Theos-Talk Archives (October 2005 Message tt00028)

10/6/2005 2:51 PM

Dear Gerry:

I think of myself as a kind of postman -- presenting what THEOSOPHY teaches,
and letting those who read and think decide for themselves its worth.

As for myself all the many years of interest and study have served to
confirm my interior assurance of the value and accuracy of what has been
offered.

I try to let anyone who reads make up their own minds by presenting the
theosophical position and letting them fit or conflict accordingly. I try
not to "influence" anyone. 

As to "cells" I find THEOSOPHY deals with their source and arrangement by
positing an electro-magnetic living and sensitive "field" of intelligence
and consciousness that inheres in each.  

The statement of the nature of the Monad is of importance in that since it
seems to me the "Monad" is in need of embodiment for the purpose of
assisting others who have started their individual journey later to reach to
self-knowledge and realize their own powers of progress are innate. 

As to "tradition and lineage" all presentations rest on the "originals". If
there has been deviation then those who see that can put their mental
fingers on the source for any change. As to whether it is useful or not --
they alone, again, are those who make decisions. It is neither fair nor
possible to the INDIVIDUAL, to "lump" anyone with a disparate bunch of
other individuals -- more or less supposed, by casual inquirers, to be
loosely linked into some labeled drawer or catch-net or other. "Labeling"
is so crude! 

The ONE SPIRIT is a concept of the base root of wisdom, purity and life that
pervades the Universe and sustains it. Comparable to the idea of "Buddham
Sambuddhaham." (spelling ?) Or "Adi-Buddha." Adi-Purusha being the "first"
emanation from the "ABSOLUTE." 

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

S D I 570 - 574

"And this shows that the ancient Initiates, who were followed more or less
closely by all profane antiquity, meant by the term "ATOM," a Soul, a Genius
or Angel, the first-born of the ever-concealed CAUSE of all causes; and in
this sense their teachings become comprehensible. 

They claimed, as do their successors, the existence of Gods and Genii,
angels or "demons," not outside, or independent of, the Universal Plenum,
but within it. Only this Plenum, during the life-cycles, is infinite. 

They admitted and taught a good deal of that which modern Science teaches
now -- namely, the existence of a primordial "World-stuff or Cosmic
Substance," from which worlds are formed, ever and eternally homogeneous,
except during its periodic existence, when it differentiates its universal
diffusion throughout infinite space; and the gradual formation of sidereal
bodies from it. They taught the revolution of the Heavens, the Earth's
rotation, the Heliocentric System, and the Atomic Vortices—Atoms—in reality
Souls and intelligences. 

But those "Atomists" were spiritual, most transcendental, and philosophical
Pantheists. It is not they who would have ever conceived, or dreamt that
monstrous contrasted progeny, the nightmare of our modern civilized Race;
namely—inanimate material, self-guiding atoms, on the one hand, and an
extra-Cosmic God on the other. 

It may be useful to show what, in the teachings of the old Initiates, the
Monad was, and what its origin. 

Modern exact Science, as soon as it began to grow out of its teens,
perceived the great, and, to it, hitherto esoteric axiom, that
nothing—whether in the spiritual, psychic, or physical realm of being—could
come into existence out of nothing. There is no cause in the manifested
universe without its adequate effects, whether in space or time; nor can
there be an effect without its primal cause, which itself owes its existence
to a still higher one—the final and absolute cause having to remain to man
for ever an incomprehensible CAUSELESS CAUSE. But even this is no solution,
and must be viewed, if at all, from the highest philosophical and
metaphysical standpoints, otherwise the problem had better be left
unapproached. It is an abstraction, on the verge of which human
reason—however trained to metaphysical subtleties—trembles, threateningto
collapse. This may be demonstrated to any European who would undertake to
solve the problem of existence by the articles of faith of the true
Vedantin, for instance. Let him read and study the sublime teachings on the
subject of Soul and Spirit, of 
[570] Sankaracharya (Viveka Chudamani) *, and the reader will realize what
is now said. ...

