PLANES & STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Mar 24, 2006 06:35 AM
by W.Dallas TenBroeck
Inquiry into what THEOSOPHY states concerning consciousness:
PLANES & STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
PLANES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
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"The "ABSOLUTE CONSCIOUSNESS,"..."behind" phenomena...is only termed
unconsciousness in the absence of any element of personality...transcends
human conception...Only the liberated Spirit is able to faintly realize the
nature of the source whence it sprung and whither it must eventually
return...we can but bow in ignorance before the awful mystery of Absolute
Being...the Finite cannot conceive the Infinite..." S D I 51
"Esoteric philosophy teaches that everything lives and is conscious, but not
that all life and consciousness are similar to those of human or even animal
beings. Life we look on as the "the one form of existence," manifesting in
what is called matter; or, as in man, what, incorrectly separating them we
name Spirit, Soul and Matter. Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation
or soul on this plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle on a higher
plane for the manifestation of spirit, and those three are a trinity
synthesized by Life, which pervades them all." SD I 49
"Every atom is endowed with and moved by intelligence, and is conscious in
its own degree, on its own plane of development. This is a glimpse of the
One Life...selfishness is the curse of selfishness..." WQJ ART I 29
"...Time...[is] the panoramic succession of our states of consciousness..."
S D I 44
"Free-will can only exist in a man who has both mind and consciousness,
which act and make him perceive things both within and without himself."
"Consciousness is a condition of the monad as a result of embodiment in
matter and the dwelling in a physical form." WQJ ART I 29
"the one free force acts, helped in this by that portion of its essence
which we call imprisoned force, or material molecules. The worker within,
the inherent force, ever tends to unite with its parent essence without;
and thus, the Mother acting within, causes the Web to contract; and the
Father acting without, to expand. Science calls this gravitation;
Occultists, the work of the universal Life-Force, which radiates from that
Absolute and Unknowable FORCE which is outside of all Space and Time. This
is the work of eternal Evolution and involution, or expansion and
contraction. [ Web cooling ]...it begins when the imprisoned force and
intelligence inherent in every atom of differentiated as well as of
homogeneous matter arrives at a point when both become the slaves of a
higher intelligent Force whose mission is to guide and shape it.
It is the Force which we call the divine Free-Will, represented by the
Dhyani-Buddhas. When the centrepetal and centrifugal forces of life and
being are subjected by the one nameless Force which brings order in
disorder, and establishes harmony in Chaos--then it begins cooling...Every
form, we are told, is built in accordance with the model traced for it in
the Eternity and reflected in the DIVINE MIND. There are hierarchies of
"Builders of form," and series of forms and degrees, from the highest to the
lowest. While the former are shaped under the guidance of the "Builders,"
the gods, "Cosmocratores;" the latter are fashioned by the Elementals or
Nature Spirits." TRANS 128-9
"Mind is a name given to the sum of the states of Consciousness grouped
under Thought, Will, and Feeling. During deep sleep, ideation ceases of the
physical plane, and memory is in abeyance; thus for the time-being "Mind is
not," because the organ through which the Ego manifests ideation and memory
on the material plane has temporarily ceased to function. A noumenon can
become a phenomenon on any plane of existence only by manifesting on that
plane through an appropriate basis or vehicle...The Ah-hi (Dhyan-Chohans)
are the collective hosts of spiritual beings--the Angelic Hosts of
Christianity...--who are the vehicle for the manifestation of the divine or
universal though and will. They are the Intelligent Forces that give to and
enact in Nature her "laws," while themselves acting according to laws
imposed upon them in a similar manner by still higher Powers...This
hierarchy of spiritual Beings, through which the Universal Mind comes into
action, is like an army--a "Host."
SD I 38
"..."Mind" is manas, or rather its lower reflection, which whenever it
disconnects itself, for the time being, with kama, becomes the guide of the
highest mental faculties, and is the organ of the free-will in physical
man...."
HPB Art., Vol. II, p. 13
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Correspondence of the 7 Cosmic and 7 Human "principles."
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Human aspects or Cosmic aspects or
Principles Principles
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TRIPLE ASPECT OF THE DEITY
1. Universal Spirit (Atma) The Unmanifested Logos
2. Spiritual Soul (Buddhi) Universal (latent) Ideation
(see Fnote p. 597)
3. Human Soul, Mind (Manas) Universal (or Cosmic) active
Intelligence
SPIRIT OF THE EARTH
4. Animal Soul (Kama-Rupa) Cosmic Chaotic energy
5. Astral Body (Linga-Sarira) Astral Ideation, reflecting
terrestrial things.
