NIRVANA
Nirvana
A Study in
Synthetic
Consciousness
by
George Sidney
Arundale
First published 1926
Dr Arundale was International President of
the Theosophical
Society (Adyar) from 1933 to 1945
__________
CHAPTER VIII
The Immanence
Of Light
DE SENANCOUR.
It is an interesting experiment to look out of the window upon
the scene without and gradually to withdraw from each object seen the various
associations with it on different planes. Things are, apart from that which
3they appear to be.
Every object I perceive has a being different from my conception
of it. It is all I think it to be, or it maybe less than I think it to be, in
so far as I attribute to it that which in reality it does not possess (to this
extent I am very truly misunderstanding it); but it is also far more, for it
represents a principle of life, a law of evolution, the nature of which, at my
particular level, I can only very partially grasp.
As I look out of my window upon
The vessel on the sea helps the sea to grow and the sea helps the
vessel to grow. The houses dotted upon the slopes help the land on which they
are builded, just as the land helps the houses. The tiniest pebble resting upon
the beach is necessary to the beach, is necessary to the mighty sea which seems
to treat it so haughtily, so cavalierly, so contemptuously. How could the earth
grow without its earthworms, its vegetation, the
creatures that live upon it? How could all these grow save with the
co-operation of the earth? I perceive entities everywhere, living entities,
with more or less consciousness. The ships, the houses, the trees and shrubs
and flowers, the very pebbles - all are entities. The whole harbour
is one great being, yet various parts of the harbour
are beings too.
I see all in these terms, each entity with its own small life,
yet enfolded in the one Life Universal, a part of the one Great Whole, each
dependent upon all the rest. I see each helping to fulfil
the others. But at this word “fulfil” I stop, and I
notice that these various things do not by any means always fulfil
each other, though they ought to. Sometimes they profane and degrade each
other, as, for example, when an ugly building is put up, when the open spaces
are desecrated by hideous erections of any kind or by the loathsome litter of
man’s careless selfishness.
Whenever and wherever one part lives ruthlessly at the expense of
another, then there is no fulfilment, but rather a
debasement in which all, by very reason of the enfolding unity, must needs
share. I find that I begin to grow sensitive to these defilements. Apart from
the fact that they defile and degrade me, they also jar me and sadden me, for I
know how glorious a thing is that mother-Unity to which they are so unfilial.
Now all this is consequent upon the withdrawal of all lower
associations and the substitution of Buddhi, a veritable transubstantiation.
But I think I can go a step further and view my landscape in terms of Nirvanic consciousness. At the Buddhic level it is the
marvellous interrelation that strikes me. Let me blot out this sense of
interrelation and seek still further within. I make what is to me a most
interesting discovery. Expecting to perceive everything in terms of light, I
find that everything resolves itself into power-units. I perceive the power in
everything, and am almost appalled by it. I hardly notice the forms. These do
not seem to matter at all. They are trivial compared with the ensouling power. And then I suddenly begin to
notice that this power is imprisoned Light.
Here I must use a phrase which I hope is intelligible - it is the
only phrase I can find Light unconscious is veiled in matter that it may become
Light self-conscious; and the power I so strongly perceive is the irresistible
potentiality of the Light self-conscious veiled as Light unconscious. Power and
Light are, therefore, one and the same thing; but the transubstantiation from Buddhic to Nirvanic consciousness seemed to emphasize Light as Power, perhaps because the first thing I
noticed was the splendour of that Light which is slowly
but surely transcending its imprisonment in all things. I saw victory
everywhere, everywhere the Light unconscious growing
into self-consciousness in those various stages of intensification which we
call kingdoms of nature.
Perceiving these rays of Light-Power in all things, I notice a
great harmony-in-the-becoming. At the Buddhic level of interpretation I should
have described this harmony in terms of interrelation, each object essentially
fitting in to every other. At the Nirvanic level of
interpretation, I describe this harmony in terms of all-pervading Light-Sound,
so that the object loses its objectivity and shares in a universal
subjectivity. At the Buddhic
level objectivity remains. At the Nirvanic
level objectivity disappears, and archetype takes its place. At all levels of
interpretation one notices, of course, the growing harmony - not yet without
marring discords, I fear.
