EASTERN SCHOOL OF THEOSOPHY

DEGREE II

FIRST SUPPLEMENTARY PAPER

TO

INSTRUCTION NO. IV

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STRICTLY PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

NOT THE PROPERTY OF ANY MEMBER, AND TO BE RETURNED ON
DEMAND TO THE AGENT OF THE HEAD OF THE E.S.T.

FIRST SUPPLEMENTARY PAPER

TO INSTRUCTION NO. IV

On the first two pages of No. IV it is pointed out that H.P.B. intended to adopt certain terms, such as Kosmos as distinguished from Cosmos, in order to have a definite nomenclature, and students were reminded that she “laid great stress on the definite adoption of terms and their systematic use.” Now, as at the same time the student will find here and there in her published writings and sometimes in the First Degree papers, an absence of this very definiteness, it is necessary to draw attention to the fact that it is now––in this Degree––a very different matter, and those of this Degree are to be as careful in respect to terms as is requested on the two pages above mentioned. In speaking to the world and to beginners, it is neither necessary nor useful to be over-particular about words in such a language as English, which is not a scientific one, so long as ideas are expressed so as to be comprehended by such beginners from their standpoint.
There is no contradiction between this stress laid on definiteness and the use of the terms loka and tala on pp. 662-68 and in Diagram V, as some have supposed. In the latter case H.P.B. first gives certain accepted exoteric terms and explanations; she then selects two sets of names, and allocates them to the description of two opposed extremities of states of Consciousness. But once having thus allocated them, she uses them in a perfectly definite way.

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PAGE 657

Proceeding further with what is said here about the inadequacy of diagrams, and also in respect to consciousness, it may be observed and should be always remembered:
(a) Diagrams are always plane or flat figures and cannot be otherwise.
(b) Almost every natural and occult fact and law has reference to interblending and interpenetrating states, conditions and things.

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(c) Consciousness, including astral perception, sees not only objects with limits but can at one glance see many objects and ideas to an extent impossible for the five senses.
(d) Therefore, no diagram can fully represent these ideas and laws.
Take, for instance, the perception by a seer with the astral senses, of a five, or other, pointed star, as being over the head of A, another person. This star, though standing with its face to the seer, may be visible to other seers who are standing at the sides of A, instead of in front. It follows, apparently, that either (a) there are as many stars as seers, each star with its lines at different angle from the other; or (b) there is but one star. But in fact both (a) and (b) are right. If only one seer, but one star; increase the seers and the stars increase, though each seer will see but one.
The explanation of it shows how impossible it is for a diagram to represent these teachings fully, and also conveys a fact in Occultism to students. It is this:
Taking the case cited, the rays of Âkâœa and their arrangement which cause a star to be seen, are present all round the person, and at any and every point in the aura the one star exists, but as the perceiver is different from the person in front of whom the star exists, he can see one star only, and that at the point where his organs of astral vision cut the rays of the Âkâśa. And it is the same with other pictures that might exist in the aura of anyone. Each picture exists in the entire aura without interfering with any other, and at the same time each or any picture is complete at any one spot or point in the same aura. Hence two seers may, and often do, see two different pictures at the same spot in the astral light.
With other matters in Occultism the same law holds, whether in relation to such as are strictly human or otherwise. As, for instance, an Ego may be in a state of Devachan at some place in which human beings are alive and acting on this plane, and yet not be aware of the fact.
It is therefore absolutely necessary for all students in this Degree to accustom themselves to this law and make it a part of themselves, at the same time not forgetting nor throwing away the knowledge gained in respect to other matters and modes of thought.

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PAGE 659

That “H.P.B. did not explain Prâkritic consciousness.” She referred to it so that the student should know of its existence, but withheld the explanation because to know about it now, before being guarded by

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more advanced knowledge, would be dangerous. It relates to the Elementals, among other matters, and it is well known that instructions about those have always been kept back. As it represents the whole body of the Solar System, the student will do well to consult what she says in The Secret Doctrine about the planets and the Sun. If instruction were given hereupon, that moment the mental force of students who worked upon the teaching would project their consciousness into that realm. For the mind and consciousness acting together have the power to separate or segregate the different planes one from the other; and this too in the case of the merest beginner. Refer back here to the illustrations given as to page 658 respecting interpenetration and interblending of planes. So long as the mind is not directed by definite instruction or hints it will rarely go to this extent, and hence it was safe to say, as given, that there was this Prâkritic consciousness, without explaining it further.
The danger lies in the possibility of evoking entities far too powerful and unspiritual for ordinary men and women to have any dealings with.

