Theos-Talk Archives (June 2005 Message tt00177)

June 9th 2005

Dear Krishtar:

I think we see the same things. There are those who think they can learn or
approach THEOSOPHY using simple texts. The question is of which of these
texts to choose from.  

HPB is for us the basic teacher. The does not claim authority but points
invariably t her TEACHERS the Mahatmas and to the evidence of history that
shows a long line of such similar teachings visible in history.

Many who like what they hear about THEOSOPHY read texts.

They may have omitted looking into the simplicity and directness of The KEY
TO THEOSOPHY and The VOICE OF THE SILENCE because others, whom many have
considered learned, and “leaders,” have said more than once that HPB’s
SECRET DOCTRINE and ISIS UNVEILED were “too difficult.”  

HPB said that for the lazy, THEOSOPHY would prove a riddle. But who wants
to be classified among the “lazy ?” 

Essentially, the challenge THEOSOPHY offers is to set our “lower selfish
mind” to thinking about its roots in IMMORTALITY. 

That is a huge jump since most have been brought to believe (by religion) we
live only a single life. The concept of the immortal Monad implies a great
moral responsibility – we are challenged to control and build our own future
life and lives right now.


The key is “moral.” What does that imply? What are: benevolence,
tolerance and virtue? Can we actually put them into practise? Can we treat
everyone as a member of our intimate family?

I seem to be offering the same ideas again and again on behalf of THEOSOPHY
.

Yes there are simpler texts or at least they are written in a less scholarly
fashion. 

Look and read this and let me know what you think of it:

	
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THEOSOPHY, the Wisdom-Religion, has existed from immemorial time. It offers
us a theory of nature and of life which is founded upon knowledge acquired
by the Sages of the past, more especially those of the East; and its higher
students claim that this knowledge is not imagined or inferred, but that it
is a knowledge of facts seen and known by those who are willing to comply
with the conditions requisite for seeing and knowing.

Theosophy, meaning knowledge of or about God (not in the sense of a personal
anthropomorphic God, but in that of divine “godly” wisdom), and the term
“God” being universally accepted as including the whole of both the known
and the unknown, it follows that “Theosophy” must imply wisdom respecting
the absolute; and, since the absolute is without beginning and eternal, this
wisdom must have existed always. Hence Theosophy is sometimes called the
Wisdom-Religion, because from immemorial time it has had knowledge of all
the laws governing the spiritual, the moral, and the material.

The theory of nature and of life which it offers is not one that was at
first speculatively laid down and then proved by adjusting facts or
conclusions to fit it; but is an explanation of existence, cosmic and
individual, derived from knowledge reached by those who have acquired the
power to see behind the curtain that hides the operations of nature from the
ordinary mind. Such Beings are called Sages, using the term in its highest
sense. Of late they have been called Mahatmas and Adepts. In ancient times
they were known as the Rishis and Mahârishis-the last being a word that
means Great Rishis.
 
It is not claimed that these exalted beings, or Sages, have existed only in
the East. They are known to have lived in all parts of the globe, in
obedience to the cyclic laws referred to below. But as far as concerns the
present development of the human race on this planet, they are now to be
found in the East, although the fact may be that some of them had, in remote
times,
retreated from even the American shores.

There being of necessity various grades among the students of this
Wisdom-Religion, it stands to reason that those belonging to the lower
degrees are able to give out only so much of the knowledge as is the
appanage of the grade they have reached, and depend, to some extent, for
further information upon students who are higher yet. 

It is these higher students for whom the claim is asserted that their
knowledge is not mere inference, but that it concerns realities seen and
known by them. While some of them are connected with the Theosophical
Society, they are yet above it. The power to see and absolutely know such
laws is surrounded by natural inherent regulations which must be complied
with as conditions precedent; and it is, therefore, not possible to respond
to the demand of the worldly man for an immediate statement of this wisdom,
insomuch as he could not comprehend it until those conditions are fulfilled.


As this knowledge deals with laws and states of matter, and of consciousness
undreamed of by the "practical" Western world, it can only be grasped, piece
by piece, as the student pushes forward the demolition of his preconceived
notions, that are due either to inadequate or to erroneous theories. It is
claimed by these higher students that, in the Occident especially, a false
method of reasoning has for many centuries prevailed, resulting in a
universal habit of mind which causes men to look upon many effects as
causes, and to regard that which is real as the unreal, putting meanwhile
the unreal in the place of the real. As a minor example, the phenomena of
mesmerism and clairvoyance have, until lately, been denied by Western
science, yet there have always been numerous persons who know for
themselves, by incontrovertible introspective evidence, the truth of these
phenomena, and, in some instances, understand their cause and rationale.

