Họp Thông Thiên Học ngày 11 tháng 5 năm 2013
[5/11/2013 6:00:31 PM] *** Group call ***
[5/11/2013 6:02:48 PM] Thuan Thi Do: The principal characteristics of the consciousness and experiences of the ego,
whether or not they be remembered in the brain, are as follows: -
(1) The ego's measure of time and space are so entirely different from that which he
uses in waking life that it is almost as though neither time nor space existed for him.
Many instances are known where in a few moments of time, as we measure it, the
ego may have experiences which appear to last for many years, event after event
happening in full and circumstantial detail.
(2) The ego possesses the faculty, or the habit, of instantaneous dramatisation. Thus
a physical sound or a touch may reach the ego, not through the usual nerve
mechanism, but directly, a fraction of a second before even it reaches the physical
brain. That fraction of a second is sufficient for the ego to construct a kind of drama
or series of scenes leading up to and culminating in the event which awakens the
physical body. The brain confuses the subjective dream and the objective event, and
therefore imagines itself to have actually lived through the events of the dream.
This habit, however, seems to be peculiar to the ego which, so far as spirituality is
concerned, is still comparatively undeveloped. As the ego develops spiritually, he
rises beyond these graceful sports of his childhood. The man who has attained
continuous consciousness is so fully occupied with higher plane work that he devotes
no energy to this dramatisation, and consequently this class of dream ceases for him.
(3) The ego possesses also to some extent the faculty of prevision, being sometimes
able to see in advance events which are going to happen, or rather which may
happen unless steps are taken to prevent them, and to impress the same on the
physical brain. Many instances are recorded of such prophetic or warning dreams. In
some cases the warning may be heeded, the necessary steps taken, and the
foreseen result either modified or entirely avoided. [Page 102]
(4) The ego, when out of the body during sleep, appears to think in symbols: an idea,
which down here would require many words to be expressed, is perfectly conveyed
to him by a single symbolical image. If such a symbolic thought is impressed upon
the brain, and remembered in waking consciousness, the mind may itself translate it
into words: on the other hand it may come through merely as a symbol, un60
translated, and so may cause confusion. In dreams of this nature, it seems that each
person usually has a system of symbology of his own: thus water may signify
approaching trouble: pearls may be a sing of tears: and so forth.
If a man wishes to have useful dreams, i.e., to be able to reap in his waking
consciousness the benefit of what his ego may learn during sleep, there are certain
steps he should take to bring about this result.
First, it is essential that he should form the habit of sustained and concentrated
thought during ordinary waking life. A man who has absolute control of his thoughts
will always know exactly what he is thinking about, and why; he will also find that the
brain, thus trained to listen to the promptings of the ego, will remain quiescent when
not in use, and will decline to receive or respond to casual currents from the
surrounding ocean of thought. The man will thus be more likely to receive influences
from the higher planes, where insight is keener and judgment truer than they can
ever be on the physical plane.
It should scarcely be necessary to add that the man should also be complete master
of at least his lower passions.
By a very elementary act of magic, a man may shut out from his etheric brain the
rush of thoughts which impinge upon it from without. To this end, he should, when
lying down to sleep, picture his aura, and will strongly that its outer surface shall
become a shell to protect him from outside influences. The auric matter will obey his
thought, and form the shell. This step is of appreciable value towards the desired
end. [Page 103]
The great importance of fixing the last thought, before falling to sleep, on high and
noble things, has already been mentioned; it should be practised regularly by those
who wish to bring their dreams under control.
It may be useful here to add the Hindu terms for the four states of consciousness:
Jâgrat is the ordinary waking consciousness.
Svapna is the dream consciousness, working in the astral body, and able to impress
its experiences upon the brain.
Sushupti is the consciousness working in the mental body, and not able to impress its
experiences on the brain.
Turiya is a state of trance, the consciousness working in the buddhic vehicle, being
so far separated from the brain that it cannot readily be recalled by outer means.
These terms, however, are used relatively, and vary according to the context. Thus,
in one interpretation of jâgrat, the physical and astral planes are combined, the seven
sub-divisions corresponding to the four conditions of physical matter, and the three
broad divisions of astral matter mentioned on page 148.
