Theos-Talk Archives (May 2004 Message tt00174)

 May 20 2004



Some views on ATMA and BUDDHI



Offered by 



DTB





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B U D D H I 



CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS FORMS







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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 Per-ceivers. 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 ob-jective 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 in-carnating 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 Spiritu-al Soul
Alaya, is the vehicle of Mahat only when that Buddhi cor-responds to
Prakriti. Then it is called Maha-Buddhi. This Bud-dhi 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 Man-vantaric
Principle of Intelligence--acts as a Brain, through which the
Universal and Eternal Mind radiates the Ah-hi, repre-senting 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 Ma-hat, 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, "Maha-buddhi" being
synonymous with MAHAT." 

GLOS. 6





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





"...the ever-equilibrising mother-nature on the purely spir-itual 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







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...Sukshmasarira...Sukshmopadhi..."

GLOS. 312





Sukshmopadhi (Sk) "...the principle (in Taraka Raj-Yoga) containing
both the higher and the lower Manas and Kama. It cor-responds 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 rath-er 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







SOME IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS





AKASA (Sk.) "The subtle, supersensuous spiritual es-sence which
pervades all space; The primordial substance errone-ously 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 objec-tivity, 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 S,D, Vol. I, 47, et seq.)
The name belongs to the Tibetan system of the contem-plative 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 Mo-nad, 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 incognizable 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, animat-ing the highest god as well as
the smallest mineral atom. Brahma, on the other hand, the male and the
alleged Creator, exists peri-odically 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 divid-ed;
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 abstrac-tion 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 uni-verse
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 per-ishes. 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 de-sire 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 crea-tive 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 pri-mal germ of mind, and which Sages,
searching with their intel-lect, have discovered in their heart to be
the bond which con-nects 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 ban-ner,
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 Karano-padhi 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 princi-ple 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 sen-tient reincarnating
Principle in man. When qualified it is called by Theosophists
Buddhi-Manas or the Spiritual Soul in con-tradistinction 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 dei-fic
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 Mulaprakri-ti 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 crea-tive 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 trop-ical 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 princi-ples,
considering him under three aspects of the divine, the thinking or the
rational, and the animal man--the lower quater-nary or the purely
astro-physical being; while by Individuality is meant the Higher
Triad, considered as a Unity. Thus the Per-sonality 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 else-where 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--plane-tary, 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 dissolu-tion of the
visible into the invisible, the heterogeneous into the homogeneous--a
time of rest...even cosmic matter, indestruct-ible 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 activi-ty." 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 them-selves
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 collec-tive sense), Nous
(Spirit or Mind), Phren (physical mind), and Thumos (Kama-rupa or
passions) we add the eidolon of the myster-ies, 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 indis-solubly 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 high-est 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 condi-tioned
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 spir-ituality or
materiality..." GLOS. 306





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A T M A 




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"...you are not body, brain, or astral man, but that you are THAT, and
"THAT" is the Supreme Soul." WQJ LETTERS 116





"Atma, the "Higher Self," is neither your Spirit nor mine, but like
sunlight shines on all. It is the universally diffused "divine
principle," and is inseparable from its one and absolute Meta-Spirit,
as the sunbeam is inseparable from sunlight. Key 135



"Buddhi (the spiritual soul) is only its vehicle. Neither each
separately, nor the two collectively, are of any more use to the body
of man, than sunlight and its beams are for a mass of granite buried
in the earth, unless the divine Duad is assimilated by, and reflected
in, some consciousness. Neither Atma nor Buddhi are ever reached by
Karma, because the former is the highest aspect of Karma, its working
agent of ITSELF in one aspect, and the other is unconscious on this
plane." Key 135





"...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...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 emana-tion. 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...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
correla-tion of spiritual powers, as well as a correlation of chemical
and physical forces, brought into function by what we call
"prin-ciples." ...the spirit (Atma) never descends hypostatically into
the living man, but only showers more or less its radiance on the
inner man (the psychic and spiritual compound of the astral
principles)..." Key 101-2 



.Osiris, the collective unit, when differentiated and personified,
become 

"Iswara" (Sk.) The "Lord" or the personal
god--divine Spirit in man. Lit., sovereign (independent) existence.
A title given to Siva and other gods in India. Siva is also called
Is-waradeva." Glos 158





