Theos-Talk Archives (April 2006 Message tt00255)

Dear Bill:

There may be some ideas here that are hekllpful:


B U D D H I
Consciousness and its Forms

======================================

A study of the Constitution of Man finds that there is of necessity a
constant definition of the relations between one "principle" and the rest,
which serve in several relations to it. Some duplication of references is
inevitable.

The following references to Buddhi and its function as link between Atma and
Manas in man are "active".  It has a "passive" aspect as the 'vehicle'
(sheath, kosha, sthula) of Atma, without which Atma would be forever an
abstraction to matter.

On the other it is the active repository of all experiences.  It looks
directly on IDEAS.  Its vision is Universal.  Therefore it is intimately
connected with KARMA.

The connection of man's consciousness with and through Buddhi to the Higher
Self (Atma) can only be traced by a number of definitions, and some appear
to contradict others.  But when taken all together they are found to offer a
more complete picture of this most important "principle."

It is inevitable that some definitions that relate to Manas are used here,
as they throw more light on the function and activity of Buddhi.



			Buddhi


Here are some words from Oriental and Hindu texts that are used in
Theosophical works, the definition of which is helpful to us.  Implied in
these definitions are philosophical ideas that relate to Buddhi and its many
functions in the Universe as well as in each human being.  On one side it is
the vehicle of the Higher Self (Atma), and on the other it is the link
between Manas and Atma.

	In the Universe we find:


"Maha Buddhi (Sk)  "Mahat.  The Intelligent Soul of the World.  The 7
Prakritis or 7 "natures" or planes, are counted from Mahabuddhi downwards."
Cosmic Buddhi, the emanation of the
Spiritual Soul Alaya, is the vehicle of Mahat only when that Buddhi
corresponds to Prakriti.  Then it is called Maha-Buddhi.  This Buddhi
differentiates through 7 planes, whereas the Buddhi in man is the vehicle of
Atman, which vehicle is of the essence of the highest plane of Akasa and
therefore does not differentiate.  The difference between Manas and Buddhi
in man is the same as the difference between the Manasaputra and the Ah-hi
in Kosmos."		GLOS. 199


"Adi-Buddhi (Sk)   "Primeval Intelligence or Wisdom;  the eternal Budhi or
Universal Mind.  Used of Divine Ideation, "Mahabuddhi" being synonymous with
MAHAT."	GLOS. 6


"...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


	And in Man, the Microcosm:


"Buddhi (Sk.)     "Universal Soul or Mind.  Mahabuddhi is a name of Mahat
(see "Alaya");  also the spiritual Soul in man (the 6th principle), the
vehicle of Atma, exoterically the 7th."
 	GLOS. 67

"Buddhi is the Immortal Ego.  Buddhi cannot be described.  It is feeling,
the accumulated experiences--all our experience is in feeling.  Manas is the
Higher Mind, that part of the Buddhi which is in action;  the creative power
of Buddhi.  There is a continuous line of experience as Perceivers--all
beings are Perceivers.  They are limited by the power of their self-created
instruments.  In all perceptions is the quality of the instrument through
which that perception comes."	
	Answers to Questions on the "Ocean of Theosophy" . p. 6


"Causal Body     " This "body," which is no body either objective or
subjective, but Buddhi, the Spiritual Soul, is so called because it is the
direct cause of the Sushupti condition, leading to the Turya state, the
highest state of Samadhi.  It is called Karanopadhi, "the basis of the
Cause," by the Taraka Raja Yogis...corresponds to both the Vignanamaya and
Anandamaya Kosha, the latter coming next to Atma, and therefore being the
vehicle of the universal Spirit.  Buddhi alone could not be called a "Causal
Body," but becomes so in conjunction with Manas, the incarnating Entity or
EGO."    GLOS. 74


"Karana Sarira  (Sk.)	The "Causal body."...Exoterically it is Avidya,
ignorance, or that which is the cause of the evolution of a human ego and
its reincarnation;  hence the lower Manas;  esoterically--the causal body of
Karanopadhi...corresponding to Buddhi and the Higher "Manas," or Spiritual
Soul." 		T. Glos. 173


"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



		Buddhi and Atma -- the Links


	Macrocosmically in the Kosmos we have:


"At the commencement of a great Manvantara [great cycle of evolution],
Parabrahm [the ABSOLUTE] manifests as Mulaprakriti [root-matter or
Mahabuddhi] and then as the Logos ["Word"- -thought-plan].  This Logos is
equivalent to the "Unconscious Universal Mind," etc., of Western Pantheists.
It constitutes the Basis of the Subject-side of manifested Being, and is the
source of all manifestations of individual consciousness.

Mulaprakriti or Primordial Cosmic Substance, is the foundation of the
Object-side of things--the basis of all objective evolution and
Cosmogenesis.  Force, then, does not emerge with Primordial Substance from
Parabrahmic Latency.  It is the transformation into energy of the
supra-conscious thought of the Logos, infused, so to speak, into the
objectivization of the latter out of potential latency in the One Reality.  

