Theos-Talk Archives (January 2005 Message tt00012)

Jan 2 2005

Dear Friends:

Possibly, are there further answers to these?

In the Mahayana Buddhist text, The VOICE OF THE SILENCE (p. 29) we find
“SAT” defined in a footnote:  

"Seek not those points in Maya's realm; but soar beyond illusions, search
the eternal and the changeless SAT, (2) mistrusting fancy's false
suggestions.

---------FOOTNOTE---------------

(2) SAT, the one eternal and Absolute Reality and Truth, all the rest being
illusion. 

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


Can we say, consulting BHAGAVAD GITA NOTES (p. 147-151) :


“As has been before stated, Krishna stands for the Higher Self [ or SAT] of
all beings; ?

“…therefore all the discourses under his name are to be taken as addressed
to all men and not merely as from one personage to another. It will then be
understood that when He speaks of “my being manifesting as the Individual
Self,” or “Purusha, the Spiritual Person,” or “myself in this body,” He
refers to the constituents of each human being.


2	

“Karma is the emanation which causes the existence and reproduction of
creatures”. Perhaps this sentence may be made more clear if the student
takes into consideration the ancient aphorism that “There is no Karma unless
there is a being to make it or feel its effects;” Karma means action, and
as each being or creature acts according to his own degree of perception and
feels the re-action or effect in the same relation, Karma as a whole, in so
far as any world or system of worlds is concerned, is the interaction of all
the beings of every grade who constitute, or are connected with, any such
world or system. 

Karma therefore is inherent in all beings and is not self-existent as such,
or imposed by any imagined originator of worlds.

Can we then say : KARMA is the CHANGELESS LAW ?

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

“Krishna shows that the realization of immortality must be had during life
in the body if the highest state is to be attained. This state reached, the
necessity for reincarnation ceases. Those however whose beliefs are strongly
fixed on some particular form of after death existence, have a realization
of what they aspire to and then in the fulness of time are reborn upon
earth. ...

As it is from the spirit in man that all law and power proceeds, each human
being creates his own limitations on every plane of being; he can transcend
those limitations only by reverting to and maintaining his immortality, as
the observer and experiencer of all the passing changes, himself unchanged
and unchanging. 

Throughout the dialogue Krishna speaks of the various paths of devotion
taken by men. Most of these paths are taken in order to obtain some coveted
reward, such as freedom from rebirth, enjoyment of the individual’s idealof
happiness after release from the body; individual salvation. He shows that
all these rewards may be obtained by constant effort, but that all are
temporary in duration, necessitating a return to earthly existence at some
later period, however remote. 

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

Is the devotee who seeks for Nirvana selfish?  

“The Brahmacharya laboring for salvation,” labors for himself alone; he
“goeth to the supreme goal,” but in that state is beyond the power of
helping his fellow men. Although he may remain in that blissful state for an
immense period of time, the duties to his fellow men which set aside in
order to obtain salvation for himself, will inevitably place him where those
duties have to be faced and fulfilled. 

[ see S D II pp. 79-80 : "The human Ego is neither Atman nor Buddhi, but
the higher Manas: the intellectual fruition and the efflorescence of the
intellectual self-conscious Egotism — in the higher spiritual sense. 

The ancient works refer to it as Karana Sarira on the plane of Sutratma,
which is the golden thread on which, like beads, the various personalities
of this higher Ego are strung. 

If the reader were told, as in the semi-esoteric allegories, that these
Beings were returning Nirvanees, from preceding Maha-Manvantaras — ages of
incalculable duration which have rolled away in the Eternity, a still more
incalculable time ago — he would hardly understand the text correctly; while
some Vedantins might say: "This is not so; the Nirvanee can never return";
which is true during the Manvantara he belongs to, and erroneous where
Eternity is concerned. For it is said in the Sacred Slokas: 

"The thread of radiance which is imperishable and dissolves only in Nirvana,
re-emerges from it in its integrity on the day when the Great Law calls all
things back into action. . . ." S D II 79-80 ]


“The case of such an one is quite different from “those great-souled ones
who have attained to supreme perfection” in knowledge and universal duty.

All worlds up to that of Brahmâ are subject to rebirth again and again”In
the section beginning with these words Krishna is pointing out the Law of
Periodicity which prevails in every department of Nature. 

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

Is "IMMUTABILITY" more fully explained in the Secret Doctrine by
H. P. Blavatsky, Vol. I, in that part referring to the Three Fundamental
Principles. [S D I pp. 14-19] 

“Briefly stated, our present earthly existence is the result of previous
ones; the present earth is the result of previous earths; the present solar
system is the result of previous ones. All of these present progress of some
sort, for the essence of progress is change. All beings have evolved to
their present status, be that high or low, and all are still evolving; an
infinite universe presents infinite possibilities. 

“But,” says Krishna, “there is that which upon the dissolution of allthings
else is not destroyed; it is indivisible, indestructible, and of another
nature from the visible,” This is the Divine Spark of Spirit, Life, and
Consciousness in every form and being. In Man it is called the “Perceiver,”
That which sees, learns and knows, apart from all objects, circumstances or
conditions through which It passes. “This Supreme, 0 son of Pritha, within
whom all creatures are included, and by whom all this is pervaded, may be
attained by a devotion which is intent on him alone”. To “act for and as the
Self” in every state, under all conditions and in every circumstance is the
highest path and leads to the highest goal; it is the path of duty in its
highest aspect." G N 147-51

Best wishes,

Dallas
 
--------------------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald 
Sent: Friday, December 31, 2004 8:52 PM
To: 
Subject: A Blavatsky Quote

The following 2-sentence quote was thoughtfully provided by Dallas, and I
think it is important enough to talk about.

"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 to the absolute Consciousness, and blended
our own with it, shall we be free from the delusions produced by Maya."
S D I 40 

The first sentence addresses a thought that Zakk and I were discussing not
long ago about being conscious on the planes. In general, we chelas and
initiates and lower Adepts are all limited to one plane at a time. We can
only be fully conscious on one single plane at a time and this is true all
the way up to the highest plane. But higher Adepts and Bodhisattvas can be
aware of either the four lowwr planes (samsara) simultaneously or of the
three higher planes (nirvana) simultaneously but not both. Only Buddhas can
be consciously aware on all 7 planes at a time. Only buddhas are
consciously aware of samsara and nirvana simultaneously.

Note that in the next long sentence she says that our consciousness is
"blended with it." Although technically our consciousness is one of the
skandhas, we usually impute an I onto it and we say "I think therefore I
am" and the like. What happens when our consciousness or I is "blended with
it?" The only way we can possible lose our I or selfhood is if such a thing
never existed in the first place, because if a thing truly exists one
moment, it cannot un-exist the next.
This sentence is a clear hint at the doctrine of anatman for those who can
see it.

Jerry S.