The two great events which were recorded in the two previous chapters were portrayed as being the working of a universal Hierarchy of Compassion, and it was emphasized that these were events with a continuing value for the human race. We are now prepared to study the manner in which this work is carried on today. These teachings will remain fresh in our minds as we realize more and more that they are as applicable today as they were some eighteen millions of years ago.
We have to understand that the “Descent of the Mânasaputras” was even more than an act of compassion. It was an event that was a part of human destiny. It had to be; not only would the human constitution have remained incomplete had this not happened, but it is likewise true that the destiny of the Mânasaputras would not have been fulfilled had they not sought incarnation in the minds of the human beings of that time in the far distant past.
So we might say that just as a man is incarnated within his physical body, his desires and emotions, as well as his astral, which we more conveniently call his vital-astral-physical monad, so the Mânasaputra is “imbodied” within the mind of the human being, and for the same general purpose. This purpose is twofold. It not only raises the mind of the human being to heights to which it could not otherwise attain, but it furthers the evolution of the Mânasaputra itself. It is the means whereby it attains still greater evolutionary stature. Growth is maintained throughout all parts of the human constitution. Thus it is likewise true that the man is imbodied in his vital-astral-physical monad, which we may term the animal monad, for the twofold reason that by means of this imbodiment he furthers his own evolution and at the same time raises the animal monad within himself, so that in time it too may manifest the now latent faculties and powers which will some day identify it as a human monad. Thus, even the repeated incarnations of a human being throughout the cycles of rebirth constitute an act of compassion from the standpoint of the animal monad. The enormous difference, however, lies in the fact that the Mânasaputras had long ago passed through the human stage as Kumâras, emerging at the end of the long cycles of the Lunar-Chain as Agnishvâttas. Their very nature is spiritual illumination, whereas we humans are struggling along in relative darkness, groping our way as it were; and we depend more than we know on the flame of spiritual consciousness that is burning within ourselves, the light of the Mânasaputras.
As a man awakens to his hidden glory, a change comes over him. The meaning of these teachings comes gradually to be a power in his life. He can never be the same man that he was before this realization came to him. Eventually it is borne in upon his mind that he too will some day be a Mânasaputra serving to light the mind of a being who has not as yet attained to humanhood, but which is now within his own nature as his Animal Monad. He then plays two roles; As he seeks out his own inner guide and places himself in an attitude of reverence before it, as a Disciple before his Teacher, he also strives to elevate his own “lower nature” or Animal Monad. And this becomes increasingly important to him, for he now knows himself to be a Temple of the God within.
Thus, in our own life he is enacting a drama that is far reaching in its implications. He discovers that in his own small way he is setting the stage for a great event that will one day become a reality to him because it has happened to others who have gone farther on the road of spiritual attainment than he has. He discovers that it is possible for him to raise the level of his consciousness out of the animal part of himself into the truly human part. He knows that to a degree he can raise his consciousness still higher into the spiritual-divine part of himself, at least for brief periods of time.
As he learns about the world's great Teachers, he discovers the importance of this principle of the raising of his consciousness through the various levels of his being; and he strives to make it a habit to turn his consciousness upwards whenever he has the opportunity of doing so. At the same time he strives to develop a well-balanced nature so that he puts his full attention on what he is doing and gives to every task his best efforts. The instinct to do this comes from the better parts of himself, and it is always a reliable guide for him in making his self-appraisals.
Through study he learns that each Round is characterized in general by a type of consciousness, on the part of the human beings, that is directly related to monads within himself; his Animal Monad, his genuinely Human Monad, his Spiritual Monad and his Divine Monad. He learns that the type of consciousness that is characteristic of this fourth Round is what is technically called the Kâma-Mânasic, or the mind dominated by desire. He learns also that type of consciousness which will characterize the next Round will be the higher Mânasic and, again, that the consciousness for the sixth Round will be the Buddhic. It comes to him then, that the Elder Brothers of the Race, those whom we call the Mâhatmans, are such because they have already attained to the Mânasic Consciousness. Their consciousness is similar to what human consciousness will be during the greater part of the fifth Round. Then he learns that the greatest of them all, the Buddhas, are such because the Buddhic principle is the dominant consciousness of their lives. In other words, they have the consciousness, which will characterize the human race of the sixth Round.
There are several classifications of us human beings. These may be set out in tabular form for the purposes of our study:
| Buddhas | Good men |
| Mâhatmans | Indifferent men |
| Chelas | Evil men |
| Lost Souls |
As we have found before, this tends to separate itself into a higher triad and a lower quaternary. Briefly, these latter, for the most part experience the fourth Round consciousness because they are Fourth Rounders, as we call the members of the human race. They are in the vast majority. Those who are classified as the Evil men and the Lost Souls are they who are actually “swimming against the current.” They are going backward rather than forward in evolutionary growth. This of course is contrary to nature, and their suffering as a consequence will be great indeed.
