Theos-Talk Archives (November 2004 Message tt00039)

Nov 5 2004

Dear Friend:

May I put some notes below in the body of your posting? This will
illustrate what I have learned from THEOSOPHY.

".divine Wisdom being diffused throughout the infinite Universe, and our
impersonal Higher Self being an integral part of it, the Atmic light of the
latter can be centered only in that which though eternal is still
individualized-i.e., the noetic Principle, [Manas] the manifested God within
each rational being, or our Higher Manas at one with Buddhi."
"The Dual Aspect of Wisdom" ---HPB Articles II p. 31

Best wishes,

Dallas

(Some quotations on TRUTH follow below.)

================================
 
-----Original Message-----
From: cassilva48
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 9:22 PM
To: 
Subject: [bn-study] RE: How do the masters relate to these higher
hierarchies


C
Since reading the study notes on Manas, I have come to begin to understand
that the Masters, in raising their consciousness from the lower manas to
the higher manas are able to bypass time and space concepts of lower
manas, and communicate with us in ways that our limited consciousness is
not yet fully able to understand.

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

DTB	As I understand it, the so-called "raising of consciousness" by any
of the innumerable Monads who constitute Nature, regardless of their
"position," or the way we may think they are to be "designated," will depend
primarily on their MORAL ELEVATION.

They have to be absolutely harmless to all others. Thus, brotherhood, and
the gentlest consideration of others, is a fundamental rule. No one is to
be ever treated as a victim.  

Extending this further, no one may employ any of the knowledge and wisdom
they have acquired concerning Nature's Laws and their operation, for their
own personal benefit. 

As you say later, this does not prevent the "scattering of seeds" of
constructive and beneficial ideas to those who can best use them for the
benefit of humanity. 

The reason is: Nature, if regarded as a universally sensitive "School,"
provides a protection to every one of its milliards of constituent monads.
This is an inviolable rule. But it is also a rule of instruction -- to
share with those who are "ready" information and ideas that will benefit
masses of individuals in the course of time. 

This is a primary law -- and we might express it further: no one can invade
the consciousness of another for any reason unless prior consent has been
given. 

=============================================
 
C
So it is not unreasonable to think that higher forms of intelligence can
be in communion with us, through Higher Manas. A thought, spontaneously
occurs within our consciousness, as a new idea, springing into our
consciousness from who knows where, and if we act upon this new idea,
information is placed before us that either sets us on the journey of
discovery or can in fact resolve a question or problem that we may be
facing. As seeds are scattered in nature, knowledge comes to us from mind
to mind from where or how or from whom we cannot say. We only know that
something is there today that wasn't there yesterday. It came from
somewhere outside of our normal pattern of thinking. From our Higher
Manas or from someone operating through Higher Manas.

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

DTB	This sounds correct to me.

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

C
As we have no understanding of what it means to be conscious outside of
time and space concepts we cannot truly understand what it means or the
method it uses to "be in relationship with others outside of time and
space" on the path, we can only take it as an "act of faith" based on
reason at this point (where we are restricted by time and space concepts)
that there is a vibration higher than our own that does not rely on time
and space, but is infinite and immortal, and has access to all knowledge
and is willing to share that knowledge with anyone who seeks it out. In
this way, I believe the Masters relate to us and also to their Masters...
  
=======================================

DTB	As I said, there cannot be an improvement except in terms of moral
perfection. All the virtues have to be practised rigorously all the time.
None of the vices can be allowed into our consciousness.

Our present notions of the three dimensional world we live in and our
concept of time as a linear function and process need to be revised. 

Consider this from the SECRET DOCTRINE 

" Time is only an illusion produced by the succession of our states of
consciousness as we travel through eternal duration, and it does not exist
where no consciousness exists in which the illusion can be produced; but
"lies asleep." 

The present is only a mathematical line which divides that part of eternal
duration which we call the future, from that part which we call the past.
Nothing on earth has real duration, for nothing remains without change - or
the same - for the billionth part of a second; and the sensation we have of
the actuality of the division of "time" known as the present, comes from the
blurring of that momentary glimpse, or succession of glimpses, of things
that our senses give us, as those things pass from the region of ideals
which we call the future, to the region of memories that we name the past. 