"Adi-Bhuta (Sk.) The first Being; also primordial
ele-ment Adbhuta is a title of Vishnu, the "first Element" containing
all elements, "the unfathomable deity." Glos p. 6





"Adi-Budhi" (Sk.) Primeval Intelligence
or Wisdom; the eternal Budhi or Universal Mind. Used of Divine
Ideation, "Maha-buddhi" being synonymous with Mahat." Glos. P.
6







Vignanamaya Kosha (Sk.) "The third is the true Ego, called..."causal
body"...which in the trans-Himalayan schools is always called the
"Karmic body,"...For Karma or action is the cause which produces
incessant rebirths or "reincarnations." It is not the Monad, nor is
it Manas proper; but is, in a way, in-dissolubly connected with, and
a compound of the Monad and Manas in Devachan." 

HPB- "Dialogues Between the Two Editors. -- HPB
Articles II p. 39





"Bodha means the innate possession of divine intellect or
"understanding;" "Buddha," the acquirement of it by personal ef-forts
and merit; while Buddhi is the faculty of cognizing the channel
through which divine knowledge reaches the "Ego," the discernment of
good and evil, "divine conscience" also; and "Spiritual Soul," which
is the vehicle of Atma. "When Buddhi absorbs our EGO-tism (destroys
it) with all its Vikara, Avaloki-teshwara becomes manifested to us,
and Nirvana, or Mukti, is reached," "Mukti" being the same as Nirvana,
i.e., freedom from the trammels of "Maya" or illusion.



"Bodhi" is likewise the name of a particular state of trance
condition, called Samadhi, during which the subject reaches the
culmination of spiritual knowledge." SD I xix







Manvantaric Body used by the Adepts

"Kumaras" -- The Custodians of the
Mysteries -- The Undying Race





"Alone a handful of primitive men -- in whom the spark of divine
Wisdom burnt bright, and only strengthened in its intensi-ty as it got
dimmer and dimmer with every age in those who turned it to bad
purposes--remained the elect custodians of the Myster-ies revealed to
mankind by the divine Teachers. There were those among them, who
remained in their Kumaric condition from the beginning; and tradition
whispers, what the secret teachings affirm, namely, that these Elect
were the germs of a Hierarchy which never died since that period:--



"The inner man of the first * * * only changes his body from time to
time; he is ever the same, knowing neither rest nor Nirvana, spurning
Devachan and remaining constantly on Earth for the salvation of
mankind ..." "Out of the seven virgin-men (Ku-mara) four sacrificed
themselves for the sins of the world and the instruction of (282) the
ignorant, to remain till the end of the present Manvantara. Though
unseen, they are ever present. When people say of one of them, "He
is dead;" behold, he is alive and under another form. These are the
Head, the Heart, the Soul, and the Seed of undying knowledge (Gnyana).
Thou shalt never speak, O Lanoo, of these great ones (Maha...) before
a mul-titude, mentioning them by their names. The wise alone will
un-derstand." (Catechism of the Inner Schools.)
SD II 281-2





"...the early sub-races had evolved an intermediate
race in which...the higher Dhyan Chohans had incarnated. ( fn.) This
is the "undying race" as it is called in Esotericism, and
exoteri-cally the fruitless generation of the first progeny of Daksha,
who curses Narada, the divine Rishi ... by saying "Be born in the
womb; there shall not be a resting place for thee in all these
regions;" after this Narada, the representative of that race of
fruitless ascetics, is said, as soon as he dies in one body, to be
reborn in another." SD II 275 - fn





"Happily for the human race the "Elect Race" had
already become the vehicle of incarnation for the (intellectually and
spiritually) highest Dhyanis before Humanity had become quite
material. When the last sub-races...of the 3rd Race had perished with
the great Lemurian Continent, "the seeds of the Trinity of Wisdom" had
already acquired the secret of immortality on Earth, that gift which
allows the same great personality to step ad libitum from one worn-out
body into another." SD II 276





"...there exists a power which can create human
forms--ready-made sheaths for the "conscious monads" or Nirmana-kayas
of past Manvantaras to incarnate within ... (653) a living Entity
consolidating the astral body with surrounding materials..."
SD II 652-3







Nirmanakayas and Mahatmas -- Living, Invisible, 

Spirits of the Sages





"...those Egos of great Adepts who have passed away,
and are also known as Nirmanakayas;...for whom--since they are beyond
illusion--there is no Devachan, and who, having either voluntari-ly
renounced it for the good of mankind, or not yet reached Nirvana,
remain invisible on earth...they are re-born over and over again...Who
they are, "on earth"--every student of Occult science knows..."
SD II 615





