A Theosophical definition of Manu :

Manu

Manu in the esoteric system is the entities collectively which appear first at the beginning of manifestation, and from which, like a cosmic tree, everything is derived or born. Manu actually is the spiritual tree of life of any planetary chain of manifested being. Manu is thus in one sense the third Logos; as the second is the father-mother, the Brahma and prakriti; and the first is what we call the unmanifest Logos, or Brahman (neuter) and its cosmic veil pradhana.

In other words, the second Logos, father-mother, is the producing cause of manifestation through their son, which in a planetary chain is Manu, the first of the manus being called in the archaic Hindu system Svayambhuva.

During a Day of Brahma or period of seven rounds, fourteen subordinate or inferior manus appear as patrons and guardians of the race cycles or life-waves (See also H. P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, passim; also Manvantara).

Manu is likewise the name of a great ancient Indian legislator, the alleged author of the Laws of Manu (Manava-dharma-sastra).

See also: Manu , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Alpha and Omega The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end," says the Lord in Revelations. This means not only "I am all," but also, for instance, the beginning and end of a divine-spiritual dragon or cosmic serpent, of which the alpha is the Logos or Second Person of the Trinity, and the omega is the wise men of earth.

In another significance, the Logos of the solar system is the originator of a cosmic manvantara, and all the hierarchies of spiritually inferior beings flowing forth from this Logos undertake the work of building, preserving, and finally destroying the solar system when the manvantaric term is ended. Then the alpha or outflowing energy recombines with the omega or inflowing energy, recoalescing into their original oneness.

(See also: Alpha and Omega , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Unmanifest or Unmanifested Usually used of the First Logos in contradistinction to the manifest-unmanifest or Second Logos; though this unmanifested Logos is correctly said to be the first manifestation of the Absolute or the summit or primordial originant of a cosmic hierarchy, of which there are innumerable multitudes in boundless space. The unmanifest corresponds to primordial unity where the totality of the manifested universe is "all numbers." Behind the ultimate which can be conceived, we have to postulate an unknown indefinable antecedent, which may therefore be called unmanifest.

Used in limited senses in reference to planes of manifestation: thus the unmanifested causes of things on the physical plane may be manifest to the consciousness pertaining to the higher planes.

See also MANIFESTATION

(See also: Unmanifest, Unmanifested , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Phanes, Phanes-Protogonos (Greek) [from phaino to make visible, appear, shine forth + protogonos first-born]

In Orphic mythogony, Aether (the Father, spirit) and Chaos (the Mother, primordial matter) produce the world-egg, silvery and gleaming white, out of which Phanes, the Third Logos, is born. He is the Orphic counterpart of Eros, the divine love which sets the atoms of spirit in motion, and is both male and female, mythologically said to have golden wings which carry him everywhere and four eyes gazing in every direction.

As Phanes, he is the first of the five cosmic rulers successively to appear; parent of the gods, the demiurge and creator of the world. Being thus the primordial father of gods, of the world, and hence of men, every such derivative offspring from Phanes contains Phanes in itself. Thus man, as an individual, contains Phanes as the primordial essence or original force of this own being. From another point of view, Phanes is equivalent to cosmic mahat, which as the universal formative spiritual power of the universe is at once the parent as well as the primordial substance of whatever is -- as well as cosmic intelligence.

Nux (night) is associated with Phanes as both mother and wife. Zeus does not appear in the Orphic mythogony until later, as the fourth in the line of succession; but eventually, due to a loss in popular conception of the ancient verity, he absorbs his great prototype, who apparently did not figure largely in popular mythology.

Phanes was connected mystically and esoterically with four animal symbols of the zodiac -- Aries the ram, Taurus the bull, Leo the lion, and Draco the dragon or serpent.