In the same way we experience a sensation of duration in the case of the
instantaneous electric spark, by reason of the blurred and continuing
impression on the retina. 

The real person or thing does not consist solely of what is seen at any
particular moment, but is composed of the sum of all its various and
changing conditions from its appearance in the material form to its
disappearance from the earth. It is these "sum-totals" that exist from
eternity in the "future," and pass by degrees through matter, to exist for
eternity in the "past." 

No one could say that a bar of metal dropped into the sea came into
existence as it left the air, and ceased to exist as it entered the water,
and that the bar itself consisted only of that cross-section thereof which
at any given moment coincided with the mathematical plane that separates,
and, at the same time, joins, the atmosphere and the ocean. 

Even so of persons and things, which, dropping out of the to-be into the
has-been, out of the future into the past - present momentarily to our
senses a cross-section, as it were, of their total selves, as they pass
through time and space (as matter) on their way from one eternity to
another: and these two constitute that "duration" in which alone anything
has true existence, were our senses but able to cognize it there." S D
I 37

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

"Mind is a name given to the sum of the states of Consciousness grouped
under Thought, Will, and Feeling. 

During deep sleep, ideation ceases on the physical plane, and memory is in
abeyance; thus for the time-being "Mind is not," because the organ, through
which the Ego manifests ideation and memory on the material plane, has
temporarily ceased to function. 

A noumenon can become a phenomenon on any plane of existence only by
manifesting on that plane through an appropriate basis or vehicle; and
during the long night of rest called Pralaya, when all the existences are
dissolved, the "UNIVERSAL MIND" remains as a permanent possibility of mental
action, or as that abstract absolute thought, of which mind is the concrete
relative manifestation. 

The AH-HI (Dhyan-Chohans) are the collective hosts of spiritual beings - the
Angelic Hosts of Christianity, the Elohim and "Messengers" of the Jews - who
are the vehicle for the manifestation of the divine or universal thought and
will. 

They are the Intelligent Forces that give to and enact in Nature her "laws,"
while themselves acting according to laws imposed upon them in a similar
manner by still higher Powers; but they are not "the personifications" of
the powers of Nature, as erroneously thought. 

This hierarchy of spiritual Beings, through which the Universal Mind comes
into action, is like an army - a "Host," truly-by means of which the
fighting power of a nation manifests itself, and which is composed of army
corps, divisions, brigades, regiments, and so forth, each with its separate
individuality or life, and its limited freedom of action and limited
responsibilities; each contained in a larger individuality, to which its own
interests are subservient, and each containing lesser individualities in
itself. " S D I 38

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

"Maya or illusion is an element which enters into all finite things, for
everything that exists has only a relative, not an absolute, reality, since
the appearance which the hidden noumenon assumes for any observer depends
upon his power of cognition. ...



Nothing is permanent except the one hidden absolute existence which contains
in itself the noumena of all realities. 

The existences belonging to every plane of being, up to the highest
Dhyan-Chohans, are, in degree, of the nature of shadows cast by a magic
lantern on a colourless screen; but all things are relatively real, for the
cogniser is also a reflection, and the things cognised are therefore as real
to him as himself. 

Whatever reality things possess must be looked for in them before or after
they have passed like a flash through the material world; but we cannot
cognise any such existence directly, so long as we have sense-instruments
which bring only material existence into the field of our consciousness. 

Whatever plane our consciousness may be acting in, both we and the things
belonging to that plane are, for the time being, our only realities. 

As we rise in the scale of development we perceive that during the stages
through which we have passed we mistook shadows for realities, and the
upward progress of the Ego is a series of progressive awakenings, each
advance bringing with it the idea that now, at last, we have reached
"reality;" but only when we shall have reached the absolute Consciousness,
and blended our own with it, shall we be free from the delusions produced by
Maya."
S D I 39-40

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

C
By rising above the lower manas which operates through laws of association
and reflection, "Thought, will, feeling, memory, Imagination, the tools of
the lower mind, our consciousness can rise above the restriction of time
and space." And when the lower mind frees itself from the illusion of the
reality of matter (time and space) the mind will be able to see beneath
the surface to the causal side of life - to the spiritual side of what we
see now as "forms".

