RE: [bn-study] RE: Mystery of Death
Feb 05, 2006 04:45 AM
by W.Dallas TenBroeck
Psychology -- Theosophical
Normal and Abnormal
-----
Contents:
Accidental Death . 7, 9 Meditation/Trance 21, 23
Anxiety . . . 28 Mental States . .
25
Brain/Mind. . . 2, 24 Mind/Consciousness . 3, 31
Coma . . . 10 Moral States .
. . 6
Consciousness, A Chain 2 Murder, Violent Death . 8
Death . . . 6 Normal States . . 5,
19
Deep Dreamless Sleep 20 Possession/Obsession . 13
Dreams . . . 19 Psychic Powers . .
30
Elementals. . . 18 Seance/Mediumship .
. 8, 17
Elementaries . .14, 17 Trance/Meditation . 21,
23
Emotional States/Moods 26 Turiya/Deep Meditation .23, 27
Evil . . . . 14 Psychology .
. . 5, 31
Insanity . . . 9, 11 Psychology (Abnormal) .
7
Hallucination . . 14 Suicide . . .
. 7, 10
Magicians, Black . 16 Will/Desire/Passion .
29
Manas/Mind. . . 3
===========================================================
"Every living creature, of whatever description, was, is, or will
become a human being in one or another Manvantara." HPB Trans. 23
"...Motion, [is] the one life, or Jivatma..." S D I 50
"There must therefore be something eternally persisting, which is
the witness and perceiver of every passing change, itself unchangeable."
Gita Notes, p. 23
"The Self must be recognized as being within, pondered over, and as
much as possible understood, if we are to gain any true knowledge."
Gita Notes p. 17-24
Preliminary Questions:
What is the Ego and its relationship to Personal Consciousness, and
how are they related to the physical man who may be insane or in a deep coma
? [ higher Ego = Buddhi-Manas; lower ego = Kama-Manas ]
What are the Channels of Communication between the Ego, the Astral
and the Physical Man? [ higher Ego or Manas per se ]
Suggested Considerations: [ Propositions & Argument ]
There are several elements to these considerations but the first is
that which deals with normal cases--the average good human.
The case of insanity and of coma are abnormal states or conditions
and require more details, but, always keeping the normal relationships in
mind, that Theosophy considers. [ see pp. 9 to 11 ]
Normal conditions of consciousness [the "channels of communication"]
are viewed by Theosophy in Mr. W. Q. Judge's words as follows:
What is the Chain of Consciousness in Man ?
"Manas, or the thinker, is the reincarnating being, the immortal who
carries the results and values of all the different lives or earth or
elsewhere." [ Ocean p. 54 ]
"In Manas the thoughts of all lives are stored...the total quantity
of life thoughts makes up the stream or thread of a life's mediation...and
is stored in Manas." [ Ocean p. 55 ]
"This coming into life over and over again cannot be avoided by the
ordinary man because Lower Manas is still bound by Desire, which is the
preponderating principle at the present period."
Being so influenced by Desire, Manas is continually deluded while in
the body...Each thought makes a physical as well as mental link with the
desire in which it is rooted...when the period of rest after death is ended
Manas is bound by innumerable electric magnetic threads to earth by reason
of the thoughts of the last life, and therefore by desire...The body of the
inner man is made of thought..." [ Ocean, pp 58-9 ]
Brain and Mind Connection
"It is Manas which sees the objects presented to it by the bodily
organs and the actual [ astral ] organs within...eye...the whole scene is
turned into vibrations in the optic nerve which disappear into the brain,
where Manas is enabled to perceive them as ideas...
If the connection between Manas and the brain be broken,
intelligence will not be manifested unless Manas has by training found out
how to project the astral body from the physical and thereby keep up
communications with fellow men...Manas, using the astral body, has only to
impress an idea upon the other person to make the latter see the idea and
translate it into a visible body... " [ Ocean p. 55 ]
Mind has Two Aspects
"[Manas] its nature becomes dual as soon as it is attached to a
body." [ Ocean p. 54 ]
1. Lower Aspect of Manas -- [ Kama linked to Manas ]
"...the human brain is a superior organism and Manas uses it to
reason from premises to conclusions...This is the lower aspect of the
Thinker or Manas...purely intellectual, [and] is nearest to the principle of
Desire...Intellect alone is cold, heartless, selfish, because it is not
lighted up by the two other principles of Buddhi and Atma."
[ Ocean p. 54 ]
"It is this lower Manas which retains all the impressions of a
life-time, and sometimes exhibits them in trances or dreams, delirium,
induced states, here and there in normal conditions, and very often at the
time of physical death. But it is so occupied with the brain, with memory
and with sensation that it usually presents but few recollections out of the
mass of events that years have brought before it."
[ Ocean, p. 56 }
"It interferes with the action of Higher Manas because just at the
present point of evolution, Desire and all corresponding powers, faculties,
and senses are the most highly developed, thus obscuring, as it were, the
white light of the spiritual side of Manas..."
[ Ocean, p. 56 }
"Lower Manas operating through the brain is at once altered into the
shape and other characteristics of any object, mental or otherwise...[it
has] four peculiarities...the fourth [passivity, and considering naught]
signifies sleep when not abnormal, and when abnormal is going towards
insanity." [see Patanjali] [ Ocean, p. 56-7 ]
"When one falls into a love of self and love of the world, with its
pleasures, losing the divine love of God and of the neighbor, he falls from
life to death. The higher principles...perish, and he lives only on the
natural plane of his faculties. Physically he exists, spiritually he is
dead...This spiritual death results from disobedience of the laws of
spiritual life...But the spiritually dead have still their delights; they
have their intellectual endowments and power, and intense activities. All
the animal delights are theirs, and to multitudes of men and women these
constitute the highest ideal of human happiness...A high development of the
intellectual faculties does not imply spiritual and true life. Many of our
greatest scientists are but animate corpses--they have no spiritual sight
because their spirits have left them..." Isis I 318-19
2. Higher Aspect of Manas [ Manas proper &
Buddhi-Manas ]
"...the...higher aspect is the intuitional, which knows and does not
depend on reason...[and] which has affinity for the spiritual principles [
Atma and Buddhi ] above." [ Ocean p. 54 ]
"These [four] mental characteristics all belonging to lower Manas,
are those which the Higher Manas, aided by Buddhi and Atma, has to fight and
conquer. Higher Manas, if able to act, becomes what we sometimes call
Genius; if completely master, then one may become a god...Sometimes...we do
see here and there men who are geniuses or great seers and prophets. In
these the Higher powers of Manas are active and the person
illuminated...Others...poets...are men in whom Higher Manas now and then
sheds a bright ray on the man below, to be soon obscured..."
"In this higher Trinity, we have the God above each one; this is
Atma, and may be called the Higher Self. Next is the spiritual part of the
soul called Buddhi, when thoroughly united with Manas this may be called the
Divine Ego."
"The inner Ego, who reincarnates...suffering and enjoying through an
immense period of years, is the 5th principle--Manas--not united to Buddhi.
This is the permanent individuality which gives to every man the feeling of
being himself and not some other...It is this, not our brain, that lifts us
above the animal...And when we either wholly , or now and then become
consciously united with Buddhi, the Spiritual Soul, we behold God, as it
were...This permanent individuality in the present race has therefore been
through every sort of experience...the necessity for its continuing to take
part in evolution. It has a duty to perform, consisting in raising up to a
higher state all the matter concerned in the chain of globes to which the
earth belongs..." [ Ocean, pp. 57-8 ]
[see SD I 243-6 334 Key 91-2 135-6 175-6]
"This is precisely what occult philosophy claims; our Ego is a ray
of the Universal Mind, individualized for the space of a cosmic life-cycle,
during which space of time it gets experience in almost numberless
reincarnations or rebirths, after which it returns to its Parent-Source.
The Occultist would call the "Higher Ego" the immortal Entity, whose
shadow and reflection is the human Manas, the mind limited by its physical
senses...In the course of natural evolution our "brain-mind" will be
replaced by a finer organism, and helped by the 6th and the 7th senses.
Even now, there are pioneer minds who have developed these senses."
Theos. Art. & Notes, p. 208
"...it is the higher Manas illuminated by Buddhi; the principle of
self-consciousness, the "I-am-I"...It is the Karana-Sarira, the immortal
man, which passes from one incarnation to another." Trans 63
"There is a sort of conscious telegraphic communication going on
incessantly, day and night, between the physical brain and the inner
man...the consciousness of the sleeper is not active but passive. The
inner man, however, the real Ego, acts independently during the sleep of the
body...Read "Karmic Visions" [ HPB ART I, 382 ]...and note the description
of the real Ego, sitting as a spectator of the life of the hero..."
TRANS 64-5
"...Buddhi and Atma...These higher principles are entirely inactive
on our plane, and the higher Ego (Manas) itself is more or less dormant
during the waking of the physical man....So dormant are the Spiritual
faculties, because the Ego is so trammeled by matter, that It can hardly
give all its attention to man's actions, even should the latter commit sins
for which that Ego--when reunited with its lower Manas--will have to suffer
conjointly in the future. It is...the impressions projected into the
physical man by this Ego which constitute what we call "conscience;" and in
proportion as the personality, the lower Soul (or Manas), unites itself to
its higher consciousness, or EGO, does the action of the latter upon the
life of mortal man become more marked." TRANS 62-3
===============
Normal and Abnormal Psychology
Theosophy recognizes and speaks of several states of consciousness,
but of only One Consciousness, which is the Perceiver of all of those
events. [ see Gita Notes, pp. 98-100 ]
Of these various states we know of: 1. waking consciousness;
2. Waking-dreaming ("lucid dreams" ); 3. dreaming; 4. Deep sleep; 5.
trance (or sleep induced either by drugs or anesthetics); 6. meditation
(or abstraction, or "brown study," or Samadhi), and
7. a mysterious state called in the Orient: Turiya, where it is said that
the one who experiences this is self-conscious on a Universal plane and
"knows everything at once." The key to this state is perfect harmlessness,
selflessness, virtue, charity and compassion for all beings ( Gautama the
Buddha exemplified this achievement ).
"Normal"
The "normal states: are of course: 1. waking, 2. dreaming;
3. deep sleep; 4. meditation or concentration with focused attention on a
chosen subject or object.
The dreaming and the deep sleep are for us at this stage
involuntary.
Meditation is self-induced and has a number of stages within that
broad outline, leading to the Turiya state.
Trance is blanking the mind and is said to lead to "passivity,"
madness, insanity, obsession and possession. It is highly dangerous and is
to be avoided at all costs. So are drug induced stupors, or "highs."
Medical anesthesia has dangers associated with it which are not yet
fully understood. It is a state of dissociation from physical pain
receptors so as to alleviate trauma resulting from pain in the body. This
gives us a clue as to the nature of pain. It is the attention directed to
the source that attaches the feeling-mind to that and amplifies local
sensation to the exclusion of anything else.
"Near-death experiences" [ NDE ] may occur at times of operation,
stress, accident, and serve to demonstrate that the Real Person is not
restricted to the physical body, but it also lives in its own vehicle, and
works through the invisible, intangible astral body.
"Moral" States -- Causes of Abnormality
Considering the possible causes of abnormal psychology, HPB writing
in Isis Unveiled, Vol. 2, p. 368, offers the following:
"When a man leads [an impure, vicious life] ...the "soul," as a half
animal principle, becomes paralyzed, and grows unconscious of its subjective
[ nobler ] half--the Lord--and in proportion to the sensuous development of
the brain and nerves, sooner or later, it finally loses sight of its divine
mission on earth. Like the Voordalak, or Vampire of the Servian tale, the
brain feeds and lives and grows in strength and power at the expense of its
spiritual parent. Then the almost half-unconscious soul, now fully
intoxicated by the fumes of earthly life, becomes senseless, beyond hope of
redemption. It is powerless to discern the splendor of its higher spirit,
to hear the warning voice of its "guardian Angel," and its "God." It aims
but at the development and fuller comprehension of natural, earthly life;
and thus, can discover but the mysteries of physical nature. Its grief and
fear, hope and joy, are all closely blended with its terrestrial
existence...It begins by becoming virtually dead; it dies at last
completely, It is annihilated. Such a catastrophe may sometimes happen
long years before the final separation of the life-principle from the
body..." Isis II 368-9.