(See also: Phanes, Phanes-Protogonos , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Eye of Horus or Osiris One of the names by which the Egyptian symbol of the eye is known, especially its hieroglyphic representation, designated Utchat in Egyptian. There were, in fact, two eyes: one the symbol of Thoth (Tehuti), representing the full moon; the other, the utchat of Ra (or Osiris), representing the midday sun. When referred to as the eyes of Horus they were designated as the white and the black: the white eye standing for the sun, the black for the moon. Or again they were called the right and the left, referring respectively to the sun and the moon.

"The Sun was always called by the Egyptians 'the eye of Osiris,' and was himself the Logos, the first-begotten, or light made manifest to the world, 'which is the Mind and divine intellect of the Concealed' " (SD 2:25). This symbol connects Horus with the characteristic nature and functions of the manifest Logos which spiritually surveys all, guides all, and watches over all; and as the Logos contains in itself all that is, both of spirit and matter when they are manifested, the reason is seen for the more detailed ascription to sun or moon of this or that function or activity of the Logos.

(See also: Eye of Horus, Osiris , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Mirror The astral light is often referred to as a mirror, as all manifestations are reflected in it. The Logos is also referred to as a mirror, reflecting divine mind, "and the Universe is the mirror of the Logos, though the latter is the esse of that Universe. As the Logos reflects all in the Universe of Pleroma, so man reflects in himself all that he sees and finds in his Universe, the Earth" (SD 2:25).

The monads are also living mirrors of the universe, every monad reflecting every other one (SD 1:623), as Leibniz taught. "The Luminous Mirror, Aspaqularia nera, a Kabbalistic term, means the power of foresight and farsight, prophecy such as Moses had. Ordinary mortals have only the Aspaqularia della nera or Non Luminous Mirror, they

See only in a glass darkly: a parallel symbolism is that of the conception of the Tree of Life, and that only of the Tree of Knowledge" (TG 215).

(See also: Mirror , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Hierarchy of Compassion, Spiritual-psychological Hierarchy The hierarchy of spiritual beings extending from the highest solar or galactic monad, to the least element forming its vehicles or being.

"It is built of divinities, demigods, buddhas, bodhisattvas, and great and noble men, who serve as a living channel for the spiritual currents coming to this and every other planet of our system from the heart of the solar divinity, and who themselves shed glory and light and peace upon that pathway from the compassionate deeps of their own being. . . .

"On our earth there is a minor hierarchy of light. Working in this sphere there are lofty intelligences, human souls, having their respective places in the hierarchical degrees. These masters or mahatmas are living forces in the spiritual life of the world; and awakened minds and intuitive hearts sense their presence, at least at times" (FSO 467-8). The head of the terrestrial spiritual-psychological hierarchy is a being sometimes called the Silent Watcher, who acts as a channel for all the spiritual forces flowing to and from the earth, and who is connected inwardly with all the beings on earth.

In theosophical literature, the Hierarchy of Compassion of our solar system is sometimes given as:

1)    adi-buddhi (primal wisdom), the mystic universally diffused essence;

2)    mahabuddhi (universal buddhi), the Logos;

3)    daiviprakriti (universal divine light), universal life, the Second Logos;

4)    ) Sons of Light, the seven cosmic logoi, the logoi of cosmic life, the Third Logos;

5)    dhyani-buddhas (buddhas of contemplation);

6)    dhyani-bodhisattvas (bodhisattvas of contemplation);

7)    manushya-buddhas (human buddhas), racial buddhas;

8)    bodhisattvas; and

9)    men.

Here, the Sons of Light or the seven cosmic logoi emanating from the sun and working in its kingdom are the parents of the rectors or planetary spirits of the seven sacred planets. The seven dhyani-buddhas, also called the celestial buddhas or causal buddhas, through their emanated representatives each govern one round of the septenary cycles of evolution on a planetary chain. The seven dhyani-bodhisattvas, or bodhisattvas of the celestial realms, similarly through their emanated representatives each govern one of the seven globes comprising a planetary chain.

