Masonic, Occult and Esoteric Online Library
Septenary Man
By J.A. Anderson
Fourth Principle —Kama, Or Desire
The state of consciousness which constitutes the fourth human ^-^ Principle, according to the theosophical classification, is a most difficult one to understand. It will be easier to do so if we remember that consciousness is, at its base, Unity, and that all of the human Principles are but aspects, or hypostases, of this basic, or monadic, Unity. When the centers of consciousness differentiate within the Absolute, and, thus proceeding directly out of the Unknowable, start on their cycle of evolution from atom-soul to God, they arrive at a point in this Cycle of Necessity where the homogeneous, monadic consciousness, through material limitations following one upon another in a continuous descent into deeper and deeper phases of materiality, becomes embodied desire. It must be understood that all consciousness, in manifestation, is embodied—that is to say, it must not be inferred that, except in the abysses of the unmanifested, there is any general consciousness which may be classified as desire, and in which, as a common source, the passions of entities in this state of conscious- ness root. All thought-consciousness in the manifested universe is contained in, or manifested by, thinking entities; similarly rajasic, or desire, consciousness is likewise manifested and contained in entities to whom this aspect or differentation of consciousness is normal. It is when entities, which start as an atom and complete their cycle of manifested existence as a god, have passed through all the lower kingdoms, have added conscious state to conscious state until they have arrived at a point where sensuous consciousness rules in them, that they are said to be in the kamic state—to be swayed and governed by Kama, the Principle, or vehicle, of Desire. For Desire must be sharply distinguished from Thought. Kama is desire—desire in all its infinitely varying aspects, as Manas is thought or ideation in all its infinite states.
The kamic state is that in which the desires, together with the passions and emotions, govern the entity; one in which there is no light thrown upon their activities by reason. In fact, there is no reason in desire; and when a human soul yields itself to the dominion of this Principle, reason is set aside, and the one sodominated becomes but an irrational, unreasoning animal.
It must not be understood from the above that Kama, or Desire,is always unreasonable and irrational in its nature; but, whenpure and uncolored by any higher Principle, it does represent desire, and desire only. Yet desire, and especially compassiondesire, may be and is one of the highest and holiest attributes ofBeing. It is compassion-desire, arising within the bosom of the Absolute itself, we are taught, which causes the manifestation ofthe Universe; thus permitting, and indeed assisting, entities # whose consciousness is benumbed and latent during the interminable periods of pralaya to again take up their evolutionary progresstowards self-consciousness and freedom from limitation. Yetthis deeper desire is not usually spoken of as kamic. Just as theUniversal Life Principle is distinguished as Jiva, while that manifestation of it which has its activity upon the molecular or sen-suous plane of the Universe is known as Prana, so Cosmic desire, and particularly when this passes into action, may be thought ofas Fohat, while that manifestation of it which has its field of activity upon the molecular plane of the Universe is more properlyknown as Kama. Kama, then, as the fourth human Principle,represents all the passions and emotions of man's nature. It hasits activities in anger, pride, lust, envy, greed, and a host of similar modifications. It is a Principle, or state of consciousness,which we share in common with the animals of the kingdom nextbelow us in the scale of evolutionary becoming. In that kingdomwe see its activities dominant, and almost uncolored by reason..It is true that animal desires are directed by instinct, and, therefore, are more unerring in tending to bring about certain neces-sary evolutionary results than the desires of man, which are justbeginning to pass under the sway of reason. Instinct in the ani-mal kingdom is the wisdom attained through the stored experi-ence of the elemental soul of the animal in past embodiments, and corresponds accurately to intuition upon its higher plane of con - sciousness in man, for intuition arises out of the wisdom likewise resulting from stored experiences upon the mental plane of being. Instinct is stored up and assimilated sensuous experiences; intui- tion is stored up and assimilated mental experiences. From the one, the animal draws unconsciously ; from the other, the man receives light, but recognizes that it comes from the very highest of the aspects of his being. For, to the elemental soul, destitute of Manas, the monadic consciousness of Buddhi, or the buddhic consciousness of its Monad, rather, assumes to it the same relation that the Higher Ego does to the lower thinking Principle in man it stores the results of sensuous or conscious experiences in its unconscious memory. Conscious memory pertains to the self- conscious Principle, but none the less is there preserved a record, equivalent to memory, of every conscious experience of the Monad in all the kingdoms through which it passes. Such dif- fused and general consciousness as that of the mineral kingdom could only be preserved upon universal tablets such as Buddhi; b ut in the animals it is already being stored around a permanent center, thus slowly causing that differentiation and individualization which renders possible the assimilation of Manas. Such*storing about or upon a permanent Buddhic center is the source of all instinct, as a similar storing about a Manasic center is that of all intuition.
