Theos-Talk Archives (April 2006 Message tt00069)

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            "CAUSELESS CAUSE," "ETERNAL," "UNKNOWABLE

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=93=85.the "Causeless Cause," the "Eternal," and the "Unknowable," may be
essentially the same as that of the Consciousness which wells up within us =
:

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 in short,=20

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that the impersonal reality pervading the Kosmos is the pure noumenon of
thought.=94  [SD I, 15]

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=93The solitary ray dropping into the mother deep may be taken as meaning
Divine Thought or Intelligence, impregnating chaos .  This, however, occurs
on the plane of metaphysical abstraction, or rather the plane whereon that
which we call a metaphysical abstraction is a reality. =93   [SD I, 64]

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The "B EING " just referred to, which has to remain nameless, is the Tree
from which, in subsequent ages, all the great historically known Sages and
Hierophants, such as the Rishi Kapila, Hermes, Enoch, Orpheus, etc., etc.,
have branched off.   As objective man, he is the mysterious (to the
profane=97the ever invisible) yet ever present Personage about whom legends
are rife in the East, especially among the Occultists and the students of
the Sacred Science.   It is he who changes form, yet remains ever the same.
[  ADI BUDDHA ?     PARAMESHWARA ?   BRAHMATMA ?     MAHAVISHNU  ?  ]

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And it is he again who holds spiritual sway over the initiated Adepts
throughout the whole world.   He is, as said, the "Nameless One" who has so
many names, and yet whose names and whose very nature are unknown.

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   He is the "Initiator," called the " GREAT SACRIFICE.  For, sitting at th=
e
threshold of LIGHT, he looks into it from within the circle of Darkness,
which he will not cross; nor will he quit his post till the last day of thi=
s
life-cycle.=20=20=20

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Why does the solitary Watcher remain at his self-chosen post? Why does he
sit by the fountain of primeval Wisdom, of which he drinks no longer, as he
has naught to learn which he does not know=97aye, neither on this Earth, no=
r
in its heaven ?=20

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Because the lonely, sore-footed pilgrims on their way back to their home ar=
e
never sure to the last moment of not losing their way in this limitless
desert of illusion and matter called Earth-Life.

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  Because he would fain show the way to that region of freedom and light,
from which he is a voluntary exile himself, to every prisoner who has
succeeded in liberating himself from the bonds of flesh and illusion.
Because, in short, he has sacrificed himself for the sake of mankind, thoug=
h
but a few Elect may profit by the GREAT SACRIFICE.

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It is under the direct, silent guidance of this MAHA=97(great)=97GURU that =
all
the other less divine Teachers and instructors of mankind became, from the
first awakening of human consciousness, the guides of early Humanity.   It
is through these "Sons of God" that infant humanity got its first notions o=
f
all the arts and sciences, as well as of spiritual knowledge; and it is the=
y
who have laid the first foundation-stone of those ancient civilizations tha=
t
puzzle so sorely our modern generation of students and scholars.=94
[SD I, 207-8]

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"The thread between the silent watcher and his shadow (man) becomes
stronger"=97with every re-incarnation=97is another psychological mystery, t=
hat
will find its explanation in Book II . For the present it will suffice to
say that the "Watcher" and his "Shadows"=97the latter numbering as many as
there are re-incarnations for the monad=97are one .=20=20

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The Watcher, or the divine prototype, is at the upper rung of the ladder of
being; the shadow, at the lower.=20=20

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Withal, the Monad of every living being, =85is an individual Dhyan Chohan,
distinct from others, a kind of spiritual individuality of its own, during
one special Manvantara.=20=20

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Its Primary, the Spirit (Atman) is one, of course, with Param=E2tma (the on=
e
Universal Spirit), but the vehicle (Vahan) it is enshrined in, the Buddhi,
is part and parcel of that Dhyan-Chohanic Essence; and it is in this that
lies the mystery of that ubiquity, which was discussed a few pages back.
"My Father, that is in Heaven, and I=97are one,"=97says the Christian Scrip=
ture;
in this, at any rate, it is the faithful echo of the esoteric tenet .=94
SD  I, 265

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=93=85 the Dhyani-Buddhas of the two higher groups, namely, the "Watchers" =
or
the "Architects," furnished the many and various races with divine kings an=
d
leaders.   It is the latter who taught humanity their arts and sciences, an=
d
the former who revealed to the incarnated Monads that had just shaken off
their vehicles of the lower Kingdoms=97and who had, therefore, lost every
recollection of their divine origin=97the great spiritual truths of the
transcendental worlds.=94   (See Book II., "Divine Dynasties.")

