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 The
essence of our being, the mystery in us that calls itself "I"
- ah, what words have we for such things? - is a breath of Heaven: the
Highest Being reveals himself in man. This body, these faculties, this
life of ours, is it not all as a vesture for that Unnamed?
Thomas Carlyle, Lectures on Heroes
 Can
man - a god in animal form - be the product of material Nature by evolution
alone, even as is the animal ... seeing that the intellectual potentialities
of the two differ as the Sun does from the glow worm? And what is it that
creates such difference, unless man is an animal plus a living god
within his physical shell?
H. P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine
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WHAT IS MAN? - An Ancient Question
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MAN, KNOW THYSELF! an ancient injunction! The way in which
the complex constitution of man is described and analysed will depend
in part on the purpose of the analysis and on the manner in which the
different aspects of his nature are grouped together.
Thus he may be described as twofold, threefold, fourfold, fivefold, sixfold
and sevenfold. Such divisions, however, are but aspects or modes of functioning
of the one real man, the embodied Consciousness, enduring through the
cycle of life and immortal in essence.
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SANSKRIT - The language of theosophical
psychology
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The English language absorbs a constantly growing vocabulary of imported
or new words to serve expanding fields of interest, from music and cookery
to philosophy and computer technology.
Interest in eastern thought and spiritual practices has enriched our
language with words like yoga, karma, mantra, koan etc. Where English
lacks precision or consistency, as in words like mind, spirit, soul, self,
Sanskrit offers a terminology which is clear and unvarying.
The Sanskrit words of common use in theosophical literature are few;
familiarity with them will help to avoid confusion in later studies.
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THE SEVENFOLD NATURE OF MAN
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The Key to Theosophy gives a simplified reference table
of the Sanskrit terms:
ATMA. Self or Spirit. It is not an individual but a universal
Principle.
Atma, the 'Higher Self', is neither your Spirit nor mine
but like sunlight shines on all. It is the universally diffused
'divine principle', and is inseparable from its one and absolute
Meta-Spirit, as the sunbeam is inseparable from sunlight.
BUDDHI. Spiritual Soul, the vehicle of Atma. Buddhi, from
a root meaning to know, denotes Wisdom, the faculty of discernment
of good and evil; it also connotes intuition and 'divine conscience'
.Atma-Buddhi is the Divine Unit, the MONAD.
MANAS. Mind, Intelligence. When united with Atma-Buddhi,
it is called the Spiritual Ego, the real individuality, which may
therefore be designated Atma-Buddhi-Manas, the Higher Triad. Manas
is "The mental faculty which makes of man an intelligent and
moral being, and distinguishes him from the mere animal".
In incarnation, Manas is dual, for it projects itself into the
Personality that it must use during the period of the earth life:
hence the terms Higher and Lower Manas. Here, in the association
of Manas with Kama, the principle of desire, is the battleground
of our experience, justly called the drama of the soul in exile:
on the one hand, the spiritual impulses of the higher nature, on
the other the pull of the passional animal nature.
The future state and the karmic destiny of man depend on whether
Manas gravitates more downward to Kama rupa, the seat of the animal
passions, or upward to Buddhi, the Spiritual Ego.
KAMA. The principle of Desire. Kama and Manas should be
studied in conjunction with one another, for although thought and
feeling can be separated as concepts, they are functionally indivisible.
Kama may be directed towards either spiritual or selfish purposes,
towards helping others or the satisfaction of personal goals.
PRANA. The Life-principle, or principle of vitality. Being
derived from the ONE LIFE, it is omnipresent, eternal and indestructible.
Prana, or life, is the active power producing all vital phenomena.
LlNGA-SHARIRA. Various terms are used for this, the
vehicle of Prana, the most appropriate being the model body (from
linga, meaning model and sharira, a form easily dissolved). It provides
the model round which the physical body is formed. It is also called
the astral body or the etheric double, both terms; indicating the
material of which it is made.
STHULA-SHARIRA. The physical body (sthula, coarse
or bulky), the vehicle of all the other principles during life and
the means by which man is able to function on earth.
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MAN A FUNCTIONING WHOLE - aspects
and divisions
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Just as the human body may be analysed in terms of limbs, organs,
chemical components, yet remains a functioning whole, so the several
aspects of the inner man may be grouped together in different ways
for the better understanding of the individual in life and in death.