[ see also Isis I, p. 318-9 ]
Abnormal Death
The first state after the death of the body is named Kama-loka
(plane of desire). In this astral state there is a separation of the two
general types of memories relative to hope, and desire and passion during
life. On one side are the virtues, compassions, loves, selfless thoughts of
help and for the alleviation for other's sufferings. Ranged against these
are the selfish host of passions and dark desires, vices, greeds, ambitions,
etc... This state of kama-loka is a prelude to the second state called
Devachan (the plane of the "gods"). To this latter state goes the Ego
accompanied by the noble and altruistic half of memory, so that these may be
reviewed and built into character and capacity in preparation for its
rebirth. The selfish, vicious memories coalesce with the astral body, and
this, devoid of the life-giving Ego is abandoned at the threshold of
Devachan. This process is called "the second death." For this second
"corpse" there begins its disintegration and the dispersal of its elements (
skandhas ) through Nature. The disintegrating mass of passions remains
coherent for a relatively short time, proportionate to the strength of the
memories centered in selfishness and vice. The condition is then described
as follows:
"The good and pure sleep a quiet blissful sleep, full of happy
visions of earth-life and have no consciousness of being already for ever
beyond that life. Those who were neither good nor bad, will sleep a
dreamless, still a quiet sleep; while the wicked will in proportion to
their grossness suffer the pangs of a nightmare lasting years: their
thoughts become living things, their wicked passions--
real substance, and they receive back on their heads all the misery they
have heaped upon others. Reality and fact if described would yield a far
more terrible Inferno than even Dante had imagined." M L p.123
"Love and Hatred are the only immortal feelings..." M L p. 127
[ In Theosophical Articles and Notes, we are given the clearest
review of the various conditions relative to experiences by a number of
cases where death is involuntary or abnormal. -- p 239-41]
1. Suicides:--
Though not separated completely from Buddhi and Atma yet there is a
vast gulf until the day when they would have normally died.
These two: Atma-Buddhi are passive for the intervening time, (to the
hour of the last judgment--when the last and final strug-
gle between Atma-Buddhi on one hand and Kama-Manas on the
other occurs). (Theos. Articles & Notes, p.239-40)
Suicide is death brought on voluntarily and with full and deliberate
knowledge of its immediate consequences. (240)
If, in a fit on insanity a man commits suicide, he falls asleep like
any other victim of accident. (240)
2. Accidental Deaths:--
The victim, good or bad, is irresponsible for his death.
Even if the death by accident were due to past Karma, it is not the
direct result of a personal act of the Ego in this life.
The Dhyan-Chohans protect the hapless accident victim when it is
violently thrust out of its life before it has matured and
been made ready for the new place in a normal way. (239)
In the case of accidental death, the 2 groups of principles
(Atma-Buddhi-Manas) and (Astral-Prana-Kama-Lower Manas) attract each other.
(239-240)
[ Accidental Death - continued ]
1. In the case of good and innocent egos the lower 4 gravitate
irresistibly towards Atma-Buddhi, and thus sleep,
1. a dreamless slumber, or
2. are surrounded by happy dreams until the hour when death
would have normally taken place occurs and the separation between the
"higher" and the "lower" principles occurs just before Devachan ("gestation
state").
If at that time Atma-Buddhi carrying the essence of Higher
Manasic experience proves to have too little for the operation
of the process of "Akasic Samadhi" in Devachan the Manasic
principle will reclothe itself in a new body (the direct
result of the remaining Karma of the victim) and enter upon a
new life on earth. [ Quick reincarnation ? ] (240)
3. Seance Room "Spirits":--
The only "visitors" at seance rooms as astral forms are:
1. suicides, and
2. Elementaries -- Kama-lokic remains & "Black
Magicians"
3. Executed criminals.
No pure Spirits visit any seance room. (240-1)
4. Victims of Vicious Indulgence:-- ( life shortening )
The cause of vice receives punishment. Motive is every, and man is
punished in a case of direct responsibility only.
Vicious indulgence can cause an earlier death than provided for
under the personal karma of that life. (240)
5. Murderers - Executed Persons:--
Under the influence of the last violent thoughts and feelings he
felt before execution, the executed person will be ever reviewing on the
Astral Plane his anger and fear, and will be receiving the impact of the
changes made in the lives of others influenced by his acts. (240-1)
Those who are vicious, and not insane, are only partly killed on
execution. From the Astral Plane they will be affecting all those who are
sensitive enough to "feel and receive" them.
Especially at spiritualistic seances. There they project scenes of
blood and punishment into such weak persons, influencing them to copy. [
They may also "haunt" astrally by attraction the place of their crime or of
execution.] (241)
At scenes of collective murder, where victims are overwhelmed by a
group and killed, the struggle and emotional impact may be reenacted several
times a year for many years. (241)
[ Ex.: Marathon ] Those sensitive to the Astral images will see this.
6. Insanity:--
Suicide and murder can be committed while insane. The period
between death of the body and the real death would be passed in sleep.
[ see M. Pan. p.481 ] (Theos. Articles & Notes, p. 240 241)
Accidental Death
[ Explanation of state of consciousness of violent or accidental death
victims .] "...In cases of good and innocent Egos...the latter gravitates
irresistibly towards the 6th [buddhi] and 7th [atma ], and thus--either
slumbers surrounded by happy dreams, or, sleeps a dreamless profound sleep
until the hour strikes...The victim whether good or bad is irresponsible for
his death, even if his death were due to some action in a previous life or
an antecedent birth; was an act...of the Law of Retribution, still, it was
not the direct result of an act deliberately committed by the personal ego
of that life during which he happened to be killed. Had he been allowed to
live longer he may have atoned for his antecedent sins still more
effectually: and even now, the Ego having been made to pay off the debt of
his maker (the previous Ego) is free from the blows of retributive justice.
The Dhyan Chohans who have no hand in the guidance of the living human Ego,
protect the helpless victim when it is violently thrust out of its element
into a new one, before it is matured and made fit and ready for it. We tell
you what we know, for we are made to learn it through personal experience...
Yes; the victims whether good or bad, sleep, to awake but at the hour of
the last Judgment, which is that hour of the supreme struggle between the
6th and the 7th, and the 5th and 4th at the threshold of the gestation
state. And even after that, when the 6th and 7th carrying off a portion of
the 5th have gone into their Akasic Samadhi [devachan ], even then it may
happen that the spiritual spoil from the 5th will prove too weak to be
reborn (132) in Deva-Chan; in which case it will there and then reclothe
itself in a new body, the subjective "Being" created from the Karma of the
victim (or no victim, as the case may be) and enter upon a new
earth-existence whether upon this or any other planet [read "Globe"]."
M L p. 131-2
"What you were taught is the Rule. [Bear always in mind that there
are exceptions...] Good and pure "accidents" sleep in the Akasa, ignorant
of their change; very wicked and impure--suffer all the tortures of a
horrible nightmare. The majority--neither very good nor very bad, the
victims of accident or violence (including murder)--some sleep, others
become Nature pisachas, and while a small minority may fall victims to
mediums and derive a new set of skandhas from the medium who attracts them.
Small as their number may be, their fate is to be the most deplored." M L
p. 132
Suicide
"...suicides and those who are suddenly shot out of life by accident
or murder, legal or illegal, pass a term [ in the Kamaloca
almost equal to the length life would have been but for the sudden
termination. These are not really dead. To bring on a normal death, a
factor not recognized by medical science must be present. That is, the
principles of the being...have their own term of cohesion, at the natural
end of which they separate from each other under their own laws...before
that natural end the principles are unable to separate...the normal
destruction of the cohesive force cannot be brought about by mechanical
processes except in respect to the physical body. Hence a suicide, or
person killed in an accident or murdered by man or by order of human law,
has not come to the natural termination of the cohesion among the other
constituents, and is hurled into the kamaloca state only partly dead. There
the remaining principles have to wait until the actual natural life term is
reached, whether it be one month or sixty years."
OCEAN p. 105-108
Coma -- Unconsciousness of the Body [& Brain].
"Coma" may result from natural or unnatural causes: accident, a
blow to the head which affects brain functions totally or partially, strong
emotion, disease, illness, etc... It is an abnormal state and it is
difficult to determine whether this is curable or incurable. In any case
the Conscious mind is unable to make coherent contact with the physical body
instrument. The hiatus thus caused, may be physical, astral, or
psycho-mental. We are given almost nothing concerning the nature of the
last two reasons. Comatose patients, whose physical body is artificially
kept alive, have been known to recover after many days or even years spent
in that condition, when bodily functions have been kept supplied with
physical life's necessities.
What is not always determined is the nature or quality of the
personal consciousness that returns to the body in such cases--as to whether
the "returning" intelligence is still the same personality that actually
returns to animate the body. In some cases--where amnesia of various kinds
have been recorded, it may be some other entity that assumes the "mask and
memories" of the abandoned body and masquerades thereafter as it, employing
its memories. That the personality may be substituted, is one of the
situations that Theosophy explains. [see below].
Medical science employing the encephalograph in the case of comatose
persons, may detect evidence of brain activity, and when this is
undetectable, medical science assumes that the Intelligence, or the Real
Person has left the body.
In some cases the body has been kept alive physically by "heroic
measures," using artificial respiration, exercise and nourishment, and
stimulating the heart to beat. "Life" of the physical form has been
maintained for days, weeks, years in some cases, but when the apparatus is
disconnected, deliberately or by accident, (in those cases where the Real
Person has left that body) the immediate physical necrosis demonstrates the
futility of keeping the physical apparatus alive when the "mind-person" has
already "left."
It also points to the fact that the Consciousness is not dependent
on the body except as a vehicle through which it can manifest. Cases of
survival and the resumption of intelligent activity and memory after sever
brain illness or damage, also show that the Real Person uses the brain as an
instrument of communication, and intelligence is not solely its product.
This demonstrates the significance of a knowledge of the subjective
planes and states relating to man's consciousness.
"...arcane science teaches that the abandonment of the living body
by the soul frequently occurs, and that we encounter every day, in every
condition of life, such living corpses. Various causes, among them
overpowering fright, grief, despair, a violent attack of sickness, or
excessive sensuality may bring this about. The vacant carcass may be
entered and inhabited by the astral form of an adept sorcerer, or an
elementary (an earth-bound disembodied human soul), or, very rarely, an
elemental..." Isis II 589
[ The strange case of Edgar Caycee illustrates the nature of a
peculiar physiological/psychological nature which when it went into a
trance-sleep, recorded the memories of what its inner Ego [ Buddhi-Manas ]
provided as an answer to the problems asked. It must be remembered that
Buddhi-Manas is "quasi-omniscient on its own plane." ]
Insanity and Idiocy
"In insanity, the patient's astral being is either semi-paralyzed,
bewildered, and subject to the influence of every passing spirit of any
sort, or it has departed forever, and the body is taken possession of by
some vampirish entity near its own disintegration, and clinging desperately
to earth, whose sensual pleasures it may enjoy for a brief season longer by
this expedient." Isis II 589
"Lower Manas operating through the brain is at once altered into the
shape and other characteristics of any object, mental or otherwise...[it
has] four peculiarities...the fourth [passivity, and considering naught]
signifies sleep when not abnormal, and when abnormal is going towards
insanity." [ Ocean, p. 56-7 ]
Account of a Witness to the Onset of Insanity
Mme. Blavatsky narrates in a story titled "A Bewitched Life" the
experience of one who, visiting his sister astrally, became a witness to her
becoming insane. Her husband had died in an accident and the mangled body
was brought to their home without warning to her.