Our quest is to free the lower mind from the conditions and limitations
that it requires to live in this world, "Higher Manas in all of us,
delegates to the Lower mind its time and space consciousness in the hope
of bringing to the surface our true nature."

When the lower manas becomes subjected to the senses and the desire
nature - operating through the intellect, Higher manas (the inner ego) is
unable to attract the attention of the lower. To free ourselves from time
and space, which are all "ideas" based, we need to challenge and question
every held idea( based on our thoughts, fears and desires) as we act in
accordance with and choose those ideas that work in harmony with our
natures and not separate us all as being different. Plato suggests a
method of training and clarifying our ideas by thinking on
fundamental or universal ideas
ideas on life
ideas on deity
ideas on man
ideas on man's destiny
by applying questions and challenging our inherited cultural values and
morals, to these ideas, all problems and perceptions will be penetrated.
"We have the truth within us, but we have to prove it to ourselves in
practice, here in incarnation". ...

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

DTB	Truth is something that is true for all persons at all places and at
all times.


T R U T H

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



"There is neither COMING nor PASSING, but eternal BECOMING."
`	-- HPB	T A & N p. 271

".the Buddhists hold that nothing which is contradicted by sound reason can
be a true doctrine..." -- Buddhist tenet	KEY TO THEOSOPHY p. 199


"Wisdom and truth are synonymous terms, and that which is false or
pernicious cannot be wise."	HPB Articles II 34


"The nature of truth is universal ; its possessors in any degree will be
found to be appliers of universality in thought, speech and action."	FP
363


"Truth is known but to the few; the rest, unwilling to withdraw the veil
from their own hearts, imagine it blinding the eyes of their neighbor."	ISIS
I 307.


"The present Theosophical movement [whose] doctrines belong exclusively to
no religion, are confined to no society or time. They are the birthright of
every human soul.Those who have imagined Theosophy to be a new religion have
hunted in vain for its creed and its ritual. Its creed is Loyalty to Truth
and its ritual 'To honor every truth by use.[It] was organized on.the
essential Brotherhood of Man."	KEY p. 18


"Realizing, as they do, the boundlessness of the absolute truth,
Theosophists repudiate all claim to infallibility. The most cherished
pre-conceptions, the most "pious hope," the strongest "mature passion," they
sweep aside like dust from their path, when their error is pointed out.
Their highest hope is to approximate to the truth.Theosophists are ever
ready to abandon every idea that is proved erroneous upon strictly logical
deductions."
-- HPB	Modern Panarion, pp. 193-4


"Humanity is a great Brotherhood by virtue of the sameness of the material
from which it is formed physically and morally. Unless however, it becomes
a Brotherhood also intellectually, it is no better than a superior genus of
animals." ---HPB Theos. Glossary, p. 146
	

"The Beacon-light of Truth is Nature without the veil of the senses. It can
be reached only when the adept has become absolute master of his personal
self, able to control all his physical and psychic senses by the aid of his
"seventh sense," through which he is gifted also with the true wisdom of the
gods-Theosophia."	--HPB Le Phare de l'Inconnu HPB Articles I 424



FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS -- TRUTHS


"It is worse than useless going to those whom we imagine to be advanced
students and asking them to give us an "interpretation" of the S.D. They
cannot do it. If they try, all they give are cut and dried exoteric
renderings which do not remotely resemble the Truth. To accept such
interpretations means anchoring ourselves to fixed ideas, whereas Truth lies
beyond any ideas we can formulate or express. Exoteric interpretations.[can
be] taken as pointers for beginners, and are not accepted by them as
anything more.

Come to the SD without any hope of getting the final Truth of existence from
it, or with any idea other than seeing how far it may lead towards the
Truth.

".let the mind hold fast, as a basis of its ideation to the following ideas:

1.	The fundamental unity of all existence.

Fundamentally, there Is ONE BEING.  

This has two poles, positive and negative. The positive is Spirit, or
consciousness. The negative is substance, the subject of consciousness.  

This Being is the ABSOLUTE in its primary manifestation. Being absolute,
there is nothing outside of it. It is ALL BEING.  

