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An
Outline of Theosophy
By
Charles
Webster Leadbeater
The
Constitution of Man
The astounding practical materialism to which we have
been reduced in this country can hardly be more clearly shown than it is by the
expressions that we employ in common life. We speak quite ordinarily of man as
having a soul, of “saving” our souls, and so on, evidently regarding the
physical body as the real man and the soul as a mere appanage, a vague
something to be considered as
property of the body.
With an idea so little defined as this, it can hardly
be a matter of surprise that many people go a little further along the same
lines, and doubt whether
this vague something exists at all. So it would seem
that the ordinary man is very often quite uncertain whether he possesses a soul
or not; still less does
he know that the soul is immortal.
That he should remain in this pitiable condition of
ignorance seems strange, for there is a very great deal of evidence available
even in the outer world, to show that man has an existence quite apart
from his body, capable of being carried on at a
distance from it while it is living, and entirely without it when it is dead.
Until we have entirely rid ourselves of this
extraordinary delusion that the body is the man, it is quite impossible that we
should at all appreciate the real facts of the case. A little investigation
immediately shows us that the body is only a vehicle by means of which the man
manifests himself in connection with this particular type of gross matter out
of which our visible world is built.
Furthermore, it shows that other and subtler types of
matter exist – not only the ether admitted by modern science as
interpenetrating all known substances, but other types of matter which
interpenetrate ether in turn, and are as much
finer than ether as it is than solid matter. The
question will naturally occur to the reader as to how it will be possible for
man to become conscious of the existence of types of matter so wonderfully
fine, so minutely subdivided. The answer is that he can become conscious of
them in the same way as he becomes conscious of the lower matter – by receiving
vibrations from them.
And he is enabled to receive vibrations from them by
reason of the fact that he possesses matter of these finer types as part of
himself – that just as his body of dense matter is his vehicle for perceiving
and communicating with the world of dense matter, so does the finer matter
within him constitute for him a vehicle by means of which he can perceive and
communicate with the world of finer matter which is imperceptible to the
grosser physical senses.
This is by no means a new idea. It will be
remembered that St. Paul remarks that “there is a
natural body, and there is a spiritual body,” and that he furthermore refers to
both the soul and the spirit in man, by no means employing the two
synonymously, as is so often ignorantly done at the present day. It speedily
becomes evident that man is a far more complex being than is ordinarily
supposed; that not only is he a spirit within a soul
but that this soul has various vehicles of different degrees of density, the
physical body being only one, and the lowest of them.
These various vehicles may all be described as bodies
in relation to their respective levels of matter. It might be said that there
exist around us a series of worlds one within the other (by inter-penetration),
and that man possesses a body for each of these worlds, by means of which he
may observe it and live in it. He learns by degrees how to use these various
bodies, and in that way gains a much more complete idea of the great complex
world in which he lives; for all these other inner worlds are in reality still
part of it.
In this way he comes to understand very many things
which before seemed mysterious to him; he ceases to identify himself with his
bodies, and learns that they are only vestures which he may put off and resume
or change without being himself in the least affected thereby. Once more we
must repeat that all this by no means metaphysical speculation or pious
opinion, but definite
scientific fact thoroughly well known experimentally
to those who have studied
Theosophy.
Strange as it may seem to many to find precise
statements taking the place of hypothesis upon questions such as these, I am
speaking here of nothing that is not known by direct and constantly repeated
observation to a large number of
students. Assuredly “we know whereof we speak”, not by
faith but by experiment, and therefore we speak with confidence. To these inner
worlds or different levels of nature we usually give the name of planes. We
speak of the visible world as “the physical plane”, though under that name we
include also the gases and various grades of ether.
To the next stage of materiality the name of “the
astral plane” was given by the medieval alchemists (who were well aware of its
existence), and we have adopted their title. Within this exists another world
of still finer matter, of which we speak as “the mental plane”, because of its
matter is composed what is commonly called the mind in man. There are other
still higher planes, but I need not trouble the reader with designations for
them, since we are at present dealing only with man’s manifestation in the
lower worlds.
It must always be born in mind that all these worlds
are in no way removed from us in space. In fact, they all occupy exactly the
same space, and are all equally about us always. At the moment our
consciousness is focused in and working through our physical brain, and thus we
are conscious only of the physical world, and not even of the whole of that.
But we have only to learn to focus that consciousness
in one of these higher vehicles, and at once the physical fades from our view,
and we see instead the world of matter
which corresponds to the vehicle used.
Recollect that all matter is in essence the same.
Astral matter does not differ in its nature from physical matter any more than
ice differs in its nature from steam. It is simply the same thing in a
different condition. Physical matter may become astral, or astral may become
mental, if only it be sufficiently subdivided, and caused to vibrate with the
proper degree of rapidity.
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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
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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
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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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