This theory recognizes the evolution of the soul as a process that is quite continuous in itself, though carried out partly through the instrumentality of a great series of dissociated forms. Putting aside for the moment of profound metaphysics of the theory which trace the principle of life from the original first cause of the cosmos, we find the soul as an entity emerging from the animal kingdom, and passing into the earliest human forms, without being at that time ripe for the higher intellectual life with which the present state of humanity renders us familiar. But through successive incarnations in forms whose physical improvement, under the Darwinian law, is constantly fitting them to be its habitation at each return to objective life, it gradually gathers that enormous range of experience which is summed up in its higher development. In the intervals between its physical incarnations it prolongs and works out, and finally exhausts or transmutes into so much abstract development, the personal experiences of each life. This is the clue to the true explanation of that apparent difficulty which besets the cruder form of the theory of reincarnation which independent speculation has sometimes thrown out. Each man is unconscious of having led previous lives, therefore he contends that subsequent lives can afford him no compensation for this one. He overlooks the enormous importance of the intervening spiritual condition, in which he by no means forgets the personal adventures and emotions he has just passed through, and in the course of which he distills these into so much cosmic progress. In the following pages the elucidation of this profoundly interesting mystery is attempted, and it will be seen that the view of events now afforded us is not only a solution of the problems of life and death, but of many very perplexing experiences on the borderland between those conditions - or rather between physical and spiritual life - which have engaged attention and speculation so widely of recent years in most civilized countries.

One hundred and forty years have passed like a dream, with much heart-sore and soaring hope, since the Theosophical Society was founded on 17 November 1875 in New York. We have decided to mark this auspicious date by releasing a series of hitherto private study notes and analyses of H.P. Blavatsky's Esoteric Section (E.S.) Instructions. The True Colours of Man, amplifies and clarifies E.S. Instructions I and II, aided by 31 original drawings, diagrams, and tables. The seven prismatic colours are direct emanations from the Seven Hierarchies of Compassion, each of which is the creator and source of the corresponding human principle. Each prismatic colour is the “Father of the Sound” which corresponds to it; Sound being the Word, or Logos, of its “Father-Thought.” Thus the Creative Force produces colours, sounds, and numbers, in the shape of rates of vibration, which compound and dissociate atoms and molecules. The Seven Primordial Lights, manifested from Light Unmanifested, are Divine Principles. The Principles of Man are bright reflections of Divine Principles, a Great Sacrifice; they are the seven-stringed lyre of Apollo. Colours and sounds are all spiritual numerals. Colour is Spirit (Atman), sound is Voice (Buddhi), proportion of numbers is Word (Higher Manas). Colours and sounds are associated with the Hierarchy of Compassion, the Manifested Logos. Colours–sounds–numbers proceed from 1 to 7 and not from 7 to 1, as erroneously shown in the spectrum of the prismatic colours. As the Seven Colours of the solar spectrum correspond to the Seven Rays, or Hierarchies, so each Ray has its seven divisions corresponding to the same series of colours. Esoterically, the right eye corresponds with Soul Wisdom or true knowledge; the left, with mere head learning. The Spiritual Man corresponds directly with the “coloured circles” of the Divine Prism which emanate from the One Infinite White Circle; the physical man emanates from the Sephiroth of the Kabbalah, the “voices” or “sounds” of Eastern Philosophy. “Voices,” however, are lower than colours. The lower Sephiroth are the seven physical planets. Our triple physical Sun, personified by the Upper Triad, is the Sephirothal Crown. The real Sephiroth are the Four Maharajas of The Secret Doctrine: Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Venus. The ancients considered as the most holy those organs which we now associate with feelings of shame and secrecy. The lower organs have been evolved to perform six functions on six distinct planes of action, besides a seventh, the lowest and purely terrestrial function on the physical plane. The physical body is not a “principle” and has no place in the sevenfold division. It is furnished by Mother Earth. Numbers and harmonious proportions guide the first differentiations of the Homogeneous Substance into heterogeneous elements. Perfect knowledge of the correspondences between colours, sounds, and numbers is the first requisite for students of Occultism. The Eye of Dangma will awaken only when the mouth is supressed. The Auric Egg is the monadic envelope and amnion of the physical man. Initiates, saints, and pure men can help others as well as themselves in their hour of need, with the aid of the God within, who has been enabled to act on the outward plane. Advanced students are invited to pronounce the Word before going to sleep and first thing upon awakening. Beginners, who cannot help going into crowds, are advised to wear either a ring containing some jewel of the colour of the presiding planet for the particular day of the week, or else of the metal sacred to it. A word of advice concerning Instructions I and II: students should strive to spiritualise these Instructions and avoid materialising them.

