Nirvana Quotes
- Nirvana (Sk.) "...in the esoteric explanations it
is the state
of absolute existence and absolute consciousness, into
which the Ego of a man goes, after the body dies, and occasionally,
as in the case of the Gautama Buddha and others during life."
- Theosophical Glossary, H.P. Blavatsky p. 232
- Nirvani (Sk.)
"...an emancipated soul...It is "escape from misery" but
only from that of matter, freedom from Klesha,
or Kama, and the complete extinction of animal desires...matter...is
maya (illusion). Sakyamuni Buddha said in the last moments of his
life that "the spiritual body is immortal."...the Bodhisattvas who
prefer
the Nirmanakaya to the Dharmakaya vesture, stand higher in the popular
estimation than the Nirvanis..."
- Theosophical Glossary H.P. Blavatsky p. 232
- "...there are two
methods of attaining Nirvana, one selfish and the
other unselfish, but the word selfish here would designate really
unselfishness among us. It refers to the refinement
of selfishness in that a person is working by unselfish acts to obtain
that which, in the end of all analysis, is selfish, because it is for
the
benefit of the person involved. But it was never taught that a man
could attain Nirvana by working for his own selfish advantage as his
motive,
and he does not gain it at the expense of anyone; therefore his
selfishness
in obtaining Nirvana, being at no one's expense, is of a very different
quality from what we ordinarily call selfishness. As a matter of
fact it is stated that at a certain point of development the highly
spiritualized
person may in a moment pass into Nirvana through an instantaneous
personal
desire to gain that state."
- Forum Ans. p. 73-4
- "The Pratyeka Buddha is a degree which
belongs exclusively
to the Yogacharya school, yet it is only one of high intellectual
development with no true spirituality. It is the dead-letter
of the Yoga laws, in which intellect and comprehension play the
greatest part, added to the strict carrying out of the rules of
the inner development. It is one of the three paths to Nirvana,
and the lowest, in which a Yogi -- 'without teacher and without
saving others' -- by the mere force of will and technical observances,
attains to a kind of nominal Buddhaship individually; doing no
good to anyone, but working selfishly for his own salvation and
himself alone. The Pratyekas are respected outwardly but are despised
inwardly by those of keen or spiritual appreciation. A Pratyeka
is generally compared to a 'Khadga' or solitary rhinoceros and
called Ekashringa Rishi, a selfish solitary Rishi
(or
saint)"
- Theosophical
Glossary H.P. Blavatsky
261
- "Bad karma is
that act and thought which displeases the Higher Self. Hence all
self-seeking acts and thoughts no matter how high and outwardly
virtuous they are, are bad karma, since the Higher Self desires no such
acts for its sake. Nirvana comes to those who have risen over the
delusions and have realized
the supreme unity of all; then it may be taken; but if it is
taken for oneself, leaving others in the mire of life unhelped, it
becomes
an enormous selfishness which later on must result in the being having
to do penance in some other manvantara."
- Forum Ans p. 97
- "When an Adept
has reached a certain very high point in his evolution
he may, by a mere wish, become what the Hindus call a "Deva"--or lesser
god. If he does this, then, although he will enjoy the bliss and
power of that state for a vast length of time, he will not at the next
Pralaya partake of the conscious life "in the bosom of the Father,"
but has to pass down into matter at the next new "creation," performing
certain functions that could not now be made clear, and has to come up
again through the elemental world; but this fate is not like that
of the Black Magician who falls into Avitchi. And again between the
two he can choose the middle state and become a Nirmanakaya--one who
gives
up the bliss of Nirvana and remains in conscious existence outside of
his
body after its death; in order to help Humanity. This is the
greatest sacrifice he can do for mankind."
- Epitome of Theosophy, W.Q. Judge p. 28
- "The whole matter
is a reference to a very obscure doctrine, but little
known, that if the Adept voluntarily takes the delights, pleasures and
powers referred to, he is compelled, after
millions of years of enjoyment, to re-enter objective nature at the
elemental
stage. That is plainly related."
- THEOSOPHICAL FORUM, Answers
by W.Q. Judge
p. 120
Returning Nirvanees
- The human Ego is neither
Atman nor Buddhi, but the higher Manas: the intellectual
fruition and the efflorescence of the intellectual self-conscious
Egotism—in the higher spiritual sense. The ancient works
refer to it as Karana Sarira on the plane of Sutratma, which is the
golden thread on which, like beads, the various personalities of this
higher Ego are strung. If the reader were told, as in in the
semi-esoteric allegories, that these Beings were returning Nirvanees,
from preceding Maha-Manvantaras—ages of incalculable duration which
have rolled away in the Eternity, a still more incalculable time ago—he
would hardly understand the text correctly; while some Vedantins might
say: “This is not so; the Nirvanee can never return”; which
is true during the Manvantara he belongs to, and erroneous where
Eternity is concerned. For it is said in the Sacred
Slokas:
“The thread of radiance which is imperishable and dissolves only in
Nirvana, re-emerges from it in its integrity on the day when the Great
Law calls all things back into action. . . .”