For further elucidation the student is referred to An introduction to Yoga, by Annie
Besant, page 16, et seq., and also to A Study in Consciousness, were waking
consciousness is defined as that part of the total consciousness which is working
through the outermost vehicle. [Page 104]
CHAPTER 9
CONTINUITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
As we have seen, for a man to pass in unbroken consciousness from one vehicle to
another, e.g., from the physical to the astral, or vice versa, it is a requisite that the
links between the bodies should be developed. Most men are not conscious of these
links, and the links are not actively vivified, being in a condition similar to that of
rudimentary organs in the physical body. They have to be developed by use, and are
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made to function by the man fixing his attention upon them and using his will. The will
sets free and guides kundalini, but unless the preliminary purification of the vehicles
is first thoroughly accomplished, kundalini is a destructive instead of a vivifying
energy. Hence the insistence, by all occult teachers, on the necessity of purification
before true yoga is practised.
When a man has rendered himself fit to be helped in vivifying the links, such
assistance will inevitably come to him as a matter of course, from those who are ever
seeking opportunities to aid the earnest and unselfish aspirant. Then, one day, the
man will find himself slipping out of the physical body while he is wide awake, and
without any break in consciousness he discovers himself to be free. With practice the
passage from vehicle to vehicle becomes familiar and easy. The development of the
links bridges the gulf between physical and astral consciousness, so that there is
perfect continuity of consciousness.
The student thus has not only to learn to see correctly on the astral plane, but also to
translate accurately the memory of what he has seen from the astral to the physical
brain: and to assist him in this he is trained to carry his consciousness without break
from the [Page 105] physical plane to the astral and mental and back again, for until
that can be done there is always a possibility that his recollections may be partially
lost or distorted during the blank intervals which separate his periods of
consciousness on the various planes. When the power of bringing over the
consciousness is perfectly acquired, the pupil will have the advantage of the use of
all the astral faculties, not only while out of the body during sleep or trance, but also
while fully awake in ordinary physical life.
In order that the physical waking consciousness should include astral consciousness
it is necessary that the pituitary body should be further evolved, and that the fourth
spirillae in the atoms should be perfected.
In addition to the method of moving the consciousness from one sub-plane to
ano...
[5/11/2013 6:21:02 PM] Thuan Thi Do: In addition to the method of moving the consciousness from one sub-plane to
another, of the same plane, from, e.g., the astral atomic to the lowest sub-plane of
the mental, there is also another line of connection which may be called the atomic
short-cut.
If we picture the atomic sub-planes of astral, mental, etc., as lying side by side along
a rod, the other sub-planes may be pictured as hanging from the rod in loops, as
though a piece of string were wound loosely round the rod. Obviously, then, to pass
from one atomic sub-plane to another one could move by a short cut along the rod, or
down and up again through the hanging loops which symbolise the lower sub-planes.
The normal processes of our thinking come steadily down through the sub-planes:
but flashes of genius, illuminative ideas, come through the atomic sub-planes only.
There is also a third possibility connected with the relation of our planes with the
cosmic planes, but this is too abstruse to be dealt with in a work which purports to
deal only with the astral plane and its phenomena.
Merely to obtain continuity of consciousness between the physical and the astral
planes is, of course, quite [Page 106] insufficient in itself to restore memory of past
lives. For this a much higher development is required, into the nature of which it is not
necessary to enter enter.
A man who has thus acquired complete mastery over the astral body may, of course,
leave the physical body, not only during sleep, but at any time he chooses, and go to
a distant place, etc..
Mediums and sensitives project their astral bodies unconsciously, when they go into
trance: but usually on coming out of trance there is no brain-memory of the
experiences acquired. Trained students are able to project the astral body
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consciously and to travel to great distances from the physical body, bringing back
with them full and detailed memory of all the impressions they have gained.
An astral body thus projected may be seen by persons who are sensitive or who may
chance to be temporarily in an abnormal nervous condition. There are on record
many cases of such astral visitations by a dying person near the time of death, the
approach of dissolution having loosened the principles so as to make the
phenomenon possible for people who were unable at any other time to perform the
feat. (See also page 50 for a similar phenomenon produced by a thought-form). The
astral body is also set free in many cases of disease. Inactivity of the physical body is
a condition of such astral journeys.
A man may, if he knows how to set about it, slightly densify his astral body by
drawing into it, from the surrounding atmosphere, particles of physical matter, and
thus "materialise" sufficiently to become physically visible. This is the explanation of
many cases of "apparitions", where a person, physically absent, has been seen by
friends with their ordinary physical sight. [Page 107]
CHAPTER 12
DEATH AND THE DESIRE-ELEMENTAL
At death, the consciousness withdraws from the dense physical body into the etheric
double for a short time, usually a few hours, and then passes into the astral body.
