Chapter LVI: Section LI: The “doctrine of the Eye” & the “doctrine of the Heart,” or (5)

(4) Antahkarana is the name of that imaginary bridge, the _path_ which lies between the Divine and the human Egos, for they are _Egos_, during human life, to re‐become _one_ Ego in Devachan or Nirvâna. This may seem difficult to understand, but in reality, with the help of a familiar, though fanciful illustration, it becomes quite simple. Let us figure to ourselves a bright lamp in the middle of a room, casting its light upon the wall. Let the lamp represent the Divine Ego, and the light thrown on the wall the lower Manas, and let the wall stand for the body. That portion of the atmosphere which transmits the ray from the lamp to the wall, will then represent the Antahkarana. We must further suppose that the light thus cast is endowed with reason and intelligence, and possesses, moreover, the faculty of dissipating all the evil shadows which pass across the wall, and of attracting all brightnesses to itself, receiving their indelible impressions. Now, it is in the power of the human Ego to chase away the shadows, or sins, and multiply the brightnesses, or good deeds, which make these impressions, and thus through Antahkarana, ensure its own permanent connection, and its final re‐union, with the Divine Ego. Remember that the latter cannot take place while there remains a single taint of the terrestrial, or of matter, in the purity of that light. On the other hand, the connection cannot be entirely ruptured, and final re‐union prevented, so long as there remains one spiritual deed, or potentiality to serve as a thread of union; but the moment this last spark is extinguished, and the last potentiality exhausted, then comes the severance. In an Eastern parable, the Divine Ego is likened to the Master who sends out his labourers to till the ground and to gather in the harvest, and who is content to keep the field so long as it can yield even the smallest return. But when the ground becomes absolutely sterile, not only is it abandoned, but the labourer also (the lower Manas) perishes.

On the other hand, however, still using our simile, when the light thrown on the wall, or the rational human Ego, reaches the point of actual spiritual exhaustion, the Antahkarana disappears, no more light is transmitted, and the lamp becomes non‐existent to the ray. The light which has been absorbed gradually disappears and “Soul eclipse” occurs; the being lives on earth and then passes into Kâma Loka as a mere surviving congeries of material qualities; it can never pass onwards towards Devachan, but is reborn immediately, a human animal and scourge.

This simile, however fantastic, will help us to seize the correct idea. Save through the blending of the moral nature with the Divine Ego, there is no immortality for the personal Ego. It is only the most spiritual emanations of the personal Human Soul which survive. Having, during a lifetime, been imbued with the notion and feeling of the “I am I” of its personality, the Human Soul, the bearer of the very essence of the Karmic deeds of the physical man, becomes, after the death of the latter, part and parcel of the Divine Flame, the Ego. It becomes immortal through the mere fact that it is now strongly grafted on the Monad, which is the “Tree of Life Eternal.”

And now we must speak of the tenet of the “second death.” What happens to the Kâmic Human Soul, which is always that of a debased and wicked man or of a soulless person? This mystery will now be explained.

The personal Soul in this case, _viz._, in that of one who has never had a thought not concerned with the animal self, having nothing to transmit to the Higher, or to add to the sum of the experiences gleaned from past incarnations which its memory is to preserve throughout eternity—this personal Soul becomes separated from the Ego. It can graft nothing of self on that eternal trunk whose sap throws out millions of personalities, like leaves from its branches, leaves which wither, die and fall at the end of their season. These personalities bud, blossom forth and expire, some without leaving a trace behind, others after commingling their own life with that of the parent stem. It is the Souls of the former class that are doomed to annihilation, or Avîtchi, a state so badly understood, and still worse described by some Theosophical writers, but which is not only located on our earth, but is in fact this very earth itself.

Thus we see that Antahkarana has been destroyed before the lower man has had an opportunity of assimilating the Higher and becoming at one with it; and therefore the Kâmic “Soul” becomes a separate entity, to live henceforth, for a short or long period according to its Karma, as a “soulless” creature.

But before I elaborate this question, I must explain more clearly the meaning and functions of the Antahkarana. As already said, it may be represented as a narrow bridge connecting the Higher and the lower Manas. If you look at the Glossary of the _Voice of the Silence_, pp. 88 and 89, you will find that it is a projection of the lower Manas, or, rather, the link between the latter and the Higher Ego, or, between the Human and the Divine or Spiritual Soul.(847)

At death it is destroyed as a path, or medium of communication,
and its remains survive as Kâma Rûpa,

the “shell.” It is this which the Spiritualists see sometimes appearing in the séance rooms as materialized “forms,” which they foolishly mistake for the “Spirits of the Departed.”(848) So far is this from being the case, that in dreams, though Antahkarana is there, the personality is only half awake; therefore, Antahkarana is said to be _drunk_ or _insane_ during our normal sleeping state. If such is the case during the periodical death, or sleep, of the living body, one may judge what the consciousness of Antahkarana is like when it has been transformed after the “eternal sleep” into Kâma Rûpa.

But to return. In order not to confuse the mind of the Western student with the abstruse difficulties of Indian metaphysics, let him view the lower Manas, or Mind, as the personal Ego during the waking state, and as Antahkarana only during those moments when it aspires towards its Higher Ego, and thus becomes the medium of communication between the two. It is for this reason that it is called the “Path.” Now, when a limb or organ belonging to the physical organism is left in disuse, it becomes weak and finally atrophies. So also is it with mental faculties; and hence the atrophy of the lower mind‐function, called Antahkarana, becomes comprehensible in both completely materialistic and depraved natures.