Hence spring the wondrous laws of matter...Force succeeds Mulaprakriti;
but, minus Force, Mulaprakriti is for all practical intents and purposes
non-existent."	SD II 24-5	
	(see also M L 89-91)


"Spirit is universal, indivisible, and common to all...there are not many
spirits, one for each man, but solely one spirit, which shines upon all men
alike, finding as many souls--roughly speaking--as there are beings in the
world.  In man the spirit has a more complete instrument or assemblage of
tools with which to work.  This spiritual identity is the basis of the
philosophy;  upon it the whole structure rests..."
Echoes, p. 50


"...Atman is no individual property of any man, but is the Divine essence
which has no body, no form, which is imponderable, invisible, and
indivisible, that which does not exist, and yet is...It only overshadows the
mortal;  that which enters into him and pervades the whole body being only
its omnipresent rays, or light, radiated through Buddhi, its vehicle and
direct emanation.  This is the secret meaning of the assertions of almost
all the ancient philosophers, when they said that "the rational part of
man's soul" never entered wholly into the man, but only overshadowed him
more or less through the irrational spiritual Soul or Buddhi...the
difference between that which is negatively, or passively, "irrational,"
because undifferentiated, and that which is irrational because too active
and positive.  Man is a correlation of spiritual powers, as well as a
correlation of chemical and physical forces, brought into function by what
we call "principles." ...the spirit (Atma) never descends hypostatically
into the living man, but only showers more or less its radiance on the inner
man (the psychic and spiritual compound of the astral principles)..."
Key 101-3 



"...Atman is the Universal All, and becomes the Higher Self of man only in
conjunctions with Buddhi, its vehicle, which links It to the individuality
(or divine man).  For it is the Buddhi-Manas which is called the Causal
Body, (the united 5th and 6th Principles) and which is consciousness, that
connects it with every personality it inhabits on earth."	Key, p. 121


"Bodha means the innate possession of divine intellect or "understanding;"
"Buddha," the acquirement of it by personal efforts and merit;  while Buddhi
is the faculty of cognizing the channel through which divine knowledge
reaches the "Ego," the discernment of good and evil, "divine conscience"
also; and "Spiritual Soul," which is the vehicle of Atma.  "When Buddhi
absorbs our EGO-tism (destroys it) with all its Vikara, Avalokiteshwara
becomes manifested to us, and Nirvana, or Mukti, is reached," "Mukti" being
the same as Nirvana, i.e., freedom from the trammels of "Maya" or illusion.

"Bodhi" is likewise the name of a particular state of trance condition,
called Samadhi, during which the subject reaches the culmination of
spiritual knowledge."	SD I xix



	Microcosmically, in Man, we have:


"...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



"Self-Consciousness"  ...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



The idea of the combined nature of the inextricably linked Atma and Buddhi
-- as an immortal  Life-unit, or, the "eternal Pilgrim" -- is embodied in
the use of the work Monad:


"Monad (Gr.)    The Unity, the one;  but in Occultism it often means the
unified triad, Atma-Buddhi-Manas, or the duad, Atma-Buddhi, that immortal
part of man which reincarnates in the lower kingdoms, and gradually
progresses through them to Man and then to the final goal--Nirvana."	T.
Glos. 216 
	[see  SD I pp. 173-4 footnotes]		


"Metaphysically speaking, it is of course an absurdity to talk of the
"development" of a Monad, or to say that it becomes "Man."...a Monad cannot
either progress or develop, or even be affected by the changes of states it
passes through.  It is not of this world or plane, and may be compared only
to an indestructible star of divine light and fire, thrown down on to our
Earth as a plank of salvation for the personalities in which it indwells.
It is for the latter to cling to it;  and thus partaking of its divine
nature, obtain immortality.  Left to itself the Monad will cling to no on4;
but, like the "plank," be drifted away to another incarnation by the
unresting current of evolution."		SD I 174-5 fn.


"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.
The two may be well compared to the Master-artist and the
pupil-musician...In the course of natural evolution our "brain-mind" will be
replaced by a finer organism, and helped by the 6th [Buddhi] and the 7th
[Atma] senses..."		Theos. Articles & Notes,  p. 208


"Occultism calls this seventh principle [Atma] the synthesis of the six, and
gives it for vehicle the Spiritual Soul, Buddhi..."	-- HPB	Key p. 119



		Consciousness and Perception


"Our consciousness is one and not many, nor different from other
consciousnesses.  It is not waking consciousness or sleeping consciousness,
or any other but consciousness itself.  But the One Consciousness of each
person is the Witness or Spectator [Atma] of the actions and experiences of
every state we are in or pass through...[It] pierces up and down through all
the states or planes of Being, and serves to uphold the memory--whether
complete or incomplete--of each state's experiences." 		[ quoted in
W.Q.Judge -- Gita Notes, p. 99 ]  


"Every one of us is a Perceiver, just as much a Perceiver as we ever were or
ever will be.  So is every atom of our body the perceiver.  But we look
directly upon ideas;  the lives below man look directly upon sensation.  We
say waking, dreaming, sleeping, because our attention has not been directed
to the state of nature beyond life or man as immortal.  But there are other
names for these states of consciousness.  Think of the mineral kingdom as a
state of consciousness, and the forms built in that state.  Think of the
animal kingdom as life in a given state of consciousness with the
appropriate forms built in them.