Death thus consists of a process of unrobing or unsheathing. The ego, the immorta
[5/11/2013 6:48:13 PM] Thuan Thi Do: The normal processes of our thinking come steadily down through the sub-planes:
but flashes of genius, illuminative ideas, come through the atomic sub-planes only.
[5/11/2013 7:03:57 PM] *** Call ended, duration 1:03:21 ***
[5/11/2013 7:04:38 PM] *** Group call ***
[5/11/2013 7:08:48 PM] Thuan Thi Do: http://blavatskyarchives.com/inner/innerno8.htm
[5/11/2013 7:09:18 PM] Thuan Thi Do: http://blavatskyarchives.com/inner/innerno8.htm
[5/11/2013 7:26:48 PM] Thuan Thi Do: http://blavatskyarchives.com/inner/innerno9.htm
[5/11/2013 7:54:37 PM] Thuan Thi Do:
THE AURIC EGG, ITS NATURE AND FUNCTION
Every being or thing throughout the universe, and indeed the universe itself, has, or rather is, its own auric egg. Its primal substance is the akasa of which the cosmic ether is the grossest aspect. This akasa concretes itself progressively from its highest to its lowest part, so that the auric egg in its most material aspect is but slightly more ethereal than the physical body, and is in fact astral substance. It is fundamentally life; it is not only the seat of the pranas or life-forces, but the auric egg is itself concreted life, for akasa is life, and life is akasa.
The auric egg originates in the monad which is its heart or core, and from which, when manifestation begins, it emanates forth in streams of vital effluvia. On the different planes which the auric egg traverses as a pillar of light, from the atmic to the physical, each such auric or pranic effluvium is a principle or element, commonly reckoned in man as seven in number. When the auric egg is viewed on any one plane of the human constitution, we discover that this plane or 'layer' not only corresponds to, but actually is, one of the unfolded six principles of man; it would appear to be ovoid or somewhat egg-shaped in outline, and to be a more or less dense, extremely brilliant, central portion surrounded by an enormously active interworking cloud of pranic currents. If we look at the sun we get a sublimely beautiful picture of what the solar auric egg is on this plane, and this gives some idea of what the auric egg of a human being looks like when considered on any one of its six planes or layers emanated from the atmic or monadic source.
These immensely active and interworking clouds or vital effluvia are actually the pranas of the auric egg on any one plane expressing themselves as auras. Thus, in illustration, all the pranas in and of man's astral-physical body are simply the vital auras of his physical being, and similarly so on any other layer of his constitution.
The auric egg, originating in the atman or the true naked monad, flows forth from the heart of the monad, clothing itself first in its highest veil, the substances and energies of buddhi. As the consciousness stream descends farther into manifestation, the buddhic auras with the atmic energies working in and through them produce manas, the second veil or garment; and this in its turn flows forth in the next auric attribute, the kama, including its various substances and forces, until finally the physical body is formed from the matters and forces of the astral auric egg as its lees or dregs.
Each such layer or plane of the stream of consciousness called the auric egg is emanated from a center or core which itself is a child monad emanated from its superior, and so on upwards until we reach the atmic monad again, out of the heart of which all flows. Thus, each of these children monads aids in producing in its fullness the whole auric egg of a septenary being, by pouring forth from within its heart the particular swabhavic pranic essences belonging to itself as a monad on that plane.
All manifestations of human life, from gestation to death, originate in the auric egg, and pass out through the physical body. Every part of the body, every different organ, is a deposit from an equivalent layer of the auric egg. Blood, as an illustration, is the physical representative of what in the auric egg manifests itself as the vital streams. It is concreted or materialized vitality, and the various cells with which it is filled represent on this plane the as yet unevolved life-atoms which exist equivalently and causally in the auric egg. Just as blood is the dregs of the pranic streams flowing through the auric egg, so is the physical brainstuff the dregs of the manasic substance which composes a part of the auric egg, i.e. a deposit from those layers of the auric egg in which the manasic principle functions.
Mentality thus originates on the mental plane of the auric egg, spiritual thought and impulses on the spiritual planes, animal impulses on the grosser planes. The astral body has its source in the auric egg also; and even the physical body is a deposit of it, being but the shell of the auric egg -- born out of it, built up from its life, and deriving therefrom all its vitality.
