Theos-Talk Archives (October 2001 Message tt00414)

Thursday, October 25, 2001


Dear Monica:

As far as I can determine the key to the higher planes lies
through the self-directed effort to make our lives harmonious
with Nature and Karma.

If we try and send our earth-limited physiological brain-mind
(Lower Manas) cruising the oceans of the astral and psychic
unknown we might come into trouble if we are not pre-linked with
the SPIRITUAL SELF within us..

As I see it, relying on the hints H P B gives us in the KEY TO
THEOSOPHY (HPB) and The SECRET DOCTRINE [see S D I 157, 181,
200, 242-6, II 596 ] and [Key: pp. 91-2, 135-6, 175-6] the
DIVINE SPIRIT IN MAN can look out through three planes of
perception:

1. SPIRITUAL / WISDOM-DISCRIMINATION [Buddhi and
Higher Manas]

2. PSYCHO / MENTAL [Lower Manas and Kama]

3. PHYSICAL / ASTRAL [material of both the physical and the
astral planes]
[ S D I 157,
181 ]

I think you are wise to treat the "astral" and the "psychic" with
caution. There is a great deal written on the difference between
this level and the SPIRITUAL in Theosophical literature. Let me
see if I can find some and attach it here.


=========== ATTACHMENT ====================


MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS


"Our consciousness is one and not many, nor different
from other consciousnesses...consciousness itself...the one
consciousness of each person is the Witness or Spectator [his
Higher Self] of the actions and experiences of every state we are
in or pass through. It therefore follows that the waking
condition of the mind is not separate consciousness.

"The one consciousness pierces up and down through all
the states or planes of Being, and serves to uphold the
memory--whether complete or incomplete--of each state's
experience.

"Thus in waking life, Sat experiences fully and knows.
In dream state, Sat again knows and sees what goes on there,
while there may not be in the brain a complete memory of the
waking state just quitted. In Sushupti--beyond dream and yet on
indefinitely, Sat still knows all that is done or heard or seen.

"The way to salvation must be entered. To take the first
step raises the possibility of success. Hence it is said, 'When
the first attainment has been won, Moksha (salvation) has been
won.'

"The first step is giving up bad associations and getting
a longing for knowledge of God; the second is joining good
company, listening to their teachings and practicing them; the
third is strengthening the first two attainments, having faith
and continuing in it... G. NOTES 98-100


"...the plane of action is thought itself, that is to say--ideas.
Action is merely the sequence of the concretion of thought."
FRIENDLY PHIL,. p. 246


"Man, made of thought, occupant only of many bodies from
time to time, is eternally thinking. His chains are through
thought, his release due to nothing else. His mind is
immediately tinted or altered by whatever object it is directed
to. By this means the soul is enmeshed in the same thought or
series of thoughts as is the mind. If the object be anything
that is distinct from the Supreme Self then the mind is at once
turned into that, becomes that, is tinted like that. This is one
of the natural capacities of the mind. It is naturally clear and
uncolored...It is movable and quick, having a disposition to
bound from one point to another. Several words would describe
it. Chameleon-like it changes color, sponge-like it absorbs that
to which it is applied, sieve-like it at once loses its former
color and shape the moment a different object is taken up...it
becomes that to which it is devoted."
GITA NOTES p. 141-2


"No act is performed without a thought at its root either
at the time of performance or as leading to it. These thoughts
are lodged in that part of the man which we have called Manas-the
mind, and there remain as subtle but powerful links with magnetic
threads that enmesh the solar system, and through which various
effects are brought out...the whole system to which this globe
belongs is alive, conscious on every plane, though only in man
showing self-consciousness...the slightest impression...is not
lost but only latent...in proportion to the intensity of his
thought will be the intensity and depth of the picture..."
OCEAN 91-2


