Theos-Talk Archives (July 2003 Message tt00307)

Wednesday, July 30, 2003

Dear Friends:

Perhaps these statements will help understand:


THE SCHEME AND LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE


"The action of the entire universe is but a detailed
manifestation and example of the action of mind on matter,
governed at the highest point by the action of the universal
Mind. Between the finite human mind of the ordinary uninitiated
individual and this universal mind lie an infinite number of
gradually ascending degrees, and the higher the plane of
consciousness the nearer is the approach to the universal mind
which is, as it were, the main-spring of the whole. Although
there are no hard and fast lines in nature yet these various
grades may be marked off into great main divisions; and it is
the successive attainment of these, one after the other that is
represented by the degrees of initiation. When one plane of
existence has been exhausted, there is needed, as it were, a
fresh impulse to enable us to go on higher and this it is that is
supplied at the time of initiation."
"Alpha"	Theosophist, June 1886 - [ ULT- T A & N p. 61 ]


"At the commencement of a great Manvantara [ great cycle of
evolution ], Parabrahm [ the ABSOLUTE ] manifests as Mulaprakriti
[ root-matter ] and then as the Logos ["Word"-thought-plan ].
This Logos is equivalent to the "Unconscious Universal Mind,"
etc., of Western Pantheists. It constitutes the Basis of the
Subject-side of manifested Being, and is the source of all
manifestations of individual consciousness.

Mulaprakriti or Primordial Cosmic Substance, is the foundation of
the OBJECT-side of things--the basis of all objective evolution
and Cosmogenesis.

Force, then, does not emerge with Primordial Substance from
Parabrahmic Latency. It is the transformation into energy of the
supra-conscious thought of the Logos, infused, so to speak, into
the objectivization of the latter out of potential latency in the
One Reality.

Hence spring the wondrous laws of matter...Force succeeds
Mulaprakriti; but, minus Force, Mulaprakriti is for all
practical intents and purposes non-existent."	SD II 24-5


"The Secret Doctrine teaches that "He who is the first to appear
at Renovation will be the last to come before Re-absorption
(pralaya)." Thus the logoi of all nations, from the Vedic
Visvakarma of the Mysteries down to the Saviour of the present
civilized nations, are the "Word" who was "in the beginning" (or
the reawakening of the energizing powers of Nature) with the One
ABSOLUTE. Born of Fire and Water, before these became distinct
elements, IT was the "Maker" (fashioner or modeler) of all
things; "without him was not anything made that was made;" "in
whom was life, and the life was the light of men;" and who
finally may be called, as he has ever been, the Alpha and the
Omega of manifested Nature...(471) Kwan-Shi-Yin is
Avalokiteshvara, and both are forms of the 7th Universal
Principle; while in its highest metaphysical character this
deity is the synthetic aggregation of all the planetary Spirits,
Dhyani Chohans..."the universal Saviour of all living
beings."..."the divine SELF perceived by Self" (the human)--the
Atman or 7th principle merged in the Universal, perceived by, or
the object of perception to, Buddhi, the 6th principle or divine
Soul in man. In a still higher sense,
Avalokiteshvara --Kwan-Shi-Yin, referred to as the 7th Universal
principle, is the Logos perceived by the Universal Buddhi--or
Soul, as the synthetic aggregate of the Dhyani Buddhas: and
is...the omnipresent universal Spirit manifested in the temple of
Kosmos or Nature...He is called the "Dragon of Wisdom"...as all
the Logoi of all the ancient religious systems are connected
with, and symbolized by, serpents...Kwan-Shi-Yin and Kwan-Yin are
the two aspects (male and female) of the same principle in
Kosmos, Nature and Man, of divine wisdom and intelligence. They
are the "Christos-Sophia" of the mystic Gnostics--the Logos and
its Sakti..."	SD I 471-3


"...[the Agnishwatta Pitris] were destined to incarnate as the
Egos of the forthcoming crop of Mankind. The human Ego is
neither Atman nor Buddhi, but the higher Manas: the intellectual
fruition and the efflorescence of the intellectual self-conscious
Egotism--in the higher spiritual sense. The ancient works refer
to it as Karana Sarira on the plane of the Sutratma, which is the
golden thread on which, like beads, the various personalities of
this higher Ego are strung...these beings were returning
Nirvanees, from preceding Maha-Manvantaras--ages of incalculable
duration..."	S D II 79



