Theos-Talk Archives (January 2005 Message tt00559)

Jan 18 2005

Re: FREE WILL

Dear Gopi:

Exactly how would you translate NIRMANA into English?

I assume the “skandhas” are formed when we make choices and impose the
impression of thought, desire and ation on the “little lives” (or the
monads) that are attracted to us and form our various koshas or kayas
(sheaths) called the “7 Principles” in THEOSOPHY – is this correct?

If our true Natural SELF, as a MONAD [ATMA / BUDDHI] is of an independence
derived from its innate Spiritual Nature [see Chapter 11 of the BHAGAVAD
GITA ], then our incarnation and the use of a physical body is not for
selfish enjoyment, but rather as a gift of guidance in spiritual life to all
the monads and “lives” we attract and use to form our bodies. 

If we are ignorant of this fact, then we have KAMA, or unregulated desire,
most active in us, and the Mind (Manas) is “led astray by the thousand cords
of desire.” It becomes Kama-manas instead of Buddhi-manas.

How are the “Vibhutis” translated into English?
VIBHŰTAYAH (Sk.). The same as Siddhis or magic powers."
Glos. P. 364

SIDDHIS (Sk.). Lit., “attributes of perfection”; phenomenal powers acquired
through holiness by Yogis. Glos. P. 298


I assume they are spiritual qualities.  

Is there a good list of them? Perhaps the BHAGAVAD GITA gives it? 

The words “NIRMANA-KAYA” see to designate in THEOSOPHY the condition ofa
"Spiritual Personage” whose mission is to assist mankind.


See THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY definition (p. 231): 

NIRMÂNAKÂYA (Sk.). Something entirely different in esoteric philosophy from
the popular meaning attached to it, and from the fancies of the
Orientalists... Occultism, on the other hand, says: that Nirmânakâya,
although meaning literally a transformed “body”, is a state. The form is
that of the adept or yogi who enters, or chooses, that post mortem condition
in preference to the Dharmakâya or absolute Nirvânic state. 

He does this because the latter kâya separates him for ever from the world
of form, conferring upon him a state of selfish bliss, in which no other
living being can participate, the adept being thus precluded from the
possibility of helping humanity, nor even devas. As a Nirmânakâya, however,
the man leaves behind him only his physical body, and retains every other
“principle” save the Kamic—for he has crushed this out for ever from his
nature, during life, and it can never resurrect in his post mortem state. 

Thus, instead of going into selfish bliss, he chooses a life of
self-sacrifice, an existence which ends only with the life-cycle, in order
to be enabled to help mankind in an invisible yet most effective manner.
(See THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE, [pp. 76-8] third treatise, “The Seven
Portals”.) 

Thus a Nirmânakâya is not, as popularly believed, the body “in which a
Buddha or a Bodhisattva appears on earth”, but verily one, who whether a
Chutuktu or a Khubilkhan, an adept or a yogi during life, has since become a
member of that invisible Host which ever protects and watches over Humanity
within Karmic limits. 

Mistaken often for a “Spirit”, a Deva, God himself, &c., a Nirmânakâya is
ever a protecting, compassionate, verily a guardian angel, to him who
becomes worthy of his help. Whatever objection may be brought forward
against this doctrine; however much it is denied, because, forsooth, it has
never been hitherto made public in Europe and therefore since it is unknown
to Orientalists, it must needs be “a myth of modern invention”—no onewill
be bold enough to say that this idea of helping suffering mankind at the
price of one’s own almost interminable self-sacrifice, is not one of the
grandest and noblest that was ever evolved from human brain.” Glos p. 231


TRIKÂYA (Sk) Lit., three bodies, or forms. This is a most abstruse teaching
which, however, once understood, explains the mystery of every triad or
trinity, and is a true key to every three-fold metaphysical symbol. In its
most simple and comprehensive form it is found in the human Entity in its
triple division into spirit, soul, and body, and in the universe, regarded
pantheistically, as a unity composed of a Deific, purely spiritual
Principle, Supernal Beings—its direct rays — and Humanity. 