"The same power to perceive is possessed by all alike.
The differences in beings consists in the range of perception
which has been acquired through evolution, and this applies to
all lives below Man, to Man himself, and to all beings higher
than Man. In THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE it is said that "Mind is
like a mirror; it gathers dust while it reflects," and in other
writings it is spoken of as "the mirror of the Soul." We cannot
fail to see that we act in accordance with the ideas of life that
we hold' that what we call "our mind" is a number of ideas held
by us as a basis for thought and actions; that we change our
ideas from time to time, as we find occasion for such change;
but that at all times we act from the basis of the ideas
presently held...We are prone to accept and hold only such ideas
as are in accord with out personal desires...The real "worship"
is devotion to an ideal. Here "the Self of All" is the ideal,
and the action indicated is to think and act for, and as, the One
Self in all things, without self-interest in the results. We are
not attached to results by our acts, but by our thoughts;
freedom comes from a renunciation of self-interest in the fruit
of actions." GITA NOTES p. 161-2


"This means that each human being has the power to see
and know all things, however restricted that power may be at any
given time; that the restriction lies in the more or less narrow
range of the ideas that he adheres to, and which form the basis
for his actions. This self-limited range of perception, not only
prevents the full exercise of his powers as Self, but acts as a
bar to the right understanding of his observation and
experience." GITA NOTES 166-7


"Mind is the intelligent part of the Cosmos...[it
contains] the plan of the Cosmos...brought over from a prior
period of manifestation, which added to its ever-increasing
perfectness, and no limit can be set to its evolutionary
possibilities in perfectness...the plan has been laid down in the
universal mind; the original force comes from spirit; the basis
is matter--which is in fact invisible--Life sustains all the
forms requiring life, and Akasa is the connecting link [Fohat]
between matter on one side and spirit-mind on the other"
OCEAN, pp. 14-16.



THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY GIVES HELPFUL DEFINITIONS


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


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


ALAYA (Sk.) The Universal Soul (see SD I 47...). The
name belongs to the Tibetan system of the contemplative Mahayana
School. Identical with Akasa in its mystic sense, and with
Mulaprakriti, in its essence, as it is the basis or root of all
things." T. GLOS 14


AKASA (Sk.) The subtle, supersensuous spiritual
essence which pervades all space; the primordial substance
erroneously identified with Ether. But it is to Ether what
Spirit is to Matter, or Atma to Kama-rupa. It is, in fact, the
Universal Space in which lies inherent the eternal Ideation of
the Universe in its ever-changing aspects on the planes of matter
and objectivity, and from which radiates the First Logos, or
expressed thought...one attribute, namely sound, for sound is but
the translated symbol of Logos--"Speech" in its mystic sense.
power ..."to stir up the Brahma"... Kundalini--occult
electricity, the alkahest of the alchemists...the universal
solvent...anima mundi on the higher plane as the astral light is
on the lower. ] T. GLOS 13


MIND. "Mind is the name given to the sum of the states
of Consciousness grouped under Thought, Will and Feeling."
SD I 38


MANAS (Sk.) Lit., "the mind," the mental faculty
which makes of man an intelligent and moral being, and
distinguishes him from the mere animal; a synonym of Mahat.
Esoterically, however, it means, when unqualified, the Higher
EGO, or the sentient reincarnating Principle in man. When
qualified it is called by Theosophists Buddhi-Manas or the
Spiritual Soul in contradistinction to its human
reflection--Kama-Manas." T. GLOS. 202


"Manas, the derivation or product in a reflected form of
Ahankara* [Fn. * MAHAT or the "Universal Mind" is the source of
Manas...it is also called the Kshetrajna "embodied Spirit,"
because it is,...the Manasa-putra, or "Sons of the Universal
Mind." who created, or rather produced, the thinking man, "manu"
by incarnating in the third Race mankind in our Round. It is
Manas therefore, which is the real incarnating and permanent
Spiritual Ego, the INDIVIDUALITY..."] the conception of I", or
EGO-SHIP..." KEY 136


MANAS, KAMA (Sk.) Lit., "the mind of desire."...the
Kama Manas is but one of the Indriya or organs (roots) of sense.
[see HPB ART II 42] T. GLOS 202-3


MANASA or Manaswin (Sk.) "The efflux of the divine
mind,"...the divine sons of Brahma-Viraj...Arupa or incorporeal
sons of the Prajapati [progenitor] Viraj [Brahma...Mahat, the
universal mind] ...The Pitris are identical with the Kumara, the
Vairaja, the manasa-Putra (mind sons), and are finally identified
with the human "Egos." T. GLOS. 203


