A Key to Understanding Esoteric Philosophy
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
No one can pour tea into a cup
that is filled with another substance.
If a student wants to learn
theosophy, he will have to empty himself and his cup. He must renounce personal
thoughts and feelings about mundane subjects, forgetting material issues. However,
even this is not enough: a strong will and a sharp discernment are also necessary.
As the pilgrim expands his
view of life, he realizes that the spiritual journey is surrounded by false
lights and brilliant fireworks which lead nowhere. He must learn to identify
and leave aside the easy path of pseudo-theosophy, of ritualism, of channeling,
and dozens of other ways to self-deception.
The hard decision to abandon
illusions allows the student to increase his common sense, to expand
self-confidence and to enable himself to live up to the teachings of modern
esoteric philosophy.
How exactly can this be done?
In 1891, H. P. Blavatsky gave
valuable indications about the path while speaking to a student a few weeks
before closing her physical life. She said that no matter what one may study in
the Secret Doctrine one’s mind must
hold fast to four ideas “as the basis of its ideation”.
The first one is the fundamental unity of all existence. Such inner union
includes and preserves the diversity and contrasts of external nature.
The second idea to remember is that there
is no dead matter. Nothing is inert, everything evolves. Each atom is
alive.
The third and fourth ideas
are directly related to the topic of the seven principles of human
consciousness.
HPB said:
“The third basic idea to be
held is that Man is the microcosm. As he is so, then all the Hierarchies of the
Heavens exist within him. But in truth there is neither Macrocosm nor Microcosm
but ONE EXISTENCE. Great and small are such only as viewed by a limited
consciousness. Fourth and last basic idea to be held is that expressed in the
Great Hermetic Axiom. It really sums up and synthesizes all the others: ‘As is the inner, so is the outer; as is the
great so is the small; as it is above,
so it is below; there is but One Life and Law: and he that worketh it is ONE.
Nothing is inner, nothing is outer; nothing is great, nothing is small; nothing
is high, nothing is low, in the Divine Economy’.” [1]
This is the great reason to
study the topic of the seven principles of consciousness. It is one of the most
important in esoteric philosophy. It contains the key with which one may
have real access to the occult, or essential, knowledge. Each human being is
the microcosm. Therefore he must understand himself (his seven principles)
in order to know the world that surrounds him. And the other way around: he
also needs to study the cosmos, so as to be able to understand himself.
The Pythagoreans of ancient
Greece studied the cosmic “music” of the spheres, or planets, in order to know
themselves, because “the great is like the small, and vice versa”.
And why did the first eclectic
theosophists, the students of Ammonius Saccas in Alexandria in the third
century of our era, work with the principle of analogy in their search for
universal truth?
Because there is only ONE
EXISTENCE, although its external manifestations are countless.
For this same practical
reason, the work “The Secret Doctrine” carefully examines the unfoldment of
life in its cosmic dimension. Some readers complain and say that a large
portion of “The Secret Doctrine” is “too abstract”. And, no doubt, they are
right. Yet the Masters of the Wisdom have strong reasons to teach that one
needs to adopt an abstract point of view, in order to understand the origin of
the universe and the long journey of human soul.
There
is nothing more practical or effective than the study of cosmic
processes, because this very study awakens Buddhi-Manas in the consciousness of
the student. In other words, it expands the connection between his fifth principle,
mind, to his sixth principle, spiritual intuition.
And this is precisely the
evolutionary step that our mankind must take in its present stage.
One must not forget that the blavatskian
concept of human race relates but on a secondary level to the physical plane.
Esoterically, the idea of race
does not depend on the color of skin. Besides, there are no “better” races or
“worse” races. The word “race” refers to
a fundamentally psychological-spiritual prototype (although also physical) of
human beings. It refers to an almost unimaginably long period of time and a
specific phase of the geological history of our planet. It is enough to say
that the two first races were not quite physical. They inhabited the Earth when
its geological characteristics were quite different from the present ones. In
this wide context, the small “racial differences” between this and that nation
in our present mankind have no importance. The first object of the theosophical
movement is universal brotherhood. It seeks the harmonious coexistence of human
beings regardless of skin color, social class, sex, religious affiliation or
political ideology. The students of esoteric
philosophy must work for the long term happiness of all beings.
