Chapter LVII: Section LI: The “doctrine of the Eye” & the “doctrine of the Heart,” or (6)

Anatomists are beginning to find new ramifications and new modifications in the human body. They are in error on many points, _e.g._, as to the spleen, which they call the manufactory of white blood corpuscles, but which is really the vehicle of the Linga Sharîra. Occultists know each minute portion of the heart, and have a name for each. They call them by the names of the Gods, as Brahmâ’s Hall, Vishnu’s Hall, etc. They correspond with parts of the brain. The very atoms of the body are the thirty‐three crores of Gods.

The sympathetic nerve is played on by the Tântrikas, who call it Shiva’s Vînâ.

Prâna.

_Q. What is the relation of man to Prâna—the periodical life?_

_A._ Jîva becomes Prâna only when the child is born and begins to breathe. It is the breath of life, Nephesh. There is no Prâna on the Astral Plane.

Antahkarana.

_Q. The Antahkarana is the link between the Higher and the Lower Egos; does it correspond to the umbilical cord in projection?_

_A._ No; the umbilical cord joining the astral to the physical body is a real thing. Antahkarana is imaginary, a figure of speech, and is only the bridging over from the Higher to the Lower Manas. Antahkarana only exists when you commence to “throw your thought upwards and downwards.” The Mâyâvi Rûpa, or Mânasic body, has no material connection with the physical body, no umbilical cord. It is spiritual and ethereal, and passes everywhere without let or hindrance. It entirely differs from the astral body, which, if injured, acts by repercussion on the physical body. The Devachanic entity, even previous to birth, can be affected by the Skandhas, but these have nothing to do with the Antahkarana. It is affected, _e.g._, by the desire for reincarnation.

_Q. We are told in_ The Voice of the Silence _that we have to become __ __“__the path itself,__”__ and in another passage that Antahkarana is that path. Does this mean anything more than that we have to bridge over the gap between the consciousness of the Lower and the Higher Egos?_

_A._ That is all.

_Q. We are told that there are seven portals on the Path: is there then a sevenfold division of Antahkarana? Also, is Antahkarana the battlefield?_

_A._ It is the battlefield. There are seven divisions in the Antahkarana. As you pass from each to the next you approach the Higher Manas. When you have bridged the fourth you may consider yourself fortunate.

Miscellaneous.

_Q. We are told that_ AUM _“__should be practised physically.__”__ Does this mean that, colour being more differentiated than sound, it is only through the colours that we shall get at the real sound of each of us? and that_ AUM _can only have its Spiritual and Occult signification when turned to the Âtmâ‐Buddhi‐Manas of each person?_

_A._ AUM means good action, not merely lip‐sound. You must say it in deeds.

_Q. With reference to the triangle, is not the Âtmâ‐Buddhi‐Manas different for each entity, according to the plane on which he is?_

_A._ Each Principle is on a different plane. The Chelâ must rise to one after the other, assimilating each, until the three are one. This is the real root of the Trinity.

_Q. In_ The Secret Doctrine _we are told that Âkâsha is the same as Pradhâna. Âkâsha is the Auric Egg of the earth, and yet Âkâsha is Mahat. What that is the relation of Manas to the Auric Egg?_

_A._ Mûlaprakriti is the same as Âkâsha (seven degrees). Mahat is the positive aspect of Âkâsha, and is the Manas of the Kosmic Body. Mahat is to Âkâsha as Manas is to Buddhi, and Pradhâna is but another name for Mûlaprakriti.

The Auric Egg is Âkâsha and has seven degrees. Being pure abstract substance, it reflects abstract ideas, but also reflects lower concrete things.

The Third Logos and Mahat are one, and are the same as the Universal Mind, Alaya.

The Tetraktys is the Chatur Vidyâ, or the fourfold knowledge in one, the four‐faced Brahmâ.

Nâdis.

_Q. Have the Nâdîs any fixed relationship to the vertebræ; can they be located opposite to or between any vertebræ? can they be regarded as occupying each a given and fixed extent in the cord? Do they correspond to the divisions of the cord known to Anatomists?_

_A._ H. P. B. believed that the Nâdîs corresponded to regions of the spinal cord known to Anatomists. There are thus six or seven Nâdîs or plexuses along the spinal cord. The term, however, is not technical but general, and applies to any knot, centre, ganglion, etc. The sacred Nâdîs are those which run along or above Sushumnâ. Six are known to Science, and one (near the atlas) unknown. Even the Târaka Râja Yogîs speak only of six, and will not mention the sacred seventh.

Idâ and Pingalâ play along the curved wall of the cord in which is Sushumnâ. They are semi‐material, positive and negative, sun and moon, and start into action the free and spiritual current of Sushumnâ. They have distinct paths of their own, otherwise they would radiate all over the body. By concentration on Idâ and Pingalâ is generated the “sacred fire.”

Another name for Shiva’s Vînâ (sympathetic system) is Kâlî’s Vînâ.

The sympathetic cords and Idâ and Pingalâ start from a sacred spot above the medulla oblongata, called Triveni. This is one of the sacred centres, another of which is Brahmarandra, which is, if you like, the grey matter of the brain. It is also the anterior fontanelle in the new‐born child.

The spinal column is called Brahmadanda, the stick of Brahmâ. This is again symbolized by the bamboo rod carried by Ascetics. The Yogîs on the other sides of the Himâlayas, who assemble regularly at Lake Mânsarovara, carry a triple knotted bamboo stick, and are called Tridandins. This has the same signification as the Brâhmanical cord, which has many other meanings besides the three vital airs: _e.g._, it symbolizes the three initiations of a Brâhman, taking place: (_a_) at birth, when he receives his mystery name from the family Astrologer, who is supposed to have received it from the Devas (he is also thus said to be initiated by the Devas); a Hindu will sooner die than reveal this name; (_b_) at seven, when he receives the cord; and (_c_) at eleven or twelve, when he is initiated into his caste.

