Theos-Talk Archives (November 2004 Message tt00180)

Nov 14 2004

Dear brother T:

This concluding sentence (repeated below by you) was actually written by my
friend and correspondent Jerry H-Ekins.  

I also think it is well said and quite true. 

Pushing someone anywhere is a kind of enforcement and THEOSOPHY does not
recommend that. ( Some call it "brainwashing.")

However the great Buddha recommended the sowing of "seeds" (of true ideas).


It is up to those who receive them to choose to accept and cherish and help
them grow or, to set them aside for future meditation, or to reject them.

The one basic idea as I see it, is that the Higher SELF is within each -- it
is not to be found by running around to other "groups" or to "gurus."  

Said the Buddha:  


"Let one sit alone, sleep alone, act alone and unwearied subdue the lower
self by the Higher SELF; he finds delight being out of the forest of
desires." (verse 305) DHAMMAPADA (Footfalls of the Law)

"Not only by discipline of moral principles, nor only by resolutions and
vows; not only by much study, nor even by attainment in mediation, or in
seclusion and solitude, do I release myself from bondage unto Bliss. This
is not attained by worldlings. O Bhikku, be not deceived in self-confidence
as long as you have not reached the extinction of desire " (verse 271-2)
Idem.

"Revile not, harm not, discipline thyself according to the Law, be moderate
in eating, dwell with solitude, be devoted to higher thought--such is the
teaching of the Buddhas." ( Verse 185) Idem. 


It is within our inner and Higher Selves -- where the principles of
Buddhi-Manas ( the wise and virtuous Mind resides ) and the ATMA (a ray of
the pure universal SPIRIT) are to be found. Those are our true "teachers."

Look at this from the SECRET DOCTRINE, It gives an idea of what and how our
Higher Self was formed and came to us:


"We now come to an important point with regard to the double evolution of
the human race. 

The "Sons of Wisdom," or the "spiritual Dhyanis," [Wise Ones] had become
"intellectual" through their contact with matter, because they had already
reached, during previous cycles of incarnation, that degree of intellect
which enabled them to become independent and self-conscious entities, on
this plane of matter. They were reborn only by reason of Karmic effects. 

They entered those [human forms] who were "ready," and became the Arhats, or
sages, alluded to above. This needs explanation. 

It does not mean that Monads entered forms in which other Monads already
were. 

They were "Essences," "Intelligences," and conscious spirits; entities
seeking to become still more conscious by uniting with more developed
matter. Their essence was too pure to be distinct from the universal
essence; but their "Egos," or Manas (since they are called "Manasa-putra,"
born of "Mahat," or Brahma) had to pass through earthly human experiences to
become ALL-WISE, and be able to start on the returning ascending cycle. 

The Monads are not discrete principles, limited or conditioned, but "rays"
from that one universal absolute Principle. 

The entrance into a dark room through the same aperture of one ray of
sunlight following another will not constitute two rays, but one ray
intensified. 

It is not in the course of natural law that man should become a perfect
septenary being, before the seventh race in the seventh Round. Yet he has
all these principles latent in him from his birth. Nor is it part of the
evolutionary law that the Fifth principle (Manas), should receive its
complete development before the Fifth Round. 

All such prematurely developed intellects (on the spiritual plane) in our
Race are abnormal; they are those whom we call the "Fifth-Rounders." Even in
the coming seventh Race, at the close of this Fourth Round, while our four
lower principles will be fully developed, that of Manas will be only
proportionately so. 

This limitation, however, refers solely to the spiritual development. 

The intellectual, on the physical plane, was reached during the Fourth
Root-Race. 

Thus, those who were "half ready," who received "but a spark," constitute
the average humanity which has to acquire its intellectuality during the
present Manvantaric evolution, after which they will be ready in the next
for the full reception of the "Sons of Wisdom." [ S D II 167 ]


Let me offer another item of interest:

There is a remarkable verse that all Brahmins grow up and learn. It is
chanted every morning. But how many know what it means? 

Let me quote it to you.

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


A COMMENTARY ON THE GAYATRI 

[At each dawn every Brahmin is expected to recite:]


"Unveil, O Thou who givest sustenance to the Universe, from whom all
proceed, to whom all must return, that face of the True Sun now hidden by a
vase of golden light, that we may see the truth and do our whole duty on our
journey to thy sacred seat. "
- The Gayatri 

"I have adopted a translation as above, which is excellent in its giving of
the meaning of this verse. What is the Gayatri? It is the sacred verse of
the Hindus and begins with Om, their sacred word and letter. Its first words
are: Om, Bhur, Bhuvah! 

The first word contains in it a declaration of the three periods of a
Manvantara and the three powers of that great Being who alone Is. 

Of a manvantara it is the beginning, the middle, and the end, and the three
powers are Creation (or manifesting), Preservation (or carrying on), and
Destruction. The three first words, Om, bhur, bhurvah, draw attention to and
designate the three worlds. The whole verse is an aspiration in the highest
sense. Every Brahman at his initiation is further instructed in this verse,
but from giving that I am necessarily excused, as I cannot give it in a way
in which I have not received it. 

"Unveil" is the cry of the man who is determined to know the truth and who
perceives that something hides it from him. 