FUNDAMENTAL IDENTITY OF ALL SOULS


The Monad (Spirit/Matter conjoined -- as in the "egg of Brahma")
The idea of the MONAD epitomizes this, because it is said to be
eternal. In the SECRET DOCTRINE, H.P.B. deals with this
extensively. ( S.D. I 173 - 184 ) One of the key statement is in
S.D. I p. 289, where we read from an ancient "Commentary" :
"there is not one finger's breath (Angula) of void space in the
whole of Boundless (Universe) ..."

This "Higher Self" is ATMA, and of course it is
"non-materializable," as Mr. Sinnett says. Even more, it can
never be "objective" under any circumstances, even to the highest
spiritual perception. For Atman or the "Higher Self" is really
Brahma, the ABSOLUTE, and indistinguishable from it. In hours of
Samadhi, the higher spiritual consciousness of the Initiate is
entirely absorbed in the ONE essence, which is Atman, and
therefore, being one with the whole, there can be nothing
objective for it. Now some of our Theosophists have got into the
habit of using the words "Self" and "Ego" as synonymous, of
associating the term "Self" with only man's higher individual or
even personal "Self" or Ego, whereas this term ought never to be
applied except to the One universal Self."	Key 174-5


[ In periods of Manifestations -- manvantara -- ATMA serves as
the Universal background in which everything bathes and has its
ultimate being. It the primordial Substance (matter) or BUDDHI
which is then the MONAD in manifestations -- Buddhi, being the
accumulated wisdom
through experience of the entirety of that "Universe." This is
the one assurance (metaphysically and intuitionally) that Law or
Karma operates everywhere without variableness.]


". . . The Path is never closed; but in proportion to one's
previous errors so is it harder to find and to tread. In the eyes
of the 'Masters' no one is ever 'utterly condemned'. As the lost
jewel may be recovered from the very depths of the tank's mud, so
can the most abandoned snatch himself from the mire of sin, if
only the precious Gem of Gems, the sparkling germ of the Atma, is
developed. Each of us must do that for himself, each can if he
but will and persevere."
Letters from the Masters of Wisdom, First Series, Letter 20


"Spirit (or Consciousness) and Matter are, however, to be
regarded, not as independent realities, but as the two facets or
aspects of the Absolute (Parabrahm), which constitute the basis
of conditioned Being whether subjective or objective.... just as
pre-Cosmic Ideation is the root of all individual consciousness,
so pre-Cosmic Substance is the substratum of matter in the
various grades of its differentiation."	-- -Secret Doctrine Vol
I, Proem page 15


[ Using the query concerning the greater experience of the
"parent," is this not like a Monad that has accumulated much
experience, and has also accumulated around it (as family,
neighbours, friends, community, nation, etc...) many other
Monads which together frame its WISDOM.

In terms of ultimates it is still limited. It has its own "path"
and "journey." As a comet has a 'tail,' so each Monad has an
assembly of "monads of lesser experience," which surround and
follow it, for which it acts as a "wise parent" might. And yet,
we find in the S.D. (S.D. I 174-5 footnote) the idea that the
Monad per se remains unaffected -- and it is the late-comers who
have to voluntarily choose to "adhere to it."]


TRY

"Good resolutions are mind-painted pictures of good deeds:
fancies, day-dreams, whisperings of the Buddhi to the Manas. If
we encourage them they will not fade away like a dissolving
mirage in the Shamo desert, but grow stronger and stronger until
one's whole life becomes the expression and outward proof of the
divine motive within. Your acts . . . cannot be obliterated, for
they are indelibly stamped upon the record of Karma, and neither
tears nor repentance can blot the page. But you have the power to
more than redeem and balance them by future acts. . . . There are
innumerable pages of your life-record still to be written up;
fair and blank they are as yet. . . . Seize the diamond pen and
inscribe them with the history of noble deeds, days well spent,
years of holy striving. So will you win your way ever upward to
the higher planes of spiritual consciousness. Fear not, faint
not, be faithful to the ideal you can now dimly see. . . . "
Letters from the Masters of Wisdom, First Series, Letter 20.


