THEOSOPHY

Nothing Answers Questions Like Theosophy Can!

 

 

The Key to Theosophy

 

 

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

1831 -1891

_______________________

 

The Key to Theosophy

By

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

 

Key to Theosophy Index

 

 

On Postmortem and

Postnatal Consciousness

 

 

Q. But if human self-consciousness survives death as a rule, why should there be exceptions?

A. In the fundamental principles of the spiritual world no exception is possible. But there are rules for those who see, and rules for those who prefer to remain blind.

 

Q. Quite so, I understand. This is but an aberration of the blind man, who denies the existence of the sun because he does not see it. But after death his spiritual eyes will certainly compel him to see. Is this what you mean?

A. He will not be compelled, nor will he see anything. Having persistently denied during life the continuance of existence after death, he will be unable to see it, because his spiritual capacity having been stunted in life, it cannot develop after death, and he will remain blind. By insisting that he must see it, you evidently mean one thing and I another. You speak of the spirit from the spirit, or the flame from the flame-of Atma, in short-and you confuse it with the human soul-Manas … You do not understand me; let me try to make it clear.

The whole gist of your question is to know whether, in the case of a downright materialist, the complete loss of self-consciousness and self-perception after death is possible? Isn't it so? I answer, it is possible. Because, believing firmly in our Esoteric Doctrine, which refers to the postmortem period, or the interval between two lives or births, as merely a transitory state, I say, whether that interval between two acts of the illusionary drama of life lasts one year or a million, that postmortem state may, without any breach of the fundamental law, prove to be just the same state as that of a man who is in a dead faint.

 

Q. But since you have just said that the fundamental laws of the after-death state admit of no exceptions, how can this be?

A. Nor do I say that it does admit of an exception. But the spiritual law of continuity applies only to things which are truly real. To one who has read and understood Mundakya Upanishad and Vedantasara all this becomes very clear. I will say more: it is sufficient to understand what we mean by Buddhi and the duality of Manas to gain a clear perception why the materialist may fail to have a self-conscious survival after death. Since Manas, in its lower aspect, is the seat of the terrestrial mind, it can, therefore, give only that perception of the Universe which is based on the evidence of that mind; it cannot give spiritual vision. It is said in the Eastern school, that between Buddhi and Manas (the Ego), or Isvara and Prajña *1) there is in reality no more difference thanbetween a forest and its trees, a lake and its waters,as the Mundakya teaches. One or hundreds of trees dead from loss of vitality, or uprooted, are yet incapable of preventing the forest from being still a forest.

1] But, as I understand it, Buddhi represents in this simile the forest, and Manas-Taijasi *2] the trees. And if Buddhi is immortal, how can that which is similar to it, i.e.,Manas-Taijasi , entirely lose its consciousness till the day of its new incarnation? I cannot understand it.

*1] Isvara is the collective consciousness of the manifested godhead, Brahma, i.e. the collective consciousness of the host of Dhyan Chohans (see Secret Doctrine); Prajña is their individual wisdom.

*2] Taijasi means the 'radiant', as a consequence of its union with Buddhi, i.e. Manas, the human soul, enlightened by the rays of the divine soul. Hence Manas-Taijasi can be described as radiant intellect, the human reason enlightened by the light of the spirit; and Buddhi-Manas is the revelation of the divine plus the human intellect and self-consciousness.

(These two footnotes reversely translated from Dutch.[ editor])

 

Q. But, as I understand it, Buddhi represents in this simile the forest and Manas-taijasi the trees.  And if Buddha is immortal how can that which is similar to it i.e. Mana-taijasi entirely lose it consciousness till the day of its new incarnation ? I cannot understand it.

A. You cannot, because you will mix up an abstract representation of the whole with its casual changes of form. Remember that if it can be said of Buddhi-Manas that it is unconditionally immortal, the same cannot be said of the lower Manas, still less of Taijasi , which is merely an attribute. Neither of these, neither Manas nor Taijasi , can exist apart from Buddhi, the divine soul, because the first (Manas) is, in its lower aspect, a quality of the terrestrial personality, and the second (Taijasi ) is identical with the first, because it is the same Manas only with the light of Buddhi reflected on it. In its turn, Buddhi would remain only an impersonal spirit without this element which it borrows from the human soul, which conditions and makes of it, in this illusive Universe, as it were something separate from the universal soul for the whole period of the cycle of incarnation. Say rather that Buddhi-Manascan neither die nor lose its compound self-consciousness in Eternity, nor the recollection of its previous incarnations in which the two-i.e., the spiritual and the human soul-had been closely linked together. But it is not so in the case of a materialist, whose human soul not only receives nothing from the divine soul, but even refuses to recognize its existence. You can hardly apply this axiom to the attributes and qualities of the human soul, for it would be like saying that because your divine soul is immortal, therefore the bloom on your cheek must also be immortal; whereas this bloom, like Taijasi , is simply a transitory phenomenon.

