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An
Outline of Theosophy
By
Charles
Webster Leadbeater
Reincarnation
Since the finer movements cannot at first affect the
soul, he has to draw round him vestures of grosser matter through which the
heavier vibrations can play; and so he takes upon himself successively the
mental body, the astral body, and the physical body. This is a birth or
incarnation –the commencement of a physical life. During that life all kinds of
experiences come to him through his
physical body, and from them he should learn some
lessons and develop some qualities in himself.
After a time he begins to withdraw into himself, and
puts off by degrees the vestures which he has assumed. The first of these to
drop is the physical body, and his withdrawal from that is what we call death.
It is not the end of his activities, as we so ignorantly suppose; nothing could
be further from the fact.
He is simply withdrawing from one effort, bearing back
with him its results; and after a certain period of comparative repose he will
make another effort of the same kind.
Thus, as has been said, what we ordinarily call his life
is only one day in the real and wider life – a day at school, during which he
learns certain lessons.
But inasmuch as one short life of seventy or eighty
years at most is not enough to give him an opportunity of learning all the
lessons which this wonderful and beautiful world has to teach, and inasmuch as
God means him to learn them all in His own good time, it is necessary that he
should come back again many times, and live through many of these schooldays
that we call lives, in different classes and under different circumstances,
until all the lessons are learned;
and then this lower schoolwork will be over, and he
will pass to something higher and more glorious – the true divine lifework for
which all this earthly
school-life is fitting him.
That is what is called the doctrine of reincarnation
or rebirth – a doctrine which was widely known in the ancient civilisations,
and is even today held by
the majority of the human race.
Of it Hume has written:-
“What is incorruptible must also be ungenerable. The
soul, therefore, if immortal, existed before our birth…..The metempsychosis is,
therefore, the only
system of this kind that Philosophy can hearken to.”
* (* Hume. “Essay on
Immortality,”
Writing of the theories of metempsychosis in
In his last and posthumous work this great Orientalist
again refers to this doctrine, and expresses his personal belief in it.
And Huxley writes: -
“Like the doctrine of evolution itself, that of
transmigration has its roots in the world of reality; and it may claim such
support as the great argument from analogy is capable of supplying.” ^ ( ^
Huxley, “Evolution and Ethics,” p. 61, 1895.)
So it will be seen that modern as well as ancient
writers recognise this hypothesis as one deserving of the most serious
consideration.
It must not for a moment be confounded with a theory
held by the ignorant, that it was possible for a soul which had reached
humanity in its evolution to re-become that of an animal. No such retrogression
is within the limits of possibility; when once man comes into existence – a
human soul, inhabiting what we call in our books a causal body – he can never
again fall back into what is in truth a lower kingdom of nature, whatever
mistakes he may make or however he may fail to take advantage of his
opportunities. If he is idle in the school of life, he may need to take the
same lesson over and over again before he has really learned it , but still on
the whole progress is steady, even though it may often be slow. A few years ago
the essence of this doctrine was prettily put
thus in one of the magazines: -
“A boy went to school. He was very little. All that he
knew he had drawn in with his mother’s milk. His teacher (who was God) placed
him in the lowest class, and gave him these lessons to learn: Thou shalt not
kill. Thou shalt do no hurt to
any living thing. Thou shalt not steal. So the man did
not kill; but he was cruel, and he stole, - At the end of the day (when his
beard was grey – when the
night was come) his teacher (who was God) said – Thou
hast learned not to kill. But the other lessons thou hast not learned. Come
back tomorrow.”
“On the morrow he came back, a little boy, and his
teacher (who was God) put him in a class a little higher, and gave him these
lessons to learn: Thou shalt do no hurt
to any living thing. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not cheat. So the man did
no hurt to any living thing; but he stole and he cheated.
And at the end of the day – when his beard was grey –
when the night was come – his teacher
(who was god) said: Thou hast learned to be merciful.
But the other lessons thou hast not learned. Come back tomorrow.”
“Again, on the morrow, he came back, a little boy. And
his teacher (who was God) put him in a class yet a little higher, and gave
these lessons to learn: Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not cheat. Thou shalt
not covet. So the man did not steal; but he cheated, and he coveted. And at the
end of the day – (when his beard was
grey –when night was come) his teacher (who was God) said: Thou hast learned
not to steal. But the other lessons thou
hast not learned. Come back, my child, tomorrow.”
“This is what I have read in the faces of men and
women, in the book of the world, and in the scroll of the heavens, which is
writ in the stars.” (
Benson, in The Century Magazine, May 1894).