"...I witness her unprepared reception of the ghastly news...I
perceive clearly...to the minutest detail, the sensations and the inner
process that takes place in her...the dull thud of the living body falling
upon the remains of the dead one. I followed...the sudden thrill and the
instantaneous perturbation in the brain that followed it, and watch with
attention the worm-like precipitate, and immensely intensified motion of he
tubular fibers, the instantaneous change of color in the cephalic extremity
of the nervous system, the fibrous nervous matter passing from white to
bright red and then to a dark red, bluish hue. I notice the sudden flash of
a phosphorous-like, brilliant Radiance, its tremor and its sudden extinction
followed by darkness--complete darkness in the region of memory--as the
Radiance, comparable in its form only to a human shape, oozes out suddenly
from the top of the head, expands, loses its form and scatters. And I say
to myself: "This is insanity; life-long incurable insanity, for the
principle of intelligence is not paralyzed or extinguished temporarily, but
has just deserted the tabernacle for ever, ejected from it by the terrible
force of the sudden blow...The link between the animal and the divine
essence is broken..."
[ from H.P.Blavatsky-- "A Bewitched Life" -- The Tell-Tale Picture Gallery,
p. 44-5, International Book House, Bombay]
The Possible Karma of Idiocy
"Let us imagine a boy...not given proper intelligence...an idiot.
But instead of being a mild idiot, he possesses great malice which manifests
itself in his tormenting insects and animals at every opportunity...He has
thus hindered many a spirit in its upward march and has beyond doubt
inflicted pain and caused a moral discord. This fact of his idiocy is not a
restoration of the discord. Every animal that he tortured had its own
particular elemental spirit, and so had every flower that he broke in
pieces. What did they know of his idiocy, [being unreasoning things] and
what did they feel after the torture but revenge ?...He dies...and after the
lapse of years is reborn...into a body possessing more than average
intelligence. He is no longer an idiot but a sensible active man...What is
to be the result of the evil deeds of his previous existence? Are they to
go unpunished?...and if compensation comes, in what manner does the law
operate on him?...on way...is through the discord produced in the spirits of
those unthinking beings which he had tortured...But how? In this way. In
the agony of their torture these beings turned their eyes upon their
torturer, and dying, his spiritual picture through the excess of their pain,
together with that paid and the desire for revenge, were photographed, so to
speak, upon their spirits--for in no other way could they have a memory of
him--and when he became a disembodied spirit they clung to him until he was
reincarnated, when they were still with him, like barnacles on a ship. They
can only see through his eyes, and their revenge consists in precipitating
themselves down his glance on any matter he may engage in, thus attaching
themselves to it for the purpose of dragging it down to disaster...
The ancients taught that the astral light--Akasa-- is projected from
the eyes, the thumbs and the palms of the hands. Now as the elementals
exist in the astral light, they will be able to see only through those
avenues of human organism which are used by the astral light in traveling
from the person. The eyes are most convenient...our reincarnated idiot
engages in a business...The elementals go with him and throwing themselves
upon everything he directs, cause him continued disaster.
But one by one they are caught up again out of the orbit of
necessity into the orbit of probation in this world, and at last all are
gone, whereupon he finds success in all he does. [This is offered] as a
possible solution or answer to the question as to what is the rationale of
the operation of the Moral Law of Compensation in that particular case..."
WQJ--"The Moral Law of Compensation"
-- WQJ Articles I 129-131
Possession & Obsession -- Personality substitution, and
Multiple personalities
A substitution of the consciousness which rules the physical body is
a possibility to be considered. Either the personal consciousness is pushed
aside, or it steps aside to permit the use of its physical body by another
entity or entities. In the case of an untrained individual this is
involuntary. An Adept does this consciously. ]
Such substitution may arise in cases where the person is subject to
uncontrollable trances, to somnambulism, to fits of insanity, to the malady
of "split personality" ( schizophrenia, and "multiple personalities").
In all such cases Theosophy states that such an individual has in
the past opened his psychological gates to such conditions. It is the
result of carelessness and inattention earlier in this life, or carried-over
Karma from a past life.
It can also result from curiosity about abnormal states, psychic
states, with hypnotism, mesmerism, or with mediums and mediumship, or
experimenting with them, and with the psychic world generally--
before one is fitted to control that area of experience, and with conditions
of, or the induction of "altered consciousness" in this or earlier lives in
one's self or in another (as in hypnotism).
This covers a wide area of research, and Mr. Judge in the Ocean of
Theosophy, Chapters 16 and 17, pp. 135 - 152 gives us a review of most of
the cases in point. He indicates that is some cases (p. 151) that "subjects
are injured for life."
[ see Isis I xxx 256-7 276 319 332-3 355 363-4 368-9 374 487-8 490
Isis I 493 Isis II 589 Letters, WQJ, p. 258; ]
In cases of suicide or mass murder, or of a sudden destructive and
uncontrolled change in a person's nature, we may surmise that there has been
a usurpation of the Inner Controller. Perhaps an Elementary, or the half
dead Kama-rupic remains of an executed murderer has possessed itself for the
time being of the body of a weaker or passively inclined person. Feelings
of despair, anger, revenge, or the taking of drugs, etc... can open inner
psychological "doors" to the influence (or "possession") by such entities,
and can cause "obsession," for a long or short time, of the bodily
instruments of perception and action of another. These are sometimes called
cases of involuntary insanity, when the person is not "in control of
himself."
[ see Transactions, pp. 66, ML 41-2, HPB Art I 298, WQJ I 193 ]
Hallucination -- Astral Visions
This may be in some cases of psychically sensitive persons an actual
power, exercised voluntarily or involuntarily (as in the case of alcohol or
drug users, or when a patient has high fever), to see in one or other of the
several planes of the astral light. Potentially this may lead to
"nightmares" [ see HPB I 389-90, II 298, Trans. 72-3, 77-8., Key, pp
125-6, Trans. 27, 96, SD II 370fn ]
Mr. Judge in Letters, p. 59 gives an illustration of the actual
"organ of sight" being in the astral body. [ see also Mod. Pan. p.481 ]
Causes for Abnormal States [In all cases it is selfishness]
1. Evil Doing and Evil Beings: Elementaries, Black Magicians
"Elementaries. Properly, the disembodied souls of the depraved;
these souls having at some time prior to death separated from themselves
their divine spirits, and so lost their chance for immortality; but at the
present stage of learning it has been thought best to apply the term to the
spooks or phantoms of disembodied persons in general, to those whose
temporary habitation is the Kama Loka...Once divorced from their higher
triads [ Atma-Buddhi-Manas ] and their bodies, these souls remain in their
Kama-rupa envelopes, [ see Glos. 172 ] and are irresistibly drawn to the
earth amid elements congenial to their gross natures. Their stay in the
Kama Loka varies as to its duration; but ends invariably in disintegration,
dissolving like a column of mist, atom by atom, in the surrounding
elements." Glos. p. 112
" [Elementary}...disembodied vicious men, who have parted with their
divine Spirits, and become as beasts." Mod. Panarion, p. 166
"Vicious Elementals, or Elementaries, are attracted to vicious
parents; they bask in their atmosphere, and are thus afforded the chance by
the vices of the parents, to perpetuate in the child the parental
weaknesses. The unintelligent "Elementals" are drawn in unconsciously to
themselves, and, in the order of Nature, as component parts of the grosser
astral body or soul, determine the temperament..."
Mod. Panarion, p. 153-4
"...they are disembodied vicious men who have parted with their
divine Spirits and become Elementaries...Here Kunrath applies the term
"Elementary" to doomed human souls..." Suppose a drop of water within a
capsule remains whole, the drop of water remains isolated; break the
envelope, and the drop becomes a part of the ocean, its individual existence
has ceased. So it is with the Spirit. So long as its ray is enclosed in
its plastic mediator or soul, it has an individual existence. Destroy this
capsule, the astral man then becomes an Elementary; this destruction may
occur from the consequences of sin, in the most depraved and vicious, and
the spirit returns to its original abode--the individualization of man has
ceased..."
Modern Panarion, p. 155
"...arcane science teaches that the abandonment of the living body
by the soul frequently occurs, and that we encounter every day, in every
condition of life, such living corpses. Various causes, among them
overpowering fright, grief, despair, a violent attack of sickness, or
excessive sensuality may bring this about. The vacant carcass may be
entered and inhabited by the astral form of an adept sorcerer, or an
elementary (an earth-bound disembodied human soul), or, very rarely, an
elemental..." Isis II 589
[ see The Ocean of Theosophy, Chapters 16, 17 ]
"The doctrine of the possibility of losing one's soul and, hence,
individuality...there is another death [than physical death] which is the
interruption of the divine order and the destruction of every human element
in man's nature, and every possibility of human happiness. This is the
spiritual death which takes place before the dissolution of the body...When
one falls into a love of self and love of the world, with its pleasures,
losing the divine love of God and of the neighbor, he falls from life to
death. The higher principles which constitute the essential elements of his
humanity perish, and he lives only on the natural plane of his faculties.
Physically he exists, spiritually he is dead. To all that pertains to the
higher and the only enduring phase of existence he is as much dead as his
body becomes dead to all the activities, delights, and sensations of the
world when the spirit has left it.
This spiritual death results from disobedience of the laws of
spiritual life, which is followed by the same penalty as the disobedience of
the laws of the natural life. But the spiritually dead have still (159)
their delights; they have their intellectual endowments, and power, and
intense activities. All the animal delights are theirs, and to multitudes
of men and women those constitute the highest ideal of human happiness. The
tireless pursuit of riches, of the amusements and entertainments of social
life; the cultivation of graces of manner, of taste in dress, of social
preferment, of scientific distinction, intoxicate and enrapture these
dead-alive; but, [these] "are dead in the eyes of the Lord...when measured
by the only true and immutable standard..."
The presence in one of a highly developed human, intellectual soul
(the 5th principle, or Manas), is quite compatible with the absence of
Buddhi, or the [ wise ] spiritual soul. Unless the former [ Manas ] evolves
from and develops under the beneficent and vivifying rays of the latter, it
will remain for ever but a direct progeny of the terrestrial, lower
principles, sterile in spiritual perceptions; a magnificent luxurious
sepulcher, full of the dry bones of the decaying matter within. Many of our
greatest scientists are but animated corpses--they have no spiritual sight
because their spirits have left them, or, rather, cannot reach them. So we
might go through all the ages...and we would find these spiritually dead
everywhere..." HPB Articles II 158-9
"The entire annihilation of the personal consciousness, as an
exceptional and rare case...The general and almost invariable rule is the
merging of the personal into the individual or immortal consciousness of the
Ego, a transformation or a divine transfiguration, and the entire
annihilation only of the lower quaternary. Would you expect the man of
flesh, or the temporary personality, his shadow, the "astral," his animal
instincts, and even physical life, to survive with the "spiritual Ego" and
become sempiternal ? Naturally all this ceases to exist, either at, or soon
after corporeal death. It becomes in time entirely disintegrated and
disappears from view, being annihilated as a whole." Key, 94
Black Magicians -- Evil Choosers
"It is only in the case of black magicians or of criminals beyond
redemption, criminals who have been such during a long series of lives--that
the shining thread, which links the spirit to the personal soul from the
moment of the birth of the child, is violently snapped, and the disembodied
entity becomes divorced from the personal soul, the latter being annihilated
without leaving the smallest impression [ memory ] of itself on the former.
If that union between the lower, or personal Manas, and the individual
reincarnating Ego, has not been effected during life, then the former is
left to share the fate of the lower animals, to gradually dissolve into
ether, and have its personality annihilated. But even then the Ego remains
a distinct being. It (the spiritual Ego) only loses one Devachanic
state--after that special, and in that case indeed useless life--as that
idealized Personality, and is reincarnated, after enjoying for a short time
its freedom as a planetary spirit almost immediately." Key p. 103-4
"If during life the ultimate and desperate effort of the Inner Self
(Manas), to unite something of the personality with itself and the high
glimmering ray of the divine Buddhi, is thwarted; if this ray is allowed to
be more and more shut out from the ever-thickening crust of physical brain,
the Spiritual Ego or Manas, once free from the body, remains severed
entirely from the ethereal relic of the personality; and the latter, or
kama-rupa, following its earthly attractions, is drawn into and remains in
Hades, which we have called Kama-loka. These are the "withered branches"
mentioned by Jesus as being cut off from the Vine. Annihilation, however,
is never instantaneous, and may require centuries sometimes for its
accomplishment. But there the personality remains along with the remnants
of other more fortunate personal Egos, and becomes with them a shell and an
Elementary. [ these are the leading stars on the great stage of
"materializations."]...it is not they who incarnate..." Key, 190-191
"The personal soul [Kama-Manas] must...be disintegrated into its
particles, before it is able to link its purer essence for ever with the
immortal spirit [Atma-Buddhi]...In Buddhistic philosophy annihilation means
only a dispersal of matter in whatever form or semblance of form it may be.
