Theos-Talk Archives (July 1999 Message tl00033)

July 29th 1999

	Our study for this week:  CYCLES:  Rounds,  Globes,  Races,

Prior to considering our study this week it is good to inquire
into the motive and reason for our being involved in this complex
consideration of evolution:.

					I.

Madame Blavatsky epitomizes this as follows:  "The "Master" in
the Sanctuary of our souls is "the Higher Self"--the divine
spirit whose consciousness is based upon and derived solely from
the Mind, which we have agreed to call the Human Soul (the
"Spiritual Soul" being the vehicle of the Spirit).  In its turn
the former (the personal or human soul) is a compound in its
highest form, of spiritual aspirations, volitions, and divine
love;  and in its lower aspect, of animal desires and terrestrial
passions imparted to it by association with its vehicle, the seat
of all these.  It thus stands as a link and a medium between the
animal nature of man which its higher reason seeks to subdue, and
his divine spiritual nature to which it gravitates, whenever it
has the upper hand in its struggle with the inner animal.  The
latter is the instinctual "animal Soul" and is the hotbed of
those passions, which, as just shown, are lulled instead of being
killed, and locked up in their breasts by some imprudent
enthusiasts."		HPB Articles, Vol.  II, pp.  105-6. "OCCULTISM VS.
THE OCCULT ARTS".

This week's study includes us, as a part of the study of cycles,
This is because the whole of manifestation is designed to focus
in human development, and its perfection, a consciousness of that
vast Unity.  Once this is attained, it can consciously perceive
the whole Universe in its vast and totally inter-related variety
as well as its essential Unity. Karma becomes clear to it.

In the beginning of the SD, [Vol. 1, p. 120 ] the spiritual
Instructor says:  "Lift thy head, oh Lanoo; dost thou see one, or
countless lights above thee, burning in the dark midnight sky?"
"I sense one Flame, oh Gurudeva, I see countless undetached
sparks shining in it."
"Thou sayest well. And now look around and into thyself. That
light which burns inside thee, dost thou feel it different in
anywise from the light that shines in thy Brother-men?"
"It is in no way different, though the prisoner is held in
bondage by Karma, and though its outer garments delude the
ignorant into saying, 'Thy Soul and My Soul.' "

It thus becomes the task of restoring to our consciousness a
sense of the vast amount of time that has already been spent in
our own evolution.  In the SD  [ I 181 ], we find that HPB shows
us that there are 3 lines of Evolution which meet and mingle in
human progress.  The Monadic (or Spiritual), the Intellectual
(thought and feelings), and the physical.   The Monad in
evolution, is an eternal Being, compounded of Spirit/Matter.
Hence the periods of time used in evolving the ever more material
and "solid" bodies, and the intelligence that we can see giving
those forms an independent consciousness, are enormous.  The
solidification of the material form alone occupied 3 "Rounds,"
through 7 "Globes" each.  Along with that there was a separate
development of consciousness, mind, and instinct.

In considering the Spiritual as the starting point, Mme.
Blavatsky in the SECRET DOCTRINE offers this concept:  "There is
one absolute Reality which antecedes all manifested, conditioned,
being.  This Infinite and Eternal Cause is the rootless root of
"all that was, is, or ever shall be."  It is of course devoid of
all attributes and is essentially without any relation to
manifested, finite Being.  It is "Be-ness" rather than Being (in
Sanskrit, Sat), and is beyond all thought or speculation...Thus,
then, the first fundamental axiom of the Secret Doctrine is this
metaphysical ONE ABSOLUTE--BENESS--symbolized by finite
intelligence as the theological trinity."   [ The Secret
Doctrine, Vol.  I, p. 14 ]

How are we going to approach the divisions of time in which the
evolution of consciousness and intelligence on our Earth ?  In
explaining these it became necessary to use words that implied
those long periods.  These were named :Rounds.  A "Round"
consisted of a "host" of Monads passing through 7 "Globes."  Each
"globe" was further divided into 7 "Races [or 7 "host"]," and
each of those into 7 "Sub-races."  The words do not employ the
same meaning we give to them in ordinary speech. [For purpose of
analogy we could arbitrarily say that a selected "Year" has 7
"months."  Each "month" has 7 "weeks."  Each "week" has 7 "days"
and so on.  The reason for the use of SEVEN is that the great
Principles of Nature correspond to t he "human Principles."  This
7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 field of time gives the many permutations to
combine and work with each other.]