6. Life Essence (Prana) Life Essence or Energy
7. Body (Sthula Sarira) The Earth.
[ from: SD II 596]
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Table From: Secret Doctrine I p. 157
SEVEN-FOLD MAN AND HIS VEHICLES
in States of Consciousness
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Classification in Vedantic
Classification in
"Esoteric Buddhism" Classification Taraka Raja Yoga
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1 Sthula Sarira . . Annamaya Kosa +
[Food made |
body] | Sthulopadhi
| [ Jagrat ]
2 Prana (Life) . + | [ awake in the
| Pranamaya Kosa | body ]
| [Sutratma] +
3 Vehicle of Prana |
Linga Sarira or | +
Astral body
4 Kama Rupa .
Volitions and +
Manomaya Kosa | Sukshmopadhi
Feelings [Mind Sheath] | [Swapna]
| the dream state
|
5 Mind | |
Vignanam Vignanamaya Kosa +
[Knowledge]
6 Spiritual Soul . Anandamaya Kosa Karanopadhi
(Buddhi) [Contemplative, [ Sushupti]
[blissful state] [ deep sleep ]
7 Atma . . . Atma . Atma
[ Turiya ]
[Upeksha]
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POST-MORTEM (After physical body death )
TRAILOKYA (Sk.). The 3 regions or worlds...of post mortem states.of
astral light, and the "world of shells." [it] has 7 divisions, the lowest of
which begins on earth or invisibly in its atmosphere...the highest being the
abode of those who have died owing to accident, or suicide in a fit of
temporary insanity, or were otherwise victims of external forces. It is a
place where all those who have died before the end of the term allotted to
them, and whose higher principles do not, therefore, go at once into
Devachanic state--sleep a dreamless sleep of oblivion, at the termination of
which they are either reborn immediately, or pass gradually into the
Devachanic state. Rupadhatu [2nd state of Trailokya] is the celestial world
of form, or what we call Devachan...the Esoteric Philosophy teaches that
though for the Egos for the time being, everything or every one preserves
its form (as in a dream), yet as Rupadhatu is a purely mental region, and a
state, the Egos themselves have no form outside of their own consciousness.
Esotericism divides this "region" into 7 Dhyanas, "regions," or states of
contemplation, which are not localities, but mental representations of
these. Arupadhatu [3rd state]...is again divided into 7 Dhyanas, still more
abstract and formless, for this "World" is without any form or desire
whatever. It is the highest region...the abode of those who are almost
ready for Nirvana..." GLOS 236-7
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DEVACHAN
"Devachan...is--a blissful rest, a heavenly oasis during the laborious
journey of the Monad toward a higher evolution...One has to sense
intuitionally its logical necessity; to perceive in it, untaught and
unguided, the outcome and perpetuation of that strictest justice absolutely
consonant with the harmony of the universal law...(27) The bliss of a
Devachanee is complete..."
T. A. & N., p. 26-7
"...on the death of the body, there is a long period which represents a
general cleaning up, so to say, of all the personal states of the life last
lived, and a limitation to effect states. The personal thoughts have to be
worked out, and not until devachan is exhausted does the Ego again enter
into its own state and know what is to come from what has been...After
death, it is only the effects naturally ensuing from the last life lived
that must be worked out to their residuum, and in these the Ego is detained
from his true nature, which, however, before returning to earth-life, he
resumes for a time." Ans. to Quest. 175
"...the monad is not like a seed dropped from a tree, but its nature is
ubiquitous, all-pervading, omnipresent; though in the subjective state time
space and locality are not factors in its experiences...there are states and
states and degrees upon degrees in Devachan, in all of which,
notwithstanding (to us) the objective isolation of the principal hero, he is
surrounded by a host of actors in conjunction with whom he had during his
last earth-life created and worked our the causes of those effects that are
produced first on the field of Devachanic or Avitchian subjectivity, and
then used to strengthen the karma to follow on the objective (?) plane of
subsequent rebirth. Earth life is...the Prologue of the
drama...mystery...that is enacted in the rupa and arupa lokas."