It is indivisible, else it would not be absolute. If a portion could be
separated, that remaining could not be absolute, because there would at once
arise the question of comparison between it and the separated part.
Comparison is incompatible with any idea of absoluteness. Therefore it is
clear that this fundamental One Existence, or absolute Being, must be the
Reality in every form that is.

The Atom, the Man, the God are each separately, as well as collectively,
Absolute Being in their last analysis, that is in their individuality. It
is this idea that must be held always in the background of the mind to form
the basis for every conception that arises from study of the SD. The moment
one lets it go.the idea of separation supervenes, and the study loses its
value." - HPB quoted."	T A & N p. 272-3

2.	There is no dead matter. Every last atom is alive.since every atom
is itself fundamentally Absolute Being.every atom of substance, no matter of
what plane.[is] a life.

3.	Man is the microcosm.all the Hierarchies of the Heavens exist within
him. But in truth there is neither Macrocosm nor Microcosm but One
Existence. 

4.	"As is the inner, so is the outer; as is the great, so is the
small; as it is above, so it is below; there is but One Life and Law: and
he that worketh it is One. Nothing is inner, nothing is outer; nothing is
great, nothing is small; nothing is high, nothing is low, in the Divine
Economy."	
--HPB T. A. & N p. 272-3


"Outside a certain highly spiritual and elevated state of mind, during which
Man is at one with the Universal Mind-he can get nought on earth but
relative truth, or truths, from whatsoever philosophy or religion.Meanwhile
every one can sit near that well-the name of which is Knowledge-and gaze
into its depths in the hope of seeing Truth's fair image reflected at least,
on the dark waters.

Concerning the deeper spiritual.beliefs, no true Theosophist ought to
degrade these by subjecting them to public discussion, but ought rather to
treasure and hide them deep within the sanctuary of his innermost soul.the
"Holy of Holies," the temple of the impersonal divine Ego, or the indwelling
Self.  

For, while every fact outside its perception can.be at best, only a relative
truth. A ray from the absolute truth can reflect itself only in the pure
mirror of its own flame-our highest Spiritual Consciousness. And how can
the darkness (of illusion) comprehend the Light that shineth in it ?" 
HPB Articles, I, pp. 10-11.


"As to the process of spiritual development, Theosophy teaches:

First. That the essence of the process lies in the securing of supremacy, to
the highest, the spiritual, element of man's nature.

Second. That this is attained along four lines, among others,

[a] The entire eradication of selfishness in all forms, and the cultivation
of broad, generous sympathy in, and effort for the good of others.

(b) The absolute cultivation of the inner, spiritual man by meditation, by
reaching to and communion with the Divine, and by exercise of the kind
described by Patanjali, i. e., incessant striving to an ideal end.

(c) The control of fleshly appetites and desires, all lower, material
interests being deliberately subordinated to the behests of the spirit.

(d) The careful performance of every duty belonging to one's station in
life, with-out desire for reward, leaving results for Divine law.

Third. That while the above is incumbent on and practicable by all
religiously disposed men, a yet higher plane of spiritual attainment is
conditioned upon a specific course of training, physical, intellectual and
spiritual, by which the internal faculties are first aroused and then
developed.

Fourth. That an extension of this process is reached in Adeptship,
Mahatmaship, or the states of Rishis, Sages and Dhyan Chohans, which are all
exalted stages, attained by laborious self-discipline and hardship,
protracted through possibly many incarnations, and with many degrees of
initiation and preferment, beyond which are yet other stages ever
approaching the Divine.

As to the rationale of spiritual development it asserts:

First. That the process takes place entirely within the individual himself,
the motive, the effort, and the result proceeding from his own inner nature,
along the lines of self-evolution.

Second. That, however personal and interior, this process is not unaided,
being possible, in fact, only through close communion with the supreme
source of all strength.

As to the degree of advancement in incarnations it holds:

First. That even a mere intellectual acquaintance with Theosophic truth has
great value in fit-ting the individual for a step upwards in his next
earth-life, as it gives an impulse in that direction. 

Second. That still more is gained by a career of duty, piety and
beneficence.

Third. That a still greater advance is attained by the attentive and devoted
use of the means to spiritual culture heretofore stated.