The manushya-buddhas are the buddhas which watch over the root-races in a round, two appearing in every race, one near the commencement and one near the midpoint of each root-race. Gautama Buddha was the second racial buddha of the fifth root-race.

The bodhisattvas of earth are those spiritual and intellectually advanced human beings who leave the nirvana of buddhahood in order to remain on earth for their sublime work of aiding, stimulating, and guiding those hosts of entities, including humanity, trailing behind them.

(See also: Hierarchy of Compassion, Spiritual-psychological Hierarchy , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Voice The concrete expression of an abstract thought; a creative power that has quality besides energy, given as a septenate of logoi represented by seven mysterious vowels, uttered vocally, as in the Gnostic Pistis Sophia and the Christian Revelation. Abstract thought and concrete voice together make the Word (SD 1:99).

The Qabbalistic Sepher Yetsirah says that the Holy Spirit is Voice-Spirit-Word. The gandharvas in India are (physically) the noumenal causes of sound and the voices of nature (SD 1:523), i.e., the seven tones of Pythagoras and his music of the spheres. In Simon Magus' teachings the six radicals are given as mind, intelligence, voice, name, reason, thought -- all emanating from the seventh or highest, spiritual fire. Synonymous are Vach in India and Kwan-yin in China.

At a certain stage of initiation a voice speaks audibly to the candidate, as discussed in The Voice of the Silence. The Bath Qol (daughter of the voice) of the Qabbalah is a spiritual communication of somewhat the same kind; and Deity often communicates in a voice in the Old Testament. Voice is one way in which a divine presence manifests itself to a mind, as when, according to the Bible, the Lord manifested himself to Elijah in a still small voice.

The Army of the Voice of The Secret Doctrine is the prototype of the Host of the Logos, or the logoi, the sevenfold expression of divine thought.

See also LOGOS; VACH; VERBUM

(See also: Voice , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Monad, Monas [from Greek monas a unit, individual, atom]

A unit, a one; something nondivisible and which is therefore conceived of as real, in contradistinction to compound things which (as compounds) are not real.

In the Pythagorean system the Duad emanates from the higher and solitary Monas, which is thus the First Cause or First Logos, the Duad being the Second Cause or Logos; and from the second emanates the third stage of individuality, the Triad, Third Cause or Logos. In the human constitution the Monas signifies atman, the Duad buddhi, and the Triad signifies manas.

The term monad was adopted from Greek philosophy by Bruno, Leibniz, and others. According to Leibniz there can be but one ultimate cosmic reality or monad, the universe; but he recognizes an innumerable multiplicity of monads which pervade the universe, copies or reflections of the universal monad regarded as real except in their relation to the universal monad. He divides his derivative monads into three classes: rational souls; sentient but irrational monads; and material monads, or organic and inorganic bodies.

As regards the material monads, while recognizing that corporeal matter is compound, and the attributes by which we perceive it unreal, unlike Berkeley, he does not deny its existence but regards it essentially as monadic. Thus his universe is an aggregate of individuals. The relations of these individuals to each other and to the universal is a supreme harmony, implying both individuality and coordination, thus reconciling the antinomy of bonds of law and freedom. The interrelations of various groups of monads is as a series of hierarchies.

Theosophical usage is largely the same as that of Leibniz, as the focus or heart in any individual being, of all its divine, spiritual, and intellectual powers and attributes -- the immortal part of its being. In The Secret Doctrine we find a triadic union of gods-monads-atoms, related to each other as spirit-soul-body (or more accurately spirit, spirit-soul, and spirit-soul-body). Monads and atoms are related to each other as the energic and the material side of manifestation, the atoms being the reflections, veils, or projections of and from the monads themselves.