A fountain of esoteric knowledge for deep truth seekers, this classic work examines the birth and structure of the universe and how everything has the Divine as its source. It also traces the development of humanity--drawing from sacred scriptures, mythology, and legends to give a spiritual view of human beings. Volume III is an index to help readers find any topic easily. Illustrations.

Any attempt to explain the mysterious connections between consciousness and matter, and self-consciousness in particular, necessarily involves much complexity. Because all levels of relative reality are present here and now, the human being embodies the whole hierarchy of the cosmos: a microcosm of the macrocosm, to use an insightful Renaissance expression. Besides the physical human body, there is the dynamic structural plan of that body (called the 'astral body'), the desire nature, the life force that permeates all living creatures, consciousness involved in sense perception and practical operations, consciousness capable of universal thought and awareness, and pure consciousness manifest in pristine intuition. Above these six principles of human nature broods the luminous spirit called the Atman. Many people are seldom aware of anything more in themselves than the first five of these principles, although many also have intuitive glimpses of universal understanding, often as transcendent experiences which cannot be sustained. Because understanding cannot be separated from experience, and experience cannot be divorced from the way we live, think, feel and have our being, various spiritual traditions have offered practices to nurture these inner awakenings to our higher natures and to a greater awareness of spiritual reality. Theosophy connects together how we live our lives, what we think and how we focus our attention, the bold exploration of our inner natures, how we react to what comes to us (karma), and how we can build depth of awareness across lifetimes, with Enlightenment. Theosophy, therefore, connects ethics and action, including both physical action in the world and the action of our own thoughts. Where we are ignorant of all the dimensions of our circumstances-and, short of Enlightenment, we are all ignorant-motive for thought and action is fundamental for altering one's karmic trajectory and future incarnations. The selections from The Secret Doctrine in this book are gathered with a focus on the consciousness exhibited in Nature, its origin and destiny, and on human self-consciousness, in particular. This book therefore explores one vital current in the Ocean of Wisdom that is Theosophy. A thoughtful and persistent reading of these texts will radically transform one's understanding of the unity of self-consciousness and the world around us, and of one's place in the greater scheme of things.

THE following pages are derived from "The Book of the Golden Precepts," one of the works put into the hands of mystic students in the East. The knowledge of them is obligatory in that school, the teachings of which are accepted by many Theosophists. Therefore, as I know many of these Precepts by heart, the work of translating has been relatively an easy task for me. It is well known that, in India, the methods of psychic development differ with the Gurus (teachers or masters), not only because of their belonging to different schools of philosophy, of which there are six, but because every Guru has his own system, which he generally keeps very secret. But beyond the Himalayas the method in the Esoteric Schools does not differ, unless the Guru is simply a Lama, but little more learned than those he teaches. The work from which I here translate forms part of the same series as that from which the "Stanzas" of the Book of Dzyan were taken, on which the Secret Doctrine is based. Together with the great mystic work called Paramartha, which, the legend of Nagarjuna tells us, was delivered to the great Arhat by the Nagas or "Serpents" (in truth a name given to the ancient Initiates), the Book of the Golden Precepts claims the same origin. Yet its maxims and ideas, however noble and original, are often found under different forms in Sanskrit works, such as the Dnyaneshvari, that superb mystic treatise in which Krishna describes to Arjuna in glowing colors the condition of a fully illumined Yogi; and again in certain Upanishads. This is but natural, since most, if not all, of the greatest Arhats, the first followers of Gautama Buddha were Hindus and Aryans, not Mongolians, especially those who emigrated into Tibet. The works left by Aryasanga alone are very numerous.