According to Esoteric Philosophy, however, the teaching is as follows: Seeing that the faculty and function of Antahkarana is as necessary as the medium of the ear for hearing, or that of the eye for seeing; then so long as the feeling of Ahankâra, that is, of the personal “I” or selfishness, is not entirely crushed out in a man, and the lower mind not entirely merged into and become one with the Higher Buddhi‐Manas, it stands to reason that to destroy Antahkarana is like destroying a bridge over an impassable chasm; _the traveller can never reach the goal on the other shore_. And here lies the difference between the exoteric and Esoteric teaching. The former makes the Vedânta state that so long as Mind (the lower) clings through Antahkarana to Spirit (Buddhi‐Manas) it is impossible for it to acquire true Spiritual Wisdom, Gnyâna, and that this can only be attained by seeking to come _en rapport_ with the Universal Soul (Âtmâ); that, in fact, it is by ignoring the Higher Mind altogether that one reaches Râja Yoga. We say it is not so. No single rung of the ladder leading to knowledge can be skipped. No personality can ever reach or bring itself into communication with Âtmâ, except through Buddhi‐Manas; to try and become a Jîvanmukta or a Mahâtmâ, before one has become an Adept or even a Narjol (a sinless man) is like trying to reach Ceylon from India without crossing the sea. Therefore we are told that if we destroy Antahkarana before the personal is absolutely under the control of the impersonal Ego, we risk to lose the latter and be severed for ever from it, unless indeed we hasten to re‐establish the communication by a supreme and final effort.

It is only when we are indissolubly linked with the essence of the Divine Mind, that we have to destroy Antahkarana.

Like as a solitary warrior pursued by an army, seeks refuge in a
stronghold; to cut himself off from the enemy, he first destroys
the drawbridge, and then only commences to destroy the pursuer; so
must the Srotâpatti act before he slays Antahkarana.

Or as an Occult axiom has it:

_The Unit becomes Three, and Three generate Four. It is for the
latter [the Quaternary] to rebecome Three, and for the Divine
Three to expand into the Absolute One._

Monads, which become Duads on the differentiated plane, to develop into Triads during the cycle of incarnations, even when incarnated know neither space nor time, but are diffused through the lower Principles of the Quaternary, being omnipresent and omniscient in their nature. But this omniscience is innate, and can manifest its reflected light only through that which is at least semi‐terrestrial or material; even as the physical brain which, in its turn, is the vehicle of the lower Manas enthroned in Kâma Rûpa. And it is this which is gradually annihilated in cases of “second death.”

But such annihilation—which is in reality the absence of the slightest trace of the doomed Soul from the eternal MEMORY, and therefore signifies annihilation in eternity—does not mean simply discontinuation of human life on earth, for earth is Avîtchi, and the worst Avîtchi possible. Expelled for ever from the consciousness of the Individuality, the reincarnating Ego, the physical atoms and psychic vibrations of the now separate personality are immediately reincarnated on the same earth, only in a lower and still more abject creature, a human being only in form, doomed to Karmic torments during the whole of its new life. Moreover, if it persists in its criminal or debauched course, it will suffer a long series of immediate reincarnations.

Here two questions present themselves: (1) What becomes of the Higher Ego in such cases? (2) What kind of an animal is a human creature born soulless?

Before answering these two very natural queries, I have to draw the attention of all of you who are born in Christian countries to the fact that the romance of the vicarious atonement and the mission of Jesus, as it now stands, was drawn or borrowed by some too liberal Initiates from the mysterious and weird tenet of the earthly experience of the reincarnating Ego. The latter is indeed the sacrificial victim of, and through, its own Karma in previous Manvantaras, which takes upon itself voluntarily the duty of saving what would be otherwise soulless men or personalities. Eastern truth is thus more philosophical and logical than Western fiction. The Christos, or Buddhi‐Manas of each man is not quite an innocent and sinless God, though in one sense it is the “Father,” being of the same essence with the Universal Spirit, and at the same time the “Son,” for Manas is the second remove from the “Father.” By incarnation the Divine Son makes itself responsible for the sins of all the personalities which it will inform. This it can do only through its proxy or reflection, the lower Manas. The only case in which the Divine Ego can escape individual penalty and responsibility as a guiding Principle, is when it has to break off from the personality, because matter, with its psychic and astral vibrations, is then, by the very intensity of its combinations, placed beyond the control of the Ego. Apophis, the Dragon, having become the conqueror, the reincarnating Manas, separating itself gradually from its tabernacle, breaks finally asunder from the psycho‐ animal Soul.

Thus, in answer to the first question, I say:

(1) The Divine Ego does one of two things: either (_a_) it recommences immediately under its own Karmic impulses a fresh series of incarnations; or (_b_) it seeks and finds refuge in the bosom of the Mother, Alaya, the Universal Soul, of which the Manvantaric aspect is Mahat. Freed from the life‐impressions of the personality, it merges into a kind of Nirvânic interlude, wherein there can be nothing but the eternal Present, which absorbs the Past and Future. Bereft of the “labourer,” both field and harvest now being lost, the Master, in the infinitude of his thought, naturally preserves no recollection of the finite and evanescent illusion which had been his last personality. And then, indeed, is the latter annihilated.

