Lessons in Theosophy


Lesson 14, Steps along
our Spiritual Path


      It is now time to look at all the steps in evolution as taught in Theososphy. The information is presented in three charts,
  • Chart 1. From The Absolute down to Buddha
  • Chart 2. From Central Sun down to Guardian-Spirits of Peoples and Nations
  • Chart 3. From Elemental up to Tenth Intiation
It is suggested that these charts be read from the bottom to the top.

      There are boxes containing the numbers 1, 2, 3, etc., along the left side of the second chart. These are the numbers coresponding to the Intiations they represent. The graph lists ten Initiations, and states that these ten Initiations are available to Humanity. Look at Intiations one through five. They are labeled Sotapanna, Sadagami, Anagami, Arhat, and Adept. All of these refer to incarnations in human bodies.

      All of humanity is presently climbing these steps along the Path. The highest person in our present humanity has risen to the Eighth Initiation (Gautama as Buddha).

      Both charts were inspired by the information in the book, The Buddhism of H.P.Blavatsky by H.J.Spierenburg.

      You can also take a look at a chart of the Initiations, the chart of the Hierarchy called the Great White Brotherhood.

Chart 1. From The Absolute to Buddha

(Each blue-colored word is clickable.)


   
  an unknown number of intermediate levels  
  which give rise to  




Explanations of the Terms in Chart 1


(Click on the blue-colored links.)

-- The Absolute --
      [The Absolute is] “ ... the ONE LIFE, eternal, invisible, yet Omnipresent, without beginning or end, yet periodical in its regular manifestations, between which periods reigns the dark mystery of non-Being; unconscious, yet absolute Consciousness; unrealisable, yet the one self-existing reality; truly, ‘a chaos to the sense, a Kosmos to the reason.’ ” (SD vol 1 p 2)

-- Five Aspects of the Absolute --

      It has been said the Absolute is unknowable, and has no attributes that we can understand. However, we are told that the Absolute has five attributes: Space, Duration (Time), The Great Breath (Motion), Primordial Matter (Mulaprakriti), and Divine Thought.

(1) Space
      “Space is called in the esoteric symbolism ‘the Seven-Skinned Eternal Mother-Father.’ It is composed from its undifferentiated to its differentiated surface of seven layers. ‘What is that which was, is, and will be, whether there is a Universe or not; whether there be gods or none?’ asks the esoteric Senzar Catechism. And the answer made is — SPACE.” (SD vol 1 p 9)
(2) Duration (Time)

      Time does not exist within a Pralaya, but there is something called Duration.
      “Kronos stands for endless (hence immovable) Duration, without beginning, without an end, beyond divided Time and beyond Space.” (SD vol 1 p 418)
The phrase “limitless Time” is used.
      “The Circle was with every nation the symbol of the Unknown — ‘Boundless Space,’ the abstract garb of an ever present abstraction — the Incognisable Deity. It represents limitless Time in Eternity.” (SD vol 1 p 113)
Time does not exist during a Pralaya. However, a periodic measurement called “Seven Eternities” passes and ends.
      “The Eternal Parent (Space) wrapped in Her ever invisible robes had slumbered once again for seven eternities.” (Stanza i-1-1)
(3) Great Breath (Motion)

      The Great Breath is the name of Eternal Motion, a Motion that continues even during a Pralaya.
      [The Absolute's] “...one absolute attribute, which is ITSELF, eternal, ceaseless Motion, is called in esoteric parlance the ‘Great Breath,’ which is the perpetual motion of the universe, in the sense of limitless, ever-present SPACE.” (SD vol 1 p 2)
(4) Primordial Matter (Mulaprakriti)

      Undifferentiated Mulaprakriti (Father-Mother) “exists” even during a Pralaya.
      “...precosmic root-substance (Mulaprakriti) is that aspect of the Absolute which underlies all the objective planes of Nature.” (SD vol 1 p 15)
(5) Divine Thought

      Divine Thought is a term used often in The Secret Doctrine.
      “...the whole Kosmos has sprung from the DIVINE THOUGHT. This thought impregnates matter, which is co-eternal with the ONE REALITY....” (SD vol 1 p 340)

“...during the prologue, so to say, of the drama of Creation, or the beginning of cosmic evolution, the Universe or the "Son" lies still concealed "in the Divine Thought," which had not yet penetrated "into the Divine Bosom." ” (SD vol 1 p 61)

“The solitary ray dropping into the mother deep may be taken as meaning Divine Thought or Intelligence, impregnating chaos.” (SD vol 1 p 65)
Divine Thought is never defined, but it is an aspect of the Absolute.
      “Divine thought cannot be defined, or its meaning explained, except by the numberless manifestations of Cosmic Substance in which the former is sensed spiritually by those who can do so.” (SD vol 1 p 327)
Divine Thought is not similar to conscious, human-like thought.
      “The Absolute cannot be said to have a consciousness, or, at any rate, a consciousness such as we have here. It has neither consciousness, nor desire, nor wish, nor thought, because it is absolute thought, absolute desire, absolute consciousness, absolute ‘all.’ ” (SD vol 1 p 15)
Divine Thought is eternal, while Divine Ideation is periodical.
      “In the ABSOLUTE or Divine Thought everything exists and there has been no time when it did not so exist; but Divine Ideation is limited by the Universal Manvantaras.” (Transactions, vol 2 pp. 10-11)
Here are some equivalent names for Divine Thought.