_Q. If it is right to study the body and its organs, with their correspondences, will you give the main outline of these in connection with the Nâdîs and with the diagram of the orifices._

_A._ The Spleen corresponds to the Linga Sharîra
The Liver to Kâma
The Heart to Prâna
The Corpora‐quadrigemina to Kâma‐Manas
The Pituitary body to Manas‐Antahkarana
The Pineal gland to Manas

until it is touched by the vibrating light of Kundalinî, which proceeds from Buddhi, when it becomes Buddhi‐Manas.

The pineal gland corresponds with Divine Thought. The pituitary body is the organ of the Psychic Plane. Psychic vision is caused by the molecular motion of this body, which is directly connected with the optic nerve, and thus affects the sight and gives rise to hallucinations. Its motion may readily cause flashes of light, such as may be obtained by pressing the eyeballs. Drunkenness and fever produce illusions of sight and hearing by the action of the pituitary body. This body is sometimes so affected by drunkenness that it is paralyzed. If an influence on the optic nerve is thus produced and the current thus reversed, the colour will probably be complementary.

Sevens.

_Q. If the physical body is no part of the real human septenary, is the physical material world one of the seven planes of the Kosmic septenary?_

_A._ It is. The body is not a Principle in Esoteric parlance, because the body and the Linga are both on the same plane; then the Auric Egg makes the seventh. The body is an Upâdhi rather than a Principle. The earth and its astral light are as closely related to each other as the body and its Linga, the earth being the Upâdhi. Our plane in its lowest division is the earth, in its highest the astral. The terrestrial astral light should of course not be confounded with the universal Astral Light.

_Q. A physical object was spoken of as a septenary on the physical plane, inasmuch as we could (1) directly contact it; (2) retinally reproduce it; (3) remember it; (4) dream of it; (5) view it atomically; (6) view it disintegrated; (7)—What is the seventh?_

_These are seven ways in which we view it: the septenary is our way of seeing one thing. Is it objectively septenary?_

_A._ The seventh bridges across from one plane to another. The last is the idea, the privation of matter, and carries you to the next plane. The highest of one plane touches the lowest of the next. Seven is a factor in nature, as in colours and sounds. There are seven degrees in the same piece of wood, each perceived by one of the seven senses. In wood the smell is the most material degree, while in other substances it may be the sixth. Substances are septenary apart from the consciousness of the viewer.

The psychometer, seeing a morsel, say of a table a thousand years hence, would see the whole; for every atom reflects the whole body to which it belongs, just as with the Monads of Leibnitz.

After the seven material subdivisions are the seven divisions of the Astral, which is its second Principle. The disintegrated matter—the highest of the material subdivisions—is the privation of the idea of it—the fourth.

The number fourteen is the first step between seven and forty‐nine. Each septenary is really a fourteen, because each of the seven has its two aspects. Thus fourteen signifies the inter‐relation of two planes in its turn. The septenary is to be clearly traced in the lunar months, fevers, gestations, etc. On it is based the week of the Jews and the septenary Hierarchies of the Lord of Hosts.

Sounds.

_Q. Sound is an attribute of Âkâsha; but we cannot cognize anything on the Âkâshic plane; on what plane then do we recognize sound? On what plane is sound produced by the physical contact of bodies? Is there sound on seven planes, and is the physical plane one of them?_

_A._ The physical plane is one of them. You cannot see Âkâsha, but you can sense it from the Fourth Path. You may not be fully conscious of it, and yet you may sense it. Âkâsha is at the root of the manifestation of all sounds. Sound is the expression and manifestation of that which is behind it, and which is the parent of many correlations. All Nature is a sounding‐board; or rather Âkâsha is the sounding‐board of Nature. It is the Deity, the one Life, the one Existence. (Hearing is the vibration of molecular particles; the order is seen in the sentence, “The disciple feels, hears, sees.”)

Sound can have no end. H. P. B. remarked with regard to a tap made by a pencil on the table: “By this time it has affected the whole universe. The particle which has had its wear and tear destroys something which passes into something else. It is eternal in the Nidânas it produces.” A sound, if not previously produced on the Astral Plane, and before that on the Âkâshic, could not be produced at all. Âkâsha is the bridge between nerve cells and mental powers.

_Q. __“__Colours are psychic, and sounds are spiritual.__”__ What, assuming that these are vibrations, is the successive order (these corresponding to sight and hearing) of the other senses?_

_A._ This phrase was not to be taken out of its context, otherwise confusion would arise. All are on all planes. The First Race had touch all over like a sounding board; this touch differentiated into the other senses, which developed with the Races. The “sense” of the First Race was that of touch, meaning the power of their atoms to vibrate in unison with external atoms. The “touch” would be almost the same as sympathy.

The senses were on a different plane with each Race; _e.g._, the Fourth Race had very much more developed senses than ourselves, but on another plane. It was also a very material Race. The sixth and seventh senses will merge into the Âkâshic Sound. “It depends to what degree of matter the sense of touch relates itself as to what we call it.”

Prâna.

_Q. Is Prâna the production of the countless __“__lives__”__ of the human body, and therefore, to some extent, of the congeries of the cells or atoms of the body?_

_A._ No; Prâna is the parent of the “lives.” As an example, a sponge may be immersed in an ocean. The water in the sponge’s interior may be compared to Prâna; outside is Jîva. Prâna is the motor‐principle in life. The “lives” leave Prâna; Prâna does not leave them. Take out the sponge from the water, and it becomes dry, thus symbolizing death. Every principle is a differentiation of Jîva, but the life‐motion in each is Prâna, the “breath of life.” Kâma depends on Prâna, without which there would be no Kâma. Prâna wakes the Kâmic germs to life; it makes all desires vital and living.

The Second Spinal Cord.

