Key Concepts Study Group

Hi Samantha,

If this is correct then why does The Voice Of The Silence actually say “The “Secret Way” leads also to Paranirvânic bliss—but at the close of Kalpas without number”. It seems to imply here that the work of the Bodhisattva will end at some point. I think it’s safe to assume that “Kalpas without number” is a figure of speech and it is…[Read more]

This is still one concept that to me is very elusive in the Theosophical literature. I just don’t understand where the teaching of the “impermanence” of Parinirvana comes from and how it could be possible. If it’s true, all spiritual effort is basically pointless, since the individuality is compelled into existence with the beginning of each…[Read more]

“. . . the essence of Theosophy is the perfect harmonizing of the divine with the human in man, the adjustment of his god-like qualities and aspirations, and their sway over the terrestrial or animal passions in him. Kindness, absence of every ill feeling or selfishness, charity, goodwill to all beings, and perfect justice to others as to o…[Read more]

Another term that was used for Divine Wisdom was mentioned by Patrice, The Gupta Vidya, Secret Knowledge.

“The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages, and its cosmogony alone is the most stupendous and elaborate system: e.g., even in the exotericism of the Puranas. But such is the mysterious power of Occult symbolism, that the facts which have actually occupied countless generations of initiated seers and prophets to marshal, to set d…[Read more]

From the writings of H. P. Blavatsky
Definitions from the Theosophical Glossary
Emanation, the Doctrine of. In its metaphysical meaning, it is opposed to Evolution, yet one with it. Science teaches that evolution is physiologically a mode of generation in which the germ that develops the foetus pre-exists already in the parent, the development and…[Read more]

“By pursuing the subject we may discover that the Law of Cycles rules every phenomenal experience in the world around us, that it governs even our states of passing happiness or misery, and rules also what men call life and death. Thus the continuous growth of Nature and of all beings is divided and punctuated by successive periods of rest and a…[Read more]

“By the study of this Law of Cycles we learn that natural progress of all kinds does not occur in one steady stream, like the rush of a railway train on a straight track, but on the contrary, it proceeds by a spiral or screw-like course, in which the same points are successively and continually reached on higher circles of existence. It might, p…[Read more]

WQJ Cycles and Cyclic Law

Now, that the law of cycles does prevail in the world must be very evident if you will reflect for a few moments. The first cycle I would draw your attention to is the daily cycle, when the sun rises in the morning and sets at night, returning again next morning, you following the sun, rising in the morning and at night…[Read more]

A human being is a cycle; an atom is a cycle — in this technical sense. We say that the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening, and we call it a cycle, a day. The time-illusion produced by the moving object — in this case our earth — gives us the notion that a day is produced by an absolute entity called Time, or is an integral part…[Read more]

The doctrine of cycles is one of the most important in the entire cosmic range of the esoteric philosophy, because repetitive or rhythmic action is fundamental in nature. As a matter of fact, every being and thing that exists is an expression of rhythmic pulsation: we are not only the children of cycles greater than ourselves, but actually within…[Read more]

From Mr. Judge

THE word “evolution” is the best word from a theosophical standpoint to use in treating of the genesis of men and things, as the process which it designates is that which has been always stated in the ancient books from whose perusal the tenets
of the wisdom religion can be gathered. In the BhagavadGita we
find Krishna saying tha…[Read more]

Let us briefly consider the birth of worlds as cosmic beings. When such a birth commences there is no form because the energies and characteristics of the systems of worlds about to come forth have been inrolled and dormant for ages. Hindu and other cultures give figures for the lifespan of planets, suns, and other cosmic entities. Planets, they…[Read more]

“By the study of this Law of Cycles we learn that natural progress of all kinds does not occur in one steady stream, like the rush of a railway train on a straight track, but on the contrary, it proceeds by a spiral or screw-like course, in which the same points are successively and continually reached on higher circles of existence. It might, p…[Read more]

The illusion of time is within our own complex constitution. We ourselves are the makers of cycles — time-limits; the cycles of time run their course within ourselves; the circulation of blood in the human body is a cyclic process; the heart-beat and the pulse-beat are cyclic; cravings of the appetites and their satisfaction are cyclic; sickness a…[Read more]

This fundamental law in Occult Science is the basis of the “Law of Correspondences”, which in so many cases has been hit upon by Mystics and used by them intuitionally and, very often it would seem, fancifully. And being acquired merely intuitionally, and no basis or foundation being given, this law has come to be regarded by many as a mere emp…[Read more]

All things which are visible come from the invisible. In the evolution of a planet there is a beginning in homogeneous, radiant matter—such as composes the Milky Way—the basis of all subsequent forms that are brought about, or produced, by the beings existent in that homogeneous state. Each being is a Center and each Center is the same as the One…[Read more]

Thanks Peter for the valuable contribution. Translator rendered the Greek tern anamnesis as recollection probably because the English word Reminiscence is not as much in use as the other two cognate terms–remembrance and recollection–and, moreover, all the three terms are used generally as synonyms.

I believe the term Plato uses is anamnesis which is rendered as recollection in the English translation. It first arises in the Meno which is an inquiry into how virtue arises, i.e. is it something which is teachable, acquired practice or by nature or by some other means. One of the views put forward in the Meno is that recollection is bring…[Read more]