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Thus, as expressed in the Stanza, the Watchers descended on Earth and
reigned over men=97" who are themselves." The reigning kings had finished
their cycle on Earth and other worlds, in the preceding Rounds.=20=20

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In the future manvantaras they will have risen to higher systems than our
planetary world; and it is the Elect of our Humanity, the Pioneers on the
hard and difficult path of Progress, who will take the places of their
predecessors.=20=20=20

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The next great Manvantara will witness the men of our own life-cycle
becoming the instructors and guides of a mankind whose Monads may now yet b=
e
imprisoned=97semi-conscious=97in the most intellectual of the animal kingdo=
m,
while their lower principles will be animating, perhaps, the highest
specimens of the Vegetable world.=94        SD  I,  267

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...neither the collective Host (Demiurgos), nor any of the working powers
individually, are proper subjects for divine honours or worship. All are
entitled to the grateful reverence of Humanity, however, and man ought to b=
e
ever striving to help the divine evolution of Ideas, by becoming to the bes=
t
of his ability a co-worker with nature in the cyclic task.  The ever
unknowable and incognizable Karana alone, the Causeless Cause of all causes=
,
should have its shrine and altar on the holy and ever untrodden ground of
our heart=97invisible, intangible, unmentioned, save through "the still sma=
ll
voice" of our spiritual consciousness.   Those who worship before it, ought
to do so in the silence and the sanctified solitude of their Souls*; making
their spirit the sole mediator between them and the Universal Spirit, their
good actions the only priests, and their sinful intentions the only visible
and objective sacrificial victims to the Presence.  (See Part II., "On the
Hidden Deity.")            SD  I, 280

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PERFECTION  -  GOAL.DOC

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

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=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20=20

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                                THE FUTURE

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=93=85 the Dhyani-Buddhas of the two higher groups, namely, the "Watchers" =
or
the "Architects," furnished the many and various races with divine kings an=
d
leaders.   It is the latter who taught humanity their arts and sciences, an=
d
the former who revealed to the incarnated Monads that had just shaken off
their vehicles of the lower Kingdoms=97and who had, therefore, lost every
recollection of their divine origin=97the great spiritual truths of the
transcendental worlds.=94   (See Book II., "Divine Dynasties.")

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Thus, as expressed in the Stanza, the Watchers descended on Earth and
reigned over men=97" who are themselves." The reigning kings had finished
their cycle on Earth and other worlds, in the preceding Rounds.=20=20

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In the future manvantaras they will have risen to higher systems than our
planetary world; and it is the Elect of our Humanity, the Pioneers on the
hard and difficult path of Progress, who will take the places of their
predecessors.=20=20=20

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The next great Manvantara will witness the men of our own life-cycle
becoming the instructors and guides of a mankind whose Monads may now yet b=
e
imprisoned=97semi-conscious=97in the most intellectual of the animal kingdo=
m,
while their lower principles will be animating, perhaps, the highest
specimens of the Vegetable world.=94            SD  I,  267

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...neither the collective Host (Demiurgos), nor any of the working powers
individually, are proper subjects for divine honours or worship. All are
entitled to the grateful reverence of Humanity, however, and man ought to b=
e
ever striving to help the divine evolution of Ideas, by becoming to the bes=
t
of his ability a co-worker with nature in the cyclic task.  The ever
unknowable and incognizable Karana alone, the Causeless Cause of all causes=
,
should have its shrine and altar on the holy and ever untrodden ground of
our heart=97invisible, intangible, unmentioned, save through "the still sma=
ll
voice" of our spiritual consciousness.   Those who worship before it, ought
to do so in the silence and the sanctified solitude of their Souls*; making
their spirit the sole mediator between them and the Universal Spirit, their
good actions the only priests, and their sinful intentions the only visible
and objective sacrificial victims to the Presence.  (See Part II., "On the
Hidden Deity.")     SD  I, 280

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

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                                    DEVACHAN  AND  AVITCHI

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Nature cheats no more the devachanee than she does the living, physical man=
.


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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, and
his inherent helplessness =97 that of a straw violently blown hither and
thither by every remorseless wind =97 has made unalloyed happiness on this
earth an utter impossibility for the human being, whatever his chances and
condition may be.=20

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Rather call this life an ugly, horrid nightmare, and you will be right. To
call the Devachan existence a =93dream=94 in any other sense but that of a
conventional term, well suited to [y]our languages all full of misnomers =
=97
is to renounce for ever the knowledge of the esoteric doctrine =97 the sole
custodian of truth.=20

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Let me then try once more to explain to you a few of the many states in
Devachan and =97 Avitchi.

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As in actual earth-life, so there is for the Ego in Devachan =97 the first
flutter of psychic life, the attainment of prime, the gradual exhaustion of
force passing into semi-unconsciousness, gradual oblivion and lethargy,
total oblivion and =97 not death but birth: birth into another personality,
and the resumption of action which daily begets new congeries of causes,
that must be worked out in another term of Devachan, and still another
physical rebirth as a new personality.=20

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What the lives in Devachan and upon Earth shall be respectively in each
instance is determined by Karma.=20

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           WEARY ROUND OF BIRTH=20

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And this weary round of birth upon birth must be ever and ever run through,
until the being reaches the end of the seventh round, or =97 attains in the
interim the wisdom of an Arhat, then that of a Buddha and thus gets relieve=
d
for a round or two, =97 having learned how to burst through the vicious
circles =97 and to pass periodically into the Paranirvana.

