Theos-Talk Archives (August 1996 Message tl00312)

On Fri, 16 Aug 1996 RIhle@aol.com wrote:

> Of the "six Orthodox Schools" in Hindu philosophy (the three most important
> are Vedanta, Yoga, and Sankhya--I can't remember the other three), I have
> more or less concluded that THE SECRET DOCTRINE is probably most compatible
> with the "dualistic" Sankhya.  The general idea with this is that existing
> UNCREATED from all eternity is the "material" ~Prakriti~ (Substance) on one
> "side" and the "immaterial" Purusa (Undifferentiated Consciousness, "Self,"
> "Soul,") on the other.  (Actually, I'm cheating a little by presenting it
> this way, since I think the prevailing point of view is that there are plural
> ~Souls~.)

It is not necessary to think in terms of compatibility. The real issue is
what the reality is like. If discursive thinking could embrace it, than
your concern would be legitimate--but it looks like it's a street wisdom
these days that the reality escapes our attempts to conveniently define
it in consistent and mutually compatible rational terms.

Let's take an example from the history of physics. After the electron has
been discovered, many people firmly believed it's a particle. Then
quantum physics jumped on the arena, and it turned out that it may behave
as a wave. For quite a while there was a fierce struggle of two
corresponding schools of thoughts. This issue has been finally settled up
when the general consensus emerged that quantum objects may behave
themselves in both ways, so complementarity of contradictions rather than
compatibility is an underlying law of nature. (This law is hidden so deep we
cannot feel its action on the ordinary  level.)


> The interesting thing which contrasts somewhat with your above remarks is
> that in Sankya, ~Spirit~ is already a component of Substance--i.e., already
> included within the Prakriti side of things.  Indeed, it is often said that
> it is the very fact of Spirit's ~material~ nature being so ultra-rarefied
> that it is indistinguishable from Self (Undifferentiated Consciousness) that
> we have the necessary "point of contamination" for all the forms of
> Self-delusion etc.

It's OK with me, too. I see it as another, complementary perspective on
the reality. Pure, spiritless substance does not exist; it's informed
by the Third Logos (the Holy Spirit), or in other words is contaminated
(or impregnated) by Spirit. When people talk about the spirit-matter
contact I believe they mean marriage of the 1st Logos (Father) and the
3rd Logos (Mother) 'producing' (manifesting) the 2nd Logos (the Son, the
Christ principle, or Consciousness).

Also, Agni Yoga emphasizes that spirit and matter are so indivisible that
it's better to use the term 'spirit-matter.' I believe HPB said something
like this: spirit is matter in its state of utter rarefication while
matter is spirit in its state of utter densification.