Human Life Can
Consciously Reflect Cosmic Principles
N. C.
Ramanujachary
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The following text is the transcript
of a talk delivered in November 2011 to
the New Delhi Federation of the (Adyar)
Theosophical Society in India. Original
title:
“Character Building: Restoration of
Values”.
Mr. N. C. Ramanujachary is the author
of various books, including “A Lonely
Disciple – Monograph on T. Subba Row”.
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What is
character and how to build it? This is the question before us. In human
society, we find innumerable characters – some noble and some mean. While they
are by and large inborn traits, our experience shows that they can be cultured
and nourished.
To
understand the whole matter of character, we must first get into the principles
that constitute and direct a human being. We have two sets of principles: the
spiritual (those belonging to the imperishable ego) and the material (those
that make up the ever-changing bodies or the series of personalities of that
ego).
In
common knowledge, each human being is an admixture of Daiviprakriti (Divine
Nature) and Dravyaprakriti (Material Nature). The latter is transformed
into the former in consequence to the effort made in the direction of
‘regeneration’ or ‘transformation’.
The
spiritual principles are again three: Atma or the Higher Self which is
the universally diffused ‘divine principle’, inseparable from the Absolute; Buddhi,
the spiritual Soul, the vehicle of Atma; Manas, the conception of
Ego-ship, the spiritual Ego and the radiant Taijasi [1].
This
Manas is the real Individuality when combined with the earlier two. This ego
has originally incarnated in the senseless human form, unconsciously animated
by the two again. We call this the “Causal body” overshadowing every
personality. Karma forces it to reincarnate into, and is the one responsible
for all the sins committed through, and in, every new body or personality.
Through the long series of rebirths, it hides the true Individuality. To put it
in simpler terms, the human being is a triad of Manas, Buddhi and Atma. The
personality is fourfold: Sthula-sharira, Prana, Linga-sharira
and Kama rupa. Kama rupa is the seat of animal desires and passions, the
centre of the animal man. The line of demarcation between the mortal man and
the immortal entity lies here.
That
which passes from personality to personality along the individual chain is the
character. It is not a mere metaphysical abstraction but the sum of one’s
mental qualities and moral propensities. Individuality partly manifests in any
one birth and its “build-up of fragments” from all the births is the character.
Justice,
kindness and love make the character pure and noble, as against common weak
traits such as selfishness, indifference and brutality, which make it mean and
substandard. It must be constantly remembered that “all good and evil things in
humanity have their roots in human character”. Character is too often
conditioned by “the endless chain of cause and effect”. Here dawns the ray of
hope for character-building.
There
is no evil per se in nature and it is
only the human mind that creates the distinction. The application of the mind
to the objects it comes in contact with makes the seeming difference. Pulled by
the “lower” self, the actions tend to become vicious and perilous.
Theosophy
teaches the way to gradually get out of this trap. “The perversity of average
human nature and its selfishness, always tending to the gratification of personal desires to the detriment of
neighbors and next of kin”, is the common characteristic we see; and this we
call the “social evil”. Ethical teaching and the attempt to make all see things
“as they are” and as what one wishes them to be – is what all religions have
talked about. Ethical teaching and moral instruction is available to men and
women of the world since long. We see the dwarfing and even elimination of this
code all over again. Restoration of these principles and inculcating the idea
of “practicing the loftiest moral ideal” among all is needed. The work of the
Theosophical Society is aimed at this. It tries to trace the philosophic base
to these ideals and to explain the inescapable need to adapt them. For example,
every religion tells people to be “good”, while theosophy places before the
public the fact that goodness is after all a human quality that is derived from
the divine concept. It explains how goodness alone survives and all standing in
opposition to it eventually die down. The virtuous action in human life is derived
from the universal principles and the concepts existing around them.
Unity
being the underlying principle for the manifestation, the concept of goodness means
being good to all. Similarly all points of right conduct can be traced to their
original source. Order is the principle, understanding becomes the concept and
hence the discipline (learning) is the human action point. The same way, all
the universal principles such as Harmony, Truth and Beauty are conceptualized
and brought into being in day-to-day living. Theosophy also explains what would
be the fate of the world if these qualities were not reflected in human
character: ultimately all would turn into a chaos. We like to live in a cosmos
and not in chaos.
