Five Years of Theosophy Part 10

It is ordinarily stated that Prakriti or Akasa is the Kshetram, or the basis which corresponds to water in the example we have taken Brahmam the germ, and Sakti, the power or energy that comes into existence at their union or contact.**

-------- * The Tibetan esoteric Buddhist doctrine teaches that Prakriti is cosmic matter, out of which all visible forms are produced; and Akasa, that same cosmic matter, but still more subjective--its spirit, as it were.

Prakriti being the body or substance, and Akasa Sakti its soul or energy.

** Or, in other words, "Prakriti, Swabhavat, or Akasa, is s.p.a.cE, as the Tibetans have it; s.p.a.ce filled with whatsoever substance or no substance at all--i.e., with substance so imperceptible as to be only metaphysically conceivable. Brahman, then, would be the germ thrown into the soil of that field, and Sakti, that mysterious energy or force which develops it, and which is called by the Buddhist Arahat of Tibet, FOHAT. That which we call form (rupa) is not different from that which we call s.p.a.ce (sunyata).... s.p.a.ce is not different from form. Form is the same as s.p.a.ce; s.p.a.ce is the same as form. And so with the other skandhas, whether vedana, or sanjna, or sanskara, or vijnana, they are each the same as their opposite." .... (Book of Sin-king, or the "Heart Sutra." Chinese translation of the "Maha-Prajna-Paramita-Hridaya-Sutra,"

chapter on the "Avalokiteshwara," or the manifested Buddha.) So that the Aryan and Tibetan or Arhat doctrines agree perfectly in substance, differing but in names given and the way of putting it.

But this is not the view which the Upanishads take of the question.

According to them, Brahamam* is the Kshetram or basis, Akasa or Prakriti, the germ or seed, and Sakti, the power evolved by their union or contact. And this is the real scientific, philosophical mode of stating the case.

-------- * See Appendix, Note IV.

Now, according to the adepts of ancient Aryavarta, seven principles are evolved out of these three primary ent.i.ties. Algebra teaches us that the number of combinations of n things, taken one at a time, two at a time, three at a time, and so forth = 2(n)-1.

Applying this formula to the present case, the number of ent.i.ties evolved from different combinations of these three primary causes amounts to 2(3)-1 = 8-1 = 7.

As a general rule, whenever seven ent.i.ties are mentioned in the ancient occult science of India, in any connection whatsoever, you must suppose that those seven ent.i.ties came into existence from three primary ent.i.ties; and that these three ent.i.ties, again, are evolved out of a single ent.i.ty or MONAD. To take a familiar example, the seven coloured rays in the solar ray are evolved out of three primary coloured rays; and the three primary colours coexist with the four secondary colours in the solar rays. Similarly, the three primary ent.i.ties which brought man into existence co-exist in him with the four secondary ent.i.ties which arose from different combinations of the three primary ent.i.ties.

Now these seven ent.i.ties, which in their totality const.i.tute man, are as follows. I shall enumerate them in the order adopted in the "Fragments," as far as the two orders (the Brahmanical and the Tibetan) coincide:--

Corresponding names in Esoteric Buddhism.

I. Prakriti. Sthulasariram (Physical Body).

II. The ent.i.ty evolved out of the combination Sukshmasariram or Lingasariram of Prakriti and Sakti. (Astral Body).

III. Sakti. Kamarupa (the Perispirit).

IV. The ent.i.ty evolved out of the combination of Jiva (Life-Soul).

Brahmam, Sakti and Prakriti.

V. The ent.i.ty evolved out of the combination of Physical Intelligence (or Brahmam and Prakriti. animal soul).

VI. The ent.i.ty evolved out of the combination of Spiritual Intelligence (or Soul).

Brahmam and Sakti.

VII. Brahmam. The emanation from the ABSOLUTE, &c. (or pure spirit.)

Before proceeding to examine these nature of these seven ent.i.ties, a few general explanations are indispensably necessary.