MANASA DHYANIS (Sk.) The highest Pitris in the
Puranas; the Agnishwattas, or Solar Ancestors of Man, those who
made of Man a rational being, by incarnating in the senseless
forms of semi-ethereal flesh of the men of the third race." [See
Vol. II of Secret Doctrine - pp. 171-2, 300, 525fn] T. GLOS
203


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


"...it is also necessary to admit the existence of soul,
and the comparative unimportance of the body in which it dwells.
For, Patanjali holds that Nature exists for the soul's sake [PAT
p.26]...he lays down that the real experiencer and knower is the
soul and not the mind, it follows that the Mind, designated
either as "internal organ," or "thinking principle," while higher
and more subtle than the body, is yet only an instrument used by
the Soul in gaining experience...He shows that the mind is, as he
terms it, "modified" by any object or subject brought before it,
or to which it is directed..." PATANJALI, . Intro. xiii


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


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


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


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


MAHA-BUDDHI (Sk) Mahat. The Intelligent Soul of the
World. GL. 1
Cosmic Buddhi, the emanation of the Spiritual Soul Alaya, is the
vehicle Mahat only when that Buddhi corresponds to Prakriti.
Then it is called Maha-Buddhi. This Buddhi differentiates
through 7 planes, whereas the Buddhi in man is the vehicle of
Atman, which vehicle is of the essence of the highest plane of
Akasa and therefore does not differentiate. The difference
between Manas and Buddhi in man is the same as the difference
between the Manasaputra and the Ah-hi in Kosmos.
T. GLOS 199


"The mind might be likened to a telescope in use by Man,
the Perceiver, in order to be able to perceive the nature of the
things about him. He can act only in accord with what he
perceives through the telescope. If the telescope is not
properly adjusted or out of focus, the perceptions will be out of
true, and wrong action will follow...[we have to learn] the
proper adjustment and focusing of the instrument upon which right
perception and action depend." FRIENDLY PHILOS. p. 143.
[ see OCEAN p. 53-4, KEY p. 129 ]


"...there exists in Nature a triple evolutionary scheme,
for the formation of the three principal Upadhis; or rather three
separate schemes of evolution, which in our system are
inextricably interwoven and interblended at every point. These
are the Monadic (or spiritual), the intellectual, and the
physical evolutions. These three are the finite aspects or the
reflections on the field of Cosmic Illusion of ATMA, the seventh,
the ONE REALITY...

2. The Intellectual, represented by the Manasa-Dhyanis
(the Solar Devas, or the Agnishwatta Pitris) the "givers of
intelligence and consciousness" to man... (182) It is the
Manasa-Dhyanis who fill the gap, and they represent the
evolutionary power of Intelligence and Mind, the link between
"Spirit" and "Matter"--in this Round." SD I 181-2



HIGHER ASPECT OF THE LOWER MANAS


"Man is a perfected animal, but before he could have
reached perfection even on the animal plane, there must have
dawned on him the light of a higher plane. Only the perfected
animal can cross the threshold of the next higher, of the human
plane, and as he does so there shines upon him the ray from the
supra-human plane. Therefore, as the dawn of humanity illumines
the animal plane, and as a guiding star lures the Monad to higher
consciousness, so the dawn of divinity illuminates the (28) human
plane, luring the monad to the supra-human plane of
consciousness.... Man...is however, "the vehicle of a fully
developed Monad, self-conscious and deliberately following its
own line of progress..." WQJ ARTICLES Vol. I, pp. 27-8
(see ISIS I 305, SD I 571-2, HPB ART III 440-1,
HPB ART II 271)


"..."Mind" is manas, or rather its lower reflection, which
whenever it disconnects itself, for the time being, with kama,
becomes the guide of the highest mental faculties, and is the
organ of the free-will in physical man...."
HPB ARTICLES, Vol. II, p. 13


That which is known as you is the result of one
continuous existence of an entity. Your present body and your
soul (or the personality) are the results of a series of
existences. Your Karma is a result of co-existence. The
individuality, or spirit, is the cause of the soul and
personality, or what is called "you." You are the manifestation
of an entity and are the result of many appearances of that
entity upon this stage of action in various personalities."
WQJ ARTICLES., II, p. 452