There is no doubt that during
the 20th century the concept of race was distorted and used to justify
anti-Semitism and other crimes against humanity. [2] Yet esoteric philosophy cannot abandon the millennia-old
concept of root-race just because, in some moment in History, it was distorted
by criminal political leaders. Distortions are short-lived; truth remains. The
fact that philosophical terms are often distorted must stimulate us to be
vigilant and to perceive the meaning that each individual ascribes to words.
One must also examine the living context in which the words are used. [3]
Regarding the topic of races,
as so many others issues, an excessive simplification of esoteric philosophy
brings about serious danger. H. P. Blavatsky avoided the reduction of her
teachings to a set of too easy ideas. Her purpose was to prevent, or to make it
more difficult, that unexperienced students could memorize a few concepts and
delude themselves by thinking they know much about esoteric science.
Modern civilization - inspired
and dominated by the European culture and by the cultural elements associated
to it, which are spread in the various continents - is situated in the second
half of the fifth root-race, and more precisely in the fifth sub-race of the
fifth root-race. It has reached the point where Manas, the mind, starts receiving with increasing intensity the
intuitive light of Buddhi, thus
preparing the birth of the sixth sub-race of the fifth root-race. This
awakening takes place through pioneer individuals and social sectors initially consisting
of small numbers of citizens.
As an unavoidable collateral
effect, this new energy seems to disturb and to reduce the work of previous or conventional
mechanisms of production of ethical feelings. While small pioneering sectors awaken, other
social sectors - initially the vast majority - apparently lose all sense of
ethics and any inspiration coming from the higher planes of consciousness.
Thus, the transitional crisis intensifies. Yet, it is because of the new
inspiring energy that the old structures tremble.
There are seven root-races.
Each of them, according to H.P.B., has seven sub-races. In the fifth root-race
as a whole, the evolutionary focus works in building mainly the fifth
principle, Manas, while all along
the sixth root-race the focus will be especially concentrated on the sixth
principle, Buddhi.
The same process takes place,
in a smaller scale, in the sub-races. Each of them is dedicated to one
principle especially. In the fourth sub-race of the fifth race, for example,
the priority was the fourth principle, desire (Kama). In the present fifth sub-race of the fifth race, we have a
relative dominance of the mental principle (Manas). In the sixth sub-race of our fifth root-race, there will be
an awakening of the sixth principle, the buddhic principle, the center and seat
of the spiritual soul. We are now living its long process of expansion.
The direct relation - numeric
and numerological - between the seven principles of human consciousness as they
are taught in the original teachings of theosophy and the seven successive races
of mankind’s evolution is a strong reason to preserve the original description
of the seven principles. The seven principles are the bridge between the
microcosm (human being) and the macrocosm (the planet and the universe).
Cosmic (and human) life is
like a carousel which turns around itself within a larger carousel, and the
second carousel turns around within another, even bigger carousel; and so on.
In terms of spatial realities, each atom is a miniature of the solar system,
and each solar system is a miniature of the Milky Way.
In the dimension of time, a
second is part of the minute; the minute is part of the hour, the hour is part
of the day, that day is part of the year, the year is part of the century, and
the century is a small particle of large cosmic eras. The evolution of the souls is perfectly
synchronized with larger and smaller cycles.
The universal space-time,
abstract and absolute - the unlimited circle that contains it all - is called Parabrahman
in esoteric philosophy. The key to perceive these realities from a practical point
of view is in the seven principles of human consciousness.
The larger and smaller wheels
of the cycles of universal life fit into one another. False theosophy has a
fragmented view of life. The enumeration of the seven principles entitles one
to study the cosmology and the occult nature of human beings as taught in the
Mahatma Letters and in “The Secret Doctrine”. The original didactic framework
of the theosophical teachings gives us a systemic view of life, which can
consistently show the unity of the part and the whole, demonstrating in which
way the part contains the whole, and revealing how exactly a human being is a
summary of the universe.
The topic of Races, Rounds and
Chains raises logical challenges to our understanding and expands our ability
to intuitively perceive the dynamics of the cosmos.
