The Theosophical Forum – January 1940

MAN'S ESSENTIAL NATURE — L. Ram Sahijpal

Man's present earth life is not for ever, and his earthly belongings and affairs which engage him day and night, and which are, no doubt, quite necessary to him to a certain extent, are not his everlastingly after all. It would indeed be worth his while to dedicate some of his time, however little, frequently and periodically to the study of the spiritual side of his being.

One of the many virtuous things pertaining to his eternal life and one the study of which should interest him, is his "Essential Nature." At present he knows very little of "who he is," and the realization of his real nature that will come to him in time if he perseveres with self-study and self-discipline will indeed be his real and eternal possession and companion, for it is a high mark in man's spiritual unfoldment, that follows strictly according to occult laws the promotion of the spiritual fabric of his soul.

Religions teach that man is the child of God, the Father, the Spirit, who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Certainly, then, if man is the child of God he must be an infant-god; and if God, the Spirit, is omnipresent, God must be present not only everywhere in the heavens above but also everywhere on earth; the very environment in which man stands or exists must be pervaded by God, and the very space that his body fills must be permeated too. Yes, God, the subtle Spiritual-self pervades the heart of every atom and organ of man's constitution.

Whilst the fact remains that the "Divine Self" is everywhere in and around man, the greatest importance is to be attached to the Holy Presence in his heart-mind organ alone, because it, the latter, is the originant of the whole of his earthly constitution and no part of man is so directly, entirely, and continuously connected with his life-activities on earth as is his mind. In fact it is the real or inner man who controls, during life on earth, the whole of the movements of the physical or outer man. Theosophy, the Ancient Wisdom, which is a synthesis of religion, science, and philosophy, teaches that the outer man is rooted in the inner man, the intermediate self, the mind; and this latter in turn is rooted in the spiritual background of the "Divine Presence" — the "Universal Divine Self" that pervades the inmost core of man's heart-mind organ. Thus in its profoundest wisdom it promulgates that the fundamental nature of man is divine, or that man is a divine being in his "Essential Nature."

Man is a divine prince even though he knows it not, and in his heart there is "Heaven," in which his God, the Father, resides. This is literally true if the terms "Heaven" and "God" be interpreted esoterically, but though these terms are familiar to all, their inmost significance escapes many. O brother man! why not search out the Truth! Let us see what Theosophy can tell us about these mystic terms. In the heart-core of the human mind there is an invisible mystic Center, made of very highly ethereal substance and lit with dark light. Because of its invisibility, the height of its ethereal attributes, and the sacred significance of its being the maker and ruler, as explained previously, of the physical man, a part of earth, hence earth, this mystic center is maintained to stand above the latter, and is called by esotericists of all ages, by the mystic name "Heaven," meaning the invisible ethereal center, the causal realm whence the man of clay has sprung. The dark light within this center, the "Heaven" in man, is the invisible presence of the Universal Divine-consciousness-essence. Because it, the latter, lights, or inspires and stimulates, the heart-mind, "Heaven," to action, it is called God, the supreme maker and ruler of man, the child; and because it permeates that center it is called "God in Heaven." So, there it is, O dear reader, that "God" who is known to be in "Heaven," and in the search for whom man looks skyward, lies in the inmost core of his own heart and mind, because the latter is indeed that "Heaven" in the case of man. It would certainly have been the right step taken by him if he had looked heartward to commune with his "Maker." Furthermore, prayers, if heart-felt and sincere are, no doubt, a good means to evoke the Holy Spirit within the heart for Communion, but the practical life of pure thoughts, kind and helpful words, and the holy deeds of Universal love and compassion for all that lives, win very rapidly, if not instantaneously and automatically, the Holy Communion of Divine Self.

Such is, in brief, the sacred teaching of Theosophy, the Wisdom of the Gods, concerning the "Essential Nature" of man and the basic rules of moral conduct to reach this sublime state.



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