I must not fill my pages with the many unanswerable
arguments in favour of this
doctrine of reincarnation; they are set forth very
fully in our literature by a far abler pen than mine. Here I will say only
this. Life presents us with many problems which, on any other hypothesis than
this of reincarnation, seem utterly insoluble; this great truth does explain
them, and therefore holds the field until another more satisfactory hypothesis
can be found. Like the rest of the
teaching, this is not a Hypothesis, but a matter of direct knowledge
for many of us; but naturally our knowledge is not proof to others.
Yet good men and true have been sorrowfully forced to
admit that they were unable to reconcile the state of affairs which exists in
the world around us with the theory that God was both almighty and all-loving.
They felt, when they looked upon all the heartbreaking sorrow and suffering,
that either He was not almighty, and could not prevent it, or He was not
all-loving, and did not care.
In Theosophy we hold with determined conviction that
He is both almighty and all-loving, and we reconcile with that certainty the
existing facts of life by means of this basic doctrine of reincarnation. Surely
the only hypothesis which
allows us reasonably to recognise the perfection of
power and love in the Deity is one which is worthy of careful examination.
For we understand that our present life is not our
first, but that each have behind us a long line of lives, by means of which we
have evolved from the
condition of primitive man to our present position.
Assuredly in these past lives we shall have done both
good and evil, and from every one of our actions a definite proportion of
result must have followed under the inexorable law of justice. From the good
follows always happiness and further opportunity; from the evil follows always
sorrow and limitation.
So, if we find ourselves limited in any way, the
limitation is of our own making, or is merely due to the youth of the soul; if
we have sorrow and
suffering to endure, we ourselves alone are
responsible. The manifold and complex destinies of men answer with rigid
exactitude to the balance between the good and evil of their previous actions;
and all is moving onward under the divine order towards the final consummation
of glory.
There is perhaps, no Theosophical teaching to which
more violent objection is made than this great truth of reincarnation; yet it
is in reality a most comforting doctrine. For it gives us time for the progress
which lies before – time and opportunity to become “perfect”. Objectors chiefly
found their protest on the fact that they have had so much trouble and sorrow
in this life that they will not listen to any suggestion that it may be
necessary to go through it all again. But this is obviously not argument; we
are in search of truth, and when it is found we must not shrink from it,
whether it be pleasant or unpleasant, though, as a matter of fact, as said
above, reincarnation rightly understood is profoundly comforting.
Again, people often enquire why, if we have had so
many previous lives, we do not remember any of them. Put briefly, the answer to
this is that some people do remember them; and the reason why the majority do
not is because their consciousness is still focused in one or other of the
lower sheaths.
That sheath cannot be expected to recollect previous
incarnations, because it has not had
any; and the soul, which has, is not yet fully
conscious on its own plane. But the memory of all the past is stored within the
soul, and expresses itself here in the innate qualities with which the child is
born; and when the man has evolved sufficiently to be able to focus his
consciousness there instead of only in lower vehicles the entire history of
that real and wider life will be open
before him like a book.
The whole of this question is fully and beautifully
worked out in Mrs. Besant’s manual on Reincarnation, Dr, Jerome Anderson’s
Reincarnation and in the chapters on that subject in The Ancient Wisdom, to which the attention of the reader is
specially directed.
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Tekels Park to be
Sold to a Developer
Concerns are
raised about the fate of the wildlife as
The Spiritual
Retreat, Tekels Park in Camberley,
Surrey, England is to be sold to a developer
Tekels Park is a
50 acre woodland park, purchased
for the Adyar Theosophical Society in England
in 1929.
In addition to
concern about the park, many are
worried about the future of the Tekels Park
Deer
as they are not a
protected species.
Confusion as the
Theoversity moves out of
Tekels Park to Southampton,
Glastonbury &
Chorley in Lancashire while the
leadership claim
that the Theosophical Society will
carry on using
Tekels Park despite its sale to a developer
Anyone planning a
“Spiritual” stay at the
Tekels Park Guest House should be aware of the sale.
