In the last presentation, we started to look at two out of the three principal functions of the emotional envelope. Of particular interest to us was the interweaving of thoughts and emotions, known as kama-manas. So close is the association of Manas and Kâma that the Hindus speak of people as having five sheaths, one of which is for all manifestations of working intellect and desire.
These five sheaths are: –
- The Bliss sheath, which is located on Plane 46 and is the Unity Body
- The discriminating sheath, which is our causal body, 47:1-3
- The sheath of Intellect and Desire, called kama-manas, 47:4-7 & 48:1-7
- The Vitality sheath, called prana by the Hindus and the etheric envelope by others, 49:1-4
- The Food sheath; the dense physical body, 49:5-7
Is this how we would describe it? No. The Hindu nomenclature looks at the practicality of the fact that the mental and emotional sheaths are so bound up with each other that they might as well be considered as one sheath. On an operational level, this is what is occurring, but from a physical standpoint, you have two separate envelopes, existing on different planes of matter with their seven sub-divisions each. It is optimistic to think we have a functional 46-sheath in operation at all, presently. The Hylozoic perspective on the functional sheaths of Humanity is that you have the four principal sheaths, etheric, emotional, mental and causal. You then have the physical envelope, which is not a principle. If you look at the standard diagram I present as defining a human, you can see that there is a causal sheath, detached from the causal envelope, which I label the persona. It is this, along with the four lower bodies that should be regarded as the five sheaths of a human in incarnation. We call this the 1st-Self.
Looking at our list of five sheaths used by the Hindus, one school of thought links 4 and 5, etheric and physical, together. This makes total sense, as we know that a physical envelope can not survive without the prana supplied to it by the etheric. This is called the Bhutatman; the elemental self or body of action. Sheaths 2 and 3, are also linked but more tenuously and termed the body of feeling. This is given the name Jiva, which you often read about in esoteric texts. This combined body is deemed to be the “knower”, the Kshetragna. It is sensitive to pleasure and pain. I see this as a total mess, as the causal is not going to be responding to pain or pleasure. It only stores the knowledge and eventual wisdom of an incarnation. Anyway, for completeness I have described these terminologies.
In their external relations, the causal envelope and the mental/emotional complex are related to the Deva world. The Devas are said to have “entered into” humanity, the reference being to the presiding deities of the elementals. Those presiding deities give rise to sensations in humans, changing the external stimulations into sensations, or the recognition of the contacts, from within, this being essentially a Deva action. Hence the link with all these lower Devas, gives us the opportunity, when we master how to interact with them consciously, the ability to master every region of the solar system.
As has already been mentioned, Manas, or mind is unable to affect the gross particles of the brain. Instead, it projects a part of itself, which clothes itself with emotional matter and then with the help of etheric matter permeates the whole nervous system of the child before birth. The projection from Manas is often spoken of as its reflection, its shadow, and its ray. It is known also by other allegorical names. H. P. Blavatsky writes: ” Once imprisoned, or incarnate, their essence (the Manas), becomes dual; that is to say, the rays of the eternal divine Mind, considered as individual entities, assume a two-fold attribute, which is (a) their essential, inherent, characteristic, heaven-aspiring mind (higher Manas or causal), and (b) the human quality of thinking, of animal cogitation, rationalised owing to the superiority of the human brain, the Kama-tending or lower Manas (the mind).”
The mind or mental envelope is thus engulfed in the quaternary and may be regarded as clasping Kama or emotions with one hand, whilst with the other it retains its hold on its father, the higher Manas or causal mind. Whether it will be dragged down by Kama altogether and be torn away from the triad (atma-buddhi-manas) to which, by its nature, it belongs, or whether it will triumphantly carry back to its source the purified experiences of its earth life — that is the life-problem set and solved in each successive incarnation. This point will be considered further in the presentation on After-Life.
Kama thus supplies the animal and passional elements; lower Manas (47:4-7) rationalises these and adds the intellectual faculties. In humanity, these two principles are interwoven during life and rarely act separately. When you take the (i2) and relocate your focus into the 47:4 permanent molecule, it is then that the process of disentanglement begins.
Manas may be regarded as the flame, Kama and the physical brain as the wick and fuel, which feeds the flame. The causal bodies of all of humanity, developed or undeveloped, are of the same essence and substance. The same matter, activated through experiences makes one person a rational and balanced persona and another, a persona ignorant of the laws of Nature and Life. These are the qualities that make up the physical body. It is this that governs the ability of the brain and body to transmit and express the light of the real inner monad. In brief, Kama-Manas is the personal self of a person: Lower Manas or mental matter, gives the individualising touch that makes the personality recognise itself as “I”. The mentality is a ray from the immortal Thinker, illuminating a personality. It is Lower Manas, which yields the last touch of delight to the senses and animal nature, by conferring the power of anticipation, memory and imagination.
While it is not the time to encroach too far into the domain of Manas and the mental body; there is another whole series of presentations which will cover that topic, it may help us at this stage to add that free will resides in Manas. Manas is the representative of Mahat, the Universal Mind. In physical humanity, the Lower Manas or mind is the agent of free will. From Manas comes the feeling of liberty, the knowledge that we can rule ourselves, that the higher nature can master the lower. To identify the consciousness with the Manas, instead of with Kama, is thus an important step on the road to self-mastery; that whole disentanglement issue.
The very struggle of Manas or mind to assert itself is the best testimony that it is by nature free. It is the presence and power of the casual mind, operating through the persona, which enables us to choose between desires and to overcome them. As the lower Manas rules Kama, the lower quaternary takes its rightful position of subservience to the higher triad — atma-buddhi-manas.
Leadbeater and his cohorts classified, what they termed the principles of Man into three containers.
- Atma, Buddhi and Higher Manas (causal). This they describe as the immortal self.
- Kama-manas (the emotional & mental envelopes scrambled together). This they say is conditionally immortal.
- They then classify Prana, the Etheric Double and the Dense body as the mortal part of humanity.
Interestingly, they think of prana as almost a sheath in itself.
Now we come to consider the third function of the emotional body — as an independent vehicle of consciousness and action. This is a big topic covering the — use, development, possibilities and limitations of the emotional body on its plane. It will be dealt with step by step in most of the succeeding presentations. For the present, it will suffice to outline very briefly the principal ways in which an emotional body can be used as an independent vehicle of consciousness.
These are as follows: —
- During ordinary waking consciousness, i.e., while the physical brain and senses are wide awake, the powers of the emotional senses may be brought into action. Some of these powers correspond to the senses and powers of action possessed by the physical body. They will be dealt with in the next presentation on the Chakras.
- During sleep or in a trance, it is possible for the emotional body to separate itself from the physical body and to move about and function freely on its plane. This will be dealt with in the presentation on the sleep life.
- It is possible to develop the powers of the emotional body, so that a person can consciously and deliberately, at any time that they choose, leave the physical body and pass with unbroken consciousness into the emotional body. This will be dealt with in the presentation on the Continuity of Consciousness.
- After physical death, the consciousness withdraws itself into the emotional body. There a life, varying greatly in intensity and duration, dependent upon several factors, may be led on the emotional plane. This will be dealt with in the presentation on the After-Life.
I bet you can’t wait. See you in the next presentation.