Observing the
Modern Theosophical
Effort, In Its
Threefold and Sevenfold Nature
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
Front cover of “The Fire and Light of
Theosophical Literature”
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The following text reproduces Chapter
21
of the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical
Literature”,
by Carlos Cardoso Aveline, The
Aquarian Theosophist, Portugal, 255
pp., 2013.
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“We say and maintain that SOUND, for one
thing, is a tremendous Occult power; that it is a
stupendous force, of which the electricity generated
by a
million of Niagaras could never counteract the
smallest
potentiality when directed with occult knowledge.”
(H.P. Blavatsky[1])
“If it is true (…) that everything in Nature is
septenate, then words and ideas are septenate...”
(Robert Crosbie[2])
The power of Mantra is intimately connected with the
process of Emanation. “In the beginning was the Word”, says John, I, 1, in the
New Testament. And indeed, one can also say that “in the beginning” of the
modern theosophical movement “it was the Mantra”, the occult sound of Wisdom; and the sound was expressed in three
levels, or rates of vibration.
The newly-born theosophical movement had a Spirit, a
Soul and a Body. H.P. Blavatsky and the other two main founders - W.Q. Judge
and H.S. Olcott - were but outer
instruments who helped others in making the sacred sound start amidst the rather noisy bulk of human karma. It
was the keynote for a new cycle that
was beginning to vibrate.
These three initial layers or notes loosely expressed
themselves and their complex impersonal interplay in the three recognized
Sections of the movement.
In the Rules and Bye-Laws established in India in 17
December 1879, one reads:
“XI. The [Theosophical]
Society consists of three sections. The highest or First Section is composed
exclusively of proficients or initiates in Esoteric Science and Philosophy, who
take a deep interest in the Society’s affairs and instruct the
President-Founder how best to regulate them. (.....) The Second Section
embraces such Theosophists as have proved by their fidelity, zeal, and courage,
and their devotion to the Society, that they have become able to regard all men
as equally their brothers, irrespective of caste, colour, race, or creed; and
who are ready to defend the life or honour of a brother Theosophist even at the
risk of their own lives.”
The Third Section was probationary. All new fellows
were on probation, “until their purpose to remain in the Society has become
fixed, their usefulness shown, and their ability to conquer evil habits and
unwarrantable prejudices demonstrated.” [3]
Such a triadic
view of the movement as a whole corresponds to the threefold microcosmic
classification of the individual levels of consciousness. The Movement has, 1)
a Spirit, which provides the vision
and the teaching; 2) a Soul, a
central linking element; and, 3) a Body,
an outer vehicle for its manifestation in the world. These three levels also
relate to the three gunas or qualities of the manifested world. The First Section or Spirit gives the movement the Satwa
guna, or rhythm and harmony. The Second Section, its Soul/Mind, gives it Rajas,
id est, movement, passion, aspiration;
it makes things happen. The Third Section, the Body, is the material aspect of the movement, and it corresponds to
Tamas guna, which is stability and,
in its negative aspect, routine and decay.
In the absence of the Spirit there is no Satwic rhythm
and harmony. As a result, the Rajasic guna is poorly managed. Soon the Soul of
the movement gets confused by ignorance and personal ambitions. Such a wrong
kind of Rajas first provokes division and fragmentation. Later on it “calms
down” only to lead the movement into a long term Tamas of paralysis and decay.
The road to it is provided by an attachment
to comfort and routine. It certainly is not too difficult, nowadays, to see
Rajasic division and Tamasic paralysis, in many a sector of the movement.
In the long run, if one is allowed to use the metaphor
presented in the classic work “The Dream of Ravan” [4] , we have the
following view of the three sections or levels in the movement, and some
of their analogical correspondences:
* The Third Section is the Body. Its quality is Tamas, and it corresponds to the Coal.
* The Second Section is the Soul/Mind. Its quality is Rajas; it corresponds to the Fire.
* The First Section is the Spirit. Its quality is Satwa, and it corresponds to the Light.