"Happy is the man physically pure, for if his external
soul (astral body, the image of the body) is pure, it will
strengthen the second (the lower Manas), or the soul which is
termed by him the higher mortal soul, which, though liable to err
from its own motives, will always side with reason against the
animal proclivities of the body. In other words, the ray of our
Higher Ego, the lower Manas, has its higher light, the reason or
rational powers of the Nous, to help it in the struggle with
Kamic desires. The lusts of man arise in consequence of his
perishable material body, so do other diseases, says Plato..."
HPB ARTICLES I 27-8 [ see VOICE p. 12 fn ]


MULAPRAKRITI (Sk.) The Parabrahmic root, ...feminine
principle--undifferentiated substance. Akasa. ... the "root of
nature" (Prakriti) or Matter." T. GLOS 218


PARAMATMA (Sk.) The Supreme Soul of the Universe.
T. GLOS. 249


PARAMPADATMAVA (Sk.) Beyond the condition of Spirit,
"supremer" than Spirit, bordering on the Absolute.
GLOS. 249


SPIRIT...In Theosophical teachings the term "Spirit" is
applied solely to that which belongs directly to Universal
Consciousness, and which if its homogeneous and unadulterated
emanation. Thus the higher Mind in Man of his Ego (Manas) is,
when linked indissolubly with Buddhi, a spirit; while the term
"Soul," human or even animal I the lower Manas acting in animals
as instinct), is applied only to Kama-Manas, and qualified as the
living soul...Spirit is formless and immaterial, being, when
individualizes, of the highest spiritual substance--Suddhasatwa,
the divine essence of which the body of the manifesting highest
Dhyanis are formed.. Spirit, in short, is no entity in the sense
of having form...But each individual spirit--this individuality
lasting only throughout the manvantaric life-cycle--may be
described as a centre of consciousness, a self-sentient and
self-conscious centre; a state, not a conditioned individual..."
T. GLOS. 306


"...spirit is potential matter, and matter simply
crystallized spirit, yet...the original and eternal condition of
all is not spirit but meta-spirit..." KEY 33


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


SOUL. The phren, or nephesh of the Bible; the vital
principle, or the breath of life, which every animal down to the
infusoria, shares with man." T. GLOS. 306



PERSONALITY -- LOWER MANAS


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


"The astral through Kama (desire) is ever drawing Manas
down into the sphere of material passions and desires. But if
the better man or Manas tries to escape the fatal attraction and
turns its aspirations to Atma-Spirit--the Buddhi (Ruach) conquers
and carries Manas with it to the realm of eternal Spirit."
S D I p. 244-5


"The life principle acts from the time of fetal existence
until death. The lower principles are fed continuously during
that time from the astral plane; that which constitutes the
individual monad reincarnates at the time of birth, but whether
or not the highest principles may assimilate with the germ during
a lifetime, and to which extent they will either assimilate or be
lost, will depend on the will and the exertions of the
individual."
THEOS. ART. & NOTES, p. 118-9


"That which is known as you is the result of one
continuous existence of an entity. Your present body and your
soul (or the personality) are the results of a series of
existences. Your Karma is a result of co-existence. The
individuality, or spirit, is the cause of the soul and
personality, or what is called "you." You are the manifestation
of an entity and are the result of many appearances of that
entity upon this stage of action in various personalities.
WQJ ART., II, p. 452


"...the soul, in order to at last reach the objective
plane where .the soul, in order to at last reach the objective
plane where its experience is gained, places upon itself, one
after the other, various sheaths, each having its peculiar
property and function. The mere physical brain is thus seen to
be only the material organ first used by the percipient in
receiving or conveying ideas and perceptions; and so with all
the other organs, they are only eats for centralizing the power
of the real man in order to experience the modifications of
nature at that particular spot.

Who is the sufferer from this despondency?