MAN as twofold. This is the simplest and perhaps the most
immediately practical division. It recognizes man as a Self or Consciousness
acting through a complex vehicle. In theosophical literature the
Self, the immortal Spirit in man, is termed the Individuality; the
complex vehicle with which we commonly identify ourselves is the
mortal Personality. The Individuality is the reincarnating Ego,
described as the golden thread on which are strung the beads of
its successive incarnations. In common experience there is often
a conflict between the two, epitomized in the words of St. Paul,
"the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would
not, that I do". (Rom. vii 19)
This twofold division is a simplification of the sevenfold picture
of man, for the Individuality is the immortal Triad, consisting
of Atman (Pure Spirit), Buddhi {Spiritual Soul) and
Manas (Mind); the Personality is the Lower Quarternary ,
transitory and mortal, composed of Kama (Desire), Linga-Sharira
(Astral Body), Prana (Life or Vitality) and Sthula-Sharira
(Physical Body).
MAN as threefold. This division into "spirit, soul and
body" is used by St. Paul (I Thess. V23). The distinction
between spirit and soul, clearly shown in the text by the use of
the Greek terms pneuma (breath, spirit) and psyche
(soul), has been largely lost from sight in popular usage, spirit
and soul being regarded as interchangeable terms, to the confusion
and impoverishment of the Christian conception of man. In theosophical
studies, Spirit is the immortal Individuality, soul the personal
psychic vehicle composed of thought and feeling which, together
with the physical body, "the house of the householder",
constitute the mortal Personality.
MAN as fourfold. The Brahmanical system divides man into
the four principles that are capable of a separate existence. These
are the sthula-sharira (physical body, including prana
and the etheric double); sukshma-sharira (corresponding roughly
to soul); karana-sharira (causal body) and atma (spirit). The significance
of this division may be illustrated as follows: Imagine the sun
shining into a mirror; from the mirror the light reflects onto a
metal disc; and from there it falls on a wall. The sun represents
the Divine Self, the mirror the Ego or causal body, the metal disc
the soul and the wall the body. At each remove from its source the
brightness of the light is reduced, being further dimmed according
to the reflective quality of the surface on which it falls. Nevertheless,
however much reduced in brightness, the light is always that of
the sun. (This illustration is given by T. Subba Row in his lectures
on the Bhagavad Gita.)
MAN as fivefold. The Katha Upanishad gives a picturesque
description of the human constitution: The Self or Spirit rides
in the chariot, the body; the controlling agent, the charioteer,
is the illumined or Spiritual Mind; the reins are the mind functioning
in the Personality; the: senses are the horses that pull the chariot
along the roads of the material world; The practical application
of this analysis is made evident: When the Illumined Mind, the agent
of the Spirit, is in charge, controlling the reins of mind, which
in turn controls the senses, the journey towards the goal is made
swiftly and smoothly and the man is born no more. But if the Illumined
Mind has not been awakened, the reins are uncontrolled and the senses
drag the man wherever they will: this man, says the Scripture, never
reaches the end of the journey but is born again and again.
MAN as sixfold. This classification is given in the Taittiriya
Upanishad. Here the different aspects or principles of man are
described as sheaths, the coverings or encasements of the Divine
Spirit. The sheaths are listed as: the sheath of food, the
sheath of vitality , the sheath of mind, the sheath
of understanding, the sheath of bliss, and finally
"beyond all sheaths is the Self'.
MAN as sevenfold. This is the classification most used in
the theosophical literature. Like everything else in Nature, man's
constitution is rooted in the septenary law, that is, man the microcosm
reflects in his nature the sevenfold constitution of the macrocosm,
the universe. The concept of man as a seven-principled being is
one of the keys to the understanding of the processes in which,
as an individual, he is involved - birth and death, reincarnation,
spiritual progress.
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Sometimes a poet can convey a picture beyond the analysis of facts. These
verses from James Rhoades' Out of the Silence may contribute to
a synthetic view of what the tradition teaches.
Thou ponderest of the moon, the stars, the sun,
Whence the winds gather, how the waters run,
But all too lightly deemest of thyself,
Which art a myriad miracles in one.
That, which thou art, thou dreamest not - so vast
That lo! time present, time to be, time past,
Are but the sepals of thine opening soul,
Whose flower shall fill the universe at last.
The Key to Theosophy - H. P. Blavatsky
Deity, Cosmos and Man - Geoffrey A. Farthing
The Seven Principles of Man - Annie Besant
The Divine Plan - Geoffrey Barboka
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