As long as one obtains a correct combination of the
three factors above, there is enough fire and light in the movement. Time and
experience show how best to keep the coal dry, and how to use the wind of
thought so that Fire purifies Soul and Spirit enlightens Life.
Such a triadic
view of the movement is not the only way to look at it. After the first years
of her public mission, HPB started teaching about the seven principles of consciousness. She gradually unveiled the
septenary character of all things in the universe.
The Sun light and its energy have seven aspects. Sound
and music have seven main notes in their scale, and these correspond to the
seven sacred planets, related to the Pythagorean Music of the Spheres. The Earth chain has seven globes. Our
humanity evolves through seven races, and every human being combines in himself
seven different levels of reality, through his seven principles. Humans are
septenary inhabitants of a septenary planet, which travels along the space of a
septenary solar system. And the solar system moves around the center of a
Septenary Galaxy whose size is one hundred thousand light years, according to
present-day science.[5]
There is a harmonious correspondence between the triadic and the septenary views of man. Atma
and Buddhi, the two highest of the
seven principles, are the equivalent in the triadic classification to
Spirit. Manas and Kama, the two
intermediary principles, correspond to the Soul. And Linga Sharira, Prana and Sthula Sharira, the three outer principles,
correspond to the Body.
Therefore the movement is Three, and it is Seven. But
it is also One, because, as William Judge wrote, “it is to be found in all
times and in all nations”.[6] Its
inner constitution is not subject to outer bureaucratic divisions. It is a unique combination of several levels of
reality, consciousness, karma and universal good will, and it does not obey to
the limits of human institutions.
Our Earth relates to the physical Body of man, or to his three lowest principles, in the septenary
classification. The Moon has a special link to his Soul, or his intermediary principles. And the Sun relates to his Spirit, his Nous, his highest principles, his Monad.
In “Isis Unveiled”, there is a long quotation by
Plutarch on this topic. The ancient sage had this to say on the triad made of Nous (understanding), Soul
(feeling) and Body (physical
vehicle): “Of these three parts conjoined and compacted together, the earth has
given the body, the moon the soul, and the sun the understanding to the
generation of man.” [7]
Besides these three astronomical elements, one must
also take into consideration that the “sacred planets”, from the point of view
of the Earth and Man, are seven.
Each of these three and seven lines of evolution has
its own rhythm, although they are all intimately interconnected. In “The Secret
Doctrine”, one reads that the Sun, the Moon and the Earth are all septenary,
just as human beings are:
“The last word of the mystery is divulged only to the
adepts, but it may be stated that our satellite is only the gross body of its
invisible principles. Seeing then that there are 7 Earths, so there are 7
Moons, the last one alone being visible; the same for the Sun, whose visible
body is called a Maya, a reflection, just as man’s body is. ‘The real Sun and
the real Moon are as invisible as the real man’, says an occult maxim.” [8]
The Mysteries have seven keys (see “The Secret
Doctrine”, volume I, p. 325). Eastern Occultism has seven modes of
interpretation for sacred scriptures (“The Secret Doctrine”, volume I, p. 374).
The theosophical movement must therefore have seven levels as well. But can we
have a distinct glimpse of its sevenfold nature?
H.P. Blavatsky did not say much about this issue. In
November 1890 she made one brief commentary on the seven principles of the
movement, during a meeting with students of her Inner Group in London.
According to the records of the meeting - which give it in a few words - HPB
said, first, that the Theosophical Society was but the lower Quaternary of the
movement. As we know, a lower quaternary includes:
1) The physical existence (sthula sharira);
2) The “physical” vitality (prana);
3) The “astral double” (linga sharira), and
4) The animal/personal feelings (kama).
HPB added further that the Esoteric School was the
Lower Manas, and the Inner Group of
the School was the Manas of the movement.[9]
Of course, such a statement was an informal metaphor
made en passant and containing hints
about the occult topography of the
movement. It was not to the Theosophical Society per se, or to the Esoteric
School and its Inner Group as physical
realities, that HPB was referring. She referred to levels of consciousness, not to outer shells, nor to formal or
bureaucratic groups of students.