It is the false personality...as distinguished from
Krishna--the higher self--which is oppressed by the immediate
resistance offered by all the lower part of our nature..." G.
NOTES 26


"Personality is always an illusion, a false picture
hiding the reality inside. No person is able to make his bodily
environment correspond exactly to the best that is within him,
and others therefore continually judge him by the outward show.
If we try...to find the divine in everything, we will soon learn
not to judge by appearances...do our duty without hope of reward
and without trimming ourselves with a desired result in view... "
G. NOTES 109


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


"...the path which is not manifest is with difficulty
attained by corporeal beings." The difficulty here stated is
that caused by the personality, which causes us to see the
Supreme as different as separate from ourselves. The tendency of
human beings is to think and act as persons in their relations
with other human beings and with manifested nature in general,
and although they may ardently desire to act "for and as the
Self," they find themselves constantly falling under the sway of
the purely personal feeling of separateness." G.
NOTES 181-2


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


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

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


"Astral Soul," another name for the lower Manas, or
Kama-Manas so-called, the reflection of the Higher Ego."
T. GLOS 37


"...Anoia, (folly, or the irrational animal Soul)..."
KEY TO THEOSOPHY (HPB), p. 91


"...the instinctual soul...derived from and through and
ever influenced by the moon [astral light]..." KEY TO
THEOSOPHY (HPB), p. 96


"From the fact that the soul (Higher Manas) is conjoined
in the body with the organ of thought (Lower Manas), and thus
with the whole of Nature, lack of discrimination follows,
produces misconceptions of duties and responsibilities."
PATANJALI, p. 24-5



INDIVIDUALITY -- HIGHER MANAS + BUDDHI + ATMA


"It may be conceived that the "Ego" in man is a monad
that has gathered to itself innumerable experiences through aeons
of time, slowly unfolding its latent potencies through plane
after plane of matter. It is hence called the "eternal pilgrim."

The Manasic, or mind principle, is cosmic and universal.
It is the creator of all forms, and the basis of all law in
nature. Not so with consciousness. Consciousness is a condition
of the monad as the result of embodiment in matter and the
dwelling in a physical form. Self-consciousness, which from the
animal plane looking upward is the beginning of perfection, from
the divine plane looking downward is the perfection of
selfishness and the curse of separateness. It is the "world of
illusion: that man has created for himself. "Maya is the
perceptive faculty of every Ego which considers itself a Unit,
separate from and independent of the One Infinite and Eternal Sat
or 'be-ness'" The "eternal pilgrim" must therefore mount higher,
and flee from the plane of self-consciousness it has struggled so
hard to reach.

The complex structure that we call "Man" is made up of a
congeries of almost innumerable "Lives."...the "Eternal Pilgrim,"
the Alter-Ego in man, is a monad progressing through the
ages...The human monad or Ego is...akin to all below it and heir
to all above it, linked by indissoluble bonds to (31) spirit and
matter ...the Manasic, or mind element, with its cosmic and
infinite potentialities, is not merely the developed "instinct"
of the animal. Mind is the latent or active potentiality of
Cosmic Ideation, the essence of every form, the basis of every
law, the potency of every principle in the universe....man senses
and apprehends nature just as nature unfolds in him. When,
therefore, the Monad has passed through the form of the animal
ego, involved and unfolded the human form, the higher triad of
principles awakens from the sleep of ages and over-shadowed by
the "Manasa-putra" and built into its essence and substance."
WQJ ARTICLES, I 29-31


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


"[Monad] ....occult philosophy claims; our Ego is a ray
of the Universal Mind, individualized for the space of a cosmic
life-cycle, during which space of time it gets its experience in
almost numberless reincarnations or rebirths, after which it
returns to its Parent-Source.

The Occultist would call the "Higher Ego" the immortal
Entity, whose shadow and reflection is the human Manas, the mind,
limited by its physical senses. The two may be well compared to
the Master-artist and the pupil-musician...In the course of
natural evolution our "brain-mind" will be replaced by a finer
organism, and helped by the 6th and the 7th senses. Even now
there are pioneer minds who have developed these senses."
HPB -- T A & N p. 208

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


(Q.: Can there be Consciousness without Mind?)