Kama, then, must be studied in the animal kingdom, in order to know what this Principle is in its purity. In man it is impossible, or next to impossible, to so study it, for here Kama is always rationalized by the presence of the thinking Principle.
Kama as a human Principle necessitates and implies the pres- ence of entities in the kamic stage of consciousness among those hierarchies which make up man's body. For it cannot be too sharply borne in mind that Kama and Manas* have nothing in common as Principles except the power of each to color, change, and react upon the other. They are as distinct as are silver and gold, which may, nevertheless, be welded into one coherent mass. Therefore, when we see in the animal kingdom an almost infinitenumber of entities, ruled by the kamic or Desire Principle, yetwholly destitute of the true Manas, or the thinking, reasoningPrinciple, we must recognize the fact that as Kama and Manashave nothing in common except the Absolute Consciousness inwhich both have their origin, there is also in man a kamic entity,synthesizing, perhaps, hosts of lower kamic entities into that wonderful, complex system of sense-organs which relate him to hismaterial environment For, as has been pointed out, the HigherEgo of man may abandon the body and yet this retain its fullvigor and vitality. But the withdrawing of this synthesizing,kamic elemental means the inevitable death of man's body, as itdoes that, also, of all animals. In a Universe composed of an infi-nite number of entities at equally infinitely varying stages of theirevolutionary becoming, we must recognize centers of consciousness, or entities, preparing to pass upward into manhood, just asman himself is preparing to pass upward into godhood ; so that therecognition of a kamic elemental as the Chief and ruler of thelower Quaternary in man 'is one warranted by, and even the inevitable outcome of, a comparison of the body and purely animalfunctions of man with those of the animals. Except in the all-important difference that man has a Manasic, or Thinking, Principle, he in no wise differs from his dumb brethren in the kingdomjust below him. The same sense-organs which he uses to relatehimself to nature they use ; and, in many instances, such sense-organs in the animals are far more acutely developed than are thecorresponding ones in man. Indeed, as has been often said, with-out his reasoning power man would be but the most helpless ofanimals. His body is composed of the same molecular constitu-ents as those of the animals The very gray matter of his brain the materialistic god—finds its counterpart in similar matter inthe brains of animals, far beneath him in mental development. Heis born as they are; he lives upon the same nutriment that theydo; he dies, and his body decays in a precisely similar manner.No other hypothesis except this which recognizes that man is ananimal, plus a living soul within his animal body, can satisfy thealmost innumerable phenomena which bind him so completely and closely to the animal forms beneath him. If there are so many conscious phenomena in man which have their plain equivalents and counterparts among the animals, there is small wonder that science, following the ex parte, inductive method of Aristotle, has come to the conclusion that the whole of man's conscious being is but the evolutionary perfection of these same conscious phenomena exhibited in lower evolutionary stages. That this opinion, held by scientists, is erroneous—very erroneous—can be easily shown. But such proof falls without the purview of the present subject. The fact that there are phenomena in which animals exhibit a consciousness identical with that possessed by man, and which often exceeds his in acuteness of perception, is that with which we have at present to deal. For scientists may, indeed, justly claim that, if man has a soul, then the animals also have souls, at a lower grade of evolutionary development; which assertion is true, and in strict accord with the theosophic conception of evolutionary processes. Animals have kamic, elemental souls; man also has a kamic, elemental soul, which is the chief Rector of that counterpart of the earth—his body. In the consciousness of this human elemental resides Kama. It knows no other consciousness, until Manas, the thinking soul, incarnates, and thus emanates upon it the light of reason, together with the possibilities of both the memory of past sensuous delights and the anticipation of those yet to come. Even thus illumined, this kamic elemental is still the same reasonless being it was before, but with its power for enjoying sensuous delights a thousand-Told increased, and its desire for such enjoyment a thousand times intensified.
As to the manner in which the thinking soul welds itself to and becomes tainted with Kama, thus constituting the KamaManasic, or brain mind, which rules in man to-day—that will be the subject for our consideration when we come to the study of the Manasic, or thinking Principle, and for the present we pass it by.