The monad—a truly "indivisible thing," as defined by Good, who did not give
it the sense we now do—is here rendered as the Atma in conjunction with
Buddhi and the higher Manas. This trinity is one and eternal, the latter
being absorbed in the former at the termination of all conditioned and
illusive life. The monad, then, can be traced through the course of its
pilgrimage and its changes of transitory vehicles only from the incipient
stage of the manifested Universe. 

In Pralaya, or the intermediate period between two manvantaras, it loses its
name, as it loses it when the real ONE self of man merges into Brahm in
cases of high Samadhi (the Turiya state) or final Nirvana; "when the
disciple" in the words of Sankara, "having attained that primeval
consciousness, absolute bliss, of which the nature is truth, which is
without form and action, abandons this illusive body that has been assumed
by the atma just as an actor (abandons) the dress (put on)." 

For Buddhi (the Anandamaya sheath) is but a mirror which reflects absolute
bliss; and, moreover, that reflection itself is yet not free from ignorance,
and is not the Supreme Spirit, being subject to conditions, being a
spiritual modification of Prakriti, and an effect; Atma alone is the one
real and eternal substratum of all—the essence and absolute knowledge—the
Kshetragna. † It is called in the Esoteric philosophy "the One Witness,"
.... [571] and, while it rests in Devachan, is referred to as "the Three
Witnesses to Karma." 

Atma (our seventh principle) being identical with the universal Spirit, and
man being one with it in his essence, what is then the Monad proper? It is
that homogeneous spark which radiates in millions of rays from the primeval
"Seven;"—of which seven further on. It is the EMANATING spark from the
UNCREATED Ray—a mystery. In the esoteric, and even exoteric Buddhism of the
North, Adi Buddha (Chogi dangpoi sangye), the One unknown, without beginning
or end, identical with Parabrahm and Ain-Soph, emits a bright ray from its
darkness. 


VAJRADHARA -- DORJECHANG

This is the Logos (the first), or Vajradhara, the Supreme Buddha (also
called Dorjechang). As the Lord of all Mysteries he cannot manifest, but
sends into the world of manifestation his heart—the "diamond heart,"
Vajrasattva (Dorjesempa). This is the second logos of creation, from whom
emanate the seven (in the exoteric blind the five) Dhyani Buddhas, called
the Anupadaka, "the parentless." These Buddhas are the primeval monads from
the world of incorporeal being, the Arupa world, wherein the Intelligences
(on that plane only) have neither shape nor name, in the exoteric system,
but have their distinct seven names in esoteric philosophy. 

These Dhyani Buddhas emanate, or create from themselves, by virtue of
Dhyana, celestial Selves—the super-human Bodhisattvas. 

These incarnating at the beginning of every human cycle on earth as mortal
men, become occasionally, owing to their personal merit, Bodhisattvas among
the Sons of Humanity, after which they may re-appear as Manushi (human)
Buddhas. 

The Anupadaka (or Dhyani-Buddhas) are thus identical with the Brahminical
Manasaputra, "mind-born sons"—whether of Brahma or either of the other two
Trimurtian Hypostases, hence identical also with the Rishis and Prajapatis.
Thus, a passage is found in Anugita, which, read esoterically, shows
plainly, though under another imagery, the same idea and system. It says:
"Whatever entities there are in this world, moveable or immoveable, they are
the very first to be dissolved (at pralaya); and next the developments
produced from the elements (from which the visible Universe is fashioned);
and, after these developments (evolved entities), all the elements. Such is
the upperward gradation among entities. Gods, Men, Gandharvas, Pisachas,
Asuras, Rakshasas, all have been created by Svabhava (Prakriti, or plastic
nature), not by actions, nor by a cause"—i.e., not by any physical cause.
[572] them is dissolved in due time in those very five great elements (the
five, or rather seven, Dhyani Buddhas, also called "Elements" of Mankind),
like billows in the ocean. 

