Theos-Talk Archives (January 2004 Message tt00253)

Friday, January 16, 2004

Re: Our "Angel" -- the HIGHER SELF


Dear Friends:

A recent inquiry referred to Angles, enquiring into their reality or
otherwise.

Here are some notes on the possibilities this subject opens from the
theosophical point of view:

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




ANGELS AND THE HIGHER SELF


HPB in the Secret Doctrine offers a fundamental concept
						

"...every atom in the Universe has the potentiality of
self-consciousness in it, and is...a Universe in itself, and for itself.
It is an atom and an angel."	
SD I 107 (also I 569)


Man's spirituality is that of an "eclipsed angel":  


"...his ("the angel"-man's) primordial spirituality is eclipsed and
overshadowed by nascent human mentality (at this present stage ) SD I
189." And, later on , she uses the suggestive phrase: ...the
"Angel-Monad"... SD I 574 fn.   



Then we are offered a survey of history from the beginning of man's
independence as a free-thinking Soul, meeting, melding and working in
and through matter, developing a consciousness of Self in that "mortal
being," and then proceeding to assist it on its return journey to the
"central seat" of the Spiritual condition from which it exiled itself
originally, but now, with all the accumulated experience acquired by
this process :


"Theosophy teaches that separation from the Primal Source having once
occurred, Re-union can only be achieved by Will--Effort--...the Radiant
Archangels, Dhyan Chohans...refused to create, because they wanted Man
to become his own creator and an immortal god...the divine
"Rebels"...preferred the curse of incarnation and the long cycles of
terrestrial existence and rebirths, to seeing the misery (even if
unconscious) of the beings (evolved as shadows out of their Brethren)
through the semi-passive energy of their too spiritual Creators...to
humanize Self...he must be born human not angelic. Hence, tradition
shows the celestial Yogis offering themselves as voluntary victims in
order to redeem Humanity--created god-like and perfect at first--and to
endow him with human affections and aspirations. To do this they had to
give up their natural status and, descending on our globe, take up their
abode on it for the whole cycle of the Mahayuga, thus exchanging their
impersonal individualities for individual personalities--the bliss of
sidereal existence for the curse of terrestrial life. This voluntary
sacrifice of the Fiery Angels, whose nature was Knowledge and Love, was
construed by the exoteric theologies in to a statement that shows "the
rebel angels hurled down from heaven into the darkness of Hell"--our
Earth."	SD II 246



In the Secret Doctrine, Vol. II, pp 78-80 the source of the intelligence
that is evolving in man is discussed: one aspect being
called--celestial or Divine, and the other--material, or Lunar.
HPB then states:

"The human Ego is neither Atman nor Buddhi, but the higher Manas: the
intellectual fruition and the efflorescence of the intellectual
self-conscious Egoism--in the higher spiritual sense. The ancient works
refer to it as Karana Sarira on the plane of the Sutratma [ the "causal
body" on the plane of the immortal "thread-Soul"], which is the golden
thread on which, like beads, the various personalities of this higher
Ego are strung. If the reader were told, as in the semi esoteric
allegories, that these Beings were returning Nirvanees, from preceding
Maha-Manvantaras--ages of incalculable duration which have rolled away
in the Eternity...he would hardly understand the text correctly..."
SD II 79-80



Then, this history reveals a course of gradual increasing error and
misunderstanding. From these, has resulted ignorance, and following
this, human degradation has followed and become entrenched. 


This results in our present condition. But this is not devoid of hope
for those who work, who struggle to secure the return of a general
condition in which their own original divinity reigned over all. The
individual struggle to regain excellence, elevates the material rind
which is that which the Dhyanis seek to raise, by taking that aspect of
Nature, and matter on--so that it could benefit, through self-induced
effort in that only process of trial and effort that leads it to express
its innate and highest quality. (see Ocean, p. 60).  


The potentiality of the spiritual in Man has to be made actual. 