_Q. With reference to the answer to the question on the second cord, what is it that will become a second spinal cord in the Sixth Race? Will Idâ and Pingalâ have separate physical ducts?_

_A._ It is the sympathetic cords which will grow together and form another spinal cord. Idâ and Pingalâ will be joined with Sushumnâ, and they will become one. Idâ is on the left side of the cord, and Pingalâ on the right.

Initiates.

Pythagoras was an Initiate, one of the grandest of Scientists. His disciple, Archytas, was marvellously apt in applied Science. Plato and Euclid were Initiates, but not Socrates. No real Initiates were married. Euclid learned his Geometry in the Mysteries. Modern men of Science only rediscover the old truths.

Kosmic Consciousness.

H. P. B. proceeded to explain Kosmic Consciousness, which is, like all else, on seven planes, of which three are inconceivable, and four are cognizable by the highest Adept.

Taking the lowest only, the Terrestrial (it was afterwards decided to call this plane Prâkritic), it is divisible, into seven planes, and these again into seven, making the forty‐nine.

She then took the lowest plane of Prâkriti, or the true Terrestrial.

Its objective or sensuous plane is that which is sensed by the five physical senses.

On its second plane things are reversed.

Its third plane is psychic: here is the instinct which prevents a kitten going into the water and getting drowned.

Then objective consciousness was given.

The three lower Prâkritic are related to the three lower of the Astral Plane immediately succeeding.

With regard to the first division of the second plane, H. P. B. reminded her pupils that all seen on it must be reversed in translating it, _e.g._, with numbers which appeared backwards. The Astral Objective corresponds in everything to the Terrestrial Objective.

The second division corresponds to the second of the lower plane, but the objects are of extreme tenuity, an astralized Astral. This plane is the limit of the ordinary medium, beyond which he cannot go. A non‐mediumistic person to reach it must be asleep or in a trance, or under the influence of laughing‐gas; or in ordinary delirium people pass on to this plane.

The third, the Prânic, is of an intensely vivid nature. Extreme delirium carries the patient to this plane. In delirium tremens the sufferer passes to this and to the one above it. Lunatics are often conscious on this plane, where they see terrible visions. It runs into the—

Fourth division, the worst of the astral planes, Kâmic and terrible. Hence come the images that tempt; images of drunkards in Kâma Loka impelling others to drink; images of all vices inoculating men with the desire to commit crimes. The weak imitate these images in a kind of monkeyish fashion, so falling beneath their influence. This is also the cause of epidemics of vices, and cycles of disaster, of accidents of all kinds coming in groups. Extreme delirium tremens is on this plane.

The fifth division is that of premonitions in dreams, of reflections from the lower mentality, glimpses into the past and future, the plane of things mental and not spiritual. The mesmerized clairvoyant can reach this plane, and even, if good, may go higher.

The sixth is the plane from which come all beautiful inspirations of art, poetry, and music; high types of dreams, flashes of genius. Here we have glimpses of past incarnations, without being able to locate or analyze them.

We are on the seventh plane at the moment of death or in exceptional visions. The drowning man is here when he remembers his past life. The memory of events of this plane must be centred in the heart, “the seat of Buddha.” There it will remain, but impressions from this plane are not made on the physical brain.

General Notes.

The two planes above dealt with are the only two used in the Hatha Yoga.

Prâna and the Auric Envelope are essentially the same, and again, as Jîva, it is the same as the Universal Deity. This, in its Fifth Principle, is Mahat, in its Sixth, Alaya. (The Universal Life is also seven‐principled.) Mahat is the highest _Entity_ in Kosmos; beyond this is no diviner Entity; it is of subtlest matter, Sûkshma. In us this is Manas, and the very Logoi are less high, not having gained experience. The Mânasic Entity will not be destroyed, even at the end of the Mahâmanvantara, when all the Gods are absorbed, but will re‐emerge from Parabrâhmic latency.

Consciousness is the Kosmic seed of superkosmic omniscience. It has the potentiality of budding into the Divine Consciousness.

Rude physical health is a drawback to seership. This was the case with Swedenborg.

Fohat is everywhere: it runs like a thread through all, and has its own seven divisions.

Auric Envelope or Âtmic Elements of Manifested Kosmos. Alaya. Buddhi. Mahat. Manas. Fohat. Kâma‐Manas. Jîva. Kâma‐Prana. Astral. Linga. Prâkriti. Body.

In the Kosmic Auric Envelope is all the Karma of the manifesting Universe. This is the Hiranyagarbha. Jîva is everywhere, and so with the other Principles.

The above diagram represents the type of all the Solar Systems.

Mahat, single before informing the Universe, differentiates when informing it, as does Manas in man.

Taking this figure to represent the human Principles and planes of consciousness, then 7, 6, 5 represent respectively, Shiva, Vishnu, Brahmâ, Brahmâ being the lowest.

Shiva is the four‐faced Brahmâ; the Creator, Preserver, Destroyer, and Regenerator.

Between 5 and 4 comes the Antahkarana. The triangle represents the Christos, the Sacrificial Victim crucified between the thieves: this is the double‐faced entity. The Vedântins make this a quaternary for a blind: Antahkarana, Chit, Buddhi, and Manas.

MANVANTARIC ASPECT OF PARABRAHMAN AND MÛLAPRAKRITI.

[N.B.—The number of Rays is arbitrary and without significance.]

Perceptive life begins with the Astral: it is not our physical atoms which see, etc.

Consciousness proper begins between Kâma and Manas. Âtmâ‐Buddhi acts more in the atoms of the body, in the bacilli, microbes, etc., than in Man himself.

Objective Consciousness.

Sensuous objective consciousness includes all that pertains to the five physical senses in man, and rules in animals, birds, fishes and some insects. Here are the “Lives”; their consciousness is in Âtmâ‐Buddhi; these are entirely without Manas.

Astral Consciousness.

