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[6:08:31 PM] Thuan Thi Do: CHAPTER XXIII
THE PERMANENT ATOMS AND THE MECHANISM OF REINCARNATION
In this chapter we shall deal with the part played by the permanent atoms in
rebirth, and also with certain further details of the mechanism of rebirth.
It has already been explained, in this series of books, that after the death
of the physical body, the ego steadily withdraws through plane after plane,
until eventually he is clothed only in his causal vehicle. At physical death,
the life web, together with prana is withdrawn into the heart, round the
physical permanent atom. The physical permanent atom then rises along the
Sushumna-nadi --- a canal running from the heart to the third ventricle -
into the head, to the third ventricle of the brain. Then the whole of the
life-web, collected round the permanent atom, rises slowly to the point of
junction of the parietal and occipital sutures, and leaves the physical body
- now dead.
As the ego vacates each of his bodies, the permanent atoms of those bodies
pass into a dormant condition , and are retained in the causal body in that
quiescent state. Wile the man is in his causal body only, he thus has within
that body the physical permanent atom, the astral permanent atom, and the
mental permanent molecule, or unit,as it is more usually called. These three,
wrapped in the buddhic life-web, appear as a brilliant nucleus-like particle
in the causal body. They are, of course, all that now remains to the ego of
the physical, astral and mental bodies of his previous incarnation.
These various stages are illustrated by the left-hand portion of Diagram XXV.
Whilst the man is in possession of all his vehicles, the permanent atoms are
shown with rays projecting from them, indicating that they are actively
functioning. As each body dies, and is left behind, the permanent atom
concerned becomes dormant, as is shown by the plain ring without rays, and
retreats within the causal body. As the permanent atoms thus "go to sleep",
the normal flow of life in the spirillae is lessened, and, during the whole
period of repose, the flow is small and slow. In the diagram, the causal body
is shown, on the causal level, with the three permanent particles within it,
all dormant.
[6:08:43 PM] Thuan Thi Do:
[6:18:27 PM] *** Thuan Thi Do added Phuc ***
[6:38:42 PM] Thuan Thi Do: The student should realise that it is necessary
for evolution that these permanent, atoms should be carried over, the reason
being that the developed man must be master of all planes or worlds, and the
permanent atoms form the only direct channel, imperfect though it be, between
the spiritual triad, or ego, and the forms he is connected with. If it were
conceivable that he could develop without permanent atoms, he might possibly
become a glorious, archangel upon higher planes, but he would be entirely
useless in these lower worlds, having cut off from himself the power of
feeling and thinking. We must not, therefore, drop the permanent atoms: our
business is to purify and develop them.
We may note here that permanent atoms are much more evolved than are other
atoms, being at the fullest development of seventh round atoms in men who are
about to become Adepts. They are thus as highly developed as atoms, can
possibly be, and, as we have seen, are charged with all the qualities which
they have brought over from previous births.
When a person reaches the level of a Buddha, it is quite impossible for him
to find atoms useful to him, except those which have been used as permanent
atoms by human beings.
All the permanent atoms of all those who, in connection with this world, or
probably even with this chain of worlds, have attained Adeptship and have
cast them off, have been collected together and used in the vehicles of the
Lord Gautama Buddha. As there were not quite enough of these to make the
entire vehicle, some of the best ordinary atoms available were also employed,
being galvanised into activity by the others. They are replaced by permanent
atoms, obtained from every new Adept who takes the Sambhogakaya or the
Dharmakaya vesture [see page 322]. This set of bodies is unique and there is
no material to make another set. They were used by Gautama Buddha, and
afterwards preserved.
The causal, mental and astral bodies of the Buddha were used also by the
Christ, along with the physical body of Jesus, and by Shankaracharya, and are
now again being used by the Lord Maitreya.
Returning from this digression on permanent atoms, to the time when the life
on the higher mental sub-planes comes to an end, we perceive that Trishna
i.e.,desire for further experience, reasserts itself, and the ego once more
turns his attention outwards, stepping over the threshold of devachan into
what has been called the plane of reincarnation, bringing with him the
results, small or great, of his devachanic work.
With his attention turned outwards, as said, the ego sends forth a thrill of
life, which arouses the mental unit. The flow in the spirillae of this unit,
and in the other permanent atoms in their turn, which during the period of
repose, has been small and slow, is now increased, and the mental unit, thus
stimulated, begins to vibrate strongly. This is shown in the diagram, on the
right hand side, by a reappearance of the rays round the mental unit.
The life-web begins to unfold again, and the vibrating mental unit, acting as
a magnet, draws around itself mental matter, with vibratory powers
resembling, or accordant with, its own.
