RE: [theosophia] Re: Part 111 THE EGO IN MAN AVATARA AND SIDDHA PURUSHA
Jul 20, 2006 08:00 AM
by W.Dallas TenBroeck
7/20/2006 7:42 AM
Dear Steve:
Also see this:
All good wishes.
Dallas
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A D E P T W O R K
INSPIRING EXAMPLE OF H P B and MASTERS BEHIND HER
"...the [ Theosophical ] movement has grown in consequence of the effort of
those who are devoted to an ideal, inspired by enthusiasm, filled with a
lasting gratitude to H. P. Blavatsky. Their ideal is the service of
Humanity, the ultimate potential perfectibility of man as exemplified by the
Masters and Adepts of all ages, including the present."
WQJ ART II 21
AVATARS WORK TO RESTORE BALANCE AND THRUST OF EVOLUTION
"...the doctrine, well-known in India, of the reappearance of Avatars...all
admit that the true doctrine is stated by Krishna [see above]. These
appearances among men for the purpose of restoring the equilibrium are not
the same as the rule of Vivaswata and Manu first spoken of, but are the
coming to earth of Avatars or Saviors. That there is a periodicity to them
is stated in the words "from age to age." He is here speaking of the great
cycles about which hitherto the Masters have been silent except to say that
there are such great cycles. It is very generally admitted now that the
cyclic law is of the highest importance in (107) the consideration of
evolution and Man's destiny. But the coming of an Avatar must be strictly
in accordance with natural law,--and that law demands that at the time of
such an event there also appears a being who represents the other pole--,
for, as Krishna says, the great law of the two opposites is eternally
present it the world... The number of magicians developed among the nations
at such a time is very great, but one towers above them all, making the rest
pay tribute...[this is] a sober truth, and the present prevalence of
self-seeking (108) and money-getting is exactly the sort of training of
certain qualities that black magicians will exemplify in ages to come. The
Krishna--or howsoever named--appears "in visible shape, a man with men."
His power is as great as the evil one, but he has on his side what the
others have not--spirit, preservative, conservative forces. With these he
is able to engage in conflict with the black magicians, and in it he is
assisted by all of us who are really devoted to Brotherhood. The result is
a victory for the good and destruction for the wicked." WQJ GITA
NOTES pp. 106-9
ETERNAL EXAMPLE OF ACHIEVEMENT:
THE GREAT SACRIFICE
"...he is the mysterious (to the profane--the 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. And it is he again who holds spiritual
sway over the (208) 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. He is the "Initiator," called the "GREAT
SACRIFICE." For sitting at the 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 this life-cycle.
Why...Because the lonely, sore-footed pilgrims on their way back to their
home are never sure to the last moment of not losing their way in this
limitless desert of illusion and matter called Earth-Life. 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, though but a few Elect may
profit by the GREAT SACRIFICE.
It is under the direct, silent guidance of this MAHA--(great)--GURU 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 of
all the arts and sciences, as well as of spiritual knowledge; and it is
they who have laid the first foundation-stone of those ancient civilizations
that puzzle so sorely our modern generation of students and scholars."
SD II 207-8
NATURE OF ADEPTS' WORK --
BRIDGING THE "CYCLES OF WOE"
"...the cycles of woe (undergone by the Arhan who remains to help mankind),
it is easy to understand...terms must be used which the reader will
understand...hence...(from our standpoint) it must be said that there are
such cycles of woe...just as the fact that I [W.Q.Judge] have no amusements,
and nothing but work in the T.S., seems a great penance to those who like
their pleasures. I, on the contrary, take pleasure and peace in the
"self-denial," as they call it. Therefore, it must follow that he who
enters the secret Path finds his peace and pleasure in endless work for ages
for Humanity. But, of course with his added sight and knowledge, he must
always be seeing the self-inflicted miser ies of men. The mistake you make
is to give the person thus "sacrificed" the small qualities and longings as
we now have, whereas the wider sweep and power of soul make what we call
sacrifice and woe something different." WQJ LETTERS p. 116
MASTERS TO MANAGE "RESULTS"
"...what was long ago said--that the Master would manage results. You must
not manage, precipitate, nor force...By gentleness, detachment, strict
attention to duty, and retiring now and then to the quiet place, bring up
good currents...Remember it is through the little things the work is done
through, for they are not noticed, while the lager ones draw the eyes and
minds of all...A steady mind and heart stands still and quiet until the
muddy stream rolls clear." WQJ LETTERS p. 84
MASTERS' PROGRAM
"There must be an adherence to the program of the Masters. That can only be
ascertained by consulting her [HPB] and the letters given out by her as from
Those to whom she refers. There is not much doubt about that program."...
"This is the moment to guide the recurrent impulse which must soon come and
which will push the age toward extreme atheism or drag it back to extreme
sacerdotalism, if it is not led to the primitive, soul-satisfying philosophy
of the Aryans."...
"We must follow this program and supply the world with a system of
philosophy which gives a sure and logical basis for ethics, and that can
only be gotten from those to which I have adverted."...
"By our unity the smallest effort made by us will have ten-fold the power of
any obstacle before us or any opposition offered by the world."...
"Our destiny is to continue the wide work of the past in affecting
literature and thought throughout the world, while our ranks see many
changing quantities but always holding those who remain true to the program,
and refuse to become dogmatic or give up common sense in Theosophy. Thus we
will wait for the new messenger, striving to keep the organization alive
that he may use it."
