Lesson 2 THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION

Vicente Hao Chin, Jr.

heosophy, in common with practically all 5. LiŠga ®ar…ra: the astral double which is the the major religious traditions, considers model of the phys i cal body Thuman beings to be composed of layers of 6. Pr€Ša: the life ener gy consciousness and bodies. In theosophy, the 7. Sth™la ®ar…ra: Physi cal body different layers of consciousness are also referred to as “principles,” as distinguished from These seven princi ples can be divided into the “bodies” through which the principles two major parts: the immor tal higher triad (or express themselves. The enumeration of these štma-Buddhi-Manas) and the lower quater - principles have slight variations among different nary com posed of the rest, which is dis carded theosophical writers, but are in agreement in the upon the death of the per son. Knowledge of most essential elements. these princi ples enable us to better under stand the pro cesses in volved in such things as the death and after -death states, re in car na tion, med i ta tion, heal ing, mes mer ism, and many n the os o phy, the dif fer ent lay ers of other non-phys i cal phe nom ena. Such knowl- con scious ness are also re ferred to as edge con sti tutes one of the I“prin ci ples,” as dis tin guished from most im por tant foun da - the “bodies” through which the tions of the os o phy and esotericism. prin ci ples ex press themselves. Of the seven princi ples, štma has a basic quality dif ferent from the others. H.P. Blavatsky, the prin ci pal source of mod ern It is not an in di vid ual en - theo soph i cal teach ings, stated that hu man be ings tity. It is a univer sal prin- consist of seven princi ples: ci ple that man i fests it self 1. štma: the Spirit, or spark of the Divine through the six ve hi cles or prin ci ples, from Buddhi 2. Buddhi: the Spir i tual Soul, or ve hi cle of down to the phys i cal štma; Spir i tual Soul body. It only be comes an 3. Manas: the mind, or Hu man Soul, which in di vid ual en tity or con sists of two lev els, the higher and the lower Monad when it links with 4. Kama: de sire, the Ani mal Soul, which is Buddhi. For this rea son, The etheric double of a usually linked with the lower mind, forming Blavatsky def ines the healthy person (From Man kama-manas Monad as štma-Buddhi. Visible and Invisible) 2 THE AGELESS WISDOM: READINGS ON THEOSOPHY

In her Es oteric Instruc tions to her students, In a later clas si fi cation, Besant and Leadbeat - Blavatsky in cluded the štmic Aura or Au ric Egg er iden ti fied the Monad no longer as (also called Au ric En ve lope) as one of the prin ci - štma-Buddhi but on a higher level above the ples, in place of štma. Simi larly, she removed štmic called the Anupadaka (or pr€Ša as a princi ple, it being a univer sal rather Anupap€daka) Plane. than an in di vid ual prin ci ple. Equiv a lents in Re li gious Tra di tions. The Body, Astral, K€ma, Lower Manas, Higher prin ci ples of the human be ing have equiv a lent Manas, Buddhi, and štmic Aura or Au ric Egg, con cepts in the dif fer ent tra di tions. are given as the princi ples. Life is a Univer sal In the Judeao-Christian-Islamic tradi tion, Kosmic Princi ple, and no more than štman does they are gen er ally di vided into three com po - it be long to in di vid uals. Pr€Ša and the Auric En - nents: velope are essen tially the same, and again as J…va it is the same as the Uni versal Deity. (CW Old Tes ta ment New Qur’an 12:672) Tes ta ment The Auric En ve lope was not given out in Blavatsky’s public writ ings because she said it Spirit Ruah (Ruach) Pneuma Ruh was very sacred. This film or aura is the one that dif fer en ti ates the hu man be ing from pure Aka•a Soul Nephesh Psy che Nafs and bound less J…va. It is also the pre server of the Body Gewiyah Soma Jism in di vid ual’s kar mic re cord, and the source of one’s astral form. (CW 12:607-8) In the theo log i cal and mys ti cal lit er a ture of These nu ances led to the even tual adop tion of a these three re li gions, how ever, we find that widely pop u lar clas si fi ca tion given by An nie there are fur ther sub di vi sions that have equiv - Besant and C.W. Leadbeat er which is as follows: alences in the seven princi ples of human be- ings in the os o phy. In the Jewish San skrit Eng lish Com ment Kabbalah, for ex am - štma Spir i t ple, higher than the Ruah is Neshamah or Buddhi Intuitional Spir i tual Soul divine spirit. As such it may be more proper Ar™pa Manas Causal Ab stract mind to equate Neshamah R™pa Manas Lower Mental Con crete men tal with štma, whereas Ruah would be ei ther K€ma Emo tional; (As tral) The term “astral” was now the Buddhi or Higher used as equiv alent to kama Manas. Fur ther more, rather than LiŠga ®ar…ra the Kabbalah con - LiŠga ®ar…ra Etheric The LiŠga ®ar…ra was structs the “Tree of called “etheric body” rather Life” which assumes than “as tral body” and was ten prin ci ples or con sid ered as part of the sephiroth within a hu - phys i cal body man be ing. The three highest, the triad Sth™la ®ar…ra Phys i cal Kether, Binah and Chocmah, are equiv a - THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION 3 lent to štma-Buddhi-Manas, and the oth ers are al-nabatiyah, the veg e ta tive soul. The Qur’an psy chic or phys i cal. also clas si fies the nafs into three, al though In Chris tian ity, Thomas Aqui nas dis tin guished these are more de scrip tive of the devel op men - be tween the ra tio nal soul, sen si tive soul, veg e ta - tal stages of the soul rather than princi ples. tive soul (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 78, 1). The They are the nafs al-ammarah, the soul that is vege ta tive soul is that which is awake in plants, prone to evil; nafs al-lawwamah, or the sensi tive soul is active in ani mals, while the self-accusing soul or conscience; and nafs ra tio nal soul is pres ent in hu man be ings. These al-mutma’innah, or soul at peace. (Qur’an would be equiv a lent to the Higher Manas, Lower 12:53; 75:2; 89:27) Manas and Kama in the os ophy. The theo soph i cal clas si fi ca tion of prin ci ples In Is lamic Suf ism, be tween ruh and the body, are essen tially identi cal with those of Hindu there are fur ther sub di vi sions that cor re sponds to system, such as those of Vedanta and Yoga, as the theo soph i cal prin ci ples. Qalb or heart rep re- well as Bud dhism. In Vedanta, these prin ci ples sents the intu itive con scious ness or buddhi, are iden ti fied un der the dif fer ent kosas or while the soul or nafs is further divided into sheaths, while in Taraka Yoga, they are di vided many kinds, just as in Thomistic phi los o phy. ac cord ing to the upadhis or bases. They are nafs al-natiqah, the ra tio nal soul; nafs Copyright 2005 by the author. Philippine Theosophical al-haywaniyah, the ani mal soul; and the nafs Institute, 1 Iba Street, Quezon City, Philippines.

Ques tions for Re view: 1. What are the seven prin ci ples in a hu man be ing? 2. How are the seven di vided or grouped? 3. What is Atma? 4. Name the equiva lent terms of the Spirit in the Old Testa ment, New Testa ment, Qur’an, in Kabbalah.