"As the "coats of skin" of men thickened, and they fell more and more
into physical sin, the intercourse between physical and ethereal divine
man was stopped. The veil of matter between the two planes became too
dense for even the inner man to penetrate. The mysteries of Heaven and
Earth, revealed to the Third Race by their celestial teachers in the
days of their purity, became a great focus of light, the rays from which
became necessarily weakened as they were diffused and shed upon an
uncongenial, because too material soil. With the masses they
degenerated into Sorcery, taking on the shape of exoteric religions, of
idolatry full of superstitions, and man-, or hero-worship. Alone a
handful of primitive men--in whom the spark of divine Wisdom burnt
bright, and only strengthened in its intensity as it got dimmer with
every age in those who turned it to bad purposes--remained the elect
custodians of the Mysteries revealed to mankind by the divine Teachers.
"	SD II 281



GUARDIAN ANGELS


On the question of the "Guardian Angels" HPB offers the concept, found
in the Voice of the Silence, as the "Guardian Wall," formed of the great
Adepts, Buddha, Dhyan Chohans, and Nirmanakayas, who sacrifice their
divine condition and attainments to live with, overshadow, influence,
and protect those of humanity who are deserving, and can assist in
helping their fellows.  


In the Theosophical Glossary, we find: "Guardian Wall. A suggestive
name given to the host of translated adepts (narjols) or the Saints
collectively, who are supposed to watch over, help and protect Humanity.
This is the so-called "Nirmanakayas" doctrine in Northern mystic
Buddhism." T. Glos, p. 139


"...It is taught that the accumulated efforts of long generations of
Yogis, Saints and Adepts, especially of the Nirmanakayas, have created,
so to say, a wall of protection around mankind, which wall shields
mankind invisibly from still worse evils." Voice p. 74 fn



"...the Nirmanakayas who upon ceasing their lives of "practical Bodhi"
[the universal and abstract principle of divine wisdom], in the
"enlightened" or Buddha forms, remain voluntarily in the Kamadatu (the
world of desire), whether in objective forms on earth or in subjective
states in its sphere...This they do in order to watch over, protect and
help mankind..." T. Glos. p. 343. 



What is a Nirmanakaya ? In seeking explanation we find:  


"As a Nirmanakaya...the man leaves behind him only his physical body,
and retains every other "principle" save the Kamic--for he has crushed
this out for ever from his nature, during life, and it can never
resurrect in his post mortem state. Thus, instead of going into selfish
bliss, he chooses a life of self-sacrifice, an existence which ends only
with the life-cycle, in order to be enabled to help mankind in an
invisible yet most effective manner...[he] has since become a member of
that invisible Host which ever protects and watches over Humanity within
Karmic limits. Mistaken often for a "Spirit," a Deva, God himself,
etc., a Nirmanakaya is ever a protecting, compassionate, verily a
guardian angel, to him who becomes worthy of his help...no one will be
bold enough to say that this idea of helping suffering mankind at the
price of one's own almost interminable self-sacrifice, is not one of the
grandest and noblest that was ever evolved from human brain."
T. Glos. p. 231
 


Every one of those great Beings has at one time, without exception,
passed through the human condition, and has won his freedom and
independence by the process of exercising free-will and choice to
conserve and support the great Law of all evolution--Karma. This Law of
cause and effect is both just and merciful, as it is impartial and
universal...all beings, beginning with the Monads and Life-Atoms, are
potentially divine. Experience, and the freedom to choose, gives that
strength, compassion and courage necessary to make the Divine MAN. Such
true divinity is always self-made. The great task we need to attempt is
to "regain the memory of past lives." In other words we assure
ourselves of our immortality, and begin to live and act as truly
immortal beings should live and act in the present. Theosophy provides
the evidence and our mind finds the proofs.