WQJ - THE FUTURE AND THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY -
quoted by RC, F P, p. 153 -- [WQJ ART II p. 145-6]
HPB ON ADEPT WORK
"The real ones [Adepts] have a wide work to do in many departments of life
and in preparing certain persons who have a future work to do. Though their
influence is wide they are not suspected, and that is the way they want to
work for the present. There are some also who are at work with certain
individuals in some of the aboriginal tribes in America, as among those are
Egos who are to do still more work in another incarnation, and they must be
prepared for it now. Nothing is omitted by these Adepts. in Europe it is
the same way, each sphere of work being governed by the time and the place."
WQJ ART I 432-3
THE "ROYAL KNOWLEDGE" -- [ of the RAJA-RISHEES ]
from the GITA
"This is the royal knowledge, the royal mystery, the most excellent
purifier, clearly comprehensible, not opposed to sacred law, easy to perform
and inexhaustible..."All this universe is pervaded by me in my invisible
form; all things exist in me, but I do not exist in them. Nor are all
things in me; behold this my divine mystery: myself causing all things to
exist and sup porting them all but dwelling not in them. Understand that
all things are in me even as the mighty air which passeth everywhere is in
space...at the end of a kalpa all things return into my nature, and then
again at the beginning of another kalpa I cause them to evolve again.
Taking control of my own nature I emanate again and again this whole
assemblage of beings, without their will, by the power of the material
essence (Prakriti)..."
GITA P. 64-5
"There dwelleth in the heart of every being...the Master--Ishwara--who by
his magic power causeth all things and creatures to revolve, mounted upon
the universal wheel of time. Take sanctuary with him alone..." GITA p. 130
"There is nothing...in the three regions of the universe which it is
necessary for me to perform, nor anything possible to obtain, which I have
not obtained; and yet I am constantly in action. If I were not
indefatigable in action, all men would presently follow my example ... If I
did not perform actions the see creatures would perish; I should be the
cause of confusion of castes, and should have slain all these creatures."
GITA 25
ADEPT ASSISTANCE
"...Masters are working in many ways, and through many organizations as well
as with individuals. There are no barriers to Their assistance, except such
as personalities impose upon themselves. Their work is universal; let our
view be as much in that direction as possible. So shall we best serve and
know." RC FP p. 5
TOTAL EVOLUTION : -- THE INDIVIDUAL CHOICE
FOR THE GOAL -- SPIRITUAL TRAINING
"The process of evolution up to reunion with the Divine is and includes
successive elevation from rank to rank of power and usefulness. The most
exalted beings still in the flesh are known as Sages, Rishis, Brothers,
Masters. Their great functions being the preservation at all times, and
when cyclic laws permit, the extension of spiritual knowledge and influence.
As to the process of spiritual development, Theosophy teaches:
1. That the essence of the process lies in the securing of supremacy to
the highest, the spiritual, element of man's nature.
2. That this is attained along 4 lines, among others, --
A. The entire eradication of selfishness in all forms, and the
cultivation of broad, generous sympathy in, and effort for the good of
others.
B. The absolute cultivation of the inner, spiritual man by
meditation, by reaching to and communion with the Divine [within], and by
exercise of the kind described by Patanjali, i.e., incessant striving to an
ideal end.
C. The control of fleshly appetites and desires, all low er,
material interests being deliberately subordinated to the behests of the
spirit.
D. The careful performance of every duty belonging to one's
station in life, without desire for reward, leaving results for Divine law.
3. That while the above is incumbent on and practicable by all
religiously disposed men, a yet higher plane of spiritual attain mint is
conditioned upon a specific course of training, physical, intellectual and
spiritual, by which the internal faculties are first aroused and then
developed.
4. That an extension of this process is reached in Arhatship,
Mahatmaship, or the states of Rishis, Sages and Dhyan Chohans, which are all
exalted stages, attained by laborious self-discipline and hardship
protracted through possibly many incarnations, and with many degrees of
initiation and preferment, beyond which are yet other stages ever
approaching the Divine.
As to the rationale of spiritual development it asserts:
1. That the process takes place entirely within the individual himself,
the motive, the effort, and the result proceeding from his own inner nature,
along the lines of self-evolution.
2. That still more is gained by a career of duty, piety and
beneficence.
3. That a still greater advance is attained by the attentive and
devoted use of the means to spiritual culture heretofore stated.
4. That every race and individual of it reaches in evolution a period
known as "the moment of choice," when they decided for themselves their
future by a deliberate and conscious choice between eternal life and death,
and that this right of choice is the peculiar appanage of the free soul. It
cannot be exercised until the man has realized the soul within him, and
until that soul has attained some measure of self-consciousness in the body.
The moment of choice is not a fixed period of time; it is made up of all
moments. It cannot come unless all previous lives have led up to it. For
the race as a whole it has not yet come. Any individual can hasten the
advent of this period for himself under the previously stated law of the
ripening of Karma. Should he then fail to choose right he is not wholly
condemned, for the economy of nature provides that he shall again and again
have the opportunity of choice when the moment arrives for the whole
race..." WQJ -- AN EPITOME
25-27
ADEPT COMMUNICATIONS -- INNER EYE & EAR
"They have disciples with whom communication is already established and
carried on, most generally through the inner ear and eye, but sometimes
through the prosaic mail...no one else is involved and no one else has the
right to put questions...To spread broadcast a mass of written
communications among those who are willing to accept them without knowing
how to judge them would be the sheerest folly, only productive of
superstition and blind credulity. This is not the aim of the Adepts, nor
the method they pursue." WQJ ART I 452
WHERE ARE THE ADEPTS ?