Monads are the ultimate elements of the universe, spiritual-substantial entities, self-motivated, self-impelled, self-conscious, in infinitely varying degrees. They engender other monads, which in turn engender others, and thus springs up the host of living entities forming the immense variety and unity of the manifested world. As any monad descends into matter, it secretes from itself various veils or vehicles adapted for its self-expression on the various cosmic planes. Thus in man there is the divine monad, the spiritual monad, the higher human or chain monad, the lower human or globe monad, the animal monad, and the astral-physical monad. The following diagram shows the relations between the cosmic principles; the monads, egos and souls in the human being; and the human principles

The monad, as its name implies, is ever-enduring as an individual, although at the end of each manvantara it rises into a still higher or divine stage of perfect union with the boundless divine, only to re-issue forth again in due course as the monad it was before, thus beginning a new, immensely long time period of active individualized life as a spiritual consciousness-center. Thus it is that even the monads evolve, each on its own plane, for the hierarchies of the monads are innumerable and exist in all-various degrees at stages of evolutionary progression on the endless ladder of cosmic life.

(See also: Monad, Monas , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Narayana (Sanskrit) [from nara human from nara man + ayana going]

The mover on the waters of space; a title of Vishnu in his aspect of the eternal breath or spirit; the highest hierarchies of the dhyanis or gods moving in and on the waters of creation (cf Manu 1:10). Here nara applies to the cosmogonical Logos, and ayana to the emanationary and evolutionary activity of the Logos in the waters of space, which are really the manifested form of Nara or Nara itself. In esoteric symbology Narayana stands for the primeval manifestation of the life principle spreading in infinite space, or again the Isvara, the Logos, the inner guide of all individual souls in the universe.

The opening verses of Genesis state that "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters": the waters are the great deep of infinite space, akasa; and the spirit is Narayana, Vishnu, or the cosmic Nara. This spirit "is invisible Flame, which never burns, but sets on fire all that it touches, and gives it life and generation" (SD 1:626).

Brahma is a permutation, so far as meanings go, of Narayana, the spirit of god entering into and fructifying nature -- which indeed is itself. The cosmic Neptune or Poseidon, the Egyptian Ra, and the Hindu Idaspati (the master of the waters) correspond with Narayana or Vishnu.

(See also: Narayana , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Breath In the astral-vital organisms of living beings the breath is called prana, which also means "life." This is not limited to the respiratory functions, but includes what physiologists might call nerve currents operating in all parts of the body, of which the pulmonary diastole and systole is only a particular manifestation. Hatha yoga deals with the study and use of these functions, but before such aspects of the lower knowledge can be profitably or even safely used, the learner must have acquired self-mastery, stability, and disinterestedness of motive.

The ceaseless alternate outflowing and inflowing of cosmic life or hierarchies of lives of the one manifest reality is called the Great Breath from its analogy to physiological breathing, which implies incessant alternating motion, expansion and contraction, of life, air, wind, or spirit. The sevenfold word symbolizing the logos is said to be the evolution of the breath. Though the alternation of manvantara and pralaya conjoined are the Great Breath, the alternating motion does not cease even during the long pralayic ages.

Breath is often used in the same sense as ray, wind, spirit, pneuma, to denote an active emanation which is at once active and passive, positive and negative, donative and receptive, the principle of polarity later in cosmic evolution becoming pronounced. An instance is when the divine breath incubates the waters of space, and worlds are produced. Absolute perpetual motion is the breath of life of the one element, and is applied to fohat. In Sanskrit it is expressed among other words by asu, the true root of asura (a living or spiritual being). In Hebrew several words express it, varying according to the spiritual or grosser meaning: neshamah, ruah, or nephesh. In Greek philosophy perhaps the main word used in this sense in pneuma, equally well translated as spirit.

The plural "breaths" is used to denote spirits or forces, such as the Ah-hi, dhyani-chohans, asuras, the holy circumgyrating breaths, and the seven breaths or divisions of the Logos. There may also be right- and left-hand breaths, or breaths (winds) from the four, six, or eight directions, each having its own specific quality and functions. In general, breath stands for the air element.