T A & N. 30
"...the devachanic mind is capable only of the highest spiritual ideation;
that neither objects of the grosser senses nor any thing provocative of
displeasure could ever be apprehended by it--for otherwise, Devachan would
be merging into Avitchi, and the feeling of unalloyed bliss destroyed for
ever." T A & N, 31
"...first necessity: to know the esoteric views of the ultimate nature of
Spirit, of Matter, Force and Space; the fundamental and axiomatic theories
as to the Reality and Unreality, Form and the Formless (rupa and a-rupa),
dream and waking...the distinction between the "objective" and the
"subjective" in the living man's sensuous perceptions and the same as they
appear [to a disembodied entity] to the psychic perceptions of
a...Devachanee." T A & N p. 17-18
"...the Higher Triad, Manas, Buddhi, and Atma,--the real man, immediately go
into [the state] of Devachan...they are the immortal part of us; they, in
fat, and no other are we. This should be firmly grasped by the mind, for
upon its clear understanding depends the comprehension of the entire
doctrine." Ocean, p. 65
"...Devachan being "but a dream," we should agree upon a definition of the
phenomena of dreams... the Occultist [states] there is a difference between
a dream produced by outward physiological causes and the one which reacts
and becomes in its turn the producer of super-sensuous perceptions and
feelings...he divides dream into the phenomenal and the noumenal...the
physiologist is entirely unfit to comprehend the ultimate constitution of a
disembodied Ego--hence the nature of its "dreams."
T A & N pp. 19-20
"The stay in Devachan is proportionate to the unexhausted psychic impulses
originating in earth life. Those whose attractions were preponderatingly
material will sooner be drawn back into rebirth by the force of Tanha." T.
A. & N., p. 243-4
"The reward provided by nature for men who are benevolent in a large,
systematic way, and who have not focused their affections on an individual
or specialty, is that if pure they pass the quicker for that thro' the Kama
and Rupa lokas into the higher sphere of Tribuvana, since it is one where
the formulation of abstract ideas and the consideration of general
principles fill the thought of its occupant." THEOS. A. &
N., p. 244
"In Devachan there is no cognizance of time, of which the Devachanee loses
all sense...The a priori ideas of space and time do not control his
perceptions; for he absolutely creates and annihilates them at the same
time. Physical existence has its cumulative intensity from infancy to
prime, and its diminishing energy to dotage and death; so the dream-life of
Devachan is lived correspondentially. Nature cheats no more the devachanee
than she does the living physical man. Nature provides for him far more
real bliss and happiness there than she does here, where all the conditions
of evil and chance are against him...As in actual earth life, so there is
for the Ego in Devachan the first flutter of psychic life, the attainment of
prime, the gradual exhaustion of force passing into semi-consciousness and
lethargy, total oblivion, and--not death, but birth, birth into another
personality..."
THEOS ART. & NOTES, p. 242-3
"There is a change of occupation, a continual change in Devachan, just as
much and far more than there is in any life...with this difference, that to
the Devachanee this spiritual occupation is always pleasant and fills his
life with rapture. Life in Devachan is the function of the aspirations of
earth life; not the indefinite prolongation of that "single instant," but
its infinite developments, the various incidents and events based upon the
outflowing from that one "single moment" or moments. The dreams of the
objective become the realities of the subjective existence." T.
A. & N. p. 243
PRINCIPLES ACTIVE & CONSCIOUSNESS IN DEVACHAN
"...the physiologist rejects a priori WILL, the chief and indispensable
factor of the inner man. He refuses to recognize it apart from particular
acts of volition, and declares that he known only the latter, viewed by him
simply as a reaction or desire of determination of energy outward...Hence
the physiologist would have to reject at once the possibility of
consciousness--minus memory..." T A & N p. 20
"Unfettered from the personal sensations of the manas, the devachanic
consciousness would certainly have to become universal or absolute
consciousness, with no past as with no future, the two merging into one
eternal PRESENT--but for the trammels of the personal Ego...the ethereal
atoms that act in the spiritual consciousness of the monad, during its bliss
wholly based and depending upon the degree of its connections with only the
essence of the personal Ego." T A & N p. 20
"...the spiritual consciousness...sense pertaining to the immutable can
never sleep of even be dormant per se, and is always in the "Light" of
reality [ enables the occultist ] to perceive that reality in the subjective
world which was hidden from it in waking hours..." T A & N, p.