In “The Secret Doctrine”, Helena
Blavatsky could reveal only a part of the teaching regarding this topic.
However, the information transmitted by her is more than enough for the present
phase of human evolution. The Mahatmas taught through their Letters and the
writings of H.P.B. that the wave of life which is presently on the
planet Earth undergoes seven larger cycles, across long periods of cosmic time.
Each one of these cycles - called Rounds - includes the peregrination through
seven globes or spheres which have several degrees of subtlety and denseness,
and possesses a direct relation to the seven principles of our Earth. The seven
globes form what is known as the Earth Chain. Six of the globes are made
of subtle matter. Only one of them is physical or dense. The seven globes are
situated in a spiral, in different levels of vibration and consciousness. They
correspond, through the law of analogy, to the seven principles of human
consciousness. [4]
The first and the last globe
exist in a high degree of spiritual elevation. The second and the penultimate
are a little closer to the material world already. The third and the fifth are less elevated,
but only the fourth globe is made of dense matter. The Earth is the physical
globe of the present Chain. While our humanity inhabits the Earth, human beings
unfold across time in seven basic human types, or archetypes, called seven
root-races.
The passage through the seven
races forms one terrestrial round. The voyage through the seven globes of the
terrestrial chain forms one planetary round.
Seven planetary rounds mean one complete Chain. The wave of life which
is presently human has inhabited already the mineral realm, and after that the
vegetable kingdom, and the animal kingdom, until it awakened as human
intelligence. The periods of manifestation of life (either individual,
planetary or cosmic) are always followed by proportional periods of “rest”. For
the individual, reincarnation takes place after a long interval between
two lives. For the planet and the solar system, there is a new manvantara (period of manifestation)
after a long pralaya (period of
rest).
The peregrination of the monad
through the various kingdoms of nature takes place in different globes. It was
described in an allegorical way by Brazilian poet Múcio Teixeira. These are Múcio’s
verses, translated in prose:
“I died as a mineral, to be
born in the plant. I was a stone and a seed. I shone in the diamond and the
enlightened crystal. The singing bird built in me a nest. I transferred myself
to the animal forms, vaguely seeing a light on the other side. From the animal I
passed on to the human, like a spark descending into ashes and embers. Later on,
I will turn on the eternal light that is God.”[5]
In each Round, the wave of
life awakens and develops mainly one principle of consciousness. There are
seven rounds, and seven principles. Life focusses especially on one level of
consciousness each time, and does so also in the lesser cycles, called races.
For this reason there are seven races.
Yet this is not all.
We are in the fifth of the
seven root-races of the present Round, and this root-race, which is Mental or
Manasic, has its own seven smaller cycles, or sub-cycles, called sub-races.
The focus of the evolution of
our mankind is right now centered on the second half of the fifth sub-race. Therefore
it is working, even more specifically, the fifth principle. There is, in this
process, a combination of long-term efforts and short-term efforts. It is as if
the dial of a clock were indicating that it is midday now: its hands are in the
same point of the time-circle.
We could create the dial of a
“cosmic rounds clock”, with seven numbered divisions, instead of the twelve
divisions of common watches. We could
put three hands in it. The smallest hand, moving more slowly, would indicate
the number of the Round where the wave of human life is. The second hand,
moving at an intermediary speed, would indicate the root-race on which the
central focus is concentrated. The third hand of this septenary clock would be its
largest and quickest. It would indicate the sub-race or sub-cycle which
predominates in any specific phase of the evolution.
We are in the Fourth round, in
the Fifth root-race, and the Fifth sub-race; but the third and smallest hand of
the clock points almost to the beginnings of the sixth sub-race already.
The first individuals of the
sixth sub-race of the fifth root-race are emerging, as H.P. Blavatsky writes in
“The Secret Doctrine”. [6] The foundation
of the modern esoteric movement and the simultaneous formulation of its
philosophy in the last quarter of the nineteenth century are related with the
acceleration of this process and with the corresponding awakening of the
buddhic level of consciousness, the sixth principle.
The new evolutionary step is taken on the basis of mental purification. A clean mind depends on the ability of the fifth principle to raise itself above all blind belief and to defeat the other factors that tend to enslave it. The mind must purify Kama, the fourth principle, the seat of animal passions and main source of instinctive attachment and rejection.