Fourth. That every race and individual of it reaches in evolution a period
known as "the moment of choice," when they decide for themselves their
future destiny by a deliberate and conscious choice between eternal life and
death, and that this right of choice is the peculiar appanage of the free
soul. It cannot be exercised until the man has realized the soul within him,
and until that soul has attained some measure of self-conscious-ness in the
body. The moment of choice is not a fixed period of time; it is made up of
all moments. It cannot come unless all the previous lives have led up to it.
For the race as a whole it has not yet come. Any individual can hasten the
advent of this period for himself under the previously stated law of the
ripening of Karma."
WQJ - EPITOME OF THEOSOPHY, p. 25-6.


TRUTH AND REALITY

"All of you who waver on the golden threshold of Truth, the only Truth,
still open to you, since all the others have failed, one after the
other-look at the Great Reality now offering itself to you straight in the
face.This thought.is identical with what was the keynote and the keystone of
every century, especially the last one: "absolute Freedom of Human
thought."	
HPB Articles, I 405-6


".Absolute Truth is the eternal Reality which survives all transient
phenomena.Language belongs to the world of relativity, while Truth is the
Absolute Reality. It is therefore vain to suppose that any language,
however ancient or sublime, can express Absolute Truth. The latter exists
in the world of ideas, and the ideal can be perceived by the sense belonging
to that world.no number of words can convey an idea to one who is incapable
of perceiving it. Every one of us has within him the latent capacity or
sense dormant in us, which can take cognizance of Abstract Truth,
although.the assimilation of our intellect with that higher sense, may vary
in different persons, according to circumstances, education and discipline.
That higher sense which is the potential capacity of every human being is in
eternal contact with Reality."	--DKM	T A & N p. 49


"There is, and can be, but one absolute truth in Kosmos. [and].if it is
absolute it must also be omnipresent and universal; and that in such case,
it must be underlying every word-religion-the product of the thought and
knowledge of numberless generations of thinking men.Our object is not to
destroy any religion but rather to help to filter each, thus ridding them of
their respective impurities."	--HPB Articles, I p. 281


REACHING FOR THE TRUTH -- WISDOM


"True philosophy and divine truth are convertible terms." A religion which
dreads the light cannot be a religion based on either truth or
philosophy-hence, it must be false."	ISIS II p. 121


"Mental evolution progresses pari passu with physical evolution, and both
advance towards the One Truth,-- which is the heart of the system of
Humanity, as evolution is its blood.Let every man inclined to go on find his
ideal,-- a star before him to guide. Let him follow it without ever
deviating from his path; and he is almost certain to reach the Beacon-light
of life-the Truth."
--HPB Articles I 436-7


"The Infinite cannot be known to our reason, which can only distinguish and
define; -- but we can always conceive the abstract idea thereof, thanks to
that faculty higher than our reason - intuition, or the spiritual
instinct.Only the great initiates, who have the rare power of throwing
themselves into the state of Samadhi. ecstasy .a state in which one ceases
to be the conditioned and personal "I," and becomes one with the All, --
only those can boast of having been in contact with the infinite; but no
more than other mortals can they describe that state in words."	-HPB
Articles, I 432-3.


"Man has to know himself, i.e., acquire the inner perceptions which never
deceive, before he can master any absolute truth. Absolute truth is the
symbol of Eternity, and no finite mind can ever grasp the eternal, hence no
truth in its fullness can ever dawn upon it. To reach the state during
which man sees and senses it, we have to paralyze the senses of the external
man of clay. This is a difficult task.But to approach even terrestrial
truths requires, first of all, love of truth for its own sake, for otherwise
no recognition of it will follow.the fair heavenly maiden descends only on a
(to her) congenial soil-the soil of an impartial, unprejudiced mind,
illuminated by pure Spiritual Consciousness."	HPB Articles, I, p. 4


".our Society may be truly called the "Republic of Conscience.".All of us
must work for the liberation of human thought, for the elimination of
selfish and sectarian superstitions, and for the discovery of all the truths
that are within the reach of the human mind."	The New Cycle - HPB Articles
I p. 402


