Theos-Talk Archives (January 1995 Message tl00023)

The GV Model: the BL, GS, ET, and HPB/G de P versions.


Eldon was kind enough to submit a short essay comparing various
views of the Gupta Vidya Model - the one with the Globes and
cosmic planes.  I think his essay clearly demonstrates the
difficulty we all have in trying to understand this model.  I
appreciate Eldon's essay, and consider it as an honest effort to
clear up some of the misconceptions that surface from time to
time.

I am not all that familiar with the writings of Besant or
Leadbeater.  I have read some, but by no means all of their
works.  I currently know of absolutely nothing that AB or CWL
have written about the GV Model per se.  I can't find "Globes" in
any index of those CWL books that I have in my library.  Eldon,
on the other hand, has stated that he has studied both AB and CWL
for many years before coming to Point Loma where he discovered G
de P.  So I will concede that Eldon know a lot more about AB's
and CWL's views on the model.  If my own version of the model in
any way dovetails or contradicts a BL version, then it is quite
by accident on my part, I assure you.  My sole guides in my study
of the model have been HPB and G de P.  So I read Eldon's essay
on the comparisons with genuine interest.

My version of the model is based exclusively on the figure
supplied to us by HPB on page 200 of Vol I of the SD.  In this
figure, she directly compares each Globe of her model to the
Sephiroth of the Qabalistic Tree of Life; which she calls the
Chaldean Kabala.  I was already well acquainted with the Tree of
Life before I came into theosophy (the SD was one of the first
theosophical books I read).  Looking at her figure, we can see
some very direct correspondences.  Globe D is equivalent to the
lowest Sephirah, Malkuth.  Globe C is Yesod, E is Netzah, B is
Hod, and so on.  She also labels the planes.  I personally rather
like the Tree as described by the Golden Dawn, but more scholarly
works are also available (which don't disagree very much).
Anyway, I think that if you look at HBP's model as corresponding
closely to the Tree of Life, but with a few very important
differences, then you will understand my version.  I would also
like to add here that I am not aware of any differences or
conflicts between my own version and that described by G de P,
who simply elaborated on what HPB had already given out.  I
certainly have no problem with the quotes offered by Eldon, for
example.

My own understanding of the higher planes for each globe' is that
each cosmic plane can be divided into 7 subplanes, and that each
Globe has higher *subplanes* because none are located on the 7th
or highest.  Thus each Globe has 7 subplanes, not planes.

HPB tells us that there can be no skipping of the planes.
Everything found on Earth has an astral counterpart, mental
counterpart, and so on.  So the idea of higher bodies, one for
each plane, is a natural fallout from the fact that we all have a
physical body.  This idea seems to conflict with Taoist magic,
which if I understand it rightly, teaches that we must create and
then develop our Body of Light.  However, if we accept the idea
that our higher bodies pre-exist but are immature and we must get
used to them prior to magical use (i.e., being conscious in them
and having full memory of the fact when we return) then any
conflict is resolved.

AB and CWL sometimes seem oblivious to the Globes, and talk
rather about the planes and our experiences on the planes, the
inhabitants of the planes and subplanes, and so on.  This is in
keeping with traditional occultism, and even Qabalists do so (the
occult technique of rising on the planes' has little to do with
Globes or Sephiroth, for example).  This also brings up one of
the differences that exist between the GV Model and the Tree of
Life: the Tree has paths between the Globes, while HPB ignored
paths in her figure and never mentions them in her writings (she
never says that they don't exist).  She does say that there is no
real 'path' as such between adjacent planes.  She calls such
connections 'laya centers' and describes them in some detail
(they have a lot in common with the theoretical White Holes of
modern physics).  So the GV Model has no vertical paths that can
be explored.  But there is no reason to suppose that horizontal
paths do not exist along each plane.

What does all of this have to do with psychism or psychic powers?
One of the psychic "powers" inherent in each of us is the ability
to shift our consciousness from the everyday waking state to the
higher cosmic planes of manifestation (I refer those interested
to the last chapter of Isis Unveiled which contains an excellent
discussion of this operation).  The GV Model, like the Tree of
Life, is a road map of these invisible worlds that surround us.
Unless we actually use the GV Model as a map, it remains only an
interesting but useless theory that we can argue and debate over.

Jerry S.