The origin of this is found in the teachings of the pre historic Wisdom
Religion, or Esoteric Philosophy. The grand Pantheistic ideal, of the
unknown and unknowable Essence being transformed first into subjective, and
then into objective matter, is at the root of all these triads and triplets.


Thus we find in philosophical Northern Buddhism 

(1) Âdi-Buddha (or Primordial Universal Wisdom) ; 

( 2) the Dhyâni-Buddhas (or Bodhisattvas); 

(3) the Mânushi (Human) Buddhas. 

In European conceptions we find the same: God, Angels and Humanity
symbolized theologically by the God-Man. The Brahmanical Triműrti and also
the three-fold body of Shiva, in Shaivism, have both been conceived on the
same basis, if not altogether running on the lines of Esoteric teachings. 

Hence, no wonder if one finds this conception of the triple body—or the
vestures of Nirmânakâya, Sambhogakâya and Dharmakâya, the grandest of the
doctrines of Esoteric Philosophy— accepted in a more or less disfigured form
by every religious sect, and explained quite incorrectly by the
Orientalists. 

Thus, in its general application, the three-fold body symbolizes Buddha’s
statue, his teachings and his stűpas; in the priestly conceptions it applies
to the Buddhist profession of faith called the Triratna, which is the
formula of taking “refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha”...

As the Trailokya, the Trikâya, and the Triratna are the three aspects of
the same conceptions, and have to be, so to say, blended in one, the subject
is further explained under each of these terms. (See also in this relation
the term “ Trisharana”.) Glos 338-40
------------------------------

FREE WILL

Here are some THEOSOPHICAL quotes on this:


FREE-WILL.DOC

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

WILL and FREE WILL


A basic idea is expressed as:  

"Will is the force of any and all degrees of intelligence; it is inherent
in consciousness as "the power to act."	Q & A., p. 40

A curious discovery is made as one delves into the question of the Will,
volition and choice. Is it free or not?

The deeper one penetrates the more one finds that there are many degrees of
bondage and freedom. In fact the ultimate “freedom” or “bondage” is
indeterminable – just as the “beginning (or ending) of time,” or, the
“extent (or limits) of space,” are not to be discovered.

Man as a member of the group of evolving Thinkers (Humanity) is of two
views. One is immortal and universal, because the triune Monad is
deathless; and the other, due to his residence in matter for a life-time is
personal, selfish and isolationist.

Why is this so?

It is because in Man three lines of evolution are to be found. In the S D 
[I -- p. 181] we find:

”…there exists in Nature a triple evolutionary scheme, for the formation of
the three periodical Upadhis; or rather three separate schemes of evolution,
which in our system are inextricably interwoven and interblended at every
point.

These are the Monadic (or spiritual), the intellectual, and the physical
evolutions. 

These three are the finite aspects or the reflections on the field of Cosmic
Illusion of ATMA, the seventh, the ONE REALITY. 

1. The Monadic is, as the name implies, concerned with the growth and
development into still higher phases of activity of the Monad in conjunction
with:—

2. The Intellectual, represented by the Manasa-Dhyanis (the Solar Devas, or
the Agnishwatta Pitris) the "givers of intelligence and consciousness" [see
S D II 167] to man and:—

3. The Physical, represented by the Chhayas [“astral bodies”] [see S D II
109-10] of the lunar Pitris, round which Nature has concreted the present
physical body. This body serves as the vehicle for the "growth" (to use a
misleading word) and the transformations through Manas and—owing to the
accumulation of experiences—of the finite into the INFINITE, of the
transient into the Eternal and Absolute. 

Each of these three systems has its own laws, and is ruled and guided by
different sets of the highest Dhyanis or "Logoi." Each is represented in the
constitution of man, the Microcosm of the great Macrocosm; and it is the
union of these three streams in him which makes him the complex being he now
is. 

"Nature," the physical evolutionary Power, could never evolve intelligence
unaided—she can only create "senseless forms," … The "Lunar Monads" cannot
progress, for they have not yet had sufficient touch with the forms created
by "Nature" to allow of their accumulating experiences through its means. It
is the Manasa-Dhyanis who fill up the gap, and they represent the
evolutionary power of Intelligence and Mind, the link between "Spirit" and
"Matter"—in this Round. 