Writing in an article titled "Tibetan Teachings" HPB says:


"...there are among the Bodhisattvas and the Lha--'and rare as the
flower of udumbara are they to meet with'--who voluntarily relinquish
the blessing of the attainment of perfect freedom, and remain in their
personal selves, whether in forms visible or invisible to mortal
sight--to teach and help their weaker brothers. Some of them prolong
their life on earth--though not to any supernatural limit; others
become 'Dhyan-Chohans,' a class of the planetary spirits or 'devas' who,
becoming, so to say, the guardian angels of men, are the only class out
of the seven-classed hierarchy of spirits in our system who preserve
their personality. These holy Lha, instead of reaping the fruit of
their deeds, sacrifice themselves in the invisible world as the lord
Sang-gyas--Buddha--did on this earth..."	HPB Art. III 351


To further give us an idea of this process and hint at what we are
interiorly, we can meditate on Mr. Judge's clear statement (there he
reminds us that the potential "Master" is within each of us) : "The
image of the Master is the best protection against lower influences;
think of the Master as a living man within you."     
Letters That Have Helped Me, p. 164


"Now as the great Adepts live in the plane of our inner nature, it must
follow that they might be actively helping every one of us...and we, as
physical brain men, not be conscious of it on this plane."	WQJ Art.
II p. 506.


To give an example of this teaching in actuality, we find a portion of a
letter that HPB wrote to Mr. Judge from Ostende on October 3rd 1886:


"The trouble with you is that you do not know the great change that has
come to pass in you a few years ago. Others have occasionally their
astrals changed and replaced by those of Adepts...and they influence the
outer, and the higher man. With you, it is the nirmanakaya not the
'astral' that blended with your astral. Hence the dual nature and the
fighting."	CWB 7 p. 138 


>From time to time, those who pay close attention to events around them,
and to their own ideas and intuitions, become aware of evidences of this
influence. If one is sincere in the desire to help others, and to
spread the teachings of Theosophy, so as to assist a wider sphere of
people who might profit from them, they become the channels, so to say,
for those Nirmanakayas to work.


Mr. Judge, on this subject, gives some more detail:


"...an Adept who, in order to devote himself to mankind, has consciously
given up his right to pass into Nirvana. He has no material body, but
possesses all the other principles; and, for such an one space is no
obstacle. There are many of them, and they perform various works; some
take full possession of great reformers, or statesmen who carry on a
beneficial policy; others overshadow sometimes several persons, causing
them to act, speak, and write in such a way as to produce needed changes
in their fellow men. These Nirmanakayas pass through the haunts of men
unseen and unknown; only the effects of their influence and presence
are perceived, and these results are attributed to the genius of the
individual or to chance alone."	
WQJ Art. II 477-8


"...frequently during the minor cycles it is necessary...'to impart a
beneficent impulse in the republics of mankind.' This can be done by
using less power than would be dissipated were a celestial Being to
descend upon earth, and here the doctrine of the influence among us of
Nirmanakayas, of Gnanis is supported in these words:

For there is indeed in the terrestrial abode the sacred tribe of heroes,
who pay attention to mankind, and who are able to give them assistance
even in the smallest concerns. The heroic tribe is...a colony from the
gods established here in order that this terrene abode may not be left
destitute of a better nature.

These "heroes" are none other than the Nirmanakayas--Adepts of this or
previous Manvantaras--who remain here in various states or conditions.
Some are not using bodies at all, but keep spirituality alive among men
in all parts of the world; and other are actually using bodies in the
world. Who the latter are it would of course be impossible for me to
know, and if I had the information, to give it out would be improper. 

And among this "sacred tribe of heroes" must be classed other souls.
They are those who, although now inhabiting bodies and moving among men,
have passed through many occult initiations in previous lives, but are
not condemned, as it were, to the penance of living in circumstances and
in bodies that hem them in, as well as for a time make them forget the
glorious past. But their influence is always felt, even if they
themselves are not aware of it. for their higher nature being in fact
more developed than that of other men, it influences other natures at
night or in hours of the day when all is favorable. The fact that these
obscured adepts are not aware now of what they really are, only has to
do with their memory of the past; it does not follow, because a man
cannot remember his past initiations, that he has had none. [ see
also Transactions, pp. 66-77 ]