Theosophy talks
of a compassionate attitude
to animals and
the sale of the Tekels Park
sanctuary for
wildlife to a developer has
It doesn’t
require a Diploma in Finance
and someone with
a Diploma in Astral Travel will
know that this is
a bad time economically to sell
Future of Tekels Park Badge in Doubt
Party On! Tekels Park Theosophy NOT
Tekels Park & the Loch Ness Monster
A Satirical view of
the sale of Tekels Park
in Camberley,
Surrey to a developer
The Toff’s Guide to the Sale of Tekels Park
What the men in top
hats have to
say about the sale
of Tekels Park
____________________
Classic Introductory Theosophy Text
A Text Book of Theosophy By C
What Theosophy Is From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
The Constitution of Man After Death Reincarnation
The Purpose of Life The Planetary Chains
The Result of Theosophical Study
An Outstanding
Introduction to Theosophy
By a student of
Katherine Tingley
Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man? Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation Karma
Preface to the American Edition Introduction
Occultism and its Adepts The Theosophical Society
First Occult Experiences Teachings of Occult Philosophy
Later Occult Phenomena Appendix
Preface
Theosophy and the Masters General Principles
The Earth Chain Body and Astral Body Kama – Desire
Manas Of Reincarnation Reincarnation Continued
Karma Kama Loka
Devachan
Cycles
Arguments Supporting Reincarnation
Differentiation Of Species Missing Links
Psychic Laws, Forces, and Phenomena
Psychic Phenomena and Spiritualism
Karma Fundamental Principles Laws: Natural and Man-Made The Law of Laws
The Eternal Now
Succession
Causation The Laws of Nature A Lesson of The Law
Karma Does Not Crush Apply This Law
Man in The Three Worlds Understand The Truth
Man and His Surroundings The Three Fates
The Pair of Triplets Thought, The Builder
Practical Meditation Will and Desire
The Mastery of Desire Two Other Points
The Third Thread Perfect Justice
Our Environment
Our Kith and Kin Our Nation
The Light for a Good Man Knowledge of Law The Opposing Schools
The More Modern View Self-Examination Out of the Past
Old Friendships
We Grow By Giving Collective Karma Family Karma
National Karma
India’s Karma
National Disasters
Nature is infinite in space and time -- boundless and eternal,
unfathomable and ineffable. The all-pervading essence of infinite nature can be
called space, consciousness, life, substance, force, energy, divinity -- all of
which are fundamentally one.
2) The finite and the infinite
Nature is a unity in diversity, one in essence, manifold in form. The
infinite whole is composed of an infinite number of finite wholes -- the
relatively stable and autonomous things (natural systems or artefacts) that we
observe around us. Every natural system is not only a conscious, living,
substantial entity, but is consciousness-life-substance, of a particular range
of density and form. Infinite nature is an abstraction, not an entity; it
therefore does not act or change and has no attributes. The finite, concrete
systems of which it is composed, on the other hand, move and change, act and
interact, and possess attributes. They are composite, inhomogeneous, and
ultimately transient.
3) Vibration/worlds within worlds
The one essence manifests not only in infinitely varied forms, and on
infinitely varied scales, but also in infinitely varying degrees of
spirituality and substantiality, comprising an infinite spectrum of vibration
or density. There is therefore an endless series of interpenetrating,
interacting worlds within worlds, systems within systems.
The energy-substances of higher planes or subplanes (a plane being a
particular range of vibration) are relatively more homogeneous and less
differentiated than those of lower planes or subplanes.
Just as boundless space is comprised of endless finite units of space,
so eternal duration is comprised of endless finite units of time. Space is the
infinite totality of worlds within worlds, but appears predominantly empty
because only a tiny fraction of the energy-substances composing it are
perceptible and tangible to an entity at any particular moment. Time is a
concept we use to quantify the rate at which events occur; it is a function of
change and motion, and presupposes a succession of cause and effect.
Every entity is extended in space and changes 'in time'.
All change (of position, substance, or form) is the result of causes;
there is no such thing as absolute chance. Nothing can happen for no reason at
all for nothing exists in isolation; everything is part of an intricate web of
causal interconnections and interactions. The keynote of nature is harmony:
every action is automatically followed by an equal and opposite reaction, which
sooner or later rebounds upon the originator of the initial act. Thus, all our
thoughts and deeds will eventually bring us 'fortune' or 'misfortune' according
to the degree to which they were harmonious or disharmonious. In the long term,
perfect justice prevails in nature.
Because nature is fundamentally one, and the same basic habits and
structural, geometric, and evolutionary principles apply throughout, there are
correspondences between microcosm and macrocosm. The principle of analogy -- as
above, so below -- is a vital tool in our efforts to understand reality.
All finite systems and their attributes are relative. For any entity,
energy-substances vibrating within the same range of frequencies as its outer
body are 'physical' matter, and finer grades of substance are what we call
energy, force, thought, desire, mind, spirit, consciousness, but these are just
as material to entities on the corresponding planes as our physical world is to
us. Distance and time units are also relative: an atom is a solar system on its
own scale, reembodying perhaps millions of times in what for us is one second,
and our whole galaxy may be a molecule in some supercosmic entity, for which a
million of our years is just a second. The range of scale is infinite:
matter-consciousness is both infinitely divisible and infinitely aggregative.
