The Human Constitution Vicente Hao Chin Jr.

We will first start our study of theosophical philosophy with a review of human constitution and the levels of consciousness. Since time immemorial, sages have known that we are not just our physical body, but that we have inner principles that are distinct from each other. We are actually already aware that our emotional experience is different from our sensory experience, or that our mental consciousness is different from both, but we did not know that these represent experiences in different bodies or vehicles of our consciousness. Theosophy popularized to the West the concept of seven principles in a human being, from the physical body to our highest spiritual consciousness. Prior to such knowledge, people used to think of human beings as having a soul. They also tend to confuse the words soul and spirit. Theosophy states that there are actually a number of inner souls in a human being, and that these are distinct from the highest Spirit within. The souls are the vehicles of the Spirit, in the same way that the physical body is a vehicle of the souls and the Spirit. Some of these souls are separable from each other. What is called astral projection or out-of-body-experiences are examples of the separation of these bodies. There are several versions in classifying the human constitution in theosophical literature. We need to understand the differences so that we don't get confused. The first and original one is the following (found in the Key to Theosophy, The Secret Doctrine, and Mahatma Letters): 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Atma (Spirit) Buddhi (Spiritual soul) Manas (Mind) Kama (Desire) Prana (Life energy) Linga Sarira (Astral body, later called etheric double) Sthula Sarira (Physical body)

These were called "principles" as they serve vital roles in the full functioning of the human being. While H. P. Blavatsky said that the human principles were septenary (seven-fold) due to a natural law, she hesitated to give them sequential numbers because: First, Atma is not really a principle since it is not a part of the human constitution; it is universal and it is neither your Atma nor mine.

Second, this was not yet the real septenary constitution; she wrote in Key to Theosophy, "though we do give out to the world as much as is lawful, even in our doctrine more than one important detail is withheld, which those who study the esoteric philosophy and are pledged to silence, are alone entitled to know" (Sec. 6). In her Esoteric Instructions (Collected Writings, Vol 12, p. 529) she replaced Atma with Auric Egg. In the Vedantic classification, the mind is divided into the higher and the lower mind. Prana is not considered as a principle because it is universal. This led to a popular classification adopted by Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Atma Buddhi body Causal body Mental body Astral body Etheric body Physical body

Note that Besant followed the Vedantins in calling the principles as "bodies" or kosas on "the form side" (The Ancient Wisdom, p. 177) rather than "principles." In using these terms it must be noted that term astral body is used in two senses. In the original sense, it is the double, or the etheric double. In later theosophical literature, astral body meant the desire (kama) or emotional body, and not the double anymore. Thus when reading different theosophical books, the reader needs to be aware of the different meanings of certain important words used by the writers. An understanding of the human constitution enables us to know the role and significance of different phenomena and practices, such as astral projection, apparition of the dead, bilocation, the death process, reincarnation, meditation, mysticism, enlightenment experience, satori, nirvana, mystical union, etc. Thus this particular knowledge about the levels of human consciousness is one of the most important maps of reality that we have.