This is a difficult battle to
win. The spiritual pilgrim can be described as a warrior. Some of the
imprisoning bonds may be very subtle and have a spiritual appearance. Hence the
pseudo-theosophical and pseudo-esoteric tests one must face. Manas is a dual principle, and Kama-Manas will always be able to put
an elegant and even spiritual vesture around lower feelings.
Thus, the luminous awakening
of Buddhi-Manas is often slow, complex and full of deceiving episodes. This is
the challenge placed before us. It corresponds to the next step of our mankind,
which includes thousands of years, but it has a decisive moment in the 21st
century.
It is through the expansion of
the mind and the awakening of higher intuition that a student enables himself
to see the larger process of evolution. What the original theosophical
literature does is to give the truth-seeker effective hints. The formation of a
correct understanding of great life cycles must be an independent process undergone
by each student.
The correspondence and
interaction between the big and the small, the microcosm and the macrocosm or
each human being and the universe, is clearly described in the letter 13 of
“The Mahatma Letters”. While answering
to the first in a series of questions made by Alfred P. Sinnett, a teacher
says:
“Nothing in nature springs
into existence suddenly, all being subjected to the same law of gradual
evolution. Realize but once the process of the maha cycle [7], of one
sphere and you have realized them all. One man is born like another man, one
race evolves, develops, and declines like another and all other races. Nature
follows the same groove from the ‘creation’ of a universe down to that of a
moskito. In studying esoteric cosmogony, keep a spiritual eye upon the
physiological process of human birth; proceed from cause to effect establishing
as you go along, analogies between the birth of a man and that of a world. In
our doctrine you will find necessary the synthetic method; you will have to
embrace the whole - that is to say to blend the macrocosm and the microcosm together - before you are enabled to
study the parts separately or analyze them with profit to your understanding.
Cosmology is the physiology of the universe spiritualized, for there is but one
law.” [8]
Here the master mentions the symmetric
relation between the occult anatomy of a human being, with its seven
principles, and the occult anatomy or “spiritual physiology” of the universe,
and of the planet on which we live.
H.P.B. examines the topic of
the seven principles in “The Key to Theosophy”[9]. She starts by saying that Plato was an initiate, and that he
taught human constitution had three parts: a mortal body, a mortal soul, and an
immortal soul. This is the cautious classification of principles adopted by
H.P.B. in a previous work of hers, “Isis Unveiled”: immortal spirit, animal
soul or mortal soul, and physical body. Only a few years later the Masters revealed
through H.P.B. something which up to that moment was secret: the septenary key
of correspondence between the individual and the cosmos. This is the key to the
“music” of the spheres or globes, with its seven basic musical notes, which
correspond to the seven colors of the solar spectrum and the seven planets of
ancient tradition. These are the seven planets which have a more direct
relation with our humanity.
H.P.B. divided the seven principles
in two groups, symbolized by two geometric figures: the lower quaternary and
the higher triad. Let us see now some information about each of them.
1) The first principle,
Sthula-Sharira or Rupa in Sanskrit, is the physical body. During human life, it
receives the effects of the kind of working developed by all the other
principles, and faithfully plays the role of their vehicle. The general rule is
that the more active the higher principles, the better the health and the
longevity of the physical body. The numerous exceptions are due to the karmic
challenges (both individual and collective) faced during discipleship. We have
plenty of examples in the life of mystics and thinkers of every era, including
the life of H.P.B. (whose work on the inner planes caused her physiological
limitations) and the short existence of Subba Row, an advanced disciple of the
Mahatmas. An abstract life, dedicates to the elevated levels of consciousness,
can also cause a life that is biologically short, because of the self-sacrifice,
or through a marked indifference to the things of the world, as in the case of
the philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Generally speaking, however, the good health of
the soul is a factor leading to a good health of the physical body. The ancient
Greeks have this sentence as a motto: “A healthy mind in a healthy body.”
Sthula-sharira can also be seen
as the page where - throughout one’s life - the actions of the other six
principles, higher than it, are impressed, side by side with the impressions caused
by the surrounding environment.