• Absolute Consciousness
      “It is absolute consciousness eternally, which consciousness becomes relative consciousness periodically, at every "Manvantaric dawn." ” (Transactions, vol 2 p 18)
• Absolute Mind
      “A distinction had to be made between the Absolute Mind, which is ever present, and its reflection and manifestation in the Ah-hi, who, being on the highest plane, reflect the universal mind collectively at the first flutter of Manvantara.” (Transactions, vol 1 p 17)
• Absolute Thought
      “In the ABSOLUTE or Divine Thought everything exists and there has been no time when it did not so exist; but Divine Ideation is limited by the Universal Manvantaras.” (Transactions, vol 2 p 10)
• Divine Mind
      “The Logos is the mirror reflecting DIVINE MIND, and the Universe is the mirror of the Logos, though the latter is the esse of that Universe.” (SD vol 2 p 25)

      “As the Logos reflects the Universe in the Divine Mind, and the manifested Universe reflects itself in each of its Monads, as Leibnitz put it, repeating an Eastern teaching, so the MONAD has, during the cycle of its incarnations, to reflect in itself every root-form of each kingdom.” (SD vol 2 p 186)
• Mind
      “Here it is evident that "Mind" (the primeval universal Divine Thought) is neither the Unknown unmanifested One, since it abounds in both sexes (is male and female), nor yet the Christian Father....” (SD vol 2 p 237)
• Pre-cosmic Ideation
      “...pre-Cosmic Ideation is the root of all individual consciousness....” (SD vol 1 p 15)
      See also Cosmic Ideation.

• Thought Divine
      “...the ‘Blazing Dragon of Wisdom,’ ... is that which the Greek philosophers called the Logos, the Verbum of the Thought Divine....” SD vol 1 p 71)
• Universal Mind
      “Universal Mind was not, for there were no Ah-hi (Celestial Beings) to contain (hence to manifest) it.” (Stanza i-1-3)

      “Universal or Absolute Mind always is during Pralaya as well as Manvantara; it is immutable.” (Transactions, vol 2 p 8)

“Simultaneously with the evolution of the Universal Mind, the concealed Wisdom of Adi-Buddha — the One Supreme and eternal — manifests itself as Avalokiteshwara (or manifested Iswara), which is the Osiris of the Egyptians, the Ahura-Mazda of the Zoroastrians, the Heavenly Man of the Hermetic philosopher, the Logos of the Platonists, and the Atman of the Vedantins. By the action of the manifested Wisdom, or Mahat, represented by these innumerable centres of spiritual Energy in the Kosmos, the reflection of the Universal Mind, which is Cosmic Ideation and the intellectual Force accompanying such ideation, becomes objectively the Fohat of the Buddhist esoteric philosopher. Fohat, running along the seven principles of AKASA, acts upon manifested substance or the One Element, as declared above, and by differentiating it into various centres of Energy, sets in motion the law of Cosmic Evolution, which, in obedience to the Ideation of the Universal Mind, brings into existence all the various states of being in the manifested Solar System.” SD vol 1 p 110)
      It is important to note that Prem and Ashish in their book, Man the Measure of All Things, use the term Universal Mind to refer to Mahat (The Son, The Third Logos). It is this writer's contention that Universal Mind more correctly refers to an aspect of the Absolute, rather than Mahat (The Son), as Prem and Ashish suggest.


-- A Manvantara Begins. --
      “At the commencement of a great Manvantara, Parabrahm manifests as Mulaprakriti and then as the Logos.” (SD vol 2 p 24)
      The first moment of pre-cosmic-matter differentiation is called the Second Creation.
      “ ‘The second Creation,’ ‘Bhuta,’ was of the rudimental principles (Tanmatras), thence termed the elemental creation (Bhuta-sarga). It is the period of the first breath of the differentiation of the pre-Cosmic Elements or matter. Bhutadi means literally ‘the origin of the Elements,’ and precedes Bhuta-sarga — the ‘creation’ or differentiation of those Elements in primordial ‘Akasa’ (Chaos or Vacuity).” (SD vol 1 p 451)
Cosmic Ideation is re-awakened.
      “Manvantaric impulse commences with the re-awakening of Cosmic Ideation (the ‘Universal Mind’) ....” (SD vol 1 p 328)
Cosmic Ideation is the Logos.
      “...the SPIRIT OF THE UNIVERSE, or Cosmic Ideation, [is] called by some the LOGOS.” (SD vol 2 p 24)
Cosmic Ideation is Divine Ideation.
      “In the ABSOLUTE or Divine Thought everything exists and there has been no time when it did not so exist; but Divine Ideation is limited by the Universal Manvantaras.” (Transactions, vol 2 pp. 10-11)