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PAGE 660

Where it is said that the action of Âtma-Buddhi is with microbes, etc. The Âtma-Buddhi here spoken of are not principles of Âtma-Buddhi as belonging to man, but the general fountain for the Cosmos of Âtma-Buddhi. For, under the law of correspondences, Âtma-Buddhi and Manas in man must have their prototype or great fountain in Cosmos. That is, the same sort of principles must have action in Cosmos. Now each man has specialized Manas, so as to enable Âtma-Buddhi to act through it on this plane, but until the Seventh Race the principle Manas will not be developed for Cosmos as it is now in man, and hence one of the planes in which this general principle of Âtma-Buddhi acts––without Manas also acting––is that of microbes, etc., and thus from one point of view it is senseless, inasmuch as it proceeds under a general great law and makes no conscious choice.

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PAGES 661, 662

There is no confusion between the remark on page 661 that the consciousness of idiots is on the astral instinctual plane and that on page 662 that “in idiots the instinctual consciousness on the lower planes of sensation is in the Kâma-Mânasic or Psychic state” because the remark on page 662 adds “on the lower planes of sensation.” On page 661 the general law for idiots is given, and on p.662 it is amplified

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in respect to their consciousness on certain planes of sensation. This explanation is given because some have picked out these two parts and demanded a reconciliation of them which it seems could have been made by students by the use of analysis and reflection and by freedom of mental action on the whole range of topics as related together.
In that paragraph where it is said under “Astral Prâkritic Consciousness,” that objects are reversed, it should be further remembered that although objects, numbers, etc., are in fact reversed on that plane, many clairvoyants unconsciously to themselves often perform the reversion of the reversed image, so as to see the numbers and objects correctly. This again illustrates the delusive character of this plane, inasmuch as the ordinary seer does not know the facts as they are, and acts unknowingly so far as his reason is concerned, being unaware that he has reversed the reverse image, just as we do with the physical eye.

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PAGE 663 AND FORWARD, INCLUDING DIAGRAM V

The whole relates to Lokas and Talas, as States of Consciousness or planes in which consciousness acts. The earth and the body, for instance, constitute a place, or strictly a Loka, from which consciousness may go into any other Loka or Tala. And when it speaks of a man going to or being in this or that Loka or Tala, the meaning is that the consciousness of a living person, having and using a body, may alter and thus go from Loka to Loka, or Tala to Tala, or from Loka to Tala. In that case his normal waking consciousness is in such a Loka or Tala––as the case may be––as properly represents his development.
Diagram V is both a table of correspondences and oppositions. For by opposition or “other extreme” there may be a correspondence. This would be known as “correspondence by opposition.”
The Lokas are qualified by the word “divine” and the Talas by “infernal,” so as to differentiate the words, since sometimes Tala may mean the same as Loka if not qualified. Thus as shown on page 664, in the Sânkhya, Loka is used, while in the Vedânta Tala is taken. Having explained the Talas from the Vedantin standpoint and having given their corresponding States of Consciousness, H.P.B. proceeds to elaborate the Esoteric teaching and she then––needing two sets of words, to designate opposed conditions within one State of Consciousness––adopted Loka as representing the lofty pole, Tala as representing the degraded pole, or the divine and the infernal. Take any corresponding Loka and Tala. The two together represent a State of Consciousness in which a man is; in his highest moments in that state he is at the Divine pole, the Loka; at his lowest, he is at the Infernal pole or Tala. In this