"Self-consciousness belongs alone to man and proceeds from the
Self, the higher Manas." HPB ART, Vol. II, p. 9


"...the direction to perform actions and yet renounce their
performance...the real actor is the mind, that acts...are the
thoughts themselves...Duty, and the final imperative--the "what
ought I to do"--comes in here and becomes a part of the process.
(discrimination to be applied)...true meditation is (thus) begun
and will soon become permanent...[will acquire] a concentration
in time which will increase the real power of meditation. It is
not meditation to stare at a spot on the wall for a fixed period,
or to remain for another space of time in a perfectly vacuous
mental state which soon runs into sleep...many students have run
after these follies, ignoring the true way. The truth is, that
the right method is not easy; it requires thought and mental
effort, with persistence and faith...It will all depend on
self-mastery. The self below will continually drag down the man
who is not self-conquered...on the other side, the self is near
to divinity, and when conquered it becomes the friend and helper
of the conqueror...Every effort we make in (intentness upon the
Supreme Spirit)...will be preserved in the inner nature and
cannot be lost at death. It is a spiritual gain..."	Gita Notes,
pp 127-130


"Self-Consciousness belongs alone to man and proceeds from the
SELF, the Higher MANAS...whereas the psychic element (or
Kama-Manas) is common to both animal and human being...no
physiologist...will ever be able to solve the mystery of the
human mind, in its highest spiritual manifestations, or in its
dual aspect of the psychic and the noetic (or the
manasic)...unless he knows something of, and is prepared to admit
this dual element...to admit a lower (animal), and a higher (or
divine) mind in man...the "personal" and the "impersonal" Egos."
HPB ART II 9-10


"A perfect man is not made to order but is a product of
evolution. Wisdom is not a matter of book-learning but of
growth. General rules for conduct can be given, but to apply
them properly, the power of discrimination is necessary...A
virtue, practiced without moderation, becomes a crime. To know
how to find the point of equilibrium is the great secret of the
Adept, that cannot be told but must be learned by experience,
when sagacity and goodness will be united in wisdom."	HPB --
THEOSOPHY 47-441-2 -- THEOSOPHIST 1885


"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 ARTICLES III 204


"YOGI ...from "yug"--to join. A real Yogi is a person who,
having entirely divorced himself from the world, its (166)
attractions and pleasures, has succeeded after a more or less
long period of training, to re-unite his soul with the "Universal
Soul" or to "join" with Parabrahm...one who has linked his 7th
and 6th principles or Atman and Buddhi and placed thereby his
lower principles or Manas (the animal soul and the personal ego)
en rapport with the Universal Principle, then...He may be
classified with the Mahatmas, since this word means simply a
"great soul"... The Rishis--at any rate those who can be proved
to have actually lived (since many of those who are
mentioned...are more or less mythical) were of course "Mahatmas,"
in the broad sense of the word...The real Yogis, the heirs to the
wisdom of the Aryan Rishis, are not to be met, however, in the
world mixing with the profane and allowing themselves to be known
as Yogis. Happy are they to whom the whole world is open, and
who know it from their inaccessible ashrams; while the world
(with the exception of a very few) knowing them not, denies their
very existence... The exposition of "Occultism"... has been
clear enough to show that it is the Science by the study and
practice of which the student can become a MAHATMA. The articles
"The Elixir of Life" [ FIVE YEARS OF THEOSOPHY, p. 1 ] and...are
clear enough on this point. They also explain scientifically the
necessity of being a vegetarian for the purposes of psychic
development. Read and study, and you will find why
Vegetarianism, Celibacy, and especially total abstinence from
wine and spirituous drink are strictly necessary for "the
development of Occult knowledge"...	HPB ARTICLES III 165-167