-- Father --


      Father, also called Spirit or Purusha, is one of the two differentiations that emerge from the Absolute at the beginning of a Manvantara.
      “Darkness alone filled the boundless all, for Father, Mother and Son were once more one, and the Son had not awakened yet for the new Wheel, and his pilgrimage thereon..” (Stanza i-1-5)
Father is the First Logos.
      “...the Father or the First Logos....” (Theosophical Seal)
Click here for more information on Father.


-- Mother --


      Mother, also called Mulaprakriti or pre-cosmic pre-matter, is one of the two differentiations that emerge from the Absolute at the beginning of a Manvantara.
      “The first emanation [that appears from the Absolute at the beginning of a Manvantara] becomes the immaculate Mother from whom proceed all the gods, or the anthropomorphized creative forces.” (Transactions, vol 1 p 4)
Mother is the Second Logos.
      “...when the Second Logos emanates, it is Father-Mother potentially, but when the Third or manifested Logos appears, it becomes the Virgin-Mother.” (Transactions, vol 2 p 9)
Click here for more information on Mother.


-- Son --


      The Son, also called Mahat, Ishvara, and the Universe, is the fully-manifested Deity of the universe. Another way of lookig at it is, the Son IS the universe.
      “...the Son of the unmanifested FATHER.” (SD vol 2 p 311)
The Son is the Third Logos.
      “...the three Logoi [are] the unmanifested "Father," the semi-manifested "Mother" and the Universe [The Son], which is the third Logos of our philosophy or Brahmâ....” (Transactions, vol 1 p 31)

-- Brahmâ --


Brahmâ is Father-Mother-Son.
      “In esoteric parlance, Brahmâ is Father-Mother-Son, or Spirit, Soul and Body at once; each personage being symbolical of an attribute, and each attribute or quality being a graduated efflux of Divine Breath in its cyclic differentiation, involutionary and evolutionary. In the cosmicophysical sense, it is the Universe, the planetary chain and the earth; in the purely spiritual, the Unknown Deity, Planetary Spirit, and Man — the Son of the two, the creature of Spirit and Matter, and a manifestation of them in his periodical appearances on Earth during the ‘wheels,’ or the Manvantaras.” (SD vol 1 p 42)
      Please note Brahmâ sometimes refers only to the Son, and at other times it refers to Father-Mother-Son. Both ideas are correct, as both Son and Father-Mother-Son are different aspects of the same Logos.


-- Cosmic (Universe) Chohan --


The Cosmic (spelled with a "C") Chohan created the universe.
      ““The ‘Builders,’ the ‘Sons of Manvantaric Dawn,’ are the real creators of the Universe....” (SD vol 1 p 53)

-- Kosmic (Solar System) Chohan or Buddhas of Contemplation --


      The Kosmic (spelled with a "K") Chohan created our Solar System. They constructed our kosmic solar system.
      “As it is the Lipika who project into objectivity from the passive Universal Mind the ideal plan of the universe, upon which the "Builders" reconstruct the Kosmos after every Pralaya, it is they who stand parallel to the Seven Angels of the Presence.” (SD vol 1 p 53)

      “They are the ‘Buddhas of Contemplation,’ and are all Anupadaka (parentless), i.e., self-born of divine essence.” (SD vol 1 p 109)

-- Kosmic Bodhisattvas --


The Kosmic Chohan are assisted by Kosmic Bodhisttvas.
      “... every Dhyani-Buddha [Kosmic Chohan] has the faculty of creating from himself, an equally celestial son — a Dhyani-Bodhisattva — who, after the decease of the Manushi (human) Buddha, has to carry out the work of the latter....” (SD vol 1 p 109)