Sthula-Sharira is the meeting
point of the physical context with the subtle environment, and it receives the
influences coming from both. Through the material body the external influences
reach the subtle principles of consciousness, and, on the other hand, through
it the subtle actions of the individual reach the external world.
It is not Sthula-Sharira, therefore, that struggles against the beneficial
influences coming from the higher triad or immortal soul. It is Kama that shares and competes with the
higher triad, Atma-Buddhi-Manas, for
the influence over Sthula-Sharira. The
physical body in itself is a temple; yet ignorance attracts merchants to the
temple, in the allegory of the New Testament, and they must be expelled. The
merchants symbolize laziness, the selfish desires and the indulgence created by
the fourth principle, Kama, as long
as this principle is not liberated from the effects of spiritual ignorance.
2) The second principle is Prana, the vital principle. This is the
life-force indispensable for the higher lower principles. Throughout the
process of the learning of the soul, the increasing purity of Kama, the fourth principle, is an
essential factor for the vital energies of Prana,
the second, to be used in correct ways.
3) The third principle, Linga-Sharira, is the model or astral
form. Linga-Sharira, according to Helena
Blavatsky says in “The Key to Theosophy” and other works, is the double, the
phantom, the form-aspect. When Blavatsky uses the term “astral”, she is
thinking in these terms. Linga-Sharira
is the reservoir of life to the body. It is the concrete instrument through
which Prana gives life to the
physical body. It is the subtle structure, karmically determined, which absorbs Prana and transmits it to the physical
frame. One of its aspects is the modern “genetic patrimony”. But it is also the
skandhas, the karmic records of previous lives and earlier phases
undergone by an individual soul and monad.
4) The fourth principle, Kama, is the seat of emotions, desires
and passions. It is center of the animal man. In the fourth and fifth
principles we find the line of demarcation between mortal man and immortal man.
In “The Key to Theosophy” H.P.B. calls the fourth principle Kama-Rupa. Rupa means body,
form. But HPB generally uses this term in connection with the situation after
the physical death, when Kama
actually assumes a form. It would rather be a mistake to call the fourth human
principle of consciousness Kama-Rupa.
It only becomes Rupa, body or form, after death. It does represents the kamic
elements of a human being; the emotions at a personal level.
The fourth principle becomes
pure through loyalty to the immortal soul.
5) The fifth principle, Manas, is the mind, the intelligence, a
dual principle in its functions. H.P.B. says that the light of mind connects
the immortal monad (Atma-Buddhi) to the mortal man. She adds:
“The future state and the
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.” [10]
In this passage H.P.B.
mentions the fact that, in the afterlife, a new “self” or Ego emerges after the higher consciousness defeats the lower
consciousness, enabling itself to go into the blissful state of Devachan (literally, “divine place”).
The process is described in
the letter 16 of the Mahatma Letters [11].
The text carefully examines the
Devachan, the blessed stage between two physical lives.
However, the question whether Manas
will gravitate more towards Buddhi or towards Kama is not decisive only
regarding what happens after physical death. It is also decisive for the quality of
life of each citizen, and every collectivity, here and now.
What must we do, then, in
order for our life to gravitate around the higher self and the Buddhic
consciousness?
H.P.B. wrote that the
conscious choice between a noble, firm will and the personal, oscillating
desires is a central factor in the life of Manas, and also in the formation of
the present and future Karma of all individuals.
6) The sixth principle, Buddhi, is the spiritual soul. It is
the vehicle or instrument of Atma, the
pure universal spirit. Buddhi is the feeling that we are in inner unity with
the Universe. It is the source of spiritual intuition. We may add that in the
Mahatma Letters a Master establishes a relation between the feeling of remorse
and the buddhic principle [12].
Buddhi is connected therefore to our “voice of the conscience”, which sometimes
approves and other times disapproves the decisions we make in life. The
practice of actually listening to this conscience is perfectly possible and most
useful to all.
The awakening of Buddhi
requires (and stimulates) a growing consistency among what one feels, thinks, says, and does. This fundamental harmony is often
not obvious to see. It purifies the lower quaternary and allows the light from
Atma-Buddhi to shine in a vertical way and with less distortion, as it descends
from the higher level to the dense realms of life.