But at the Buddhic and Nirvanic levels,
the harmonies are infinitely deeper - in the one case the underlying unity
being disclosed, while in the other the power that makes for unity is opened to
our gaze. Below the Buddhic level diversity is more apparent than unity, but it
is through living amidst that diversity that perception and realization of
unity becomes possible.
We cannot afford to do without diversity, for diversity, if we
only knew it, is the most wonderful testimony to the unimaginable splendours of the unity. And happy are those whose vision
is keen enough to enable them to perceive the unity notwithstanding the
distractions of diversity. He who has reached the Buddhic or Nirvanic quality of consciousness can never lose the unity,
be the diversities what they may. I feel able to say, then, that as I look out
of my window I perceive imprisoned within every single object in every kingdom
of nature the unity of Buddhi, the power of Nirvana, however embryonic and
unconscious. And I know that the very imprisonment itself is the gift of God
that the unity may some day realize its inherent power to burst all bonds. The One
Life, with all constituent elements, pervades all things and there is no
region, however lofty, but has its reflection in all things.
Let me add here a few words regarding Light-Power. Curiously
enough, while I notice Light-Power in all things and a unity of Being enfolding them, each specific object seems like a puff
of power within a vast cloud of power. The word “Ray” hardly seems adequate to
express the facts, for “Ray” suggests travelling, while in Nirvana there is
essentially Being. Objects seem to be cloud-bursts
(the word “cloud” is of course unfortunate) within a mighty cloud-burst which
is the act of manifestation - a microcosmic puff within a macrocosmic puff. To
put my thought in another way, all objects looked at from the Nirvanic level seem to be explosions, microcosmic
explosions within a macrocosmic explosion - explosions which give the sense of
pulsations. We might even go one step further and regard objects as innumerable
beats of the Universal Heart. I wonder whether you are at all following my line
of thought? It is so difficult to express, but I am endeavouring to reconcile
individuality with universality.
I perceive, of course, individuality, but individuality is a mode
of universality; true enough, yet not the whole truth. There is nothing which
is not Divine. We tread Divinity when we tread the
earth. Whatever we touch, whatever we see, whatever we hear, whatever we feel -
all is Divinity. My landscape, therefore, is renewed in the new Light. Every
object of which it is composed reveals a hitherto hidden Divinity, and hence
has new and richer values. These objects, the ships, the little boats, the
ferry-steamers, the buildings, the lamp-posts, the shops and the objects for
sale in them, the trees and flowers, the furniture in the rooms - all are now
instinct with new meaning, and therefore with new purpose, with new
inter-relationships, with a new message, with a new appeal, with a new
comradeship. In each there is much more relativity yet no less individuality
than before, and, what is more, I seem able more definitely to discern the
extent to which each reproduces or distorts its archetype, for there is nothing
without archetype.
It may be that in terms of eternity there is no distortion; but
in terms of time there often is, and we have the task of readjusting the
distortions which are noticeable from the point of view of the time-world.
Hence I am now more able to judge what is out of harmony and what is
harmonious. Each object is a personalization of Light-Sound, the personalization
being the translation of Light-Sound in our lower worlds. Each object is a sun
in humblest miniature, a tiny star, a world, a universe. Each object is a
microscopic harmony.
But each object, too, may have its elements of darkness and of
discord, in which its true light and sound-values are thwarted. It is
interesting to me to listen to and observe objects and to endeavour
to sense their respective Sound and Light-formulae, their various vital notes
and mystic chords. I am just at the
beginning of this, and can at present say no more.
I realize that the Nirvana I am beginning to know at the fringe,
is itself not merely a reflection of para-Nirvana,
whatever para-Nirvana may be, but also a reflection
of a cosmic Nirvana, of which it is the direct representation; that this very
Nirvana is the Reincarnation of the Nirvana realized by our
Lord the Sun on His own upward Path in a period prior to the being of our
system. I realize that every plane has its cosmic archetype or
counterpart.
I should like at this point to advance the theory that countless
ages ago our Lord the Sun travelled more or less the
same pathway that evolution is treading to-day. Step by step He ascended, bond
after bond was burst asunder, until the
spark became the Fire, the heart of which is that physical orb we call
the Sun.