(See also: Breath , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Color From darkness comes white light; from white light comes color. These correspond to the unmanifest Logos, the manifest Logos, and the seven rays, and this cosmogonical scheme is repeated throughout the universe.

White light is in the physical world resolvable into a spectrum or band of colors, and color is defined as a quality of visual perception depending on the wavelength of light. But according to theosophy we could see no color at all unless we had it in our mind from the first, and thus recognized the color outside because of its identity with what is within us.

Still less could we resolve the continuous band into seven colors, as even infants can do. The physical stimuli merely evokes what is already in us, the latter recognizing what is objective outside us, causing a phenomenon of cognition to pass along the plane of the physical senses. This becomes more evident when we remember that color sense is relative, depending largely on contrast. Colors are light or sight in its septenary aspect; and color, sight, and light are used almost interchangeably in speaking of the evolution of the senses and their corresponding planes of prakriti.

Colors and sounds have great potency in practical magic, as cosmic powers can be evoked by an understanding use of the proper colors and sounds. The seven colors correspond with other septenates, such as the notes of the musical octave, the sacred planets, and the seven primary elements. It is the universal septenate viewed from a visual aspect as manifested light.

Colors are one of the manifold manifestations of cosmic vitality, a septenary unity -- or a denary or duodenary unity, according to the manner of enumeration -- these cosmic forces are interchangeable, their incomprehensible aggregate being cosmic life; therefore, any form of this cosmic life has not only its particular keynote of sound, but likewise its particular keynote of color, etc.

(See also: Color , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ahath (Hebrew) (feminine of 'achath one)

One, single, alone, sole; applied to the feminine aspect of the Logos or head of a hierarchy. In Hebrew occultism 'ahath or achath represents, together with the masculine form achod ('ehad) "the collective aggregate, or totality, of the principal Creators or Architects of this visible universe" (SD 1:129). Incorrectly applied to the Sephiroth-'elohim as Sephiroth, since these last are only vehicles or manifestations of the Logos.

Achath-Achod ('ahath-'ehad) corresponds to the Sanskrit adi (first, primeval) or eka (One), meaning crown or hyparxis, and therefore the originant or cosmic hierarch, which divides into the many when its spiritual and substantial energies stream downwards into the planes of illusion and matter -- which indeed these energies themselves compose.

See also 'AHATH-RUAH-'ELOHIM-HAYYIM; 'EHAD

(See also: Ahath , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Serapis [from Greek Sarapis from Egyptian Asar-Hapi Osiris-Apis]

The most important deity at Alexandria during the time of Ptolemy Soter, its worship spread throughout Egypt and into the Roman Empire, establishing itself firmly even in Rome. Plutarch recounts that Ptolemy Soter in his desire to make Alexandria the chief center of his empire, sought to unite Greeks and Egyptians in a common worship. He dreamed that a strange god appeared to him and, on telling his friends, one said that he had seen such a statue at Sinope.

The king immediately imported this statue, the Greeks, declaring that it represented Pluto, ruler of the underworld, with his guardian dog Cerberus, while the Egyptians stated that it portrayed Asar-Hapi (Osiris in the underworld) with Anubis. Plutarch states that Osiris is the same as Sarapis, "this latter appellation having been given him, upon his being translated from the order of Genii to that of the Gods, Sarapis being none other than that common name by which all those are called, who have thus changed their nature, as is well known by those who are initiated into the mysteries of Osiris" (On Isis and Osiris, sec 28).

A hieroglyphic text found on stelae and other objects in the Serapeum at Sakkara states that Apis is called "the life of Osiris, the lord of heaven, Tem (with) his horns (in) his head," he who gives "life, strength, health, to thy nostrils for ever." Thus Serapis is represented in the form of a man with the head of a bull; the horns being crescent-shaped, encircling the solar disk; in his hands he bears the scepter with the flail and crook of Osiris.

