HPB-SD(ed.1) v.1 p.3 sec.8: Difference between revisions

<nowiki>*</nowiki> The division of the physical senses into five, comes to us from great antiquity. But while adopting the number, no modern philosopher has asked himself how these senses could exist, ''i.e.'', be perceived and used in a self-conscious way, unless there was the ''sixth ''sense, mental perception to register and record them&nbsp;; and (this for the Metaphysicians and Occultists) the Seventh to preserve the spiritual fruition and remembrance thereof, as in a Book of Life which belongs to Karma. The ancients divided the senses into five, simply because their teachers (the Initiates) stopped at the ''hearing'', as being that sense which developed in the ''physical plane ''(got dwarfed rather, limited to this plane) only at the beginning of the Fifth Race. (The Fourth Race already had begun to lose the ''spiritual ''condition, so pre-eminently developed in the Third Race.)

† The modern commentators, failing to comprehend the subtle meaning of the ancient Scholiasts, take this sentence, “&nbsp;causes of the agents,” to mean “&nbsp;that the powers of smelling, etc., when attributed to the Self, make him appear as an agent, as an active principle&nbsp;” (!), which is entirely fanciful. These “&nbsp;seven&nbsp;” are understood to be the causes of the Agents, because “&nbsp;the objects are causes, as their enjoyment causes an impression.” It means esoterically that they, these seven senses, ''are caused by the ''Agents, which are the “&nbsp;deities,” for what does, or can, the sentence which follows this one mean&nbsp;? “&nbsp;Thus,” it is said, “&nbsp;these seven (senses) are the causes of emancipation&nbsp;” (''i.e.'', when these causes are made ineffectual). “&nbsp;And among the learned (the wise Initiates) who understand the qualities ''which are in the position ''(in the nature, rather) ''of the deities'', each in its place,” means simply that the “&nbsp;learned&nbsp;” understand the nature of the ''noumenoi ''of the various phenomena&nbsp;; and that “&nbsp;qualities,” in this instance, mean the qualities of the high planetary or Elementary gods or Intelligences, which rule the elements and their ''products'', and not at all “&nbsp;the senses,” as the modern commentator thinks. For the “&nbsp;learned do not suppose their senses to have aught to do with them, any more than with their {{Style S-Small capitals|Self}}.” (''Vide ''pp. 278 and 279 of the VIII. Vol. of “&nbsp;The Sacred Books of the East.” ''Anugîtâ.'')