Also it must be borne in mind that the Monads which enter upon the
evolutionary cycle upon Globe A, in the first Round, are in very different
stages of development. Hence the matter becomes somewhat complicated. . .
Let us recapitulate. 

The most developed Monads (the lunar) reach the human germ-stage in the
first Round; become terrestrial, though very ethereal human beings towards
the end of the Third Round, remaining on it (the globe) through the
"obscuration" period as the seed for future mankind in the Fourth Round, and
thus become the pioneers of Humanity at the beginning of this, the Fourth
Round. 

Others reach the Human stage only during later Rounds, i.e., in the second,
third, or first half of the Fourth Round. And finally the most retarded of
all, i.e., those still occupying animal forms after the middle turning-point
of the Fourth Round—will not become men at all during this Manwantara. They
will reach to the verge of humanity only at the close of the seventh Round
to be, in their turn, ushered into a new chain after pralaya—by older
pioneers, the progenitors of humanity, or the Seed-Humanity (Sishta), viz.,
the men who will be at the head of all at the end of these Rounds. “ S D
I 181-2


The personality and personal ego are made up of the skandhas (which are
nothing other than the powerful karmic effects of our past deeds,
intentions, feelings and thoughts, attached by our earlier choices to
“monads of lesser experience than ours)” --- this makes our personalityof
today, a consequence of our past.  

That which is a 'result', an 'effect' of the past, can hardly be thought of
as being completely free, or having free will in the broadest sense of that
term. And yet the One Consciousness of the triple Monad, because of its
nature as part of the ATMAN (universal), is indeed free within these cyclic
evolutionary conditions.  

Why? Because the time has come for the Karmically “bound” to emerge from
its chrysalis and gain its own immortality. Kama-Manas has to transform
itself, voluntarily into Buddhi-Manas because it sees and learns that the
laws of uniformity, universality, and companionship rule every
life-supportive aspect of the Universe. 

>From a theosophical point of view, it thus appears the Reincarnating ego
(lower Manas / Kama-Manas) is not entirely free to do as it chooses. Like
everything else, it is subject to the Law of Karma. 

So too, the Higher Ego (Atma-Buddhi-Manas) for that period of time while it
voluntarily resides along with the terrestrial ego (Kama-Manas) as its
“tutor,” appears to be bound by the conditions and choices of the latter.
[see S D II 167] Yet as an immortal “time” is of no great consequence, nor
is the very real “pain” it suffers along with the “Lower Manas,” itis now
associated with.

Can it choose 'not to incarnate,' for example? Can it choose not to take
part in the evolutionary process and go off and do something entirely
different? No longer, for the immediate moment, as it has voluntarily taken
up a spiritual responsibility and the duty of cooperative assistance to a
“lesser brother.” 

We might consider attributing certain powers to the 'higher Manas' and say,
for example, that the Mahatmas [Those Great of Soul] - in whom Manas has
fully flowered - are free because they have attained in the process of their
self-development many powers of a spiritual nature. But those are locked
away, and held inoperative by them. For example, they have a greater choice
than the average human being over which vehicle of consciousness they use at
any one time, but this choice is bound by the Karma of the special time,
individual, purpose, cycle and the environment they are in.

If we read the MAHATMA LETTERS, we find ever and again that the Mahatmas
(Adepts) state They are not free to do what they choose. They are however
free to obey “the Good Law.” They are often limited by the wisdom and
greater vision of their own revered superiors and, more importantly, by
Universal Law, as to what they can do to help humanity at large, or
individuals in particular. 

The Masters wrote:

"But you must know and remember one thing: we but follow and servilely copy
nature in her works." -- K H -- (M L # 6, Barker Ed., p. 22 )

"We cannot alter Karma, my "good friend"" -- M --   
(M L # 97, Barker ed. p. 433 )

A candidate for Adeptship is to be seen as the “Lower Manas” that has become
“Taijasi” – illuminated by Buddhi. It is asked by LAW, at the final “moment
of choice:” Will you elect for "bliss deferred" and work to help humanity,
or choose "bliss immediate," for a very long time, as do the Pratyekha
Buddhas. And thus distance yourself from humanity?
(see Voice, pp 76-79.)