Everything takes place in Space.  HPB explains in one place:
"Space exists where there is nothing else, and must so exist
whether the Universe is one absolute vacuum or a full Plenum.
Space is what the ancients called the One invisible and unknown
(now unknowable) Deity. "
[ Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge, p.. 12, ULT Edition ]  A
Master of Wisdom commented:  "There is not one finger's breadth
(angula) of void Space in the whole Boundless Universe)."
[ SD I 289 ]  "Reality in the manifested world is composed of a
unity of units." [SD I 629]

Our Earth, and we, ourselves, and  the many beings in and on it
are held in Theosophy to be the result of causes that were
started earlier, in a previous cycle of evolution.  The "causes
of existence,"  is an all-inclusive term.  These "causes" are the
sum total of the KARMA of a World, (and all the beings that form
it).  In our case this Karma refers to the actions and
thought-consequences we generated during the earlier Manvantara,
or age of Brahmâ.  We then lived and worked and played together
in the same general fashion as we do now.  No cause set in motion
in Nature is ever lost.

There is always a design, a Plan present in the Universal (or
Absolute Mind) and this is carried forward through Pralaya after
Pralaya, and from Manvantara to Manvantara.  It is immutable.  It
is KARMA. There are Intelligent Mind-beings who are
simultaneously the Servants and Guides of this Karma, the
Universal WILL -- that "causeless cause."  The  highest Dhyanis
[Wise Ones], the Logoi, carry forward and execute the details of
that Plan. The Absolute is absolute consciousness eternally.
This One consciousness becomes relative consciousness
periodically, (through its constituent Monads) at every
"Manvantaric dawn."  "Every monad reflects every other.  Every
monad is a living mirror of the universe within its own sphere."
[ SD I 631 ]

The Divine Mind is, must be, before differentiation takes place.
It is called the Divine Ideation, which is eternal in its
Potentiality and periodical in its Potency.  Then it becomes
Mahat, Anima Mundi or Universal Soul.  Mahat, is the great
Manvantaric Principle of Intelligence.  It acts through the
uncountable Monads, as a "Brain" through which the Universal and
Eternal Mind radiates those Dhyanis, as those who embody the
nascent Consciousness or Ideation.

As the shadow of this primordial triangle falls lower and lower
through the descending planes
[ Rounds and Globes ], it becomes with every stage more material.
It is misleading to apply mechanical laws to the higher
metaphysics of cosmogony, or to space and time, as we know them,
for neither existed then.  The reflection of the triad in space
and time, or the objective universe, comes later.

But we need also to ask what is the reason and purpose of all
this.  Mr. Judge offers these ideas:  "What then is the universe
for, and for what final purpose is man the immortal thinker here
in evolution?  It is all for the experience and emancipation of
the soul, for the purpose of raising the entire mass of
manifested matter up to the stature, nature, and dignity of
conscious god-hood,  The great aim is to reach to
self-consciousness, by and through the perfecting after
transformation, of the whole mass of matter, as well as what we
now call soul.  Nothing is or is to be left out.  The aim for
present man is his initiation into complete knowledge, and for
the other kingdoms below him that they be raised up gradually
from stage to stage to be in time initiated also.  This is
evolution carried to its highest power;  it is a magnificent
prospect;  it makes of man a god, and gives to every part of
nature the strength and possibility of being one day the same;
there is strength and nobility in it, for by this no man is
dwarfed and belittled, for no one is so originally sinful that he
cannot rise above all sin."  [ OCEAN, p. 60 ]

But we may ask ourselves:  What is the reason for our being here
?   Let us consider together that in the hearts of all, at some
time there arises the desire for knowledge.  He who thinks his
desires will be fulfilled, as the little bird in the nest, who
has only to open his mouth to be fed, will very truly be
disappointed.

The soul develops like the flower, and unconsciously to the soil
in which it grows.  Shut out the light and the soil grows damp
and sterile, the flower withers or grows pale and sickly.  Each
and every one is here for a good and wise reason.  If we find
partially the "why we are here," then is there not good reason
that we should by intelligent contact, study life deeply, and
seek in it the farther elucidation of the problem.  It is not for
the study of ourselves so much, as the thought for others that
opens the door.  The events of life and their causes lead to
knowledge.  They must be studied when they are manifested in
daily life.