(2) The future of the lower Manas is more terrible, and still more terrible to humanity than to the now animal man. It sometimes happens that after the separation the exhausted Soul, now become supremely animal, fades out in Kâma Loka, as do all other animal souls. But seeing that the more material is the human mind, the longer it lasts, even in the intermediate stage, it frequently happens that after the present life of the soulless man is ended, he is again and again reincarnated into new personalities, each one more abject than the other. The impulse of _animal life_ is too strong; it cannot wear itself out in one or two lives only. In rarer cases, however, when the lower Manas is doomed to exhaust itself by _starvation_; when there is no longer hope that even a remnant of a lower light will, owing to favourable conditions—say, even a short period of spiritual aspiration and repentance—attract back to itself its Parent Ego, and Karma leads the Higher Ego back to new incarnations, then something far more dreadful may happen. The Kâma‐Mânasic spook may become that which is called in Occultism the “Dweller on the Threshold.” This Dweller is not like that which is described so graphically in _Zanoni_, but an actual fact in Nature and not a fiction in romance, however beautiful the latter may be. Bulwer, however, must have got the idea from some Eastern Initiate. This Dweller, led by affinity and attraction, forces itself into the astral current, and through the Auric Envelope, of the new tabernacle inhabited by the Parent Ego, and declares war to the lower light which has replaced it. This, of course, can only happen in the case of the moral weakness of the personality so obsessed. No one strong in virtue, and righteous in his walk of life, can risk or dread any such thing; but only those depraved in heart. Robert Louis Stevenson had a glimpse of a true vision indeed when he wrote his _Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_. His story is a true allegory. Every Chelâ will recognise in it a substratum of truth, and in Mr. Hyde a Dweller, an obsessor of the personality, the tabernacle of the Parent Spirit.

“This is a nightmare tale!” I was often told by one, now no more in our ranks, who had a most pronounced “Dweller,” a “Mr. Hyde,” as an almost constant companion. “How can such a process take place without one’s knowledge?” It can and does so happen, and I have almost described it once before in the _Theosophist_.

The Soul, the lower Mind, becomes as a half animal principle
almost paralyzed with daily vice, and grows gradually unconscious
of its subjective half, the Lord, one of the mighty Host; [and] in
proportion to the rapid sensuous development of the brain and
nerves, sooner or later, it (the personal Soul) finally loses
sight of its divine mission on earth.

Truly,

Like the vampire, the brain feeds and lives and grows in strength
at the expense of its spiritual parent ... and the personal half‐
unconscious Soul becomes senseless, beyond hope of redemption. It
is powerless to discern the voice of its God. It aims but at the
development and fuller comprehension of natural, earthly life; and
thus can discover but the mysteries of physical nature.... It
begins by becoming virtually dead, during the life of the body;
and ends by dying completely—that is, by being _annihilated as a
complete immortal Soul_. Such a catastrophe may often happen long
years before one’s physical death: “We elbow soulless men and
women at every step in life.” And when death arrives ... there is
no more a Soul (the reincarnating Spiritual Ego) to liberate ...
for _it has fled years before_.

_Result_: Bereft of its guiding Principles, but strengthened by the material elements, Kâma‐Manas, from being a “derived light” now becomes an independent Entity. After thus suffering itself to sink lower and lower on the animal plane, when the hour strikes for its earthly body to die, one of two things happens: either Kâma‐Manas is immediately reborn in Myalba, the state of Avîtchi on earth,(849) or, if it become too strong in evil—“immortal in Satan” is the Occult expression—it is sometimes allowed, for Karmic purposes, to remain in an active state of Avîtchi in the terrestrial Aura. Then through despair and loss of all hope it becomes like the mythical “devil” in its endless wickedness; it continues in its elements, which are imbued through and through with the essence of Matter; for evil is coeval with Matter rent asunder from Spirit. And when its Higher Ego has once more reincarnated, evolving a new reflection, or Kâma‐ Manas, the doomed lower Ego, like a Frankenstein’s monster, will ever feel attracted to its Father, who repudiates his son, and will become a regular “Dweller on the Threshold” of terrestrial life. I gave the outlines of the Occult doctrine in the _Theosophist_ of October, 1881, and November, 1882, but could not go into details, and therefore got very much embarrassed when called upon to explain. Yet I have written there plainly enough about “useless drones,” those who refuse to become co‐workers with Nature and who perish by millions during the Manvantaric life‐cycle; those, as in the case in hand, who prefer to be ever suffering in Avîtchi under Karmic law rather than give up their lives “in evil,” and finally, those who are co‐ workers with Nature for destruction. These are thoroughly wicked and depraved men, but yet as highly intellectual and acutely _spiritual_ for evil, as those who are spiritual for good.

The (lower) Egos of these may escape the law of final destruction
or annihilation for ages to come.

Thus we find two kinds of soulless beings on earth: those who have lost their Higher Ego in the present incarnation, and those who are born soulless, having been severed from their Spiritual Soul in the preceding birth. The former are candidates for Avîtchi; the latter are “Mr. Hydes,” whether _in_ or _out_ of human bodies, whether incarnated or hanging about as invisible though potent ghouls. In such men, cunning develops to an enormous degree, and no one except those who are familiar with the doctrine would suspect them of being soulless, for neither Religion nor Science has the least suspicion that such facts actually exist in Nature.