Indeed, soon after HPB left the scene the original
Theosophical Society ceased to exist, due to a perhaps unconscious treason led
by Annie Besant and others. HPB’s London Esoteric School and its “inner group”
also disappeared as living realities,
although they subsisted as empty shells.
This cannot change the central fact that the septenary
classification of principles does apply to the theosophical movement, a point
which can be better understood if one looks at the movement as a living process and not as a dead letter
bureaucracy. Wherever and whenever the movement is really alive, it must be both triadic
and septenary. The essence of HPB’s
septenary classification of principles is valid today as it was in 1890; and so
is the essence of the threefold classification. If one puts in more general
words the same information given by HPB in the 1890 meeting, so that it can
more clearly apply to the living movement
in any time and place, one will say:
* The outer theosophical movement, that is, the
variously organized sangha or
community which gathers students of the authentic
esoteric philosophy, corresponds to the lower quaternary of a more complex,
septenary, living process.
* The esoteric level or “school” of such a movement is
that environment or atmosphere on which students can promote and share a
long-standing process of self-training whose aim is lay discipleship or inner
learning; and this corresponds to the
lower Manas, or the lower aspect of the fifth principle in the movement.
* One level in the action of the most experienced,
dedicated and insightful of such students will correspond in its collective
focus to Manas proper, the higher fifth
principle which is basically free from kamic
bondage.
* Buddhi, the sixth principle of the movement, did not
have to be mentioned by HPB. It corresponds to the action and influence of the
Mahatmas and Initiates, as they connect to the Movement and to Humanity through
buddhic Compassion and Solidarity.
* Atma, the seventh principle, corresponds to the
Adeptic consciousness in itself,
beyond any specific actions or tasks.
In a more specific approach, one may go back to the triadic view of the movement in order to
obtain some of the best evidences available, regarding the sixth (buddhic) and
seventh (atmic) principles of the theosophical effort.
The First Section, formally contemplated in the
bye-laws of the original Society, corresponds to the “Monadic” (Atma-Buddhic)
level of the movement. As we saw, for some time after 1875 Adepts and Initiates
were officially considered part of the organized movement, in its triadic structure. This is not so any
longer: yet they must be still connected to the movement, and the nature of
their connection is well clarified by the study of the septenary vision of the movement.
One significant fact is that Atma and Buddhi are not within the organism they inspire, as can be seen in the volume
“The Mahatma Letters”.
In August 1882, one of the Mahatmas wrote a revealing
letter to A. P. Sinnett and A. O. Hume. In a previous statement, the Master had
told them that “there is within man no abiding principle”. Sinnett had then
asked: “How about the sixth and seventh principles?”
The Master commented:
“To this I answer, neither Atma nor Buddhi ever were within man, - a little metaphysical
axiom that you can study with advantage in Plutarch and Anaxagoras. The latter
made his - nous autocrates[10] - the spirit self-potent, the nous that alone recognized noumena, while the former taught on the
authority of Plato and Pythagoras that the semomnius
or this nous always remained without the body; that it floated and overshadowed
so to say the extreme part of the man’s head, it is only the vulgar who think
it is within them. (.....) The permanent never merges with the impermanent
although the two are one.” [11]
The same statement is made, and with more
explanations, in “Isis Unveiled”.[12]
By using the law of analogy and applying this idea to
the movement as a whole, one sees that the higher principles of the modern
theosophical movement - that is, the adeptic
and initiatic consciousness -
overshadow its intermediary principles, which correspond to the subtle atmosphere created by the efforts of
serious aspirants to the esoteric wisdom. It may also have some influence on
the movement’s Quaternary, that is, on its organized, visible action and work.
This, however, can never be taken for granted. It will
depend on the quality of the individual work done by theosophists, and whether
they have “a clean life, an open mind, a pure heart”, a courageous endurance of
personal injustice, and a constant eye to the ideal of human progression and
perfection.