Now we--in the state called the Thinker [Manas], which is our natural
state--are not any the less the Perceiver, because we are also at the same
time the Thinker and the being which feels.  But neither are we the Thinker
pure and simple, nor are we the creature that is the experiencer of effects
pure and simple--nor are we the Perceiver pure and simple.  It is impossible
to dissociate the three.  If a man were in the state called the Perceiver,
and if he were in that state pure and simple, all this that is a mystery to
us would be just as objective in the spiritual sense as we here and now are
objective to each other in the "sense use" of the term."  
[J. G.]   "QUESTIONS ANSWERED AT AN INFORMAL OCEAN CLASS"  	
	Theos. Movement, Nov. 1952.


"As to the "we," there is but one "we," or perceiver, who perceives on any
plane through the sheaths evolved by him on each plane;  his perceptions on
any plane will depend on the quality of the sheath or vehicle.  Atma
(spirit) or consciousness alone, is what remains after the subtraction of
the sheaths.  It is the ONLY witness--a synthesizing unity.  On this
plane--and this means during waking consciousness or its dream effects--the
perceiver knows only what it knows on this plane (generally speaking), and
through the ignorance of the Real, involves itself in the cause and effect
of physical nature, identifying itself with body and sensations, and looking
at other human beings in the same light.  This is a wrong attitude of mind.
The "we," at this end, is the identification of the perceiver with this
plane's perceptions--a misconception of the perceiver, a dream--a play--in
which the perceiver is so involved as to have lost sight and memory of his
real life.

The mind is both "carrier" and "translator" of both lower and higher self;
the attitude determines the quality and kind of action, for one will act
according to the attitude of mind firmly held.  The great and incalculable
value of acting for and as the Supreme is that there is nothing higher in
the way of attitude, and this endeavor must by its very nature bring about
the best results.

What moves the "mind" this way or that is usually desire for the attractions
of matter, and self-interest in them; these then move and control the mind
through the brain.  "We," the Perceiver, do not perceive anything but the
"ideas" which the senses and organs present.  He is not fully awake on this
plane;  sometimes he gets partly wakened, but drops off to sleep again,
lulled by the sounds and memories of his dream;  sometimes "bad dreams"
awake him;  sometimes he is awakened by the voices of those who are awake.

The "Real" and the "unreal," the "fleeting" and the "ever-lasting" are terms
which will be more fully understood if looked at from the point of view of
the Perceiver.  This is the attitude of mind we should hold."	Friendly
Philosopher 48-8


	Work in Rebuilding the Universe after Pralaya


In considering the evolutionary goals as a whole, one finds in the Esoteric
Philosophy statements that relate the reawakening of all the many beings
that together form the Universe.   This includes the processes of rebuilding
the Universe and the Worlds after Pralaya.  This work is entrusted to Those
who have graduated from the "human" stage into realms of service of a vastly
grater responsibility.  We read:


"Atma (our 7th principle) being identical with the universal Spirit, and man
being one with it in essence, what is then the Monad proper ?  It is that
homogeneous spark which radiates in millions of rays from the primeval
"Seven;" ...It is the EMANATING spark from the UNCREATED RAY--A
MYSTERY...Adi-Buddha (Chogi dangpoi sangye), the One unknown, without
beginning or end, identical with Parabrahm and Ain-Soph, emits a bright ray
from its darkness.  This is the Logos (the first), or Vajradhara, the
Supreme Buddha (also called Dorjechang)...he cannot manifest, but sends into
the world of manifestation his heart--the "diamond heart," Vajrasattva
(Dorjesempa).  This is the second logos of creation, from whom emanate the
seven (in the exoteric blind the five) Dhyani Buddhas, called the Anupadaka,
"the parentless."  These Buddhas are the primeval monads from the world of
incorporeal beings, the Arupa world, wherein the Intelligences (on that
plane only) have neither shape nor name, in the exoteric system, but have
their distinct seven names in the esoteric philosophy.  These Dhyani Buddhas
emanate, or create from themselves, by virtue of Dhyana, celestial
Selves--the super-human Bodhisattvas.  These incarnating in the beginning of
every human cycle as mortal men, become occasionally, owing to their
personal merit, Bodhisattvas among the Sons of Humanity, after which they
may re-appear as Manushi (human) Buddhas.  The Anupadaka (or Dhyani-Buddhas)
are thus identical with the Brahmanical Manasaputra, "mind-born
sons"--whether of Brahma or either of the other two Trimurthian Hypostases,
hence identical with the Rishis and Prajapatis. "	SD I 571