The devas of the Second Elemental Kingdom bring this material within reach of
the mental unit, and, in the earlier stages of evolution, they also shape the
matter into a loose cloud around the permanent unit: but, as evolution
proceeds, the ego himself exercises an ever increasing influence over the
shaping of the material. This cloud of matter— which is not yet of course a
vehicle, properly so-called—is indicated in the diagram by the dotted
outline.
When the mental body is partially formed, the life-thrill from the ego
awakens the astral permanent atom, and a similar procedure takes place, a
cloud of astral matter being drawn round the astral permanent atom.
In his descent to incarnation, we thus see that the ego does not receive
ready-made mental and astral bodies: instead, he receives material out of
which these bodies will be built, in the course of the life that is to
follow. Moreover, the matter which he receives is capable of providing him
with mental and astral bodies, of exactly the same type as those he had at
the end of his last mental and astral lives, respectively.
The method whereby the ego obtains a new etheric body, into which, as into a
mould, the new physical body is built, has been, fully described in The
Etheric Double ,p.67, and so need not be repeated here. We may add, however,
that during human ante-natal life the prolongation of the Sutratma is formed,
consisting of a single thread, which weaves a network, a shimmering web of
inconceivable fineness and delicate beauty, with minute meshes, reminding one
of the closely woven cocoon of the silkworm.
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[7:42:39 PM] Thuan Thi Do:
4. Her heart had not yet opened for the one ray to enter, thence to fall as
three into four in the lap of Maya (angel).
(angel) The Primordial Substance had not yet passed out of its precosmic
latency into differentiated objectivity, or even become the (to man, so far,)
invisible Protyle of Science. But, as the hour strikes and it becomes
receptive of the Fohatic impress of the Divine Thought (the Logos, or the
male aspect of the Anima Mundi, Alaya) — its heart opens. It differentiates,
and the three (Father, Mother, Son) are transformed into four. Herein lies
the origin of the double mystery of the Trinity and the immaculate
Conception. The first and Fundamental dogma of Occultism is Universal Unity
(or Homogeneity) under three aspects. This led to a possible conception of
Deity, which as an absolute unity must remain forever incomprehensible to
finite intellects. “If thou wouldest believe in the Power which acts within
the root of a plant, or imagine the root concealed under the soil, thou hast
to think of its stalk or trunk and of its leaves and flowers. Thou canst not
imagine that Power independently of these objects. Life can be known only by
the Tree of Life. . . .” (Precepts for Yoga). The idea of Absolute Unity
Vol. 1, Page 59 ASTRAL LIGHT IS NOT THE ANIMA MUNDI.
would be broken entirely in our conception, had we not something concrete
before our eyes to contain that Unity. And the deity being absolute, must be
omnipresent, hence not an atom but contains IT within itself. The roots, the
trunk and its many branches are three distinct objects, yet they are one
tree. Say the Kabalists: “The Deity is one, because It is infinite. It is
triple, because it is ever manifesting.” This manifestation is triple in its
aspects, for it requires, as Aristotle has it, three principles for every
natural body to become objective: privation, form, and matter.* Privation
meant in the mind of the great philosopher that which the Occultists call the
prototypes impressed in the Astral Light — the lowest plane and world of
Anima Mundi. The union of these three principles depends upon a fourth — the
life which radiates from the summits of the Unreachable, to become an
universally diffused Essence on the manifested planes of Existence. And this
quaternary (Father, Mother, Son, as a unity, and a quaternary, as a living
manifestation) has been the means of leading to the very archaic Idea of
Immaculate Conception, now finally crystallized into a dogma of the Christian
Church, which carnalized this metaphysical idea beyond any common sense. For
one has but to read the Kabala and study its numerical methods of
interpretation to find the origin of that dogma. It is purely astronomical,
mathematical, and pre-eminently metaphysical: the Male element in Nature
(personified by the male deities and Logoi — Viraj, or Brahma; Horus, or
Osiris, etc., etc.) is born through, not from, an immaculate source,
personified by the “Mother”; because that Male having a Mother cannot have a
“Father” — the abstract Deity being sexless, and not even a Being but
Be-ness, or Life itself. Let us render this in the mathematical language of
the author of “The Source of Measures.” Speaking of the “Measure of a Man”
and his numerical (Kabalistic) value, he writes that in Genesis, ch. iv., v.