-- Manushi (Terrestrial, or Born-on-Earth) Buddhas --


      Manushi Buddhas are emanations of higher Beings.
      “The divine, purely Adi-Buddhic monad manifests as the universal Buddhi (the Maha-buddhi or Mahat in Hindu philosophies) the spiritual, omniscient and omnipotent root of divine intelligence, the highest anima mundi or the Logos. This descends ‘like a flame spreading from the eternal Fire, immoveable, without increase or decrease, ever the same to the end’ of the cycle of existence, and becomes universal life on the Mundane Plane. From this Plane of conscious Life shoot out, like seven fiery tongues, the Sons of Light (the logoi of Life); then the Dhyani-Buddhas of contemplation: the concrete forms of their formless Fathers — the Seven Sons of Light, still themselves, to whom may be applied the Brahmanical mystic phrase: ‘Thou art “THAT” — Brahm.’ It is from these Dhyani-Buddhas that emanate their chhayas (Shadows) the Bodhisattvas of the celestial realms, the prototypes of the super-terrestrial Bodhisattvas, and of the terrestrial Buddhas, and finally of men.” (SD vol 1 p 572)
      Four of the seven Earthly Buddhas have appeared so far. Gautama is the most-recent (fourth) Buddha.
      “...the Dhyanis watch successively over one of the Rounds and the great Root-races of our planetary chain. They are, moreover, said to send their Bodhisatvas, the human correspondents of the Dhyani-Buddhas (of whom vide infra) during every Round and Race. Out of the Seven Truths and Revelations, or rather revealed secrets, four only have been handed to us, as we are still in the Fourth Round, and the world also has only had four Buddhas, so far.” (SD vol 1 p 42)


About Hierarchies in our Universe


Our universe is one long line of seemingly unending Hierarchies.
      “The whole Kosmos is guided, controlled, and animated by almost endless series of Hierarchies of sentient Beings, each having a mission to perform, and who — whether we give to them one name or another, and call them Dhyan-Chohans or Angels — are ‘messengers’ in the sense only that they are the agents of Karmic and Cosmic Laws.... Having sprung into being under the quickening influence of the uncreated beam, the reflection of the great Central Sun that radiates on the shores of the river of Life, it is the inner principle in them which belongs to the waters of immortality....” (SD vol 2 pp. 275-276)
      Members of Hierarchies are dynamic, in that members of each Hierarchy are constantly preparing to ‘move up the ladder’ to a position in a higher Hierarchy.
      “...as the doctrine teaches, there are no such privileged beings in the universe, whether in our or in other systems, in the outer or the inner worlds, as the angels of the Western Religion and the Judean. A Dhyan Chohan has to become one; he cannot be born or appear suddenly on the plane of life as a full-blown angel. The Celestial Hierarchy of the present Manvantara will find itself transferred in the next cycle of life into higher, superior worlds, and will make room for a new hierarchy, composed of the elect ones of our mankind. Being is an endless cycle within the one absolute eternity, wherein move numberless inner cycles finite and conditioned.” (SD vol I p. 221)

      “The Mind-born Sons, the Rishis, the Builders, etc., were all men — of whatever forms and shapes — in other worlds and the preceding Manvantaras.” (SD vol I p. 107)

      “...the Watchers descended on Earth and reigned over men — ‘who are themselves.’ The reigning kings had finished their cycle on Earth and other worlds, in the preceding Rounds. In the future manvantaras they will have risen to higher systems than our planetary world; and it is the Elect of our Humanity, the Pioneers on the hard and difficult path of Progress, who will take the places of their predecessors. The next great Manvantara will witness the men of our own life-cycle becoming the instructors and guides of a mankind whose Monads may now yet be imprisoned — semi-conscious — in the most intellectual of the animal kingdom, while their lower principles will be animating, perhaps, the highest specimens of the Vegetable world.” (SD vol I p. 267)
      Let's take a look at a few of the Hierarchies mentioned in The Secret Doctrine. (No doubt countless other Hierarchies in the universe remain unmentioned.)



Chart 2. From The Central Sun to Guardian-Spirits of Peoples and Nations

(Each blue-colored word is clickable.)


      As seen in the chart above, Each Hierarchy emanates from a single member of the Hierarchy above it, and each member of that Hierarchy puts down its own lower Hierarchy.



Explanations of the Terms in Chart 2


(Click on the blue-colored links.)


-- Central Sun of our Universe --


      The Central Sun of our Universe is mentioned in The Secret Doctrine.
      “The soul animating this purely spiritual universe is the central sun, the highest deity itself.” (SD vol 1 p 340)

      “It was the highest Deity itself which, according to Plato, built the Universe in the geometrical form of the Dodecahedron; and its ‘first begotten’ was born of Chaos and Primordial Light (the Central Sun). This ‘First-Born,’ however, was only the aggregate of the Host of the ‘Builders,’ the first constructive Forces, who are called in ancient Cosmogonies the Ancients (born of the Deep, or Chaos) and the ‘First Point.’ He is the Tetragrammaton, so-called, at the head of the Seven lower Sephiroth.” (SD vol 1 p 344)

      “... the Universe evolving from the central Sun, the POINT, the ever-concealed germ.” (SD vol 1 p 379)