I. The secondary principles arising out of the combination of primary principles are quite different in their nature from the ent.i.ties out of whose combination they came into existence. The combinations in question are not of the nature of mere mechanical juxtapositions, as it were. They do not even correspond to chemical combinations.

Consequently no valid inferences as regards the nature of the combinations in question can be drawn by a.n.a.logy from the nature [variety?] of these combinations.

II. The general proposition, that when once a cause is removed its effect vanishes, is not universally applicable. Take, for instance, the following example:--If you once communicate a certain amount of momentum to a ball, velocity of a particular degree in a particular direction is the result. Now, the cause of this motion ceases to exist when the instantaneous sudden impact or blow which conveyed the momentum is completed; but according to Newton's first law of motion, the ball will continue to move on for ever and ever, with undiminished velocity in the same direction, unless the said motion is altered, diminished, neutralized, or counteracted by extraneous causes. Thus, if the ball stop, it will not be on account of the absence of the cause of its motion, but in consequence of the existence of extraneous causes which produce the said result.

Again, take the instance of subjective phenomena.

Now the presence of this ink-bottle before me is producing in me, or in my mind, a mental representation of its form, volume, colour and so forth.

The bottle in question may be removed, but still its mental picture may continue to exist. Here, again, you see, the effect survives the cause.

Moreover, the effect may at any subsequent time be called into conscious existence, whether the original cause be present or not.

Now, in the ease of the filth principle above mentioned-the ent.i.ty that came into existence by the combination of Brahmam and Prakriti--if the general proposition (in the "Fragments of Occult Truth") is correct, this principle, which corresponds to the physical intelligence, must cease to exist whenever the Brahmam or the seventh Principle should cease to exist for the particular individual; but the fact is certainly otherwise. The general proposition under consideration is adduced in the "Fragments" in support of the a.s.sertion that whenever the seventh principle ceases to exist for any particular individual, the sixth principle also ceases to exist for him. The a.s.sertion is undoubtedly true, though the mode of stating it and the reasons a.s.signed for it, are to my mind objectionable.

It is said that in cases where tendencies of a man's mind are entirely material, and all spiritual aspirations and thoughts were altogether absent from his mind, the seventh principle leaves him either before or at the time of death, and the sixth principle disappears with it. Here, the very proposition that the tendencies of the particular individual's mind are entirely material, involves the a.s.sertion that there is no spiritual intelligence or spiritual Ego in him, it should then have been said that, whenever spiritual intelligence ceases to exist in any particular individual, the seventh principle ceases to exist for that particular individual for all purposes. Of course, it does not fly off anywhere. There can never be any thing like a change of position in the case of Brahmam.* The a.s.sertion merely means that when there is no recognition whatever of Brahmam, or spirit, or spiritual life, or spiritual consciousness, the seventh principle has ceased to exercise any influence or control over the individual's destinies.

-------- * True--from the standpoint of Aryan Exotericism and the Upanishads, not quite so in the case of the Arahat or Tibetan esoteric doctrine; and it is only on this one solitary point that the two teachings disagree, as far as we know. The difference is very trifling, though, resting as it does solely upon the two various methods of viewing the one and the same thing from two different aspects. (See Appendix, Note IV.) --------

I shall now state what is meant (in the Aryan doctrine) by the seven principles above enumerated.

I. Prakriti. This is the basis of Sthulasariram, and represents it in the above-mentioned cla.s.sification.

II. Prakriti and Sakti. This is the Lingasariram, or astral body.

III. Sukti. This principle corresponds to your Kamarupa. This power or force is placed by ancient occultists in the Nabhichakram. This power can gather akasa or prakriti, and mould it into any desired shape. It has very great sympathy with the fifth principle, and can be made to act by its influence or control.

IV. Brahmam and Sakti, and Prakriti. This again corresponds to your second principle, Jiva.

This power represents the universal life-principle which exists in Nature. Its seat is the Anahatachakram (heart). It is a force or power which const.i.tutes what is called Jiva, or life. It is, as you say, indestructible, and its activity is merely transferred at the time of death to another set of atoms, to form another organism.