That of some plants (_e.g._, sensitive), of ants, spiders, and some night‐ flies (Indian), but not of bees.

The vertebrate animals in general are without this consciousness, but the placental Mammals have all the potentialities of human consciousness, though at present, of course, dormant.

Idiots are on this plane. The common expression “he has lost his mind” is an Occult truth. For when through fright or other cause the lower mind becomes paralyzed, then the consciousness is on the Astral Plane. The study of lunacy will throw much light on these points. This may be called the “nerve plane.” It is cognized by our “nervous centres” of which Physiology knows nothing, _e.g._, the clairvoyant reading with the eyes bandaged, reading with the tips of the fingers, the pit of the stomach, etc. This sense is greatly developed in the deaf and dumb.

Kâma‐Prânic Consciousness.

The general life‐consciousness which belongs to all the objective world, even to the stones; for if stones were not living they could not decay, emit a spark, etc. Affinity between chemical elements is a manifestation of this Kâmic consciousness.

Kâma‐Mânasic Consciousness.

The instinctual consciousness of animals and idiots in its lowest degrees, the planes of sensation: in man these are rationalized, _e.g._, a dog shut in a room has the instinct to get out, but cannot because its instinct is not sufficiently rationalized to take the necessary means; whereas a man at once takes in the situation and extricates himself. The highest degree of this Kâma‐Mânasic consciousness is the psychic. Thus there are seven degrees from the instinctual animal to the rationalized instinctual and psychic.

Mânasic Consciousness.

From this plane Manas stretches upwards to Mahat.

Buddhic Consciousness.

The plane of Buddhi and the Auric Envelope. From here it goes to the Father in heaven, Âtmâ, and reflects all that is in the Auric Envelope. Five and six therefore cover the planes from the psychic to the divine.

Miscellaneous.

Reason is a thing that oscillates between right and wrong. But Intelligence—Intuition—is higher, it is the clear vision.

To get rid of Kâma we must crush out all our material instincts—“crush out matter.” The flesh is a thing of habit; it will repeat mechanically a good impulse as well as a bad one. It is not the flesh which is always the tempter; in nine cases out of ten it is the Lower Manas, which, by its images, leads the flesh into temptation.

The highest Adept begins his Samâdhi on the Fourth Solar Plane, but cannot go outside the Solar System. When he begins Samâdhi he is on a par with some of the Dhyân Chohans, but he transcends them as he rises to the seventh plane (Nirvâna).

The Silent Watcher is on the Fourth Kosmic Plane.

The higher Mind directs the Will: the lower turns it into selfish Desire.

The head should not be covered in meditation. It is covered in Samâdhi.

The Dhyân Chohans are passionless, pure and mindless. They have no struggle, no passions to crush.

The Dhyân Chohans are made to pass through the School of Life. “God goes to School.”

The best of us in the future will be Mânasaputras; the lowest will be Pitris. We are seven intellectual Hierarchies here. This earth becomes the moon of the next earth.

The “Pitris” are the Astral overshadowed by Âtmâ‐Buddhi, falling into matter. The “Pudding‐bags” had Life and Âtmâ‐Buddhi, but no Manas. They were therefore senseless. The reason for all evolution is the gaining of experience.

In the Fifth Round all of us will play the part of Pitris. We shall have to go and shoot out our Chhâyâs into another humanity, and remain until that humanity is perfected. The Pitris have finished their office in this Round and have gone into Nirvâna; but they will return to do the same office up to the middle point of the Fifth Round. The Fourth or Kâmic Hierarchy of the Pitris becomes the “man of flesh.”

The astral body is first in the womb; then comes the germ that fructifies it. It is then clothed with matter, as were the Pitris.

The Chhâyâ is really the lower Manas, the shadow of the higher Mind. This Chhâyâ makes the Mâyâvi Rûpa. The Ray clothes itself in the highest degree of the Astral Plane. The Mâyâvi Rûpa is composed of the astral body as Upâdhi, the guiding intelligence from the heart, the attributes and qualities from the Auric Envelope.

The Auric Envelope takes up the light of Âtmâ, and overshadows the coronal, circling round the head.

The Auric Fluid is a combination of the Life and Will principles, the life and the will being one and the same in Kosmos. It emanates from the eyes and hands, when directed by the will of the operator.

The Auric Light surrounds all bodies: it is the “aura” emanating from them, whether they be animal, vegetable, or mineral. It is the light, _e.g._, seen round magnets.

Âtmâ‐Buddhi‐Manas in man corresponds to the three Logoi in Kosmos. They not only correspond, but each is the radiation from Kosmos to Microcosmos. The third Logos, Mahat, becomes Manas in man, Manas being only Mahat individualized, as the sun‐rays are individualized in bodies that absorb them. The sun‐rays give life, they fertilize what is already there, and the individual is formed. Mahat, so to say, fertilizes, and Manas is the result.

Buddhi‐Manas is the Kshetrajña.

There are seven planes of Mahat, as of all else.

The Human Principles.

Here H. P. B. drew two diagrams, illustrating different ways of representing the human principles. In the first

the two lower are disregarded; they go out, disintegrate, are of no account. Remain five, under the radiation of Âtmâ.

In the second:

the lower Quaternary is regarded as mere matter, objective illusion, and there remain Manas and the Auric Egg, the higher Principles being reflected in the Auric Egg. In all these systems remember the main principle, the descent and re‐ascent of the Spirit, in man as in Kosmos. The Spirit is drawn downwards as by spiritual gravitation.

Seeking further for the cause of this, the students were checked, H. P. B. giving only a suggestion on the three Logoi:

1. Potentiality of Mind (Absolute Thought).

2. Thought in Germ.

3. Ideation in Activity.

Notes.

Protective variation, _e.g._, identity of colouring of insects and of that on which they feed, was explained to be the work of Nature Elementals.