      “... it is the sun, and all the suns that are from [Ether], which emanate at the Manvantaric dawn from the Central Sun.” (SD vol 1 p 527)

      “Outside the boundaries of the solar system, it is other Suns, and especially the mysterious ‘central Sun’ (the ‘Abode of the invisible deity’ as some reverend gentlemen have called it) that determines the motion of bodies and their direction.” (SD vol 1 p 673)

      [In the Stanzas of Dzyan,] “ ‘His breath gave life to the seven,’ refers as much to the sun, who gives life to the Planets, as to the ‘High One,’ the Spiritual Sun, who gives life to the whole Kosmos.” (SD vol 2 p 23)

      “The reader has to bear in mind that the Stanzas given treat only of the Cosmogony of our own planetary System and what is visible around it, after a Solar Pralaya. The secret teachings with regard to the Evolution of the Universal Kosmos cannot be given, since they could not be understood by the highest minds in this age, and there seem to be very few Initiates, even among the greatest, who are allowed to speculate upon this subject. Moreover the Teachers say openly that not even the highest Dhyani-Chohans have ever penetrated the mysteries beyond those boundaries that separate the milliards of Solar systems from the ‘Central Sun,’ as it is called.” (SD vol 1 p 13)

-- Guardian-Spirit of the Milky Way --


      Madame Blavatsky was reticent to mention anything about our Milky Way's Guardian Spirit, or our Galaxy-level Logos. She felt that The Secret Doctrine should only refer to the creation of our Chain, Round, and Planet (Earth). Here is one of the few references she made to the Milky Way's Logos.
      “Science ... cannot deny the presence in Sidereal Space of a central body in the milky way, a point unseen and mysterious, the ever-hidden center of attraction of our Sun and system....” (SD vol II p. 240)

-- Our Sun --


      The star which is our Sun is our Solar Logos.
      “The Sun is the giver of life to the whole planetary system....” (SD vol 1 p 386)

      “... for [our Sun] is only the reflection and material shadow of the Central Sun of truth, which illuminates the intellectual (invisible) world of Spirit and which itself is but a gleam borrowed from the ABSOLUTE.” (quoted in SD vol 1 p 255)

      “It is the sun who preserves and nourishes all creatures; and even as the Ideal World which environs the sensible world fills this last with the plenitude and universal variety of forms, so also the Sun, enfolding all in his light, accomplishes everywhere the birth and development of creatures.” (quoted in SD vol 1 p 294)

      “...the true Occultist believes in "Lords of Light;" that he believes in a Sun, which, far from being simply "a lamp of day" moving in accordance with physical law, and far from being merely one of those Suns, which according to Richter — ". . . . are Sun-flowers of a higher light" — is, like milliards of other Suns, the dwelling or the vehicle of a god, and a host of gods.” (SD vol 1 p 479)

      “...the Sun [is] the great Life-Giver of the physical world, as the hidden Concealed Spiritual Sun is the Light- and Life-Giver of the Spiritual and Psychic Realms.” (SD vol 1 p 481)

      “The Sun is the heart of the Solar World (System) and its brain is hidden behind the (visible) Sun. From thence, sensation is radiated into every nerve-centre of the great body, and the waves of the life-essence flow into each artery and vein. . . . The planets are its limbs and pulses....” (quoted in SD vol 1 p 541)

      “... the Sun is ... a world, a glowing sphere, the real Sun being hidden behind, ... the visible Sun only a window cut into the real Solar palace and presence, which reflects, however, faithfully the interior work.” (SD vol 1 p 541)

      “In ancient Symbolism it was always the SUN (though the Spiritual, not the visible, Sun was meant), that was supposed to send forth the chief Saviours and Avatars. Hence the connecting link between the Buddhas, the Avatars, and so many other incarnations of the highest....” (quoted in SD vol I p. 638)
Here is a quote with a mantra to recite to the Guardian-Spirit of the Sun.
      “A verse from the Rig-Veda (iii, 62, 10) has become to have the significance of a mantra (and it is one in very truth): it is known as the Gayayatril. (This Sanskrit word is derived from the verb root gai, to sing, or praise in song.) It is also called the Satvitri (from the verb root su, meajning to vivify) meaning a verse or prayer addressed to the Sun.
‘Om bhur bhuvah svah
tat savitur varenyam
bhargo devasya dhimahi
dhiyo yo nah prachodayat’
“Instead of a literal translation, the following paraphrase is submitted:
‘Om! O hierarch of the Earth.
Great Spirit of the Earth, Hail!
Thou radiant orb of dazzling Solar Spendor!
Enfill our minds with thy brillance!
So that we may perceive our unity with Thee and with all that is.
Let us proceed on our pathway — even to thy very portals,
Illuminated and enveloped in thy spendor!’ ”
(The Divine Plan, by Geoffrey Barborka, p. xxii)