And as the ascent was made the sum total of the experiences on
each plane was, as it were, memorized in terms of potentiality, so that as He
grew He built into His Being the seeds of a Universe like unto the Universe of
which He was then a growing fragment. He became Life self-conscious, but was composed
of Life in
innumerable layers below self-consciousness. I, George Arundale, am
partially self-conscious, but I am composed of life - of microcosmic universes
and worlds - more or less unconscious. The process of growth is a process of
internalization, of in-breathing.
The process of fulfilment is a process
of externalization, of out-breathing. It is this function which our Lord the
Sun is performing, so far as this universe is concerned, and the out-breathing,
the externalization, consists in fanning into flame the innumerable sparks
built into Himself during the course of His own evolution aeons,
myriads of aeons, ago. Our Lord the Sun is doubtless
also internalizing, but of this I know nothing. We, too, Suns in the becoming,
are building into ourselves the material of which some day we shall be Suns,
upon which some day we shall shine as the Sun shines upon us all to-day. Where
we are, He has been. Where He is, we shall be.
Every plane is thus an externalization of a potentiality which
itself is the gathered fruit of experience and consummation. Our own contacts -
in whatever manner - with the various planes of nature are not merely for our
personal growth, but that in a future beyond time there may be in us the
potentialities
of a Universe, that as our Lord the Sun is to His, to all His
kingdoms, so may we become to ours. Having become centres, radiances,
transcendences, having breathed in, after the great out-breathing, there will
take place once more an out-breathing to circumferences, or in other words, a
manifestation. As our Lord the Sun breathes, in mighty life-giving breaths, so
shall we.
Such seems to be the law of all being, at least of all which we
can conceive, for to us being is pulsation. It may be that there is being
destitute of this quality, but this does not seem to be the case in the schemes
we know. Though we naturally postulate un-manifestation as an apotheosis of
in-breathing and call it pure
being, still, ourselves manifest, we cannot conceive of the unmanifest without the potentiality, the seed, of
manifestation.
We therefore postulate great in- and out-breathing, and while the
attainment of self-conscious Divinity may be the apotheosis of in-breathing we
look for a succeeding out-breathing, as night
follows day.
Having in my own nature begun a transubstantiation of
consciousness, the Nirvanic consciousness slowly
beginning now to be my positive substans instead of
negative as hitherto, I proceed to follow up the process by an endeavour in the direction of effecting a similar
transubstantiation in regard to the outer world. I say “an endeavour,”
for it is just the halting and feeble beginning of a wonderful transformation
leading in the distant future to the consciousness of the Adept. First, I
obtain a general impression of the world viewed
Nirvanically, and immediately all ugliness disappears - the
pathway merges in the goal, processes are perceived in terms of their results.
I idealise, and therefore realize.4As a general
statement, I may say that Nirvana is a consummation, an apotheosis, an
archetype, of world conditions. It sounds
strange, perhaps, to bring into juxtaposition the words “consummation”
and “archetype,” yet Nirvana is both. It is both seed and flower - seed in all
things, flower in a few, flower in all things some day.
In the outer world I am living amid innumerable conditions,
circumstances and events. I invest this outer world with Nirvana - somehow I
seem able to do this - and I perceive the Real. The real-in-the-becoming, which
is the outer world, has become the Real, for I have touched it with the magic
of the Eternal Now which is the Time of Nirvana. Immediately I perceive a new
significance to the phrase “God is Love.” He is infinitely more than Love. He
is ourselves. And every circumstance of the world, in
every kingdom and on every plane, is a fulfilling of God,
however we define this word, an unfoldment of Himself, of His
Nature. We are of His very Substance, and the Holy Eucharist, whether in
Christianity or in any other Faith, is a veritable remembrance
of this supreme Truth, a sounding of its ineffable Note amidst the discords of
growth and becoming.
I substitute God positive for God relatively negative, and the
world stands self-explained and justified. I have found God in everything.
Nothing is there which is Godless, nothing which is not
Godlike, may I say “Godfull”? I can conceive
an entirely different system of evolution in the course of which growth
takes place without friction, without the swinging process, if I may so
call it, between the innumerable pairs of opposites - good and evil, right and
wrong, and so forth. But I realize that the methods and processes enjoined for
our own particular evolution are perfectly adapted to such ends as I am able to
grasp.