Form is on different planes, and the forms of one plane may be formless to dwellers on another. The Kosmocratores build on planes in the Divine Mind, visible to them though not to us. The principle of limitation—_principium individuationis_—is Form: this principle is Divine Law manifested in Kosmic Matter, which, in its essence, is limitless. The Auric Egg is the limit of man as Hiranyagarbha of the Kosmos.

The first step towards the accomplishment of Kriyâshakti is the use of the Imagination. To imagine a thing is to firmly create a model of what you desire, perfect in all its details. The Will is then brought into action, and the form is thereby transferred to the objective world. This is creation by Kriyâshakti.

Suns And Planets.

A comet partially cools and settles down as a sun. It then gradually attracts round it planets that are as yet unattached to any centre, and thus, in millions of years, a Solar System is formed. The worn‐out planet becomes a moon to the planet of another system.

The sun we see is a reflection of the true Sun: this reflection, as an outward concrete thing, is a Kâma‐Rûpa, all the suns forming the Kâma‐Rûpa of Kosmos. To its own system the sun is Buddhi, as being the reflection and vehicle of the true Sun, which is Âtmâ, invisible on this plane. All the Fohatic forces—electricity, etc.—are in this reflection.

The Moon.

At the beginning of the evolution of our globe, the moon was much nearer to the earth, and larger than it is now. It has retreated from us, and shrunk much in size. (The moon gave all her Principles to the earth, while the Pitris gave only their Chhâyâs to man.)

The influences of the moon are wholly psycho‐physiological. It is dead, sending out injurious emanations like a corpse. It vampirizes the earth and its inhabitants, so that anyone sleeping in its rays suffers, losing some of his life‐force. A white cloth is a protection, the rays not passing through it, and the head especially should be thus guarded. It has most power when it is full. It throws off particles which we absorb, and is gradually disintegrating. Where there is snow the moon looks like a corpse, being unable, through the white snow, to vampirize effectually. Hence snow‐covered mountains are free from its bad influences. The moon is phosphorescent.

The Râkshakas of Lanka and the Atlanteans are said to have subjected the moon. The Thessalians learned from them their Magic.

Esoterically, the moon is the symbol of the Lower Manas; it is also the symbol of the Astral.

Plants which under the sun’s rays are beneficent are maleficent under those of the moon. Herbs containing poisons are most active when gathered under the moon’s rays.

A new moon will appear during the Seventh Round, and our moon will finally disintegrate and disappear. There is now a planet, the “Mystery Planet,” behind the moon, and it is gradually dying. Finally the time will come for it to send its Principles to a new Laya Centre, and there a new planet will form, to belong to another Solar System, the present Mystery Planet then functioning as moon to that new globe. This moon will have nothing to do with our earth, though it will come within our range of vision.

The Solar System.

All the visible planets placed in our Solar System by Astronomers belong to it, except Neptune. There are also some others not known to Science, belonging to it, and “all moons which are not yet visible for next things.”

The planets only move in our consciousness. The Rulers of the seven Secret Planets have no influence on this earth, as this earth has on other planets. It is the sun and moon which really have not only a mental, but also a physical effect. The effect of the sun on humanity is connected with Kâma‐Prâna, with the most physical Kâmic elements in us; it is the vital principle which helps growth. The effect of the moon is chiefly Kâma‐Mânasic or psycho‐physiological; it acts on the psychological brain, on the brain‐mind.

Precious Stones.

In answer to a question, H. P. B. said that the diamond and the ruby were under the sun, the sapphire under the moon—“but what does it matter to you?”

Time.

When once out of the body, and not subject to the habit of consciousness formed by others, time does not exist.

Cycles and epochs depend on consciousness: we are not here for the first time; the cycles return because we come back into conscious existence. Cycles are measured by the consciousness of humanity and not by Nature. It is because we are the same people as in past epochs that these events occur to us.

Death.

The Hindus look upon death as impure, owing to the disintegration of the body and the passing from one plane to another. “I believe in transformation, not in death.”

Atoms.

The Atom is the Soul of the molecule. It is the six Principles, and the molecule is the body thereof. The Atom is the Âtman of the objective Kosmos, _i.e._, it is on the seventh plane of the lowest Prakriti.

Terms.

H. P. B. began by saying that students ought to know the correct meaning of the Sanskrit terms used in Occultism, and should learn the Occult Symbology. To begin with one had better learn the correct Esoteric classification and names of the fourteen (7 × 2) and seven (Sapta) Lokas found in the exoteric texts. These are given there in a very confused manner, and are full of “blinds.” To illustrate this three classifications are given below.

Lokas.

1. The general exoteric, orthodox and tântric category:
Bhûr‐loka.
Bhuvar‐loka.
Swar‐loka.
Mahar‐loka. The second seven are reflected.
Janar‐loka.
Tapar‐loka.
Satya‐loka.

2. The Sânkhya category, and that of some Vedântins
Brahmâ‐loka.
Pitri‐loka.
Soma‐loka.
Indra‐loka.
Gandharva‐loka.
Râkshasa‐loka
Yaksha‐loka.

And an eighth.

3. The Vedântic, the nearest approach to the Esoteric:
Atala.
Vitala.
Sutala.
Talâtala (or Karatala).
Rasâtala.
Mahâtala.
Pâtâla.

Each and all correspond Esoterically to the Kosmic or Dhyân Chohanic Hierarchies, and to the human States of Consciousness and their subdivisions (forty‐nine). To appreciate this the meanings of the terms used in the Vedântic classification must be first understood.

_Tala_ means _place_.

Atala means no place.

Vitala means some change for the better: _i.e._, better for matter in that more matter enters into it, or, in other words, it becomes more differentiated. This is an ancient Occult term.

Sutala means good, excellent, place.

Karatala means something that can be grasped or touched (from kara, a hand): _i.e._, the state in which matter becomes tangible.

Rasâtala means place of taste; a place you can sense with one of the organs of sense.

