THE HOLIESTThe Essence
Tablet Thirteen
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
(Genesis 2:7)
<1>When the first expression of awareness appeared as a sound vibration, "The Word," time was perceived. When this manifested universe started to be created, the reality of space became understood, and the atom was built. <2>In Sanskrit, the atom (Anu) is called "Avidya," meaning "ignorance." This same atom in the Bible is called "the dust of the ground" which is the atom in its first stages and also can be called the "cosmic dust." <3>Man did not have the same body as we know it today. His body was made more of psychic and spiritual factors.
<4>However, he had many basic things in common with the man of today. <5>He had a Soul (he was a unit consciousness), which had a unit mind (the three gunas). This unit being resided in the ethereal factor (spirit), but he also gradually obtained a material body consisting of the four other elements, namely, aerial, luminous, liquid, and solid. <6>The four-elemental-material body can only link itself to the psychic (spirit) or ethereal body (unit Soul and its ethereal factor) with the coordinating energy (life-energy of the Soul). This fine element in the Bible is symbolized as "the breath of life" and is also called "prana." <7>Prana is the active energy and life-force of the body. It brings contact between different parts of the body and Soul, and maintains their inter-balance. <8>It is the out-going and in-coming energy from the Soul (raja guna).
<9>This prana, which is more subtle than the aerial factor, can be found in much fresh air and is even more necessary for survival than oxygen. <10>It is the life-force which is also available in other elements in nature besides air. It is the living element that can be controlled, directed, and used for many purposes in human life. <11>It is the life-force of all living things and is the outgoing and in-coming life-energy of the Soul (collectively and individually).
<12>Not only was the human created in the image of God in respect to the Soul, but also his body is in the resemblance and image of the universe. It consists of seven levels. <13>The first five levels of these seven stages are called sheaths or koshas.
<14>They correspond to the seven worlds (lokas) in the universe. But because, in the first five levels, man is bound to those levels and there is an illusion of separation that exists between him and the external world (universe, God), so there a layer (veil) exists between him and the outside. <15>That is why these first five stages are like a sheath between him and the universe.
<16>But the same stages in the universe are called worlds, because for the universe there is no separation between these stages and the universe itself. They are a part of it.
<17>The first sheath, corresponding to the first world, is the physical body of man which consists of solid, liquid, luminous, aerial, and ethereal factors.
<18> The second is the pranic sheath which is the life-force from the Soul and the universe. <19>The third and fourth are the lower and higher mental sheaths. <20>In the lower mental sheath, the energy is going outwardly and worldly desires arise from it. <21>In the higher mental sheath, the prana (energy) is internalized (going inward) and desires become controllable, the imagination and willpower increase, and the noble thoughts arise.
<22>The fifth sheath is the state of self-realization (control of the tama and raja gunas), which results in great joy.
<23>The sixth and seventh states are the states of freedom from illusion (sheaths). <24>In the sixth state, the person becomes the master of the three gunas and feels one with God, but still maintains a very small "i" as a separate entity. <25>In the seventh state, there is no "i" left and he reaches Pure Consciousness.
<26>In this last stage, the pranic energy is completely internalized and the individual Soul becomes pure intuition. <27>Through this internalized mutative force (raja guna) which becomes willpower, the unit consciousness can return to the external world only by willing to do so.
<28>By creating the manifested universe, the evolutionary process, and the human, God guides the unit consciousnesses. <29>With the attraction of the external world (Maya), and because of the ignorance of man of his Divinity as "I am" one with the "I AM," <30>he becomes a slave of his illusion that he is a separate being in the whole universe, <31>and he becomes more and more lost because of the impulses of his desires and attachments to the external world. <32>Only after many lifetimes, he reaches a point where he realizes that there should be more in life than this heedless pursuance of the lower nature which brings so much suffering.
<33>That is when he starts searching for more meaningful realities than these unsatisfying, impulsive desires, which are the root of all suffering. <34>That is when he will be helped and be shown the way to salvation, and is the reason for this creation and Maya.