Of course, we continually make choices of various kinds. We can choose
between a life based on the material values, or one based on the spiritual
realities. But, what makes us truly FREE? If we choose to answer this
is an interesting point to view, as following it, there are results.  

Are we then to assume that there is a “greater WILL” that inevitably bends
us to ITS purposes? And, is it possible in the course of Evolutionary Law,
the lesser will, which irrevocably decides not to bend to the Greater finds
its days are numbered. We need, in such a case, to understand the difference
between the levels of intelligence these respective Monadic choices imply.  

In the SECRET DOCTRINE under the title “GODS, MONADS AND ATOMS” H P B gives
us a survey of the process of monadic evolution

”The Scintillas are the "Souls," and these Souls appear in the three-fold
form of Monads (units), atoms and gods—according to our teaching. "Every
atom becomes a visible complex unit (a molecule), and once attracted into
the sphere of terrestrial activity, the Monadic Essence, passing through the
mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, becomes man." (Esot. Catechism.) 

Again, "God, Monad, and Atom are the correspondences of Spirit, Mind, and
Body (Atma, Manas and Sthula Sarira) in man." In their septenary aggregation
they are the "Heavenly Man" . . . . . "The Monads (Jivas) are the Souls of
the Atoms, both are the fabric in which the Chohans (Dhyanis, gods) cloth
themselves when a form is needed." (Esot. Cat.) 

This relates to Cosmic and sub-planetary Monads, not to the Super-Cosmic
Monas (the Pythagorean Monad) as called, in its synthetic character, by the
Pantheistical Peripatetics. The Monads of the present dissertation are
treated from the standpoint of their individuality, as atomic Souls, before
these atoms descend into pure terrestrial form. For this descent into
concrete matter marks the medial point of their own individual pilgrimage.
Here, losing in the mineral kingdom their individuality, they begin to
ascend through the seven states of terrestrial evolution to that point where
a correspondence is firmly established between the human and Deva (divine)
consciousness. At present, however, we are not concerned with their
terrestrial metamorphoses and tribulations, but with their life and
behaviour in Space, on planes wherein the eye of the most intuitional
chemist and physicist cannot reach them—unless, indeed, he develops in
himself highly clairvoyant faculties.” S D I 619 


“In esoteric teachings, the most transcendental conceptions of the universe
and its mysteries, as the most (seemingly) materialistic speculations are
found reconciled, because those sciences embrace the whole scope of
evolution from Spirit to matter. As declared by an American Theosophist,
"The Monads (of Leibnitz) may from one point of view be called force, from
another matter. To occult Science, force and matter are only two sides of
the same SUBSTANCE." S D I 623


“Now, if these two teachings were blended together and each corrected by the
other,—and foremost of all the One Reality weeded of its personality—there
would remain as sum total a true spirit of esoteric philosophy in them; the
impersonal, attributeless, absolute divine essence which is no "Being," but
the root of all being. Draw a deep line in your thought between that
ever-incognizable essence, and the, as invisible, yet comprehensible
Presence (Mulaprakriti), or Schekinah, from beyond and through which
vibrates the Sound of the Verbum, and from which evolve the numberless
hierarchies of intelligent Egos, of conscious as of semi-conscious,
perceptive and apperceptive Beings, whose essence is spiritual Force, whose
Substance is the Elements and whose Bodies (when needed) are the atoms—and
our doctrine is there.”	S D I 629


“But what say the Occult Sciences to this, and what do they add? 

They say that what is called collectively Monads by Leibnitz—roughly viewed,
and leaving every subdivision out of calculation, for the present —may be
separated into three distinct Hosts, which, counted from the highest planes,
are, firstly, "gods," or conscious, spiritual Egos; the intelligent
architects, who work after the plan in the Divine Mind. [These three "rough
divisions" correspond to spirit, mind (or soul), and body, in the human
constitution.] 

Then come the Elementals, or Monads, who form collectively and unconsciously
the grand Universal Mirrors of everything connected with their respective
realms. 

