Buddhic Body
Also called Anandamayakosa - the bliss/joy sheath
Buddhic Consciousness
The student will scarcely need to be told that all
description of buddhic consciousness is necessarily and essentially
defective. It is impossible in physical words to give more than the merest
hint of what the higher consciousness is, for the physical brain is
incapable of grasping the reality.
It is difficult enough to form a conception even of astral
plane phenomena, there being four dimensions in the astral world. In the
buddhic world there are no less than six, so that the difficulties are
enormously enhanced.
There is an ingenious diagram (for which the [author] is
indebted to the unknown designer) reproduced below, which illustrates
graphically the fundamental difference between the buddhic plane and all
the planes below it.
The diagram [Unity in Diversity] is seen to consist of a
number of spikes or spokes which overlap at a certain point.
That point of overlap is the beginning of the buddhic plane. The tips of
the spokes represent the physical consciousness of men: they are separate
and distinct from one another. Passing up the spokes towards the centre,
we see that the astral consciousness is a little wider, so that the
consciousness of separate men approach a little nearer to one another. The
lower mental consciousnesses approach still more nearly to one another,
whilst the higher mental consciousnesses, at their very highest level,
meet at the point where the buddhic consciousness commences.
It will now be seen that the buddhic consciousness of each
individual and separate "man," overlaps that of the other separate
consciousnesses on either side of him. The illustration is the
"overlapping" aspect of buddhic consciousness, where a sense of union with
others is experienced.
As the consciousness rises still further up into the higher
plane, it will be seen that it overlaps those on either side of it more
and more, until eventually, when the "centre" is reached, there is
practically a complete merging of consciousness. Nevertheless each
separate spoke still exists and has its own individual direction and
outlook. Looking out towards the lower worlds, each consciousness
looks in a different direction: it is an aspect of the one central
consciousness. Looking inwards, on the other hand, these diverging
directions all meet together, and become one with one another.
The sense of union is characteristic of the buddhic plane.
On this plane all limitations begin to fall away, and the consciousness of
man expands until he realises, no longer in theory only, that the
consciousness of his fellows is included within his own, and he feels and
knows and experiences, with an absolute perfection of sympathy, all that
is in them, because it is in reality a part of himself.
On this plane a man knows, not by mere intellectual
appreciation, but by definite experience, the fact that humanity is a
brotherhood, because of the spiritual unity which underlies it all, though
he is still himself, and his consciousness is his own.[13]
With the buddhic faculty it is no longer necessary to
collect facts from outside, but one plunges into the consciousness of
anything, whether it be mineral, plant or deva, etc., and understands it
from inside.[13]
A selfish man could not function on the buddhic plane, for the
very essence of that plane is sympathy and perfect comprehension, which
excludes selfishness. There is a close connection between the astral and
the buddhic bodies, the astral being in some ways a reflection of the
buddhic. But it must therefore be supposed that a man can leap from the
astral consciousness to the buddhic, without developing the intervening
vehicles. The sense of personal property in qualities and in ideas is
entirely lost, because we see that these things are truly common to all,
because they are part of the great reality which lies equally behind all.
Hence personal pride in individual development becomes an utter
impossibility, for we now see that personal development is but as the
growth of one leaf, among the thousands of leaves on one tree, and the
important fact is not the size or shape of that particular leaf, but its
relation to the tree as a whole; for it is only of the tree as a whole
that we can really predicate permanent growth. We have ceased altogether
to blame others for their differences from ourselves: instead we simply
note them as other manifestations of our own activity, for now we see
reasons which before were hidden from us. Even the evil man is seen to be
part of ourselves - a weak part; so our desire is not to blame him, but to
help him by pouring strength into that weak part of ourselves, so that the
whole body of humanity may be vigorous and healthy. Thus when a man rises
to the buddhic plane, he can gain the experience of others; hence it is
not necessary for every Ego to go through every experience, as a separate
individual. If he did not want to feel the suffering of another, he could
withdraw: but he would choose to feel it, because he wants to help. He
enfolds in his own consciousness one who is suffering, and although the
sufferer would know nothing of such enfoldment, yet it will, to a certain
extent, lessen his sufferings. On the buddhic plane there is a quite new
faculty, having nothing in common with faculties on the lower planes. For
a man recognises objects by an entirely different method, in which
external vibrations play no part. The object becomes part of himself, and
he studies it from the inside instead of the outside. With such a method
of apprehension, it is clear that many familiar objects become entirely
unrecognisable. Even astral sight enables one to see objects from all
sides at once, as well as from above and below: adding to that the further
complication that the whole inside of the body is laid out before us, as
though every particle were placed separately upon a table: adding to that
again the fact that, while we look at these particles, we are yet at the
same time within each particle, and are looking through it, it is apparent
that it becomes impossible to trace any resemblance to the object which we
knew in the physical world. Whilst the intuition of the Causal Body
recognises the outer, the intuition of buddhi recognises the inner.
Intellectual intuition enables one to realise a thing outside oneself:
with buddhic intuition one sees a thing from inside. Thus if, when working
in the causal body, we want to understand another person, in order to help
him, we turn our consciousness upon his causal body, and study its
peculiarities; they are quite well marked, plainly to be seen, but they
are always seen from without. If, wanting the same knowledge, we raise our
consciousness to the buddhic level, we find the consciousness of the other
man as part of ourselves. We find a point of consciousness which
represents him - we might call it a hole rather than a point. We can pour
ourselves down that hole, and enter into his consciousness, at any lower
level that we wish, and therefore can see everything precisely as he sees
it - from inside him instead of from outside. It will easily be understood
how much that lends itself to perfect understanding and sympathy.
If, here and now, a hundred of us could simultaneously raise our
consciousness into the buddhic world, we should all be one consciousness,
but to each man that consciousness would seem to be his own, absolutely
unchanged, except that now it included all the others as well.
[13]
A students' experience of Buddhic
consciousness
…....he described a sensation of actually rising through space;
he found what he supposed to be the sky like a roof barring his way, but
the force of his will seemed to form a sort of cone in it, which became a
tube through which he found himself rushing. He emerged into a region of
blinding light which was at the same time a sea of bliss so overwhelming
that he could find no words to describe it. It was not in the least like
anything that he had ever felt before; it grasped him as definitely and
instantaneously as a giant hand might have done, and permeated his whole
nature in a moment like a flood of electricity. It was more real than any
physical object he had ever seen, and yet at the same time so utterly
spiritual. “It was as though God had taken me into Himself and I felt His
life running through me”.[19]