Mahâtala means exoterically “great place”; but, Esoterically, a place including all others subjectively, and potentially including all that precedes it.

Pâtâla means something under the feet (from pada, foot), the upâdhi, or basis, of anything, the antipodes, America, etc.

Each of the Lokas, places, worlds, states, etc., corresponds with and is transformed into five (exoterically) and seven (Esoterically) states or Tattvas, for which there are no definite names. These in the main divisions cited below make up the forty‐nine Fires:

5 and 7 Tanmâtras, outer and inner senses.
5 and 7 Bhûtas, or elements.
5 and 7 Gnyânendryas, or organs of sensation.
5 and 7 Karmendryas, or organs of action.

These correspond in general to States of Consciousness, to the Hierarchies of Dhyân Chohans, to the Tattvas, etc. These Tattvas transform themselves into the whole Universe. The fourteen Lokas are made of seven with seven reflections: above, below; within, without; subjective, objective; pure, impure; positive, negative; etc.

Explanation of the States of Consciousness Corresponding to the Vedântic Classification of Lokas.

7. _Atala._ The Âtmic or Auric state or locality: it emanates directly from ABSOLUTENESS, and is the first something in the Universe. Its correspondence is the Hierarchy of non‐substantial primordial Beings, in a place which is no place (for us), a state which is no state. This Hierarchy contains the primordial plane, all that was, is, and will be, from the beginning to the end of the Mahâmanvantara; all is there. This statement should not, however, be taken to imply Kismet: the latter is contrary to all the teachings of Occultism.

Here are the Hierarchies of the Dhyâni Buddhas. Their state is that of Parasamâdhi, of the Dharmakâya; a state where no progress is possible. The entities there may be said to be crystallized in purity, in homogeneity.

6. _Vitala._ Here are the Hierarchies of the celestial Buddhas, or Bodhisattvas, who are said to emanate from the seven Dhyâni Buddhas. It is related on earth to Samâdhi, to the Buddhic consciousness in man. No Adept, save one, can be higher than this and live; if he passes into the Âtmic or Dharmakâya state (Alaya) he can return to earth no more. These two states are purely hyper‐metaphysical.

5. _Sutala._ A differential state corresponding on earth with the Higher Manas, and therefore with Shabda (Sound), the Logos, our Higher Ego; and also to the Manushi Buddha state, like that of Gautama, on earth. This is the third stage of Samâdhi (which is septenary). Here belong the Hierarchies of the Kumâras—the Agnishvattas, etc.

4. _Karatala_ corresponds with Sparsha (touch) and to the Hierarchies of ethereal, semi‐objective Dhyân Chohans of the astral matter of the Mânasa‐ Manas, or the pure ray of Manas, that is the Lower Manas before it is mixed with Kâma (as in the young child). They are called Sparsha Devas, the Devas endowed with touch. These Hierarchies of Devas are progressive: the first have one sense; the second two; and so on to seven: each containing all the senses potentially, but not yet developed. Sparsha would be rendered better by affinity, contact.

3. _Rasâtala_, or Rûpatala: corresponds to the Hierarchies of Rûpa or Sight Devas, possessed of three senses, sight, hearing, and touch. These are the Kâma‐Mânasic entities, and the higher Elementals. With the Rosicrucians they were the Sylphs and Undines. It corresponds on earth with an artificial state of consciousness, such as that produced by hypnotism and drugs (morphia, etc.).

2. _Mahâtala._ Corresponds to the Hierarchies of Rasa or Taste Devas, and includes a state of consciousness embracing the lower five senses and emanations of life and being. It corresponds to Kâma and Prâna in man, and to Salamanders and Gnomes in nature.

1. _Pâtâla._ Corresponds to the Hierarchies of Gandha or Smell Devas, the underworld or antipodes: Myalba. The sphere of irrational animals, having no feeling save that of self‐preservation and gratification of the senses: also of intensely selfish human beings, waking or sleeping. This is why Nârada is said to have visited Pâtâla when he was cursed to be reborn. He reported that life there was very pleasant for those “who had never left their birth‐place”; they were very happy. It is the earthly state, and corresponds with the sense of smell. Here are also animal Dugpas, Elementals of animals, and Nature Spirits.

Further Explanations of the Same Classifications.

7. Auric, Âtmic, Alayic, sense or state. One of full potentiality, but not of activity.

6. Buddhic; the sense of being one with the universe; the impossibility of imagining oneself apart from it.

(It was asked why the term Alayic was here given to the Âtmic and not to the Buddhic state. _Ans._ These classifications are not hard and fast divisions. A term may change places according as the classification is exoteric, Esoteric or practical. For students the effort should be to bring all things down to states of consciousness. Buddhi is really one and indivisible. It is a feeling within, absolutely inexpressible in words. All cataloguing is useless to explain it.)

5. Shâbdic, sense of hearing.

4. Spârshic, sense of touch.

3. Rûpic, the state of feeling oneself a body and perceiving it (rûpa = form).

2. Râsic, sense of taste.

1. Gândhic, sense of smell.

All the Kosmic and anthropic states and senses correspond with our organs of sensation, Gnyânendryas, rudimentary organs for receiving knowledge through direct contact, sight, etc. These are the faculties of Sharîra, through Netra (eyes), nose, speech, etc., and also with the organs of action, Karmendryas, hands, feet, etc.

Exoterically, there are five sets of five, giving twenty‐five. Of these twenty are facultative and five Buddhic. Exoterically Buddhi is said to perceive; Esoterically it reaches perception only through the Higher Manas. Each of these twenty is both positive and negative, thus making forty in all. There are two subjective states answering to each of the four sets of five, hence eight in all. These being subjective cannot be doubled. Thus we have 40 + 8 = 48 “cognitions of Buddhi.” These with Mâyâ, which includes them all, make 49. (Once that you have reached the cognition of Mâyâ, you are an Adept.)

The Lokas.