7) The seventh principle, Atma, is the spirit, the true self. It
is one with the absolute, and for this reason it is not exactly a human
principle, except when projected by Buddhi, its vehicle, on more limited
dimensions. We should take into consideration that in the Letters a
Mahatma refers to Plato and Pythagoras to explain that, in fact, Atma and
Buddhi are not within the human
being:
“…Neither Atma nor Buddhi ever
were within man, - a little
metaphysical axiom that you can study with advantage in Plutarch and
Anaxagoras.” Plutarch “taught on the authority
of Plato and Pythagoras that the demonium [13]
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.” [14]
Between the immortal triad and
the mortal quaternary, we find Antahkarana, the bridge connecting Buddhi-Manas
to Kama-Manas. The seven principles of
human consciousness are the ladder of Jacob which unites Heaven (Atma) and
Earth (Sthula-Sharira, physical body). The allegory of the ladder to sky is in
Genesis, 28: 10-12.
In “The Key to Theosophy” [15], H.P.B. relates the seven principles
of man to the septenary constitution of our planet. She adds:
“Our philosophy teaches us
that, as there are seven fundamental forces in nature, and seven planes of
being, so there are seven states of consciousness in which man can live, think,
remember and have his being.”
According to original
theosophy, everything in a human being and in the cosmos must be studied from
the point of view of the septenary factor. In esoteric science, if you do not
know from what point of view you are speaking, you do not know what you are
talking about. Let us try to sum up,
then, and strengthen in our memory the key-words of the septenary ladder:
1 - Sthula-Sharira - the physical vehicle,
body or instrument;
2 - Prana - vitality;
3 - Linga-Sharira - the astral, the double,
the model, the phantom-body;
4 - Kama - the principle that is the seat
of animal passions and the feelings of attachment and rejection;
5 - Manas - the mind, the dual principle, gravitating sometimes towards
Buddhi, other times around Kama;
6 - Buddhi - spiritual soul, universal
compassion, the vehicle of Atma;
7 - Atma - the supreme principle, which
exists in unity with the absolute.
As we saw above, the seven
principles are divided in two groups. The lower quaternary gravitates near
dense matter. The immortal triad has an affinity with Atma. Between the Three
and the Four there is a corridor called antahkarana. Technically, antahkarana is a “bridge”
between lower manas and higher Manas. For didactical purposes, we can visualize
the septenary scheme in this way:
The
Principles of Human Consciousness
An allegorical, limited
description of the dynamic movement of these seven principles can be done.
When Atma - the supreme principle - looks downwards, it feels compassion
and becomes Buddhi, a spiritual
soul. When Buddhi looks downwards, it produces universal thoughts which reveal
the external diversity from the point of view of inner unity, and becomes Manas in its higher aspect. As Manas looks down, it gets trapped, or
tends to get trapped at Kama, and
becomes Kama-Manas. When Kama-Manas looks downwards, it sees Linga-Sharira, the model containing the
karmic records from previous lives (and for the future ones). This is the
subtle project of a physical body,
prepared by Karma. Linga-Sharira looks “down” and finds Jiva, life in its absolute sense. It absorbs Jiva and forms Prana,
the vital principle. Thus Linga-Sharira,
the physical body, is renewed and strengthened.
In the ascendant cycle, the
return to one’s home is the evolutionary journey in which the focus of
consciousness looks higher and higher.
This is not the only approach we
can have to the various levels of human consciousness. From a practical point
of view the classification of principles and even the order among them can
change from an individual to another. In original theosophy, graphic
descriptions cannot replace facts, but they help stimulate self-knowledge.
While trying to rationally
understand the mystery of the seven principles, some students may say the
teachings given by H.P.B. are complex and imperfect. And this is a fact. Regarding
some subjects, theosophy cannot publicly share more than general teachings,
often in fragmentary form, whose partial understanding will stimulate the
intuition of students. You cannot take a photo of the wind, and Spirit is
subtler than the wind.