Mme. Blavatsky offers us a very important and basic view to
consider on this:  "It is the Spiritual evolution of the inner,
immortal man that forms the fundamental tenet in the Occult
Sciences...the One Universal Life, independent of
matter...and...the individual intelligences that animate the
various manifestations of this Principle...The One Life is
closely related to the one law which governs the World of
Being--Karma."  	[ S D  I  634 ]

Writing to Mr. Sinnett on the subject of our evolution here, one
of the Masters of Wisdom said:

"Every Spiritual Individuality [Higher Manas] has a gigantic
evolutionary journey to perform, a tremendous gyratory progress
to accomplish.  First--at the very beginning of the great
Maha-manvanataric rotation, from first to last of the man-bearing
"planets [Globes]," as on each of them, the monad has to pass
through the seven successive races of man...up to the present
fifth race, or rather variety, and through two more races, before
he has done with this one.  Each of the 7 races send 7 ramifying
branchlets from the Parent Branch:  and through each of these in
turn man has to evolute before he passes on to the next higher
race;  and that--seven times...The branchlets typify varying
specimens of humanity--physically and spiritually--and no one of
us can miss one single rung of the ladder...when I say "man," I
mean a human being of our type.  There are other and innumerable
manvantaric chains of globes bearing intelligent beings--both in
and out of our solar system--the crowns or apexes of evolutionary
being in their respective chains, some--physically and
intellectually--lower, others immeasurably higher than the man of
our chain..."	[Mahatma Letters, p. 119, Barker Edn. ]

One may thus further say that the object of this great process of
evolutionary amalgamation and precipitation is to give to every
race, as well as every individual Monad,  the benefit of the
progress and power of the whole derived from prior progress in
other Globes, Rounds  and earlier systems we used in prior
Manvantaras

Nature never does her work in a hasty fashion, but, by the sure
method of mixture, precipitation, and separation, it brings about
the greatest perfection...Hence man did not spring from a single
pair.  Neither did he come from any tribe or family of monkey.
The SECRET DOCTRINE teaches that 7 races of men [ 7 categories of
mind and temperament] appeared simultaneously on the earth at the
beginning of this process.

					II

If we wish to epitomize the whole evolutionary process we may
say:  This brings us to the doctrine of Universal Evolution as
expounded by the Sages of the Wisdom-Religion.  The Spirit, or
Purusha, they say, proceeds from Brahma [the ABSOLUTE] through
the various forms of matter evolved at the same time, beginning
in the world of the spiritual from the highest and in the
material world from the lowest form, one that is still unknown to
modern science.  Thus, therefore, the mineral, vegetable and
animal forms each imprison a spark of the Divine, a portion of
the indivisible Purusha.  These are the Monads that are evolving
all together, each at its own place and pace.

These sparks struggle to "return to the Father," or in other
words, to secure self-consciousness and at last come into the
highest form, on Earth, that of man, where alone
self-conscious-ness is possible to them.  The period calculated
in human time, during which this evolution goes on embraces
millions of ages.  Each spark of divinity has, therefore,
millions of ages in which to accomplish its mission.  All depends
upon the individual's own will and efforts, we determine our own
future by our choices.  We can accelerate or retard our progress
by our own choices.

Each particular spirit [Monad] goes through the Manvantara, or
enters into manifestation for its own enrichment and for that of
the Whole.

Man came to this "globe" from another, though of course then a
being of very great power before being completely enmeshed in
matter, so the lower kingdoms came likewise in germ and type from
other globes, and carry on their evolution step by step upward by
the aid of man, who is, in all periods of manifestation, at the
front of the wave of life.

This is the point where the intelligent aid and interference from
a mind or mass of minds is absolutely necessary.  Such aid and
interference was and is the fact, for nature unaided cannot do
the work right.  It is Man who does this.  Not the man of the
day, weak and ignorant as he (we) are(is), but Great Souls, high
and holy Men of immense power, knowledge and wisdom (just as
every man would now know he could become).  By methods known to
themselves and to the Great Lodge they work on the forms so
brought over, and by adding here, taking away there, and often
altering, they gradually transform. This process is carried on
chiefly in the purely astral period preceding the gross physical
stage, as the impulses thus given will surely carry themselves
forward through the succeeding times.  When the midway point of
evolution is reached the species emerge on to the present stage.