It is through their auric egg that the spiritual adepts (and even the Brothers of the Shadow) perform the wonders which they can work, for it is the center of their vitality. An adept in these mysteries, by the power of will and by wisdom, could surround himself with a cloak of invisibility -- a concealing veil of part of his auric substance -- so that he could pass through a crowd in broad daylight, and be totally unseen. Again, he could so harden or strengthen his auric egg as to cast around himself an impenetrable garment that nothing known to man could pierce. Neither bullet nor sword could pass this protecting veil of akasa, which nevertheless is so ethereal that it is utterly invisible. And yet, because it is composed of pure energy, it is the same, fundamentally, as pure substance. The atoms composing the bullet or the sword are unable to penetrate it, for to those atoms this protecting veil is made incomparably denser by the strength of will of the one who so shields himself, or someone else. It is by a knowledge of the powers and energies latent and residing in the auric egg that an adept, by using his will, can also levitate himself or, on the other hand, make his body so heavy that fifty men could not lift it.
The size of the auric egg is not always the same. When it is in full manifestation, the pranic essences poured forth from the different centers are greater than when it is in a state of inactivity. Thus, after death, the auric egg -- otherwise the constitution -- shrinks very considerably as concerns the reach of the pranic auras, and this is especially the case in its lower layers, which break up into their component atoms and are dissipated. In fact, mere size or extension of an auric egg has nothing to do with the intrinsic functions of consciousness; for when a monad is in certain spiritual states, as happens after death, the extent of the pranic or vital outflow may be at times infinitesimal in character. This, however, does not apply with equal force to the spiritual and divine layers of the auric egg, for these, being relatively immortal, are not affected in any especial degree by the death of a being such as a man.
Thus we see that the auras of a man's astral-physical body are merely those portions of the pranas which during incarnation surround the body as a mist or shining cloud; and these auras are invariably characterized by marvelously shifting and changing scintillations and flashings of color.
In principle, then, the higher the layer in the auric egg the farther-reaching are its various pranic auras, so that actually the higher layers are characterized by auric extensions which range far beyond the limits of our own planetary chain, to the sun and other planets -- indeed, the reach of the auric egg in its divine aspects embraces in varying degrees of power and largeness different parts of the galaxy. It is just by these 'touchings' or 'contacts' of the auras of the different layers that we interweave our vitality with the beings and things that surround us, and this on all planes of our constitution. And herein lies the cause of the ordinary sympathies and antipathies that we are constantly experiencing: our pranic auras touch or contact the world around us, enabling us to become cognizant of our environs by means of our sensory apparatuses both outer and inner.
As a matter of fact, no entity could cognize any other entity in the universe unless his auric egg reached that entity. We could not see the stars unless our auric egg were already there, and transmitted to us along the pathways of the ether the touch that we have of those di...
[5/11/2013 8:20:37 PM] Thuan Thi Do: The sun, for example, may be said to 'feel' and to 'embrace' whatever is contacted by its rays flashing forth from itself; and it is precisely the intellectual and spiritual and divine reach of the forces and energies of the auric egg of the solar chain, linking themselves in eternal and unbreakable bonds with the surrounding galaxy, which thus permits the solar chain to come into contact with the galaxy, its home. Indeed, the reason that one man can understand another is that the manasic layers of the auric egg of the one touch and interweb with those of the other, thus bringing about intellectual contact; and when there is such synchrony of vibration, we have intellectual sympathy and understanding; but when the manasic wavelengths are not of the same frequency, we have the cases of inability of men to understand each other, antipathetic feelings, etc.
However, let us not be too literal and falsely imagine that here is a reason for indulging in hatreds as being 'according to natural law,' or some other such tommyrot. Of course, we should try to synchronize our 'vibrations' with those of others -- not by descending to a lower level than our own best, but by endeavoring through impersonal will and spiritual aspiration to apply the grand old rule of cosmic ethics that love harmonizes all things, that hatred is always destructive. It is our duty to replace antipathies by the sympathies that we can in fact always attain to by rising to higher planes of feeling and thought. This is possible because all monads, in their own high status, are permanently on the plane of spirit, and hence vibrate in harmonic and synchronous spiritual rhythms.
No sensitive man can go into a crowd without being strongly affected by its emanations -- an efflux of vitality which leaves every human being constantly, day and night -- and these emanations literally poison the outer layers of the auric egg. However, help is afforded by nature's automatic closing of the doors of entrance, and thus the auric atmosphere receives protection. Just as the pores of the skin involuntarily close and open -- a process which aids in keeping the body healthy and in preventing the entrance of disease -- so are there certain psychic adjustments, automatic in type, which take place in one's auric atmosphere when in crowds.
