Theosophy
a name which since the time of Ammonius Saccas, in the 3d century after Christ, has been used in the West to cover various schools of religious philosophy, which all unite in the fundamental conception that man, in his innermost nature, is a spiritual being, one in his essence with the Universal Spirit manifested in and through the universe. In this general sense it includes mystics differing from one another in details. In the East the system now called Theosophy has been known for ages under the titles of Atma Vidya ("spirit science"), Brahma Vidyâ ("sci- Vidya ("science of Brahma"), Gupta Vidyâ ("secret Vidya ("secret science"), and other similar names. All THEOSOPHY alike, in East and West, draw inspiration and their methods from the "Wisdom Religion," the ancient esotoric philosophy. This claims among its initiates the men who have given to the world fragments of the teaching as basis for world-religions, men like Buddha, Confucius, Zarathustra , Pythagoras, Plato, Jesus, and more ancient sages such as Manu, Nârada, and other great Rishis. In the 16th century Paracelsus and Giordano Bruno are among its grandest exponents, and in our own day its messenger was a woman of Russian birth, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891).
The Esoteric Philosophy, or Wisdom Religion, is a body of teaching , philosophical, scientific, and religious, which is believed to be preserved from generation to generation by a brotherhood of initiates scattered over the world, but preserving close and intimate relations with one another. To a group of these stationed in Tibet the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875 is ascribed, and they are constantly referred to in theosophical literature as Mahatmas , Arhats, Masters, Brothers, or Adepts. They are men who have evolved the spiritual nature till the physical body and brain consciousness have become ductile instruments for the spiritual intelligence. By have gained control over natural forces which enables them to bring about results that appear to be miraculous . virtue of this evolution they are said to This philosophy teaches as basic principles an eternal existence beyond human cognition, existence per se, absoluteness or "beness." A periodical aspect of this is life, consciousness, manifesting itself in and as the universe, primarily emanating as the dual root substance, matter on its negative, and spirit , or energy, on its positive side. This , on its positive side. duality is the note of the manifested universe, manifestation being held to be impossible without the "pairs of opposites," positive-negative , active-passive, light-darkness, and the like, ultimating at one part of the chain of evolution in sex difference, malefemale. Spirit and matter are therefore not separable, but are merely the opposed poles of the one root substance, and are present in every particle, as the poles in each fragment of a broken magnet. Evolution consists in the gradual densifying of the root substance through seven stages or planes of differentiated existence, the matter aspect becoming more and more prominent as the evolution proceeds, and the spirit aspect becoming more and more hidden; thus matter reaches its fullest differentiation, evolving the whole of its capacities as a vehicle. From this point of com- THEOSOPHY THEOSOPHY pletest materiality begins the running is free from physical limitations. Devacurve, during which matter becomes translucent to spirit, and spirit_becomes self-conscious on all planes. It manifests itself as brain intellect on the most material plane, and recovers all its superintellectual powers on the ascending arc, but always with the addition of selfconsciousness and individuality, till, at the completion of the cycle, matter has become a perfect objective presentment of spirit, a perfect vehicle of spiritual activity.
The seven stages of cosmical evolution, aspects of the universal Divine consciousness, correspond with seven stages of human evolution, aspects of the human consciousness, by each of which man can cognize directly the correspondingly cosmic state. chan is a state of consciousness in which the experiences of the lately concluded earth life are assimilated, its best aspirations have their fruition, and the communion of the consciousness with other consciousnesses is freed from physical limitations, and is more complete and satisfying. This stage endures for a period proportionate to the stage of evolution reached on earth, and is concluded by the re-entry of the consciousness into the embodied condition.