Whenever the necessary conditions exist, the Sacred
Presence will implicitly overshadow in a more intense way both the “soul” and
the “body” of the movement. As “The Secret Doctrine” puts it:
“The ever unknowable and incognizable Karana alone, the Causeless Cause of all causes, should have its shrine and altar on
the holy and ever untrodden ground of our heart - invisible, intangible, unmentioned,
save through ‘the still small voice’ of our spiritual consciousness. Those who
worship before it, ought to do so in the silence and the sanctified solitude of
their Souls: making their spirit the sole mediator between them and the Universal Spirit, their good actions the
only priests, and their sinful intentions the only visible and objective
sacrificial victims to the Presence.” [13]
Seen as a living
organism, the theosophical movement is like that Ashwattha tree which grows with its roots above, its branches
below.
As to its leaves, they are not only the Vedas, as the Gita states. [14] They include every wisdom tradition, and all philosophy,
religion and science, if only one looks at them from the right point of view.
HPB writes about a previous and wiser humanity:
“It was the living tree of divine wisdom; and may
therefore be likened to the Mundane Tree of the Norse Legend, which cannot
wither and die until the last battle of life shall be fought, while its roots
are gnawed all the time by the dragon, Nidhogg; for even so, the first and holy
Son of Kriyasakti had his body gnawed by the tooth of time, but the roots of
his inner being remained for ever undecaying and strong, because they grew and
expanded in heaven, not on earth.” [15]
The true roots of the theosophical movement’s tree are
also in heaven, or rather in Atma-Buddhi, its sixth and seventh principles. At
the right time in every cycle, the Branches and Leaves of such a tree-movement
will once more get visibly strong:
there is no need to ask about that. Yet perhaps the work for the movement is
more meritorious during the hard, silent times, than during the easy and noisy
ones. [16]
NOTES:
[1] “The Secret Doctrine”, H.P. Blavatsky, Theosophy
Company, Los Angeles, 1982, vol. I, p. 555.
[2] “The Friendly
Philosopher”, Robert Crosbie, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, USA, 1945, p. 41.
[3] “Principles, Rules and Bye-Laws as revised in General
Council at Bombay, December 17, 1879”, see “The Theosophist”, Adyar, India,
volume I, April 1880, pp. 179-180.
[4] “The Dream of Ravan”, Theosophy Company, Mumbai,
India, 248 pp., see p. 54.
[5] HPB wrote a great deal about the significance of
number seven and the septenary character of life. See for instance her articles
“The Number Seven” (“The Theosophist”, June 1880 edition), “The Number Seven
and our Society” (“Theosophist”, September 1880), and virtually every Chapter
in “The Secret Doctrine”, especially Chapter XXV in volume II, “The Mysteries
of the Hebdomad”. The reader will also find many revealing passages in “Isis
Unveiled”, including volume II, pp. 417-419.
[6] In the article “The Theosophical Movement”, “Path”,
August 1895. See “Theosophical Articles”, W.Q. Judge, Theosophy Company, volume
II, p. 124.
[7] “Isis Unveiled”, H.P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., Los
Angeles, 1982, volume II, pp. 283-284.
[8] “The Secret Doctrine”, H.P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co.,
Los Angeles, 1982, volume I, p. 179.
[9] “The Inner Group Teachings of H.P. Blavatsky”, Point
Loma Publications, 1985, p. 27. The exact words in the minutes of the meeting
say: “H.P.B.
said that the Inner Group was the Manas of the T.S. The E.S. was the Lower
Manas; the T.S. the Quaternary.”
[10] In Greek letters in the
original.
[11] “The Mahatma Letters to
A.P. Sinnett”, TUP, Pasadena, Letter CXXVII, p. 455. See Letter 72 in the Chronological
edition, Philippines.
[12] “Isis Unveiled”, H.P.
Blavatsky, volume II, pp. 283-285.
[13] “The Secret
Doctrine”, Helena P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Company, Los Angeles, volume I, p.
280.
[14] See the opening paragraph
in the fifteenth Chapter, “Bhagavad Gita”, The Theosophy Company, Los
Angeles/Mumbai, 1986.
[15] “The Secret Doctrine”, HPB,
volume I, p. 211.
[16] An initial version of the
above Chapter was published as an article in FOHAT magazine, Canada, Fall 2008,
volume XII, Number 3, pp. 57-60.
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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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