However, our attention is to be directed to the Higher Triad of this classification, which includes the Chelas, the Mahâtmans and the Buddhas. The Chelas are those who are striving to experience the higher human consciousness. They are making a definite effort to achieve that consciousness which will be the lot of the human beings of the next Round. This objective may not necessarily be the motivating power in their lives, important as it is. For them the dominant motive is service to humanity under the guidance of their Teachers. They have dedicated themselves to the task of aiding in the spiritual awakening of the human race. They seek consciously to ally themselves with the Hierarchy of Compassion. As they are able to do this more and more, they awaken the higher Mânasic portion of their beings, and they learn to focus their consciousness on that level. They become the thing for which they yearn. Gradually they pass over the bridge that separates them from their former selves, and they attain Adeptship. We have been told that this is the most difficult feat that is possible for any human being to achieve.
The awakened Adept lives in his Mânasic Monad, illumined by his Buddhic Principle or Mânasaputra. He has learned through initiation that not only does he have the radiance of the Mânasaputra within him as described earlier, but that he also has another Mânasaputra, which is himself on the way to that state of consciousness wherein he becomes a full-blown God.
In the course of time, when this latent Mânasaputra has become manifest, then and then only has he become a Buddha. Such are very rare indeed. And then a great mystery has unfolded for him. Not only has he the indwelling and illuminating presence of the Mânasaputra, and the Âtman, his inner God, but within what was his former higher Manas, the latent Mânasaputra has now become manifest, with its own Buddhic glory taking over his life.
The Nirvâna was referred to in the preceding chapter, and it was explained that there are many grades of Nirvâna, each such grade being experienced by the type of entity that is evolutionally ready for it. Now the great mystery in the life of a Buddha is that when Buddahood has been achieved, then the highest parts of his constitution are ready to go into their own lofty Nirvâna. In the case of Guatama the Buddha, he reached Buddahood at some time during his manhood. (It may not be possible to indicate during which year.) Then at the age of eighty years, his highest parts, his Âtman and Buddhi, withdrew into their own Nirvânic rest. But Guatama did not die. That portion which was left, consisting of his own spiritually awakened human self, with its own Mânasaputra now developed, remained behind for another twenty years and carried on his work of teaching. In this state he was what is known as a Bodhisattva.
One of the many paradoxes, which crop up in the teaching, is apparent here. We have represented the Buddha as being one individual having manifested his own inner God, and also two entities, the higher one having gone into its Nirvânic rest and the enlightened human part having remained behind as a Bodhisattva. Both ideas are correct. A paradox does not consist of two conflicting statements. It is more like the case of the two sides of a coin, which appear to be opposite; and yet there was never a coin minted with one side only! The stage was set for this concept in describing the constitution of the hypothetical Lunar Man and the manner in which his several parts or monads went into their individual Nirvânic rests to be reassembled as it were when the time had come to fashion the complete human being on Earth.
The case is not quite comparable to that of the Buddha, of course, but the concept of the highly complex nature of a human being can now be grasped more readily. He is at once one and many. And with the evolutionary growth that takes place resulting in the constitution of a Buddha, the component parts become more individualized as each has its important part to play.
So in a certain sense, the Inner God of the Buddha has established the relation of Teacher and Pupil between itself and the Bodhisattva part. This Inner God has overshadowed the Bodhisattva — to use a term that is generally accepted; though not necessarily the best. Over-illumined would better describe this exalted relationship. So during many years of the life of Guatama, this Inner God was manifest through him; and then it retired into Nirvâna, leaving the Bodhisattva to continue the work.
Finally at the age of 100 years, the Bodhisattva cast aside his worn-out physical and astral bodies and entered into a state of life known as the Nirmânakâya. The word requires some explanation. The teaching concerns the ‘Trikâya’ or the three Glorious Vestures. The derivation is tri — three, and kâya — body or vesture. These are the bodies in which dwell spiritual entities of a very lofty type. Obviously physical bodies are not meant. An understanding of these three vestures will make it possible to present even more clearly what happened in the case of Guatama the Buddha.
First, and from one standpoint the highest of these vestures, is the Dharmakâya, from dharma — law, and kâya — body. A Nirvânî, a lofty spiritual entity that has entered fully into the Nirvâna, is said to have donned the Dharmakâya robe or vesture. In this vesture he remains for aeons in a state of pure cosmic consciousness, ineffable bliss; all else is without meaning.
The second vesture, the Sambhogakâya (sambhoga — delightful participation, and kâya — body) is a somewhat less complete Nirvânic state. It is that condition in which a God or a Buddha may enjoy the fruits of the Nirvânic bliss without losing his identity. He has no further earthly concerns for the duration of the Nirvâna, but he has not lost touch completely with himself, as has the one who has entered into the Dharmakâya state.