"Now, as the great Adepts live in the plane of our inner nature, it must
follow that they might be actively helping every one of us after the date
[1897-98] referred to, and we, as physical brain men, not be conscious of it
on this plane." WQJ ART II 506
"Fix your thoughts again on Those Elder Brothers, work for Them, serve Them,
and They will help through the right appropriate means and no other. To
meditate on the Higher Self is difficult. Seek, then, the bridge--the
Masters... Those who know the Truth will teach it. Give up doubt..."
WQJ LETTERS p. 112
DISCIPLES' ATTITUDE
"I am glad that you have such faith in the Great workers who are behind us.
They are behind us, to my personal knowledge, and not behind me only, but
behind all sincere workers. I know that their desire is that each should
listen to the voice of his inner self and not depend too much on outside
people, whether they be Masters, Eastern disciples or what not. By a
dependence of that kind you become at last thoroughly independent, and then
the un seen helpers are able to help all the more." WQJ LETTERS p. 112-3
"Those who can to any extent assimilate the Master, to that extent they are
the representative of the Master, and have the help of the Lodge in its
work." WQJ LETTERS p. 113
ADEPT WORK: ASSISTING ALL GOOD MOVEMENTS and INDIVIDUALS
Q.:-- "What then are the Adepts doing?
A.:-- (a) Assisting all good movements by acting on men from
behind the scenes through mental influence.
(b) Preparing as many men and women who are fit for it
so that they may, in their next incarnation,
appear in the world as active devotees to the
good of the Human Family.
(c) Spreading now, through impulses given in many
places which must not be mentioned, a philosophy
of life which will gradually affect the race mind,
and in particular the active, conquering Western
peoples, thus preparing the whole people to change
and evolve yet further and further until evils disappear
and better days and people reappear."
WQJ ARTICLES II 53-4
LIGHTING UP OF MANAS ( The HUMAN MIND ) -- DEVOTION
"...divine man dwelt in his animal--though externally human--form; and, if
there was instinct in him, no self-consciousness came to enlighten the
darkness of the latent 5th principle [Manas]. When moved by the law of
Evolution, the Lords of Wisdom infused into him the spark of consciousness,
the first feeling it awoke to life and activity was a sense of solidarity,
of one-ness with his spiritual creators. As the child's first feeling is
for its mother and nurse, so the first aspirations of the awakening
consciousness in primitive man were for those whose element he felt within
himself, and who yet were outside, and independent of him. DEVOTION arose
out of that feeling, and be came the first and foremost motor in his nature;
for it is the only one which is natural in our heart, which is innate in us,
and which we find alike in human babe and the young of the animal. This
feeling of irrepressible, instinctive aspiration in primitive man ..."
SD I 210
INNATE - INHERENT IDEAS FROM "PLANETARY SPIRITS"
"Up to the period marked by the first earthly King called Ikshwaku, the
Ruler was a spiritual Being whom all men knew to be such, for his power,
glory, benevolence, and wisdom were evident. He lived an immense number of
years, and taught men not only Yoga but also arts and sciences. The ideas
implanted then, having been set in motion by one who knew all the laws,
remain as inherent ideas to this day...(105) They are preserved by the
uneducated masses, who, having no scholastic theories to divert their minds,
keep up what is left of the succession of ideas."
GITA NOTES p. 104-5
"Alone the adepts, i.e., the embodied spirits--are forbidden by our wise and
intransgressible laws to completely subject to themselves another and weaker
will,--that of free born man. The latter mode of proceeding is the favorite
one resorted to by the "Brothers of the Shadow," the Sorcerers, the
Elementary Spooks, and, as an isolated exception--by the highest Planetary
(41) Spirits, those, who can no longer err. But those appear on Earth but
at the origin of every new human kind; at the junction of, and close of the
two ends of the great cycle. And, they remain with man no longer than the
time required for the eternal truths they teach to impress themselves so
forcibly upon the plastic minds or the new race as to warrant them from
being lost or entirely forgotten in ages hereafter, by the forthcoming
generations. The mission of the planetary Spirits is but to strike the
KEY-NOTE OF TRUTH. Once he has directed the vibration of the latter to run
its course uninterruptedly along the catenation of that race and to the end
of the cycle--the denizen of the highest inhabited sphere disappears from
the surface of our planet--till the following "resurrection of flesh." The
vibrations of the Primitive Truth are what your philosophers name "innate
ideas." M.L. 40-1
"...the primeval one Truth, taught humanity in the infancy of its races by
every First Messenger--the Planetary Spirit mentioned [above]--and whose
(49) remembrance lingered in the memory of man as Elu of the Chaldees,
Osiris the Egyptian, Vishnu, the first Buddhas and so on."
