Theos-Talk Archives (May 2005 Message tt00209)

May 6 2005

Re: Personal refinement.

Dear Kathy :

As I understand it THEOSOPHY teaches that every time a Great Soul incarnates
into a body of the race it has to go through the process of mastering and
purifying that lower vehicle, so that it may serve as a clear lens through
which the light of truth may shine forth. Any craftsman has to attune his
new instruments to his needs when he replaces them -- so with a physical
instrument in the hands of a Great Soul. 

In recent reports of the rapid reincarnation [Tulku] of "advanced Tibetan
adepts" this has been made apparent. [ see AQUARIAN THEOSOPHIST due for
July 18 2005 just out (very early) ] 

In other words the material vehicle (personality) has to become self-molded
to the spiritual nature of the SPIRITUAL INDIVIDUALITY that uses it under
Karma. It is an act of determination and will. It does not enslave the
personality but ennobles and elevates it to the status and nature of a "god"
on earth. During the period of childhood and adolescence his efforts may be
assisted in a suitable (karmically permitted) environment. To effect a
reincarnation there must be a corresponding need for this effort. [ In
SECRET DOCTRINE see Vol. II, pp. 32, 67, 275fn, 281-2, 328, 370, 652; I
619; Blavatsky: COLLECTED WORKS Vol. 6, p. 261-3; MAHATMA LETTERS p. 157;
T. Glos 79, 40, 207, 234 ] ] 

A little difficult to understand, but viewing the nature of self-applied
rigorous virtue in all we ought to do while living our daily lives -- it is
understandable and possible. 

I offer this illustration to show that we need first of all to remove any
ignorance we have within -- an inner darkness -- before trying to see into
the "astral" darkness (or light ?) without.  

In the Voice it is called the "Heart " vs. the "Eye Doctrine."

In other words, we first need to know our own make up, moral stamina,
and psychic potentials and achievements -- we must "know ourselves" (as
Hermes said) -- before knowing things extraneous to ourselves. A base has
to be established in two camps.

This road may not seem easiest to some students. Most of them find it far
pleasanter and faster, to look on such, or many kinds of strange and
entertaining "astral" allurements, and to cultivate some of their psychic
senses, to the exclusion of real permanent, lasting spiritual work.

The true road is plain and easy to find, it is so easy that very many
would-be students miss it because they cannot believe it to be so simple.

Consider that the Spiritual world not only surrounds us, but is also within
us as ATMA-BUDDHI (the un-dying Monad) all the time. What prevents us from
seeing and valuing it ? This is what THEOSOPHY points us toward. 

It is called "SPIRITUAL CULTIVATION".    
			
Here are some suggestions, 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 : 

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 fitting 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. 


LOWER-SELF PURIFICATION


It cannot be exercised until the man has realized the Soul within him, and
until that Soul has attained some measure of self-consciousness 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. 

Should he then fail to choose right he is not wholly condemned, for the
economy of nature provides that he shall again and again have the
opportunity of choice when the moment arrives for the whole race. After this
period the race, having blossomed, tends towards its physical dissolution.
The Egos that animated and guided its progress are said to pass on to
further work of a similar nature elsewhere.

A few individuals of it will have outstripped its progress and attained
Adeptship or Mahatmaship. The main body, who have chosen aright, but who
have not attained "salvation," pass into the subjective condition, there to
await the influx of the human life wave into the next globe, which they are
the first souls to people. 

The above are based on statements made originally by Mr. Judge. They are
intended to stand on their intrinsic worth -- morally and logically.

They ought to serve as a "map" might, to an explorer of the caves and
jungles of the "Lower Soul" -- the Kama-Manas -- our intelligent
"desire-nature." 

Further:

Some might be unaware of the 7-fold classification of the active principles
in every human being. Here is a brief review:

THE 7-FOLD CLASSIFICATION (see also S D I 157; II 596)

H. P. Blavatsky directly from the Great Lodge of Initiates...places...the
old doctrine [of seven-fold Man] before western civilization. The
classification is:

1. The Body, or Rupa.
2. Vitality, or Prana-Jiva.
3. Astral Body, or Linga-Sarira.
4. Animal Soul, or Kama-Rupa
5. Human Soul, or Manas.
6. Spiritual Soul, or Buddhi.
7. Spirit, or Atma,

The words in the Sanskrit language are adopted for the English terms.

This classification stands to this day for all practical purposes, but it is
capable of modification and extension. For instance, a later arrangement
which places ASTRAL BODY second instead of third in the category does not
substantially alter it. It at once gives an idea of what man is, very
different from the vague description by the words "body and soul," and also
boldly challenges the materialistic conception that mind is the product of
brain, a portion of the body.

No claim is made that these principles were hitherto unknown, for
they were all understood in various ways not only by the Hindus
but by many Europeans. Yet the compact presentation of the
sevenfold constitution of man in intimate connection with the
septenary constitution of a chain of Globes through which the
being evolves, had not been given out... [ see S D I 200; II 596; 
Key 91-2, 135-6, 195-6 ]

Considering these constituents in another manner, we would say
that the lower man is a composite being, but in his real nature
is a unity, or immortal being, comprising a trinity of Spirit,
Discernment, and Mind which requires four lower mortal
instruments or vehicles through which to work in matter and
obtain experience from Nature.

This trinity is that called Atma-Buddhi-Manas in Sanskrit,
difficult terms to render in English. 

ATMA is Spirit, 

BUDDHI is the highest power of intellection, that which discerns and judges,
and 
MANAS is Mind. 

This threefold collection is the real man; and beyond doubt the doctrine is
the origin of the theological one of the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost.

The four lower instruments or vehicles are shown in this table:

Real Man (Trinity) is :

ATMA,
BUDDHI,
MANAS,


Lower Vehicles (Quaternary) are :

THE PASSIONS AND DESIRES,
LIFE PRINCIPLE,
ASTRAL BODY,
PHYSICAL BODY.


These four lower material constituents are transitory and subject to
disintegration in themselves as well as to separation from each other. When
the hour of death arrives the time for their separation begins, the
combination can no longer be kept up, the physical body dies, the atoms of
which each of the four is composed begin to separate from each other, and
the whole collection being disjointed is no longer fit for one as an
instrument for the real man.

These are a few statements culled from the theosophical writings of Mr Judge

They should make clear many things.

Best wishes,

Dallas

==================================
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Kathy 
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 5:15 PM
To: 
Subject: [bn-study] RE: bn-study digest: May 04, 2005

Hi Joe,

Based on word of mouth, and intuition, and I cannot come up with a better
explanation for why such a highly evolved soul (some say 4th initiate) would
use a lower-self experience to function on the physical plane.

Regards

Cass

CUT