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Diagram the word Tala is used to designate a lower state or place and is thus called “infernal.”
Take now the second and third columns to 4. These are in opposition and hence any consciousness in any of them is in opposition to the other or is at its extremity. Bhûrloka, the habitat of thinking and good men, is opposed by Pâtâla, the animal gross body and the astral personality as such. Hence if, while a man is placed among good men, his consciousness is fixed on the animal gross body, he is really in Pâtâla.
Bhuvarloka is a state of consciousness in which he thinks more of his inner life and it is opposed by Mahâtala because that is the abode of the astral shadow. It is not removed from the body but distinguishes the condition or vibration of the astral shadow when the thinker is working in Bhuvarloka.
In 3, Svarloka, the desires and passions have been almost wholly overcome, and it is opposed by Rasâtala, or that condition wherein desires and passions have complete control. Rasâtala is properly the name for the latter inasmuch as it is the flavor or savor of things and sensations that the desires bring up when they are unsubdued.
The 4th, Maharloka, is the point in development where Kâma has been subdued and Antahkarana may be destroyed. Hence it is opposed, at the other extreme, by Talâtala, where the Lower Manas has been so often sucked down by Kâma that the Antahkarana is atrophied and the loss of the soul results. This is plainly and graphically shown in the fourth division of the column headed “planes of corresponding Hierarchies.” For there the two opposite poles are given concluding with the words: “The sphere of compassion at the one end, and that of intense selfishness at the other.” In the Secret Teachings the intensity of selfishness is always given as the opposite pole of intensity of compassion.
The first five columns may be used together down to the double ruling. But the six columns on the other page above the double ruling cannot be made to correspond with the former fully. For see page 672, that the senses have no regular order of precedence or priority, as they pervade one another and as they are only differentiations of one sense. But a correspondence may be made on certain occasions. Inasmuch as it is known very well in medicine, hypnotism and general experience, that a sensitive may taste with organs of touch, and hear with organs of taste, and otherwise reverse ordinary experience, it is quite evident that the senses as we know them have no unchangeable order. Further, as known to Masters, and to the Head of the E.S.T. and many students by personal experience, every sound produces its color whether that be

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perceived or not. One might then be unable to hear the sound but might see the color belonging to a sound produced.
From Bhûr- to Mahar-loka metaphysical states are mentioned; from Pâtâla to Talâtala physical and metaphysical places and states. And the use of the words “region,” “abode,” “state” and “plane” is to be made with the understanding that the physical limits in space are not intended to be inferred, inasmuch as “astral region” may coëxist with physical body or region at the one place. This is shown in the seventh division of last column where it is said that so far as the Âkâúa in the skull is concerned, the various bodies and cells therein do not exist. This means that were your consciousness fixed solely on and in that Âkâúa in your own skull you would not see any of the contents of the skull pan, though regarding the place where they would be visible to the outer eye.
These words lead us now to below the double ruling on Diagram V (see page 667, near bottom). Above that line Rûpa states of consciousness are referred to, or those when in the body; below it the Arûpa or formless states are given. And in this the rule given above in respect to opposition prevails. Janar is a high spiritual state, Sutala the correspondingly low material state, using material here in the sense of invisible matter; in Vitala the loss of the soul is complete, thus opposing the Christos state; Atala is a continuation physically of Vitala because the physical force must be exhausted; it properly designates the next rebirth after that one in which the soul was lost, and therefore it opposes Satyaloka wherein the great choice may be made, whereas in Vitala no choice whatever is possible.
There is no contradiction, as some have hurriedly thought, between this and page 672, second paragraph, where Vitala may also represent a high state. In both there is what ordinary men call annihilation since the Ego is swallowed up. But in the higher swallowing up of the Ego is temporary or Cosmic until the new coming-forth, whereas in the lower it is swallowed up forever so far as concerns the person. And on page 672, H.P.B. made the remarks adverted to in an illustrative way only and not in order to confuse the nomenclature. For if the words Vitala and others are wholly abandoned, one must formulate the state of consciousness formerly designated by that word, by a series of words expressive of the idea involved. For example, if we destroy the word Atala, we will then describe the state thus: “that in which there is a continuation of combination of molecules of different planes into a living form devoid of a soul which had fled in a preceding life; and that may be either from spiritual or unspiritual causes.”
This will now be clear with a knowledge of the following fact in Occultism, to wit: A holy and high Yogi may desert the body and