Thinking
Man is the vehicle of the “manifested creative power” and the working system of
the living beings makes the World at large. Developing the mental and other
subtle bodies at our command and making them independent vehicles of
Consciousness, active in their own world, is the key for harmonious existence.
Constant
remembrance of the fact that we are Monads, the divine sparks from the Supreme
Power (Absolute) at the helm of affairs, enables us to be just, perfect and
beneficent.
There
are many religions around the world. General opinion among masses is that the
different religions differ much in their application. They are one against the
other. Groups of religions quarrel with each other, and carry their differences
to an illogical extreme. Wars were waged in the name of religion. But the fact
found out by investigators of religions and thinkers of a wider perspective is
that there is an Essential Unity among all religions; all have sprung from the
One Source; differences are only apparent and not intrinsic.
Emerging
from different nations of the world, at different points of time in chronology,
and from the minds ever evolving in understanding, the various religions have
different terms and terminology. The Idea intended to be transmitted is the
same. Religious ideas also depended and differed based on the prevailing
socio-political-economic situation. Added on to this, inborn selfishness of the
propagators of religions and the interpreters of the religious texts brought in
much irrecoverable and irrelevant confusion to the human mind. Born and
belonging to a particular religion, self-pride and feeling of superiority
overpowered the minds of men to deride the other religions, to condemn and
curse their ideas.
Reconciliation
of religions has become necessary, as also the restoration of the basic unity
among them. Social reformation was undertaken by scholars from time to time,
and such reformations have become separate religions eventually. As yet, the human mind has not soaked full
in the spirit of oneness of all religious teaching. The deeply biased and
prejudiced mind would not allow the ideas of reconciliation, synthesis and
integration enter into it. Religion is only an outer cloak to the inner core of
spirit. Oneness of all humanity is the basic teaching as we can see in the
following texts, time honored and considered authentic.
“Human
beings, all, are as head, arms, trunk and legs unto one another.” (Veda)
“All
creatures are members of the One family of God.” (Quran)
“No
man lives unto himself. We are all parts of one another. God has made of one
blood all nations that dwell upon the face of earth.” (Bible)
In
the present days of religious conflicts and fundamentalism as well as terrorism
backed by religious support, we must first bring out a point of realization
that:
1.
Religious teaching, whatever be the name it assumes, is aimed at Peace and
Prosperity among all citizens of the world; collective well-being is the common
purpose.
2.
The cause of atrocities in the name of religion is outside the religion and has
nothing to do with it. The term ‘religion’ is used for public consumption only
but the root is in the hatred and animosity allowed to grow and get
crystallized in each human heart.
3.
When purified of the dross of human dogmas, the pure essence remaining will be
found to be identical.
Religious
ideas or philosophic statements need to be user-friendly, if they are to be
applied to everyone’s daily living.
Human
being is constituted of various forces (energies): magnetic, sympathetic,
antipathetic, nervous, dynamic, occult, mechanical, mental etc. The physical
forces are all biological in their essence; they intermingle or often merge
into intellectual and moral forces. Intellectual forces are the bodies
(vahana-s) of the moral forces. A force is “moving matter” or “matter in motion”.
The
cosmos is built upon certain universal principles and they are translated
eventually into human actions. It happens to be the responsibility of each one
of us to understand this derivation and to see that right application of the
value system takes place. Human being is
made of the same characteristics of the cosmos and he should reflect and
represent them without any distortion. For various historical and geographical
reasons, briefly indicated above, this has become disoriented and the
restoration is not an impossible task, if we are mindful of the continued
sustenance of the Earth planet.
As
the environmentalists and biologists say, we must become capable of “Thinking
globally and acting locally”. Restoration of values inevitably accompanies our
behavior in the right perception of things around. Living a life in strict
consonance of the Eternal and Universal principles without any mental
reservation or equivocation is the key, and this is always available to us.
NOTE:
[1]
Taijasi - (Sanskrit), from “tejas”, “fire”. The term means “the radiant, the flaming”.
It is used to designate the Manasa-rupa, the “thought-body”, and also the
stars. See “Theosophical Glossary”, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles. (Ed.)
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In September 2016, after a careful
analysis of the state of the esoteric movement worldwide, a group of students decided
to form the Independent Lodge of
Theosophists, whose priorities include the building of a better future in
the different dimensions of life.
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