It is hidden by his own Karmic effects, which have put him now where the
brain and the desires are too strong for the higher self to pierce through
so long as he remains careless and ignorant. 

The cry is not made to some man-made god with parts, passions, and
attributes, but to the Self above who seeth in secret and bringeth out to
light. 

It is directed to that on which the Universe is built and standeth, - no
other than the Self which is in every man and which sitteth like a bird in a
tree watching while another eats the fruit. 

>From this the whole Universe proceeds out into manifestation. The ancients
held that all things whatsoever existed in fact solely in the idea, and
therefore the practitioner of Yoga was taught -- and soon discovered -- that
sun, moon, and stars were in himself, and until he learned this he could not
proceed. This doctrine is very old, but today is adopted by many modern
reasoners. 

For they perceive on reflection that no object enters the eye, and that
whether we perceive through sight or feeling or any other sense whatever all
objects are existing solely in idea. Of old this was demonstrated in two
ways. 

First, by showing the disciple the actual interpenetration of one world by
another. As that while we live here among those things called objective by
us, other beings were likewise living in and among us and our objects and
therein actually carrying on their avocations, perceiving the objects on
their plane as objective, and wholly untouched by and insensible to us and
the objects we think so material. This is no less true today than it was
then. And if it were not true, modern hypnotism, clairvoyance, or
clairaudience would be impossible. 

This was shown by a second method precisely similar to mesmeric and hypnotic
experiments, only that to these was added the power to make the subject step
aside from himself and with a dual consciousness note his own condition. For
if a barrier of wood were erected in the sight of the subject which he
clearly perceived and knew was wood, impervious to sight and an obstacle to
movement, yet when hypnotised he saw it not, yet could perceive all objects
behind it which were hidden in his normal state, and when he pressed against
it thinking it to be empty air and feeling naught but force, he could not
pass but wondered why the empty air restrained his body. 

This is modern and ancient. Clearly it demonstrates the illusionary nature
of objectivity. The objectivity is only real relatively, for the mind sees
no objects whatever but only their idea, and at present is conditioned
through its own evolution until it shall have developed other powers and
qualities. 

The request made in the verse to "unveil the face of the True Sun" is that
the Higher Self may shine down into us and do its work of illumination. 

This also spreads forth a natural fact unknown to moderns, which is that the
sun we see is not the True Sun, and signifies too that the light of
intellect is not the true sun of our moral being. 

Our forefathers in the dim past knew how to draw forth through the visible
Sun the forces from the True one. 

We have temporarily forgotten this because our evolution and descent into
the hell of matter, in order to save the whole, have interposed a screen. 

They say in Christian lands that Jesus went into hell for three days. This
is correct, but not peculiar to Jesus. Humanity is doing this for three
days, which is merely the mystical way of saying that we must descend into
matter for three periods so immense in time that the logarithm of one day is
given to each period. 

Logarithms were not first known to Napier, but were taught in the pure form
of the mysteries, because alone by their use could certain vast calculations
be made. 

"Which is now hidden by a vase of Golden Light." That is, the light of the
True Sun - the Higher Self - is hidden by the blood contained in the vase of
the mortal body. 

The blood has two aspects - not here detailed - in one of which it is a
helper to perception, in the other a hindrance. 

But it signifies here the passions and desires, Kama, the personal self, the
thirst for life. It is this that veils from us the true light. So long as
desire and the personality remain strong, just so long will the light be
blurred, so long will we mistake words for knowledge and knowledge for the
thing we wish to know and to realize. 

The object of this prayer is that we may "carry out our whole duty," after
becoming acquainted with the truth, while we are on our journey "to thy
Sacred Seat." 

This is our pilgrimage, not of one, not selfishly, not alone, but the whole
of humanity. 

For the sacred seat is not the Brahmanical heaven of Indra, nor the
Christian selfish heaven acquired without merit while the meritorious suffer
the pains of hell. 

It is that place where all meet, where alone all are one. It is when and
where the three great sounds of the first word of the prayer merge into one
soundless sound. This is the only proper prayer, the sole saving
aspiration."

AN OBSCURE BRAHMAN
Path, January, 1893 

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

All good wishes 

As always,

Dallas

===============================
 
-----Original Message-----
From: THOMAS H
Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 9:51 PM
To: DALLAS
Subject: THE COMFORT ZONE:


Dear Dallas:

Thanks for making sure that I received the document you sent to the theos
talk group. I am no longer on their subscription list due to low vision
and the limits I have for reading e mail however you made sure that I
recited the document you sent on discovering the truth and truths of the
Cosmic Universe.

This is one document that I will take and study in the weeks ahead. Not
only study but also contemplate the deeper meaning of the words you wrote.

Perhaps your closing comments as I have posted below give greater meaning
to the areas in life in which we need to travel and where to express the
truth of the Cosmos.

Here is your ending quote; very profound...

=====
"Yes, and what can we do to help people to free themselves from their
"groovy" prison (pun intended), so that they can begin to use the
information as a means to expand their understanding? On the other
hand, perhaps some people are so comfortable in their prisons that it
might be an act of cruelty to try to push them out into the open air."
--j

=====