M.L. 48-9
"...Truth is One, and cannot admit of diametrically opposite views; and
pure Spirits who see it as it is, with the veil of matter entirely withdrawn
from it cannot err. Now, if we allow of different aspects or portions of
the Whole Truth being visible to different agencies or intelligences, each
under various conditions, as for example various portions of the one
landscape develop themselves to various persons at various distances and
from various standpoints--if we admit the fact of...individual Broth ers for
instance endeavoring to develop the Egos of different individuals, without
subjecting entirely their wills to their own (as it is forbidden) but by
availing themselves of their physical, moral, and intellectual
idiosyncracies; if we add the countless kosmical influences which distort
and deflect all efforts to achieve definite purposes; if we remember,
moreover, the direct hostility of the Brethren of the Shadow always on the
watch to perplex and haze the neophyte's brain, I think we shall have no
difficulty in understanding how even a definite spiritual advance may to a
certain extent lead different individuals to apparently different
conclusions and theories." M.L. 49
INCARNATION AN ACT OF SACRIFICE FOR THE MIND-MEN TO BE
"...The Host of Dhyanis, whose turn it was to incarnate as the Egos of the
immortal, but, on this plane, senseless monads--that some "obeyed" (the law
of evolution) immediately when the men of the 3rd Race became
physiologically and physical ly ready, i.e., when they had separated into
sexes. These were those early conscious Beings who, now adding conscious
knowledge and will to their inherent Divine purity, created by Kriyasakti
the semi-Divine man, who became the seed on earth for future adepts. Those,
on the other hand, who, jealous of their intellectual freedom (unfettered
as it then was by the bonds of matter), said:--"We can choose...we have
wisdom,"...and incarnated far later--these had their first Karmic punishment
prepared for them. They got bodies (physiologically) inferior to their
astral models, because their chhayas had belonged to progenitors of an
inferior degree in the 7 classes. As to those "Sons of Wisdom" who had
"deferred" their incarnation till the 4th Race, which was already tainted
(physiologically) with sin and impurity, they produced a terrible cause, the
Karmic result of which weighs on them to this day...the bodies they had to
inform had become de filed through their own procrastination...This was the
"Fall of the angels," because of their rebellion against Karmic Law. The
"fall of man" was no fall, for he was irresponsible..."
SD II 228
"CREATION" and the "CREATORS"
"...as the work of each Round is said to be apportioned to a different group
of so-called "Creators" or "Architects," so is that of every globe; i.e.,
it is under the supervision and guidance of special "Builders" and
"Watchers"--the various Dhyan-Chohans...It becomes the task of the 5th
Hierarchy--the mysterious beings that preside over the constellation
Capricornus, Makara, or "Crocodile" in India as in Egypt--to inform the
empty and ethereal animal form and make of it a Rational Man...Many are
those among the Spiritual Entities, who have incarnated bodily in man, since
the beginning of his appearance, and who, for all that, still exist as
independently as they did before, in the infinitudes of Space...the
invisible Entity may be bodily present on earth without abandoning, however,
its status and functions in the supersensuous regions..."
SD I 233
"...this philosophy of cycles...was allegorized by the Egyptian Hierophants
in the "circle of necessity," explains at the same time the allegory of the
"Fall of man." ...each of the 7 chambers of the Pyramids...was known by the
name of a planet. The peculiar architecture of the Pyramids shows in itself
the drift of the metaphysical thought of their builders. The apex is lost
in the clear blue sky...and typifies the primordial point lost in the unseen
universe from which started the first race of the spiritual prototypes of
man...Divine spirit being considered a unity, however numerous the rays of
the great spiritual sun, man has still had his origins like all other forms,
whether organic or otherwise, in this one Fount of Eternal Light..." ISIS
I 296 - 297
MONAD and the PERSONAL MAN
"At the birth of the future man, the monad, radiating with all the glory of
its immortal parent which watches it from the 7th sphere, becomes senseless.
It loses all recollection of the past, and returns to consciousness but
gradually, when the instinct of childhood gives place to reason and
intelligence. After the separation between the life-principle (astral
spirit) and the body takes place, the liberated soul--Monad, exultingly
rejoins the mother and father spirit, the radiant Augoeides, and the 2
merged into ONE, forever form, with a glory proportioned to the spiritual
purity of the past earth-life, the Adam who has completed the circle of
necessity, and is freed from the last vestige of his physical encasement.
Henceforth, growing more and more radiant at each step of his upward
progress, he mounts the shining path that ends at the point which he started
around the GRAND CYCLE." ISIS I 303
WORK OF A GREAT REFORMER: BUDDHA GAUTAMA SIDDARTHA
BUDDHA SIDDHARTHA (Sk.) The name given to Gautama, the Prince of
Kapilavastu, at his birth...he would not have been a mortal man, had he not
passed through hundreds and thousands of births previous to his
last...through every stage of transmigration from the lowest animate and
inanimate atom and insect, up to the highest--man, ...the hidden symbolism
in the sequence of these re-births (jataka) contains simply [that] every
human being who has ever existed has passed through the same evolution...as
soon as Gautama had reached the human form he began exhibiting in every
personality the utmost unselfishness, self-sacrifice and charity...the 4th
of the Sapta (7) Buddhas and Sapta Tathagatas...(67) Esoteric teachings
claim that he renounced Nirvana and gave up the Dharmakaya vesture to remain
a "Buddha of compassion" within the reach of the miseries of this world.
And the religious philosophy he left to it has produced for over 2,000 years
generations of good and unselfish men. His is the only absolutely bloodless
religion among all existing religions...[if the] simple, humane and
philosophical code of daily life left to us by the greatest Man-Reformer
ever known, should ever come to be adopted by mankind at large, then indeed
an era of bliss and peace would dawn on Humanity." GLOS 65-67
MASTERS and ADEPTS ARE EVERYWHERE: -- RECORDERS OF PROGRESS
"There are scattered throughout the world, a handful of thoughtful and
solitary students, who pass their lives in obscurity, far from the rumors of
the world, studying the great problems of the physical and spiritual
universes. They have their secret records in which are preserved the fruits
of the scholastic labors of the long line of recluses whose successors they
are. The knowledge of their early ancestors, the sages of India, Babylon,
Nineveh, and the imperial Thebes; the legends and traditions commented upon
by the masters of Solon, Pythagoras, and Plato, in the (558) marble halls of
Heliopolis and Sais; traditions which in their days, already seemed to
hardly glimmer from behind the foggy curtain of the past;--all this, and
much more, is recorded on indestructible parchment, and passed with jealous
care from one adept to another. These men believe the story of Atlantis to
be no fable...In those submerged temples and libraries the archaeologist
would find, could he but explore them, the materials for filling the gaps
that now exist in what we imagine is history."