21
"...the participations of the manas in the Devachanic bliss...takes away
from, the reality that would fall to the lot of the monad were it altogether
free from its presence. Its bliss is an outcome of...the delusion or
"heresy of individuality," which...together with the...chain of causes, is
necessary for the monad's future birth...all this leads the occultist to
regard the association of "intercourse" between two disembodied entities in
the Devachan...as an illusion..." T A & N, p. 21
DREAMS: IN AND OUT OF DEVACHAN
"...Devachan being "but a dream," we should agree upon a definition of the
phenomena of dreams...(20)the Occultist [states] there is a difference
between a dream produced by outward physiological causes and the one which
reacts and becomes in its turn the producer of super-sensuous perceptions
and feelings...he divides dream into the phenomenal and the noumenal...the
physiologist is entirely unfit to comprehend the ultimate constitution of a
disembodied Ego--hence the nature of its "dreams." T A & N pp. 19-20
"...a man may experience the devachanic condition while yet alive, and call
it delusion, if he pleases, when he comes back to his ordinary state of
objective consciousness and compares it to the said condition. Nevertheless
he will not know that it is a dream, either when he experiences it a second
time (for the time being) while still living, or when he dies and goes to
Devachan." T. A. & N., p. 28
"...the intercourse between the monads is real, mutual, and as actual in the
world of subjectivity, as it is in this our world of deceptive reality..."
T. A. & N., p. 29
"The Devachanic condition in all its aspects is no doubt similar to a dreamy
state when considered from the standpoint of our present objective
consciousness when we are in our waking condition. Nevertheless it is real
to the Devachanee himself as our waking state is to us... A monad in
Devachan has but one state of consciousness, and the contrast between a
waking state and a dreamy state is never presented to it so long as it is in
that condition."
T. A. & N., p. 24
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KAMALOKA
KAMALOKA (Sk.). The semi-material plane, to us subjective and
invisible, where the disembodied "personalities," the astral forms, called
kamarupa remain, until they fade out from it by the complete exhaustion of
the effects of the mental impulses that created these eidolons of human and
animal passions and desires...It is the Hades of the ancient Greeks and
Amenti of the Egyptians, the land of Silent Shadows; a division of the
first group of the Trailokya. (see Kamadhatu Gl. 171) GLOS 171-2
(see ML 108-9 112 198 187- a few hours to a few years -
KAMARUPA (Sk.). Metaphysically...in esoteric philosophy, it is the
subjective form created through the mental and physical desires and thoughts
in connection with things of matter, by all sentient beings, a form which
survives the death of their bodies. After death 3 of the 7 "principles"--or
let us say planes of senses and consciousness on which the human instincts
and ideation act in turn--viz., the body, its astral prototype and physical
vitality,--being of no further use, remain on earth; the 3 higher
principles, grouped into one, merge into the state of Devachan, in which
state the Higher Ego [Higher Manas] will remain until the hour for a new
incarnation arrives; and the eidolon of the ex-Personality is left alone in
its new abode. Here the pale copy of the man that was, vegetates for a
period of time, the duration of which is variable and according to the
element of materiality which is left in it, and which is determined by the
past life of the defunct. Bereft as it is of its higher mind, spirit and
physical senses, if left alone to its own senseless devices, it will
gradually fade out and disintegrate. But, if forcibly drawn back into the
terrestrial sphere whether by the passionate desires and appeals of the
surviving friends or by regular necromantic practices--one of the most
pernicious of which is mediumship--the "spook" may prevail for a period
greatly exceeding the span of the natural life of its body. One the
Kamarupa has learnt the way back to living human bodies, it becomes a
vampire, feeding on the vitality of those who are so anxious for its
company..."
GLOS 172
(see KEY p. 143-4, ML 108-9 112 118 198; A to Q 65 240)
(see SD I 334 260 337fn VOICE 12fn)
Kama loka--or the place of desire--is the astral region penetrating and
surrounding the earth. As a place it is and on and about the earth. Its
extent is to a measurable distance from the earth, but the ordinary laws
obtaining here do not obtain there, and entities therein are not under the
same conditions as to space and time as we are. As a state it is
metaphysical...[relating] to the astral plane...in it the ruling force is
desire devoid of and divorced from intelligence. It is an astral sphere
intermediate between earthly and heavenly life...the origin of
purgatory...force of some unsatisfied desire, and cannot get rid of the
astral and kamic clothing until that desire is satisfied by someone on earth
or by the soul itself.