Whether they are the shortest possible cut to these ends I do not
know. One presumes that what is best has been chosen, and it is futile, not to
say presumptuous, to speculate further. May I at least say that Life is
essentially lazy, takes the line of least resistance, never does with trouble
what can be done with ease, the most elaborate complications being in all cases
the simplest
available means to reach the desired end? Life is marvellous, but it is
more than marvellous, it is simple; and you and I grow near to Life, approach
God, as we substitute simplicity for the confusion, fuss, and elaborateness of
that modern artificiality which is called civilisation.
When I am able to say, not merely as a pious belief or hope or
yearning, but as an experience, that God is Love, I have effected a transubstantiation, that is to say, I have emphasized
Reality.
The world thus becomes far more real in every circumstance of its
being. Essentially, of course, all is real, for all is God.
But there are, if I may say so, gradations of God, from the
unconscious to the self-conscious. The transubstantiation I effect is to
substitute comparative self-consciousness for unconsciousness, or, to put the
process another way, to
assert the self-conscious in the unconscious. I realize here how
useless words and phrases are, for in the Light of Nirvana there seems to be no
difference between the two.
But if I have to try to explain out here, I can only say I assert
the Real in the midst of the unreal, or I know the unreal as the Real.Hence, Nirvana interprets; in the dark places shines
its Light. Elsewhere I have written of the new values Nirvana gives to things,
of the readjustment Nirvana effects. Let me here put this fact in another way.
I am beginning to live in a new world which is 4nothing more than the old world
“realized”. I am beginning to “realize” everything, so that nothing seems out
of place. Everything seems inevitable - gloriously inevitable. I have used that
phrase before with regard to the future, but it is equally true of the present.
We cannot do without a single circumstance of it.I
feel that this must sound very strange in view of the terrible condition in
which the world finds itself to-day. Yet nothing is terrible unless we linger
when we should proceed. Nothing is terrible until we cling to it long after it
has served its purpose. Nothing is wrong until we have outgrown it. Evil is but
a worn-out garment we still wear; and it is worth while to remember that what
one has done with, and should cast off, may well be a new suit of clothes for
another. In world-terms, Truth grows, however much there may be Truth absolute
and eternal; and we must grow with Truth. Truth unfolds; and we must unfold
with Truth. We cannot, must not, wait. We must not be sluggards. To stagnate is
to decay, and the only really terrible thing in the world is the decay which is
stopping still, for that is the beginning of falling back. Other decay of a
noble kind, there is, which is but the reverent putting aside of that which has
served its purpose. It is the former which is dangerous; against it the whole
world must be on guard, lest it repeat the bitter experience of the past.
In the light of the Nirvanic
consciousness I perceive, as I have said, the Real in all things. The changing
world has become a world changed; and I know that nowhere is any waiting
inevitable. There is nothing so hardened that it can no
longer move. Strange as the statement may sound, the Great War itself helped to loosen the hardnesses, though I am not prepared to say that they could
not possibly have been relieved in any other way. In any case, the very Coming
of the World-Teacher is proof that the world has the ears to hear Him. Does not
His moving among mankind effect a transubstantiation
for the whole world? A marvellous tangible Real will thus be substituted for
the infinitely lesser Reals with which the world has
for so long had to be contented. He takes their place. The very writing of this
phrase thrills me, for it embodies the wonderful fact that He re-enters into an
intimate relationship with us He comes down among us, entering into our little
world, taking His place in us, substituting Himself for our own higher selves,
which is the same thing as saying that He raises us far beyond our normal
selves, or that He purifies our higher selves
and draws the lower into accord with the higher. In the Light of
Nirvana, I see how all this is brought about, for He is embodied Nirvana, a
Nirvana which the world shall be allowed to see and hear and know. Nirvana
becomes tangible!
For all things I perceive the Nirvanic
counterpart, but this perception has more meaning to-day than it has had for
many centuries. The world is about to enter upon a new spring-time. Already I
perceive the tiny shoots of Buddhi forcing their way through the denser layers
of the lower planes; and, looking forward into the far distance, I see how
these little shoots shall become buds, finally blossoming into the Buddhic
flower. We must water these shoots by treading the Path of Righteousness, or
they will decay back into unconsciousness.
Nirvana shows me, as I have never before seen, the potentialities
within the actualities of these worlds of ours. I know what the world can do.