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lower principles when he has arrived at Taparloka state, but the forces engendered on this plane may produce a body without a soul, but not in any way wicked. It will be like the revolving of the wheel when the potter’s foot is withdrawn. The real man then is in Satyaloka to make the great choice inevitably. But in Vitala the soul is gone and the forces on the physical plane bring out a body in the state of Atala or soulless and wicked inevitably beyond choice either way. This ought to make perfectly clear why H.P.B. spoke as recorded on page 672.
But to elaborate further. Let us for the moment abandon the words Taparloka and Vitala and Satyaloka and Atala, describing these opposed states in terms.
Taparloka. That state, whether incarnate or not, of the Ego, when through many lives of devotion, etc., the Ego is invulnerable, etc. The forces on the material plane which produced the body used by such a Yogi have a force which may result in the production of a new body devoid of soul but protected from any entry by vicious influences of any kind. Such a body will be good, but being without soul is in the Vitala state.
Vitala. As applied to those who have lived wickedly, the soul is lost in the life when this state is reached and the whole trend of what is left physically, astrally and mentally, is wicked, and vicious. But the forces must exhaust and will produce a new body which is soulless from birth and wholly vicious.
Satyaloka. Is that next step or stage for the Yogi who had reached Taparloka and it need not require in every case a new incarnation of the Ego. In this the great choice is made as inevitably as Atala follows Vitala. The Yogi becomes Nirmânakâya.
Atala. The exhaustion of the forces produced by the persistently wicked, and by which is brought forth the new, soulless and wicked body referred to under Vitala, above.
No. 7 under “Corresponding Hierarchies” is in line with Satyaloka and Vitala. It is the noumenal, the consummatum est of the Universe, for here extremes meet. Atala is the point where the physical disappears or is disappearing into the noumenal, as Satyaloka is the state wherein the Yogi is truly joined with the All. Hence we may, from the standpoint so far taken, make a correspondence with Âkâśa, Satyaloka, Atala, the next unnamed state and Arûpa, for at this point form, as imposing any limits to perception, has disappeared.
There are many so-called mysteries of life which are additionally mysterious to the mind of the day from the effect of so many centuries of materialistic education, but all such so called mysteries are facts. Many of them are puzzling from the habit so many have of demanding in their minds, if not by words, that everything shall square by

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the rules they have learned or by their own development. And many facts are avoided by students from a fear that they look as if a belief in them bordered on superstition. Some of these relate to the very matters alluded to in the foregoing. It is well known to certain students, and has often been told them by H.P.B., that Adepts in some cases wholly desert their bodies, which live on from that point until the day of death of the body entirely devoid of a soul, but the influence of the Adept on the atoms and consequently on all new physical atoms coming into the form, is such that no evil influence enters and the life led by that body is harmless and often actively good. Again, sometimes such a body may be given over to an unprogressed but deserving Ego which uses it for what can be gotten out of it. That Ego, however, cannot have such a body except where its Karma permits. But those Adepts who have been called Masters by H.P.B. have not deserted their bodies, and we feel compelled to provide for a question by this statement in advance because it might happen that some of the School might wonder––without giving time to reflect on the question––if those beings could be such as we have just spoken of.
But in the case of the desertion of a body by a black Magician the matter is very different, for there the whole line of lives preceding has been so essentially vicious that the atoms left and all atoms to come thereafter into the limits of the form are and will be wholly bad, and thus such a soulless being will be a terror to the race. But at the same time there are many in the Atala or Vitala state that are inactively bad, doing nothing much of any sort, and only carrying out the law of nature which provides for the dissipation in the right way of all those elements which have to be ground out, so to say, in the great mill of the Gods.
Now go to page 666, where it is said that Rasâtala is blind inside blind. There is no confusion in reality here. The table giving the same name to a state refers to a man as he is now both physically and mentally, whereas the remarks on the page mentioned refer to other planes of being below and above ours, and hence similar terms have to be employed inasmuch as we have not the terms and language of those planes. Here the Instructions are speaking of the higher Elementals often mentioned by the Rosicrucians and by the ancients, as the Sight Devas. Some of these are below man and some above him in the sense of their belonging to another order of evolution; and therefore they may be said to be in either Rûpa- or Rasâ-tala. The having but three senses shows that this has no reference to the diagram as applied to man. These elementals are some of those whom we have said it is dangerous for man to have any dealings with until he is fully fitted to be their master in every sense.

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PAGES 664 TO 666

Where Talâtala is also called Karatala, and Rasâtala Rûpatala. This is only one of the necessities of the language. Talâtala is a repetition of Tala making it stronger, and meaning, when related to our senses, that matter has become tangible and may be handled, for Kara is “hand.” Going to the diagram above analyzed we find that Lower Manas here clings to things, and thus the correspondence is perfectly accurate and is a correspondence made between a metaphysical and physical state.