For everything that is temporary, and is, therefore, really an illusion.
For in eternity the longest periods of time are as a wink of the eye. So
with form....When the Spiritual entity breaks loose for ever from every
particle of matter, substance or form, and re becomes a Spiritual breath
[Sudda Sattwa-- Glos, p. 311 ]; then only does it enter upon the eternal
and unchangeable Nirvana, lasting as long as the cycle of life has
lasted--an eternity, truly. And then that Breath, existing in Spirit, is
no-thing because it is all; as a form, a semblance, a shape, it is
completely annihilated; as absolute Spirit it still is, for it has become
Be-ness itself." Key 114
"He who kills or extinguishes in himself the light of Parabrahm,
i.e., severs his personal Ego from the Atman, and thus kills the future
Devachanee, becomes a "Brahman-killer." Instead of facilitating, through a
virtuous life the spiritual aspirations the mutual union of the Buddhi and
the Manas, he condemns by his own evil acts every atom of his lower
principles to become attracted and drawn, in virtue of the magnetic affinity
thus created by his passions, into the forming bodies of lower animals or
brutes. This is the real meaning of the doctrine of Metempsychosis. It is
not that such amalgamation of human particles with animal or even vegetable
atoms can carry in it any idea of personal punishment per se, for of course
it does not. But it is a cause created, the effects of which may manifest
themselves throughout the next rebirths--unless the personality is
annihilated. Otherwise from cause to effect, every effort becoming in its
turn a cause, they will run along the cycle of rebirths..." HPB Articles
II 253-4
[see Isis II 369 ]
2. Mediumistic Seances attract Elementaries
and Kamarupic Shells
"In certain cases [seances, mediumship, etc...] to be noted there is
an intelligence at work that is wholly and intensely bad, to which every
medium is subject, and which will explain why so many of them have succumbed
to evil, as they have confessed...Definite, coherent entities, human souls
bereft of the spiritual tie, now tending down to the worst state of all,
avitchi, where annihilation of the personality is the end.
They are known as black magicians. Having centered the
consciousness in the principle kama, preserved intellect, divorced
themselves from spirit, they are the only damned beings we know. In life
they had human bodies and reached their awful state by persistent lives of
evil for its own sake; some of such are already doomed to become what I
have described are among us on earth to-day. These are not ordinary shells,
for they have centered their force in kama, thrown out every spark of good
thought or aspiration, and have a complete mastery of the astral sphere...
[they are classified as shells] because they are such in the sense that they
are doomed to disintegration consciously as the others are to the same end
mechanically only. They may and do last for centuries, gratifying their
lusts through any sensitive they can lay hold of where bad thought gives
then an opening. They preside at nearly all seances, assuming high names
and taking the direction so as to keep the control and continue the delusion
of the medium, thus enabling themselves to have a convenient channel for
their own evil purposes.
Indeed, with the shells of suicides, of those poor wretches who die
at the hand of the law, of drunkards and gluttons, these black magicians
living in the astral world hold the field of physical mediumship and are
liable to invade the sphere of any medium no matter how good. The door once
open, it is open to all.
This class of shell has lost higher manas, but in the struggle not
only after death but as well in life the lower portion of manas which should
have been raised up to godlike excellence was torn away from its lord and
now gives this entity intelligence which is devoid of spirit but has power
to suffer as it will when its final day shall come."
OCEAN p. 105-107
Elementals or Nature Sprites
"Existing in the sphere of kama loka, as...also in all parts of the
globe and the solar system, are the elementals or nature forces. They are
innumerable, and their divisions are almost infinite...they are...the nerves
of nature. Each class has its own work just as has every natural element or
thing...the elementals act under law, but being higher in the scale than
gross fire or water their action seems guided by mind. Some of them have a
special relation to mental operations and to mental operations and to the
action of the astral organs, whether these be joined to a body or not.
When a medium forms the channel, and also from other natural
coordinations, these elementals make an artificial connection with the shell
of a deceased person, aided by the nervous fluid of the medium and others
near, and then the shell is galvanized into an artificial life. Through the
medium connection is made with the physical and psychical forces of all
present. The old impressions of the astral body given up their images to
the mind of the medium, the old passions are set on fire. Various messages
and reports are then obtained from it, but not one of them is original, not
one is from the spirit. By their strangeness...this is mistaken for the
work of the spirit, but it is all from the living when it is not the mere
picking out from the astral light of the images of what has been in the
past."
Ocean, p. 104-5
====================================
Normal Psychological States
1. Dreams and Dreaming
"In the dream state we lose all knowledge of the objects which while
awake we thought real and proceed to suffer and enjoy in that new state. [
see SD I 47 ] In this we find the consciousness applying itself to objects
partaking of course of the nature of experiences of the waking condition,
but at the same time producing the sensations of pleasure and pain while
they last. [ see SD I 56 ] Let us imagine a person's body plunged in a
lethargy extending over twenty years and the mind undergoing a pleasant or
unpleasant dream, and we have a life just of that sort, altogether different
from the life of one awake. For the consciousness of this dreamer the
reality of objects known during the waking state is destroyed. But as
material existence is a necessary evil and the one is which alone
emancipation or salvation can be obtained, it is of the greatest importance
and hence Karma which governs it...must be well understood and then be
accepted and obeyed."
Echoes. pp. 41-42
"Dreams are sometimes the result of brain action automatically
proceeding, and are also produced by the transmission into the brain by the
real inner person of those senses or ideas high or low which the real person
has seen while the body slept. They are then strained into the brain as if
floating on the soul as it sinks into the body. These dreams may be of
great use, but generally the resumption of bodily activity destroys the
meaning, perverts the image, and reduces all to confusion.
But the great fact of all dreaming is that some one perceives and
feels therein and this is one of the arguments for the inner person's
existence.
In sleep the inner man communes with higher intelligences, and
sometimes succeeds in impressing the brain with what is gained, either a
high idea or a prophetic vision, or else fails in consequence of the
resistance of the brain fiber. The karma of the person also determines the
meaning of a dream, for a kind may dream that which relates to his kingdom,
which the same thing dreamed by a citizen relates to nothing of temporal
consequence. But, as said by Job: "In dreams and visions of the night man
is instructed." Ocean, p. 143-4
[ see also: Trans. 58-79, Trans. 79 -- list:
In Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge we find on p. 79 a list of
several kinds of dreams:
"Prophetic Dreams" [ see Isis I 200-1, HPB Art II 293-6, 475-6
WQJ Letters, pp. 143-4, Trans. 6
69 72
"Allegorical Dreams" [ see HPB Art II 293 ]
"Symbolic Dreams" l see Lucifer III p. 290 ]
"Dreams sent by Adepts" [ see Trans. 66, 76 ]
"Retrospective Dreams" [ see SD II 317 ]
"Warning Dreams" [ see HPB Art II 292-3, 366-7, Trans. 72 ]
"Confused Dreams" [ see HPB Art II 298 ]
"Fancies, chaotic pictures of dreams" [ see HPB art II 293 298]
"Day Dreams" [ see WQJ Letters, p. 147-149 ]
2. Dreamless Sleep -- Deep Sleep
"Dreamless sleep is one of the seven states of consciousness known
in Oriental esotericism. In each of these states a different portion of the
mind comes into action; or as a Vedantin would express it, the individual
is conscious in a different plane of his being. The term "dreamless sleep,"
in this case is applied allegorically to the Universe to express a condition
somewhat analogous to that state of consciousness in man, which, not being
remembered is a waking state, seems a blank, just as the sleep of the
mesmerized subject seems to him an unconscious blank when he returns to his
normal condition, although he has been talking and acting as a conscious
individual would." SD I 47
"Buddhi the Spiritual soul...because it is the direct cause of
Sushupti [deep sleep]...leading to Turiya...the highest state of Samadhi [
Meditation ]...Buddhi becomes a "causal body" in conjunction with Manas the
incarnation of the Entity or Ego..." Glossary, p. 74
"Good resolutions are mind-painted pictures of good deeds, fancies,
day-dreams, whisperings of the Buddhi to the Manas..."
Letters from the Masters of Wisdom (I) p 60-1
[ more details on Dreams will be found:
Transaction of the Blavatsky Lodge, pp 58-79.
Isis I 158-9 170 179 429 460 476
see Indexes to Judge and HPB Articles, SD,
Sleep and Dreams, R. Crosbie, F. P. p. 258, 66-67
Dreams and Karma " " Ans. to Quest. p.
219-221
Dreamless Sleep SD I 38, 47, 266
Because--for Children who ask Why? p. 70...
"The Psychology of Dreams" - Theosophy Mag. Vol. 6
"Dreamland and Somnambulism" - Modern Panarion, p.
481
3. Trance and Meditation
"The "modifications of the Mind" are:-- Correct Cognition,
Misconception, Fancy, Sleep, and Memory." Pat, p. 4
[ Trance & Meditation -- continued ]
"The "hindering of the modifications of the Mind" (lower Manas)...is
to be effected by means of Exercise and Dispassion.
Exercise is the uninterrupted, or repeated effort that the mind
(lower manas) shall remain in its unmoved state, (or apply it to any one
point to the exclusion of all others.)...This exercise is a firm position
observed out of regard for the end in view, and perseveringly adhered to for
a long time without intermission. (Q.: Does he devote every moment of his
life to it ? A.: No, but to the length of time that has been set apart for
the practice.)
Dispassion is the having overcome one's desires, (a state of being
in which the consciousness is unaffected by passions, desires, and
ambitions, which aid in causing modifications of the mind.)
Dispassion carried to the utmost, is indifference regarding all else
than soul (Higher Manas), and this indifference arises from a knowledge of
soul (Higher Manas) as distinguished from all else."
Pat, pp. 5, 6, 7.
"Meditation or "distinct cognition" is four-fold: Argumentation,
Deliberation, Beatitude, Egoism. (excludes every other modification than
that pondered on.)
Argumentation...pondering in comparison with other things.
Deliberation... pondering sources and fields of action of the
subtler senses and the mind.
Beatitude ... pondering on Higher Manas and abstract Truth.
Egoism then becomes a stepping stone to higher degrees of
meditation...self-consciousness alone results; does not include the
consciousness of the Absolute or the Supreme Soul." Pat. pp 7, 8.
"The meditation just described is preceded by the exercise of
thought without argumentation.
Another sort of meditation is in the shape of the "self-reproduction
of thought" after the departure of all objects from the field of the mind
(Lower Manas).
The meditative state attained by those whose discrimination does not
extend to pure Spirit (Atma), depends upon the phenomenal world.
In the practice of those who are, or may be, able to discriminate as
to pure spirit, their meditation is preceded by Faith, Energy, Intentness
(upon a single point), and Discernment, or thorough discrimination of that
which is to be known. (In him who has Faith there arises Energy, or
perseverance in meditation, and, thus persevering, the memory of past
subjects springs up, and his mind becomes absorbed in Intentness, in
consequence of the recollection of the subject, and he whose mind is
absorbed in meditation arrives at a thorough Discernment of the matter
pondered upon.) Patanjali, pp. 8, 9, 10
"The state of abstract meditation may be attained by profound
devotedness toward the Supreme Spirit, considered in its comprehensible
manifestation as Ishwara. [ A "name" of Krishna--the Higher Self within
each man ] This profound devotedness is a pre-eminent means of attaining
abstract meditation and its fruits. "Ishwara" is the Spirit in the body.)