The third robe or vesture is the Nirmânakâya, the farthest removed from Nirvâna, but from one standpoint the loftiest of the robes, for the reason that it is donned by the Buddha of Compassion who refuses to enter the Nirvâna, who remains behind in order to sacrifice himself for the sake of the human race, which would be truly lost were it not for the great compassion of these loftiest of the Buddhas.
So in more definite terms, this is what happened in the case of Guatama the Buddha: when he had reached the age of eighty, as said before, the Inner God entered into the Nirvâna. It donned the Dharmakâya Robe. Its karmic time had come to do so. The Spiritual Ego donned the Sambhogakâya Robe and entered into a relatively complete Nirvâna; and the portion, which was left, became a Bodhisattva. As such, he taught for another twenty years, and when he cast off his body, he assumed the Nirmânakâya Robe, as stated. This was a sacrifice in that he was actually ready for the Nirvâna, having now attained to the state of Buddhahood in his own right. Instead of entering the Nirvâna, however, he elected to remain in the world, though in a sense not of it. On casting off his physical and astral bodies, he remained fully complete in all other respects and became one of the Guardians of the human race. He is the Chief of the Brotherhood of the Adepts, and is their Teacher, known probably to only the highest of them, though his influence is felt by all.
From time to time he performs a great wonder; this was done quite soon after his passing as Guatama the Bodhisattva. He caused the appearance of the Avatâra Samkarâchârya. In describing this we shall gain an understanding of the nature of an Avatâra and will come to understand likewise that the Nirmânakâya has taken upon himself the task of causing the appearance of Avatâras from time to time — one of the most recent being the instance of Jesus the Christ.
When the time came for the appearance of Samkarâchârya, a human body was in the process of being built in the usual manner. The human entity that would have inhabited that body was temporarily set aside, for the body was to be used for a special and holy purpose. No harm was done to this incarnating entity, however. His devachanic rest lasted a few years longer perhaps; and, as a matter of fact, he was greatly benefited by the use that was made of the body that in the normal course of events would have been used by him.
The Nirmânakâya entered a portion of himself into this body, which was in the process of building. This was not a complete incarnation as it is in the usual case; only a portion of the vital essence quickened and informed this boy's body, and so the child was born and grew to manhood. At the appropriate time of his life, an initiation took place in which the body lay entranced, while the Nirmânakâya entered into the inner realms of the Solar System and made contact with a Divinity that was karmically ready to enter the arena of human life for the furtherance of the work of compassion. When this contact had been established, the Nirmânakâya was infilled with the radiance of the Divine Consciousness of the God that entered into this karmic work, the body awakened, and the initiant rose as an illumined one, an Avatâra.
This has been called a feat of White Magic for the reason that this particular combination of this body, this Nirmânakâya and this particular God had never before been accomplished and would never again be brought together in this same manner. It was accomplished for a particular purpose, and was one instance in a long series of such appearances. The story of Jesus the Avatâra is interwoven with many hints of these esoteric concepts. This is the sense in which he may have been called the only son of God. His appearance was the only one of its kind; it would never be repeated in exactly the same manner.
We must now carry our study out of the human arena into that of the cosmos itself, for what happens among us humans is only the counterpart of cosmic processes. Thus, just as there are human or Mânushya-Buddhas, so there are Cosmic of Dhyâni-Buddhas. And just as there are human Bodhisattvas, so there are Cosmic or Dhyâni-Bodhisattvas. And by inference we might conclude that the process of producing an Avatâra by a feat of white magic, in the manner just explained, is but the human counterpart of mighty cosmic processes.
There is, indeed, a Golden Chain extending upwards from pupil to Teacher, then to higher Teachers, and so on to the very heart of the Universe itself. This is the sacred Guruparamparâ, which extends from human Bodhisattva to human Buddha, to Celestial or Dhyâni-Bodhisattva, to Dhyâni-Buddha, and beyond. Thus, we can only imagine the state of consciousness of Guatama, who was illumined not only by the Buddha within himself; but through that Buddha, he was illumined by the Celestial Buddha, through the Celestial or Dhyâni-Bodhisattva. And the supreme wonder is that the Dhyâni-Buddha is that Wondrous Being, described by H. P. Blavatsky in the passage quoted in a previous chapter. Actually, every initiant, when he is ready for the initiation, is put in touch with that Wondrous Being through the intermediary of the Nirmânakâyas themselves. The very contemplation of these themes brings us nearer to that which knows no equal, the Divine Consciousness at the heart of every one of us, and which itself is the inner link with the Silent Watcher of Humanity.