In their exoteric blinds the Brâhmans count fourteen Lokas (earth included), of which seven are objective, though not apparent, and seven subjective, yet fully demonstrable to the Inner Man. There are seven Divine Lokas and seven infernal (terrestrial) Lokas.

SEVEN DIVINE LOKAS. SEVEN INFERNAL (TERRESTRIAL) LOKAS. 1. Bhûrloka (the earth). 1. Pâtâla (our earth). 2. Bhuvarloka (between the 2. Mahâtala. earth and the sun [Munis]). 3. Svarloka (between the sun 3. Rasâtala. and and Pole Star [Yogîs]). 4. Maharloka (between the 4. Talâtala (or Karatala). earth and the utmost limit of the Solar System).(858) 5. Janarloka (beyond the Solar 5. Sutala. System, the abode of the Kumâras, who do not belong to this plane). 6. Taparloka (still beyond the 6. Vitala. Mahâtmic region, the dwelling of the Vairâja deities). 7. Satyaloka (the abode of the 7. Atala. Nirvanîs).

These the Brâhmans read from the bottom.

Now all these fourteen are planes from without within, and (the seven Divine) States of Consciousness through which man can pass‐‐and must pass, once he is determined to go through the seven paths and portals of Dhyâni; one need not be disembodied for this, and all this is reached on earth, and in one or many of the incarnations.

See the order: the four lower ones (1, 2, 3, 4), are _rûpa_; _i.e._, they are performed by the Inner Man with the full concurrence of the diviner portions, or, elements, of the Lower Manas, and consciously by the personal man. The three higher states cannot be reached and remembered by the latter, unless he is a fully initiated Adept. A Hatha Yogî will never pass beyond the Maharloka, psychically, and the Talâtala (double or dual place), physico‐mentally. To become a Râja Yogî, one has to ascend up to the seventh portal, the Satyaloka. For such, the Master Yogîs tell us, is the fruition of Yajna, or sacrifice. When the Bhûr, Bhuvar and Svarga (states) are once passed, and the Yogî’s consciousness centred in Maharloka, it is in the last plane and state between entire identification of the Personal and the Higher Manas.

One thing to remember: while the infernal (or terrestrial) states are also the seven divisions of the earth, for planes and states, as much as they are Kosmic divisions, the divine Saptaloka are purely subjective, and begin with the psychic Astral Light plane, ending with the Satya or Jîvanmukta state. These fourteen Lokas, or spheres, form the extent of the whole Brahmânda (world). The four lower are transitory, with all their dwellers, and the three higher eternal; _i.e._, the former states, planes and subjects, to these, last only a Day of Brahmâ, changing with every Kalpa: the latter endure for an Age of Brahmâ.

Students must learn the correspondences: then concentrate on the organs and so reach their corresponding states of consciousness. Take them in order beginning with the lowest, and working steadily upwards. A medium might irregularly catch glimpses of higher, but would not thus gain orderly development.

The greatest phenomena are produced by touching and centering the attention upon the little finger.

The Lokas and Talas are reflections the one of the other. So also are the Hierarchies in each, in pairs of opposites, at the two poles of the sphere. Everywhere are such opposites: good and evil, light and darkness, male and female.

H. P. B. could not say why blue was the colour of the earth. Blue is a colour by itself, a primary. Indigo is a colour, not a shade of blue, so is violet.

The Vairâjas belong to, are the fiery Egos of, other Manvantaras. They have already been purified in the fire of passions. It is they who refused to create. They have reached the Seventh Portal, and have refused Nirvâna, remaining for succeeding Manvantaras.

The seven steps of Antahkarana correspond with the Lokas.

Samâdhi is the highest state on earth that can be reached in the body. Beyond that the Initiate must have become a Nirmânakâya.

Purity of mind is of greater importance than purity of body. If the Upâdhi be not perfectly pure, it cannot preserve recollections coming from a higher state. An act may be performed to which little or no attention is paid, and it is of comparatively small importance. But if thought of, dwelt on in the mind, the effect is a thousand times greater. The thoughts must be kept pure.

Remember that Kâma, while having bad passions and emotions, helps you to evolve by giving also the desire and impulse necessary for rising.

The flesh, the body, the human being in his material part, is, on this plane, the most difficult thing to subject. The highest Adept, put into a new body, has to struggle against it and subdue it, and finds its subjugation difficult.

The Liver is the General, the Spleen is the Aide‐de‐Camp. All that the Liver does not accomplish is taken up and completed by the Spleen.

H. P. B. was asked whether each person must pass through the fourteen states, and answered that the Lokas and Talas represented planes on this earth, through some of which all must pass, and through all of which the disciple must pass, on his way to Adeptship. Everyone passes through the lower Lokas, but not necessarily through the corresponding Talas. There are two poles in everything: seven states in every state.

Vitala represents a sublime as well as an infernal state. That state which for the mortal is a complete separation of the Ego from the personality is for a Buddha a mere temporary separation. For the Buddha it is a Kosmic state.

The Brâhmans and Buddhists regard the Talas as hells, but in reality the term is figurative. We are in hell whenever we are in misery, suffer misfortune and so on.

Forms In The Astral Light.

The Elementals in the Astral light are reflections. Everything on earth is reflected there. It is from these that photographs are sometimes obtained through mediums. The mediums unconsciously produce them as forms. The Adepts produce them consciously through Kriyâshakti, bringing them down by a process that may be compared to the focussing of rays of light by a burning glass.

States Of Consciousness.

Bhûrloka is the waking state in which we normally live; it is the state in which animals also are, when they sense food, a danger, etc. To be in Svarloka is to be completely abstracted on this plane, leaving only instinct to work, so that on the material plane you would behave as an animal. Yogîs are known who have become crystallized in this state, and then they must be nourished by others. A Yogî near Allahabad had been for fifty‐three years sitting on a stone; his Chelâs plunge him into the river every night and then replace him. During the day his consciousness returns to Bhûrloka, and he talks and teaches. A Yogî was found on an island near Calcutta round whose limbs the roots of trees had grown. He was cut out, and in the endeavour to awaken him so many outrages were inflicted on him that he died.