The following are some of the fundamental propositions of Theosophy:

The spirit in man is the only real and permanent part of his being; the rest
of his nature being variously compounded. And since decay is incident to all
composite things, everything in man but his Spirit is impermanent.

Further, the universe being one thing and not diverse, and everything within
it being connected with the whole and with every other thing therein, of
which upon the upper plane (below referred to ) there is a perfect
knowledge, no act or thought occurs without each portion of the great whole
perceiving and noting it. Hence all are inseparably bound together by the
tie of Brotherhood.

This first fundamental proposition of Theosophy postulates that the universe
is not an aggregation of diverse unities but that it is one whole.

This whole is what is denominated "Deity" by Western Philosophers, and
"Para-Brahm" by the Hindu Vedantins. It may be called the Unmanifested,
containing within itself the potency of every form of manifestation,
together with the laws governing those manifestations. 

Further, it is taught that there is no creation of worlds in the theological
sense; but that their appearance is due strictly to evolution. When the time
comes for the Unmanifested to manifest as an objective Universe, which it
does periodically, it emanates a Power or "The First Cause"-so called
because it itself is the rootless root of that Cause, and called in the East
the "Causeless Cause." The first Cause we may call Brahma, or Ormazd, or
Osiris, or by any name we please. The projection into time of the influence
or so-called "breath of Brahma" causes all the worlds and the beings upon
them to gradually appear. 

They remain in manifestation just as long as that influence continues to
proceed forth in evolution. After long ćons the outbreathing, evolutionary
influence slackens, and the universe begins to go into obscuration, or
pralaya, until, the "breath" being fully indrawn, no objects remain, because
nothing is but Brahma. Care must be taken by the student to make a
distinction between Brahma (the impersonal Parabrahm) and Brahmâ the
manifested Logos. The means used by this power in acting would be also
treated.


This breathing-forth is known as a Manvantara, or the Manifestation of the
world between two Manus ( from Manu, and Antara "between" ) and the
completion of the inbreathing brings with it Pralaya, or destruction. It is
from these truths that the erroneous doctrines of "creation" and the "last
judgment" have sprung. Such Manvantaras and Pralayas have eternally
occurred, and will continue to take place periodically and forever.

For the purpose of a Manvantara two so-called eternal principles are
postulated, that is, Purusha and Prakriti (or spirit and matter), because
both are ever present and conjoined in each manifestation. Those terms are
used here because no equivalent for them exists in English. 

Purusha is called "spirit," and Prakriti "matter," but this Purusha is not
the unmanifested, nor is Prakriti matter as known to science; the Aryan
Sages therefore declare that there is a higher spirit still, called
Purushottama. The reason for this is that at the night of Brahmâ, or the
so-called indrawing of his breath, both Purusha and Prakriti are absorbed in
the Unmanifested; a conception which is the same as the idea underlying the
Biblical expression "remaining in the bosom of the Father."

This brings us to the doctrine of Universal Evolution as expounded by the
Sages of the Wisdom-Religion. The Spirit, or Purusha, they say, proceeds
from Brahma through the various forms of matter evolved at the same time,
beginning in the world of the spiritual from the highest and in the material
world from the lowest form. The lowest form is one unknown as yet to modern
science. Thus, therefore, the mineral, vegetable and animal forms each
imprison a spark of the
Divine, a portion of the indivisible Purusha.

These sparks struggle to "return to the Father," or in other words, to
secure self-consciousness and at last come into the highest form, on Earth,
that of man, where alone self-conscious-ness is possible to them. The
period, calculated in human time, during which this evolution goes on
embraces millions of ages. Each spark of divinity has, therefore, millions
of ages in which to accomplish its mission-that of obtaining complete
self-consciousness while in the form of man. 

But by this is not meant that the mere act of coming into human form of
itself confers self-consciousness upon this divine spark. That great work
may be accomplished during the Manvantara in which a Divine spark reaches
the human form, or it may not; all depends upon the individual's own will
and efforts. Each particular spirit thus goes through the Manvantara, or
enters into manifestation for its own enrichment and for that of the Whole. 

Mahâtmâs and Rishis are thus gradually evolved during a Manvantara, and
become, after its expiration, planetary spirits, who guide the evolutions of
other future planets. The planetary spirits of our globe are those who in
previous Manvantaras-or days of Brahmâ- made the efforts, and became in the
course of that long period Mahâtmâs.