But if the person was pure minded and of high aspirations, the separation of
the principles on that plane is soon completed, permitting the higher triad
to go into devachan.
Being the purely astral sphere, it partakes of the nature of astral matter
which is essentially earthly and devilish, and in it all the forces work
undirected by soul or conscience. It is the slag-pit...of the great furnace
of life, where nature provides for the sloughing off of elements which have
no place in devachan...it must have many degrees...lokas or places in a
metaphysical sense.loose in consequence of the absence of the body, and for
that reason the state is more diversified than the life plane." OCEAN 100-1
"...in kama-loca this mass of desire and thoughts exists very definitely
until the conclusion of its disintegration, and then the remainder consists
of the essence of those skandhas, connected...with the being that evolved
and had them...they are said to remain until the being comes out of
devachan, and then at once by the law of attraction they are drawn to the
being, who from them as a germ or basis builds up a new set of skandhas for
the new life." OCEAN 103
The Kamarupa spook is the enemy of our civilization, which permits us to
execute men for crimes committed and thus throws out into the ether the mass
of passion and desire free from the weight of the body and liable at any
moment to be attracted to any sensitive person. Being thus attracted, the
deplorable images of crimes committed and also the picture of the execution
and all the accompanying curses and wishes for revenge are implanted in
living persons, who, not seeing the evil, are unable to throw it off. Thus
crimes and new ideas of crimes are willfully propagated every day by those
countries where capital punishment prevails." OCEAN 47-48
[End of kama loca] After a certain time in kama loca the being falls into a
state of unconsciousness which precedes the change into the next state. It
is like the birth into life, preluded by a term of darkness and heavy sleep.
It then wakes to the joys of devachan." OCEAN p. 108
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DURING LIFE
SAMADHI
"...the highest state permitted to it (personal or animal soul) on earth
being samadhi. It is only its essence that has followed the monad into
Devachan, to serve it there as its ground-tone, or as the background against
which its future dream-life and development will move...That which is in
Devachan is...the smell of the flower...its aroma will never die, and may be
recalled and resurrected ages thence..." T. A. & N., p 24
TURIYA
"Turiya (Sk.) A state of the deepest trance--the 4th state of the Taraka
Raja Yoga, on the corresponds with Atma, and on this earth within dreamless
sleep--a causal condition...almost a Nirvanic state if Samadhi, which is
itself a beatific state of the contemplative Yoga beyond this plane. A
condition of the higher Triad, quite distinct (though still inseparable)
from the conditions of Jagrat (waking), Swapna (dreaming), and Sushupti
[dreamless] (sleeping)"
Glos. 345-6
SWAPNA -- Psychic 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
"When one says "I dreamed," he is in the waking state and is surrounded by
the external conditions that go to make up that state of consciousness; he
is therefore comparing the state in which he finds himself with another
state whose surroundings are not then present or evident...in the dreaming
state, all that made up his waking state is absent from his perceptions and
he is surrounded by a world of his own creation, which for the time being is
objective and real to him; his perceptions are "awake" to the dream and
immersed in it, so he has nothing before him to compare the states of waking
and dreaming with. Should he be able to make comparisons , the dream state
would cease and he would be awake."
Answers to Questions, p. 94-5
SUSHUPTI -- 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
"...dreamless sleep--one that leaves no impression on the physical memory
and brain, because the sleeper's Higher Self is in its original state of
absolute unconsciousness during those hours...re-absorption is by no means
such a "dreamless sleep," but, on the contrary, absolute existence, an
unconditioned unity, or a state, to describe which human language is
absolutely hopelessly inadequate...it can be attempted solely in the
panoramic visions of the soul, through spiritual ideations of the divine
monad." [ see also SD I 429 top ] SD I 266
"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
"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
"There are many kinds of "dreams"...the highest of them being recollections
of the activity and real awakens of the Inner Man, but these are not
ordinarily translatable into terms of bodily consciousness." Ans.
to Quest. p. 95
"As a rule, all that we experience of a dream from the inner man is a
feeling, for the dream being strained through the brain is all broken and
confused. A dream that makes a profound impression...cannot be a mere
surface dream." Ans. to Quest. 220
"In every night he enters that spiritual state, his own true nature.
Connection between the Lower and the Higher Manas must be made during life
in a body; it cannot be made at any other time." Ans to Quest. 175
"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
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best wishes,
Dallas
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