We will continue our investigation into the topic of Kama-Manas, especially as it relates to Manas or the Mind. I hinted that to get to the root of this entanglement, we had to delve into our dim and distant past. Well, here goes.
It’s important to recognise the connection between kama-manas and the spirillae of atoms. In the First Round of the Earth-Chain, the first set of spirillae of the physical plane atoms were energised by the life of the Monad; these are used by the currents of prana (vitality) that affect the dense physical envelope.
In the Second Round, the second set of spirillae became active, allowing the prana connected with the etheric double to flow.
During the Third Round, the third set of spirillae became energised, allowing the prana connected to the emotional envelope to flow through them, thus enabling sensibility.
In the Fourth Round, the fourth set of spirillae became active, allowing the kama-manasic prana to flow through them, thus making them fit to be used for a brain which was to act as the instrument for thought.
The activation of further sets of spirillae for the use of the higher consciousness, in the case of those preparing for entering the Path, can be brought about by certain Yoga practices.
In the ordinary course of evolution, a new set of spirillae will be developed in each Round so that in the Seventh Round, all seven spirillae will be active. People living in that Round will find it far easier than people do today to respond to inner things and to live a higher life.
During each incarnation, manas may do one of three things: (1) it may rise towards its source and, by unremitting and strenuous effort, become one with its “Father in heaven”, i.e., higher manas; (2) it may partially aspire and partially tend downwards, as is mostly the case with the average person; and (3) it may become so clogged with kamic or desire elements as to become one with them and be forcibly wrenched away from its parent and perish.
When the lower mind can temporarily disconnect from desires, it becomes the guide for the highest mental faculties and the organ of free will in physical human beings. The condition for this freedom is to subdue and conquer desires.
Free will resides in the mind itself, and the feeling of liberty and the knowledge that we can rule ourselves comes from the mind. The higher nature can rule the lower nature, even when the lower nature rebels. Once consciousness identifies itself with the mind instead of desires, the lower nature becomes like an animal that the higher consciousness can control, and it is no longer the “I”.
The difference between a strong-willed and weak-willed person is that the weak-willed person is influenced by external attractions and repulsions, by desires, which is “Will de-crowned”, while the strong-willed person is internally motivated by pure will. This person continually masters external circumstances by applying appropriate forces guided by their experiences.
As the lower manas frees itself from kama, it becomes more capable of receiving and transmitting impulses from the higher manas to the lower consciousness. At this point, flashes of genius occur as the light from the solar deva flows through the lower manas into the brain. One thing is certain: as long as we are immersed in the personality, consumed by storms, desires, and cravings, and tossed around by emotions, we cannot hear the voice of the higher manas or solar deva. The solar devas’ guidance does not come in the form of fire, whirlwinds, thunderclaps, or storms, but only when a profound stillness descends and there is a silence that can be felt. It is only when a person is wrapped in a silence so deep that it even shuts out the Earth’s silence that the voice of the true higher self or Solar Deva can be heard.
Similar to how a serene lake reflects the moon and stars, but when disturbed by a breeze, creates only fragmented reflections, a person, by calming their mind, quieting their desires, and imposing stillness on their activities, can reflect the image of the higher within themselves. Likewise, a disciple can mirror the mind of their master. However, if their own thoughts and desires arise, they will only see distorted reflections and fleeting lights that offer no real insight.
In the words of a Master, “ It is upon the serene and placid surface of the unruffled mind that the visions gathered from the invisible find a representation in the visible world. It is with jealous care we have to guard our mind-plane from all the adverse influences which daily arise in our passage through earth life.”
The monad, as part of the Universal Mind, is unconditionally omniscient on its own plane, but only potentially so in the lower worlds because it has to work through the medium of the personal self. The causal envelope is the vehicle of all knowledge, past and present, and it is from this fountain-head that its double, lower manas catches occasional glimpses of that which is beyond the senses of most humans and transmits them to certain brain cells, thus making the person a seer, a soothsayer and a prophet.