Patanjali. p. 10
"The 4 steps in Meditation in Indian systems that follow Sanyama
are: Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi, Turiya
Gita 123,
WQJ Art I 576-7
1. Dharana
Dharana ... State in Yoga practice when the mind has to be fixed
unflinchingly on some object of meditation. Glos. p. 99
2. Dhyana
"Meditation as used by us, is what is called in Sanskrit Dhyana,
i.e., want of motion and one-pointedness. The main point is to free the
mind from the power of the senses, and to raise a current of thought to the
exclusion of all others. "Realizations comes from dwelling on the thing to
be realized." W.Q.J. says, "To meditate on the Higher Self is difficult;
seek then the Bridge, the Masters. The patient dwelling of the mind on a
single thought results in the gaining of wisdom, and it is thus that the
true Occultist is developed. Aspiration towards the Higher Self should form
part of the daily meditation; the raising toward the higher planes of our
being, which cannot be found unless they are sought. Earnest and reverent
desire for Master's guidance and enlightenment will begin the attunement of
the nature to the harmony to which it must one day respond. Concentration
on a single point in the Teaching is a road to the philosophy;
self-examination , a road to knowledge of oneself. To put oneself in the
place of another, to realize his difficulties, and thus be able to help him,
is that faculty--which when extended makes it possible for the Adept to
understand the nature of the stone or other form of consciousness." [
Letters 112 ] Meditation is a good beneficent practice leading to a great
end. It is also a great destroyer of the personal idea." R C
-- F P 93
[see GN. 66, Letters 6-7, Voice 1, 21fn, SD I 572,]
3. Samadhi
Samadhi Sam-adha, "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
Bodhi or Samadhi - Deep meditation. During this the subject
reaches the culmination of spiritual knowledge." SD I xix
[ see Glos 286, 343]
Samadhindriya "Roots"...the agents in producing a highly moral
life, leading to sanctity and liberation; when these are reached, the two
spiritual roots lying latent in the body (Atma and Buddhi) will send out
shoots and blossom...the organ of ecstatic meditation is Raja-Yoga
practices." Glos. p. 286
Indriya ... "control of the senses in Yoga practice. Ten external
agents: the 5 senses (of perception) Jnana-Indriyas, and the 5 used for
action--Karma-Indriyas. Pancha-indriyani means literally and in its occult
sense "the 5 roots producing life (eternal)." Glos 155
4. Turiya
Turiya ... "A state of the deepest trance--the fourth state of the
Taraka Raja Yoga, one that corresponds with Atma, and on this earth with
dreamless sleep--a causal condition. [ see Karanopadhi, spiritual awareness,
super-Jagrat ]" Glos. 345
"The Turiya, that beyond the dreamless state, the one above all, a
state of high spiritual consciousness." Voice, 6 fn
"The three qualities are lower than a state called Turiya, which is
a high state capable of being enjoyed even while in this body. Therefore in
that state, there exists none of the three qualities, but the soul sees the
three qualities moving in the ocean of Being beneath. This experience is
met with not only after death, but, as I said, it may be enjoyed in the
present life, though of course consciously very seldom. But there are those
high Yogis who can and do rise up to Nirvana, or Spirit, even consciously,
which on the earth. This state is the fourth state, called Turya. There is
no word in English which will express it. In that state the body is alive,
though in deep catalepsy [Self-induced by the Adept.--N. J.] When the Adept
returns from it he brings back whatever he can of the vast experiences of
that Turya state. Of course they are far beyond any expression, and their
possibilities can be only dimly perceived by us..." WQJ Letters,
p. 28-9
"In the Spirit or Atma all experiences of all forms of life and
death are found at once, and he who is one with the Atma knows the whole
manifested Universe at once. I have spoken of this condition before as the
Turya or fourth state." WQJ Letters p. 58-9
"To meditate on the Higher Self is difficult. Seek then the
bridge--the Masters...the Great Workers who are behind us. They are behind
us, to my personal knowledge...[and] behind all sincere workers. I know
that their desire is that each should listen to the voice of his inner self
and not depend too much on outside people...By a dependence of that kind you
become at last thoroughly independent, and then the unseen helpers are able
to help all the more." WQJ LET. 112
"Outside a certain highly spiritual and elevated state of mind,
during which Man is at one with the Universal Mind--he can get nought on
earth but relative truth, or truths, from whatsoever philosophy or
religion." HPB Art I p. 10
"Ishwara"..."the divine Self perceived or seen by Self," the Atman
or seventh principle ridded of its mayavic distinction from its Universal
Source--which becomes the object of perception for, and by the individuality
centered in Buddhi, the sixth principle,--something that only happens in the
highest state of Samadhi." M L 343
Ecstasy ...the infinite cannot be known by the finite--i.e., sensed
by the finite Self--but that the divine essence could be communicated to the
higher Spiritual Self in a state of ecstasy...Real ecstasy was defined by
Plotinus as "the liberation of the mind from its finite consciousness,
becoming one and identified with the infinite."...Samadhi...Yogis who
facilitate it physically by the greatest abstinence in food and drink, and
mentally by an incessant endeavor to purify and elevate the mind."
Key, p. 10
Ecstasy: "A psycho-spiritual state; a physical trance which
induces clairvoyance and a beatific state bringing on visions."
Glos. p. 109
Communion ... and simultaneous action with our "Father in secret;"
and in rare moments of ecstatic bliss, in the mingling of our higher soul
with the universal essence, attracted as it is towards its origin and
center, a state, called during life Samadhi, and after death Nirvana...We
cannot pray to the Absolute,...therefore we try to replace fruitless and
useless prayer by meritorious and good-producing actions."
Key, p. 70
[ see Tell Tale Picture Gallery, p. 40-3, HPB II 370-3 ]
The Brain
"We might properly speak, then, of the memory of the end-organ of
vision or of hearing, of the memory of the spinal cord and of the different
so-called 'centers' of reflex action belonging to the chords of the memory
of the medulla oblongata, the cerebellum, etc." This is the essence of
Occult teaching...every organ in our body has its own memory. For it is
endowed with a consciousness "of its own kind," every cell must of
necessity have also a memory of its own kind, as likewise its own psychic
and noetic action. Responding to the touch of both a physical and a
metaphysical Force, the impulse given by the psychic (or psycho-molecular)
Force will act from without within; while that of the noetic (shall we call
it Spiritual-dynamical ?) Force works from within without. For, as our body
is the covering of the inner "principles," soul, mind, life, etc., so the
molecule or the cell is the body in which dwell its principles," the (to our
senses and comprehension) immaterial atoms which compose that cell. The
cell's activity and behavior are determined by its being propelled either
inwardly or outwardly, by the noetic or the psychic Force, the former having
no relation to the physical cells proper. Therefore while the latter act
under the unavoidable law of the conservation and correlation of physical
energy, the atoms--being psycho-spiritual, not physical units--act under
laws of their own, just as Professor Ladd's "Unit-Being," which is our
"Mind-Ego," does, in his very philosophical and scientific hypothesis.
Every human organ and each cell in the latter has a keyboard of its
own, like that of a piano, only that it registers and emits sensations
instead of sounds. Every key contains the potentiality of good or bad, of
producing harmony or disharmony. This depends on the impulse given and the
combination produced; on the force of the touch of the artist at work, a
"double-faced Unity," indeed...For the whole of man is guided by this
double-faced Entity. If the impulse comes from the "Wisdom above," the
Force applied being noetic or spiritual, the results will be actions worthy
of the divine propeller...It is the function of the physical, lower mind to
act upon the physical organs and their cells; but, it is the higher mind
alone which can influence the atoms interacting in those cells, which
interaction is alone capable of exciting the brain, via the spinal "center"
cord, to a mental representation of spiritual ideas far beyond any objects
on this material plane.
The phenomena of divine consciousness have to be regarded as
activities of our mind on another and a higher plane, working through
something less substantial than the moving molecules of the brain...
Occultism teaches that the liver and the spleen-cells are the most
subservient to the action of our "personal" mind, the heart being the organ
par excellence through which the "Higher" Ego acts--through the Lower Self."
HPB-- "Psychic and Noetic Action" -- HPB Art. II 22-3
"...the human brain is simply the canal between two planes--the
psycho-spiritual and the material--through which every abstract and
metaphysical idea filters from the Manasic down to the lower human
consciousness. Therefore the ideas about the infinite and the absolute are
not, nor can they be, within our brain capacities. They can be faithfully
mirrored only by our Spiritual consciousness, thence to be more of less
faintly projected on to the tables of our perceptions on this plane. Thus
while the records of even important events are often obliterated from our
memory, not the most trifling action of our lives can disappear from the
"Soul's" memory, because it is no memory for it, but an ever-present reality
on the plane which lies outside our conceptions of space and time. "Man is
the measure of all things," said Aristotle; and surely he did not mean by
man, the form of flesh, bones and muscles ? ... As our world is mostly
formed of imperceptible beings which are the real constructors of its
continents, so likewise is man. "HPB--Memory in the Dying-- HPB Art. II
378-9
States of Mind
"...the plastic power of the imagination is much stronger in some
persons than in others. The mind is dual in its potentiality; It is
physical and metaphysical. The higher part of the mind is connected with
the spiritual soul or Buddhi, the lower with the animal soul, the Kama
principle. There are persons who never think with the higher faculties of
their mind at all; those who do so are the minority and are thus, in a
way, beyond, if not above, the average of human kind. The idiosyncrasy of
the person determines in which "principle" of the mind the thinking is done,
as also the faculties of a preceding life, and sometimes the heredity of the
physical. This is why it is so very difficult for a materialist--the
metaphysical portion of whose brain is almost atrophied--to raise himself,
or for one who is naturally spiritually minded, to descend to the level of
the matter-of-fact vulgar thought...[ Thinking to be developed in the higher
mind ? ]...Certainly it can be developed, but only with great difficulty, a
firm determination, and through much self-sacrifice...This difference
depends simply on the innate power of the mind to think on the higher or on
the lower plane, with the astral...or with the physical brain. Great
intellectual powers are often no proof of, but are the impediments to
spiritual and right conceptions...The person who is endowed with this
faculty of thinking about even the most trifling things from the higher
plane of thought has, by virtue of that gift which he possesses, a plastic
power of formation, so to say, in his very imagination...his thought will be
so far more intense that the thought of an ordinary person, that by his very
intensity it obtains the power of creation...thought is an energy. This
energy in its action disturbs the atoms of the astral atmosphere around
us...the rays of thought have the same potentiality for producing forms in
the astral atmosphere as the sun rays have with regard to a lens. Every
thought so evolved with energy from the brain, creates nolens volens a
shape."
HPB-- Dialogues -- HPB Art. II 42-3
"...Genius--an abnormal aptitude of mind--that develops and grows,
or the physical brain, is vehicle, which becomes...fitter to receive and
manifest from within outwardly the innate and divine nature of man's
over-soul." HPB-- "Genius" HPB Art. II 119
"Our "memory" is but a general agent, and its "tablets," with their
indelible impressions, but a figure of speech; the "brain-tablets" serve
only as a upadhi or a vahan (basis or vehicle) for reflecting at a given
moment the memory of one or another thing. The records of past events, of
every minutest action, and of passing thoughts, in fact, are realty
impressed on the imperishable waves of the Astral Light, around us and
everywhere, not in the brain alone; and these mental pictures, images, and
sounds, pass from these waves via the consciousness of the personal Ego or
Mind (the lower Manas) whose grosser essence is astral, into the "cerebral
reflectors," so to say, of our brain, whence they are delivered by the
psychic to the sensuous consciousness. This at every moment of the day, and
even during sleep." Theos. Art. & Notes, p. 209
"Occult philosophy reconciles the absurdity of postulating in the
manifested Universe an active Mind without an organ, with that worse
absurdity, an objective Universe evolved as everything else in it, by blind
chance, by giving this Universe an organ of thought, a "brain." The latter,
though not objective to our senses, is none the less existing; it is to be
found in the Entity called Kosmos (Adam Kadmon in the Kabalah). As in the
Microcosm Man, so in the Macrocosm, or the Universe. Every organ is a
sentient entity, and every particle of matter or substance, from the
physical molecule up to the spiritual atom, is a cell, a nerve center, which
communicates. (see Lucifer, Vol. 7, p. 476fn)
Intuition
"a projection of our perceptive consciousness, a projection which
acts from the subjective to the objective...awakens in us spiritual senses
and the power to act; these senses assimilate to themselves the essence of
the object or of the action under examination, and represent it to us as it
really is, not as it appears to our physical senses and to our cold
reason...omniscience." HPB I 428
"...the "Ego" in man is a monad that has gathered to itself
innumerable experiences through aeons of time, slowly unfolding its latent
potencies through plane after plane of matter. It is hence called the
"eternal pilgrim."
