Theos-Talk Archives (September 2004 Message tt00568)

Sept 20 2004

RE: WHY THEOSOPHY? WHY EVOLUTION? WHERE ARE WE GOING?

Friends:

As I understand it, the link between the Lower Self [Kama-Manas] and its
HIGHER SELF {Atma-Buddhi] is unbreakable. [Read about the "antaskarana" and
the "thread-soul -- the SUTRATMA.--
[S D I 68 fn; S D I pp. 16-7, 222, 236, 610, II pp. 79-80, 513 ]

Consider the first Fundamental [S D I 14-16]

The Universe starts [from the incognizable and indefinable SAT or BENESS
also called the "ABSOLUTE,"] with two basic indestructible principles.
They are all-pervasive: 

(1) SPIRIT and 

(2) MATTER.  

As our Universe, solar system, and earth are in "manifestation, "

1	these pervade the entirety of boundless, indefinable and illimitable
SPACE.  

2	From the point of view of TIME they have neither beginning nor end,
and are held to be eternal.  

This Universe is a reincarnation of older Universes, just as our present
physical self is a reincarnation of earlier physical selves in which we have
lived and experienced.

3	For this reason every life-atom, o, "MONAD" (Atma-Buddhi - or
Spirit-Matter individuality) in whatever substantial shape or form, is
deemed to be an "immortal." This affords an answer to the query: Where did
I come from? And, where am I going?

4	For this reason all the phenomena of manifestation are held to be
similar to an eternal "School." Each incarnation is said to be like a "day
at School."

5	As a "School," our Earth and the rest of the Universe, is said to
have its "teachers," and those are its earlier "graduates." THEOSOPHY
calls them the "Adepts,: the Elder Brothers, the "Masters of Wisdom," --
the Mahatmas.

6	If we accept the probable exactitude of this idea and ideal, then
this "School" of our earth, is one in which every one of the eternal Monads
(each, a separate "Unit of Consciousness and of Free-Will,") are "students."
And these, as living and independent "soul/minds," have been called the
"Eternal Pilgrims." 

7	As to their individual destiny, each being responsible and
independent, makes its own "path." According to its endeavours and its
choices, it progresses -- slow or fast -- along the stages of the original
and general program. This is a program that has been determined by
experience over aeons of time and work. 

Every aspect of life, of desire, of thought and of action has made its
earlier records, and from those the faculty of Universal Buddhi (MAHABUDDHI
or Universal Wisdom) has evolved. Our individual Buddhi is that pure
"matter" (MULAPRAKRITI) which by its clarity and nature alone can be the
shrine of the ATMA within each of us. Every other "monad" is of the same
constitution.

8	It has also to be understood that this process has been in effect
for incalculable ages, everywhere in the vast Universe. From those records
and based on universal sensitivity the LAWS of KARMA have arisen. They are
immutable and no individual however high can alter them.

These Karmic Laws and all the regulations that guide the course of
evolution and the entire interlocking work and progress of innumerable
Monads has been recorded in the imperishable substance of the "Akasa."  

10	From these most ancient records one can trace every one of the Laws
of KARMA which regulate all relationships and ever adjust all results
mercifully and with due accuracy -- unerringly the relations of specific
effects to those who generate particular causes. This may be expressed as
follows: "The evil-doer only harms himself. The doer of good helps all."

11	In other words "virtue" is living and choosing according to the LAWS
OF NATURE; and "vice" is any selfish and isolated choice or desire, leading
to actions that tend to benefit one individual (usually one's self) at the
expense of another. 

12.	This condition of give and take and general progress, has been
always in existence under various names. It stands from the earliest of
times traced and outlined for all; thus it has been called: the Ideal PATH.
[An analogy is here offered -- as the rising SUN of TRUTH appears on the
horizon, so this great "Path" extends towards IT -- and those Pilgrims in
search of Sublime Perfection -- view IT as their path towards the Sublime
"Goal." ] {In ancient India this was epitomized in the "Gayatri" verse.}

13	This makes every being (monad), of any kind, visible or invisible,
large or small, intelligent or ignorant, tangible or intangible to our
physical senses, a Unit that is Responsible. Further, it is permeated with
these three universal essences (Spirit, Matter, and Mind or Intelligence).  

This establishes the permanent underlying relationship of Brotherhood. It
is a brotherhood of immortals and no such bond can ever be destroyed or
broken.

14	Logically, there cannot be any relation between these polar
opposites (Spirit and Matter) unless a third UNIVERSAL FACTOR is also
present.  

This is represented by the faculty of MIND [Manas or Universal Mind:
MAHAT]. This, is inevitably and always conjoined with DESIRE [Kama or the
Universal Primeval KAMADEVA ] -- [ see S D II 109-10, T. Glos. pp
170-1 "Kamadeva"].  

15	The Mind perceives interiorly the Ideal SPIRITUAL SELF --
ATMA-BUDDHI. It is the ETERNAL MONAD within .

16	Then, looking out at other individual Monads -- units -- that
surround it on all sides. it perceives the limitations that "matter" imposes
on them during the period of their individual struggle for that perfect
cooperative independence, under LAW, that marks the successful "Great Soul"
-- the Mahatma. 

This is the view that Theosophy affords to me -- of the situation and the
process of manifestation, and of individual evolution, as well as the grand
movement -- ever towards increments of amelioration -- from which the
mass of independent self-evolving Monads all benefit 


Best wishes Fellow Pilgrims, "Bon voyage" We may as well start now.

Dallas
 
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