-- Our Manvantara --


      Our present Manvantara will last 4.3 billion years

      Other planets in our solar system belong to other Manvantara (Chain) Systems.
      “..., both (Mars and Mercury) are septenary chains, as independent of the Earth's sidereal lords and superiors as you are independent of the 'principles' of Daumling (Tom Thumb)....” (SD vol 1 p 165)



-- Our Round --


The Guardian-Spirit of a Round is called a Manu.
      “...at the beginning of every Round ... there are root-Manus ... the first Manu produced six other Manus (seven primary Manus in all), and these produced in their turn each seven other Manus.... Just as each planetary Round commences with the appearance of a 'Root Manu' (Dhyan Chohan) and closes with a 'Seed-Manu,' so a Root and a Seed Manu appear respectively at the beginning and the termination of the human period on any particular planet....

“1st Round
1st ... Manu on Planet A — Swayambhuva.

2nd Round
2nd ... M. on Planet A — Uttama

3rd Round
3rd ... M. ” A — Raivata

4th Round
4th ... M. ” A — Vaivasvata (our progenitor)

5th Round
5th ... M. ” A — Daksha Savarna

6th Round
6th ... M. ” A — Dharma Savarna

7th Round
7th ... M. ” A — Rouchya” (SD vol II p. 308)

      “...the Dhyanis watch successively over one of the Rounds and the great Root-races of our planetary chain. They are, moreover, said to send their Bodhisatvas, the human correspondents of the Dhyani-Buddhas (of whom vide infra) during every Round and Race. Out of the Seven Truths and Revelations, or rather revealed secrets, four only have been handed to us, as we are still in the Fourth Round, and the world also has only had four Buddhas, so far.” (SD vol I p. 42)
More information was omitted.
      “Among the eleven Stanzas omitted there is one which gives a full description of the formation of the planetary chains one after another, after the first Cosmic and Atomic differentiation had commenced....” (SD vol 1 p 152)

-- Earth --


      The Earth is guided by a Guardian-Spirit.
      “...the Spirit-Guardian of our globe, which is the fourth in the chain, is subordinate to the chief Spirit (or God) of the Seven Planetary Genii or Spirits.” (SD vol 2 p 22)

-- Our Root-Races --
      “These genealogies embrace a period of three and a half Rounds; they speak of pre-human periods, and explain the descent into generation of every Manu — the first manifested sparks of the ONE Unity — and show, furthermore, each of these human sparks dividing into, and multiplying by, first, the Pitars, the human ancestors, then by human Races.” (SD vol 2 p 322)
      The subject of Root-races is covered in detail in “Root-Races” in Lesson 19.


-- Our National Groups --


      The Hierarchy extends down to the level of nations and peoples. Here is one example, Jehovah as the Guardian-Spirit of the Jewish people. (In Theosophy, Jehovah is not seen as Almighty God, but as a minor diety.)
      “Each people and nation ... has its direct Watcher, Guardian and Father in Heaven — a Planetary Spirit. We are willing to leave [the Jewish] national God, Jehovah, to the descendants of Israel ... for, indeed, the monads of the people chosen by him are his own, and the Bible has never made a secret of it. Only the text of the English (Protestant) Bible is, in disagreement, as usual, with those of the Septuagint and the Vulgate. Thus, while in the former one reads (in Deuter. xxxii., 8 and 9) ‘When the MOST HIGH (not Jehovah) divided to the nations their inheritance . . . he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel,’ in the Septuagint the text reads ‘according to the number of the Angels’ (Planet-Angels), which is more concordant with truth and fact. Moreover, all the texts agree that ‘the Lord’s (Jehovah) portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance’ (Deut. xxxii. 9); and this settles the question. The ‘Lord’ Jehovah took for his portion Israel — what have other nations to do with that particular national Deity? Let then, the ‘angel Gabriel’ watch over Iran and ‘Mikael-Jehovah’ over the Hebrews.” (SD vol 1 p 576)
      Other examples can be thought of that fit this Theosophical concept, for example, St. Patrick the Patron Saint of Ireland.

      One discrepancy may be observed in the chart above. In that chart, the Jewish People may be misconstrued as being part of the Fourth Race. They are not, they are part of the Fifth Race.

Chart 3. From Elemental to Tenth Intiation (from bottom to top of the chart)



      The evolution of consciousness through the levels of Minerals, Plants, and Animals is described in Lesson 17 and the evolution of group-souls through the Elemental, Mineral, Plant, and Animal levels is described in Lesson Nine.