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But suppose it is not a question of a Bacon, a G=9Cthe, a Shelley, a Howard=
,
but of some hum-drum person, some colourless, flaxless personality, who
never impinged upon the world enough to make himself felt: what then?=20

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Simply that his devachanic state is as colourless and feeble as was his
personality. How could it be otherwise since cause and effect are equal?=20

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AVITCHI --  THE PERFECT ANTITHESIS OF DEVACHAN=20

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But suppose a case of a monster of wickedness, sensuality, ambition,
avarice, pride, deceit, etc., but who nevertheless has a germ or germs of
something better, flashes of a more divine nature =97 where is he to go?=20

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The said spark smouldering under a heap of dirt will counteract,
nevertheless, the attraction of the eighth sphere, whither fall but absolut=
e
nonentities; =93failures of nature=94 to be remodelled entirely, whose divi=
ne
monad separated itself from the five principles during their life-time,
(whether in the next preceding or several preceding births, since such case=
s
are also on our records), and who have lived as soulless human beings.2
These persons whose sixth principle has left them (while the seventh having
lost its vahan (or vehicle) can exist independently no longer) their fifth
or animal Soul of course goes down =93the bottomless pit.=94=20

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This will perhaps make Eliphas Levi=92s hints still more clear to you, if y=
ou
read over what he says, and my remarks on the margin, thereon (see
Theosophist, October, 1881, Article =93Death=94) and reflect upon the words
used, such as drones, etc.=20

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Well, the first named entity then, cannot, with all its wickedness go to th=
e
eighth sphere =97 since his wickedness is of a too spiritual, refined natur=
e.
He is a monster =97 not a mere Soulless brute. He must not be simply
annihilated but PUNISHED; for, annihilation, i.e. total oblivion, and the
fact of being snuffed out of conscious existence, constitutes per se no
punishment, and as Voltaire expressed it: =93le n=E9ant ne laisse pas d=92a=
voir du
bon.=94  [There is always some good in evil.]

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Here is no taper-glimmer to be puffed out by a zephyr, but a strong,
positive, maleficent energy, fed and developed by circumstances, some of
which may have really been beyond his control. There must be for such a
nature a state corresponding to Devachan, and this is found in Avitchi =97 =
the
perfect antithesis of Devachan =97 vulgarized by the Western nations into H=
ell
and Heaven, and which you have entirely lost sight of in your =93Fragment.=
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Remember: =93To be immortal in good one must identify himself with Good (or
God); to be immortal in evil =97 with evil (or Satan).=94=20

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Misconceptions of the true value of such terms as =93Spirit,=94 =93Soul,=94
=93individuality,=94 =93personality,=94 and =93immortality=94 (especially) =
=97 provoke
wordy wars between a great number of idealistic debaters, besides Messrs.
C.C.M. and Roden Noel. And, to complete your Fragment without risking to
fall again under the mangling tooth of the latter honourable gentleman=92s
criticism =97 I found it necessary to add to Devachan =97 Avitchi as its
complement and applying to it the same laws as to the former. This is done,
with your permission, in the Appendix.3

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Having explained the situation sufficiently I may now answer your query No.
1 directly.=20

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           DEVACHAN

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Yes, certainly there is =93a change of occupation,=94 a continual change in
Devachan, just as much =97 and far more =97 as there is in the life of any =
man
or woman who happens to follow his or her whole life one sole occupation
whatever it may be; with that difference, that to the Devachanee his specia=
l
occupation is always pleasant and fills his life with rapture.=20

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Change then there must be, for that dream-life is but the fruition, the
harvest-time of those psychic seed-germs dropped from the tree of physical
existence in our moments of dreams and hopes, fancy-glimpses of bliss and
happiness stifled in an ungrateful social soil, blooming in the rosy dawn o=
f
Devachan, and ripening under its ever fructifying sky.=20

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No failures there, no disappointments! If man had but one single moment of
ideal happiness and experience during his life =97 as you think =97 even th=
en,
if Devachan exists, it could not be as you erroneously suppose, the
indefinite prolongation of that =93single moment,=94 but the infinite
developments, the various incidents and events, based upon, and outflowing
from, that one =93single moment=94 or moments, as the case may be; all in s=
hort
that would suggest itself to the =93dreamer=92s=94 fancy.=20

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           The KEY NOTE AT DEATH

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That one note, as I said, struck from the lyre of life, would form but the
Key-note of the being=92s subjective state, and work out into numberless
harmonic tones and semi-tones of psychic phantasmagoria. There =97 all
unrealized hopes, aspirations, dreams, become fully realized, and the dream=
s
of the objective become the realities of the subjective existence. And ther=
e
behind the curtain of Maya its vapours and deceptive appearances are
perceived by the adept, who has learnt the great secret how to penetrate
thus deeply into the Arcana of being.

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Doubtless my question whether you had experienced monotony during what you
consider the happiest moment of your life has entirely misled you. This
letter, thus, is the just penance for my laziness to amplify the
explanation.=94=20=20=20=20=20

                  Mahatma Letter  No  114 (Manila)

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