- H.P. Blavatsky, The
Secret Doctrine, II pp. 79-80
- if a 1st-5th 3
round man devoted himself to occultism and became an adept, would he
escape further earthly incarnations?
- (2) No; if we
except Buddha — a sixth round being, as he had run so successfully the
race in his previous incarnations as to outrun even his predecessors.
But then such a man is to be found one in a billion of human creatures.
He differed from other men as much in his physical appearance as in
spirituality and knowledge. Yet even he escaped further reincarnations
but on this earth; and, when the last of the sixth round men of the
third ring is gone out of this earth, the Great Teacher will have to
get reincarnated on the next planet. Only, and since He sacrificed
Nirvanic bliss and Rest for the salvation of his fellow creatures He
will be re-born in the highest — the seventh ring of the upper planet.
Till then He will overshadow every decimillenium (let us rather say and
add “has overshadowed already”) a chosen individual who generally
overturned the destinies of nations. See Isis, Vol. I, pp. 34 and 35,
last and first para. on the pages.
Mahatma Letters, letter 17,
letter 61 in the Chronological edition
- Bodha
means the innate possession of
divine intellect or “understanding”; “Buddha,” the acquirement of it by
personal efforts and merit; while Buddhi is the faculty of cognizing
the channel through which divine knowledge reaches the “Ego,” the
discernment of good and evil, “divine conscience” also; and “Spiritual
Soul,” which is the vehicle of Atma. “When Buddhi absorbs our
EGO-tism (destroys it) with all its Vikaras, Avalôkitêshvara becomes
manifested to us, and Nirvana, or Mukti, is reached,” “Mukti” being the
same as Nirvana, i.e., freedom from the trammels of “Maya” or
illusion. “Bodhi” is likewise the name of a particular state
of trance condition, called Samadhi, during which the subject reaches
the culmination of spiritual knowledge.
- H.P. Blavatsky, The
Secret Doctrine I xix,
- The day
when “the spark will re-become the Flame (man will merge into his Dhyan
Chohan) myself and others, thyself and me,” as the Stanza has it—means
this: In Paranirvana—when Pralaya will have reduced not only
material and psychical bodies, but even the spiritual Ego(s) to their
original principle—the Past, Present, and even Future Humanities, like
all things, will be one and the same. Everything will have
re-entered the Great Breath. In other words, everything will
be “merged in Brahma” or the divine unity.
Is this
annihilation, as some think? Or Atheism, as other critics—the
worshippers of a personal deity and believers in an unphilosophical
paradise—are inclined to suppose? Neither. It is
worse than useless to return to the question of implied atheism in that
which is spirituality of a most refined character. To see in
Nirvana annihilation amounts to saying of a man plunged in a sound
dreamless sleep—one that leaves no impression on the physical memory
and brain, because the sleeper’s Higher Self is in its original state
of absolute consciousness during those hours—that he, too, is
annihilated. The latter simile answers only to one side of
the question—the most material; since re-absorption is by no means such
a “dreamless sleep,” but, on the contrary, absolute existence, an
unconditioned unity, or a state, to describe which human language is
absolutely and hopelessly inadequate. The only approach to
anything like a comprehensive conception of it can be attempted solely
in the panoramic visions of the soul, through spiritual ideations of
the divine monad. Nor is the individuality—nor even the
essence of the personality, if any be left behind—lost, because
re-absorbed. For, however limitless—from a human
standpoint—the paranirvanic state, it has yet a limit in
Eternity. Once reached, the same monad will re-emerge
therefrom, as a still higher being, on a far higher plane, to
recommence its cycle of perfected activity. The human mind
cannot in its present stage of development transcend, scarcely reach
this plane of thought. It totters here, on the brink of
incomprehensible Absoluteness and Eternity. - H.P. Blavatsky, The
Secret Doctrine I, 266
Causes for
Evolution
- "...that which propels
towards, and forces evolution, i.e., compels
the growth and development of Man towards perfection, is (a) the monad,
or that which acts in it unconsciously through a force inherent in
itself; and (b) the lower astral body
or the personal self. The former...that force [which]...owing
to its identity with the all-force...inherent in the Monad, it is
all-potent
on the Arupa or formless plane...So with the Atman: unless the higher
Self
or ego gravitates towards its Sun--the Monad--the lower Ego, or
personal
Self, will have the upper hand in every case. For it is this Ego,
with its fierce Selfishness and animal desire to live a Senseless life
(Tanha), which is "the maker of the tabernacle,"...In short,
Spirituality
is on its ascending arc, and the animal or physical impedes it from
steadily progressing on the path of its evolution only when the
selfishness
of the personality has so strongly infected the real inner man with its
lethal virus, that the upward attraction has lost all its power on the
thinking reasonable man."