Each Manvantara is for the same end and purpose, so that the Mahatmas who
have now attained those heights, or those who may become such in the
succeeding years of the present Manvantara, will probably be the planetary
spirits of the next Manvantara for this or other planets. This system is
thus seen to be based upon the identity of Spiritual Being, and, under the
name of "Universal Brotherhood," constitutes the basic idea of the
Theosophical Society, whose object is the realization of that Brotherhood
among men.

The Sages say that this Purusha is the basis of all manifested objects.
Without it nothing could exist or cohere. It interpenetrates everything
everywhere. It is the reality of which, or upon which, those things called
real by us are mere images. As Purusha reaches to and embraces all beings,
they are all connected together; and in or on the plane where that Purusha
is, there is a perfect consciousness of every act, thought, object, and
circumstance, whether supposed to occur there, or on this plane, or any
other. 

For below the spirit and above the intellect is a plane of consciousness in
which experiences are noted, commonly called man's "spiritual nature;" this
is frequently said to be as susceptible of culture as his body or his
intellect.

This upper plane is the real register of all sensations and experiences,
although there are other registering planes. It is sometimes called the
"subconscious mind." Theosophy, however, holds that it is a misuse of terms
to say that the spiritual nature can be cultivated. The real object to be
kept in view is to so open up or make porous the lower nature that the
spiritual nature may shine through it and become the guide and ruler. It is
only "cultivated" in the sense of having a vehicle prepared for its use,
into which it may descend. In other words, it is held that the real man, who
is the higher self—being the spark of the Divine before alluded
to—overshadows the visible being, which has the possibility of becoming
united to that spark. Thus it is said that the higher Spirit is not in the
man, but above him. It is always peaceful, unconcerned, blissful, and full
of absolute knowledge. It continually partakes of the Divine state, being
continually that state itself, "conjoined with the Gods, it feeds upon
Ambrosia." The object of the student is to let the light of that spirit
shine through the lower coverings.

This "spiritual culture" is only attainable as the grosser interests,
passions, and demands of the flesh are subordinated to the interests,
aspirations and needs of the higher nature; and this is a matter of both
system and established law.

Spirit can rule our lives

This spirit can only become the ruler when the firm intellectual
acknowledgment or admission is first made that IT alone is. And, as stated
above, it being not only the person concerned but also the whole, all
selfishness must be eliminated from the lower nature before its divine state
can be reached. So long as the smallest personal or selfish desire—even for
spiritual attainment for our own sake—remains, so long is the desired end
put off. Hence the above term "demands of the flesh" really covers also
demands that are not of the flesh, and its proper rendering would be
"desires of the personal nature, including those of the individual soul. "

When systematically trained in accordance with the aforesaid system and law,
men attain to clear insight into the immaterial, spiritual world, and their
interior faculties apprehend truth as immediately and readily as physical
faculties grasp the things of sense, or mental faculties those of reason.
Or, in the words used by some of them, "They are able to look directly upon
ideas;" and hence their testimony to such truth is as trustworthy as is that
of scientists or philosophers to truth in their respective fields.

In the course of this spiritual training such men acquire perception of, and
control over, various forces in Nature unknown to other men, and thus are
able to perform works usually called "miraculous," though really but the
result of larger knowledge of natural law. What these powers are may be
found in Patanjali's "Yoga Philosophy."

Their testimony as to super-sensuous truth, verified by their possession of
such powers, challenges candid examination from every religious mind.

Turning now to the system expounded by these sages, we find, in the first
place, an account of cosmogony, the past and future of this earth and other
planets, the evolution of life through elemental, mineral, vegetable, animal
and human forms, as they are called.

These "passive life elementals" are unknown to modern science, though
sometimes approached by it as a subtle material agent in the production of
life, whereas they are a form of life itself.

Each Kalpa, or grand period, is divided into four ages or yugas, each
lasting many thousands of years, and each one being marked by a predominant
characteristic. These are the Satya-yuga (or age of truth), the Tretya-yuga,
the Dvâpara-yuga, and our present Kali-yuga (or age of darkness), which
began five thousand years back. 

The word "darkness" here refers to spiritual and not material darkness. In
this age, however, all causes bring about their effects much more rapidly
than in any other age—a fact due to the intensified momentum of "evil," as
the course of its cycle is about rounding towards that of a new cycle of
truth. 

Thus a sincere lover of the race can accomplish more in three incarnations
during Kali-Yuga, than he could in a much greater number in any other age.
The darkness of this age is not absolute, but is greater than that of other
ages; its main tendency being towards materiality, while having some
mitigation in occasional ethical or scientific advance conducive to the
well-being of the race, by the removal of immediate causes of crime or
disease.