"The Manasic, or mind principle, is cosmic and universal. It is the
creator of all forms, and the basis of all law in nature. Not so with
consciousness. Consciousness is a condition of the monad as a result of
embodiment in matter and the dwelling in a physical form.
Self-consciousness, which from the animal plane looking upward is the
beginning of perfection, from the divine plane looking downwards is the
perfection of selfishness and the curse of separateness. it is the "world
of illusion" that man has created for himself. "Maya is the perceptive
faculty of every Ego which considers itself a Unit, separate from and
independent of the One Infinite and Eternal Sat or 'be-ness'," (SD I 329)
The "eternal pilgrim" must therefore mount higher, and flee from the plane
of self-consciousness it has struggled so hard to reach."
WQJ ART I 29
Emotional States -- Moods : Causes
Mr. Judge wrote of a friend:
"I have a friend who is trying to find out all about theosophy, and
about a psychic nature, but...is not paying the slightest attention to this
subject of the inevitable return upon himself of these impressions which he
creates. I discovered he had periods of depression...when he had a
despondency that he could not explain...you have had the same despondency
maybe seven weeks ago...He examined his diary and his recollection, and he
found that he had actual resurgences of despondency about the same distance
apart. Well, I said, that explains to me how it is coming back. But what
am I to do? Do what the old theosophists taught us; that is, we can only
have these good results by producing opposite impressions to bad ones. So,
take this occasion of despondency. What he should have done was, that being
the return of an old impression, to have compelled himself to feel joyous,
even against his will, and if he could not have done that, then to have
tried to feel the joy of others...he would have implanted in himself another
impression, that of joy, so that when this thing returned once more, instead
of being of the same quality and extension, it would have been changed by
the impression of joy or elation and the two things coming together would
have counteracted each other...this applies to every person who has the
blues...You cannot rub it out if it has been coming, but when it cones start
up something else, start up cheerfulness, be good to some one, then try to
relieve some other person who is despondent, and you will have started
another impression, which will return at the same time." WQJ Art. I
169-170
Despair: see WQJ Letters 36, 68, 190
Despondency WQJ Letters 35, 90 198-9
Anxiety
"By anxiety we exert the constrictive power of egoism, which
densifies and perturbs our magnetic sphere, rendering us less permeable to
the efflux from above." WQJ LETTERS, p. 12
"All doubts come from the lower nature, and never in any case from
the higher nature." WQJ LETTERS p. 28
"All illnesses, diseases, and abnormalities of the body come from
astral planes. The physical cannot infect the astral. The occult and the
physical must never be mixed up." WQJ LETTERS p. 162
"There may, and there often does come a time when one feels, as you
say, like "standing on nothing, in nothing and about to topple over." The
center of consciousness has been changed; old landmarks are slipping away,
and sometimes black doubt ensues. Doubt and fear belong only to the
personal consciousness; the real Perceiver, the Higher Ego has neither.
The Gita says, "cast aside all doubts and fight on." You may remember what
Judge says in one of the "Letters," likening such conditions to the case of
one on a strange path and suddenly surrounded by a fog; the way is
obscured, danger may lie in any direction; the thing to do is to stand
still and wait, for it is only a fog--and fogs will lift." F P p. 8
"We can look at the very worst that may happen, in (206) the same
way as we now look back on what has been. Knowing this, when disturbed, we
can say, "Even this will pass away," and wait till the clouds roll by,
seeing ourselves in the sunshine and looking at the East of Time. I think
that practically all that troubles us is unnecessary, as trouble, but
necessary as experience....If we involve ourselves in the Karma of the
personal conception, we shall feel despondent, like Arjuna. We are not
these relations, but the warriors who will conquer them in order to make
friends. Of course we are all links in the chain; what affects one affects
all, in degree. Each one who endeavors to help others in any real way puts
himself in the place where he must take reactions..." F P 205-6
Desire and Will
"Will is the exhaustless possession of man of this our plane of
consciousness. It divides him from the brute in whom instinctive desire
only is active.
Desire, in its widest applications, is the one creative force in the
Universe. In this sense it is indistinguishable from Will; but we men
never know desire under this form while we remain only men. Therefore Will
and Desire are here considered as opposed.
Thus Will is the offspring of Desire, the God in man; Desire the
motive power of the animal life.
Most men live in and by desire, mistaking it for will. But he who
would achieve must separate will from desire, and make his will the ruler;
for desire is unstable and ever changing, while will is steady and constant.
Both will and desire are absolute creators, forming the man himself
and his surroundings. But will creates intelligently
--desire blindly and unconsciously. The man, therefore, makes himself in
the image of his desires, unless he creates himself in the likeness of the
Divine, through his will, the child of the light.
His task is twofold: to awaken the will, to strengthen it by use
and conquest, to make it absolute ruler within his body; and, parallel with
this, to purify desire.
Knowledge and will are the tools for the accomplishment of this
purification." -- HPB Lucifer I p. 96
"When desire is for the purely abstract--when it has lost all trace
or tinge of "self"--then it has become pure.
The first step towards this purity is to kill out the desire for the
things of matter, since these can only be enjoyed by the separated
personality.
The second is to cease from desiring for oneself even such
abstractions as power, knowledge, love, happiness, or fame; for they are
but selfishness after all.
Life itself teaches these lessons; for all such objects of desire
are found Dead Sea fruit in the moment of attainment. This much we learn
from experience. Intuitive perceptions seizes on the positive truth that
satisfaction is attainable only in the infinite; we will make that
conviction on actual fact of consciousness, till at last all desire is
centered on the Eternal." -- HPB Lucifer I p 133
"...the Logos or Word is called incarnate wisdom. "Light shining in
darkness." The distinction lies between the immovable or eternal immutable
All, and the movable Speech or Logos, i.e., the periodical and manifested.
It can relate to the universal and the manifested. It can relate to the
Universal, and to the individual mind, to Mahat, or to the Higher Manas, or
even to the lower, the Kama Manas or Brain-Mind. Because that which is
desire, instinctive impulse in the lower, becomes thought in the Higher.
The former finds expression in acts, the latter in words. Esoterically,
thought is more responsible and punishable than act. But exoterically it is
the reverse. Therefore, in ordinary human law, an assault is more severely
punished than the thought or intention, i.e., the threat, whereas Karmically
it is the contrary."
TRANS 142
Desire and Passion
"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...the real
cause of that supposed desire, and of all existence, remains for ever
hidden, and its first emanations are the most complete abstractions mind can
conceive. [which]... must of necessity be postulated as the cause of the
material Universe which presents itself to the senses and intellect...It is
impossible to conceive of anything without a cause...metaphysical
abstractions...are the only conceivable cause of physical concretions." S D
I 44-5
"In every purpose of the senses are fixed affection and dislike. A
wise man should not fall in the power of these two passions, for they are
the enemies of man. ... [ Arjuna asks: why is man propelled to commit
offenses against his will and as if constrained by some secret force.
Krishna answers] ... "It is lust that instigates him. It is passion, sprung
from the quality of rajas, (28) insatiable and full of sin. Know this to be
the enemy of man on earth... By this-- the constant enemy of the wise man,
formed from desire which rageth like fire and is never to be appeased--is
discriminative knowledge surrounded. Its empire is over the senses and
organs, the thinking principle and the discriminating faculty also; by
means of these it cloudeth discrimination and deludeth the Lord of the
body...at the very outset restraining thy senses, thou shouldst conquer this
sin which is the destroyer of knowledge and of spiritual discernment."
GITA, p. 27-8
Psychic Powers
"To attempt to acquire the use of the psychic powers for mere
curiosity or for selfish ends is also dangerous for the same reasons as in
the case of mediumship. As the...present day is selfish to the last degree
and built on the personal element, the rules for these powers in the right
way have not been given out, but the Masters of Wisdom have said that
philosophy and ethics must first be learned and practiced before any
development of the other department [psychism] is indulged in...
Equally improper is the manner of the scientific schools
which...indulge in experiments in hypnotism in which the subjects are
injured for life...
"The Lodge of the Masters does not care for Science unless it aims
to better man's state morally as well as physically, and no aid will be
given to Science until she looks at man and life from the moral and
spiritual side. For this reason, those who know all about the psychical
world, its denizens and laws, are proceeding with a reform in morals and
philosophy before any great attention will be accorded to the strange and
seductive phenomena possible for the inner powers of man." OCEAN, p.
152
=================
THE UNITED LODGE OF THEOSOPHISTS,
245 West 33rd. Street,
Los Angeles, Ca., 90007.
[ Phone: (213) 847-7422 ]
Abnormal Psychology
Additional References
East and West Psychology - moral states G. Notes 24-5 153 197
Individualism & Egoity . . . S D II 484
Ego is the Real Man & fills gaps in psychology HPB ULT Pamphlet #3, p. 20
& Fathoming the Psychology Sciences
Individuality and Personality clear Key, 32-3
Interrelation, Spiritual, psycho. mental SD I 226
East & West psychology Lucifer 3, 347 133
Inner and Outer Voice Isis II 25
Theos. is the exact Science of Psychology. HPB Art I p. 46
Insanity & consciousness between mind & body disrupted
Thy Mag 20,
90-2
Ambition and Psychological imbalance Thy. Mag 21, p. 328
Insanity . . . . . . Ocean p. 57
Is II 589
M L 170
173-4
"Protean Soul" Psychic Astral is basis for physical man
SD II 728
Astral Double - Plastic - Spleen Key 121
Fifth State Matter . . . SD I 330 SD II 135
Obsession & Possession Isis II 590 Thy 19, p. 125 T M 46-p. 386
Oracles & Obsessions WQJ Art I 483-4 Thst. 3- p. 227-8
Remedy for Obsession Thst I p. 207-8, 399-400 CWB 2- 395-400
Body Soul & Spirit relationship Isis I 291-305
Isis I 371-2
Psychic Embryos, Elementals . . Isis 310-12
Skill in expelling Elementaries . Isis II 194
5 Yrs Thy 54
Soul-death . . .. Isis I 290 319 368-9 589
Necromancy. Evocations, Blood, Revenge Isis II 568-71
Wandering astral form . . . Isis II 588-9
Why Psychic Sensitivity in America . Is II 18-9
Cycles of Psychism - Change of State Is I 274-6
HPB ULT Pamph. # 3m p. 20
Cause of Giddiness . .. . Isis I 500-1
Somnambulism Glos. 305 Is II 23 HPB II 491-4 291-4 378-9 596
5 Yrs. Thy. p. 13 People of the Blue Mountains p. 219
Diktamon plant cures Somnambulism Glos. 102
ULT Pamph. # XI, p. 9-10; ULT Pamph. # 25 p. 4
Astral current affecting sensitive Echoes 56 Prac. Occ. 196
Incubus, Succubus Glos 154 364 Thy 1- p.425-6 Lucif 3, p. 131
TM Vol 15 - p. 49 V. 24 - p. 94
Thy 5, p. 489, Thy 1, p. 425
Isis I 356-7 276 xxx 319 368-9
Raja Yoga p. 78-82
Mod. Panarion p. 149-150 79 139 154 219
SD I 439fn
Pisachas . Glos 254 ML 107, 110, Thy 2, p. 425
Suicides . . ML 109 Glos 336
Nightmare Trans. 77
Anganta Yene Glos 378-9
Magnetic Susceptibility T M 58- p. 133
Immediate reincarnation of idiots & children ML 172
[How Thoughts Influence Another Mind] M. Pan. 481
Dreamland and Somnambulism M. Pan. 482
Addendum [ Some Comments ]
Psychology or the Study of Mind and the Desire Nature.
