Qualities of the Soul

All the techniques described so far depend, for their main energies, upon the inflow of spiritual force through the antakarana. To maintain this flow and to increase it, the disciple must live the life of a disciple. He must practise in his everyday living the qualities of the soul … of Atma, Buddhi and Manas. Atma is divine, persistent WILL. The championing of lost causes which are, nevertheless of the highest import spiritually for the planet, is a good learning ground for the manifestation of Atma. When Atma flows into the aura, it strengthens the chakras in the head region which are related to the Rays of Will and Power. The drawing down of Buddhi into the aura is encouraged by the practice of harmlessness in daily living; harmlessness in thought, word and deed Nonseparativeness and all-inclusiveness are other qualities of Buddhi. Living a life of withdrawal, of pensiveness, of pupation, of being able to sit in silence and to meditate,brings down Buddhi into the chakras linked to the Love-Wisdom Rays. Higher Manas Previous to the Coming of the Lords of Flame, about nineteen million years ago on this planet, this energy was not known. Animal-man had reached a stage in his evolution when he would soon regress with the other anthropoids if he were not stimulated with the peculiar quality of the Venusian evolution. Consequently, there came to the Earth the Lords of Flame from Venus who applied their individualising energies to the cortex of Earth man’s brain. Thenceforth, the man part of animal-man became dominant and these early individuals became capable of Higher Manas which shows as the capacity to think in abstract terms—an essentially human quality. Through abstract thought man is able to ponder upon matters which are completely unrelated to his basic or animal needs; the artist, the research-worker, the philosopher, the saint, are testimony to this capacity. Man is able to practise this form of expression more easily than either Atma or Buddhi. It is closely related to its lower counterpart of lower Manas, or active intelligence. Through the practice of higher Manas or abstract thought, we build into the antakarana the substance of this plane. Buddhi At some time or the other we all receive flashes of awareness from this plane. Perhaps we experience these flashes as that extraordinary power of intuition. Intuition may only come to us several times a year but it is very real. It is as if some inner energy is released within us at the moment we perceive some aspect of the truth which forms part of the future. This discharge of spiritual fire, the energy of Buddhi helps lay down the material  of that plane in the antakarana and, if.other elements are present, the material of the lens of the Third Eye. Learning to perceive in new dimensions is also a manifestation of Buddhi—the lengthening of the ‘moment of perception’.

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Atma

Atma is said to be a manifestation of Divine Will and rarer even than the other two. It manifests as the persistence of such men as a Moses in the Desert of Sinai, as Captain Scott or Amundsen at the Poles, or Ghandi in the midst of his fast. Roger Bannister, a medically qualified doctor, who was the first man to run the mile in under four minutes had this to say of his effort: ‘The secret of a champion runner is mental power; by tapping this source the champion takes more out of himself than he knew he possessed. This mental source is at the root of most great athletic performances.’ By a sympathetic rapport, Atma manifests best through the physical body (as with Roger Bannister); Buddhi operates through the astral body; and higher Manas reflects

• itself into lower Manas:
• The Soul : The Personality
• Atma : The Physical Body
• Buddhi : The Astral Body
• Higher Manas : Lower Manas

The Third Eye Needs a Lens There is a mystery contained here. All eyes need a lens to give meaning and acuity to the light sensations. The Third Eye is not exempt and a lens is built into the aura in front of the forehead. The construction of the lens is part of the necessary disciplines that lead to accurate perception with the organ of inner vision. The use of crystal-gazing indicates the nature of the mystery, the ball providing a focal point for the accumulation of material in the aura for the formation of a psychic lens a short distance in front of the forehead.

Astrological Implications
The astrological key to The Secret Doctrine gives us clues on how to channel the energies of Atma, Buddhi and Manas into the aura so that embryonic man may grow organs of inner vision. As a spiritual entity man is still half-formed and ugly, as are all embryos but their shape heralds the glory of the miracles of birth and rebirth that lies ahead of them. There are certain organs of the body which allow the energies of Atma, Buddhi and Manas to be directed purposefully towards building the lens of the Third Eye. These are the right and left eye, the nostrils (and breath) and the point between the eyes at the level of the forehead. They are related to Atma, Buddhi and Manas through astrological

• correlations:
• Atma : Centre of the Forehead
• Buddhi : Right Eye
• Manas : Left Eye

It should be remembered that the human face (as described by Madame Blavatsky) is derived from the Universe. Men exist everywhere in various modifications of the divine human form. In the Earth evolution man resulted from Animal/Man.

Focussing the Astral Light

The human eyes use a lens to concentrate or focus rays of light on to a sensitive region  of the retina. Here photo receptors register light impressions in clearly defined patterns which are then conveyed through the optic nerve by electrical impulses to the brain. Light would have no meaning to the brain unless it were first focused through the eye lenses. Similarly, average man cannot focus the Astral Light without the help of a lens. The lens concerned with focusing astral light is a part of the Third Eye and has to be built by the disciple, and then trained for active use by the initiate. Until command and coordination of the lens is perfected, there will be many false images and distortions picked up by the uninitiate.For instance, many perfectly honest disciples claim to have been the incarnation of St Francis of Assisi. They may well have registered, from their half-opened Third Eye, impressions related to that saint. It is more likely that they have served in the ashram of the Master K.H. who, in a previous life, really was himself St Francis. We are all linked to our ashrams and to the Lords of those saintly establishments. As the Third Eye opens, the links become stronger, especially when they have been formed during associations in previous lives. To have impressions of a previous association with St Francis does not imply that the ‘seer’ was once St Francis himself. Psychedelic drugs, and other stimulants like alcohol, may also produce early and.distorted opening of the Third Eye.

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The Optic Nerves

A study of the two human eyes will soon reveal the presence of the optic nerves. These have occult significance. It has always been proposed by occultists that the human eyes have a two-way activity in the picking up and the transmitting of energies—those from the outer world in the energy which we call light—and those from within which stem from the subtle vehicles. The latter—the radiatory capacity of man pour out through the eyes and are the basis of the ancient proposition of the ‘evil eye.’ The optic nerves are the only part of the brain which is visible from the exterior. They are to be seen clearly through an opthalmoscope. It is from this region of the eye that occult forces pour. In assessing these unseen and little known emanations, a Dr Oscar Brunler did valuable work some time ago. He showed that the written manuscripts, the great works of art, and sculptured pieces, carry permanently with them the radiations of the human eyes which poured over them lovingly during their creation. Measuring in ‘degrees biometric,’ Brunler gave an average score as 350. Rembrandt notched 638 degrees biometric:

• Joshua Reynolds: 586
• Giotto: 654
• Chopin: 550
• Wagner: 538
• Charles Dickens: 540

• Napoleon: 598
• Nelson: 510
• Frederick the Great: 657

He found that Sir Francis Bacon (640) was considerably higher than the actor Shakespeare, in whose name he is supposed (quite falsely) to have written. Michelangelo registered 689, while Leonardo da Vinci gave a reading of 725..The outpouring of energies from the Atma-Buddhi-Manas planes via the eyes is.therefore only found in highly creative men but in the meditational process and where focus of the eyes is achieved in certain ways, the outpouring can be considerable. When we focus the eyes in reading, the optic disc or blind spot looks directly ahead.