The fundamental idea ruling the worship and standing of Serapis among the later Egyptians corresponds to the Greek cosmic Logos, and particularly the creative or Third Logos, equivalent to the Hindu Brahma; and the bull-attributes connected with Serapis worship likewise refer to the generative power universally ascribed among ancient peoples to the bull, and in the cosmic sense to the creative urge inherent in the Logos itself, constantly producing, bringing forth, and reproducing.

(See also: Serapis , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Akasa (Sanskrit). The subtle, supersensuous spiritual essence which pervades all space; the primordial substance erroneously identified with Ether. But it is to Ether what Spirit is to Matter, or Atma to Kama-rupa.

It is, in fact, the Universal Space in which lies inherent the eternal Ideation of the Universe in its ever-changing aspects on the planes of matter and objectivity, and from which radiates the First Logos, or expressed thought. This is why it is stated in the Puranas that Akasa has but one attribute, namely sound, for sound is but the translated symbol of Logos - "Speech" in its mystic sense. In the same sacrifice (the Jyotishtoma Agnishtoma) it is called the "God Akasa". In these sacrificial mysteries Akasa is the all-directing ‘and omnipotent Deva who plays the part of Sadasya, the superintendent over the magical effects of the religious performance, and it had its own appointed Hotri (priest) in days of old, who took its name.

The Akasa is the indispensable agent of every Kritya (magical performance) religious or profane. The expression "to stir up the Brahma", means to stir up the power which lies latent at the bottom of every magical operation, Vedic sacrifices being in fact nothing if not ceremonial magic.

This power is the Akasa - in another aspect, Kundalini - occult electricity, the alkahest of the alchemists in one sense, or the universal solvent, the same anima mundi on the higher plane as the astral light is on the lower. "At the moment of the sacrifice the priest becomes imbued with the spirit of Brahma, is, for the time being, Brahma himself". (Isis Unveiled).

(See also: Akasa , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Abathur (Gnostic) (from Hebrew 'ab father)

In the Nazarene or Bardesanian system, the father of the Demiurgus or architect of the visible universe. In the Codex Nazaraeus, Abathur opens a gate, walks to the dark water (chaos), and looks down into it. The darkness reflects his image, and a son is formed who becomes the Logos or Demiurge, Ptahil or Fetahil. After Ptahil finishes his work he reascends to his father.

Abathur, a mystery-figure, is sometimes called the Third Life, equivalent to the Third Logos because first of the third triad of "lives" in the Nazarene system, which correspond to the three Logoi. He is analogous to the Ancient of Days of the Qabbalah, the Hindu Narayana, and the Christian Holy Spirit, while his ideal counterpart is Abathur Rama (lofty Abathur). As weigher of souls after death, Abathur is equated with Thoth, lord of the scales in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

(See also: Abathur , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Sachchidananda saccidananda (Sanskrit) [from sat reality + chit pure consciousness + ananda bliss]

Abstract being, abstract consciousness, abstract bliss; the state of the cosmic spiritual hierarch, Brahman or the Second Logos, the Absolute of our cosmic hierarchy. Subba Row wrote that the Logos is described as sachchidananda because as sat it is the efflux of parabrahman, as chit it contains within itself the whole law of cosmic evolution, as ananda it is the abode of impersonal bliss and the highest happiness possible for a person who has become a jivanmukta -- a freed monad, when union with the cosmic Logos is attained.

(See also: Sachchidananda, saccidananda , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Kwan-shai-yin, Kuan-shi-yin (Chinese) Equivalent to the Sanskrit Avalokitesvara, both being the seventh kosmic principle. Mystically, the kosmic Logos or Word, and in common with all the logoi referred to as a kosmic Dragon of Wisdom; the first universal manus or kosmic dhyan-chohans.

