The famous Indian Poet Rabindranath Tagore once said:
“I have listened and I have looked with open eyes; I have poured my soul into the world, seeking the unknown within the known, and I sing out loud in amazement”
In the “Key to Theosophy” HPB tells us, that during the last quarter of every hundred years an attempt is made by the Masters, of whom she has spoken, to help with the spiritual progress of Humanity. That an outpouring of spirituality would take place, and that someone or more persons will appear in the world as their agents, that a greater or less amount of occult knowledge will be given out, and I am quite positive, that some of the modern scientists fit this bill.
Albert Einstein said already at the beginning of the 20th Century, when he formulated his general theory of relativity, that space and time are intertwined, that matter is inseparable from an ever present quantum energy field, underlying all appearances, which he expressed with his famous words:
We may therefore regard matter as being constituted by the regions of space, in which the energy field is extremely intense. There is no place in this kind of physics for the field and matter, for the field is the only reality”
What does this have to do with the human Aura? What can Theosophy and science tell us about it, and what is even more interesting – do they complement each other? So let’s start from the beginning:
The SD I p. 62 tells us, that the expansion of the universal matrix (Mulaprakriti in Sk and Svabhavat in Buddhism) does not refer to an expansion from a small centre, but it is the development of limitless subjectivity into limitless objectivity; a shadow of the immaterial substance present in eternity, thrown into the lap of Maya or Illusion. It is not an increase in size, but a change of condition.
This was symbolized by an egg or a sphere, containing in itself the potency of the Universe (SD I p. 64). In Hindu Philosophy it is called Hiranyagarbha or Brahma^, formed by the “causeless cause”; it is spirit and life, without quality or quantity or form, but rather the Space occupied in that Ocean of Spirit by the result of effects impressed thereon (ML XIII p. 74)
This radiant force field is the underlying essence, containing everything in its potentiality. Every physical phenomena from sub-atomic particle to complete and complicated systems, like planets or a human being, is an emanation of this underlying electro magnetic energy field. It’s radiation around animate and inanimate objects was called throughout recorded human history AURA.
The Auric Envelop has seven layers (CW XII p. 532), just as cosmic space and our physical epidermis. It is a within on different planes of subjectivity, merging gradually into objectivity.
When the season of reproduction arrives, the sub-astral “extrudes” a miniature of itself from the egg of the surrounding Aura. This germ grows and feeds on the Aura until it becomes fully developed, then it gradually separates from its parent, carrying with it its own sphere or Aura (SD II p. 117).
This auric egg (or the underlying energy field) is really the true manifested Man says HPB, because it is the manifestation of all the vital life forces (CW XII p. 652), the astral form itself is the nucleus of this sphere (SD II p. 117), an ethereal agglomerate of life atoms in the auric egg (CW XII p. 649), in combination with Manas (or mind) and Buddhi (CW XIII p. 364). It gradually assumes a definite human outline (CW XII p. 649), and is the origin of the feeling of sympathy and antipathy (CW XIII p. 364).
Every human being is surrounded by its own emotional and passional as well as psychovital atmosphere … a portion of the lower layers of the auric egg (CW XII p. 651). Every human passion, every thought and quality is indicated in the Aura by corresponding colours.
The famous Indian Poet Rabindranath Tagore once said:
“I have listened and I have looked with open eyes; I have poured my soul into the world, seeking the unknown within the known, and I sing out loud in amazement”
In the “Key to Theosophy” HPB tells us, that during the last quarter of every hundred years an attempt is made by the Masters, of whom she has spoken, to help with the spiritual progress of Humanity. That an outpouring of spirituality would take place, and that someone or more persons will appear in the world as their agents, that a greater or less amount of occult knowledge will be given out, and I am quite positive, that some of the modern scientists fit this bill.
Albert Einstein said already at the beginning of the 20th Century, when he formulated his general theory of relativity, that space and time are intertwined, that matter is inseparable from an ever present quantum energy field, underlying all appearances, which he expressed with his famous words:
“We may therefore regard matter as being constituted by the regions of space, in which the energy field is extremely intense. There is no place in this kind of physics for the field and matter, for the field is the only reality”
What does this have to do with the human Aura? What can Theosophy and science tell us about it, and what is even more interesting – do they complement each other? So let’s start from the beginning:
The SD I p. 62 tells us, that the expansion of the universal matrix (Mulaprakriti in Sk and Svabhavat in Buddhism) does not refer to an expansion from a small centre, but it is the development of limitless subjectivity into limitless objectivity; a shadow of the immaterial substance present in eternity, thrown into the lap of Maya or Illusion. It is not an increase in size, but a change of condition.
This was symbolized by an egg or a sphere, containing in itself the potency of the Universe (SD I p. 64). In Hindu Philosophy it is called Hiranyagarbha or Brahma^, formed by the “causeless cause”; it is spirit and life, without quality or quantity or form, but rather the Space occupied in that Ocean of Spirit by the result of effects impressed thereon (ML XIII p. 74).
This radiant force field is the underlying essence, containing everything in its potentiality. Every physical phenomena from sub-atomic particle to complete and complicated systems, like planets or a human being, is an emanation of this underlying electro magnetic energy field. It’s radiation around animate and inanimate objects was called throughout recorded human history AURA.