Explanations of the Terms in Chart 3



-- Silent Watcher (Tenth Initiation) --


      [The Silent Watcher] “... remains on guard for the whole period of a Round, and it is only when the life-wave has again occupied our planet and is again ready to leave it that He abandons His ... task, and hands it over to His Successor.” (Charles Leadbeater, The Masters and The Path, paragraph 1457 online or page 300 hardcopy)


-- Lord of the World (Ninth Initiation) --


      “The Head of the Hierarchy is that lofty Being, the Lord of the World, who wills and orders all events on this globe for men and for angels. Within His consciousness is recorded everything which happens on all the seven planes of our globe. Since His aura pervades the entire Earth, He is aware of all that happens within that aura, and no act is so secret but He knows, no injustice so small but He records it....

      “Without His fiat, none can be admitted into the Great White Brotherhood, and it is His Star which flashes in assent over the head of the Adept Initiator, as a sign that He accepts the initiate into His Brotherhood.” (C. Jinarajadasa, The First Principles of Theosophy, page 328 online or hardcopy)


-- Pratyeka Buddha (Eighth Initiation) --


      The beings known as “Pratyeka Buddhas,” beings who have taken the Eighth Initiation, have been misunderstood. They have sometime been called the “Selfish Buddhas.”

      The Eighth Initiation contains two kinds of beings; Our world’s Budda, the World Teacher. Our last world's Buddha was Gautama. The other type of Buddha is called a Pratyeka Buddha. Their role has been misunderstood.
      “The Pachcheka [Pratyeka] Buddhas, who stand next above the Manu, have been strangely misunderstood by some writers, who have described Them as selfish men who refused to teach what They had learnt, and passed away into Nirvana. It is true that these Buddhas do not teach, for They have [other work] to do, and true also that a time comes when They will leave the world, but only to carry on Their glorious work elsewhere.” (Charles Leadbeater, The Masters and The Path, paragraph 1455 online or page 300 hardcopy)
      They are leaders, not teachers. Their lack of teaching has mistakenly given them the label “selfish”.


-- Buddha or "World Teacher" (Eighth Initiation) --


      “Gautama Buddha has risen to the eighth Intiation, which is the highest level that any member of our human race has risen to. There are beings [e.g., Pratyeka Buddhas] at higher levels in this Pantheon, but they are not from our human race.” (C. Jinarajadasa, The First Principles of Theosophy, pages 326-328 online or hardcopy)

-- The Relationship of Buddhas to Dhyani-Bodhisattvas --


The names of The Seven Dhyani-Bodhisattvas are listed as
  1. Vairocana
    Vairocana, the Buddha of Earth's first root-race, is the featured Buddha at a temple in Nara, Japan.

    Vairocana at Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan.
  2. Aksobhya
  3. Ratna
  4. Amitabha
    Amitabha, known in Japan as Amida Buddha, is the center of a religion known as Pureland in China, Japan, and elsewhere. Millions of people around the world chant to Amida Buddha everyday.

    An example of a Pureland Buddhist sect is shown here, the Nishi Honganji sect, which is the biggest Buddhist sect in Japan.

    Nishi Honganji Religon of Japan

    Hsi Lai Temple in Los Angeles, California is a Ch'an (Zen) temple that propagates Pureland teachings. It is the largest Buddhist temple building in America.

    Hsi Lai Temple, Los Angeles, California
  5. Amoghasiddi
  6. ???
  7. ???
The Seven Buddhas of Earth
  1. Krakucchanda
  2. Kanakamuni
  3. Kashapa
  4. Gautama
    Gautama was the Buddha for the fourth root-race. Maitreya will replace him as Buddha for the fifth root-race. (BL p. 243)
  5. Maitreya
    Maitreya's present title, Bodhisattva, indicates he is to be the next Buddha. (C W XIV pp. 390-391)
  6. ???
    (C.W.Leadbeater claims in his book Masters and the Path that the next Bodhisattva after Maitreya will be Kuthumi, one of the two Masters who “started” the Theosophical Society, but that has not been verified by other sources.)
  7. Dharmaprabhasa


“Manushi Buddha” = the manifestation of a Buddha in a human body (SD vol 1 p 571)

      At the death of a Manushi (Earthly) Buddha, that Buddha merges into Nirvana. The Bodhisattva remains on Earth, continuing the work, ready to become the future Manushi-Buddha. (C W XIV p. 390)