It is true that the
pseudo-theosophical literature created by Annie Besant, Charles Leadbeater and
their followers tries to present theosophy as if it were simple, linear, and as
if it depended on blind faith and were connected to ceremonialism. Such a
distorted literature is a parody of true theosophy and must be completely
abandoned. During a discussion with Subba Row over the classification of the
principles of consciousness, Helena Blavatsky wrote that whatever is esoteric
must be -
“..Rather inferred than openly
taught.” [16]
In fact, the process of
conventional reasoning can only obtain fragments of truth. Trying to understand
the realities of the subtle worlds through three-dimensional mental images is
like desiring to capture the free wind from the top of a snowy mountain and
keep it in a closed glass jar. The importance of the study is in that it serves
as a foundation from which one attains a transcendent view of things.
The 1900 Letter, the last one
received from a Mahatma, reveals to students how the Adepts work:
“At favourable times we let
loose elevating influences which strike various persons in various ways. It is
the collective aspect of many such thoughts that can give the correct note of
action.” [17]
These words make it easier for
us to see that the occult energy is beyond the patterns of vibration which the
left hemisphere of the brain, with its linear logic, is entitled to understand.
Different individuals have various degrees and kinds of consciousness, and they
grasp contrasting aspects and angles of the occult energy or essence of things.
Therefore there is no way to describe an occult process in conventional words. The student has to rise above linear
classifications, which are - if correctly seen - but a compass needle
indicating the facts, and not the facts themselves.
The book “The Occult World”,
by Alfred P. Sinnett, reproduces various letters from the Mahatmas. In one of
them there is a paragraph of decisive importance for a sane understanding of
the contact between a Master and the aspirant to discipleship:
“Only the progress one makes
in the study of arcane knowledge from its rudimental elements, brings him
gradually to understand our meaning. Only thus, and not otherwise, does it,
strengthening and refining those mysterious links of sympathy between
intelligent men - the temporarily isolated fragments of the universal soul and
the cosmic soul itself - bring them into full rapport. Once this established,
then only will those awakened sympathies serve, indeed, to connect Man with - what for the want of a
European scientific word more competent to express the idea, I am again
compelled to describe as that energetic chain which binds together the material
and Immaterial Kosmos, - Past, Present, and Future, and quicken his perceptions
so as to clearly grasp, not merely all things of matter, but of spirit also. I
feel even irritated at having to use these three clumsy words - Past, Present,
and Future. Miserable concepts of the objective phases of the subjective whole,
they are about as ill adapted for the purpose as an axe for fine carving.” [18]
The occult nature of a
human being is complex. It is multidimensional. One cannot correctly
describe it by solely using words. One must perceive it through an inner process
which is spontaneous, not-voluntary, and which usually occurs after many small
fragments of information have been gathered from the three-dimensional world.
This intangible point of view,
from which the student looks at all life inside and outside his own
consciousness, must enlighten also his objective existence. Besides studying
the septenary view of things taught by Blavatsky and other approaches to the
principles of consciousness, the student must ask himself from a practical and
experiential viewpoint what the recent performance is on daily life of his various
“selves”, placed on a vertical scale.
He must evaluate his physical
“self”, including the degree of purity of his food and the quantity of adequate
physical exercise during work and in leisure time, and his amount of physical
rest. These are important factors for his first, second and third principles.
He must examine his animal emotional “self”, Kama, with its several aspects,
which adapt themselves to the different objective and psychological situations
he lives. The performance of Kama is equally important to the effective work of
Sthula-Sharira, Prana and Linga-Sharira.
The student must observe his
mental “self” - which has his own opinions and favorite ideas - and see whether
he gravitates towards the sixth principle or obeys to the fourth. The word
“self”, here, is used to mean “a center of will which organizes a part of the
consciousness”. In such an observation, self-condemnation and
self-justification should be avoided.
The theosophical teachings get
renewed meanings at every instant. The student records them in his own soul
into the extent that he sees in them higher layers of meaning and transforms
them in a coherent part of his daily life. Plato wrote:
“I mean an intelligent word
graven in the soul of the learner …” (“Phaedrus” [276])
Although the philosophy of
Helena Blavatsky is still recent - having been given to mankind less than 200
years ago - it can already be partially understood and experienced. Theosophy
has a decisive importance in the good karma of the planet. It slowly paves the
way for future evolutionary steps which human beings can study and understand
already, as they work for the birth of a wiser and more brotherly humanity.