"Theosophy is divine knowledge, and knowledge is truth, every true fact,
every sincere word are thus part and parcel of Theosophy. Theosophy allows a
hearing and a fair chance to all. It deems no views-if sincere-entirely
destitute of truth. It respects thinking man, to whatever class of thought
they may belong." -- HPB	HPB Articles I pp. 8-9


"Theosophy is the shoreless ocean of universal truth, love and wisdom."
HPB Key to Theosophy, p. 56


".the first point of Wisdom is to discern that which is false, and the
second, to know that which is true.Wisdom is, at best, an elastic word.thus
we find "Wisdom" as the characteristic of both divine inspiration and also
the terrestrial cunning and craft.as meaning the Secret Knowledge of the
Esoteric Sciences, and also blind faith: the "fear of the Lord."	HPB
"The Dual Aspect of Wisdom" --- HPB HPB Articles II 30





THE PRACTICE


"In every age there have been Sages who had mastered the absolute and yet
could teach but relative truths.every one of us has to find that (to him)
final knowledge in himself.no two minds can be absolutely alike, each has to
receive the supreme illumination through itself, according to its capacity,
and from no human light.  

The greatest adept living can reveal of the Universal Truth only so much as
the mind he is impressing it upon can assimilate, and no more.Polarity is
universal, but the polariser lies in our own consciousness.  

In proportion as our consciousness is elevated towards truth, so do we men
assimilate it more or less absolutely.Still each of us can relatively reach
the Sun of Truth even on this earth, and assimilate its warmest and most
direct rays, however differentiated they may become.On the plane of
spirituality, to reach the Sun of Truth we must work in dead earnest for the
development of our higher nature."	--- HPB "What is Truth ?"	HPB
Articles I p. 2


"No one is so busy or so poor that he cannot be inspired by a noble ideal to
follow.It is true that the first requisites for getting there are absolute
unselfishness and unlimited devotion to the interests of others, and
complete indifference as to the world and its opinions.  

To take the first step on this ideal path requires a perfectly pure motive;
no frivolous thought must be allowed to divert our eyes from the goal; no
hesitation, no doubt must fetter our feet.As to our inner life, let us
concentrate all our attention on our chosen Ideal, and let us ever book
beyond .Those capable of such an effort are true Theosophists."	
-- HPB Articles I, p. 408  


".there are two kinds of even "terrestrial" wisdom on our globe of mud-the
real and the apparent.So strong is human selfishness, that whenever there is
the smallest personal interest at stake, there men become deaf and blind to
the truth, as often consciously as not.There was a time when the acquirement
of Divine Wisdom (Sapienta) required the sacrifice and devotion of a man's
whole life.  

It depended on such things as the purity of the candidate's motives, on his
fearlessness and independence of spirit.no "wisdom from above" descends on
any one save on the sine qua non condition of leaving at the threshold of
the Occult every atom of selfishness, or desire for personal ends and
benefit.

Nature gives up her innermost secrets and imparts true wisdom only to him
who seeks truth for its own sake, and who craves knowledge in order to
confer benefits on others, not on his own unimportant personality."
"The Dual Aspect of Wisdom" HPB Articles II 32-3


"Selfishness, the first-born of Ignorance, and the fruit of the teaching
which asserts that for each newly-born infant a new soul separate and
distinct from the Universal Soul, is "created"-this Selfishness is the
impassable wall between the personal Self and Truth. It is the prolific
mother of all human vices.Selfishness kills every noble impulse in our
natures."	
HPB Articles I p. 5-6.


".ancient truths of the Wisdom Religion.[when tested] in the use of them
they prove themselves true. And truth.always explains. When we have the
explanation, we have the truth.  

Each has to make his own verifications of the truth, but the fact remains
that there is truth, and it has always existed.  

It has come to us from Beings higher than we, because they turned their
faces in the right direction and pursued the course pointed out to them as
leading to spiritual, divine perfection. They know all that has been known.
They know us, although we may not know them. They know our needs, although
we may be densely ignorant of them. They come again and again to present
the truths of life to man, hoping that some echo may be aroused in his soul
so that he, too, shall arrive at a realizations of Self, or spirit-which is
Knowledge."  
FP, pp. 308-9



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

I hope these may prove useful to you.

Best wishes,


Dallas

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