Kwan-shai-yin is often confused with Kwan-yin, the Chinese goddess of compassion, the feminine Logos and counterpart of Kwan-shai-yin; but "Kwan-shai-yin -- or the universally manifested voice 'is active -- male; and must not be confounded with Kwan-yin, or Buddhi the Spiritual Soul (the sixth Pr.) and the vehicle of its "Lord." ' It is Kwan-yin that is the female principle or the manifested passive, manifesting itself 'to every creature in the universe, in order to deliver all men from the consequences of sin'. . . while Kwan-shai-yin, 'the Son identical with his Father' is the absolute activity, hence -- having no direct relation to objects of sense is -- Passivity" (ML 344).

Kwan-shai-yin, the Voice or Logos, is "the germ point of manifested activity; -- hence -- in the phraseology of the Christian Kabalists 'the Son of the Father and Mother,' and agreeably to ours -- 'the Self manifested in Self -- Yih-sin, the 'one form of existence,' the child of Dharmakaya (the universally diffused Essence), both male and female" (ML 346).

In man it is the atman when working through -- as it always does during imbodiment -- its veil buddhi, thus enabling the atman to send down and distribute the atmic rays throughout the other five principles of the human constitution.

(See also: Kwan-shai-yin, Kuan-shi-yin , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Buddhi

In Theosophy, the Second Cosmic Principle or Aspect. Humanity calls this principle Love, while the Hierarchy calls it "Pure Reason".

Normally, people confuse true Love (the Christian agape) with emotions that have their source in the Astral Plane, which (due to their origin) are subject to fluctuations, and are not truly universal .

True Love emanates from the Buddhic Plane, and begins to "flow through" after certain developments of the mind are present. At the same time, the state of being immersed in Buddhi (Love, or Pure Reason) will somehow reflect in the emotional ,or astral, vehicle of the spiritual aspirant (the source of all emotions), expressing itself as tranquility, peace, intimate joy and an equal disposition to every fellow humans and other forms of life.

Humanity is currently beginning to tune in and express this principle. The principle of Manas was developed in a previous solar system, while in this one Manas will perfected and the Buddhic principle will be developed to a high degree. This is the goal of the Solar Logos, and when the majority of all human (or similar) forms in this system has achieved an evolutionary stage analogous to that of the Fifth Initiation, the task of the Logos will be completed, and systemic pralaya will begin.

(See also: Buddhi , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Avyakta (Sanskrit) (from a not + vyakta manifested from vy-anj to anoint, adorn, cause to appear, manifest)

Unmanifested; applied to Vishnu and Siva, and in the Bhagavad-Gita to Krishna. Hence Avyakta is the unmanifest or the undifferentiated, as opposed to vyakta, the manifest or differentiated. In the Sankhya philosophy, it is mulaprikriti (root- or primordial nature), the veil of parabrahman, or parabrahman manifested in mulaprakriti.

Mulaprakriti is the unmanifested side of differentiated nature, and hence avyakta; but the term is equally applicable to the consciousness side of the universe, during those immensely long time periods when cosmic consciousness is sunken in its own essence and not manifesting. Similarly, the higher or divine-spiritual parts of cosmic consciousness may be said to be avyakta even during periods of cosmic manifestation. To the Sankhyas, avyakta is the one cosmic principle which is the root of all essential selfhood and which during cosmic manvantara is in its lower parts differentiated in and through the innumerable hierarchical organisms. It therefore subsists in every kind of upadhi and is the real spiritual entity which a person has to reach in his progress towards spirit.

In the Vedantic system of Krishna, however, avyakta is also parabrahman, that which will not perish even at the time of cosmic pralaya, because parabrahman is the one essence, not only of the whole cosmos, but even of mulaprakriti itself, the foundation of the manifested cosmos. "In case you follow the Sankhyan doctrine, you have to rise from Upadhi to Upadhi in gradual succession, and when you try to rise from the last Upadhi to their Avyaktam, there is unfortunately no connection that is likely to enable your consciousness to bridge the interval. If the Sankhyan system of philosophy is the true one, your aim will be to trace Upadhi to its source, but not consciousness to its source.