"The real Mahatma is then not his physical body but that higher Manas which
is inseparably linked to the Atma and its vehicle (6th principle) [Buddhi]
-- a union effected by him in a comparatively very short period by passing
through the self-evolution laid down by the Occult Philosophy."  
	HPB ART I 293



"As the synthesis of the 7 Dhyani-Buddhas, Avalokiteshwara was the first
Buddha (the Logos), so Amitabha is the inner "god" of Gautama, who, in
China, is called Amita(-Buddha)...the glorious counterparts of every earthly
mortal Buddha--the liberated Manushi-Buddhas appointed to govern the Earth
in this Round.  They are the "Buddhas of Contemplation," and are all
Anupadaka (parentless), i.e., self-born of divine essence ...rests on the
fact that owing to the highest initiation performed by one overshadowed by
the "Spirit of Buddha"--...a candidate becomes virtually a Bodhisattva,
created such by the High Initiator."	SD I 109



     Question:  Can there be Consciousness without Mind?)  

Answer:  Not on this plane of matter.  But why not on some other and higher
plane?... On that higher plane...Mahat--the great Manvantaric Principle of
Intelligence--acts as a Brain, through which the Universal and Eternal Mind
radiates the Ah-hi, representing the resultant Consciousness or ideation."
Trans. 28
 [ see also Theos. Articles & Notes, p. 208-9 ]


"Divine Mind  is, and must be, before differentiation takes place.  It is
called the divine ideation, which is eternal in its Potentiality and
periodical in its Potency, when it becomes Mahat, Anima Mundi or Universal
Soul...each of these conceptions has its most metaphysical, most material,
and also intermediate aspects." 	Trans.  4


Alaya (Sk.)      "The Universal Soul (See S. D. Vol. I, 47, et seq.)  The
name belongs to the Tibetan system of the contemplative Mahayana School.
Identical with Akasa in its mystic sense, and with Mulaprakriti, in its
essence, as it is the basis or root of all things."   	T. GLOS. p. 14 


"Sophia" is wisdom or the Buddhi--the spiritual soul (our sixth principle).
This principle is everywhere represented as a "female" because it is passive
in as much as it is merely the vehicle of the seventh principle.  This
latter--which  is called  Atma when spoken of in connection with an
individual and Purush when applied in its relation to the Universe--is the
active male, for it is the CENTER OF ENERGY acting through and upon its
female vehicle, the sixth principle."	
	Theos Art & Notes. p. 123


Brahma (Sk)     "...distinguish between Brahm the neuter, and Brahma, the
male creator of the Indian Pantheon...Brahm or Brahman, is the impersonal,
supreme and uncognizable Principle of the Universe from the essence of which
all emanates, and into which all returns, which is incorporeal, immaterial,
unborn, eternal, beginningless and endless.  It is all-pervading, animating
the highest god as well as the smallest mineral atom. Brahma, on the other
hand, the male and the alleged Creator, exists periodically in his
manifestations only, and then again goes into pralaya, i.e., disappears and
is annihilated."   
 	GLOS. 62


Duration is;  it has neither beginning nor end...Duration is beginningless
and endless;  Time is finite....Time can be divided;  Duration...cannot.
Time is divisible in Duration ...(or)  the One is sometimes within Time and
Space, whereas the other is outside of both...Duration...is the one
eternity, not relative, but absolute...existence has limited and definite
periods, whereas Duration, having neither beginning nor end, is a perfect
abstraction which contains Time.  Duration is like Space, which is an
abstraction too, and is equally without beginning or end."
TRANS. 11


"Fohat  (Tib.) [Po-hat] "...the active male potency of the Sakti (female
reproductive power) in nature.  The essence of cosmic
electricity...Daiviprakriti, primordial light:  and in the universe of
manifestation the ever-present electrical energy and ceaseless destructive
and formative power.  Esoterically it is the same, Fohat being the universal
propelling Vital Power, at once the propeller and the resultant."    
	GLOS. 120-1


"The true student of Raja Yoga knows that everything has its origin in the
mind;  that even this universe is the passing before the Divine Mind of the
images he desires to appear."	
    	WQJ ART II 560


"When predicated of the Universal Principle it denotes an abstract noun,
which is more correct and logical than to apply the adjective "absolute" to
that which has neither attributes nor limitations, nor can IT have any."
(See KEY p. 61-2)	GLOS. 4


Atma or Atman  (Sk.)   The Universal Spirit, the divine Monad, the 7th
Principle, so-called, in the septenary constitution of man.  The Supreme
Soul."    GLOS.  43


Higher Self      "The Supreme Divine Spirit overshadowing man.  The crown of
the upper spiritual Triad in man--Atman."	    GLOS. 141




	The Relation of Divine Man to the Material Man


	Microcosmically, in the human we are told:


