Theos-Talk Archives (September 1994 Message tl00028)

This is by Eldon Tucker

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                      The Highest Triad

    There is more to us than exists at any moment of time.
There is a part that transcends existence. That part of us
watches over us, it is our Mother. It also reaches inward and
upward to embrace the Unknowable. We are not talking about a
"body" or "bodies". There are no forms or specific attributes,
since it is beyond existing, beyond manifestation. But there
is *consciousness.* We are conscious of the aspects to life
that these *non-existing* parts of ourselves represent. These
different aspects of consciousness compliment those of our
manifest existence, our lower seven principles. They are our
Highest Triad, our uppermost three principles, making us as
ten-principled beings.
    Let us first consider what it means to be beyond
existence. There is no awareness of existing. We have nothing
to think about, nothing to want to do, no one else to interact
with, not even a sense of Self, a sense of *being* a
particular person with various attributes and characteristics.
There is just *nothing*, no-thing, a sense of completeness and
fulfillment. What is left to us? It depends upon how deeply we
still go within, how far-removed we take ourselves from the
existing world that we have left.
    We are considering a deep state of consciousness, an
aspect of our awareness of life that transcends any trace of
our manifestation. We have nearly left this plane in its
entirety. We are beyond the body, senses, life-energies,
desires, thoughts, karmic web, and sense of being. Having left
that all behind, what is left of us in our inner natures? This
question directs our attention to our inmost essence. It is an
entirely different question than what type of person would we
be, should we clothe ourselves in body, senses, life-energies,
desire for activity, thought, etc., appropriate to another
plane of existence (higher Globe). We are not talking about
taking on the fabric of consciousness on another theater of
life, another plane or Globe. Instead, we are talking about
our inmost part, that which reaches beyond the outer man and
goes to the core, rooted in Divinity.
    In the tenfold scheme, there is a Highest Triad, three
higher principles higher than Atman. I've not seen names
applied to them. My choice would be the Auric Egg for the 8th,
Swabhava for the 9th, and Paramatman for the 10th.
    Each principle unfolds from the previous one, as a scroll
would be unwound. Each represents a further degree of coming
into existence. There are degrees of unfoldment to these three
principles, those of the Highest Triad, as well.
    Let us work our way upwards, from that which we know, or
have some idea of, towards the Unknowable Mystery. Let's see
how far we can get before we can go no further.
    What is it to us that endures, that persists whether we
exist at a particular time or not? It is our karmic treasure,
our storehouse of experience, our seeds that await their
appropriate time to sprout forth in life. This storehouse of
experience, which envelopes us, overshadows us, and contains
us in our entirely, is the Auric Egg. It is that part of us
that endures, that lasts "beyond the grave," when the world
has  gone into Pralaya and our seven principles are no more.
It endures even the Mahapralaya, and carries seeds from the
previous great Mahamanvantara. The Auric Egg is our personal
"Brahman," which stays out of existence, but overshadows our
creative Self, our Atman, which would be our personal
"Brahma".
    With this, the 8th principle, we are in a part of our
awareness that endures the dissolution of outer existence.
This part of us is our totality, as it changes from one moment
to the next in time. It overshadows existence, but stays out
of things. It is us, everything that we have made ourselves to
be, at this precise moment in time. It participates in time,
but stays one step removed from space, gazing down upon space
but staying just outside, just beyond the qualities of
dimension and form.
    How can we go higher than this? How can we pass deeper
within, beyond even the Auric Egg? Consider the question: What
is higher than that which is temporal, which changes in time?
It is the timeless. And what in us is timeless, is forever the
same? It would be that part of us that is uniquely, distinctly
ourselves, apart from anything we have or will ever do. That
part of us is our truly essential natures, our own unique
characteristics, in an ultimate sense. And that could be
called: Swabhava.
    How does this 9th principle overshadow, guide, and inform
the 8th, acting as its parent? By acting as the ever-present,
ever-enduring Ideal. Our true nature and purpose in existence,
our Ideal that we are always seeking to fulfill, our meaning
and purpose and unique contribution to Life is this principle.
And this principle, as with the others, is not something added
to us. It is not external baggage that we take with us. It is
a quality of consciousness, a certain experience to life, be
it ever so far-removed from what we choose to give our
attention to.
    In Swabhava, we are aware of our true natures, and this
awareness is just as real as that of any other of the
principles. And this awareness, as the 9th principle
overshadows the 8th, drives us  through time, it impels the
growth and direction that the Auric Egg takes on, and the
resulting periodic dives into manifest existence.
    With the Auric Egg, we have stepped beyond existence, and
are out of space. And with Swabhava, we have stepped beyond
the transitory, and are out of time. How could we possibly go
further, deeper within? By simply *going beyond*. That is,
there is a part to us that is so absolutely perfect, so
fulfilled, and so close to the Unknowable, that it is beyond
relationship to the lower principles. It does not gaze
downward, being too complete, too perfect, too unmoving in the
Silence to need to participate in anything. It is "beyond
ourselves," our Paramatman, and as far as we can go, in
consciousness. It is the "personal" experience of the
Unknowable, and the highest part of our inner natures, of our
innermost core. It is beyond all pairs of opposites, all forms
of conditioned existence, all sense of time or space, and all
awareness of any particular thing. It is perfect Oblivion, if
such a term can be used in a positive sense.
    This takes us to the top of the tenfold scheme, the ten
principles of the fabric of our consciousness. What about the
twelvefold scheme? There is one higher principle, an 11th, as
well as one lower, an 0th (before the first, the physical
body, counting from the bottom). What do these principles
consist of, given that we have come, upwards, to the highest
we can experience, or downwards, to physical forms, a
container of consciousness, with no intrinsic consciousness,
but simply a sense of limitation?
    Looking upwards, we have That, Tat, the Unknowable
Mystery itself. We cannot contain it in our consciousness, but
are rooted in it. It is our highest principle of
consciousness, but we cannot, paradoxically, be conscious of
it. It is simply the Ultimate Mystery of Life.
    Looking downwards, we have Idam, This, the Mystery of the
root nature of manifest existence. It is built up from lower
and lower types of matter, each based upon yet lower and more
fundamental types of materials. It is truly bottomless, and
represents the nether pole of That. In our consciousness, were
we to experience it, it would be the mirror-opposite of
Nirvana, an Avitchi Nirvana, an unmanifest state of pure hell-
like oblivion. It is Oblivion in the worst possible sense, if
unconditionally embraced.
    Do we really have, then, a dualistic scheme, with two
opposing forces battling constantly for the souls of the
creatures in the universe? No. Tat (or That) lies behind and
within all. And the seen universe, or universes in their
totality, Idam (or This), the Boundless All, is but a dancing
shadow on the wall, a ephemeral reflection of its glory.
    The Unknowable goes beyond all the various aspects of
existence. It is beyond being or non-being, manifest or
unmanifest existence. It is beyond time and the eternal quest
to satisfy one's Ideal Nature. It is beyond absolute personal
perfection, out of conditioned relation to space and time. It
is beyond any sense of personal consciousness, because it is
truly Infinite, not-finite, and cannot be contained in a
finite consciousness, in whatever state. The highest that we
can approach it is in our 10th principles, our going beyond
any sense of personal limitations, even that of being
ourselves, that of our Swabhava or Unique Natures. Our 10th
principle is too perfect to need to be in relation to the
lower ones, which still, somehow, mysteriously, come forth out
of it. The 11th is beyond perfection, and how or in what way
it relates to the 10th is as unknowable as it is itself.
    With our Paramatman, we can go no further. We have
reached the top, the ultimate, as far as consciousness is
possible. Beyond it is simply: Mystery.