There is, however, still hope for a person who has lost his Higher Soul through his vices, while he is yet in the body. He may be still redeemed and made to turn on his material nature. For either an intense feeling of repentance, or one single earnest appeal to the Ego that has fled, or best of all, an active effort to amend one’s ways, may bring the Higher Ego back again. The thread of connection is not altogether broken, though the Ego is now beyond forcible reach, for “Antahkarana is destroyed,” and the personal Entity has one foot already in Myalba;(850) yet it is not entirely beyond hearing a strong spiritual appeal. There is another statement made in _Isis Unveiled_(851) on this subject. It is said that this terrible death may be sometimes avoided by the knowledge of the mysterious NAME, the “WORD.”(852) What this “WORD,” which is not a “Word” but a _Sound_, is, you all know. Its potency lies in the rhythm or the accent. This means simply that even a bad person may, by the study of the Sacred Science, be redeemed and stopped on the path of destruction. But unless he is in thorough union with his Higher Ego, he may repeat it, parrot‐like, ten thousand times a day, and the “Word” will not help him. On the contrary, if not entirely at one with his Higher Triad, it may produce quite the reverse of a beneficent effect, the Brothers of the Shadow using it very often for malicious objects; in which case it awakens and stirs up naught but the evil, material elements of Nature. But if one’s nature is good, and sincerely strives towards the HIGHER SELF, which is that Aum, through one’s Higher Ego, which is its third letter, and Buddhi the second, there is no attack of the Dragon Apophis which it will not repel. From those to whom much is given much is expected. He who knocks at the door of the Sanctuary in full knowledge of its sacredness, and after obtaining admission, departs from the threshold, or turns round and says, “Oh, there’s nothing in it!” and thus loses his chance of learning the whole truth—can but await his Karma.

Such are then the Esoteric explanations of that which has perplexed so many who have found what they thought contradictions in various Theosophical writings, including “Fragments of Occult Truth,” in vols. iii. and iv. of _The Theosophist_, etc. Before finally dismissing the subject, I must add a caution, which pray keep well in mind. It will be very natural for those of you who are Esotericists to hope that none of you belong so far to the soulless portion of mankind, and that you can feel quite easy about Avîtchi, even as the good citizen is about the penal laws. Though not, perhaps, exactly on the Path as yet, you are skirting its border, and many of you in the right direction. Between such venal faults as are inevitable under our social environment, and the blasting wickedness described in the Editor’s note on Éliphas Lévi’s “Satan,”(853) there is an abyss. If not become “immortal in good by identification with (our) God,” or AUM, Âtmâ‐Buddhi‐Manas, we have surely not made ourselves “immortal in evil” by coalescing with Satan, the lower Self. You forget, however, that everything must have a beginning; that the first step on a slippery mountain slope is the necessary antecedent to one’s falling precipitately to the bottom and into the arms of death. Be it far from me the suspicion that any of the Esoteric students have reached to any considerable point down the plane of spiritual descent. All the same I warn you to avoid taking the first step. You may not reach the bottom in this life or the next, but you may now generate causes which will insure your spiritual destruction in your third, fourth, fifth, or even some subsequent birth. In the great Indian epic you may read how a mother whose whole family of warrior sons were slaughtered in battle, complained to Krishna that though she had the spiritual vision to enable her to look back fifty incarnations, yet she could see no sin of hers that could have begotten so dreadful a Karma; and Krishna answered her: “If thou could’st look back to thy fifty‐first anterior birth, as I can, thou would’st see thyself killing in wanton cruelty the same number of ants as that of the sons thou hast now lost.” This, of course, is only a poetical exaggeration; yet it is a striking image to show how great results come from apparently trifling causes.

Good and evil are relative, and are intensified or lessened according to the conditions by which man is surrounded. One who belongs to that which we call the “useless portion of mankind,” that is to say, the lay majority, is in many cases irresponsible. Crimes committed in Avidyâ, or ignorance, involve physical but not moral responsibilities or Karma. Take, for example, the case of idiots, children, savages, and people who know no better. But the case of each who is pledged to the HIGHER SELF is quite another matter. _You cannot invoke this Divine Witness with impunity_, and once that you have put yourselves under its tutelage, you have asked the Radiant Light to shine and search through all the dark corners of your being; consciously you have invoked the Divine Justice of Karma to take note of your motive, to scrutinize your actions, and to enter up all in your account. The step is irrevocable as that of the infant taking birth. Never again can you force yourselves back into the matrix of Avidyâ and irresponsibility. Though you flee to the uttermost parts of the earth, and hide yourselves from the sight of men, or seek oblivion in the tumult of the social whirl, that Light will find you out and lighten your every thought, word and deed. All H. P. B. can do is to send to each earnest one among you a most sincerely fraternal sympathy and hope for a good outcome to your endeavours. Nevertheless, be not discouraged, but try, ever keep trying;(854) twenty failures are not irremediable if followed by as many undaunted struggles upward. Is it not so that mountains are climbed? And know further, that if Karma relentlessly records in the Esotericist’s account, bad deeds that in the ignorant would be overlooked, yet, equally true is it that each of his good deeds is, by reason of his association with the Higher Self, a hundredfold intensified as a potentiality for good.

Finally, keep ever in mind the consciousness that though you see no Master by your bedside, nor hear one audible whisper in the silence of the still night, yet the Holy Power is about you, the Holy Light is shining into your hour of spiritual need and aspirations, and it will be no fault of the MASTERS, or of their humble mouthpiece and servant, if through perversity or moral feebleness some of you cut yourselves off from these higher potencies, and step upon the declivity that leads to Avîtchi.

Appendix. Notes on Papers I., II. and III.

Page 436.

Students in the west have little or no idea of the forces that lie latent in Sound, the Âkâshic vibrations that may be set up by those who understand how to pronounce certain words. The Om, or the “_Om mani padme hum_” are in spiritual affinity with cosmic forces, but without a knowledge of the natural arrangement, or of the order in which the syllables stand, very little can be achieved. “Om” is, of course, Aum, that may be pronounced as two, three or seven syllables, setting up different vibrations.