_Q. Is it possible to be in more than one state of consciousness at once?_

_A._ The consciousness cannot be entirely on two planes at once. The higher and lower states are not wholly incompatible, but if you are on the higher you will wool‐gather on the lower. In order to remember the higher state on returning to the lower, the memory must be carried upwards to the higher. An Adept may apparently enjoy a dual consciousness; when he desires not to see he can abstract himself: he may be in a higher state and yet return answers to questions addressed to him. But in this case he will momentarily return to the material plane, shooting up again to the higher plane. This is his only salvation in adverse conditions.

The lower you go in the Talas the more intellectual you become and the less spiritual. You may be a morally good man but not spiritual. Intellect may remain very closely related to Kâma. A man may be in a Loka and visit one and all the Talas, his condition depending on the Loka to which he belongs. Thus a man in Bhûrloka only may pass into the Talas and go to the devil. If he dwells in Bhuvarloka he cannot become as bad. If he has reached the Satya state he can go into any Tala without danger; buoyed up by his own purity he can never be engulfed. The Talas are brain intellect states, while the Lokas—or more accurately the three higher—are spiritual.

Manas absorbs the light of Buddhi. Buddhi is Arûpa, and can absorb nothing. When the Ego takes all the light of Buddhi, it takes that of Âtmâ, Buddhi being the vehicle, and thus the three become one. This done, the _full_ Adept is one spiritually, but has a body. The fourfold Path is finished and he is one. The Masters’ bodies are, as far as they are concerned, illusionary, and hence do not grow old, become wrinkled, etc.

The student, who is not naturally psychic, should fix the fourfold consciousness in a higher plane and nail it there. Let him make a bundle of the four lower and pin them to a higher state. He should centre on this higher, trying not to permit the body and intellect to draw him down and carry him away. Play ducks and drakes with the body, eating, drinking and sleeping, but living always on the ideal.

Mother‐Love.

Mother‐love is an instinct, the same in the human being and in the animal, and often stronger in the latter. The continuance of this love in human beings is due to association, to blood magnetism and to psychic affinity. Families are sometimes formed of those who have lived together before, but often not. The causes at work are very complex and have to be balanced. Sometimes when a child with very bad Karma is to be born, parents of a callous type are chosen, or they may die before the Karmic results appear. Or the suffering through the child may be their own Karma. Mother‐love as an instinct is between Rasâtala and Talâtala.

The Lipikas keep man’s Karmic record, and impress it on the Astral Light.

Vacillating people pass from one state of consciousness to another.

Thought arises before desire. The thought acts on the brain, the brain on the organ, and then desire awakes. It is not the outer stimulus that arouses the organ. Thought therefore must be slain ere desire can be extinguished. The student must guard his thoughts. Five minutes’ thought may undo the work of five years; and though the five years’ work will be run through more rapidly the second time, yet time is lost.

Consciousness.

H. P. B. began by challenging the views of consciousness in the West, commenting on the lack of definition in the leading Philosophies. No distinction was made between consciousness and self‐consciousness, and yet in this lay the difference between man and the animal. The animal was conscious only, not self‐conscious; the animal does not know the Ego as Subject, as does man. There is therefore an enormous difference between the consciousness of the bird, the insect, the beast, and that of man.

But the full consciousness of man is self‐consciousness—that which makes us say, “_I_ do that.” If there is pleasure it must be traced to some one experiencing it. Now the difference between the consciousness of man and of animals is that while there is a Self in the animal, the animal is not conscious of the Self. Spencer reasons on consciousness, but when he comes to a gap he merely jumps over it. So again Hume, when he says that on introspection he sees merely feelings and can never find any “I,” forgets that without an “I” no seeing of feelings would be possible. What is it that studies the feelings? The animal is not conscious of the feeling “I am I.” It has instinct, but instinct is not self‐consciousness. Self‐ consciousness is an attribute of the mind, not of the soul, the _anima_, whence the very name _animal_ is taken. Humanity had no self‐consciousness until the coming of the Mânasaputras in the Third Race. Consciousness, brain‐consciousness, is the field of the light of the Ego, of the Auric Egg, of the Higher Manas. The cells of the leg are conscious, but they are the slaves of the idea; they are not self‐conscious, they cannot originate an idea, although when they are tired they can convey to the brain an uneasy sensation, and so give rise to the idea of fatigue. Instinct is the lower state of consciousness. Man has consciousness running through the four lower keys of his septenary consciousness; there are seven scales of consciousness in his consciousness, which is none the less essentially and pre‐eminently one, a unit. There are millions and millions of states of consciousness, as there are millions and millions of leaves; but as you cannot find two leaves alike, so you cannot find two states of consciousness alike; a state is never exactly repeated.

Is memory a thing born in us that it can give birth to the Ego? Knowledge, feeling, volition, are colleagues of the mind, not faculties of it. Memory is an artificial thing, an adjunct of relativeness; it can be sharpened or left dull, and it depends on the condition of the brain‐cells which store all impressions; knowledge, feeling, volition, cannot be correlated, do what you will. They are not produced from each other, nor produced from mind, but are principles, colleagues. You cannot have knowledge without memory, for memory stores all things, garnishing and furnishing. If you teach a child nothing, it will know nothing. Brain‐consciousness depends on the intensity of the light shed by the Higher Manas on the Lower, and the extent of affinity between the brain and this light. Brain‐mind is conditioned by the responsiveness of the brain to this light; it is the field of consciousness of the Manas. The animal has the Monad and the Manas latent, but its brain cannot respond. All potentialities are there, but are dormant. There are certain accepted errors in the West which vitiate all their theories.