Theosophy posits One, Eternal, Immutable,
Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient principle,
pervading the entire universe. It is the Causeless
Cause, the Rootless Root of all that was, is or
shall be. It has two polarities—Purusha, Prakriti;
Spirit, Matter. This one Reality manifests in the
universe as Law—Law of periodicity, Law of cycles,
Law of Karma. The whole universe exists for the
evolution and emancipation of the soul. All souls
are emanations from the Universal Over-Soul—itself
an aspect of the Unknown Root. We have been through
all forms of matter and acquired experience through
the elemental, mineral, vegetale and animal kingdoms
up to the stage of man. Evolution proceeds by
natural impulse up to the human stage. When man
arrives on the scene, evolution is no more propelled
by natural impulse as man's free will overrides his
natural instinct.
Man, endowed with the light of mind by the Solar
Angels, has the power to think and choose. Hence,
for humanity, evolution proceeds only by one's own
individual efforts. There are no special gifts or
favours bestowed on anyone, except what one acquires
through one's self-choice and effort. Man is
dual—permanent in his higher aspect and evanescent
in his lower aspect, i.e., immortal in his higher
nature and perishable in his lower, or,
individuality and personality.
Now by "psychic" individuality we mean that
self-determining power which enables man to override
circumstances. Place half a dozen animals of the
same species under the same circumstances, and their
action while not identical, will be closely similar;
place half a dozen men under the same circumstances
and their actions will be as different as their
characters, i.e., their psychic individuality.
What is instinct? It is the acquired knowledge and
experience of a whole hierarchy of beings acting in
the individual being, of which that being is
unconscious. Does a woodpecker know why it does what
it does? No. Each woodpecker has the whole knowledge
of its tribe; likewise all animals have the
knowledge of their families, and so on through all
the kingdoms of Nature below man. Instinct in the
animal is the unconscious expression by the
individual of the accumulated knowledge of the race
to which it belongs.
The 18th chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita describes what
happens when a person functions from the plane of
unity, instead of duality: "Wherever Krishna, the
supreme Master of devotion, and wherever the son of
Pritha, the mighty archer, may be, there with
certainty are fortune, victory, wealth, and wise
action; this is my belief." In other words, one has
"an intuitional perception of one's being the
vehicle of the manifested Avalokiteshwara or Divine
Atman (Spirit)" (Raja-Yoga or Occultism). To achieve
this man has to master his
(1) Sarira—body; (2) Indriya—senses; (3) Dosha—faults;
(4)Dukkha—pain; and is ready to become one with his
Manas—mind; Buddhi—intellection, or spiritual
intelligence; and Atma—highest soul, i.e., spirit.
When he is ready for this, and, further, to
recognize in Atma the highest ruler in the world of
perceptions, and in the will, the highest executive
energy (power), then may he, under the time-honoured
rules, be taken in hand by one of the Initiates. |