Now, letters, as vocal sounds, cannot fail to correspond with musical notes, and therefore with numbers and colours; hence also with Forces and Tattvas. He who remembers that the Universe is built up from the Tattvas will readily understand something of the power that may be exercised by vocal sounds. Every letter in the alphabet, whether divided into three, four, or seven septenaries, or forty‐nine letters, has its own colour, or shade of colour. He who has learnt the colours of the alphabetical letters, and the corresponding numbers of the seven, and the forty‐nine colours and shades on the scale of planes and forces, and knows their respective order in the seven planes, will easily master the art of bringing them into affinity or interplay. But here a difficulty arises. The Senzar and Sanskrit alphabets, and other Occult tongues, besides other potencies, have a number, colour, and distinct syllable for every letter, and so had also the old Mosaic Hebrew. But how many students know any of these tongues? When the time comes, therefore, it must suffice to teach the students the numbers and colours attached to the Latin letters only (N.B. as pronounced in Latin, not in Anglo‐Saxon, Scotch, or Irish). This, however, would be at present premature.

The colour and number of not only the planets but also the zodiacal constellations corresponding to every letter of the alphabet, are necessary to make any special syllable, and even letter, _operative_.(855) Therefore if a student would make Buddhi operative, for instance, he would have to intone the first words of the Mantra on the note _mi_. But he would have still further to accentuate the _mi_, and produce mentally the yellow colour corresponding to this sound and note, on every letter M in “_Om mani padme hum_”; this, not because the note bears the same name in the vernacular, Sanskrit, or even the Senzar, for it does not—but because the letter M follows the first letter, and is in this sacred formula also the seventh and the fourth. As Buddhi it is second; as Buddhi‐Manas it is the second and third combined.

H. P. B.

Page 439.(856)

The Pythagorean Four, or Tetraktys, was the symbol of the Kosmos, as containing within itself, the point, the line, the superficies, the solid; in other words, the essentials of all forms. Its mystical representation is the point within the triangle. The Decad or perfect number is contained in the Four; thus, 1+2+3+4=10.

Page 477.

The difficult passage: “Bear in mind ... a mystery below truly,”(857) may become a little more clear to the student if slightly amplified. The “primordial Triangle” is the Second Logos, which reflects itself as a Triangle in the Third Logos, or Heavenly Man, and then disappears. The Third Logos, containing the “potency of formative creation,” develops the Tetraktys from the Triangle, and so becomes the Seven, the Creative Force, making a Decad with the primordial Triangle which originated it. When this heavenly Triangle and Tetraktys are reflected in the Universe of Matter, as the astral paradigmatic man, they are reversed, and the Triangle, or formative potency, is thrown below the Quaternary, with its apex pointing downwards: the Monad of this astral paradigmatic man is itself a Triangle, bearing to the Quaternary and Triangle the relation borne by the primordial Triangle to the Heavenly Man. Hence the phrase, “the upper Triangle ... is shifted in the man of clay below _the seven_.” Here again the Point tracing the Triangle, the Monad becoming the Ternary, with the Quaternary and the lower creative triangle, make up the Decad, the perfect number. “As above, so below.”

The student will do well to relate the knowledge here acquired to that given on p. 477. Here the upper Triangle is given as Violet, Indigo, Blue, associating Violet as the paradigm of all forms with Indigo as Mahat, and blue as the Âtmic Aura. In the Quaternary, Yellow, as substance, is associated with Yellow‐Orange, Life, and Red‐Orange, the creative potency. Green is the plane between.

The next stage is not explained. Green passes upwards to Violet, Indigo, Blue, the Triangle opening out to receive it, and so forming the square, Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green. This leaves the Red‐Orange, Yellow‐Orange, and Yellow, and these, having thus lost their fourth member, can only form a triangle. This triangle revolves, to point downwards for the descent into matter, and “mirrored on the plane of gross nature, it is reversed.”

In the perfect man the Red will be absorbed by the Green; Yellow will become one with Indigo; Yellow‐Orange will be absorbed in Blue; Violet will remain outside the True Man, though connected with him. Or, to translate the colours: Kâma will be absorbed in the Lower Manas; Buddhi will become one with Manas; Prâna will be absorbed in the Auric Egg; the physical body remains, connected but outside the real life.

A. B.

Page 481.

To the five senses at present the property of mankind two more on this globe are to be added. The sixth sense is the psychic sense of colour. The seventh is that of spiritual sound. In the second instruction, the corrected rates of vibration for the seven primary colours and their modulations are given. Inspecting these, it appears that each colour differs from the proceeding one by a step of 42, or 6 × 7.

462 Red + 42 = 504 504 Orange + 42 = 546 546 Yellow + 42 = 588 588 Green + 42 = 630 630 Blue + 42 = 672 672 Indigo + 42 = 714 714 Violet + 42 = 756 756 Red

Carrying the process backward, and subtracting 42, we find that the first or ground colour is green, for this globe.

—— Green 42 Blue 84 Indigo 126 Violet (end of First semi‐octave) 168 Red (start of Second octave) 210 Orange 252 Yellow 294 Green 336 Blue 378 Indigo 420 Violet 462 Red

The second and fourth octaves would be heat and actinic rays, and are invisible to our present perception.

The seventh sense is that of spiritual sound; and, since the vibrations of the sixth progress by steps of 6 × 7, those of the seventh progress by steps of 7 × 7. This is their table:

—— Fa ... Green Sound (start of First semi‐octave) 49 Sol ... Blue 98 La ... Indigo 147 Si ... Violet 196 Do ... Red 245 Re ... Orange (start of Second Octave) 294 Mi ... Yellow 343 Fa ... Green 392 Sol ... Blue 441 La ... Indigo 490 Si ... Violet 539 Do ... Red Etc., etc.