ISIS I 557-558
(see LIGHT ON THE PATH, p. 72-5)
INSPIRATION FROM THE NIRMANAKAYAS
Most of us believe in the survival of the Spiritual Ego, in Planetary
Spirits and Nirmanakayas, those great Adepts of the past ages, who,
renouncing their right to Nirvana, remain in our spheres of being, not as
"spirits" but as complete spiritual human Beings. Save their corporeal,
visible envelope, which they leave behind, they remain as they were, in
order to help poor humanity, as far as can be done without sinning against
Karmic law. This is the "Great Renunciation," indeed; an incessant,
conscious self-sacrifice throughout aeons and ages till that day when the
eyes of blind mankind will open and, instead of the few, all will see the
universal truth. These Beings may well be regarded as God and Gods--if they
would but allow the fire in our hearts, at the thought of that purest of all
sacrifices, to be fanned into the flame of adoration, or the smallest altar
in their honor. But they will not. Verily, "the secret heart is fair
Devotion's (only) temple," and any other in this case, would be no better
than profane ostentation." HPB ART. III 204
"Remember, thou that fightest for man's liberation * each failure is success
and each sincere attempt wins its reward in time." * This is an allusion to
a well-known belief in the East...that every additional Buddha or Saint is a
new soldier in the army of those who work for the liberation, or salvation
of mankind. In Northern Buddhist countries, where the doctrine of the
Nirmanakayas--those Bodhisattvas who renounce well-earned Nirvana or the
Dharmakaya vesture (both of which shut them out forever from the world of
men) in order to invisibly assist man kind and lead it finally to
Paranirvana--is taught, every new Bodhisattva, or initiated great Adept, is
called the "liberator of mankind." VOICE OF THE SILENCE 69
COMPASSION -- SELF-SACRIFICE
This same popular reverence calls "Buddhas of Compassion" those Bodhisattvas
who, having reached the rank of an Arhat (i.e., have completed the fourth or
seventh Path), refuse to pass into the Nirvanic state or "don the Dharmakaya
robe and cross to the other shore," as it would then become beyond their
power to assist men even so little as Karma permits. They prefer to re main
invisibly (in Spirit, so to speak) in the world, and con tribute towards
man's salvation by influencing them to follow the Good Law, i.e., lead them
on the Path of Righteousness..."
VOICE OF THE SILENCE 77
WISDOM RELIGION PRESERVED SINCE ANTIQUITY --
ADEPTS WORK WITH HUMANITY AS CYCLES AND KARMA PERMIT
"This ancient body of doctrine is known as the "Wisdom Religion" and was
always taught by adepts or initiates therein who preserve it through all
time. Hence, and from other doctrines demonstrated, it is shown that man,
being spirit and immortal, is able to perpetuate his real life and
consciousness, and has done so during all time in the persons of an ancient
and high brotherhood who concern themselves with the soul development of
man, held by them to include every process of evolution on all planes. The
initiates, being bound by the law of evolution, must work with humanity as
its development permits. Therefore from time to time they give out again
and again the same doctrine...this is the wisdom religion, and they are the
keepers of it." WQJ ARTICLES I pp. 1 - 2
SAVIORS OF NATIONS AND OF MEN -- TEACHERS OF TRUTH -- ALIVE NOW
"At times they come to nations as great teachers and "saviors," who only
repromulgate the old truths and systems of ethics. This therefore holds
that humanity is capable of infinite perfection both in time and quality,
the saviors and adepts being held up as examples of that possibility. From
this living and presently acting body of perfected men H.P.Blavatsky
declared she received the impulse to once more bring forward the old ideas,
and from them also received several keys to ancient and modern doctrines.
Added...to the testimony through all time found in the records of all
nations we have this modern explicit assertion that the ancient learned and
humanitarian body of adepts still exists on this earth and takes an interest
in the development of the race."
WQJ ARTICLES I PP. 1-2
NIRMANAKAYA...is that ethereal form which one would assume when leaving his
physical he would appear in his astral body--having in addition all the
knowledge of an Adept. The Bodhisattva develops it in himself as he
proceeds on the Path. Having reached the goal and refused its fruition, he
remains on Earth, as an (78) Adept; and when he dies, instead of going into
Nirvana, he remains in that glorious body he has woven for him self,
invisible to uninitiated mankind, to watch over and protect it...Thus, to be
enabled to help humanity, an Arhat who has won the right to Nirvana,
"renounces the Dharmakaya body" in mystic parlance; keeps, of the
Sambhogakaya, only the great and complete knowledge, and remains in his
Nirmanakaya body. The Esoteric School teaches that Gautama Buddha, with
several of his Arhats, is such a Nirmanakaya higher than whom, on account of
the great renunciation and sacrifice for mankind, there is none known."