"The occultist, when he has identified himself thoroughly with his Atma,
acts upon Buddhi, for, according to the laws of Cosmic Evolution, the
Purusha--the universal seventh principle-- is perpetually acting upon and
manifesting itself through Prakriti--the universal sixth principle.  Thus
the MAHATMA, who has become one with his seventh principle--which is
identical with Purusha, since there is no isolation in the spiritual
monad--is practically a creator, for he has identified himself with the
evoluting and the manifesting energy of nature.  It was in this sense that
the Rishis are said to have married.  And the union of Siva and Sakti
represents the same allegory.  Siva is the Logos, the Vach, manifested
through the Sakti;  and the union of the two produces the phenomenal
creation, for until the son is born, the Father and the Mother are
non-existent.  Now Sakti being a female principle, it is fully manifested
through a woman, although properly speaking, the inner man is neither male
nor female.  It is only the preponderance of either of the two principles
(positive and negative) which determines the sex...determined by the Law of
Affinity;  and hence in a woman is manifested abnormally the occult power
represented by Sakti.  She is moreover gifted with a wonderful and vivid
imagination or rather the manifestation of the IDEAL, which can be properly
and strongly conceived only by a powerful IMAGINATION--a Woman-adept can
produce high occultists--a race of "Buddhas and Christs," born "without
sin."  The more and the sooner the animal sexual affinities are given up,
the stronger and the sooner will be the manifestation of the higher occult
powers which alone can produce the "immaculate conception."  And this art is
taught practically to the occultists at a very high stage of initiation."
Theos Art & Notes 123-4 


Karana Sarira (Sk. )  "The "Causal Body."  It is dual in its meaning.
Exoterically, it is Avidya, ignorance, or that which is the cause of the
evolution of a human ego and its reincarnation;  hence the lower Manas;
esoterically--the causal body or Karanopadhi stands in the Taraka Raja-yoga
as corresponding to Buddhi and the Higher "Manas," or Spiritual Soul."
GLOS. 173



Ahankara (Sk)    "The conception of "I", Self consciousness or
Self-identity;  the "I", the egotistical and mayavic principle in man, due
to our ignorance which separates our "I" from the Universal ONE-SELF,
Personality, Egoism."	GLOS. 11


"...[ considering ] the doctrine of Universal Evolution...	
the mineral, vegetable and animal forms each imprison a spark of the Divine,
a portion of the indivisible Purusha [ Spirit ].  These sparks struggle to
"return to the Father," or in other words to secure self-consciousness and
at last come into the highest form, on Earth, that of man, where alone
self-consciousness is possible to them...Each spark of divinity
[Atma-Buddhi] has...millions of ages in which to accomplish its
mission--that of obtaining complete self-consciousness while in the form of
man...all depends on the individual's own will and efforts...

This system is thus seen to be based upon the identity of Spiritual Being,
and, under the name of "Universal Brotherhood," constitutes the basic
idea...Purusha [Spirit] is the basis of all manifested objects...It
interpenetrates everything everywhere.  It is the reality of which, or upon
which, those things called real by us are mere images.  	As Purusha
reaches to and embraces all beings, they are all connected together;  and in
or on the plane where that Purusha is, there is a perfect consciousness of
every act, thought, object, and circumstance, whether supposed to occur
there, or on this plane, or any other.  For below the spirit and above the
intellect is a plane of consciousness in which experiences are noted,
commonly called man's "spiritual nature;"  this is frequently said to be as
susceptible of culture as his body or his intellect.  This upper plane is
the real recorder of all sensations and experiences, although there are
other registering planes.  it is sometimes called the "subconscious
mind."...The real object to be kept in view is to so open up or make porous
the lower nature that the spiritual nature may shine through it and become
the guide and ruler....

The real man, who is the Higher Self [Atma]--being the spark of the Divine
before alluded to--overshadows the visible being, which has the possibility
of becoming united to that spark...it is always peaceful, unconcerned,
blissful, and full of absolute knowledge.  It continually partakes of the
Divine state, being continually that state itself...The object of the
student is to let the light of that spirit shine through the lower
coverings."		Epitome,  pp.11-14


"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 separateness..."		WQJ ART I 29



"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



"Every man has a god within, a direct ray from the Absolute, the celestial
ray from the One..."		TRANS 53


"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 [Atma-Buddhi] as a result of
embodiment in matter and the dwelling in a physical form."		WQJ
ART I 29



		Substance and Matter


In the Universe (Kosmically) we find there are definitions offered for the
Substance of the Universe as distinct from any one of the planes on which it
concretizes into "matter."  For these we find some statements:


Daivi-Prakriti (Sk.)  "Primordial homogeneous light, called by some...the
"Light of the Logos";  when differentiated this light becomes FOHAT."
GLOS. 94


Mulaprakriti (Sk)  "The Parabrahmic root, the abstract deific feminine
principle--undifferentiated substance.  Akasa.  Lit.:  "the root of nature"
(Prakriti) or Matter."	GLOS. 218