A study in the communication between Ego, Astral and Physical
____________
"Mankind, psychically considered is divided into various groups,
each of which is connected with one of the Dhyanic groups that first formed
psychic man. ( see SD I 213-221 )" SD I 559
_____________
We may say that the Atma (spirit) is considered a "ray" of the
Absolute, or the Universal One Self. In manifestation, it serves as an
educator to draw ever increasing independence of consciousness out of the
myriad life-atoms around it. Those closely associated with the
self-consciousness of mankind, are called the skandhas of previous
experience and they embody the memory, as well as the Karma, and await the
reincarnating Ego at the end of pralaya, at the end of Devachan, and, in
daily life, awakening from deep sleep, they serve to again link the immortal
Real Man to the physical man (personality), where choice, as an educational
tool, is now operative. This is the moral context of our lives. This
transcends all limitations of birth, education, religion, caste, sex, etc...
These "life-atoms" are themselves immortal Monads, but of a lesser
degree of experience. Thus the Buddhic "skandhas" ( wherein reside all the
memory of past experience ) is first assembled as vehicle for the "Ray--the
Atma," and serves It as an envelope at that stage. At the next stage, a
second class of skandhas envelop it which serve it in its relation to its
ability to perceive and to act consciously at the level of intelligence
being developed in the material universe.
[ see SD I 112-21, 221 ]
These may be called the Higher Manasic skandhas [ HPB Art. III p.
265 ]. Thus the Higher Triad, or the Real Man (Atma-Buddhi-Manas) enters
the evolutionary stage, to resume and continue its duties in the material (
Monads of a lesser degree of experience) assembled by Nature under Karma
that is this Manvantara--the fresh Evolutionary plane. [ see SD I 218-9 ]
These are Monads that can be called the "fully awake ones." They
are the "graduates" from earlier manvantaric cycles. They are called the
Manasa. [ The Monads that provide individuality to each human can be called
Monads who are occasionally "awake." Those Monads which provide the
vehicles of the lower quaternary--described below--may be termed Monads that
are "asleep" for the whole of this Manvantara. ]
Simultaneously, from the side of the material pole, under the
impulse of nature's Law of Karma, the "life-atoms" [ or "sleeping monads" ]
that have "returned" from previous manvantaras, progress from the amorphous
condition of the "monadic essence" into the condition of separate ,
animating "force centers." As time passes, ever higher degrees of
intelligence are seen to have been developed in the past into degrees that
can be broadly classified as, from elementals, minerals, plants,
animal--these differences being related to the quality of intelligence
resident in those particular forms. Each shows ,in comparison with others a
developing progression in their intelligent capacity and refinement in
relation to the rest.
[ see SD I 217-221 ]
At the mid-way point of the current (or of any ) Manvantaric
evolution, comes the time when the monads that animate the "higher animal
forms" (those have the highest capacity of instinct in the most refined
physical matter so far produced) are "lit-up" with the gift of mind. This
animation is achieved by the Manasa incarnating among them and teaching them
about the use of the mind, and the need for its control and the regulation
of instinct with the help of that gift. In this manner a link is
established between the Divine Triads, who sacrifice their supernal
condition, to animate and advise the developing monads that are ready to
become men-minds. This is the thread of consciousness, called the
antaskarana. It links the Higher, and the Lower Manas. It is the "pathway"
of Intuition and of the "Voice of Conscience," and the "voice of Virtue."
It continuously reminds the embodied mind of its duties and
responsibilities. [ This process of the "Lighting-up of Manas" is
symbolized by the gift of fire to man by Prometheus, and in many cultures a
"festival of Light" is held annually in remembrance of the event. We may
not that each child has its "mind" lit-up through its constant contact with
its parent and elders, and by the educational system which it goes through.]
In this way a thread, or ray of the light of mind is shot "down"
from the higher Triad that is to reside in what is called our mind. This
employs, not only the refined and specialized matter of our brain and the
nervous system, but also, centers of sensitivity, of receptivity and of
action, located all over the physical body.
[Metaphysically, this is analogous to the "Two Ones" which HPB
mentions in SD I 130 (top): the transcendent and the immanent poles of
consciousness. "The Self of Spirit, and the self of matter" mentioned in
the Voice of the Silence, p. 13. ]
This Lower Manas is our brain-mind, the rational, argumentative,
analytical and often selfish intelligence we all have developed to various
degrees by our choices and directives in its use. Because of its further
close attachment to the Desires ( Kama ) it is frequently bewildered by the
demands made on it by passion, desire, ambition, pride, greed, anger, and
all the selfish qualities which seem to isolate it from the rest of mankind
and from the rest of Nature (on which it is totally dependent for its life).
The conflict arises when it considers what is beneficial to itself
as a unit, versus that which is beneficial to the community in which it
resides. It is the conflict between self-interest and community service.
It is only when it perceives that it is totally dependent for its continued
life on its surroundings, and on Nature that it realizes that "community
service" provides the best basis for ethical living as a unit. Simply put:
Does the animal sense overpower the human sense or not. This is our present
problem.
Associated with the Desire faculty is the personalized "Life-force"
( prana ); the individualized field of electro-magnetic invisible matter (
called the astral ), and finally, the physical body, made of the gross
matter that corresponds to our present plane of sensation.
This accounts for a "seven-fold" Man living in a seven-fold World
and a seven-fold Universe. The analogy is exact and concurrent. The links
between these are the bonds, the threads, of Karmic action which start with
desire and are enforced by the mind through the lower quaternary, consisting
of body, astral body, life-principle and the desire principle. The fact
that we live in a multi-dependent world should give fruit for meditation on
ideas. And when these are considered and rationalized the path to the
Higher Self (the Monad within) is found. Intuition and the "Voice of
Conscience" achieve a meaning.
The attainment of the final goal of all evolution is said to be
Buddhahood: "...Buddha is the silent monad, swelling in darkness and
silence; he is also the formless Brahm, the sublime but unknowable Deity,
which pervades invisibly the whole universe...The immortal spirit
overshadows the mortal man. It enters into him, and pervading his whole
being, makes of him a god who descends into his earthly tabernacle. Every
man may become a Buddha, says the doctrine." [ see Isis I 291 ]
Considering that the normal development of such a being would be the
learning of the composition and relationship of Nature to her components, of
studying those reactions in himself and in her, and thus, seeking to unravel
practically, the riddle of our own existence, we are puzzled by the
prevalence of ignorance, suffering, and deliberate wrong-doing. To this
aspect of life we give the name of "bad Karma." And we begin to wonder if
there is a conspiracy to keep man ignorant and misinformed. The hints given
as to the "death of the Soul," elementaries and Black Magicians indicates
some of the secret forces pitted against man's progress.
Mme. Blavatsky in considering the ameliorating effect that
Theosophical philosophy would impart to the world if seriously considered
states in 1889:
"...the development of psychic powers and faculties, the premonitory
symptoms of which are already visible in America, will proceed healthily and
normally. Mankind will be saved from the terrible dangers, both mental and
bodily, which are inevitable when that unfolding takes place as it threatens
to do, in a hot-bed of selfishness and all evil passions. Man's mental and
psychic growth will proceed in harmony with his moral improvement, while his
material surroundings will reflect peace and fraternal goodwill which will
reign in his mind..." Key, p. 306
Thus the study of the psychology of man includes "abnormal
conditions and states, and seeks to understand their causes.
-----------------------
After-Death States
Earlier Kama-loka was mentioned as a preliminary to Devachan.
A few more quotations concerning Devachan are subjoined so as to
give an idea of what occurs in that state.
1. Kama-Loka
Bardo - Inter-birth State - Rupa-Loka - Rebirth
"Bardo" is the period between death and rebirth--and may last from a
few years to a kalpa. It is divided into three sub-periods (1) when the
Ego delivered of its mortal coil enters into Kama-Loka (the abode of
Elementaries); (2) when it enters into its "gestation State" [Devachan];
(3) when it is reborn in the Rupa-Loka of Deva-Chan. Sub-period (1) may
last from a few minutes to a number of years...sub-period (2) is "very
long;"... yet proportionate to the Ego's spiritual stamina; sub-period (3)
lasts in proportion to the good Karma, (106) after which the monad is again
reincarnated...an Ego is borne thither then begins fading out and finally
"dies," i.e., falls into that unconscious condition which precedes rebirth;
and... they leave the world of bliss to be reborn in a world of causes."
M L p. 105-6
Time in Devachan -- Kama-Loka -- Rupa-Loka --
7 Classes of Dwellers in Subjective Spheres
"(Question: And for how long? Does this state of spiritual
beatitude endure for years? for decades? for centuries? )
Answer: "For years, decades, centuries and millenniums, of ten
times multiplied by something more. It all depends upon the duration of
Karma...Every effect must be proportionate to the cause. And, as man's
terms of incarnate existence bear but a small proportion to his periods of
inter-natal existence in the manvantaric cycle, so the good thoughts, words,
and deeds of any one of these "lives" on a globe are causative of effects,
the working out of which requires far more time than the evolution of the
causes occupied..."Between the Kama-Loka and the Rupa-Loka there is a
locality, the dwelling of 'Mara' (Death)...(lokas are not heavens but
localities or abodes)...Devas into two classes--
and called them the "Rupa-devas" and the "Arupa-devas" (the "form"--or
objective, and the "formless" or subjective Dhyan Chohans;...the same for
his class of "men,"...All these are:
1. "Rupa-devas" -- Dhyan Chohans, having forms; ]
2. "Arupa-Devas" " " having no forms; ] Ex-men.
3. "Pisachas" -- (two principled) ghosts.
(see p. 110
described)
4. "Mara-rupas" -- Doomed to death (3 principled).
5. Asuras--Elementals--having human form ]
6. Beasts-- " 2nd class--animal Elementals]
Future men.
7. Rakshasas (Demons) Souls or Astral Forms of sorcerers;
men who have reached the apex of
knowl-
edge in the forbidden art. Dead or
alive they have, so to say cheated
nature; but it is only
temporary--until
our planet goes into obscuration,
after
which they have nolens volens to be
annihilated.
It is these seven groups that form the principal divisions of the
Dwellers of the subjective world around us." M L p. 107
Kama-Loka -- 7-fold
"...the seven lokas of the "Kama-Loka"...the seventh, the "Territory
of Doubt."...Every such "world" within the Sphere of Effects has a
Tathagata, or "Dhyan Chohan"--to protect and watch over, not to interfere
with it." M L p. 108
(see Theosophical Articles & Notes, p 244)
States of Spirituality and Avitchi -- Rupa-Loka
"From "Sukhavati" down to the "Territory of Doubt" there is a
variety of Spiritual States;...and even of Avitchi--the "Hell" from which
there is no return (see FN)...As soon as it has stepped outside the
Kama-Loka, and crossed the "Golden (109) Bridge" leading to the "Seven
Golden Mountains" the Ego can confabulate no more, with easy-going mediums.
No "Earnest" or "Joey" has ever returned from the Rupa Loka--let alone the
Arupa Loka--to hold sweet intercourse with mortals...[ follows explanations
about the shells of suicides in Kama-Loka...doomed to persist there "until
their natural life-time is finished"...Pisachas, Incubi, Succubi...(111)
]...