1, “It is called the ‘Man even Jehovah’
Footnote(s) ———————————————
* A Vedantin of the Visishtadwaita philosophy would say that, though the only
independent Reality, Parabrahmam is inseparable from his trinity. That He is
three, “Parabrahmam, Chit, and Achit,” the last two being dependent realities
unable to exist separately; or, to make it clearer, Parabrahmam is the
substance — changeless, eternal, and incognizable — and Chit (Atma), and
Achit (Anatma) are its qualities, as form and colour are the qualities of any
object. The two are the garment, or body, or rather attribute (Sarira) of
Parabrahmam. But an Occultist would find much to say against this claim, and
so would the Adwaitee Vedantin.
Vol. 1, Page 60 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
Measure, and this is obtained in this way, viz.: 113 x 5 = 565, and the value
565 can be placed under the form of expression 56.5 x 10 = 565. Here the
Man-number 113 becomes a factor of 56.5 x 10, and the (Kabalistic) reading of
this last numbered expression is Jod, He, Vau, He, or Jehovah. . . . The
expansion of 565 into 56.5 x 10 is purposed to show the emanation of the male
(Jod) from the female (Eva) principle; or, so to speak, the birth of a male
element from an immaculate source, in other words, an immaculate conception.”
Thus is repeated on Earth the mystery enacted, according to the Seers, on the
divine plane. The “Son” of the immaculate Celestial Virgin (or the
undifferentiated cosmic protyle, Matter in its infinitude) is born again on
Earth as the Son of the terrestrial Eve — our mother Earth, and becomes
Humanity as a total — past, present, and future — for Jehovah or
Jod-he-vau-he is androgyne, or both male and female. Above, the Son is the
whole Kosmos; below, he is Mankind. The triad or triangle becomes Tetraktis,
the Sacred Pythagorean number, the perfect Square, and a 6-faced cube on
Earth. The Macroprosopus (the Great Face) is now Microprosopus (the lesser
face); or, as the Kabalists have it, the “Ancient of Days,” descending on
Adam Kadmon whom he uses as his vehicle to manifest through, gets transformed
into Tetragrammaton. It is now in the “Lap of Maya,” the Great Illusion, and
between itself and the Reality has the Astral Light, the great Deceiver of
man’s limited senses, unless Knowledge through Paramarthasatya comes to the
rescue.
———————
STANZA II. — Continued.
5. The Seven (Sons) were not yet born from the Web of Light. Darkness alone
was Father-Mother, Svabhavat, and Svabhavat was in darkness (angel).
(angel) The Secret Doctrine, in the Stanzas given here, occupies itself
chiefly, if not entirely, with our Solar System, and especially with our
planetary chain. The “Seven Sons,” therefore, are the creators of the latter.
This teaching will be explained more fully hereafter. (See Part II.,
“Theogony of the Creative Gods.”)
Vol. 1, Page 61 DIVINE THOUGHT, DIVINE THINKERS.
Svabhavat, the “Plastic Essence” that fills the Universe, is the root of all
things. Svabhavat is, so to say, the Buddhistic concrete aspect of the
abstraction called in Hindu philosophy Mulaprakriti. It is the body of the
Soul, and that which Ether would be to Akasa, the latter being the informing
principle of the former. Chinese mystics have made of it the synonym of
“being.” In the Ekasloka-Shastra of Nagarjuna (the Lung-shu of China) called
by the Chinese the Yih-shu-lu-kia-lun, it is said that the original word of
Yeu is “Being” or “Subhava,” “the Substance giving substance to itself,” also
explained by him as meaning “without action and with action,” “the nature
which has no nature of its own.” Subhava, from which Svabhavat, is composed
of two words: Su “fair,” “handsome,” “good;” Sva, “self;” and bhava, “being”
or “states of being.”
———————
STANZA II. — Continued.
6. These two are the Germ, and the Germ is — one. The Universe was still
concealed in the Divine Thought and the Divine Bosom.
The “Divine Thought” does not imply the idea of a Divine thinker. The
Universe, not only past, present, and future — which is a human and finite
idea expressed by finite thought — but in its totality, the Sat (an
untranslateable term), the absolute being, with the Past and Future
crystallized in an eternal Present, is that Thought itself reflected in a
secondary or manifest cause. Brahma (neuter) as the Mysterium Magnum of
Paracelsus is an absolute mystery to the human mind. Brahma, the male-female,
its aspect and anthropomorphic reflection, is conceivable to the ...
[7:47:58 PM] Thuan Thi Do:
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[8:10:42 PM] Thuan Thi Do:
4. (Then) the three (triangle) fall into the four (quaternary). The radiant
essence becomes seven inside, seven outside (angel). The luminous egg
(Hiranyagarbha), which in itself is three (the triple hypostases of Brahma,
or Vishnu, the three “Avasthas”), curdles and spreads in milk-white curds
throughout the depths of mother, the root that grows in the ocean of life
(beer).