It is the intense desires of this kamic synthesizer of the human body which largely modifies the formation of the human Linga Sharira, when this is projected by the subconscious ideation of the incarnating Ego. It is again the desire to live raging in this 6S SEPTENARY MAN. entity, as well as desires in the hosts of lower entities whosekamic consciousness it also synthesizes, which modifies the actionof the pranic lives, at work in the construction of the humanframe; while it itself is at the same time vivified and ensouled, asit were, by the action of Prana in bestowing life upon the formwith which it and they are thus associated. It is the synthesizingaction of this kamic elemental, no doubt, which causes the formation of the Kama Rupa upon the death of the body. The longassociation during life with the human form causes it, after death,to again surround itself with a low form of astral matter, whichassumes the shape of its late physical body. And after the humansoul has withdrawn from the body at death, it still remains associ-ated with, and its progress towards Devachan is hindered and,indeed, rendered impossible for the time being by, the clamorsand demands arising in this kamic elemental. For this, as well asmany, if not all elemental souls in animals, has a limited periodof normal, subjective existence after the death of its body.There is no doubt that animals dream, and this ability to maintain,or experience, a dreaming consciousness proves that they, also,have the power to maintain a subjective existence, for a longer orshorter period, quite independently of their physical organisms.And in the case of one in whom the kamic desires have beendominant in its association with Manas, then this kamic elementalhas become so intellectualized by this perversion of the true function of Manas that this capacity for subjective existence is verygreatly prolonged; and, so long as this entity can set up vibrations upon its own plane of desire, so long will the true Ego beunable to enter the peace and tranquillity of the truly subjectivestate of Devachan.
It is most fortunate, perhaps, for the true Ego, or human soul,that the natural life cycle of this kamic elemental is shorter thanis its own. Thus, when one lives out one's normal life, even whenthis is shortened by ignorance of nature's laws by at least threeparts of the time it ought occupy, still old age, when this occurs atonly seventy or eighty years, finds the kamic elemental with itspassionate life cycle already exhausted, and ready and eager topass into the latency of its subjective existence. This shorter FOURTH PRINCIPLE—KAMA, OR DESIRE. 69 objective cycle of the kamic elemental seems to be the true rea- son for the natural disappearance of desires, appetites, and passions, as old age approaches. But the case is far different when acci- dent or suicide tears the human soul, together with its kamic associate, out of the body while the latter is in the very height of its sensuous desires. In this event it will clothe itself v/ith a strong and powerful Kama Rupa; and it will be totally impossible for the soul of such an one to even approach the devachanic portals, for the clamors of Kama, the passionate vibrations of desire, will drag the ego earthward, whether it will or no. Such a soul, thus caught within the grasp of desire, and with its own will-power entirely in abeyance because it has never evolved the power of self-consciousness upon these inner planes of Being, will find itself in a most pitiable and deplorable condition; one of the most acute suffering; one which, in normal states of consciousness, is only comparable to that known as "nightmare." Just as the one who is the subject of this terrible oppression knows himself the victim of unreal terrors and vainly struggles to awaken, so will the soul of the suicide, realizing that he is dead, and yet, strange to say, that he is not dead, struggle with all the agony of his terror to return to the life which he has abandoned through his own act. A similar state of consciousness will also attend upon accidental deaths, or those occurring in war. For if the person who is killed either in war or accidentally is of a low moral character, then his condition is very similar to that of the suicide. He will likewise clothe himself with a strong Kama Rupa, and will be similarly tempted to haunt all possible sources which afford him avenues whereby to return to a vicarious sensuous existence. If, however, the person who dies an accidental death is of even average morality and goodness, then the teaching is that he will fall into a kind of a dreaming continuation of his life on earth, which will last until the normal period for the conclusion of that life is reached, after which he will pass peacefully into Devachan. For the sui- cide, also, Devachan becomes possible at the close of that which would have been his own normal life cycle. But the suicide has deliberately, of his own will, interfered with his own karma. He has cowardly abandoned life because the circumstances surround- yo SEPTENARY MAN. ing it, and which were entirely of his own creating, have seemedto contain more of evil than he was able to bear. Therefore,between the suicide and the victim of accidental death there is a wide moral chasm. The suicide must experience greater punishment because of his deliberate act; the accidentally slain, the lesser, because he has not violently and by his own free will inter- fered with his existence upon earth. Karmic justice thus demandsonly the inevitable effects following upon each cause; and if hewho dies by accidental death suffers more than he would havedone had he lived out his life cycle, it is because of his moralunworth, and not because of the accidental separation from his body. The motive which causes the suicide, in full possession ofall his faculties, to deliberately end that which he supposes to behis existence upon earth, must always weigh heavily in the karmic balances; while he who perishes accidentally is only entitled to, and only receives, the punishment brought about by his moralunworth, and which is thus untowardly precipitated upon him.