Voice 77-8
CYCLES FOR THE APPEARANCE OF SAGES
"...there never was yet a great World-reformer, whose name has passed into
our generation, who (a) was not a direct emanation of the LOGOS (under
whatever name known to us), i.e., an essential incarnation of one of "the
seven," of the "divine Spirit who is sevenfold;" and (b) who had not
appeared before, during the past Cycles. They will recognize, then, the
cause which produces in history and chronology certain riddles of the ages;
the reason why, for instance, it is impossible for them to assign any
reliable date to Zoroaster, who is found multiplied by 12 and 14 in the
Dabistan; why the Rishis and Manus are so mixed up in their numbers and
individualities; why Krishna and Buddha speak of themselves as
re-incarnations, i.e., Krishna is identified with the Rishi Narayana, and
Gautama gives a series of his previous births; and why the former,
especially, being "the
very supreme Brahma," is yet called Amsamsavatra--"a part of the part" only
of the Supreme on Earth...The esoteric doctrine ex plains it by saying that
each of these (as many others) had first appeared on earth as one of the 7
powers of the LOGOS, individualized as a God or "Angel" (messenger); then,
mixed with matter, they had re-appeared in turn as great sages and
instructors who "taught the 5th Race," after having instructed the two
preceding races, had ruled during the Divine Dynasties, and had finally
sacrificed themselves, to be reborn under various circumstances for the good
of mankind, and for its salvation at certain critical periods; until in
their last incarnations they had become truly only "the parts of a part" on
earth, though de facto the One Supreme in Nature." SD
II 358-9
CYCLES FOR THE APPEARANCE OF "SAVIORS"
"It is interesting to turn to the "Esoteric Character of the Gospels" [ HPB
ARTICLES III 169 fn ], by HPB. Theosophists--at any rate some of them--who
understand the hidden meaning of the universally expected Avatars, Messiahs,
and Sosioshes and Christs--know that it is no end of the world, but the
consummation of the age--that is, the close of the cycle--that is fast
approaching." [This was written November and December, 1887, and January,
1888.] She said, "There are several remarkable cycles that come to a close
at the end of this century [nineteenth]. First, the 5,000 years of the
Kali-Yuga cycle; again, the Messianic cycle of the Samaritan (also
Kabalistic) Jews, of the Man connected with Pices. It is a cycle historic
and not very long, but very occult, lasting about 2155 years, but having a
true significance only when computed by lunar months. It occurred 2410 and
255 B.C. or when the equinox entered into the sign of the Ram, and again
into that of Pices. When it enters in a few years, the sign of Aquarius,
psychologists will have some extra work to do, and the psychic
idiosyncrasies of man will enter on a great change." [ HPB Art III 169 fn ]
This "great change" I think can be stated in three words: Susceptibility to
suggestion, good, bad or indifferent. Look about you and see if it is not
so. Are the "Messiahs" of today using suggestion? ... Jesus said, "Take
heed lest no man lead you astray, for many shall come in my name, saying, 'I
am the Christ,' and shall lead many astray...If any man shall say unto you,
'Behold, he is in the wilderness,' go not forth; 'behold he is in the inner
chambers,' believe them not. For as the lightning (light) cometh from the
East, and is seen even in the West, so shall be the presence of the Son of
Man." The esoteric savior in no man, but is the divine principle in every
human being. What is needed is a knowledge of the Path that leads to Him or
It. Few know the Messenger when He comes, but it is possible for many to
know a true Message by putting it to every conceivable test. The "Messiah"
has come and gone; but (152) He has left the "Comforter"--His Message. He
will return, but not for several generations of men. it is possible for men
to get at the truth of these things if they will take the trouble to make
the search in all sincerity." RC -- F P 151-2
"I produce myself among creatures" has reference to voluntary and conscious
incarnation of high spiritual beings--avatars, saviors of the people
--including not only the incarnation itself but the influence of a spiritual
kind that attends the being...The Gita says that They come "whenever there
is an insurrection of vice and injustice in the world." There is an analogy
between this and what was hinted about earthquakes by WQJ, who wrote at the
time of an earthquake that some soul of use had been born...There is reason
to think that the mission of Jesus was a minor one, being in a falling
cycle, and that it was not so much to disclose as to cover up the avenues to
occult knowledge, so that the following times of the decadence of
spirituality should (202) not have dangerous weapons left for selfish,
unprincipled and ignorant people to use; hence he accentuated ethics. This
does not mean that the being known as Jesus was inferior to the one known as
Buddha. They might have been one and the same be ing, in reality. The
statement is that the "missions" or efforts were of a different nature
because of the different cycles and peoples...We cannot judge of the nature
of any of these great incarnations, to the extent of saying that one is
superior to the other...Allied to our period, if we consider that the
quality of the cycle varies in importance, and, consequently, in the degree
of the being needed at any time, we find the conjunction of the cycles above
spoken of points to a most important period, and consequently, to important
"beings"--which may give us a clue to what the Messengers HPB and WQJ really
were. Other periods of less importance bring incarnations of probationary
chelas who are on their trial." RC
-- FP p. 201-2
NIRMANAKAYAS WORK -- THEIR RELATIONS WITH US
"Nirmanakayas. They are men who have become perfected--who could if they
chose reach up to and hold the very highest state of bliss, but who refuse
that bliss because it would mean forever to forsake all chance of helping
their fellow-men. They can, when the nature of the person is true and
aspiring strongly, communicate, if it is necessary to help him. But there
is no mistake in these communications. They are personal, meant for that
one as direct help. It is the within which induces any outside help that we
receive. It is a recognition of the spiritual nature of ourselves and all
beings which makes the true condition. It is from the spiritual that the
strength comes. And it is for the perfection of humanity that all the
Divine Incarnations have labored."
RC -- FP p. 258
"PERFECTED" SOULS -- STAND AS EXAMPLES: - WE CAN EMULATE
"No one can know anything for another. Each one has to know for himself.