The fifth sense is in our possession: it is possibly that of geometrical form, and its steps of progression would be 5 × 7, or 35.

The fourth sense is that of physical hearing, music, and its progressions are 28, or 4 × 7. The truth of this is demonstrated by the fact that it is in accord with the theories of Science as to the vibrations of musical notes. Our scale is as follows:

—, 28, 56, 84, 112, 140, 168, 196, 224, 252, 280, 308, 336, 364, 392, 420, 448, 476, 504, 532, 560, 588, 616, 644, 672, 700.

According to musical science, the notes C, E, G, are as 4, 5, 6, in their ratios of vibrations. The same ratio obtains between the notes of the triplet G, B, D, and F, A, C.

H. C.

Notes On Some Oral Teachings.

The Three Vital Airs.

It is the pure Âkâsha that passes up Sushumnâ: its two aspects flow in Idâ and Pingalâ. These are the three vital airs, and are symbolized by the Brâhmanical thread. They are ruled by the Will. Will and Desire are the higher and lower aspects of one and the same thing. Hence the importance of the purity of the canals; for if they soil the vital airs energized by the Will, Black Magic results. This is why all sexual intercourse is forbidden in practical Occultism.

From Sushumnâ, Idâ and Pingalâ a circulation is set up, and from the central canal passes into the whole body. (Man is a tree; he has in him the macrocosm and the microcosm. Hence the trees used as symbols; the Dhyân‐Chohanic body is thus figured.)

The Auric Egg.

The Auric Egg is formed in curves, which may be conceived from the curves formed by sand on a vibrating metal disk. Each atom, as each body, has its Auric Egg, each centre forming its own. This Auric Egg, with the appropriate materials thrown into it, is a defence; no wild animal, however ferocious, will approach the Yogî thus guarded: it flings back from its surface all malign influences. No Will power is manifested through the Auric Egg.

_Q. What is the connection between the circulation of the vital airs and the power of the Yogî to make his Auric Egg a defence against aggression?_

_A._ It is impossible to answer this question. The knowledge is the last word of Magic. It is connected with Kundalinî, that can as easily destroy as preserve. The ignorant tyro might kill himself.

_Q. Is the Auric Egg of a child a differentiation of Akâsha, into which may be thrown by the Adept the materials he needs for special purposes_—_e.g._, _the Mâyâvi Rûpa?_

[The question was somewhat obscurely worded. Evidently what the questioner wanted to know was if the Auric Egg was a differentiation of Akâsha, into which, as the child became a man, he might, if an Adept, weave the materials needed for special purposes, etc.]

_A._ Taking the question in the sense of an Adept putting something into or acting on the Auric Egg of a child, then this could not be done, as the Auric Egg is Karmic, and not even an Adept must interfere with such Karmic record. If the Adept were to put anything into the Auric Egg of another, for which the person is not responsible, or which does not come from the Higher Self of that personality, how could Karmic justice be maintained?

The Adept can draw into his own Auric Egg from his planet, or even from that of the globe or of the universe, according to his degree. This envelope is the receptacle of all Karmic causes, and photographs all things like a sensitive plate.

The child has a very small Auric Egg which is in colour almost pure white. At birth the Auric Egg consists of almost pure Akâsha plus the Tanhâs, which, until the seventh year, remain potential or in latency.

The Auric Egg of an idiot cannot be said to be human, that is, it is not tinged with Manas. It is Akâshic vibrations rather than an Auric Egg—the material envelope, such as that of the plant, the mineral or other object.

The Auric Egg is the transmitter from the periodical lives to the Life eternal, _i.e._, from Prâna to Jîva. It disappears, but remains.

The reason why the confession of the Roman Catholic and Greek Churches is so great a sin is because the confessor interferes with the Auric Egg of the penitent by means of his will power, engrafting artificially emanations from his own Auric Egg and casting seeds for germination into the Auric Egg of his subject. It is on the same lines as hypnotic suggestion.

The above remarks apply equally to Hypnotism, although the latter is a psycho‐physical force, and it is this which constitutes one of its many serious dangers. At the same time “a good thing may pass through dirty channels,” as in the case of the breaking by suggestion of the alcohol or opium habit. Mesmerism may be used by the Occultist to remove evil habits, if the intention be perfectly pure; as on the higher plane intention is everything, and good intention must work for good.

_Q. Is the Auric Egg the expansion of the __“__Pillar of Light,__”__ the Mânasic Principle, and so not surrounding the child till its seventh year?_

_A._ It is the Auric Egg. The Auric Egg is quite pure at birth, but it is a question whether the higher or lower Manas will colour it at the seventh year. The Mânasic expansion is pure Âkâsha. The ray of Manas is let down into the vortex of the lower Principles, and being discoloured, and so limited by the Kâmic Tanhâs and by the defects of the bodily organism, forms the personality. Hereditary Karma can reach the child before the seventh year, but no individual Karma can come into play till the descent of the Manas.

The Auric Egg is to the Man
As the Astral Light is to the Earth
As the Ether is to the Astral Light
As the Akâsha is to the Ether

The critical states are left out in the enumeration. They are the Lava Centres, or missing links in our consciousness, and separate these four planes from one another.

The Dweller.