(see Theos. Articles & Notes, p. 236) ML p. 108-111
Time in Kama-Loka -- Elementaries -- Danger of Mediumship
"...The rule is, that a person who dies a natural death, will remain
from "a few hours to several short years," within the earth's attraction,
i.e., in the Kama-Loka. But exceptions are, in the case of suicides and
those who die a violent death in general. Hence, one of such Egos, for
instance, who was destined to live--say 80 or 90 years, but who either
killed himself or was killed by some accident, let us suppose at the age of
20--would have to pass in the Kama-Loka not "a few years," but in his case
60 or 70 years, as an Elementary, or rather an "earth-walker;" since he is
not, unfortunately for him, even a "shell." Happy, thrice happy, (113) are
those disembodied entities, who sleep their long slumber and live in dream
in the bosom of Space ! And woe to those whose Trishna [desire to live] will
attract them to mediums, and woe to the latter, who tempt them with such an
easy Upadana [vehicle]...[more details on this]...And now, you may
understand why we oppose so strongly Spiritualism and
mediumship...(114)...Could the Spiritualists be only made to understand the
difference between individuality and personality, between individual and
personal immortality and some other truths, they would be more easily
persuaded that Occultists may be fully convinced of the monad's immortality,
and yet deny that of the soul--the vehicle of the personal Ego; that they
can firmly believe in, and themselves practice spiritual communications and
intercourse with the disembodied Egos of the Rupa-Loka, and yet laugh at the
insane idea of "shaking hands" with a "Spirit" !; that finally, that as the
matter stands, it is the Occultists and the Theosophists who are the true
Spiritualists, while the modern sect of that name is composed simply of
materialistic phenomenalists." M L p. 112-4
(see Theosophical Articles & Notes, p. 237-8)
Kama-Loka Consciousness -- Proportionate to Merit
"The good and pure sleep a quiet blissful sleep, full of happy
visions of earth-life and have no consciousness of being already for ever
beyond that life. Those who were neither good nor bad, will sleep a
dreamless, still a quiet sleep; while the wicked will in proportion to
their grossness suffer the pangs of a nightmare lasting years: their
thoughts become living things, their wicked passions--real substance, and
they receive back on their heads all the misery they have heaped upon
others. Reality and fact if described would yield a far more terrible
Inferno than even Dante had imagined." M L p.123
2. Devachan
"The Deva-Chan, or land of "Sukhavati," is allegorically (100)
described by our lord Buddha as follows [follows description translated ]
..." M L p. 99-100
Personal Ego Goes to Devachan
- A Selfish State of Bliss
"Who goes to Deva Chan ?" The personal Ego of course, but
beatified, purified, holy. Every Ego--the combination of the sixth and
seventh principles--which, after the period of unconscious gestation is
reborn into the Deva-Chan, is of necessity as innocent and pure as a
new-born babe. The fact of his being (101) reborn at all, shows the
preponderance of good over evil in his old personality. And while the Karma
(of evil) steps aside for the time being to follow him in his future
earth-reincarnation, he brings along with him but the Karma of his good
deeds, words, and thoughts into this Deva-Chan...all those who have not
slipped down into the mire of unredeemable sin and bestiality--go to
Deva-Chan. They will have to pay for their sins, voluntary and involuntary,
later on. Meanwhile they are rewarded; receive the effects of the causes
produced by them.
Of course it is a state, one, so to say, of intense selfishness,
during which an Ego reaps the reward of his unselfishness on earth. He is
completely engrossed in the bliss of all his personal earthly affections,
preferences and thoughts, and gathers in the fruit of his meritorious
actions. No pain, no grief nor even the shadow or a sorrow comes to darken
the bright horizon of his unalloyed happiness: for, it is a state of
perpetual "Maya."...Since the conscious perception of one's personality on
earth is but an evanescent dream that sense will be equally that of a dream
in the Deva-Chan--only a hundred fold intensified. So much so, indeed, that
the happy Ego is unable to see through the veil the evils, sorrows and woes
to which those it loved on earth may be subjected to. It lives in that
sweet dream with its loved ones--whether gone before, or yet remaining on
earth; it has them near itself, as happy, as blissful and as innocent as
the disembodied dreamer himself; and yet, apart from rare visions, the
denizens of our gross planet feel it not. It is in this, during such a
condition of complete Maya that the Souls or astral Egos of pure, loving
sensitives, laboring under the same illusion, think their loved ones come
down to them on earth, while it is their own Spirits that are raised towards
those in the Deva-Chan. Many of the subjective spiritual
communications--most of them when the sensitives are pure minded--are real;
but it is most difficult for the uninitiated medium to fix in his mind the
true and correct pictures of what he sees and hears...The spirit of the
sensitive getting odylised, so to say, by the aura of the Spirit in the
Deva-Chan, becomes for a few minutes that departed personality, and writes
in the hand writing of the latter, in his language and in his thoughts, as
they were during his life time. The two spirits become blended in one;
and, the preponderance of one over the other during such phenomena
determines the preponderance of personality in the characteristics exhibited
in such writings, and "trance speaking." M L p. 101
Devachan is Enormously Varied - Leads to Rebirth
"...there are great varieties in the Deva-Chan states...As many
varieties of bliss, as on earth there are shades of perception and of
capability to appreciate such reward. It is an ideated paradise, in each
case of the Ego's own making, and by him filled with the scenery, crowded
with the incidents, and thronged with the people he would expect to find in
such a sphere of comprehensive bliss. And it is that variety which guides
the temporary personal Ego into the current which will lead him to be reborn
in a lower or higher condition in the next world of causes. Everything is
so harmoniously adjusted in nature--especially in the subjective world, that
no mistake can be ever committed by the Tathagatas--or Dhyan Chohans--who
guide the impulses." M L p. 102
Devachan -- Kama-Loka and "Shell" --
(Rupa-Loka) -- Child Deaths
"It is "a spiritual condition" only as contrasted with our own
"material condition," and...it is (103) such degrees of spirituality that
constitute and determine the great "varieties" of conditions within the
limits of Deva-Chan...as actual Egos, children prematurely dying before the
perfection of their septenary Entity do not find their way to Deva-Chan, yet
all the same the mother's loving fancy finds her children there, without one
missing that her heart yearns for...man's sixth principle [Buddhi], as
something purely spiritual could not exist, or have conscious being in the
Deva-Chan, unless it assimilated some of the more abstract and pure of the
mental attributes of the fifth principle or animal Soul: its manas (mind)
and memory. When man dies his second [ astral body ] and third [ prana ]
principles die with him; the lower triad disappears, and the fourth [ kama
], fifth [ manas ], sixth [ buddhi ] and seventh [ atma ] principles form
the surviving Quaternary...Thenceforth it is a "death" struggle between the
Upper and Lower dualities. If the upper wins, the sixth, having attracted
to itself the quintessence of Good from the fifth--its nobler affections,
its saintly (though they be earthly) aspirations, and the most Spiritualized
portions of its mind--follows its divine elder (the 7th) into the
"Gestation" State; and the fifth [lower manas ] and fourth [kama] remain in
association as an empty shell--(the expression is quite correct)--to roam in
the earth's atmosphere, with half the (104) personal memory gone, and the
brutal instincts fully alive for a certain period--an "Elementary" in short.
This is the "angel guide" of the average medium...[ follows description of
the annihilation of the personal consciousness, the freeing of the MONAD,
which will bear no recollection of the annihilated personal consciousness
that has gone ]...The purified monad will neither perceive not remember the
series of its past rebirths--which it would, had it gone to the "World of
Forms" (rupa-loka)--and its retrospective glance will not perceive even the
slightest sign to indicate that if had been. The light of
Samma-Sambudh...throws no ray upon that personal life in the series of lives
foregone. To the credit of mankind, I must say, that such an utter
obliteration of an existence from the tablets of Universal Being does not
occur often enough to make a great percentage...an exception, not the rule."
M L p.103-4
Monad -- Ego in Devachan -- A Triad
"...the sixth [buddhi] and seventh [ atma ] principles apart from
the rest constitute the eternal imperishable, but also unconscious "Monad."
to awaken (105) in it to life the latent consciousness, especially that of
personal individuality, requires the monad plus the highest attributes of
the fifth--the "animal Soul;" and it is that which makes the ethereal Ego
that lives and enjoys the bliss of Deva-Chan. Spirit, or the unalloyed
emanations of the ONE--the latter forming with the seventh and sixth
principles the highest triad--neither of the emanations are capable of
assimilating but that which is good, pure and holy; hence, no sensual,
material or unholy recollection can follow the purified memory of the Ego to
the region of Bliss. The Karma for these recollections of evil deeds and
thought will reach the Ego when it changes its personality in the following
world of causes. The Monad, or the "Spiritual Individuality," remains
untainted in all cases. "No sorrow or Pain for those born there (in the
Rupa-Loka of Deva-Chan); for this is the Pure-land. All the regions in
Space possess such lands (Sakwala), but this land of Bliss is the most
pure." M L p. 104-5
Devachan not Monotonous -- Unaware of Death Event
Time spent in Kama-Loka
"Love and Hatred are the only immortal feelings, the only survivors from the
wreck of Ye-damma, of the phenomenal world. Imagine yourself in Deva-Chan
with those you may have loved with such immortal love...--a perfect blank
for everything else relating to your interior, social, political, literary
and social life. And then, in the face of that spiritual, purely cogitative
existence, of that unalloyed felicity which, in proportion with the
intensity of the feelings that created it, lasts from a few to several
thousand years,--call it the "personal remembrance of A.P.S."--if you can.
Dreadfully monotonous!--you may think.--Not in the least--I answer. Have
you experienced monotony during--say
--...the moment of highest bliss you have ever felt?--Of course not...where
there is no consciousness of an external world there can be no discernment
to mark differences, hence,--no perception of contrasts of monotony or
variety; nothing in short, outside that immortal feeling of love and
sympathetic attractions whose seeds are planted in the fifth [manas], whose
plants blossom luxuriantly in and around the fourth [kama], but whose roots
have to penetrate deep into the sixth [buddhi] principle, if it would
survive the lower groups...
we create ourselves our devachan as our avitchi while yet on earth, and
mostly during the latter days and even moments of our intellectual, sentient
lives. That feeling (128) which is the strongest in us at that supreme
hour; when, as in a dream the events of a long life, to their minutest
details, are marshaled in the greatest order in a few seconds in our vision,
(FN.: That vision takes place when a person is already proclaimed dead.
The brain is the last organ that dies.)--that feeling will become the
fashioner of our bliss or woe, the life principle of our future existence.
In the latter we have no substantial being, but only a present and momentary
existence,--whose duration has no bearing upon, as no effect, or relation to
its being...The real full remembrance of our lives will come but at the end
of the minor cycle--not before. In Kama Loka those who retain their
remembrance, will not enjoy it at the supreme hour of recollection. --Those
who know they are dead in their physical bodies--can only be adepts
or--sorcerers; and these two are exceptions to the general rule. Both
having been "co-workers with nature," the former for good, the latter--for
bad, in her work of creation and in that of destruction, they are the only
ones who may be called immortal--in the Kabalistic and the esoteric sense of
course. Complete or true immortality,--which means an unlimited sentient
existence, can have no breaks and stoppages, no arrest of
Self-consciousness. And even the shells of those good men whose page will
not be found missing in the great Book of Lives at the threshold of the
Great Nirvana, even they will regain their remembrance and an appearance of
Self-consciousness, only after the 6th [buddhi] and 7th [atma] principles
with the essence of the 5th [manas] (the latter having to furnish the
material for even that partial recollection of personality which is
necessary for the object in Deva-Chan)--have gone to the gestation period,
not before...Thus, when a man dies, his "Soul" (5th principle) becomes
unconscious and loses all remembrance of things internal as well as
external. Whether his stay in Kama Loka has to last but a few moments,
hours, days, weeks, months or years; whether he died a natural or a violent
death; whether it occurred in his young or old age, and, whether the Ego
was good, bad, or indifferent,-- his consciousness leaves him as suddenly as
the flame leaves the wick when, blown out. When life has retired from the
last particle in the brain matter, his perceptive faculties become extinct
forever, his spiritual powers of cognition and volition--(all those
faculties in short, which are neither inherent in, nor acquirable by organic
matter)--for the time being. His (129) Mayavi Rupa may be often thrown into
objectivity, as in the cases of apparitions after death ..." M L, p.
127-129
Monad : Source of Personalities -
Personality -- Individuality
"...the many personal entities blended in one Individuality--
the long string of lives emanating from the same Immortal Monad.
You will have to remember them:--
1. The Paccika Yana--(in Sanskrit "Pratyeka") means liter-
ally--the "Personal vehicle" or personal Ego, a
combination of the five lower principles. While --
2. The Amita-Yana--(in Sanskrit "Amrita") is translated:--"The
immortal vehicle," or the Individuality, the Spiritual
Soul, or the Immortal monad--a combination of the
fifth, sixth and seventh." M L p. 114
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-----Original Message-----
From: Kees
Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2006 7:23 AM
To: study@blavatsky.net
Subject: [bn-study] RE: Mystery of Death
Hello
I would like to thank Bill, Naresh and especially Dallas for their reply.
It is helpful to me. Very interesting texts of H.P.B on abnormal death.
Kindly regards
Kees
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