Theos-Talk Archives (May 2004 Message tt00247)

 May 29 2004


Dear friends:

Recent postings seem to deal extensively with an understanding of
several terms we find used in Theosophy.  

This short review may prove to be of assistance in identifying some of
those and in describing the qualities associated with them

Here are some views on ATMA and BUDDHI

DTB


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

B U D D H I 

CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS FORMS
 


"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 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

 

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 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

 

SOME IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS

 

AKASA (Sk.) "The subtle, supersensuous spiritual es-sence 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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

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

 

A T M A 
 
============================
  

"...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,
becomes 

"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 Iswaradeva."
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.)
S D 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

 
"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


DTB