A.: Not on this plane of matter. But why not on some
other and higher plane?...On that higher plane ... Mahat--the
great Manvantaric Principle of Intelligence--acts as a Brain,
through which the Universal and Eternal Mind radiates the Ah-hi,
representing the resultant Consciousness or ideation.
Transactions, p. 28


"...the higher Mind in Man, or his Ego (Manas) is, when
linked indivisibly with Buddhi, a spirit..." T. GLOS
306-7


"...Occultism calls this the seventh principle [Atma],
the synthesis of the six, and gives it for vehicle the Spiritual
Soul, Buddhi...in conjunction these two are One, impersonal and
without any attributes (on this plane)..." KEY, 120


"The SPIRITUAL divine EGO is the Spiritual Soul, or
Buddhi in close union with Manas, the mind-principle, without
which it is no EGO at all, but only the Atmic Vehicle." KEY
176


"Buddhi becomes conscious by the accretions it gets from
Manas after every new incarnation..." SD I 244


"Plato defines Soul (Buddhi) as "the motion that is able
to move itself." "Soul"..."is the most ancient of all things,
and the commencement of motion," thus calling Atma-Buddhi
"Soul,"... which we do not." KEY 114


"It is by development that the soul becomes spirit, both
being at the lower and the higher rungs of one and the same
ladder whose basis is the UNIVERSAL SOUL or spirit." HPB II 306


"...there is no impossibility in supposing [ that the Ego
is a "god on a higher plane"] so surrounded by the clouds of
matter as to become latent or hidden until the time when the form
suitable for this plane is evolved...that Ego, who is the
Spectator of all things...[the Self] ..."
FORUM ANSWERS , 108


"...Pythagoras...described the Soul as a self-moving Unit
(monad) composed of 3 elements, the Nous (Spirit), the phren
(mind), and the thumos (life, breath or the Nephesh of the
Kabalists), which 3 correspond to our "Atma-Buddhi," (higher
Spiritual-Soul), to Manas (the EGO), and to Kama Rupa in
conjunction with the lower reflection of Manas."
KEY 94


"...[the Agnishwatta Pitris] were destined to incarnate
as the Egos of the forthcoming crop of Mankind. The human Ego is
neither Atman nor Buddhi, but the higher Manas: the intellectual
fruition and the efflorescence of the intellectual self-conscious
Egotism--in the higher spiritual sense. The ancient works refer
to it as Karana Sarira on the plane of the Sutratma, which is the
golden thread on which, like beads, the various personalities of
this higher Ego are strung...these beings were returning
Nirvanees, from preceding Maha-Manvantaras--ages of incalculable
duration..." S D II 79


"The Ego does not enter the body at any time...the
connection of the Ego with the body--by means of the principle
Manas--is made in general, at seven years of age, and from then
on the Ego is involved or entangled in body. But before such
material entanglement it was first caught and involved in the
passions and desires...kama--which is always the efficient or
producing cause for the embodiment of the Ego. This kama is
known to form a part of the skandhas or aggregates, of which the
material body is one." FORUM ANSWERS p. 47


"...man...Spiritual Fire is its instructor (Guru)...This
fire is the higher Self, the Spiritual Ego, or that which is
eternally reincarnating under the influence of its lower personal
Selves, changing with every re-birth, full or Tanha or desire to
live. It is a strange law of Nature, that on this plane, the
higher (Spiritual) Nature should be, so to say, in bondage to the
lower. Unless the Ego takes refuge in the Atman, the ALL-SPIRIT,
and merges entirely into the essence thereof, the personal Ego
may goad it to the bitter end...That which propels towards, and
forces evolution, i.e., compels the growth and development of Man
towards perfection, is (a) the MONAD, or that which acts in it
unconsciously through a force inherent in itself; and (b) the
lower astral body or the personal SELF...unless the higher Self
or EGO gravitates towards its Sun--the Monad--the lower Ego, or
personal Self, will have the upper hand in every case. For it is
this Ego, with its fierce Selfishness and animal desire to live a
Senseless life (Tanha), which is "the maker of the tabernacle" as
Buddha calls it...the Atman alone warms the inner man; i.e., it
enlightens it with the ray of divine life and alone is able to
impart to the inner man, or the reincarnating Ego, its
immortality." SD II 109-110


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


Monad (Gr) The Unity, the one; but in Occultism it
often means the unified triad, Atma-Buddhi-Manas, or the duad,
Atma-Buddhi, that immortal part of man which reincarnates in the
lower kingdoms, and gradually progresses through them to Man and
then to the final goal--Nirvana." GLOS. 216