These great elements are in every way beyond the elements that make up the
world (the gross elements). And he who is released even from these five
elements (the tanmatras) * goes to the highest goal." 

"The Lord Prajapati (Brahma) created all this by the mind only," i.e., by
Dhyana, or abstract meditation and mystic powers like the Dhyani Buddhas
(vide supra). Evidently then, these "Brahmanas" are identical with the
Bodhisattvas (the terrestrial) of the heavenly Dhyani Buddhas. Both, as
primordial, intelligent "Elements," become the creators or the emanators of
the monads destined to become human in that cycle; after which they evolve
themselves, or, so to say, expand into their own selves as Bodhisattvas or
Brahmanas, in heaven and earth, to become at last simple men --"the creators
of the world are born here, on earth again and again"—truly. In the Northern
Buddhist system, or the popular exoteric religion, it is taught that every
Buddha, while preaching the good law on earth, manifests himself
simultaneously in three worlds: in the formless, as Dhyani Buddha, in the
World of forms, as a Bodhisattva, and in the world of desire, the lowest (or
our world) as a man. Esoterically the teaching differs: 

	
DIVINE, PURELY ADI-BUDDHIC MONAD 


The divine, purely Adi-Buddhic monad manifests as the universal Buddhi (the
Maha-buddhi or Mahat in Hindu philosophies) the spiritual, omniscient and
omnipotent root of divine intelligence, the highest anima mundi or the
Logos. This descends "like a flame spreading from the eternal Fire,
immoveable, without increase or decrease, ever the same to the end" of the
cycle of existence, and becomes universal life on the Mundane Plane. 

>From this Plane of conscious Life shoot out, like seven fiery tongues, the
Sons of Light (the logoi of Life); then the Dhyani-Buddhas of contemplation:
the concrete forms of their formless Fathers—the Seven Sons of Light, still
themselves, to whom may be applied the Brahmanical mystic phrase: "Thou art
'THAT'—Brahm." It is from these Dhyani-Buddhas that emanate their chhayas
(Shadows) the Bodhisattvas of the celestial realms, the prototypes of the
super-terrestrial Bodhisattvas, and of the terrestrial Buddhas, and finally
of men. The "Seven Sons of Light" are also called "Stars." 

The star under which a human Entity is born, says the Occult teaching, will
remain for ever its star, throughout the whole cycle of its incarnations in
one Manvantara. But this is not his astrological star. The latter is
concerned and connected with the personality, the former with [573] the
INDIVIDUALITY. The "Angel" of that Star, or the Dhyani-Buddha will be either
the guiding or simply the presiding "Angel," so to say, in every new rebirth
of the monad, which is part of his own essence, though his vehicle, man, may
remain for ever ignorant of this fact. The adepts have each their
Dhyani-Buddha, their elder "twin Soul," and they know it, calling it
"Father-Soul," and "Father-Fire." It is only at the last and supreme
initiation, however, that they learn it when placed face to face with the
bright "Image." 

How much has Bulwer Lytton known of this mystic fact when describing, in one
of his highest inspirational moods, Zanoni face to face with his Augoeides? 