Our earth is one of a chain of seven planets, it alone being on the visible
plane, while the six others are on different planes, and therefore
invisible. (The other planets of our solar system belong each to a chain of
seven.) And the life-wave passes from the higher to the lower in the chain
until it reaches our earth, and then ascends and passes to the three others
on the opposite arc, and thus seven times. 

The evolution of forms is coincident with this progress, the tide of life
bearing with it the mineral and vegetable forms, until each globe in turn is
ready to receive the human life wave. Of these globes our earth is the
fourth.

Humanity passes from globe to globe in a series of Rounds, first circling
about each globe, and reincarnating upon it a fixed number of times.
Concerning the human evolution on the concealed planets or globes little is
permitted to be said. We have to concern ourselves with our Earth alone. The
latter, when the wave of humanity has reached it for the last time (in this,
our Fourth Round), began to evolute man, subdividing him into races. 

Each of these races when it has, through evolution, reached the period known
as "the moment of choice" and decided its future destiny as an individual
race, begins to disappear. The races are separated, moreover, from each
other by catastrophes of nature, such as the subsidence of continents and
great natural convulsions. Coincidentally with the development of races the
development of specialized senses takes place; thus our fifth race has so
far developed five senses.

The Sages further tell us that the affairs of this world and its people are
subject to cyclic laws, and during any one cycle the rate or quality of
progress appertaining to a different cycle is not possible. These cyclic
laws operate in each age. As the ages grow darker the same laws prevail,
only the cycles are shorter; that is, they are the same length in the
absolute sense, but go over the given limit in a shorter period of time. 

These laws impose restrictions on the progress of the race. In a cycle,
where all is ascending and descending, the Adepts must wait until the time
comes before they can aid the race to ascend. They cannot, and must not,
interfere with Karmic law. Thus they begin to work actively again in the
spiritual sense, when the cycle is known by them to be approaching its
turning point.

At the same time these cycles have no hard lines or points of departure or
inception, inasmuch as one may be ending or drawing to a close for sometime
after another has already begun. They thus overlap and shade into one
another, as day does into night; and it is only when the one has completely
ended and the other has really begun by bringing out its blossoms, that we
can say we are in a new cycle. It may be illustrated by comparing two
adjacent cycles to two interlaced circles, where the circumference of one
touches the center of the other, so that the moment where one ended and the
other began would be at the point where the circumferences intersected each
other. Or by imagining a man as representing, in the act of walking, the
progress of the cycles; his rate of advancement can only be obtained by
taking the distance covered by his paces, the points at the middle of each
pace, between the feet, being the beginning of cycles and their ending.

The cyclic progress is assisted, or the deterioration further permitted, in
this way; at a time when the cycle is ascending, developed and progressed
Beings, known in Sanskrit by the term "Jńânis," descend to this earth from
other spheres where the cycle is going down, in order that they may also
help the spiritual progress of this globe. In like manner they leave this
sphere when our cycle approaches darkness. These Jńânis must not, however,
be confounded with the Mahâtmâs and Adepts mentioned above. 

The right aim of true Theosophists should, therefore, be so to live that
their influence may be conducive for the dispelling of darkness to the end
that such Jńânis may turn again towards this sphere.

Akasa and Astral Light

Theosophy also teaches the existence of a universal diffused and highly
ethereal medium, which has been called the "Astral Light" and "Akâsa." Itis
the repository of all past, present, and future events, and in it are
recorded the effects of spiritual causes, and of all acts and thoughts from
the direction of either spirit or matter. It may be called the Book of the
Recording Angel.

Akâsa, however, is a misnomer when it is confused with Ether or the astral
light of the Kabalists. Akâsa is the noumenon of the phenomenal Ether or
astral light proper, for Akâsa is infinite, impartite, intangible, its only
production being Sound.*

And this astral light is material and not spirit. It is, in fact, the lower
principle of that cosmic body of which akasa is the highest. It has the
power of retaining all images. This includes a statement that each thought
as well as word and act makes an image there. 

These images may be said to have two lives. 

First. Their own as an image. 

Second. The impress left by them in the matrix of the astral light. In the
upper realm of this light there is no such thing as space or time in the
human sense. All future events are the thoughts and acts of men; these are
producers in advance of the picture of the event which is to occur. 

[End of part I ]

(extracts from Judge – The EPITOME OF THEOSOPHY)
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