Each one has to do his own learning. The object of Theosophy is to teach
man what he is, to show man what he is, and to present to him the necessity
of his knowing for himself. No vicarious atonement, no vicarious
transmission of knowledge, is possible. But the direction in which
knowledge lies can be pointed out; the steps which will lead us in that
direction may be shown, as can be done only by those who have passed that
way before...It is the doctrine of Krishna, of Buddha, of Jesus, no less
than the doctrine of H.P.B... The very fact of suffering is a blessing.
Karma and Reincarnation show us that suffering is brought about by wrong
thought and action; through our sufferings we may be brought to a
realization that a wrong course has been pursued. We learn through our
sufferings.
Life is one grand school of Being, and we have come to that stage where it
is right for us to learn to understand the purpose of existence; to grasp
our whole nature firmly; to use every means in our power in every
direction...to bring the whole of our nature into accord, so that our lower
instrument may be "in line" and thus more and more fully reflect our divine
natures."
RC -- FP p. 263
SAVIORS MAY TEACH -- WE HAVE TO MAKE THE EFFORT
"Savior after Savior has come to the earth for our benefit, but no one can
give us any more benefit than to point to the truths that have been given
all down the ages. We must take ad vantage of that knowledge and advance
out of the state in which we have placed ourselves. No Savior can save us.
No God can protect us. No devil can torment us. For both God and the devil
are within. The devil is the misunderstanding of our nature...It is the God
in us which demands self-advancement, self-induced and self-devised
exertions, and the full acceptance of responsibility." FP
p. 300
"...to realize our own responsibility to all others and to act in accordance
is to have become unselfish, and to have done away with the prime cause of
sin, sorrow and suffering...We must take care of each other, not of
ourselves...truth, as we know, always explains."
RC--FP p. 308
WE ARE NEVER "LEFT ALONE," or "ABANDONED" BY THE ADEPTS
"Never have we been left alone. Always there are beings greater in
evolution than we, who return to this field of physical existence to help
us, to wake us up to a perception of our natures. Such has been the mission
of all Divine Incarnations down the ages. Those beings have come and lived
among us, have become "in all things like unto us," as was said of Jesus, in
order that the human words They spoke should be words we would understand.
They meet us on the basis of our ideas and try to clarify them and set them
in a true course. They can do nothing to stop what (338) we have done and
what we want to do; They can not interfere; but They can help us to see
the right direction, if we are so willed...Always They try to help us, even
when we are proceeding along wrong lines and bringing upon ourselves the
suffering such wrong lines entail--even then They try to direct the results
into a better channel..." RC -- FP p. 337-8
KRISHNA's TEACHINGS -- LINE OF TRANSMISSION
"This exhaustless doctrine of Yoga I formerly taught unto Vivaswat; (the
SUN, first manifestation of divine wisdom at the beginning of evolution)
Vivaswat communicated it to Manu (generic title for the reigning spirit of
the sensuous universe; the present one being Vivaswata Manu) and Manu made
it known unto Ikshwaku; (the founder of the Indian Solar dynasty --
[Suryavan sa]) and being thus transmitted from one unto another it was
studied by the Raja-rishees, (Royal Sages) until in the course of time the
mighty art was lost, O harasser of thy foes. It is even the same
exhaustless, secret, eternal doctrine I have this day communicated unto thee
because thou art my devotee and my friend." GITA p. 30
"...in the early part of a new creation called a Manwantara...a great Being
descends among men and imparts certain ideas and aspirations which
reverberate all through the succeed ing ages until the day when the general
dissolution--the night of Brahma--comes on...Although "Vivaswata" as a name
for the sun reveals nothing to our western ears, there is a great truth hid
den behind it, just as to-day there is as great a mystery behind our solar
orb [see WQJ ARTICLES II 121]. He was the Being appointed to help and guide
the race at its beginning. He had him self, ages before, gone through
incarnation during other creations, and had mounted step-by-step the long
ladder of evolution until by natural right he had become a god. The same
process is going on to-day, preparing some Being for similar work in ages to
come. And it has gone on in the limitless past also; and always the
Supreme Spirit as Krishna (104) teaches the Being, so that he may implant
those ideas necessary for our salvation." GITA NOTES p. 103-4
THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY
"In the Krita age, Vishnu, in the form of Kapila and other (inspired
sages)...imparts to the world true wisdom as Enoch did. In the Treta age he
restrains the wicked, in the form of a universal monarch (the Chakravartin)
or the 'Everlasting King' of Enoch) and protects the three worlds (or
races). "In the Dwapara age, in the person of Veda-Vyasa, he divides the
one Veda into four, and distributes it into hundreds (Sata) of branches."
Truly so; the Veda of the earliest Aryans, before it was written, went
forth into every nation of the Atlanto-Lemurians, off-shoots of the never
dying tree of wisdom have scattered their dead leaves even on
Judaeo-Christianity. And at the end of the Kali. our present age, Vishnu,
or the "Everlasting King" will appear as Kalki, and re-establish
righteousness upon earth. The minds of those who live at that time shall be
awakened, and become as pellucid as crystal. "The men who are those changed
by virtue of that peculiar time (the 6th race) shall be as the seeds of
other human beings, and shall give birth to a race who shall follow the laws
of the Krita age of purity;" i.e., it shall be the 7th race, the race of
"Buddhas," the "Sons of God," born of immaculate parents."