All natural systems consist of smaller systems and form part of larger
systems. Hierarchies extend both 'horizontally' (on the same plane) and
'vertically' or inwardly (to higher and lower planes). On the horizontal level,
subatomic particles form atoms, which combine into molecules, which arrange
themselves into cells, which form tissues and organs, which form part of
organisms, which form part of ecosystems, which form part of planets, solar
systems, galaxies, etc. The constitution of worlds and of the organisms that
inhabit them form 'vertical' hierarchies, and can be divided into several
interpenetrating layers or elements, from physical-astral to psychomental to
spiritual-divine, each of which can be further divided.
The human constitution can be divided up in several different ways: e.g.
into a trinity of body, soul, and spirit; or into 7 'principles' -- a lower
quaternary consisting of physical body, astral model-body, life-energy, and
lower thoughts and desires, and an upper triad consisting of higher mind
(reincarnating ego), spiritual intuition, and inner god. A planet or star can
be regarded as a 'chain' of 12 globes, existing on 7 planes, each globe
comprising several subplanes.
The highest part of every multilevelled organism or hierarchy is its
spiritual summit or 'absolute', meaning a collective entity or 'deity' which is
relatively perfected in relation to the hierarchy in question. But the most
'spiritual' pole of one hierarchy is the most 'material' pole of the next,
superior hierarchy, just as the lowest pole of one hierarchy is the highest
pole of the one below.
Each level of a hierarchical system exercises a formative and organizing
influence on the lower levels (through the patterns and prototypes stored up
from past cycles of activity), while the lower levels in turn react upon the
higher. A system is therefore formed and organized mainly from within outwards,
from the inner levels of its constitution, which are relatively more enduring
and developed than the outer levels. This inner guidance is sometimes active
and selfconscious, as in our acts of free will (constrained, however, by karmic
tendencies from the past), and sometimes it is automatic and passive, giving
rise to our own automatic bodily functions and habitual and instinctual
behavior, and to the orderly, lawlike operations of nature in general. The
'laws' of nature are therefore the habits of the various grades of conscious
entities that compose reality, ranging from higher intelligences (collectively forming the universal mind) to
elemental nature-forces.
10) Consciousness and its vehicles
The core of every entity -- whether atom, human, planet, or star -- is a
monad, a unit of consciousness-life-substance, which acts through a series of
more material vehicles or bodies. The monad or self in which the consciousness
of a particular organism is focused is animated by higher monads and expresses
itself through a series of lesser monads, each of which is the nucleus of one
of the lower vehicles of the entity in question. The following monads can be
distinguished: the divine or galactic monad, the spiritual or solar monad, the
higher human or planetary-chain monad, the lower human or globe monad, and the
animal, vital-astral, and physical monads. At our present stage of evolution,
we are essentially the lower human monad, and our task is to raise our
consciousness from the animal-human to the spiritual-human level of it.
Evolution means the unfolding, the bringing into active manifestation,
of latent powers and faculties 'involved' in a previous cycle of evolution. It
is the building of ever fitter vehicles for the expression of the mental and
spiritual powers of the monad. The more sophisticated the lower vehicles of an
entity, the greater their ability to express the powers locked up in the higher
levels of its constitution. Thus all things are alive and conscious, but the
degree of manifest life and consciousness is extremely varied.
Evolution results from the interplay of inner impulses and environmental
stimuli. Ever building on and modifying the patterns of the past, nature is infinitely
creative.
12) Cyclic evolution/re-embodiment
Cyclic evolution is a fundamental habit of nature. A period of
evolutionary activity is followed by a period of rest. All natural systems
evolve through re-embodiment. Entities are born from a seed or nucleus
remaining from the previous evolutionary cycle of the monad, develop to
maturity, grow old, and pass away, only to re-embody in a new form after a
period of rest. Each new embodiment is the product of past karma and present
choices.
Nothing comes from nothing: matter and energy can be neither created nor
destroyed, but only transformed. Everything evolves from preexisting material.
The growth of the body of an organism is initiated on inner planes, and
involves the transformation of higher energy-substances into lower, more
material ones, together with the attraction of matter from the environment.