But the world must not wait. It must move, and all men and women of goodwill
must help it to move. Utopia is waiting to enter, but the world must open its
doors; and I am utterly clear that there is nothing in the world which is an
insuperable barrier to this opening. I seem to observe the world as from a
great height. Its needs are very great. It cries aloud for help-the cry that
the Lord has heard and answers with the words: “I come.” I see good promise for
the future, if only the world’s leaders will lead it from the pursuit of
separateness, whether individual, or class, or nation, or sect, or race, to the
pursuit of Unity and Understanding.
Nirvana is not yet for the world, but for many the Sun of Buddhi
should not be so very far below the horizon, and already the roseate colours of
its dawning should begin to dispel the night of separateness. Have you ever
stood upon a mountain watching before dawn for the rise upon the world of our
Lord the Sun?
Have you stood awestruck at the miracle of a world of darkness
being transmuted into a world of softest colour? Have you marvelled
at the glory disclosed in every part of the landscape by the magic touch of the
Sun’s rays?
Have you noticed how beautiful is the re-awakening of everything
into life different? Have you watched the glorious innocence and yearning of
all that is, in its dawning? The great English mystic, Thomas Traherne, gives beautiful
expression to the dawning of childhood on the physical plane; almost
similar words might be used for childhood on any other plane, for the first
awakening of higher consciousness. Traherne tells us:
Certainly Adam in
at my entrance into the world was saluted and surrounded with
innumerable joys.
My knowledge was Divine … My very ignorance was advantageous. I
seemed as one brought into the Estate of Innocence. All things were spotless
and pure and glorious; yea, and infinitely mine, and joyful and precious. I
knew not that
there were any sins, or complaints or laws. I dreamed not of
poverties, contentions or vices. All tears and quarrels were hidden from mine
eyes.
Everything was at rest, free and immortal. I knew nothing of
sickness or death or rents or exaction, either for tribute or bread. In the
absence of these I was entertained like an Angel with the works of God in their
splendour and glory, I
saw all the peace of
World, and see those mysteries which the books of the learned
never unfold?
The corn was orient and immortal wheat, which never should be
reaped, nor was ever sown. I thought it
had stood from everlasting to everlasting. The dust and stones of the street
were as precious as gold; the gates were at first the end of the world. The
green trees when I saw them first through one of the gates
transported and ravished me, their sweetness and unusual beauty made my
heart to leap, and almost mad with ecstasy, they were such strange and
wonderful things.
The Men! O what venerable and reverend creatures did the aged men
seem! Immortal Cherubims! And young men glittering
and sparkling Angels, and the maids strange seraphic
pieces of life and beauty! Boys and girls tumbling in the street, and playing,
were moving jewels. I knew not that they were born or should die. But all
things abided eternally as they were in their proper places. Eternity was
manifest in the Light of the Day, and something infinite behind everything
appeared; which talked with my expectation and moved my desire.
The city seemed to stand in
mine; and I the only spectator and enjoyer of it … So that with much
ado I was corrupted, and made to learn the dirty devices of this world. Which
now I unlearn, and become, as it were, a little child again that I may enter
into the
Is it not at the dawn that we perceive the beauty even in the
things that otherwise we should call ugly?
So have I stood upon the
This brings me to a further perception of the Theosophical
Society as one of these mighty stirrings which the Saviours alone can give. I see the Theosophical
Society as the living witness of that Buddhic consciousness
which the world has yet to know, but towards which, in part consciously, yet
for the most part
unconsciously, it yearns. The Society is, as it were, the
touchstone and nucleus of Buddhi in the outer world, reflecting Buddhi or
Brotherhood, pointing the way to Brotherhood in its three great Objects, awakening
Brotherhood in the world in innumerable forms, subsidiary to the supreme
archetype as disclosed in the first Object. Those who are beginning to be ready
for Buddhi inevitably turn towards the Society as its
physical-plane symbol and expression. Their faces are turned towards the
dawning; in the Theosophical Society they find its
Herald, and they add their voices to the Voice of the Dawn
calling the world to awaken to a newer day.
I perceive the Society itself to be an
Himalayan range, with its peopled plains in the outer world, with the lesser
hills of the Esoteric School, and with the ascending peaks and ranges of
discipleship culminating in those lofty Supermen Who constitute its inner Light
and Life. I see what the Society has to become - a
channel for Buddhi, for the Buddhic consciousness to the outer world. I see
that while the true standard of righteous living is elsewhere than among
mankind, yet the Theosophical
Society reflects that standard, and that our movement is
intended to become a world within the world - a world from out the future, dwelling in the present as a living
example of a partly realized ideal.