Lastly, the atoms, or material molecules, which are informed in their turn
by their apperceptive monads, just as every cell in a human body is so
informed…. 

There are shoals of such informed atoms which, in their turn, inform the
molecules; an infinitude of monads, or Elementals proper, and countless
spiritual Forces—Monadless, for they are pure incorporealities, except
under certain laws, when they assume a form—not necessarily human. 

Whence the substance that clothes them—the apparent organism they evolve
around their centres? The Formless ("Arupa") Radiations, existing in the
harmony of Universal Will, and being what we term the collective or the
aggregate of Cosmic Will on the plane of the subjective Universe, unite
together an infinitude of monads—each the mirror of its own Universe—and
thus individualize for the time being an independent mind, omniscient and
universal; and by the same process of magnetic aggregation they create for
themselves objective, visible bodies, out of the interstellar atoms. 

For atoms and Monads, associated or dissociated, simple or complex, are,
from the moment of the first differentiation, but the principles, corporeal,
psychic and Spiritual, of the "Gods,"— themselves the Radiations of
primordial nature. Thus, to the eye of the Seer, the higher Planetary Powers
appear under two aspects: the subjective—as influences, and the objective—as
mystic FORMS, which, under Karmic law, become a Presence, Spirit and Matter
being One, as repeatedly stated. Spirit is matter on the seventh plane;
matter is Spirit—on the lowest point of its cyclic activity; and both—are
MAYA.” S D I 632-3


“Atoms are called "Vibrations" in Occultism; also "Sound"—collectively.This
does not interfere with Mr. Tyndall's scientific discovery. He traced, on
the lower rung of the ladder of monadic being, the whole course of the
atmospheric vibrations—and this constitutes the objective part of the
process in nature…till the vibration of the auditory nerve commences—and a
new phenomenon now takes place: the subjective side of the process or the
sensation of Sound. Does he perceive or see it? No; for his speciality is to
discover the behaviour of matter. But why should not a psychic see it, a
spiritual seer, whose inner Eye is opened, and who can see through the veil
of matter? 

The waves and undulations of Science are all produced by atoms propelling
their molecules into activity from within. Atoms fill the immensity of
Space, and by their continuous vibration are that MOTION which keeps the
wheels of Life perpetually going. It is that inner work that produces the
natural phenomena called the correlation of Forces. Only, at the origin of
every such "force," there stands the conscious guiding noumenon
thereof—Angel or God, Spirit or Demon—ruling powers, yet the same. 

As described by Seers—those who can see the motion of the interstellar
shoals, and follow them in their evolution clairvoyantly—they are dazzling,
like specks of virgin snow in radiant sunlight. Their velocity is swifter
than thought, quicker than any mortal physical eye could follow, and, as
well as can be judged from the tremendous rapidity of their course, the
motion is circular. . . . . Standing on an open plain, on a mountain summit
especially, and gazing into the vast vault above and the spacial infinitudes
around, the whole atmosphere seems ablaze with them, the air soaked through
with these dazzling coruscations. At times, the intensity of their motion
produces flashes like the Northern lights during the Aurora Borealis. The
sight is so marvellous, that, as the Seer gazes into this inner world, and
feels the scintillating points shoot past him, he is filled with awe at the
thought of other, still greater mysteries, that lie beyond, and within, this
radiant ocean. . . . . However imperfect and incomplete this explanation on
"Gods, Monads and Atoms," it is hoped that some students and theosophists,
at least, will feel that there may be indeed a close relation between
materialistic Science, and Occultism, which is the complement and missing
soul of the former. “ 
S D I 633-4


It would then be right in a matter of saying that the aggregation of
substances and materials represented by the “personality,” being “born of
time”, i.e., anything in manifestation (no matter how subtle), is not really
free. There are always limits and some of these limits may even seem grand,
to us. That alone is free which is timeless and formless, the unborn and
uncreated, the limitless SELF.