The “Dweller on the Threshold” is found in two cases: (_a_) In the case of the separation of the Triangle from the Quaternary; (_b_) When Kâmic desires and passions are so intense that the Kâma Rûpa persists in Kâma Loka beyond the Devachanic period of the Ego, and thus survives the reincarnation of the Devachanic Entity (_e.g._, when reincarnation occurs within two hundred or three hundred years). The “Dweller” being drawn by affinity towards the Reincarnating Ego to whom it had belonged, and being unable to reach it, fastens on the Kâma of the new personality, and becomes the Dweller on the Threshold, strengthening the Kâmic element and thus lending it a dangerous potency. Some become mad from this cause.

Intellect.

The white Adept is not always at first of powerful intellect. In fact, H. P. B. had known Adepts whose intellectual powers were originally below the average. It is the Adept’s purity, his equal love to all, his working with Nature, with Karma, with his “Inner God,” that give him his power. Intellect by itself alone will make the Black Magician. For intellect alone is accompanied with pride and selfishness: it is the intellectual _plus_ the spiritual that raises man. For spirituality prevents pride and vanity.

Metaphysics are the domain of the Higher Manas; whereas Physics are that of Kâma‐Manas, which does the thinking in Physical Science and on material things. Kâma‐Manas, like every other Principle, is of seven degrees. The Mathematician without spirituality, however great he may be, will not reach Metaphysics; but the Metaphysician will master the highest conceptions of Mathematics, and will apply them, without learning the latter. To a born Metaphysician the Psychic Plane will not be of much account: he will see its errors immediately he enters it, inasmuch as it is not the thing he seeks. With respect to Music and other Arts, they are the children of either the Mânasic or Kâma‐Mânasic Principle, proportionately as Soul or technicality predominates.

Karma.

After each incarnation, when the Mânasic Ray returns to its Father, the Ego, some of its atoms remain behind and scatter. These Mânasic atoms, Tânhic and other “causes,” being of the same nature as the Manas, are attracted to it by strong bonds of affinity, and on the reincarnation of the Ego are unerringly attracted to it and constitute its Karma. Until these are all gathered up, the individuality is not free from rebirth. The Higher Manas is responsible for the Ray it sends forth. If the Ray be not soiled, no bad Karma is generated.

The Turîya State.

You should bear in mind that, in becoming Karma‐less, good Karma, as well as bad, has to be gotten rid of, and that Nidânas, started towards the acquisition of good Karma, are as binding as those induced in the other direction. For both are Karma.

Yogîs cannot attain the Turîya state unless the Triangle is separated from the Quaternary.

Mahat.

Mahat is the manifested universal Parabrâhmic Mind (for one Manvantara) on the Third Plane [of Kosmos]. It is the Law whereby the Light falls from plane to plane and differentiates. The Mânasaputras are its emanations.

Man alone is capable of conceiving the Universe on this plane of existence.

Existence _is_; but when the entity does not feel it, for that entity it is not. The pain of an operation exists, though the patient does not feel it, and for the patient it is not.

How To Advance.

_Q. What is the correct pronunciation of AUM?_

_A._ It should first be practised physically, always at the same pitch, which must be discovered in the same way as the particular colour of the student is found, for each has his own tone.

AUM consists of two vowels and one semi‐vowel, which latter must be prolonged. Just as Nature has its Fa, so each man has his: man being differentiated from Nature. The body may be compared to an instrument and the Ego to the player. You begin by producing effects on yourself; then little by little you learn to play on the Tattvas and Principles; learn first the notes, then the chords, then the melodies. Once the student is master of every chord, he may begin to be a co‐worker with Nature and for others. He may then, by the experience he has gained of his own nature, and by the knowledge of the chords, strike such as will be beneficial in another, and so will serve as a keynote for beneficial results.

Try to have a clear representation of the geometrical triangle on every plane, the conception gradually growing more metaphysical, and ending with the subjective Triangle, Âtmâ‐Buddhi‐Manas. It is only by the knowledge of this Triangle under all forms that you can succeed, _e.g._ in enclosing the past and the future in the present. Remember that you have to merge the Quaternary in the Triangle. The Lower Manas is drawn upwards, with the Kâma, Prâna and Linga, leaving only the physical body behind, the lower reinforcing the higher.

Advance may be made in Occultism even in Devachan, if the Mind and Soul be set thereon during life; but it is only as in a dream, and the knowledge will fade away as memory of a dream fades, unless it be kept alive by conscious study.

Fear And Hatred.

Fear and hatred are essentially one and the same. He who fears nothing will never hate, and he who hates nothing will never fear.

The Triangle.

_Q. What is the meaning of the phrase: __“__Form a clear image of the Triangle on every plane;__”_ _e.g._, _on the Astral Plane, what should one think of as the Triangle?_

_A._ [H. P. B. asked whether the question signified the meaning of the Triangle or the way to represent the Triangle on the “screen of light.” The questioner explaining that the latter was the meaning, H. P. B. said that] it was only in the Turîya state, the fourth of the seven steps of Râja Yoga that the Yogî can represent to himself that which is abstract. Below this state, the perceptive power, being conditioned, must have some form to contemplate; it cannot represent to itself the Arûpa. In the Turîya state the Triangle is in yourself and is felt. Below the Turîya state there must be a symbol to represent Âtmâ‐Buddhi‐Manas. It is not a mere geometrical Triangle, but the Triad imaged, to make thought possible. Of this Triad, we can make some kind of representation of Manas, however indistinct; while of Âtmâ no image can be formed. We must try to represent the Triangle to ourselves on higher and higher planes. We must figure Manas as overshadowed by Buddhi, and immersed in Âtmâ. Only Manas, the Higher Ego, can be represented; we may think it as the Augoeides, the radiant figure in _Zanoni_. A very good Psychic might see this.

Psychic Vision.