NOTES:
[1] “The ‘Secret
Doctrine’ and Its Study”, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, a six-page pamphlet, see
pages 3-5. Click here to read the text.
[2] See the articles “Theosophy and the Second WorldWar”, “Blavatsky, Judaism and Nazism”
and “Blavatsky, United Nations andDemocracy”.
[3] The theosophical
movement is not free from such a danger, or from infiltration. Read for instance the article “Racism in the Name of Theosophy”.
[4] There are two
kinds of Round. The “terrestrial” Round
goes through the seven root-races of Globe D.
The “planetary” Round goes across the seven Globes. See “The Secret
Doctrine”, H.P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, volume I, pp. 159-161.
[5] Translated from Múcio Teixeira, as quoted in the book “O
Poder da Sabedoria”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline, Ed. Teosófica, Brasília, Brazil,
1999, third edition, p. 30. The poem says:
Morri no mineral, / Para nascer na planta. / Fui pedra e fui semente, / Brilhei
no diamante e no cristal luzente. / Fez em mim o seu ninho / O pássaro que
canta. / Passei às formas do animal, / Vendo indistintamente uma luz na outra
banda. / Do animal passei à forma do homem, / Faísca que desceu às cinzas e às
brasas. / Mais tarde acenderei a luz eterna que é Deus.
[6] “The Secret
Doctrine”, Helena P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., volume II, pp. 444-446.
[7] Maha cycle - large
cycle.
[8] See letter 13 in “The
Mahatma Letters”, edited by A. Trevor Barker, 1926 edition, published by T.
Fisher Unwin Ltd., in London, UK, 493 pages, pp. 70-71. Click to see the whole
book “The Mahatma Letters”, 1926
edition, at one of our websites. The pages are the same in the TUP edition,
Pasadena, CA. This text corresponds to
Letter 44 in the Chronological edition of “The Mahatma Letters”, TPH,
Philippines, p. 118. In various sentences of this paragraph we follow the
Chronological edition, which safely reconstitutes the text. In the
non-chronological editions, the transcription is precarious and hard to
understand.
[9] “The Key to
Theosophy”, H. P. Blavatsky, Section VI.
The work is available at our associated websites.
[10] “The Key to
Theosophy”, H. P. Blavatsky, Section VI.
The work is available at the associated websites. See p. 92.
[11] “The Mahatma
Letters”, Letter 16. Click to see the volume.
[12] “The Mahatma
Letters”, Letter XXIV-B, item 8, p. 188.
Click and see the book.
[13] The ancient Greek word
“demonium” originally means “spirit”. Since the Middle Ages the Christian
clergy has ascribed a negative meaning to the word and used it as an excuse to promote
all kinds of persecution, as part of its project for dominating the “pagan”
nations. It must be said that the orthography of the word “demonium” is wrong
in the 1926 edition of the Mahatma Letters. It was corrected in the third,
revised edition (TPH) and in the Chronological edition (TPH, Philippines).
[14] “The Mahatma
Letters”, Letter CXXVII, p. 455. Click to see the volume.
[15] “The Key to
Theosophy”, 1889 edition, Section VI, part “On The Septenary Constitution of
our Planet”, p. 89. Click here to see the volume.
[16] From the text “Classification of ‘Principles’”, in
the three-volume compilation “Theosophical Articles”, Helena P. Blavatsky,
Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, 1981, see volume II, lower half of p. 233. This is
in the first half of the third paragraph of the article.
[17] See “Letters From
the Masters of the Wisdom - First Series”, TPH, India, 1948, Letter 46, upper
half of p. 112. The book is available at our associated websites.
For a study in this same letter with complete transcription, click here.
[18] “The Occult
World”, Alfred P. Sinnett, (1884), Kessinger Publishing Company, Montana, USA,
facsimile edition, 160 pp., see pp. 98-99.
000
The
article “The Seven Principles of
Consciousness” was published at our associated websites on 06 November
2018.
000
See the
articles “The Seven Principles of the Movement”, “Antahkarana, the Bridge to Sky”, and “The Constitution of Human Nature”.
000
On 14 September
2016, a group of students decided to found the Independent Lodge of Theosophists. Two of the priorities adopted by
the ILT are learning from the
past and building a better future.
000