It will at once be apparent that in these truly named " earthbound" souls is to be found the source of most of so called "spirit- ual phenomena." Especially will the suicide and the depravedvictim of accident haunt mediumistic circles, for such circles provide them with willing victims for the vicarious gratification oftheir sensous desires; while such victims, in submitting to theirobsession, fancy they are yielding to " angel guides" from somecelestial sphere. And even after the soul has passed into Devachan and has abandoned the Kama Rupa, which now remains anastral corpse, to slowly dissipate upon the astral plane, such anastral shell may still be revivified by the magnetic force, unconsciously bestowed through the medium or the sitters, into a false imitation of the former personality. It has been pointed out thatthrough its long association with the body, the Kama Rupa hasformed numerous habits, both psychic and of a low mental order;and these, when it is thus temporarily revivified, it tends to repeatautomatically, without the slightest aid from that higher mindwhich originated consciously these habits which the Kama Ruparepeats automatically and unconsciously. Such a shell may alsobe made a kind of psychic mirror, which, equally automatically, FOURTH PRINCIPLE—KAMA, OR DESIRE. 7 I reflects the thought-images of those present, and thus gives back to the sitters facts which they already well know, but which seem strange and miraculous when coming from the lips of an apparently dead person. These reflected mental images are the source of many of the boasted " tests" of spiritualistic circles. And the automatic repeating of its own habits of thought, tricks of speech, and so on, by a shell thus temporarily galvanized into a transient but false existence, is the undoubted origin of the information sometimes apparently given by spirits of good and pure people who have passed away, and which information was not known to the sitters present. In such cases the true ego is in Devachan, and undisturbed by any of the mummery going on upon earth; but its abandoned shell, if it happen to drift into the aura of such a spiritualistic circle, may take on a false semblance of life, and repeat, quite automatically, yet still accurately, enough of the incidents of its past life to convince those present that the soul of such a one has really returned to earth. The proof that it is not the true ego lies in the fact that such communications always refer to the past; they never give new facts of their supposed spiritual habitation ; they never advance any philosophical explanation of life; they add nothing to the sum of human knowledge; they are but the faded echo of former earth experiences. When spiritual communications take the form of philosophical discussion, or the descriptions of " summerland," or similar things, the source of such intelligence is again different, and will be explained when we come to deal with a higher state of consciousness than the kamic, which concerns us now.
All Kama Rupas have their local habitation in what is known as Kama Loka, and which is but a duplicate of this earth in finer astral matter—its Linga Sharira, in fact. And not only do human Kama Rupas live, pass into latency, and fade away here, but also the astral forms of the lower orders of life, and especially the Kama Rupas of all members of the animal kingdom which have reached a sufficiently intense kamic plane to clothe themselves with such forms at death. Therefore, he who, by means of a very low and dangerous kind of clairvoyance, forces his consciousness upon this the lowest of all astral planes, will find himself in con- 72 SEPTENARY MAN. tact with not only Kama Rupas and shells of dead men, but alsowith the counterparts of dead animals. And there is little doubtthat there have been cases where such kama-rupic forms of animalshave become sufficiently materialized to be visible to the nonclairvoyant eye, just as the Linga Sharira, or even the Kama Rupaof human beings, is also capable of clothing itself transiently withmolecular matter, and also of becoming temporary visible to theordinary vision. This low clairvoyance, which seems so desirableto those who are curiosity-seekers rather than real students of thephilosophy of life, is the result of resorting to practises which for abrief interval free the soul from its material vehicles. There aremany such ways. Crystal-gazing and other forms of self-hypnotism are examples. And unless one has become morally purewhen he separates his consciousness from his body, he will findhimself upon a plane appropriate to his unclean consciousness.But if he be a pure and holy person, with altruistic desires—onewhose passions are all in abeyance—he need have no fear of find-ing himself in Kama Loka when he abandons his material bodyfrom any cause. If, however, as is the case with the majority ofmankind, passion dominates and desires rend him, he will surelyland himself in this most undesirable of all conscious states andlocalities. He will be as nearly in "hell," perhaps, as is possiblefor the human soul. He will have as his companions the senseless, passionate, ghoul-like inhabitants of this horrible realm; andif he do not become himself, even while in the body, morallydepraved, or mentally unsound, he is setting up attractions andcreating causes which will certainly place him in this loka atdeath, and render his stay under such terrible associations proportionately long. For the declaration in the Bhagavad Gita,that "those who worship the dead go to the dead," or, in otherwords, that the attractions and beliefs which we cultivate duringlife guide and determine our post-mortem states or the intervalsbetween two lives, is both true philosophically and warrantedunder the law of Karma. Thus, one who has longed for inter-course with the dead, who has accepted the gibberish poured outby these senseless shells as the summitm bonum of all good thatcould come into his life, will most assuredly be drawn into the kama-lokic region at death; and, just as he has set up during life so many causes which bind him to this plane, his stay here will be proportionately long. On the contrary, if one has lived a truly spiritual life—meaning by spirituality the cultivation of one's highest and noblest faculties and unselfish work for the elevation of humanity and the study of the laws which obtain in spiritual matter—Kama Loka will scarcely detain him a moment. He will pass swiftly through this horrible, moral graveyard of putrefying astral corpses, and at once enter upon the peace and safety of Devachan.