"MANAS...THE INNER OR HIGHER "EGO" ... The "Fifth Principle,
so-called, independently of Buddhi. The Mind-Principle is only
the Spiritual Ego when merged into and one with Buddhi,--no
materialist being supposed to have in him such an Ego, however
great his intellectual capacities. It is the permanent
Individuality or the "Reincarnating Ego." ("The human Ego is
neither Atman nor Buddhi, but the higher Manas...Karana Sarira
(the "causal body") on the plane of the Sutratma (thread soul),
which is the golden thread on which, like beads, the various
personalities of the Ego are strung."	(SD II 79)


"HIGHER EGO"...it is the higher Manas illuminated by Buddhi,
[Taijasi] the principle of self-consciousness, the "I-am-I"...the
Karana Sarira, the immortal man which passes from one incarnation
to another." ( see Trans. p. 63)	Key p. 176


"The Soul (Higher Manas) "is the PERCEIVER; is vision itself
pure and simple; and looks directly upon ideas." Pat. p. 26,


"since the MAHATMA is but an advanced occultist, who has so far
controlled his lower "self" as to hold it more or less in
complete subjection to the Cosmic impulse, it is in the nature of
things impossible for him to act in any other but an unselfish
manner. No sooner does he allow his "personal self" to assert
itself, than he ceases to be a MAHATMA...The law of Cosmic
evolution is ever operating to achieve its purpose of ultimate
unity and to carry the phenomenal into the noumenal plane, and
the MAHATMAS, being en rapport with it, are assisting that
purpose...they alone have got to the basic knowledge which can
determine the right course and exercise proper discrimination.
And for us...it will be evident that, as soon as the least
feeling of selfishness tries to assert itself, the vision of the
spiritual sense, which is the only perception of the MAHATMA,
becomes clouded and he looses the "power" which abstract
"knowledge" alone can confer. Hence the vigilant watch of the
"will" we have constantly to exercise to prevent our lower nature
from coming up to the surface..."	TH. MVT. X p. 138-9


"...the "Ego" in man is a monad that has gathered to itself
innumerable experiences through aeons of time, slowly unfolding
its latent potencies through plane after plane of matter. It is
hence called the "eternal pilgrim."

The Manasic, or mind principle, is cosmic and universal. It is
the creator of all forms, and the basis of all law in nature.
Not so with consciousness. Consciousness is a condition of the
monad as a result of embodiment in matter and the dwelling in a
physical form. Self-consciousness, which from the animal plane
looking upward is the beginning of perfection, from the divine
plane looking downwards is the perfection of selfishness and the
curse of separateness. it is the "world of illusion" that man
has created for himself. "Maya is the perceptive faculty of
every Ego which considers itself a Unit, separate from and
independent of the One Infinite and Eternal Sat or 'be-ness',"
(SD I 329) The "eternal pilgrim" must therefore mount higher,
and flee from the plane of self-consciousness it has struggled so
hard to reach."	WQJ Art I 29


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I hope these will help understand the basis and complexity of the
questions.

Best wishes,

Dallas






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

-----Original Message-----
From: M
Sent:	Tuesday, July 29, 2003 6:48 PM
To:	study@blavatsky.net
Subject:	[bn-study] re "free will"


Larry wrote: <<The more advanced individual may be at a level
where some of this is of a lessened effect or even non-existent,
depending on exactly which level of being we are speaking of.
Does this mean they no longer possess free will, or is it that
they
are even more able to exercize that will in comparison to those
of
us still encumbered as we are dealing more with the lower self?
>.

I wonder if "lower" and "higher" might, alternately, (or
"Alternately," from a "Higher" perspective) be seen as somewhat
equally mayavic, (ie, as essentially mayavic as the
dualistic/multiplistic "free will" of "ordinary reality"), along
with
a conditioned or worldview-related "contrast"
("interpretive"/karmic variant) that might be theoretically known
as "unfree will" (?)... so that a "r/Realer " question about
"higher
free will" (if such a question might evolve from whatever
essentially speculative/"intuitive," modelistic, or Theosophic
sources?) might concern the transcendence of such essentially
dualistic/karmic dream-reality, (if "dualistic" with
interpretive/multiplistic variables, as per Leon), as by was of,
eg,
whatever apparent bridging effects, models, interpretive/karmic
tendencies such as Theosophy ... ?

CUT