"But there are some cases in which we can judge with a degree of
certainty that such adepts were incarnated and what they were named.
Take Thomas Vaughn, Raymond Lully, Sir Thomas More, Jacob Boehme,
Paracelsus, and others like them...These souls were as witnesses to the
truth, leaving through the centuries in their own natures, evidence for
those who followed, and suggestions for keeping spirituality
bright--seed-thoughts, as it were, ready for the new mental soil. And
as well as these historical characters, there are countless numbers of
men and women now living who have passed through certain initiations
during their past lives upon earth, and who produce effects in many
directions quite unknown to themselves now. They are, in fact, old
friends of "the sacred tribe of heroes," and can therefore be more
easily used for the spreading of influences and the carrying out of
effects necessary for the preservation of spirituality in this age of
darkness."
WQJ Art I 192-4


"The idea of guardian angels of men, races, localities, cities, and
nations, was taken by the Roman Catholics from the pre-christian
occultists and pagans...Only the ancient profane, never seemed sure any
more than the modern whether an apparition was the eidolon of a relative
or the genius of the locality...The doctrines of Theosophy are simply
the faithful echoes of Antiquity, Man is a Unity only at his origin and
at his end. All the Spirits, all the Souls, gods, and demons emanate
from and have for their root-principle the Soul of the Universe--says
Porphyry...Not a philosopher of any notoriety who did not believe 1) in
reincarnation (metempsychosis), 2) in the plurality of principles in
man, or that man had two Souls of separate and quite different natures;
one perishable, the Astral Soul, the other incorruptible and immortal;
and 3) that the former was not the man whom it represented--"neither
his spirit not his body, but his reflection at best."	
HPB Art. II 287-8


"The angels or Dhyan Chohans are the "Living Ones;" that Principle the
"Self-Existent," the eternal, and all-pervading cause of all causes, is
only the abstract noumenon of the "River of Life," whose ever rolling
waves create men and angels alike, the former being simply "men of a
superior kind,"...The masses of mankind are thus well justified in
believing in a plurality of Gods; nor is it by calling them now,
spirits, angels, and demons, that Christian nations are less
polytheistic than their Pagan brethren...Although these Gods are said to
be "superior to man in some respects," it must not be concluded that the
latent potencies of the human spirit are at all inferior to those of the
devas. Their faculties are more expanded than those of the ordinary
man; but with the ultimate effect of prescribing a limit to their
expression, to which the human spirit is not subjected..."
HPB Art II 175

[See: "Star-Angel Worship in the R. C. Church" by HPB ]
HPB Art. III 386-400

[ Nirmanakayic work with mankind -- examples		
WQJ Art. I 246 341 433 615-6i; 
HPB Art. III 349; ML 43-4 ]


Both HPB and WQJ explain the existence of other powerful beings that
live in the astral light surrounding our Earth:


"...there are two classes of beings able to influence mankind at large:
the one being the "living human Mahatmas," and the other the non-human
beings, who, though not strictly in our stream of evolution, can and
sometimes do affect certain human beings. For the purposes of this
answer--but not at all as a full description--the Saptarishi, as meant
by H.P.B., are in a very advanced class of elementals, able sometimes to
communicate with man, and by their apparent knowledge to make him
suppose them to be high spiritual beings regularly evolved from the
human stage. But, in fact, they are not human spirits, but of the same
character as some of the Devas of the Hindus, and only by accident, as
it were, work to the real benefit of the race. That is to say, by
communicating with them one is deflected from the normal line of human
development. In some cases they have influenced certain mediums, who,
being deluded, or rather dazzled, by the extraordinary experiences
passed through, do not lean to the human side of spiritual evolution.
On the other hand, the "living human Mahatmas" form the direct link with
the human spirits of all degrees, who have charge of human spiritual
evolution."	
WQJ Art. II 488-9
	


"Prayer" or Invocation, attributed to W.Q.J.


Most Holy One within !
Illumine my darkness, Instruct my ignorance,
And make me to feel myself one with the Universal.
			
Thou everywhere present Good,
Thou Life of every living thing !
Thou Perfection, whom to know is Life Eternal:

Thou hast kindled the Divine spark within the self 	
of my soul, and I know my Spirit to be one with Thee !
Help me, Oh my Higher Self !

[ Source unknown ]
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