This triumph can be gained only by many successive incarnations, all consciously directed towards this end. As life succeeds life, the physical envelope becomes more and more delicately attuned to the vibrations of the manasic impulses, so that the lower manas needs less and less of the coarser emotional matter as its vehicle. It is part of the mission of the manasic “ray”, i.e., lower manas, gradually to get rid of the “blind deceptive element” (kama), which brings it so closely into contact with matter as entirely to cloud its divine nature and stultify its intuitions.
When the mastery of kama is achieved, and the envelope is responsive to manas, lower manas becomes one with its source, higher manas. In Christian terms, this is the “Father in Heaven” becoming one with the “Son” on all planes, as they have always been one in “heaven.” This is an advanced stage, that of an Adept, for whom incarnation is no longer necessary but may be undertaken voluntarily. It will not apply to us for some time.
The Mundakopanishat states: “The organ of thinking is pervaded by the senses; that organ, when purified, allows Atma to manifest Itself.”
For most people, lower manas partly aspires and partly tends downwards. The normal experience of the average person is that life is a battlefield, with manas continually wrestling with kama. Sometimes aspiration conquers, and the chains of sense are broken, allowing lower manas to soar upwards. At other times, kama wins and chains lower manas down to earth.
As briefly mentioned in a previous presentation, most people’s centre of consciousness is mainly rooted in kama-manas. However, those who are more cultured and developed are starting to control their desires with reason. In other words, the centre of consciousness is gradually shifting from the higher emotional to the lower mental. As people progress, it will continue to move further up, with individuals being guided more by principle rather than by their interests and desires.
Ultimately, the human intellect requires that both life and matter in its surroundings be understandable. The mind seeks order, rationality, and logical explanations. It cannot function peacefully in chaos, and must know and understand its existence.
In severe cases, the lower manas becomes so deeply entwined with kama that the tenuous link connecting the higher to the lower manas, often referred to as the “silver thread” binding it to the Master, breaks.
Then, even during earth life, the higher nature being severed wholly from, the lower, the human being is rent in twain, the brute has broken free, and it goes forth unbridled, carrying with it the reflections of manas, which should have been its guide through life. Such a being, human in form but brute in nature, may now and then be met with in the haunts of humanity, decaying while still living, a thing to shudder at, even though with pity. After physical death, such an emotional envelope is an entity of terrible potency and is known as an Elementary, a description of it having already been elucidated.
From the point of view of the monad, currently asleep in its causal envelope, there has been no harvest of useful experience from that personality; the “ray” has brought nothing back; the lower life has been a total and complete failure.
The “Voice of The Silence” includes the following guidance: “Let not thy “heaven-born”, merged in the sea of Maya, break from the universal Parent (Soul) but let the fiery power retire into the inmost chamber of the heart, and the abode of the world’s Mother.” The “heaven-born” refers to chitta, the lower mind. It originates from the higher soul (causal envelope) when the mind becomes dual during incarnation. The higher planes of Atma-Buddhi-Manas are symbolised as heaven, while the lower planes of the personality are referred to as earth.
The presence of the “heaven-born” in an individual grants them some freedom, which often leads to a more disorderly and unregulated life than nature’s lower kingdoms.
For many people, their mental energy becomes so intertwined with their emotional energy that it cannot be completely separated after death. As a result of the struggle between their desires and their higher mind, some part of the mental energy, and even the higher mental energy, what we know as the persona, remains in the emotional envelope after the monad has detached from it completely. What has happened here is that part of the causal matter the monad has so carefully collected over successive incarnations is lost and will have to be reacquired through much effort.
If, however, a person has completely conquered their lower desires during life and has successfully freed their lower mind from desire, there is virtually no struggle. The monad can then withdraw not only all that was “invested” in that particular incarnation but also all the “interest,” such as experiences, faculties, etc., that have been acquired.
In the next presentation, we will go on to look at thought waves.