"Manas is immortal, because after every new incarnation
it adds to Atma-Buddhi something of itself, and thus assimilating
itself to the Monad, shares its immortality. Buddhi becomes
conscious by the accretions it gets from Manas after every new
incarnation and the death of man." S D I 243-4


"The supreme energy resides in the Buddhi, latent--when
wedded to Atman alone, active and irresistible when galvanized by
the essence of "Manas," and when none of the dross of the latter
commingles with that pure essence to weigh it down by its finite
nature. Manas, pure and simple, is of a lower degree, and of
earth earthy..." M L p. 341-2


"...a soul which thirsts after a reunion with its spirit,
which alone confers upon it immortality, must purify itself
through cyclic transmigration..." KEY 111


"What then is the universe for, and for what purpose is
man the immortal thinker here in evolution? It is all for the
experience and emancipation of the soul, for the purpose of
raising the entire mass of manifested matter up to the stature,
nature, and dignity of conscious god-hood. The great aim is the
reach self-consciousness; not through a race or a tribe of some
favored nation, but by and through the perfecting, after
transformation, of the whole mass of matter as well as what we
now call soul. Nothing is or is to be left out. The aim for
present man is his initiation into complete knowledge, and for
the other kingdoms below him that they may be raised up gradually
from stage to stage to be in time initiated also. This is
evolution carried to its highest power; it is a magnificent
prospect; it makes of man a god, and gives to every part of
nature the possibility of being some day the same; there is
strength and nobility in it, for by this no man is dwarfed and
belittled, for no one is so originally sinful that he cannot rise
above all sin." OCEAN, 60-1


"Starting upon the long journey immaculate; descending
more and more into sinful matter, and having connected himself
with every atom in manifested Space--the Pilgrim, having
struggled through and suffered in every form of life and being,
is only at the bottom of the valley of matter, and half through
his cycle, when he has identified himself with collective
Humanity. This, he has made in his own image. In order to
progress upwards and homewards, the "God" has to now ascend the
weary uphill path of the Golgotha of Life. It is the martyrdom
of self-conscious existence. Like Visvakarman he has to
sacrifice himself to himself in order to redeem all creatures, to
resurrect from the many into the One Life. Then he ascends into
heaven indeed; where, plunged into the incomprehensible absolute
Being and Bliss of Paranirvana, he reigns unconditionally, and
whence he will re-descend again at the next "coming," which one
portion of humanity expects in its dead-letter sense as the
second advent, and the other as the last "Kalki Avatar."
SD I 268

"Theosophy considers humanity as an emanation from
divinity on its return path hereto. At an advanced point upon
the path, Adeptship is reached by those who have devoted several
incarnations to its achievement...many incarnations are necessary
for it after the formation of a conscious purpose and the
beginning of the needful training..." KEY 214-5


"...reincarnation...is assumed...The manifestation, in
any incarnation, of the effects of mental deposits made in
previous lives, is declared to ensue upon obtaining of just the
kind of bodily and mental frame, constitution and environment as
will bring them out." GITA NOTES p. X


"Theosophy views the Universe as an intelligent
whole...Karma...is not a being but a law, the universal law of
harmony which unerringly restores all disturbance to
equilibrium." OCEAN 89-90


best wishes,

Dal

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

-----Original Message-----
From: M----a S----i
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2001 9:39 PM
To:
Subject: Re: Globes & Planes of Perception

--- In theos-talk@y..., <dalval14@e...> wrote:
> How are we going to work out of this impasse? What method of
> mutual discussion are we adopt? Where are the common grounds?
> How do we learn to exchange and understand each-other's
language
> ?

Bravo! Spoken like a true scientist of the Spirit.

Some people claim they understand the basic fundamentals of the
seven
planes. If so, you would realize that planes represent levels of
consciousness as well as levels of energy. Scientifically, this
is
because there is a relation between the energy of light and its
frequency; the greater the energy, the higher the frequency.
Isn't
it our responsibility as theosophists to increase our level of
consciousness? My point in sharing this, is why limit yourself
to
the fascination of the astral plane when there are higher planes
to
seek out? I mean, that is why H.P.B. was given the knowledge of
the
seven planes so we could transform that knowledge into experience
and
become our True Self.

M S