The Theosophical
Society must become a World-State in miniature, and its members citizens thereof. That which we exhort the world to
do we must ourselves be doing. In every field of life our Buddhic consciousness
must be growing active. We must stand for Brotherhood in daily life, in
religion, in politics, in industry, in education, in international relations. I
have sought to convey a glimpse of what this means in “The Australian Section:
A Vision” (See Appendix E), for that which I have written there of
But example founded on these precepts is far more valuable, for
it is better to see Theosophy
than to hear it, as it is better to live it than to see it. If we could only
live our Theosophy
in the world, accustoming the world to suffer it gladly, the time might come
for the world to be ready to suffer gladly our Masters to live Their Theosophy in the world.
But to a world yet in the twilight the sunshine can come safely only by
degrees. Let the Theosophical
Society be the dawn heralding that glorious day when in the
very outer world itself the mighty Circle of Brotherhood shall be complete.
Within the Society there must be no
such problems as those which disfigure the world. Within the Society-State there must be
comradeship in all things, be the diversities of custom, opinion or outlook
what they may.
The Theosophical
Society is greater than its members, for is not the shadow less than
the substance, the sunshine less than
the Sun Never for an instant may we forget that our primary allegiance is to the Society itself apart both
from any of its members or from any of the beliefs which they may hold. We must
learn to recognize that no identification by the ignorant, of certain specific
doctrines with the Society as a whole, makes
such identification a fact. It is as if some people passed before a great
mansion and, seeing through an open window a room with a green carpet, green
furniture, green wall-paper and green decorations generally, declared that the
whole house was entirely green. In the mansion of the Society are many rooms,
each with its own colour, but all within the house and belonging to one
community, though some members of the community live in one room and others in
another.
the Society is a great
receiving-station for Brotherhood from the inner worlds, transmitting it now
specifically in the shape of definite Truths, now generally as vitalizing
force. Through the latter Brotherhood-spirit in mankind is stimulated and finds
expression according to individual temperament and place in evolution. All are
welcome to membership in whom Brotherhood is stirring, no matter what form it
takes. The Society stands for Brotherhood
unqualified, encouraging all movements, all individuals, sincerely dedicated to
Brotherhood, be their objectives what they may. It is
doubtless possible to define Brotherhood. Each individual should be able to
define it more or less satisfactorily to himself; and on every plane of
consciousness there is a definition appropriate to the plane, as I have
suggested in my definitions of Buddhic and Nirvanic
consciousness. But the Society offers no
definition. It asks from each his acts of Brotherhood, leaving him to define it
as he will, and
as he can.
I have had to write this, because it seems to follow from my Nirvanic meditation upon the Society. Standing, as the Society stands, for Buddhi
in the outer world, it is, as it were, a kind of half-way house, between
Nirvana (and all that is beyond Nirvana), between the ideal such as we can
grasp (and all that may lie beyond out grasping), and these planes of nature
upon which normally dwells the outer world. The half-way house must by no means
become an obstacle to the passage of the Sunlight of Nirvana to the plains of
the outer world beneath, even though in travelling through the denser medium
the rays must needs grow less intense. We must never
forget the fact that the Society is but this
half-way house, is merely a channel for that of which Brotherhood itself is a
modification, for there is more than Brotherhood before us, though we may have
yet to attain Brotherhood. Thus only can we hope to keep unsullied our great
ideal.
I notice particularly that the problems of our outer life are
non-existent in Nirvana. Nirvana may have its own problems; it has certainly
none of ours. I do not know whether I am able to distinguish between a problem
looked at in the light of Buddhi and looked at in the light of Nirvana. In
either case, every circumstance that contributed to the making of the problem
becomes resolved or transmuted. It ceases to be a problem, for the problem-constituting
elements have disappeared. These elements are the products of the separative forces, of ignorance, and can find no place in
the higher worlds. The selfishness which is the root cause of them all has
burst its bonds, having no further cause for being. The world needs to be full
of problems upon which we may exercise God’s gift of choice, discrimination.
But less and less do we need to choose deliberately as choice through
experience becomes automatic, instinctive, or, let us say, intuitive.