 

Q. Do I understand you to say that we must not mix in our minds the noumenon with the phenomenon, the cause with its effect?

A. I do say so, and repeat that, limited to Manas or the human soul alone, the radiance of Taijas itself becomes a mere question of time; because both immortality and consciousness after death become, for the terrestrial personality of man, simply conditioned attributes, as they depend entirely on conditions and beliefs created by the human soul itself during the life of its body. Karma acts incessantly: we reap in our after-life only the fruit of that which we have ourselves sown in this.

 

Q. But if my Ego can, after the destruction of my body, become plunged in a state of entire unconsciousness, then where can be the punishment for the sins of my past life?

A. Our philosophy teaches that Karmic punishment reaches the Ego only in its next incarnation. After death it receives only the reward for the unmerited sufferings endured during its past incarnation.

 

(Some Theosophists have taken exception to this phrase, but the words are those of Master, and the meaning attached to the word unmerited is that given above. In the T.P.S. pamphlet No. 6, a phrase, criticized subsequently in Lucifer, was used which was intended to convey the same idea. In form, however, it was awkward and open to the criticism directed against it; but the essential idea was that men often suffer from the effects of the actions done by others, effects which thus do not strictly belong to their own Karma-and for these sufferings they of course deserve compensation.)

 

The whole punishment after death, even for the materialist, consists, therefore, in the absence of any reward, and the utter loss of the consciousness of one's bliss and rest. Karma is the child of the terrestrial Ego, the fruit of the actions of the tree which is the objective personality visible to all, as much as the fruit of all the thoughts and even motives of the spiritual "I"; but Karma is also the tender mother, who heals the wounds inflicted by her during the preceding life, before she will begin to torture this Ego by inflicting upon him new ones. If it may be said that there is not a mental or physical suffering in the life of a mortal which is not the direct fruit and consequence of some sin in a preceding existence; on the other hand, since he does not preserve the slightest recollection of it in his actual life, and feels himself not deserving of such punishment, and therefore thinks he suffers for no guilt of his own, this alone is sufficient to entitle the human soul to the fullest consolation, rest, and bliss in his postmortem existence. Death comes to our spiritual selves ever as a deliverer and friend. For the materialist who, notwithstanding his materialism, was not a bad man, the interval between the two lives will be like the unbroken and placid sleep of a child, either entirely dreamless, or filled with pictures of which he will have no definite perception; while for the average mortal it will be a dream as vivid as life, and full of realistic bliss and visions.

 

Q. Then the personal man must always go on suffering blindly the Karmic penalties which the Ego has incurred?

A. Not quite so. At the solemn moment of death every man, even when death is sudden, sees the whole of his past life marshaled before him, in its minutest details. For one short instant the personal becomes one with the individual and all-knowing Ego. But this instant is enough to show to him the whole chain of causes which have been at work during his life. He sees and now understands himself as he is, unadorned by flattery or self-deception. He reads his life, remaining as a spectator looking down into the arena he is quitting; he feels and knows the justice of all the suffering that has overtaken him.

 

Q. Does this happen to everyone?

A. Without any exception. Very good and holy men see, we are taught, not only the life they are leaving, but even several preceding lives in which were produced the causes that made them what they were in the life just closing. They recognize the law of Karma in all its majesty and justice.

 

Q. Is there anything corresponding to this before rebirth?

A. There is. As the man at the moment of death has a retrospective insight into the life he has led, so, at the moment he is reborn onto earth, the Ego,awaking from the state of Devachan, has a prospective vision of the life which awaits him, and realizes all the causes that have led to it. He realizes them and sees futurity, because it is between Devachan and rebirth that the Ego regains his full manasicconsciousness, and rebecomes for a short time the god he was, before, in compliance with Karmic law, he first descended into matter and incarnated in the first man of flesh. The "golden thread" sees all its "pearls" and misses not one of them.