"The real Mahatma is then not his physical body but
that higher Manas which is inseparably linked to the Atma and its
vehicle (6th principle) -- a union effected by him in a compara-tively
very short period by passing through the self-evolution laid down by
the Occult Philosophy." HPB ART I 293





"Whoever...wants to see the real Mahatma, must use his
intellectual sight. He must so elevate his Manas that its
per-ceptions will be clear and all mists created by Maya must be
dispelled. His vision will then be bright and he will see the
MAHATMAS wherever he may be, for, being merged into the 6th and the
7th principles, which are ubiquitous and omnipresent, the MAHATMAS may
be said to be everywhere." HPB ART I 294





"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





"Remember, thou that fightest for man's liberation,*
each failure is success and each sincere attempt wins its reward in
time." * This is an allusion to a well-known belief in the
East...that every additional Buddha or Saint is a new soldier in the
army of those who work for the liberation, or salvation of mankind.
In Northern Buddhist countries, where the doctrine of the
Nirmanakayas--those Bodhisattvas who renounce well-earned Nirvana or
the Dharmakaya vesture (both of which shut them out forever from the
world of men) in order to invisibly assist mankind and lead it finally
to Paranirvana--is taught, every new Bodhisattva, or initiated great
Adept, is called the "liberator of mankind." Voice of the
Silence, p. 69





"A Bodhisattva is, in the hierarchy, less than a
"perfect Buddha." In the exoteric parlance these two are very much
con-fused. Yet the innate and right popular perception, owing to that
self-sacrifice has placed a Bodhisattva higher in its rever-ence than
a Buddha.



This same popular reverence calls "Buddhas of
Compassion" those Bodhisattvas who, having reached the rank of an
Arhat (i.e., have completed the fourth or seventh Path), refuse to
pass into the Nirvanic state or "don the Dharmakaya robe and cross to
the other shore," as it would then become beyond their power to assist
men even so little as Karma permits. They prefer to remain invisibly
(in Spirit, so to speak) in the world, and contribute towards man's
salvation by influencing them to follow the Good Law, i.e., lead them
on the Path of Righteousness..." VOICE OF THE
SILENCE, p. 77





"Nirmanakaya...is that ethereal form which one would
assume when leaving his physical he would appear in his astral
body--having in addition all the knowledge of an Adept. The
Bod-hisattva develops it in himself as he proceeds on the Path.
Hav-ing reached the goal and refused its fruition, he remains on
Earth, as an Adept; and when he dies, instead of going into Nir-vana,
he remains in that glorious body he has woven for himself, invisible
to uninitiated mankind, to watch over and protect it...Thus, to be
enabled to help humanity, an Arhat who has won the right to Nirvana,
"renounces the Dharmakaya body" in mystic parlance; keeps, of the
Sambhogakaya, only the great and com-plete knowledge, and remains in
his Nirmanakaya body. The Eso-teric School teaches that Gautama
Buddha, with several of his Arhats, is such a Nirmanakaya higher than
whom, on account of the great renunciation and sacrifice for mankind,
there is none known." VOICE 77-8







Individuality Persists Through any Pralaya 

to the Next Manvantara





"...I maintain as an occultist on the authority of the
Secret Doctrine, that though merged entirely into Parabrahm, man's
spirit while not individual per se, yet preserves its distinct
individuality in Paranirvana, owing to the accumulation in it of the
aggregates, or skandhas that have survived after each death, from the
highest faculties of the Manas. The most spiritual--i.e., the highest
and divinest aspirations of every personality follow Buddhi and the
Seventh Principle into Devachan (Swarga) after the death of the
Monad...the individuality of the spirit-soul...is preserved to the end
of the great cycle (Maha-Manwantara) when each Ego enters Paranirvana,
or is merged in Parabrahm...however long the "night of Brahma" or even
the Uni-versal Pralaya...yet, when it ends, the same individual Divine
Monad resumes its majestic path of evolution, though on a higher,
hundredfold perfected and more pure chain of earths (266) than before,
and brings with it all the essence of compound spiritual-ities from
its previous countless rebirths." HPB
ARTICLES III 265-6