HPB writes:   

“Know at once and remember always, that true Occultism or Theosophy is the
“Great Renunciation of SELF,” unconditionally and absolutely, in thought as
in action. It is ALTRUISM, and it throws him who practices it out of
calculation of the ranks of the living altogether. “Not for himself, but
for the world, he lives,” as soon as he has pledged himself to the work.
Much is forgiven during the first years of probation. But, no sooner is he
“accepted” than his personality must disappear, and he has to become a mere
beneficent force in Nature. There are two poles for him after that, two
paths, and no midward place of rest. He has either to ascend laboriously,
step by step, often through numerous incarnations and no Devachanic break,
the golden ladder leading to Mahatmaship (the Arhat or Bodhisattva
condition), or — he will let himself slide down the ladder at the first
false step, and roll down into Dugpaship. . . .” “Occultism versus the
Occult Arts”	H. P. B ARTS., VOL. II, P. 104


"...This desire for a sentient life shows itself in everything, from an atom
to a sun, and is a reflection of the Divine Thought propelled into objective
existence, into a law that the Universe should exist...." S D I 44
[see S D II 176, 578]


"The ancient philosophy affirmed that in consequence of the manifestation of
that Will--termed by Plato the Divine Idea--that everything visible and
invisible sprung into existence.  

As that Intelligent Idea, which, by directing its sole will-power toward a
center of localized forces called objective forms into being, so can man,
the microcosm of the great Macrocosm, do the same in proportion to the
development of his will-power.  

The imaginary atoms...are like automatic workmen moved inwardly by the
influx of that Universal Will directed upon them, and which manifesting
itself as force, sets them into activity.  

The plan of the structure to be erected is in the brain of the Architect,
and reflects his will; abstract as yet, from the instant of conception it
becomes concrete through these atoms which follow faithfully every line,
point and figure traced in the imagination of the divine Geometer. "	ISIS
I 61-2


"...the Force which we call the divine Free-Will (is) represented by the
Dhyani Buddhas..." TRANSACTIONS, p. 129.

And we have in ISIS UNVEILED:

"One common vital principle pervades all things, and this is controllable by
the perfected human will." ISIS, II, p. 590


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


Best wishes,

Dallas

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

-----Original Message-----
From: Gopi 
Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2005 6:42 PM
To: 
Subject: Re: free will

 
I think the inner notion you are talking about is correct expect the order
of it seems incorrect.
Our nature as we have covered up with the Skandhas is to be replaced with
our True Nature. The Skandhas (our apparent nature of the Karmic Life) are
available to see our apparent nature which are our reactions to the external
world we live in. This is how we react in our daily life, through our
Skandhas. This is what we mean by our 'Samskara'. 
 
But then we have a choice, the Free Will, to act without the help of
Skandhas! This is our Higher Nature, the Nature of the Spirit With In. This
is essentially the Sermon On the Mount, the Bhagavad Gita, to act through
our 'Vibhuthis'  (the Higher Nature). Then 'I' finds that the actions are
taking place, 'I am not acting.' This is the teaching of Ramana Maharshi
(see His rendering of Bhagavad Gita). This is the real Teaching of
Theosophy, it is not necessary to stop at understanding Karma, the teaching
is really how to go past Karmic Life. How can we do that without truly
understanding Karma? ie to know how we live and a promise 'How We Can Live!'
 
So what is this Free Will? It is simply the ability that we all have but do
not use. Free Will is not that I have my free will to streak on the street.
Free Will is to truly observe the thoughts through which I live. That is the
Nirmana Kaya. Then I have the strength, the Free Will, and not to live like
that. Let Spirit within direct the Life. That is the Kingdom of Heaven, the
Nirvana or the path to true Samadhi or Mukti.
 
So, we have Free Will, Use It Now!

Gopi

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

[SAMÂDHI (Sk.). A state of ecstatic and complete trance. The term
comes from the words Sam-âdha, “self-possession ”. He who possesses this
power is able to exercise an absolute control over all his faculties,
physical or mental; it is the highest state of Yoga."	Glos 286 ]

[ MUKTA and MUKTI (Sk.). Liberation from sentient life; one beatified
or liberated; a candidate for Moksha, freedom from flesh and matter, or life
on this earth." Glos p. 218 ]