 Various names have been given to these beings now removed from
our plane.  They are the Dhyanis, the Creators, the Guides, the
Great Spirits, and so on by many titles.  Mahatmas and Rishis are
thus gradually evolved during a Manvantara, and become after its
expiration, "planetary spirits," who guide the evolution of other
future planets and systems.  The "planetary spirits" of our globe
are those who in previous manvantaras made the efforts, and
became in the course of that long period Mahatmas.

This system is thus seen to be based upon the identity of
Spiritual Being, [the One Universal Monad] and, under the name of
"Universal Brotherhood," constitutes the basic idea of theosophy
whose object is the realization of that Brotherhood among men.

Man occupies the most important place in the whole scheme of
evolution.  He stands where Spirit and matter meet.  He is the
link between the higher beings and those below.  He has so to
act, so to think and act, in and upon and with this physical
matter that he raises it all up, and gives it another tendency,
another trend.  By the very constitution of his nature, by reason
of his being connected as he is in a physical body with all
nature, the Secret Doctrine states that man can become greater
than any one of the Dhyan Chohans and equal to all of them put
together.  That is the goal which lies before him--the goal of
the "Kingly Mystery"--the seeing and knowing and feeling and
acting universally.  For there is a power in man which enables
him to judge aright;  he has the all-seeing eye--the
all-encompassing sight which permits him to see the justice of
all things.  And always there is present the power of choice in
one direction or another.  The questions before each human being
are:  Whom will ye serve?  Will you serve the higher spiritual
nature, or the body of flesh?"

In conclusion, let me quote something that Mr. Judge wrote.  It
offers us all not only food for reflection but a challenge:

"A visitor from one of the other planets of the solar system who
might learn the term Mahatma after arriving here would certainly
suppose that the etymology of the word undoubtedly inspired the
believers in Mahatmas with the devotion, fearlessness, hope, and
energy which such an ideal should arouse in those who have the
welfare of the human race at heart.

The whole sweep, meaning, and possibility of evolution are
contained in the word Mahatma.  Maha is "great," Atma is "soul,"
and both compounded into one mean those great souls who have
triumphed before us not because they are made of different stuff
and are of some strange family, but just because they are of the
human race.

Reincarnation, karma, the sevenfold division, retribution,
reward, struggle, failure, success, illumination, power, and a
vast embracing love for man, all these lie in that single word.

The soul emerges from the unknown, begins to work in and with
matter, is reborn again and again, makes karma, develops the 6
vehicles for itself, meets retribution for sin and punishment for
mistake, grows strong by suffering, succeeds in bursting through
the gloom, is enlightened by true illumination, grasps power,
retains charity, expands with love for orphaned humanity, and
thenceforth helps all others who remain in darkness until all may
be raised up to the place with the "Father in Heaven" who is the
Higher Self."  	[WQJ Art. II, p. 39-4

	CONCLUSION

HPB states:  "He who would profit by the wisdom of the universal
mind, has to reach it through the whole of Humanity without
distinction of race, complexion, religion or social status.  It
is altruism, not ego-ism even in its most legal and noble
conceptions, that can lead the unit to merge its little Self in
the Universal Selves.  It is to these needs and to this work that
the disciple of true Occultism has to devote himself, if he would
obtain Theosophy, divine Wisdom and Knowledge."  	[ HPB Art. II
107 ]

Applying this to Mankind, HPB adds:  "...our Ego is a ray of the
Universal Mind, individualized for the space of a cosmic
life-cycle, during which space of time it gets experience in
almost numberless reincarnations or rebirths, after which it
returns to its Parent-Source.  The Occultist would call the
"Higher Ego" the immortal Entity, whose shadow and reflection is
the human Manas, the mind limited by its physical senses.  The
two may be well compared to the Master-artist and the
pupil-musician.  In the course of natural evolution our
"brain-mind" will be replaced by a finer organism, and helped by
the 6th [Buddhi] and the 7th [Atma] senses..."    [ Theos.
Articles & Notes,  p. 208 ]

I wonder if these ideas can be expanded and if there are more
important quotations from the Philosophy that can be brought
forward for all of us to consider

Best wishes to all,

Dallas
dalval@nwc.net