V. Brahma and Prakriti. This, in our Aryan philosophy, corresponds to your fifth principle, called the physical intelligence. According to our philosophers, this is the ent.i.ty in which what is called mind has its seat or basis. This is the most difficult principle of all to explain, and the present discussion entirely turns upon the view we take of it.

Now, what is mind? It is a mysterious something, which is considered to be the seat of consciousness--of sensations, emotions, volitions, and thoughts. Psychological a.n.a.lysis shows it to be apparently a congeries of mental states, and possibilities of mental states, connected by what is called memory, and considered to have a distinct existence apart from any of its particular states or ideas. Now in what ent.i.ty has this mysterious something its potential or actual existence? Memory and expectation, which form, as it were, the real foundation of what is called individuality, or Ahankaram, must have their seat of existence somewhere. Modern psychologists of Europe generally say that the material substance of brain is the seat of mind; and that past subjective experiences, which can he recalled by memory, and which in their totality const.i.tute what is called individuality, exist therein in the shape of certain unintelligible mysterious impressions and changes in the nerves and nerve-centres of the cerebral hemispheres.

Consequently, they say, the mind--the individual mind--is destroyed when the body is destroyed; so there is no possible existence after death.

But there are a few facts among those admitted by these philosophers which are sufficient for us to demolish their theory. In every portion of the human body a constant change goes on without intermission. Every tissue, every muscular fibre and nerve-tube, and every ganglionic centre in the brain, is undergoing an incessant change. In the course of a man's lifetime there may be a series of complete tranformations of the substance of his brain. Nevertheless, the memory of his past mental states remains unaltered. There may be additions of new subjective experiences and some mental states may be altogether forgotten, but no individual mental state is altered. The person's sense of personal ident.i.ty remains the same throughout these constant alterations in the brain substance.* It is able to survive all these changes, and it can survive also the complete destruction of the material substance of the brain.

-------- * This is also sound Buddhist philosophy, the transformation in question being known as the change of the skandhas.--Ed. Theos.

This individuality arising from mental consciousness has its seat of existence, according to our philosophers, in an occult power or force, which keeps a registry, as it were, of all our mental impressions. The power itself is indestructible, though by the operation of certain antagonistic causes its impressions may in course of time be effaced, in part or wholly.

I may mention in this connection that our philosophers have a.s.sociated seven occult powers with the seven principles or ent.i.ties above-mentioned. These seven occult powers in the microcosm correspond with, or are the counterparts of, the occult powers in the macrocosm.

The mental and spiritual consciousness of the individual becomes the general consciousness of Brahmam, when the barrier of individuality is wholly removed, and when the seven powers in the microcosm are placed en rapport with the seven powers in the macrocosm.

There is nothing very strange in a power, or force, or sakti, carrying with it impressions of sensations, ideas, thoughts, or other subjective experiences. It is now a well-known fact, that an electric or magnetic current can convey in some mysterious manner impressions of sound or speech, with all their individual peculiarities; similarly, I can convey my thoughts to you by a transmission of energy or power.

Now, this fifth principle represents in our philosophy the mind, or, to speak more correctly, the power or force above described, the impressions of the mental states therein, and the notion of self-ident.i.ty or Ahankaram generated by their collective operation.

This principle is called merely physical intelligence in the "Fragments." I do not know what is really meant by this expression. It may be taken to mean that intelligence which exists in a very low state of development in the lower animals. Mind may exist in different stages of development, from the very lowest forms of organic life, where the signs of its existence or operation can hardly be distinctly realized, up to man, in whom it reaches its highest state of development.

In fact, from the first appearance of life* up to Tureeya Avastha, or the state of Nirvana, the progress is, as it were, continuous.

-------- * In the Aryan doctrine, which blends Brahmam, Sakti, and Prakriti in one, it is the fourth principle then, in the Buddhist esotericisms the second in combination with the first.