SD II 483
ADEPTS SERVE TO SHIELD AND TRANSMIT SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE
"...there is the true center of which the sun in heaven is a symbol
and partial reflection. This center let us place for the time with the
Dhyan Chohans or planetary spirits. It is all knowing and so intensely
powerful that, were a struggling disciple to be suddenly introduced to its
presence unprepared, he would be consumed, both body and soul. And this is
the goal we are all striving after, and many of us asking to see even at the
opening of the race. But for our protection a cover, or umbrella, has been
placed beneath IT. The ribs are the Rishees, or Adepts, or Mahatmas; the
Elder Brothers of the race. The handle is in every man's hand. And
although each man is, or is to be, connected with some particular one of
those Adepts, he can also receive the influence from the true centre coming
down through the handle.
The light, life, knowledge, and power falling upon this cover
permeate in innumerable streams the whole mass of men beneath, whether they
be students or not. As the disciple strives upward, he begins to separate
himself from the great mass of human beings, and becomes in a more or less
definite manner connected with the ribs. Just as the streams of water flow
down from the points of the ribs of our umbrellas, so the spiritual
influences pour out from the adepts who form the frame of the protecting
cover, without which poor humanity would be destroyed by the blaze from the
spiritual world." WQJ ARTICLES II 38
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR CHOICE PREVAILS
"Admitting that the Adepts have great powers, they have dis claimed the
power to alter human nature in any other was than through the processes of
evolution and always strictly under a rigid law of justice."
"The Adepts do not yet appear publicly and proclaim them selves to the
world...because the cycle must run its course, since, if they proclaimed
themselves out of time a wrong result would be produced, just as a note,
good in itself, is a producer of discord when sounded out of time, place or
tune. This reason is the reason deduced from the law of cycles."
WQJ ARTICLES II 53-4
ADEPT WORK NOW
"In this civilization especially we are inclined to look outside instead of
inside ourselves. Nearly all our progress is material and thus superficial.
Spirit is neglected or forgotten, while that which is not spirit is
enshrined as such. The intuitions of the little child are stifled until at
last they are al most lost, leaving the many at the mercy of judgments based
upon exterior reason. How then can one who has been near the Golden
Gates--much more he who passed through them--be other than silent in
surroundings where the golden refulgeance is unknown or denied. Obliged to
use the words of his fellow travelers, he gives them a meaning unknown to
them, or detaches them from their accustomed relation. Hence he is
sometimes vague, often mislead ing, seldom properly understood. But not
lost are any of these words, for the sound through the ages, and in future
eras they will turn themselves into sentences of gold in the hearts of
disciples yet to come." WQJ ARTICLES II 354
SACRIFICE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS FOR BENEFITING MATTER
"...the surname Christos is based on, and the story of the Crucifixion
derived from, events that preceded it. Everywhere, in India as in Egypt, in
Chaldea as in Greece, all these legends were built upon one and the same
primitive type; the voluntary sacrifice of the logoi--the rays of the one
LOGOS, the direct manifested emanation from the One ever-concealed Infinite
and Unknown--whose rays incarnated in mankind. They consented to fall into
matter , and are, therefore, called the "Fallen Ones." HPB ART III 189
REFINEMENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS and DEFINITION OF RESPONSIBILITY
"...an absolute consciousness, "Adi-Buddhi"; and the Buddhist philosopher
knows that there are Planetary Spirits, the "Dhyan Chohans."... If the Dhyan
Chohans and all the invisible Beings--the Seven Centres and their direct
Emanations, the minor centres of Energy--are the direct reflex of the ONE
LIGHT, yet men are far removed from these, since the whole of the visible
Kosmos consists of "self-produced beings, the creatures of Karma." ... they
teach that only "two things are (objectively) eternal, namely Akasa and
Nirvana;" and that these are ONE in reality, and but a maya when divided."
SD I 635-6
SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION
"It is the Spiritual evolution of the inner, immortal man that forms the
fundamental tenet in the Occult Sciences...the ONE Universal Life,
independent of matter...and...the individual intelligences that animate the
various manifestations of this Principle...The ONE Life is closely related
to the one law which governs the World of Being--KARMA."
SD I 634
INTELLIGENCE INNATE IN ALL BEINGS DEMONSTRATED BY CYCLES
"The essential faculty possessed by all the cosmic and terrestrial elements,
of generating within themselves a regular and harmonious series of results,
a concatenation of causes and effects is an irrefutable proof that they are
either animated by an extra or intra INTELLIGENCE, or conceal such within or
behind the manifested veil...Newton...recognized fully the limits that
separate the action of natural Forces from that of the INTELLIGENCES that
set the innumerable laws into order and action... To become complete and
comprehensible, a cosmological theory has to start with a primordial
Substance diffused throughout boundless Space, of an intellectual and divine
Nature. That substance must be the Soul and Spirit, the Synthesis and 7th
Principle of the manifest ed Kosmos, and to serve as a spiritual Upadhi to
this, there must be the 6th, its vehicle--primordial physical
matter...though its nature must for ever escape our limited normal senses."
SD I 59
-----------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: theosophia@yahoogroups.com [mailto:theosophia@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Steven Levey
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 6:01 AM
To: theosophia@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [theosophia] Re: Part 111 THE EGO IN MAN AVATARA AND SIDDHA PURUSHA
Dallas-I found this compilation most useful and thought provoking.
The product of studying your quotations is a more "natural" sense of
the work and lives of Adepts. I think what's inmportant about this is
that while seeing and understanding these beings in a more natural
light the progression of, what we might call normal or perhaps sleepy
humanity, can be understood as participating in a series
of "progresive awakenings" through which Adeptship makes sense. In
this way we keep from over idealizing their lives out of the reach of
ours, while making the notion of perfectability a possiblity, however
far off.
Steve
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