The Secret Doctrine Volume 3.pdf

uddhi acts more in the atoms of the body, in the bacilli, microbes, etc., than in Man
himself.
Objective Consciousness
Sensuous objective consciousness includes all that pertains to the five physical
senses in man, and rules in animals, birds, fishes and some insects. Here are the
“Lives;” their consciousness is in Ãtma-Buddhi; these are entirely without Manas.
Astral Consciousness
(Page 558) That of some plants (e.g., sensitive) of ants, spiders, and some night-flies
(Indian), but not of bees.
The vertebrate animals in general are without this consciousness, but the placental
Mammals have all the potentialities of human consciousness, though at present, of
course, dormant.
Idiots are on this plane. The common expression “he has lost his mind” is an Occult
truth. For when through fright or other cause the lower mind becomes paralysed, then
the consciousness is on the Astral Plane. The study of lunacy will throw much light on
these points. This may be called the “nerve plane.” It is cognized by our “nervous
centres” of which Physiology knows nothing, e.g., the clairvoyant reading with the
eyes bandaged, reading with the tips of the fingers, the pit of the stomach, etc. This
sense is greatly developed in the deaf and dumb.
Kâma-Prânic Consciousness
The general life-consciousness which belongs to all the objective world, even to the
stones; for if stones were not living they could not decay, emit a spark, etc. Affinity
between chemical elements is a manifestation of this Kâmic consciousness.
Kâma-Mânasic Consciousness
The instinctual consciousness of animals and idiots in its lowest degrees, the planes
of sensation; in man these are rationalized, e.g., a dog shut in a room has the instinct
to get out, but cannot because its instinct is not sufficiently rationalized to take the
necessary means; whereas a man at once takes in the situation and extricates
himself. The highest degree of this Kâma-Mânasic consciousness is the psychic.
Thus there are seven degrees from the instinctual animal to the rationalized
instinctual and psychic.
Mânasic Consciousness
From this plane Manas stretches upwards to Mahat.
Buddhic Consciousness
The plane of Buddhi and the Auric Envelope. From here it goes to the Father in
heaven, Ãtmâ, and reflects all that is in the Auric Envelope. Five and six therefore
cover the planes from the psychic to the divine.
Men and Pitris (Page 559)
Miscellaneous
Reason is a thing that oscillates between right and wrong. But Intelligence—
Intuition—is higher, it is the clear vision.
To get rid of Kâma we must crush out all out material instincts—“crush out matter.”
The flesh is a thing of habit; it will repeat mechanically a good impulse as well as a
bad one. It is not the flesh which is always the tempter; in nine cases out of ten it is
the Lower Manas, which, by its images, leads the flesh into temptation.
The highest Adept begins his Samâdhi on the Fourth Solar Plane, but cannot go
outside the Solar System. When he begins Samâdhi he is on a par with some of the
Dhyân Chohans, but he transcends them as he rises to the seventh plane (Nirvâna).
The Silent Watcher is on the Fourth Kosmic Plane.
The higher Mind directs the Will: the lower turns it into selfish Desire.
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