The method of evolution, according to theosophy, is reincarnation. The reincarnating ego, the agent in progress, is the Manas. In the past, when physical evolution, guided by the indwelling spirit, had produced man's physical form, Manas first became incarnate therein, These in man are distinguished as: and has since reincarnated after each (1) Atmâ, pure spirit, one with the uni- devachanic interlude. Throughout each versal spirit. (2) Buddhi, the vehicle incarnation it labors to evolve in the body of Atmâ and inseparable from it, sometimes spoken of as the spiritual soul. (3) Manas, the mind, the ego or individualizing principle, called the rational or human soul. These three are the immortal part of man, Manas striving for union with Buddhi, such union making the spiritual ego, the spiritual man perfected. The remaining principles form the quaternary, the perishable part of it inhabits the capacity to respond to its impulses, but it is through the molding of successive bodies that it accomplishes its task of human elevation. The thoughts produced by its activity are real things on the mental plane, made of subtle matter, "thought stuff," a form of ether. The thoughts of each life ultimate in a thought body, that expresses the result of that incarnation, and this which forms the next dwelling to the ego.
The "innate character" which the child brings into the world is the result of its own past and is physically expressed in its brain and nervous organization.
The reincarnating ego is drawn by affinity to the nation and family fitted to supply the most suitable physical, material, and physical environment. The physical particles thence supplied are stamped with the racial and family characteristics, bodily and mental, but this arrangement is dominated by the thought body resulting as above stated. man. These are: (4) Kâma, the emo- thought body serves as a mold into tions, passions, and appetites. (5) which is built the physical body Prâna, the vitality. (6) Linga Sharîra, the astral double. (7) Sthûla Sharîra, the physical body. (These principles are generally numbered in reversed order, starting from the physical, Sthûla Sharîra being taken as 1 and Atmâ as 7.) At death, it is taught, the physical body and the astral double disintegrate together; the vitality returns to the universal life; the passional nature, in its own ethereal envelope, exists for a longer or shorter period, according as it dominated, or was subservient to, the higher nature, but ultimately fades away. The higher triad has, during earth life, been joined to the lower nature of M Joined mind; this Manas is divided into h and lower, the higher striving upward, the lower entangled with Kâma, and held by the desire for material life which is at the root of all manifestation. At death the higher triad gradually separates itself from the lower nature, the lower mind which is but a ray of the higher returning to its source, carrying with it the experiences gained during incarnation; the triad, with this added experience, the harvest of life, enters on a period of repose, the state of Devachan, a state of consciousness apart from the physical body, in which the intelligence Manas, the into higher Mental and moral capacities gained by struggle in one of many incarnations become innate qualities, exercised "naturally," without effort, in a later incarnation, and thus progress is secured. This law, by which all causes work out their due effects, is called Karma (the Sanskrit word for action), and according to this all thoughts, good and bad, leave their traces on the thought body and reappear as tendencies in future lives. No escape from this sequence of cause and effect is possible; all our past must work itself out, but as the same agent that made the past is making the present it sets up fresh cause in meeting THEOSOPHY THERIDIIDÆ The soil is exceedingly fertile.
The soil is exceedingly fertile. 1710, besides the occurrences the effects of the past. Thus a trouble 1573, A. D. 171 generated by past action is inevitable; erates good Karma. We made our in the future; or met well it genit sets up fresh cause for bad Karma present destiny in our past, and we are making our future destiny in our present.
Reincarnation crushes out all differences piness and perfection as all find it. It is claimed by theosophy that these facts in nature yield a scientific basis for ethics, and make the practical recognition of human brotherhood a necessary condition of accelerated evolution.
The chief agent in founding the Theosophical Society was Madame H. P. in New York in 1875. In 1879 the head- W. Q. Judge, and others, established it in New York in 1875. In 1879 the headquarters were transferred to Madras. In from which epoch dates the great literary activity that has recently characterary activity that has recently characterized it. There are now over 300 branches in Europe, India, American, and the colonies, and a large literature. The society has three declared objects, viz.: (1) To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color. (2) To encourage the study of tive religion, philosophy, and science. (3) To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man. The society is unsectarian. faith need be subscribed to by an adherent, the only condition of membership being an assent to the first object. of compara- No articles of No dogmas are forced on members, as is the case with religions, and the teachings which are promulgated are merely propositions which can be verified by the student in the course of his progress in the study of occultism. Any individual member has a right to make any declara- the study of occultism. Any individual tion of personal belief he pleases, on the understanding that the Society is not tion of personal belief he pleases, on the implicated.