"...Even for the Logos, Mulaprakriti is a veil, the Robes in which the
Absolute is enveloped.  Even the Logos cannot perceive the Absolute, say the
Vedantins."		TRANS. 5


Pradhana (Sk.)  "Undifferentiated substance, called elsewhere and in other
schools--Akasa;  and Mulaprakriti or Root of Matter by the Vedantins.  In
short, Primeval Matter."
	GLOS. 259


Hiranya Garbha  (Sk.)  "The radiant or golden egg or womb 
[in which Brahma rests].  Esoterically the luminous "fire mist" or ethereal
stuff from which the Universe was formed. "	GLOS. 142


Aditi  (Sk) "...Mulaprakriti...the abstract aspect of Parabrahman, though
both manifested and knowable...Aditi is the "Mother-God"-dess, her
terrestrial symbol being infinite and shoreless space."   	GLOS.  7


"...the ever-equilibrising mother-nature on the purely spiritual and
subjective plane.  She is Sakti, the female power or potency of the
fecundating spirit;  and it is for her to regulate the behaviour for the
sons born in her bosom."  	TRANS. 145


Akasa (Sk.)      "The subtle, supersensuous spiritual essence which pervades
all space;  The primordial substance erroneously identified with Ether.  But
it is to Ether what Spirit is to Matter, or Atma to Kama-rupa.  It is, in
fact, the Universal Space in which lies inherent the eternal Ideation of the
Universe in its ever-changing aspects of the planes of matter and
objectivity, and from which radiates the First Logos, or expressed
thought...Akasa has but one attribute, namely sound, for sound is but the
translated symbol of the Logos--"Speech"--in its mystic sense."
GLOS. 13


Svabhavat (Sk.)  "...the world-substance and stuff, or rather that which is
behind it--the spirit and essence of substance.  The name comes from Subhava
and is composed of 3 words--su, good perfect, fair, handsome;  sva, self;
and bhava, being, or state of being.  From it all nature proceeds and into
it all returns at the end of the life-cycles.  In Esotericism it is called
"Father-Mother."  It is the plastic essence of matter."		GLOS. 314


That   "...Mulaprakriti...Svabhavat...that androgynous something...which is
both differentiated and undifferentiated.  In its first principle it is a
pure abstraction, which becomes differentiated only when it is transformed,
in the process of time, into Prakriti.  If compared with the human
principles, it corresponds to Buddhi, while Atma would correspond to
Parabrahm, Manas to Mahat, and so on. "     TRANS. 4


Mahat (Sk.)      "Lit., "The great one."  The first principle of Universal
Intelligence and Consciousness.  In the Puranic philosophy the first product
of root-nature or Pradhana (the same as Mulaprakriti);  the producer of
Manas the thinking principle, and of Ahamkara, egotism or the feeling of "I
am I" (in the lower Manas)."     GLOS. 210


Kosmic rebirth is symbolized by the opening of Brahma's Egg.  The Egg,
Hiranya Garbha, is an oval and has two poles implicit in its construction:
Spirit, and Matter.  Brahma represents the sleeping consciousness of the
milliards of intelligent beings that existed, lived and labored in the
Manvantara that ended.  Brahma is presented as "asleep" because He is
unconscious from our manifested point of view.

At the other "pole" of Kosmic manifestation we are taught there is a
peculiar "matter" which carries with it, as our "skandhas" do, the karmic
impress of deeds and uses to which it was put by mind beings (ourselves) in
an earlier Manvantara.


Q'Lippoth (Heb.)  "...Olam Klippoth...contains the matter of which stars,
planets, and even men are made...chaotic turbulent matter, which is used in
its finer state by spirits to robe themselves in...the "vesture" or form
(rupa) of the incarnating Egos...the Manasaputras or Sons of Wisdom, use for
the consolidation of their forms, in order to descend into lower spheres,
the dregs of Swabhavat, or that plastic matter which is throughout
Space.primordial Ilus.Typhon.Satan.Samael...Deus est Demon inversus-the
Demon is the lining of god."  Glos 168-9


Karabtanos (Gr.)  "The spirit of blind or animal desire;  the symbol of
Kama-rupa... matter...concupiscence [lust]..."
     GLOS. 173 


In man we are told there are also two broad divisions of substance/matter::


Suddha Satwa (Sk)   "A substance not subject to the qualities of matter;  a
luminiferous and (to us) invisible substance, of which the bodies of the
Gods and highest Dhyanis are formed.  Philosophically, Suddha Satwa is a
conscious state of spiritual Ego-ship rather than any essence. "    GLOS.
311


Sukshma Sarira (Sk)  "The dream-like, illusive body akin to Manasa-rupa or
"thought-body".  It is the vesture of the gods, or the Dhyanis and the
Devas...Sukshma Sharira...Sukshmopadhi..."	GLOS. 312


Sukshmopadhi (Sk)    "...the principle (in Taraka Raj-Yoga) containing both
the higher and the lower Manas and Kama.  It corresponds to the Manomaya
Kosha of the Vedantic classification and to the Swapna state (esoterically:
dual Manas" 	GLOS. 205       (See also, S.D. I 157, GLOS. 312 )