In Buddhi we reach the Unity. In Nirvana we are the Light which
is the heart of Unity, the essence of its being. The world thus becomes in many
ways a far simpler and easier place in which to live. The solutions of the
problems are so obvious, however hard it may be for the world as a whole to
accept them; and not only are they obvious, but simple, easy to bring about,
provided we are big enough to grasp them firmly. Therein
6lies the difficulty, of course. All that leads to Light is right. All
that leads to darkness is wrong.
It is no longer a question of creed or colour, or race, or
nationality. All is perceived in terms of greater or lesser Light. “Let there
be Light,” we echo. “More Light!” we exclaim, with Goethe. The growing
consciousness of Nirvana intensifies the Light of our being - the very world
itself is the brighter for the entry of one of its children into Nirvana - and
darkness of whatever kind grows increasingly unnatural. We rule out black even
down to its apparently most insignificant expressions, as for example in the
case of ink or dress, and we only use it faute de mieux, under protest. There is nothing black either in
Nirvana or in Buddhi. Life is much simpler than it appears. Complexity is the
muddle of ignorance. The more we know the simpler life becomes. Nothing is
difficult to do if we want to do it. It is not difficult to do even if we have
to do it alone, against the crowd, provided we want to do it. Where there is
the will there is the way.
It is interesting to look at a special problem, let us say, the
industrial problem. What is the solution? Obviously,
comradeship, complete fellowship between the two classes of workmen, whom down
here we call employers and employed - rather distorting terminology since the
employed employ the employers as much as the employers employ the employed.
In these higher regions there is this fellowship. Nothing else could exist. In
the lower worlds the difficulty is to obtain it. In the higher worlds it is
impossible to avoid it. The solution of the industrial problem lies in the two
sections working together as one, as they will have to work sooner or later.
That is easier said than done, we are told.
Yet it ought to be done as easily as said, for it is the final
truth. With brotherhood on both sides it would be an accomplished fact. With
brotherhood on neither side it becomes impossible. No compulsion from without
will ever bring it about; no legislation or arbitration of any kind. All these
are compromises, bargainings, between truth and
falsehood, and cannot last. There must be the urge from within.
__________
THEOSOPHY
NIRVANA
Find out more
about Theosophy
with these Links
Cardiff Theosophical Society meetings
are informal
and there’s always a cup of tea afterwards
The Cardiff Theosophical Society Website
The National Wales Theosophy Website
Dave’s
Streetwise Theosophy Boards
The Theosophy
Website that Welcomes Absolute
Beginners
If you run a
Theosophy Study Group, please feel free
to make use of the
material on this Website
The Most Basic Theosophy
Website in the Universe
A quick overview of
Theosophy
and the Theosophical Society
If you run a
Theosophy Study Group you
can use this as an introductory handout.
For
everyone everywhere, not just in Wales
Theosophy Cardiff’s Instant Guide
General pages about Wales, Welsh History
and
The History of Theosophy in Wales
Independent Theosophy Blog
One liners and quick explanations
About aspects of Theosophy
H P Blavatsky is
usually the only
Theosophist that
most people have ever
heard of. Let’s put that
right
Lentil burgers, a
thousand press ups before breakfast and
the daily 25 mile run
may put it off for a while but death
seems to get most of us
in the end. We are pleased to
present for your
consideration, a definitive work on the
subject by a Student of
Katherine Tingley entitled
An Independent Theosophical Republic
Links to Free Online Theosophy
Study Resources; Courses,
Writings,
No
Aardvarks were harmed in the
The Spiritual Home of Urban Theosophy
The Earth Base
for Evolutionary Theosophy
_____________________
Tekels Park to be Sold to a Developer
Concerns are raised
about the fate of the wildlife as
The Spiritual
Retreat, Tekels Park in Camberley,
Surrey, England is
to be sold to a developer
____________________
Classic
Theosophy Text
A Text
Book of Theosophy
By C
What Theosophy Is
From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The
Evolution of Life
The Constitution of Man After
Death Reincarnation
The Purpose of Life The
Planetary Chains
The Result of Theosophical Study
An Outstanding Introduction to Theosophy
By a student of Katherine Tingley
Elementary Theosophy
Who is the Man? Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation Karma
Try
these if you are looking for a
local Theosophy Group or Centre
UK Listing of Theosophical Groups
_________________________________