Psychic vision, however, is not to be desired, since Psyche is earthly and evil. More and more as Science advances, the psychic will be reached and understood; Psychism has in it nothing that is spiritual. Science is right on its own plane, from its own standpoint. The law of the Conservation of Energy implies that psychic motion is generated by motion. Psychic motion being only motion on the Psychic Plane, a material plane, the Psychologist is right who sees in it nothing beyond matter. Animals have no Spirit, but they have psychic vision, and are sensitive to psychic conditions; observe how these react on their health, their bodily state.

Motion is the abstract Deity; on the highest plane it is Arûpa, absolute; but on the lowest it is merely mechanical. Psychic action is within the sphere of physical motion. Ere psychic action can be developed in the brain and nerves, there must be adequate action which generates it on the Physical Plane. The paralyzed animal that cannot generate action in the physical body, cannot think. Psychics merely see on a plane of different material density; the spiritual glimpses sometimes obtained by them come from a plane beyond. A Psychic’s vision is that of one coming, as it were, into a lighted room, and seeing everything there by an artificial light: when the light is extinguished, vision is lost. Spiritual vision sees by the light within, the light hidden beneath the bushel of the body, by which we can see clearly and independently of all outside. The Psychic seeing by an external light, the vision is coloured by the nature of that light.

X. saying that she felt as though she saw on three planes, H. P. B. answered that each plane was sevenfold, the Astral as every other. She gave as an example on the Physical Plane the vision of a table with the sense of sight; seeing it still, with the eyes closed, by retinal impression; the image of it conserved in the brain; it can be recalled by memory; it can be seen in dream; or as an aggregate of atoms; or as disintegrated. All these are on the Physical Plane. Then we can begin again on the Astral Plane, and obtain another septenary. This hint should be followed and worked out.

Triangle And Quaternary.

_Q. Why is the violet, the color of the Linga Sharîra, placed at the apex of the triangle, when the Macrocosm is figured as a triangle over a square, thus throwing the yellow, Buddhi, into the lower Quaternary?_

_A._ It is wrong to speak of the “lower Quaternary” in the Macrocosm. It is the Tetraktys, the highest, the most sacred of all symbols. There comes a moment when, in the highest meditation, the Lower Manas is withdrawn into the Triad, which thus becomes the Quaternary, the Tetraktys of Pythagoras, leaving what was the Quaternary as the lower Triad, which is then reversed. The Triad is reflected in the Lower Manas. The Higher Manas cannot reflect itself, but when the Green passes upward it becomes a mirror for the Higher; it is then no more Green, having passed from its associations. The Psyche then becomes spiritual, the Ternary is reflected in the Fourth, and the Tetraktys is formed. So long as you are not dead, there must be something to reflect the Higher Triad; for there must be something to bring back to the waking consciousness the experiences passed through on the higher plane. The Lower Manas is as a tablet which retains the impressions made on it during trance.

The Turîya state is entered on the Fourth Path; it is figured in the diagram on p. 478, in the Second Paper.

_Q. What is the meaning of a triangle formed of lines of light appearing in the midst of intense vibrating blue?_

_A._ Seeing the Triangle outside is nothing; it is merely a reflection of the Triad on the Auric Envelope, and proves that the seer is outside the Triangle. It should be seen in quite another way. You must endeavour to merge yourself in it, to assimilate yourself with it. You are merely seeing things in the Astral. “When the Third Eye is opened in any one of you, you will have something very different to tell me.”

_Q. With reference to the __“__Pillar of Light__”__ in a previous question, is the Auric Envelope the Higher Ego, and does it correspond to the Ring Pass‐Not?_

[This question was not answered, as going too far. The Ring Pass‐Not is at the circumference of the manifested Universe.]

Nidânas.

_Q. The root of the Nidânas is Avidyâ. How does this differ from Mâyâ? How many Nidânas are there Esoterically?_

_A._ Again too much is asked. The Nidânas, the concatenations of causes and effects (not in the sense of the Orientalists), are not caused by ignorance. They are produced by Dhyân Chohans and Devas, who certainly cannot be said to act in ignorance. We produce Nidânas in ignorance. Each cause started on the Physical Plane sets up action on every plane to all eternity. They are eternal effects reflected from plane to plane on to the “screen of eternity.”

Manas.

_Q. What is the septenary classification of Manas? There are seven degrees of the Lower Manas, and presumably there are seven degrees of the Higher. Are there then fourteen degrees of Manas, or is Manas, taken as a whole, divided into forty‐nine Mânasic fires?_

_A._ Certainly there are fourteen, but you want to run before you can walk. First learn the three, and then go on to the forty‐nine. There are three Sons of Agni; they become seven, and then evolve to the forty‐nine. But you are still ignorant how to produce the three. Learn first how to produce the “Sacred Fire,” spoken of in the _Purânas_. The forty‐nine fires are all states of Kundalinî, to be produced in ourselves by the friction of the Triad. First learn the septenary of the body, and then that of each Principle. But first of all learn the first Triad (the three vital airs).

The Spinal Cord.

_Q. What is the sympathetic nerve and its function in Occultism? It is found only after a certain stage of animal evolution, and would seem to be evolving in complexity towards a second spinal cord._

_A._ At the end of the next Round, Humanity will again become male‐female, and then there will be two spinal cords. In the Seventh Race the two will merge into the one. The evolution corresponds to the Races, and with the evolution of the Races the sympathetic developes into a true spinal cord. We are returning up the arc only with self‐consciousness added. The Sixth Race will correspond to the “pudding bags,” but will have the perfection of form with the highest intelligence and spirituality.