Rasâ is also Rûpa-tala because in order to appreciate and know the physical form of anything, touch, taste and sight are required. It may not seen at first glance that taste has anything to do with the cognizing of form, but it has, inasmuch as physical form partakes of prithivi or earth, and the distinguishing characteristic of that is taste or flavor and smell, all being interrelated to each other. And turning again to the diagram where we now look for the corresponding state of the entangled self we see that under Rasâtala the principle Kâma longs for the taste of everything.

The next on page 666 refers to Mahâtala as connected with the Elementals which belong also to the preceding. Here those beings are coming nearer to man, for we see that as said on the page they have the power to some extent of living in and by the lower five senses of man and correspond to Kâma and Prâna in the human scale. But as they are without form they are still below men and have not developed Manas. To them man seems as a God, for he shines in their sight. They are also dangerous for man. They have power and certain sorts of knowledge he has not, but they are devoid of that which gives to man his conscience.

These two classes of beings are to some extent waked up when a person is hypnotized or under drugs, for then the consciousness is put artificially into an artificial state and is more entangled than ever, although showing knowledge of things not known in the normal state. It is for this, among other reasons, that H.P.B. was opposed to the use of hypnotism, and why the rules of the E.S.T. are against the use of drugs and narcotics except tobacco. Drugs and spirits bring on this state in a greater or less degree, and thus act contrary to the development of the spiritual insight, but tobacco when used only moderately does not have such effect.

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PAGE 672, “COLORS”

The explanation given on this page is not full, as every single word of the elucidation was not given at one time by H.P.B., and was not at each time taken down verbatim; but it is as follows, understanding at the same time that a great deal more can be said at the right time. For in these matters the correspondences are almost endless and to be fully grasped require minds of great analytical power and memories not yet developed in this civilization.
The relation is not of blue to the Earth, but to earth or prithivi, and the color given to that is dark blue, which to be properly known must be seen, as it is not possible to describe the shades of a color. It is the same color that Krishna is often painted, and in the sense it is given here it will––according to the use to be made––correspond to the Auric Envelope. For in one sense the A. E. is the earth; for the Ego who is going through the stream of evolution.
The nose and the next division similarly correspond, for the reason that smell, the characteristic of prithivi, is perceived especially by the nose, although, as said before, the senses may work out of their usual order. But it is very plain that generation corresponds to earth, and the metaphysical correspondence may be made with the A. E., for it is through the preserving power of that principle that we come to the earth again and again in our evolution. By taking the last division on the page we have now come to a part of the astral and inner physiology which is not clear to minds that do not in fact understand even as much as is known today in the world of physical anatomy and physiology. How then explain in full the other and hidden senses and organs? The sense spoken of as being highly developed in animals makes no confusion, because it is in that kingdom that the development begins, and hence in that development specializations and accelerations take place in single senses; in man these are hidden and potential through the greater power the others have and the great combination he has to use. This can be illustrated from any complicated machine of many parts made by man. In such a machine the smallest lever is as important as the others and has taken the time, thought and energy of one man to make, but when the complete machine is running the action of any one is not perceived and we see that the whole makes a great combination doing a certain work.
The mechanical device known as a “cam” is one of the most useful, necessary and common, yet it is sometimes in appearance rude and clumsy, but it has become known in all its many possibilities through the work of many years and many men. Yet without the machine in which to work it, it is not of much consequence.

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PAGE 671

This is one of the most important paragraphs in the book. It contains much that will take any student a long time to do and much effort.
Those who are not naturally of the higher order of psychics are recommended to make a bundle of the four lower planes of consciousness and fix it on the higher. This is to be done, if benefit is to be derived, without intermission and at the same time the bodily wants are to be attended to, for by the words “making ducks and drakes” H.P.B. intended to allude to him who attends to the body by ascetic practices, and attempts to compel the body to observe certain rules the mind lays down.
But if one spends time in continual attention to the lower wants and regulations, the upper will be neglected surely, and the mind at last be steeped in such lower observances. The higher states must, then, be thought of and an attempt be made to pin the thoughts there. The very attempt to do this will result in a natural rising of the mind to the point aimed at, and if it be continued then a mental habit will ensue, so that from stage to stage the mind rises higher and higher toward that which it has resolved to seek. If persisted in, then times will come when a reach to the goal is accomplished, from which there will be a temporary falling down, but not to the lowest point. This is the law of nature, and knowing it, the student who is discouraged by not succeeding is unwise and forgetful, for all these cautions are given not only for information but also for use and encouragement.

WILLIAM Q. JUDGE.