his central (or third)
Eye...is very suggestive, as it is said that he thereby reduced Kama
to his primeval substance." GLOS. 170-1


Karabtanos (Gr.) "The spirit of blind or animal desire; the symbol
of Kama-rupa... matter...concupiscence [lust]..."	GLOS. 173


Karana Sarira (Sk. ) "The "Causal Body." It is dual in its meaning.
Exoterically, it is Avidya, ignorance, or that which is the cause of
the evolution of a human ego and its reincarnation; hence the lower
Manas; esoterically--the causal body or Karanopadhi stands in the
Taraka Raja-yoga as corresponding to Buddhi and the Higher "Manas," or
Spiritual Soul."	GLOS. 173


Karanopadhi (Sk.) "...upadhi of Karana, the "Causal soul." In Taraka
Rajayoga, it corresponds with both Manas and Buddhi. (see S.D. I 157)
GLOS. 173


Mahat (Sk.) "Lit., "The great one." The first principle of
Universal Intelligence and Consciousness. In the Puranic philosophy
the first product of root-nature or Pradhana (the same as
Mulaprakriti); the producer of Manas the thinking principle, and of
Ahamkara, egotism or the feeling of "I am I" (in the lower Manas)."
GLOS. 210


Manas (Sk) "Lit., "the mind," the mental faculty which makes of
man an intelligent and moral being, and distinguishes him from the
mere animal; a synonym of Mahat. Esoterically, however, it means,
when unqualified, the Higher Ego, or the sentient reincarnating
Principle in man. When qualified it is called by Theosophists
Buddhi-Manas or the Spiritual Soul in contradistinction to its human
reflection--Kama-Manas."	GLOS. 292


Monad (Gr) "The Unity, the One;" but in Occultism it often
means the unified triad, Atma-Buddhi-Manas, or the duad, Atma-Buddhi,
that immortal part of man which reincarnates in the lower kingdoms,
and gradually progresses through them to Man and then to the final
goal--Nirvana."	GLOS. 216


Mulaprakriti (Sk) "The Parabrahmic root, the abstract deific feminine
principle--undifferentiated substance. Akasa. Lit.: "the root of
nature" (Prakriti) or Matter."	GLOS. 218


PARABRAHM (Sk) "Beyond Brahma," literally. The Supreme Infinite
Brahma, "Absolute"--the attributeless, the secondless reality. The
impersonal and nameless universal Principle."	GLOS. 248


"...it is impossible to define Parabrahm, yet once that we speak of
that first something which can be conceived, it has to be treated of
as a feminine principle. In all cosmogonies the first differentiation
was considered feminine. It is Mulaprakriti which conceals or veils
Parabrahm...it is the goddess...who come first. The first emanation
becomes the immaculate Mother from whom proceeds all the gods, or the
anthropomorphised creative forces...." TRANS.
2


Parabrahm, Ain-Soph, and the Zeruana-Akerne of the Avesta alone
represent such an Eternity (beginningless and endless); all the other
periods are finite and astronomical, based on tropical years and other
enormous cycles."	TRANS. 9


Paramartha (Sk.) The Supreme Soul of the Universe."	GLOS. 249


Personality "In Occultism--which divides man into 7 principles,
considering him under three aspects of the divine, the thinking or the
rational, and the animal man--the lower quaternary or the purely
astro-physical being; while by Individuality is meant the Higher
Triad, considered as a Unity. Thus the Personality embraces all the
characteristics and memories of one physical life, which the
Individuality is the imperishable Ego which re-incarnates and clothes
itself in one personality after another."	GLOS. 252


Pradhana (Sk.) "Undifferentiated substance, called elsewhere and in
other schools--Akasa; and Mulaprakriti or Root of Matter by the
Vedantins. In short, Primeval Matter."
GLOS. 259


Pralaya (Sk) "A period of obscuration or repose--planetary, cosmic
or universal--the opposite of Manvantara." (S.D. I 370) GLOS.
260


"...the motion of the Great Breath during Pralaya (compared) to the
rhythmical motions of the Unconscious Ocean...is dissolution of the
visible into the invisible, the heterogeneous into the homogeneous--a
time of rest...even cosmic matter, indestructible though it be in its
essence, must have a time of rest, and return to its Layam state. The
absoluteness of the all-containing One has to manifest itself equally
in rest and activity." TRANS. 10-19


Q'Lippoth (Heb.) "...Olam Klippoth...contains the matter of which
stars, planets, and even men are made...chaotic turbulent matter,
which is used in its finer state by spirits to robe themselves
in...the "vesture" or form (rupa) of the incarnating Egos ...the
Manasaputras or Sons of Wisdom, use for the consolidation of their
forms, in order to descend into lower spheres, the dregs of Swabhavat,
or that plastic matter which is throughout Space...
primordial ilus....Typhon...Satan...Samael on inversus--the Demon is
the lining of God." GLOS. 268-9


Soul " ...the vital principle, or the breath of life." [ astral
principle plus Prana ] GLOS. 306