The consciousness manifested in every Upadhi is traceable to the Logos and not to the Avyaktam of the Sankhyas. It is very much easier for a man to follow his own consciousness farther and farther into the depths of his inmost nature, and ultimately reach its source -- the Logos -- than to try to follow Upadhi to its source in this Mulaprakriti, this Avyaktam. Moreover, supposing you do succeed in reaching this Avyaktam, you can never fix your thoughts in it or preserve your individuality in it; for, it is incapable of retaining any of these permanently" (Notes on BG 98). Nevertheless the Sankhya philosophy is as true as is the Vedanta, and reaches the same ultimates of philosophic thought and understanding, although along differing systemic lines.

In the Law of Manu avyakta is used as an equivalent to paramatman (universal spirit).

(See also: Avyakta , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Vajrasattva (Sanskrit) [from vajra diamond + sattva essence, reality]

Diamond-heart, diamond-essence; a title given to mahatmas of the highest grade, or to bodhisattvas whose whole personality as a living essence is merged in their compound sixth and seventh principles (atman-buddhi). Vajra here expresses the spiritual adamantine quality of the inner natures of these glorious beings. Vajrasattva is a manifestation of the heart of vajradhara, the First Logos or adi-buddha; hence vajrasattva is "the second logos of creation, from whom emanate the seven (in the exoteric blind the five) Dhyani Buddhas, called the Anupadaka, 'the parentless,' " (SD 1:571). Dorjesempa is the Tibetan equivalent.

Vajrasattva is often used for celestial beings, entities belonging to the hierarchy of light or compassion. The vajrasattva quality is likewise one which can be possessed in less degree by any human being, depending upon his degree of advancement.

(See also: Vajrasattva , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Mulaprakriti mulaprakrti (Sanskrit) [from mula root + prakriti nature]

Root-nature; undifferentiated cosmic substance in its highest form, the abstract substance or essence of what later through various differentiations become the prakritis, the various forms of matter, concrete or sublimate. It is precosmic root-substance, the root-principle of the world stuff and all in the world; that aspect of parabrahman or space which underlies all the ethereally or materially objective planes or space of universal nature.

It is again unmanifested primordial stuff or substance, divine-spiritual, undifferentiated, and therefore indestructible, eternal, parentless, and abstractly the Mother -- space itself, and the vehicle, lining, or alter ego of parabrahman. It is "the noumenon of undifferentiated Cosmic Matter. It is not matter as we know it, but the spiritual essence of matter, and is co-eternal and even one with Space in its abstract sense. Root-nature is also the source of the subtile invisible properties in visible matter. It is the Soul, so to say, of the one infinite Spirit. The Hindus call it Mulaprakriti, and say that it is the primordial substance, which is the basis of the Upadhi or vehicle of every phenomenon, whether physical, mental or psychic. It is the source from which Akasa radiates" (SD 1:35).

Mulaprakriti along with parabrahman are the two aspects of the one universal principle which is unconditioned to any human conception, and similarly eternal. Parabrahman is unconditioned and undifferentiated reality, and mulaprakriti is its veil or inseparable vehicle. To the First Logos or cosmic ego emerging in parabrahman, "once this ego starts into existence as a conscious being having objective consciousness of its own, we shall have to see what the result of this objective consciousness will be with reference to the one absolute and unconditioned existence from which its starts into manifested existence.

From its objective standpoint, Parabrahmam appears to it as Mulaprakriti. . . . Parabrahmam by itself cannot be seen as it is. It is seen by the Logos with a veil thrown over it, and that veil is the mighty expanse of cosmic matter" (N on BG 20-1). Mulaprakriti stands in the same relation to parabrahman as the Qabbalistic Life of Space does to 'Eyn Soph; similarly on lower planes, it is what pradhana is to Brahman, or what prakriti is to Brahma.

(See also: Mulaprakriti, mulaprakrti , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)