The use of geometrical figures and the frequent allusions to figures in all
ancient scriptures (see Puranas, Egyptian papyri, the “Book of the Dead” and
even the Bible) must be explained. In the “Book of Dzyan,” as in the Kabala,
there are two kinds of numerals to be studied — the figures, often simple
blinds, and the Sacred Numbers, the values of which are all known to the
Occultists through Initiation. The former is but a conventional glyph, the
latter is the basic symbol of all. That is to say, that one is purely
physical, the other purely metaphysical, the two standing in relation to each
other as matter stands to spirit — the extreme poles of the one Substance.
As Balzac, the unconscious Occultist of French literature, says somewhere,
the Number is to Mind the same as it is to matter: “an incomprehensible
agent;” (perhaps so to the profane, never to the Initiated mind). Number is,
as the great writer thought, an Entity, and, at the same time, a Breath
emanating from what he called God and what we call the all; the breath which
alone could organize the physical Kosmos, “where naught obtains its form but
through the Deity, which is an effect of Number.” It is instructive to quote
Balzac’s words upon this subject: —
“The smallest as the most immense creations, are they not to be distinguished
from each other by their quantities, their qualities, their dimensions, their
forces and attributes, all begotten by the Number? The infinitude of the
Numbers is a fact proven to our mind, but of which no proof can be physically
Vol. 1, Page 67 THE POWER OF NUMBERS.
given. The mathematician will tell us that the infinitude of the numbers
exists but is not to be demonstrated. God is a Number endowed with motion,
which is felt but not demonstrated. As Unity, it begins the Numbers, with
which it has nothing in common. . . . . The existence of the Number depends
on Unity, which, without a single Number, begets them all. . . . . What!
unable either to measure the first abstraction yielded to you by the Deity,
or to get hold of it, you still hope to subject to your measurements the
mystery of the Secret Sciences which emanate from that Deity? . . . . And
what would you feel, were I to plunge you into the abysses of Motion, the
Force which organizes the Number? What would you think, were I to add that
Motion and Number* are begotten by the Word, the Supreme Reason of the Seers
and Prophets, who, in days of old, sensed the mighty Breath of God, a witness
to which is the Apocalypse?”
(beer) “The radiant essence curdled and spread throughout the depths” of
Space. From an astronomical point of view this is easy of explanation: it is
the “milky way,” the world-stuff, or primordial matter in its first form. It
is more difficult, however, to explain it in a few words or even lines, from
the standpoint of Occult Science and Symbolism, as it is the most complicated
of glyphs. Herein are enshrined more than a dozen symbols. To begin with, the
whole pantheon of mysterious objects,† every one of them having some definite
Occult meaning, extracted from the allegorical “churning of the ocean” by the
Hindu gods. Besides Amrita, the water of life or immortality, “Surabhi” the
“cow of plenty,” called “the fountain of milk and curds,” was extracted from
this “Sea of Milk.” Hence the universal adoration of the cow and bull, one
the productive, the other the generative power in Nature: symbols connected
with both the Solar and the Cosmic deities. The specific properties, for
occult purposes, of the “fourteen precious things,” being explained only at
the fourth Initiation, cannot be given here; but the following may be
remarked. In the “Satapatha Brahmana” it is stated that the churning of the
“Ocean of Milk” took place in the Satya Yug, the first age which immediately
followed the “Deluge.” As, however, neither the Rig-Veda nor
Footnote(s) ———————————————
* Number, truly; but never Motion. It is Motion which begets the Logos, the
Word, in occultism.
† The “Fourteen precious things.” The narrative or allegory is found in the
Satapatha Brahmana and others. The Japanese Secret Science of the Buddhist
Mystics, the Yamabooshi, has “seven precious things.” We will speak of them,
hereafter.
Vol. 1, Page 68 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
Manu — both preceding Vaivasvata’s “deluge,” that of the bulk of the Fourth
Race — mention this deluge, it is evident that it is not the “great” deluge,
nor that which carried away Atlantis, nor even the deluge of Noah, which is
meant here. This “churning” relates to a period before the earth’s formation,
and is in direct connection with that other universal legend, the various and
contradictory versions of which culminated in the Christian dogma of the “War
in Heaven,” and the fall of the Angels (see Book II., also Revelations chap.
xii.). The Brahmanas, reproached by the Orientalists with their versions on
the same subjects, often clashing with each other, are pre-eminently occult
works, hence used purposely as blinds. They were allowed to survive for
public use and property only because they were and are absolutely
unintelligible to the masses. Otherwise they would have disappeared from
circulation as long ago as the days of Akbar.
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[9:23:09 PM] Thuan Thi Do:
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