 

 

 

 

 

Key to Theosophy Index

 

__________________________

 

Find answers to more questions

with these Theosophy links

 

Cardiff Blavatsky Archive

Life & Work of H P Blavatsky

A Theosophy Study Resource

 

Streetwise

Theosophy

Dave’s Streetwise Theosophy Boards

The Theosophy Website that Welcomes Absolute Beginners

If you run a Theosophy Study Group, please feel free

to make use of the material on this Website

 

The Most Basic Theosophy

 Website in the Universe

A quick overview of Theosophy 

and the Theosophical Society

If you run a Theosophy Study Group you 

can use this as an introductory handout.

 

Cardiff Theosophical Society meetings are informal

and there’s always a cup of tea afterwards

 

Theosophy

Cardiff

The Cardiff Theosophical Society Website

 

Theosophy

Wales

The National Wales Theosophy Website

 

Wales! Wales! Theosophy Wales

The All Wales Guide to

 Getting Started in Theosophy

This is for everybody not just people in Wales

 

Hey Look!

Theosophy in Cardiff

 

Theosophy in Wales

The Grand Tour

 

Theosophy Avalon

The Theosophy Wales

King Arthur Pages

 

Theosophy Cardiff’s Instant Guide

to Theosophy

 

Cardiff Theosophical Archive

 

Cardiff Theosophy Start-Up

A Free Intro to Theosophy

 

Pages About Wales

General pages about Wales, Welsh History

and The History of Theosophy in Wales

 

Blavatsky Blogger

Independent Theosophy Blog

 

Quick Blasts of Theosophy

One liners and quick explanations

About aspects of Theosophy

 

Great Theosophists

The Big Names of Theosophy

H P Blavatsky is usually the only

Theosophist that most people have ever

heard of. Let’s put that right

 

The Blavatsky Blogger’s

Instant Guide To

Death & The Afterlife

 

Death & How to Get Through It

Lentil burgers, a thousand press ups before breakfast and

the daily 25 mile run may put it off for a while but death

seems to get most of us in the end. We are pleased to

present for your consideration, a definitive work on the

subject by a Student of Katherine Tingley entitled

“Man After Death”

 

The Blavatsky Free State

An Independent Theosophical Republic

Links to Free Online Theosophy 

Study Resources; Courses, Writings, 

Commentaries, Forums, Blogs

 

Theosophy

Nirvana

 

The South of Heaven Guide

To Theosophy and Devachan

 

The South of Heaven Guide

To Theosophy and Dreams

 

The South of Heaven Guide

To Theosophy and Angels

 

Theosophy and Help From

The Universe

 

The Voice of the Silence

 

Feelgood Theosophy

Visit the Feelgood Lodge

 

Theosophy

The New Rock ‘n Roll

 

Theosophy

Aardvark

No Aardvarks were harmed in the

preparation of this Website

 

The Tooting Broadway

Underground Theosophy Website

The Spiritual Home of Urban Theosophy

 

The Mornington Crescent

Underground Theosophy Website

The Earth Base for Evolutionary Theosophy

 

Classic Introductory Theosophy Text

A Text Book of Theosophy By C W Leadbeater

 

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

 

Elementary Theosophy

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

 

The Seven in Man and Nature

 

The Meaning of Death

 

The Ocean of Theosophy

William Quan Judge

 

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

 

Septenary Constitution Of Man

 

Arguments Supporting Reincarnation

 

Differentiation Of Species Missing Links

 

Psychic Laws, Forces, and Phenomena

 

Psychic Phenomena and Spiritualism

 

Instant Guide to Theosophy

Quick Explanations with Links to More Detailed Info

 

What is Theosophy ? Theosophy Defined (More Detail)

 

Three Fundamental Propositions  Key Concepts of Theosophy

 

Cosmogenesis  Anthropogenesis  Root Races  Karma

 

Ascended Masters  After Death States  Reincarnation

 

The Seven Principles of Man  Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

 

  Colonel Henry Steel Olcott William Quan Judge

 

The Start of the Theosophical Society Theosophical Society Presidents

 

History of the Theosophical Society  Glossaries of Theosophical Terms

 

History of the Theosophical Society in Wales

 

The Three Objectives of the Theosophical Society

 

Explanation of the Theosophical Society Emblem

 

 

A Study in Karma

Annie Besant

 

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

 

Try these if you are looking for a

local Theosophy Group or Centre

 

UK Listing of Theosophical Groups

 

Worldwide Directory of 

Theosophical Links

 

International Directory of 

Theosophical Societies

 

theosophycardiff.org