Theos-Talk Archives (November 1993 Message tl00060)

When we have acquired a solid foundation in the core concepts of the
theosophical teachings, we are then ready to try something new,
something in addition to the regular study of the classic literature.

What we can try is to take an idea and then *push* it, to push on it
and go through to the other side. We find that the idea tells us much,
that there is a lot more to be found behind it than an exercise of
imagination or free association.

Each idea is a window on the world, and we can step through them. But
this only works if the mind is prepared, if it has the core ideas and
foundation in the Teachings to "push from". We have to have done the
intellectual groundwork and awakened a glimmer of the buddhic splendor
within for this to be successfully tried.

We are talking about an act of magic, but an act of mind magic, not
of the magic of the phenomenal world. We are talking about the ability
to create and invoke in our minds knowledge and wisdom that we did not
before have. And even as we read this, we have the opportunity to try
this out: dive into the very idea of *pushing* itself, and give it
a try!

With manas-kama, we push a thought into action. With manas-manas,
we push a through into the realm of learning, and learn something
more, and with manas-buddhi, we push a through into enlightenment,
into direct realization of things.

Imagine a soap bubble. Picture yourself pushing against it from the
outside, from all directions at once. Imagine it giving way. And
instead of going inside, see yourself diving into a new and different
world. The idea, then, acts as a sort of laya center.

Now when we are speaking of knowledge, of knowing, of functioning in
the manasic principle, we are talking about that aspect of consciousness
wherein the distinct sense of self, of individual egoic consciousness
arises. Like the other principles, manas is seven-fold, it has seven
selves or egos to it, each corresponding to a different aspect to the
individual nature to ourselves.

Manas is also knowledge, and this knowledge is the understanding of
the self or distinct nature of other beings, situations, events in life.
Knowledge is really an embracing or realization of another, someone
else, *as a separate being*, distinct in his own right, apart from any
relation to us. This is one level at which we experience life.

Knowledge is not merely a visual memory of appearances of things, a
tape recording of sounds, an animated movie flic of how something else
is. That is but the sensory (linga-sharira) aspect of manas, one of the
lowest.

Is is but the lowest form of understanding another as a distinct
being, in our mind, in manas, when we is to contain in ourselves, when
we are able to recall or create in ourselves, in our mind's eye, the
image of him, his physical appearance, the sound of his voice, an
animation of him in action.  Imagining the sensory appearance of the
other is but the lowest form of knowing.

We understand or experience the unique of separate self of others in
many ways in manas. Considering the subprinciples of manas, in helping
us know of another person, we (a) are physically familiar with him
(sthula sharira), (b) know his life energy (prana), (c) know his
purpose, goals, motivations, and ambitions in life (kama), (d) know
his viewpoint, understanding, ideas (manas), (e) know his relation
to others, his karmic web (buddhi), (f) know its essential nature--
which is ours as well (atman), (g) know his total being, his totality
at this moment (auric egg), (h) know his eternal ideals, virtues,
purpose, destiny (swabhava), and (i) know his ultimate being
(paramatman).

With each aspect of our manas, we know the distinct, separate,
individual nature of another, operating from, in its deeper sense,
from the nirmanakaya, the sense of distinct subject and object nature
to manifest being. And when we say that we *know* something, we can
create and contain within ourselves what otherwise exists as a
separate thing, a being without, apart from ourselves. It is partly
an act of imagination, the creating of an image, but it is much more.

At a higher level, in buddhi, we are inseparably linked with the
other. At this lower level, where self is manifested and we are
different than him, we experience the two ends of the link, subject
and object, and the sense of interaction is perceived as a process
of interchange.

Knowing the needs of another, caring in the mind, is experienced as
*pity*, where we look upon them as apart from us, and feel genuine
concern for them. When we raise that caring to buddhi, it becomes
experienced as *compassion*, when we do not look on another, and feel
concern, because there is not someone else apart from us. We feel
genuine concern, because we are that other person, there is no
separation, our needs and the needs of the other are one. And this
buddhic understanding (as reflected in manas) is what enobles us,
what raises us, what leads us one day to tread that Path that leads
not only to our own individual liberation, but to the making of us as
the liberators of humanity as well!

                           Eldon Tucker (eldon@netcom.com)