"...to divorce our all-perceiving Ego [the Higher Self] from the thraldom of
these senses [our five senses]--so long will it be impossible for the
personal Ego to break through the barrier which separates it from a
knowledge of things in themselves (or Substance)."		SD I 329


"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


Soul " ...[is] the vital principle, or the breath of life." [ astral
principle plus Prana ]   
 	GLOS. 306    


In considering the materials with which Man deals in his incarnations as the
"Eternal Pilgrim" we can consider the relations between Buddhi, and Manas
(the mind-soul) :



		Buddhi - Manas


Augoeides  (Gr.)  ... "Luminous Self," or our Higher Ego.  But Occultism
makes of it something distinct from this.  It is a mystery.  The Augoeides
is the human divine radiation of the EGO which, when incarnated, is but its
shadow--pure as it is yet.  This is explained in the Amshaspends and is
their Ferouer."		     GLOS. 43-4


Individuality    "One of the names given in Theosophy and Occultism to the
Human Higher EGO.  We make a distinction between the immortal and divine
Ego, and the mortal human Ego which perishes.  The latter, or "personality"
(personal Ego) survives the dead body only for a time in the Kama Loka;  the
Individuality prevails forever."    	GLOS. 154-5



Spirit  "...in Theosophical teachings "Spirit" is applied solely to that
which belongs directly to Universal Consciousness, and which is its
homogeneous and unadulterated emanation.  Thus, the higher Mind in Man or
his Ego (Manas) is, when linked indissolubly with Buddhi, a spirit;  while
the term "Soul", human or even animal (the lower Manas acting in animals as
instinct), is applied only to Kama-Manas, and qualified as the living soul.
This is nephesh, in Hebrew, the "breath of life."   Spirit is formless and
immaterial, being, when individualized, of the highest spiritual substance
--Suddhasatwa, the divine essence, of which the body of the manifesting
highest Dhyanis are formed... Spirit, in short, is no entity in the sense of
having form;  for, as Buddhist philosophy has it,  where there is a form,
there is a cause for pain and suffering.  But each individual spirit-- this
individuality lasting only throughout the manvantaric life-cycle-- may be
described as a centre of consciousness, a self-sentient and self-conscious
centre;  a state, not a conditioned individual.  This is why there is such a
wealth of words in Sanskrit to express the different States of Being,
Beings, and Entities, each appellation showing the philosophical difference,
the plane to which such unit belongs, and the degree of its spirituality or
materiality..."		GLOS. 306


"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


"The universal force cannot be regarded as a conscious force as we
understand the word consciousness, because it would immediately become a
personal god.  It is only that which is enclosed in a form, a limitation of
matter, which is conscious of itself on this plane.  This Free Force or
Will, which is limitless and absolute, cannot be said to act
understandingly, but it is the one and sole immutable Law of Life and Being.
Fohat, therefore, is spoken of as the synthetic motor power of all
imprisoned life-forces and the medium between the absolute and conditioned
Force.  It is a link, just as Manas is the connecting link between the gross
matter of the physical body and the divine Monad which animates it, but is
powerless to act upon the former directly."	Trans 134
	(see "Psychic and Noetic Action - HPB Art. II 7-23)


"..."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 [Buddhi], and is the organ of the free-will in
physical man...."        
	HPB ARTICLES, Vol. II, p. 13


"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  


"...Plato accepted the clue and followed it, if to these five, namely
Agathon (Deity or Atma), Psuche (Soul in its collective sense), Nous (Spirit
or Mind), Phren (physical mind), and Thumos (Kama-rupa or passions) we add
the eidolon of the mysteries, the shadowy form or the human double, and the
physical body...(= 7)"         KEY, 96



".this means that he would have to admit a lower (animal), and a higher (or
divine) mind in man, of what is known in Occultism as the "personal" and the
"impersonal" Egos.  For, between the psychic and the noetic, between the
personality and the individuality there exists the same abyss as between a
"Jack the Ripper," and a holy Buddha...These two we distinguish as the
Higher Manas (Mind or Ego) and the Kama-Manas, i.e., the rational, but
earthy or physical intellect of man, encased in, and bound by. matter,
therefore subject to the influence of the latter:  the all-conscious Self,
that which reincarnates periodically--verily the Word made flesh--and which
is always the same, while its reflected "Double," changing with every new
incarnation and personality, is, therefore, conscious but for a life-period.
The latter "principle," is the Lower Self, or that which manifesting through
our organic system, acting on this plane of illusion, imagines itself the
Ego Sum, and thus falls into what Buddhist philosophy brands as the "heresy
of separateness."  The former, we term Individuality, the latter
Personality."
HPB "Psychic and Noetic Action"- 	HPB Articles, II pp. 9-10, 20-1



In Manvantara, when the process of continuous refinement of "matter" is
taking place under the impulse and guidance of "Spirit" we note that the
Karma of the past manvantara for every being (each an immortal) is being
adjusted.  That which is to be adjusted is broadly called "Kama" or passions
and desires.