The Logos, or both the unmanifested and the manifested WORD, is called by
the Hindus, Iswara, "the Lord," though the Occultists give it another name.
Iswara, say the Vedantins, is the highest consciousness in nature. "This
highest consciousness," answer the Occultists, "is only a synthetic unit in
the world of the manifested Logos—or on the plane of illusion; for it is the
sum total of Dhyan-Chohanic consciousnesses." "Oh, wise man, remove the
conception that not-Spirit is Spirit," says Sankaracharya. Atma is
not-Spirit in its final Parabrahmic state, Iswara or Logos is Spirit; or, as
Occultism explains, it is a compound unity of manifested living Spirits, the
parent-source and nursery of all the mundane and terrestrial monads, plus
their divine reflection, which emanate from, and return into, the Logos,
each in the culmination of its time. There are seven chief groups of such
Dhyan Chohans, which groups will be found and recognised in every religion,
for they are the primeval SEVEN Rays. Humanity, occultism teaches us, is
divided into seven distinct groups and their sub-divisions, mental,
spiritual, and physical.* The monad, then, viewed as ONE, is above the
seventh principle (in Kosmos and man), and as a triad, it is the direct
radiant progeny of the said compound UNIT, not the breath (and special
creation out of nihil) of "God," as that unit is called; for such an idea is
quite unphilosophical, and degrades Deity, dragging it down to a finite,
attributive condition. As well expressed by the translator of the
"Crest-Jewel of Wisdom"—though Iswara is "God" "unchanged in the profoundest
depths of pralayas and in the intensest activity of the manvantaras" . . .,
still "beyond (him) is 
[574] 'ATMA,' round whose pavilion is the darkness of eternal MAYA." * The
"triads" born under the same Parent-planet, or rather the radiations of one
and the same Planetary Spirit (Dhyani Buddha) are, in all their after lives
and rebirths, sister, or "twin-souls," on this Earth. † 

This was known to every high Initiate in every age and in every country: "I
and my Father are one," said Jesus (John x. 30). ‡ When He is made to say,
elsewhere (xx. 17): "I ascend to my Father and your Father," it meant that
which has just been stated. It was simply to show that the group of his
disciples and followers attracted to Him belonged to the same Dhyani Buddha,
"Star," or "Father," again of the same planetary realm and division as He
did. It is the knowledge of this occult doctrine that found expression in
the review of "The Idyll of the White Lotus," when Mr. T. Subba Row wrote:
"Every Buddha meets at his last initiation all the great adepts who reached
Buddhahood during the preceding ages . . . every class of adepts has its own
bond of spiritual communion which knits them together. . . . . The only
possible and effectual way of entering into such brotherhood . . . . is by
bringing oneself within the influence of the Spiritual light which radiates
from one's own Logos. I may further point out here . . . . that such
communion is only possible between persons whose souls derive their life and
sustenance from the same divine RAY, and that, as seven distinct rays
radiate from the 'Central Spiritual Sun,' all adepts and Dhyan Chohans are
divisible into seven classes, each of which is guided, controlled, and
overshadowed by one of the seven forms or manifestations of the divine
Wisdom." ("Theosophist," Aug., 1886.) "
S D I 570 - 574
 
---------------------

Best wishes, 

Dallas
 
=============================

-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald 
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2005 12:25 PM
To: 
Subject: RE: Part I on ASTRAL PLANE AND BODY

<< Are we not all brothers in this -- seekers and friends? >>

Yes, we are.


<< I used Judge's The OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY because it is deceptive in its
simplicity, and yet provides an accurate view of the esoteric that ever
underlies and animates the "exoteric." >>

Dal, the problem that I have is that the quotes, by themselves, don't tell
me anything about what you personally think. For example, do you think that 

1. Judge's quotes confirm the validity of Zakk's post
2. Judgge's quotes show a conflict in the validity of Zakk's post
3. Judge's quotes confirm some of Zakk's post while conflicting with other
parts
4. Judge's quotes add more detail to Zakk's brief overview

I assume that you posted the quotes for a reason, but can't figure out what
that reason would be. Which of the four possibilites is it?


<< I have found it to be a true and most useful epitome of the S D. It does
not eclipse any of the statements made there, but offers those for
consideration. >>

I picked a para at ramdom to comment on, and it was all about cells in the
physical body. What does that have to do with the astral, which is the
title of your post? Just curious.


<< I will try and write below what I secure from its study (of course along
with the rest of our Theosophical literature). >>

Your own personal thoughts and feelings and perspectives and experiences
would be most helpful.


CUT