- H.P. Blavatsky The
Secret Doctrine II
109-110
Perfection
- "Perfection is an
ever-receding goal; "we can always approach
the light, but we may never touch the flame," because it is our very
Self,
the Perceiver and Knower within. The Self is neither perfect nor
imperfect for it includes all perceptions; there could be no knowledge
of any degree of perfection or imperfections unless the perceiver could
see both an distinguish between them."
- Answers to Questions, p. 14
- "In those bodies
all the forces belonging to man, and these mean the
very highest expression of the great forces of nature, constantly play,
and must have corresponding effect upon anyone who may come in Their
direct
range. With such a conception of the nature of Their bodies, we may
be able to dimly perceive to what a pitch of power and glory Their
inner
natures have been raised. If we thus dimly grasp the nature of Masters
we may be able to reverence Them in our hearts, and to endeavor to draw
near to Them in our innermost being...Masters are facts in Nature,
facts
however which our highest ideals will not fully encompass...Let us
therefore
endow Them with the highest we can conceive of, try to assimilate that
"highest" within ourselves,
endeavor to draw near to Them in our hearts, and thus form for
ourselves
that line of communication which They have said They are always ready
to
help establish; and let us keep that ideal as a sacred thing in the
repository of our hearts..."
- Answers to
Questions p.27-8
- "...The stream is
cross'd. 'Tis true thou hast a right to Dharmakaya
vesture; but Sambhogakaya is greater than a Nirvanee, and greater still
is a Nirmanakaya--the Buddha of Compassion."
- H.P. Blavatsky Voice
of the Silence, p.77
(pagenation different per version)
- "Yea, he is
mighty. The living power made free in him, that power
which is Himself, can raise the tabernacle of illusion high above the
Gods, above great Brahm and Indra. Now
he shall surely reach his great reward !"
- H.P. Blavatsky Voice
of the Silence, p. 71 (pagenation different per version)
- 306.
"Yea; on the Arya Path thou art no more Srotapatti, thou art
a Bodhisattva33. The stream is cross'd. 'Tis true thou hast a right to
Dharmakaya vesture; but Sambogakaya is greater than a Nirvanee, and
greater still is a Nirmanakaya -- the Buddha of Compassion 34.
307.
Now bend thy head and listen well, O Bodhisattva --
Compassion speaks and saith: "Can there be bliss when all that lives
must suffer? Shalt thou be saved and hear the whole world cry?"
308.
Now thou hast heard that which was said.
309.
Thou shalt attain the seventh step and cross the gate of
final knowledge but only to wed woe -- if thou would'st be Tathagata,
follow upon thy predecessor's steps, remain unselfish till the endless
end.
310. Thou art enlightened
-- Choose thy way. - H.P. Blavatsky Voice of the Silence, The Seven Portals (near the
end, pagenation different per version)
- To
reach Nirvana one must reach
Self-Knowledge, and Self-Knowledge is
of
loving deeds the child.
- H.P.Blavatsky,
Voice of the Silence
- "Whether
it be orthodox
Adwaita or not, I maintain as an occultist,
on the authority of the Secret Doctrine, that though merged
entirely into Parabrahm, man's Spirit while not individual per se,
yet preserves its distinct individuality in Paranirvana, owing to the
accumulation in it of the aggregates, or skandhas that have survived
after each death, from the highest faculties of the Manas.
- The most spiritual--i.e., the highest and divinest
aspirations of every
personality follow Buddhi and the Seventh Principle
into Devachan (Swarga) after the death of each personality
along the
line of rebirths, and become part and parcel of the Monad.
- The personality fades out, disappearing before
the occurrence
of the evolution of the new personality (rebirth) out of Devachan:
but the individuality of the spirit-soul [dear, dear, what can be made
out of this English!] is preserved to the end of the great cycle
(Maha-Manwantara) when each Ego enters Paranirvana, or is merged
in Parabrahm. To our talpatic, or mole-like, comprehension the Human
Spirit
is then lost in the One Spirit, as the drop of water thrown into
the sea can no longer be traced out and recovered.
- But de facto it is not so in the world of
immaterial thought. This latter
stands in relation to the human dynamic thought, as,
say, the visual power through the strongest conceivable
microscope
would to the sight of a half-blind man: and yet even this is a most
insufficient
simile--the difference is "inexpressible in terms of foot-pounds."
- Isis Unveiled and the
Visishtadwaita, H.P. Blavatsky, Theosophist, January,
1886
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