"We should remember that we were self-conscious beings
when this planet began; some even were self-conscious when this solar
system began; for there is a difference in degree of development
among human beings. If the planet or solar system began in a state of
primordial substance or nebulous matter ... then we must have had
bodies of that state of substance, In that finest substance there are
all the possibilities of every grade of matter, and hence it is that
within the true body of primordial matter all the changes of coarser
and coarser substance have been brought about; and within that body
is all experience. Our birth is within that body--a body of a nature
which does not change throughout the whole Manvantara. Each one has
such a body of finest substance, of the inner nature, which is the
real container for the individual. In it he lives and moves and has
his being, and yet even the great glory and fineness of that body is
not the man; it is merely the highest vesture of the Soul. The Real
Man we are is the Man that was, that is, and that ever shall be, for
whom the hour will never strike--Man, the thinker; Man, the
perceiver--always thinking, continually acting...We are that One
Spirit, each standing in a vast assemblage of beings in this great
universe, seeing and knowing what he can through the instrument he
has. We are the Trinity--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;
or, in theosophical parlance, we are Atma, Buddhi, and Manas. Atma is
the One Spirit, not belonging to any one, but to all. Buddhi is the
sublimated experience of all the past. Manas is the thinking power,
the thinker, the man, the immortal man. There is no man without the
Spirit..." RC -- FP p. 237






Septenary Hosts of Dhyanis






"There are 7 chief groups of such Dhyan Chohans...the prime-val Seven
Rays. Humanity, occultism teaches, is divided into 7 distinct groups
and their sub-divisions, mental, spiritual, and physical (fn) ...(FN)
Hence the 7 chief planets, the spheres of the indwelling 7 spirits,
under each of which is born one of the human groups which is guided
and influenced thereby. There are only 7 planets (specially connected
with this earth), and 12 houses...countless...each of which varieties
is born under one of the 7 planets and one of the said countless
planetary combina-tions." SD I 573 & fn





"...'the Mind'...the collective body of Dhyan Chohans,
we say--began to work upon and communicated to it motion and order..."
SD I 595





"The hosts of these Sons of Light and "Mind-born Sons"
of the first manifested Ray of the Unknown All, are the very root of
spiritual man."
SD I 106





"...the 7 wise ones (rays of wisdom, Dhyanis) fashion
7 paths (or lines as also Races in another sense)...they are
pri-marily beams of light falling on the paths leading to wisdom...the
7 Rays which fall free from the macrocosmic centre, the 7 principles
in the metaphysical, the 7 Races in the physical sense." SD II 191 fn





"It is then the "Seven Sons of Light"--called after
their planets (by the rabble) often identified with them--namely
Sat-urn, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Venus...the Sun and Moon, which
are...our heavenly Parents, or "Father," synthetically...the 4
exoteric planets, and the 3 others...were the heavenly bodies in
direct astral and psychic communication with the Earth its Guides, and
Watchers--morally and physically...their "Regents" or Rectors with our
Monads and spiritual faculties." 

SD I 575





"The 7 Beings in the Sun are the 7 Holy Ones,
Self-born from the inherent power in the matrix of Mother substance.
it is they who send the 7 Principal Forces, called rays, which at the
begin-ning of Pralaya will center into 7 new Suns for the next
Manvan-tara. The energy from which they spring into conscious
existence in every Sun, is what some people call Vishnu (fn) which is
the Breath of Absoluteness. (Fn) In the same manner as a man
approaches a mirror placed upon a stand, beholds in it his own image,
so the energy or reflection of Vishnu (the Sun) is never disjointed
but remains in the Sun as in a mirror that is there stationed."(Vishnu
Purana) SD I 290





Star of the soul SD I 570-3



Atmic Beings SD I 212





















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





Alaya (Sk.) The Universal Soul (SD I
47...). The name belongs to the Tibetan system of the contemplative
Mahayana School. Identical with Akasa in its mystic sense, and with
Mula-prakriti, in its essence, as it is the basis or root of all
things."
Theos. Glossary, p. 14





Mahat (Sk.) "The first principle of
Universal Intel-ligence and Consciousness...producer of root-nature or
Pradhana (...Mulaprakriti); the producer of Manas the thinking
principle and of Ahankara, egotism or the feeling of "I am I" (in the
lower Manas)."
Theos. Glossary, p. 201





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





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





"...the ever-equilibrising mother-nature on the purely
spir-itual 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























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