When an organism has exhausted the store of vital energy with which it
is born, the coordinating force of the indwelling monad is withdrawn, and the
organism 'dies', i.e. falls apart as a unit, and its constituent components go
their separate ways. The lower vehicles decompose on their respective
subplanes, while, in the case of humans, the reincarnating ego enters a
dreamlike state of rest and assimilates the experiences of the previous
incarnation. When the time comes for the next embodiment, the reincarnating ego
clothes itself in many of the same atoms of different grades that it had used
previously, bearing the appropriate karmic impress. The same basic processes of
birth, death,
and rebirth apply to all entities, from atoms to humans to stars.
14) Evolution and involution of worlds
Worlds or spheres, such as planets and stars, are composed of, and
provide the field for the evolution of, 10 kingdoms -- 3 elemental kingdoms,
mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms, and 3 spiritual kingdoms. The
impulse for a new manifestation of a world issues from its spiritual summit or
hierarch, from which emanate a series of steadily denser globes or planes; the
One expands into the many. During the first half of the evolutionary cycle (the
arc of descent) the energy-substances of each plane materialize or condense,
while during the second half (the arc of ascent) the trend is towards
dematerialization or etherealization, as globes and entities are reabsorbed
into the spiritual hierarch for a period of nirvanic rest. The descending arc
is characterized by the evolution of matter and involution of spirit, while the
ascending arc is characterized by the evolution of spirit and involution of
matter.
In each grand cycle of evolution, comprising many planetary embodiments,
a monad begins as an unselfconsciousness god-spark, embodies in every kingdom
of nature for the purpose of gaining experience and unfolding its inherent
faculties, and ends the cycle as a self conscious god. Elementals ('baby
monads') have no free choice, but automatically act in harmony with one another
and the rest of nature. In each successive kingdom differentiation and
individuality increase, and reach their peak in the human kingdom with the
attainment of selfconsciousness and a large measure of free will.
In the human kingdom in particular, self-directed evolution comes into
its own. There is no superior power granting privileges or handing out favours;
we evolve according to our karmic merits and demerits. As we progress through
the spiritual kingdoms we become increasingly at one again with nature, and
willingly 'sacrifice' our circumscribed selfconscious freedoms (especially the
freedom to 'do our own thing') in order to work in peace and harmony with the
greater whole of which we form an integral part. The highest gods of one
hierarchy or world-system begin as elementals in the next. The matter of any
plane is composed of aggregated, crystallized monads in their nirvanic sleep,
and the spiritual and divine entities embodied as planets and stars are the
electrons and atomic nuclei -- the material building blocks -- of worlds on
even larger scales. Evolution is without beginning and without end, an endless
adventure through the fields of infinitude, in which there are always new worlds
of experience in which to become selfconscious masters of life.
There is no absolute separateness in nature. All things are made of the
same essence, have the same spiritual-divine potential, and are interlinked by
magnetic ties of sympathy. It is impossible to realize our full potential,
unless we recognize the spiritual unity of all living beings and make universal
brotherhood the keynote of our lives.
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Foundation of the
Original Theosophical Society 1875
The first Theosophical Society was founded
in New York on
November 17th 1875 by Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky,
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan
Judge and others.
The Theosophical Movement now consists of a
diverse range of
organizations which carry the Theosophical
Tradition forward.
Cardiff Theosophical Society has been
promoting Theosophy since 1908
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मूल थियोसोफिकल सोसायटी 1875 फाउंडेशन
पहले थियोसोफिकल सोसायटी को न्यूयॉर्क में स्थापित किया गया था
17 नवंबर Helena Petrovna Blavatsky द्वारा 1875,
कर्नल Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge और दूसरों.
थियोसोफिकल आंदोलन अब एक विविध रेंज के होते हैं
आगे थियोसोफिकल परंपरा ले जो संगठनों.
कार्डिफ थियोसोफिकल सोसायटी 1908 के बाद से ब्रह्मविद्या को बढ़ावा देने की गई है
_______________________________________
Mūla
thiyōsōphikala sōsāyaṭī 1875
phā'uṇḍēśana
Pahalē thiyōsōphikala sōsāyaṭī kō
n'yūyŏrka mēṁ sthāpita kiyā gayā thā
17 Navambara Helena Petrovna Blavatsky dvārā 1875,
Kamala Henry Steel Olcott, aura dūsarōṁ.
Thiyōsōphikala āndōlana aba ēka vividha
rēn̄ja kē hōtē haiṁ
Āgē thiyōsōphikala paramparā lē jō
saṅgaṭhanōṁ.
Kārḍipha thiyōsōphikala sōsāyaṭī 1908
kē bāda sē brahmavidyā
kō baṛhāvā
dēnē kī ga'ī hai
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