"...Plato accepted the clue and followed it, if to these five, namely
Agathon (Deity or Atma), Psuche (Soul in its collective sense), Nous
(Spirit or Mind), Phren (physical mind), and Thumos (Kama-rupa or
passions) we add the eidolon of the mysteries, the shadowy form or the
human double, and the physical body...(= 7)" KEY, 96


Spirit "...in Theosophical teachings "Spirit" is applied solely to
that which belongs directly to Universal Consciousness, and which is
its homogeneous and unadulterated emanation. Thus, the higher Mind in
Man or his Ego (Manas) is, when linked indissolubly with Buddhi, a
spirit; while the term "Soul", human or even animal (the lower Manas
acting in animals as instinct), is applied only to Kama-Manas, and
qualified as the living soul. This is nephesh, in Hebrew, the "breath
of life." Spirit is formless and immaterial, being, when
individualised, of the highest spiritual substance --Suddhasatwa, the
divine essence, of which the body of the manifesting highest Dhyanis
are formed... Spirit, in short, is no entity in the sense of having
form; for, as Buddhist philosophy has it, where there is a form,
there is a cause for pain and suffering. But each individual spirit--
this individuality lasting only throughout the manvantaric
life-cycle-- may be described as a centre of consciousness, a
self-sentient and self-conscious centre; a state, not a conditioned
individual. This is why there is such a wealth of words in Sanskrit
to express the different States of Being, Beings, and Entities, each
appellation showing the philosophical difference, the plane to which
such unit belongs, and the degree of its spirituality or
materiality..."	GLOS. 306



SUBSTANCE -- MATTER -- FORM -- BODY


Suddha Satwa (Sk) "A substance not subject to the qualities of
matter; a luminiferous and (to us) invisible substance, of which the
bodies of the Gods and highest Dhyanis are formed. Philosophically,
Suddha Satwa is a conscious state of spiritual Ego-ship rather than
any essence. " GLOS. 311


Sukshma Sarira (Sk) "The dream-like, illusive body akin to
Manasa-rupa or "thought-body". It is the vesture of the gods, or the
Dhyanis and the Devas...Sukshma Sarira...Sukshmopadhi..."
GLOS. 312


Sukshmopadhi (Sk) "...the principle (in Taraka Raj-Yoga) containing
both the higher and the lower Manas and Kama. It corresponds to the
Manomaya Kosha of the Vedantic classification and to the Svapna state
(esoterically: dual Manas" GLOS. 205 (See also, S.D. I 157,
GLOS. 312 )


Svabhavat (Sk.) "...the world-substance and stuff, or rather that
which is behind it--the spirit and essence of substance. The name
comes from Subhava and is composed of 3 words--su, good perfect, fair,
handsome; sva, self; and bhava, being, or state of being. From it
all nature proceeds and into it all returns at the end of the
life-cycles. In Esotericism it is called "Father-Mother." It is the
plastic essence of matter."	GLOS. 314


That "...Mulaprakriti...Svabhavat...that androgynous
something...which is both differentiated and undifferentiated. In its
first principle it is a pure abstraction, which becomes differentiated
only when it is transformed, in the process of time, into Prakriti.
If compared with the human principles, it corresponds to Buddhi, while
Atma would correspond to Parabrahm, Manas to Mahat, and so on. "
TRANS. 4


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



-----Original Message-----
From: Munise
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 8:24 AM
To:
Subject: RE: Standard of Truth?

Dear Dallas,

This is from:

The Key to Theosophy by H. P. Blavatsky
Section 7
THE PHYSICAL AND THE SPIRITUAL MAN

We say that the Spirit (the "Father in secret" of Jesus), or Atman, is
no
individual property of any man, but is the Divine essence which has no
body,
no form, which is imponderable, invisible and indivisible, that which
does
not exist and yet is, as the Buddhists say of Nirvana. It only
overshadows
the mortal; that which enters into him and pervades the whole body
being
only its omnipresent rays, or light, radiated through Buddhi, its
vehicle
and direct emanation. This is the secret meaning of the assertions of
almost
all the ancient philosophers, when they said that "the rational part
of
man's soul"* never entered wholly into the man, but only overshadowed
him
more or less through the irrational spiritual Soul or Buddhi.**
*In its generic sense, the word "rational" meaning something emanating
from
the Eternal Wisdom.
**Irrational in the sense that as a pure emanation of the Universal
mind it
can have no individual reason of its own on this plane of matter, but
like
the Moon, who borrows her light from the Sun and her life from the
Earth, so
Buddhi, receiving its light of Wisdom from Atma, gets its rational
qualities
from Manas. Per se, as something homogeneous, it is devoid of
attributes.
ENQUIRER. I laboured under the impression that the "Animal Soul" alone
was
irrational, not the Divine.
THEOSOPHIST. You have to learn the difference between that which is
negatively, or passively "irrational," because undifferentiated, and
that
which is irrational because too active and positive. Man is a
correlation of
spiritual powers, as well as a correlation of chemical and physical
forces,
brought into function by what we call "principles."

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

So the Buddhi is rational in the sense:
- "gets its rational qualities from Manas"
also irrational in the sense:
- "the rational part of man's soul"* never entered wholly into the
man, but
only overshadowed him more or less through the irrational spiritual
Soul

which is the span of absolute truth. Right?


Munise