-- Manu, Bodhisattva, or Maha-Chohan (Seventh Initiation) --


      Our world has a total of seven Manus, one Manu for each root-race [one of the seven races of our world, five of which have appeared, two of which have yet to appear]. Each Manu is the Leader of their race Master Morya (mentioned above) will be the Manu of the (yet to appear) sixth race.
      “Master Morya [is] the lieutenant and successor of the Lord Vaivasvata Manu, and [will be] the future Manu of the sixth root race.” (Charles Leadbeater, The Masters and The Path, paragraph 82 online or pages 28-29 hardcopy)
      Each race also has its own Bodhisattva. Gautama, the well-known Buddha of history, was the Bodhisattva of the fourth (oriental) race. Maitreya, another figure well-known in present-day Buddhism, is the Bodhisattva of the fifth (caucasian) race.
      “The Lord Maitreya, whose name means kindliness or compassion, took up the office of Bodhisattva when the Lord Gautama laid it down....” (Charles Leadbeater, The Masters and The Path, paragraph 82 online or pages 28-29 hardcopy)
      It is important to visualize the line of succession from Chohan to Bodhisattva to Buddha. 2,500 years ago, Gautama was “promoted” from Bodhisattva to Buddha (took the Eighth Initiation). Maitreya took Gautama’s place as the world’s Bodhisattva. Many years from now, Maitreya will also be “promoted” to Buddha.

      The same path awaits Master Kuthumi, one of the two originators of Theosophy. Master Kuthumi, now a Chohan, is next in line to become a Bodhisattva, then our world’s Buddha, after Maitreya.
      “The Master Kuthumi ... many centuries hence ... will succeed [Maitreya] in His high Office, and will assume the sceptre of the World-Teacher, and become the Bodhisattva of the sixth root race.” (Charles Leadbeater, The Masters and The Path, paragraph 92 online or page 32 hardcopy)



-- Chohan (Sixth Initiation) --


      Chohans are beings that carry on work of the Greater Ones who are the directing Heads of the Hierarchy. The Chohans are very active in guiding the spiritual development of all humanity. Master Morya and Master Kuthumi, the originators of Theosophy, are Chohans.

To avoid confusion, a distinction needs to be made.
      “The term [Chohan] [also appears] in the name Dhyan Chohan, which occurs in The Secret Doctrine and elsewhere, and then it refers to Beings of every high station, altogether outside the Occult Hierarchy of our planet.” (Charles Leadbeater, The Masters and The Path, paragraph 1040 online or page 228 hardcopy)
      Dhyan Chohans, then, are Beings that are quite different than Chohans of the sixth Initiation.

-- (Initiations One through Five (below) are taken while in human bodies.) --


-- Adept (Fifth Initiation) --


      The Adept is the highest level at which mandatory incarnating as a human occurs. When the Adept Intiation occurs during an incarnation, that is the last mandatory incarnation for that person.
      “Before Him lie open different paths, any one of which He may choose; before Him spread vast possibilities, any one of which He may stretch forth His hand and take. Out of the limits of this planetary chain, outside the limits of our Kosmos, into regions far beyond even our dimmest apprehending, paths lie open that the Jivanmukta may choose to tread.” (Annie Besant, The Path of Discipleship, paragraph 78 (online) or page 109 (hardcopy).

-- Arhat (Fourth Initiation) --


      The last five fetters need to be removed (Annie Besant, The Path of Discipleship, paragraph 78 (online) or pages 107-108 (hardcopy).
  • life in form
  • life without form
  • pride
  • He becomes unshakable.
  • illusion

-- Anagami (Third Initiation) --
-- “He who Receives Birth No More” --


      The last shred of Earthly desire must now fall away. He does not have spiritual desires for himself, but does everything for the benefit of the whole. He no longer feels distinctions between races, nor is he even capable of racial hatred. He spreads round him as it were an all-embracing circle of affection. (Annie Besant, The Path of Discipleship, paragraph 77 (online) or pages 104-106 (hardcopy).

      Click here for more information on the fetters to be cast out for the Third Initiation.


-- Satakagami (Second Initiation) --
-- “He who Receives Birth Once More” --


      No definite fetters are cast off, but psychic abilities are acquired, and the Kundalini is awakened. Click here for more information on the fetters to be cast out for the Second Initiation.


-- Sotapanna (First Initiation) --
-- “He who has Entered the Stream” --


      The Initiate sees the physical world as merely a transitory place to something higher, and wants no more of the physical world except as they can serve it. Click here for more information on the fetters to be cast out for the First Initiation.

      Let’s now look at the top of the chart. The seven Dhyani-Chohan are at the fourth step (from the top) of the Pantheon. Above the Dhyani-Chohan is Avalokiteshvara (the Second Logos). Note that Avalokiteshvara is said to have two manifetations, male and female, called Kwan-Shi-Yin and Kwan-Yin. The female manifestation called Kwan-Yin is an important Bodhisattva in Buddhism.

      Above Avalokiteshvara is Adi-Buddha (the First Logos). This is the highest manifested being in the Theosophical Pantheon. Above Adi-Buddha is the Unmanifest (also called the Absolute, and other names).


~~~


       This lesson has described the ten Initiations. Five of the Intiations (specifically for humans still reincarnating on Earth) are described in further detail in lesson 21, The Path.

For further reading:











Next: Lesson 15, History of the Races and the History of the World



   
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