It ought to be noted that Kama has a divine counterpart, a "Spiritual
Source" of which it is the 'shadow:'


Kamadeva (Sk)    "...the first conscious, all embracing desire for universal
good, love, and for all that lives and feels, needs help and kindness, the
first feeling of infinite tender compassion and mercy that arose in the
consciousness of the creative ONE FORCE, as soon as it came into life and
being as a ray from the ABSOLUTE..."Desire first arose in IT, which was the
primal germ of mind, and which Sages, searching with their intellect, have
discovered in their heart to be the bond which  connects Entity with
non-Entity," or Manas with pure Atma-Buddhi."		 (see SD II 176 )


"There is no idea of sexual love in the conception.  Kama (deva) is pre-
eminently the divine desire of creating happiness and love ... is
represented as the Supreme Deity and Creator ...  is the child of Dharma,
the god of Law and Justice, of Sraddha, faith...springs from the heart of
Brahma...born from water, i.e., from primordial chaos, or the "Deep"...one
of his many names, Ira-ja, "the water-born;"  and  Aja, "unborn;" and Atma
bhu or "Self-existent...the sign of Makara    (Capricornus) on his banner,
he is also called "Makara Ketu."  The  allegory about Siva, the "Great
Yogin," reducing Kama to ashes by the fire from his central (or third)
Eye...is very suggestive, as it is said that he thereby reduced Kama to his
primeval substance."  	GLOS. 170-1



	Kama-Manas opposed to Buddhi-Manas



Personality  "In Occultism--which divides man into 7 principles, considering
him under three aspects of the divine, the thinking or the rational, and the
animal man--the lower quaternary or the purely astro-physical being;  while
by Individuality is meant the Higher Triad, considered as a Unity.  Thus the
Personality embraces all the characteristics and memories of one physical
life, which the Individuality  is the imperishable Ego which re-incarnates
and clothes itself in one personality after another."		GLOS. 252


Kama (Sk)  "Evil desire, lust, volition;  the cleaving to existence.  Kama
is generally identified with Mara, the tempter."		GLOS. 170


Manas (Sk)       "Lit., "the mind," the mental faculty which makes of man an
intelligent and moral being, and distinguishes him from the mere animal;  a
synonym of Mahat.  Esoterically, however, it means, when unqualified, the
Higher Ego, or the sentient reincarnating Principle in man.  When qualified
it is called by Theosophists Buddhi-Manas or the Spiritual Soul in
contradistinction to its human reflection--Kama-Manas."	GLOS. 292


In Theosophical psychology the Mind (Manas) is held to be dual in its
nature.  The nobler "higher" aspect is called Higher Manas or Buddhi-Manas.
The "lower" is designated Kama-Manas, or the mind when it allows itself to
be influenced, or wrapped in the desire and passionate nature.  Between
these two is a mystic "thread" named the:


Antaskarana (Sk.)   or Antah'karana..."understanding"..."the internal
instrument, the Soul, formed by the thinking principle and egoism" ... the
Occultists explain it as the path or bridge between the Higher and the Lower
Manas, the divine Ego, and the personal Soul of man.  It serves as a medium
of communication between the two, and conveys from the Lower to the Higher
Ego all those personal impressions and thoughts of men which can, by their
nature, be assimilated and stored by the undying Entity, and be thus made
immortal with its, these being the only elements of the evanescent
Personality that survive the death and time.  It thus stands to reason that
only that which is noble spiritual and divine in man can testify in Eternity
to his having lived." 		T. GLOSSARY, p. 23-4


"(e) Manas  --  a dual principle in its functions.  Mind, Intelligence:
which is the higher human mind, whose light, or radiation links the MONAD,
for the lifetime, to the mortal man.

     The future state and karmic destiny of man depend on whether Manas
gravitates more downward to Kama rupa, the seat of the animal passions, or
upwards to Buddhi, the Spiritual Ego.  In the latter case, the higher
consciousness of the individual Spiritual aspirations of mind (Manas),
assimilating Buddhi, are absorbed by it and form the (Ego), which goes into
Devachanic bliss.

     (f) Buddhi.  The Spiritual Soul.  The vehicle of pure universal spirit.

     (g) Atma. Spirit.  One with the Absolute, as its radiation.	KEY,
p. 92

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

Best wishes

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

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill 
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 8:31 PM
To: 
Subject: Tsongkhapa and the self


>  
> <<In order for a view to exist of the transitory aggregates,
> there has to be some form of identification with the
> aggregates. Therewith, some form of objectifying
> the "I" has occured. >>
>  
> Yes, and this is done by the consciousness-center itself.
> Basically we seem to be in agreement, Zakk.
>  
>
By the consciousness-center itwhat?
It appears that even the consciousness center can be viewed as being a 
self from a certain perspective.

LOL,


bill