[5/11/2013 8:25:28 PM] Thuan Thi Do:
Now if one were strong enough in love and in universal sympathy, as the higher adepts are, he could enter safely into places heavily charged with the emanations of matter and evil, and do so with perfect security to inner health, because his auric egg, on account of its innate purity, would then automatically close its 'pores' against such emanations; the heart and the mind meanwhile expanding in compassionate understanding so largely as to see hid beauty and to sense natural sympathy even with one's most uncompromising foe, because we are all united on the higher planes of our being.
From the foregoing, we can see the reason for H.P.B.'s statement (The Key to Theosophy, ) to the effect that the pranas are the direct emanations from an atmic layer of the auric egg, and similarly so from the atmic essence of the different children monads in the human constitution. Furthermore, it is the auric egg as a whole which is the actual ever-enduring compound vehicle of man considered as a peregrinating entity. It is in his auric egg, in its many and various planes or layers, that a man throughout eternity lives and moves and has his consciousness, and all the other attributes and faculties and powers that characterize him in any one of the many episodes of his immensely long evolutionary journey.
In connection with this last thought, we should remember that the size of the auric egg is of no importance, because during incarnation it is variously extensive, while after death its pranic auras may all be withdrawn into the heart of the different monads from which they originally emanated. Thus, on any one plane, such as the astral-physical, the auric egg may be infinitesimal in extent, possibly even smaller than an anu or an atom; and at the same time in its spiritual and divine reaches coextensive with the universe. This explains the phrase in the Upanishads which describes Brahman as "smaller than the atomic, vaster than the universe."
[5/11/2013 8:32:32 PM] Thuan Thi Do: http://esoterism.ro/english/auric-egg.php
[5/11/2013 8:38:34 PM] Thuan Thi Do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyuL9d70mPM
[5/11/2013 9:26:10 PM] Thuan Thi Do: MONADS, EGOS AND SOULS
The various souls, element-principles, and egos, which are all comprised in the constitution of a human being, are of necessity enwrapped within the layers of the different substances and energies which form the auric egg, itself the field of evolutionary activity. Indeed, the whole work of evolution is conducted in and upon the auric egg, because all its layers are modified or refined in consequence of the growth and change taking place in the monadic centers.
I will endeavor now to be more specific as regards the terms monadic essences, monads, egos, and souls. Monadic essence has been commonly used to signify the essential or divine substance of a monad, of which the monad is an individualized expression in time and space. Hence, monadic essence is virtually equivalent to the term god, there being as many gods as there are monads. We have thus the series: gods (or monadic essences), monads, egos, souls (or vehicles); and this series is likewise chronological in that from the god emanates the monad, from the monad the ego, from the ego comes the soul, and from the soul the body. It is to this that H.P.B. alludes in The Secret Doctrine when, in giving the three fundamental bases of consciousness and the structural framework of the universe, she speaks of "Gods, Monads, Atoms."
Taking up next in order the term ego, we can briefly describe this highly important part of a man, on whatever plane of his constitution it may be native, as the stored-up fund of conscious evolutionary experience acquired during the continuously repetitive imbodiments of a monad in the worlds of manifestation. As an illustration, the reincarnating ego is the gatherer and the storehouse of all the spiritual and intellectual experiences gained by the human monad in its many incarnations -- and it is just because of this fact that the experiences garnered by the ego after the death of man were called by H.P.B. the 'aroma' of a spiritual and intellectual and nobler psychical character, treasured up after each life on earth.
[5/11/2013 9:37:51 PM] Thuan Thi Do: The term soul we can define as the sentient, sensitive vehicle or garment, itself of living substance, with which the ego surrounds itself during any embodiment. Another term for soul is body -- not necessarily a body of flesh, but any vehicle in and through which, and on whatever plane of the human constitution, an ego may be expressing itself. Hence the usage of the various terms, spiritual soul, human soul, animal soul, and even physical soul -- meaning the body of flesh.
Thus we have the divine-spiritual stuff or essence, itself a god, which when expressing itself as an individual on the next inferior plane we call a monad; such monad expresses itself on the plane on which it may be manifesting through its appropriate manasic garment or egoic focus which is its ego; and each such ego in its turn surrounds itself with its own pranic auras or characteristic veil of living substance and sensitive stuff, its soul.
Man being a microcosm of the macrocosm, we can by analogy understand the constitution of a universe by transferring to a cosmic scale these points of teaching concerning the constitution or auric egg of man. We then infer that a universe has its monadic essence, its cosmic monad, its cosmic ego as an individual, and likewise its cosmic soul or anima mundi.
[5/11/2013 9:42:22 PM] *** Call ended, duration 2:37:43 ***