The Auric Envelop has seven layers (CW XII p. 532), just as cosmic space and our physical epidermis. It is a within on different planes of subjectivity, merging gradually into objectivity.
When the season of reproduction arrives, the sub-astral “extrudes” a miniature of itself from the egg of the surrounding Aura. This germ grows and feeds on the Aura until it becomes fully developed, then it gradually separates from its parent, carrying with it its own sphere or Aura (SD II p. 117)
This auric egg (or the underlying energy field) is really the true manifested Man says HPB, because it is the manifestation of all the vital life forces (CW XII p. 652), the astral form itself is the nucleus of this sphere (SD II p. 117), an ethereal agglomerate of life atoms in the auric egg (CW XII p. 649), in combination with Manas (or mind) and Buddhi (CW XIII p. 364). It gradually assumes a definite human outline (CW XII p. 649), and is the origin of the feeling of sympathy and antipathy (CW XIII p. 364).
Every human being is surrounded by its own emotional and passional as well as psychovital atmosphere … a portion of the lower layers of the auric egg (CW XII p. 651). Every human passion, every thought and quality is indicated in the Aura by corresponding colours.
CW XII p. 652: When the ray-point of the spiritual monad reaches its own intermediate sphere, it descends no further into matter, only its psycho-magnetic ray, having stronger affinities for the material world, descends still further, awakening into activity the life atoms on each of the planes between that of the re-embodying ego and the astral-physical matter of our earth …
Each part of the composite human constitution remains on its own plane, but extrudes its excess of life from itself into the next lower one, until finally the physical plane is reached, wherein only the tip of the ray, collecting unto itself life-atoms of this plane, builds or forms the physical germinal cell … the process is an exact analogy of what occurs in the building of a planetary chain.
SD I p. 538: the vital force is not enclosed in man, but radiates within and around him like a luminous sphere or Aura, and it may be made to act at a distance.
CW XII p. 532: It is the aura, which according to our mental and physical state of purity or impurity either opens for us vistas into other worlds, or shuts us out altogether from anything but the three-dimensional world of matter.
CW XII p. 647: This is how important the role of the auric egg is in the human constitution; it is the field of all different ranges of consciousness of the im-bodied man, and it is likewise the ethereal and astral and even spiritual substance or auric envelop, out of which every one of the vehicles of the human entity is formed.
How close has modern science come to the ancient occult teachings about the human Aura and the compound constitution of Man?
Dr. Valerie Hunt, a Prof. of physiological sciences at the University of Los Angeles, who just died two years ago at the age of 97, was challenged by graduate students to study consciousness in the 1970ies, even ancient literature, and that the true function of a University was to expand the frontiers of knowledge, designing a new direction.
This became the starting point of a serious investigation into the mind, consciousness and the human Aura – which is today called the bio-electro-magnetic energy field. How does this energy field around us come about, and what is it made of?
Energy is an important factor in the function of our bodies. All objects, animate or inanimate, are composed of atoms, where the electrons spin around the nucleus, releasing the raw energy of positive or negative ions, they are atoms which have either lost or gained an electron, making them either positive or negatively charged.
The positively charged ions stay in the vicinity of other atoms, searching for a negative ion to become a new atom. The negatively charged ones on the other hand migrate to the surface of the physical body, where they hang around the positively charged surface. This is an energy field surrounding all physical bodies. It is broader and more dynamic from living structures, and this field around a person has been called throughout history the human Aura, radiating light frequencies, which can sometimes be seen by others in higher states of consciousness.
The first equipment that was used in Valerie Hunt’s laboratory to measure the energies of a human body was a telemetry instrument especially built for them by a NASA engineer, who had already developed a telemetry system for astronauts, used to send their vital physiological recordings of muscle and heart activities from the moon to earth during the first manned space trip. The signals are broadcasted by FM radio frequencies from a battery-operated radio transmitter and amplifier attached to the person’s belt.
It was already known, that stimulated brain, heart and muscle cells create electrical energy which can be recorded. But using the telemetry instrument even the auric field of a person appeared. It is smaller in amplitude, but higher in frequencies, which could later be associated with mind phenomena and human consciousness as well, when more sophisticated computer software was developed – a Biofield Monitor.
This Monitor showed, that the energy-field of each individual is unique, changing with emotions and consciousness. As HPB already stated, it selectively transacts with other outside fields of information, altering raw stimuli to meat its own needs. Every information must pass through this energy field before reaching the nervous system. It is a quantum concept of vibrations, their frequencies can be visualized by different colours, and it has its own integrity.
Also the scientists, like HPB, came to the conclusion, that the mind is an energy-field phenomenon, having its seat in the Aura. Before brain waves were activated, the field already responded, although the person experienced no conscious sensation.
Experiments with test persons in a sound sterile room showed, that people felt strange sensory aberrations and lost all sense of time. Their consciousness altered so rapidly, that they were not able to operate instruments.
When the electrical aspect of the room was withdrawn, the auric fields became randomly disorganized, scattered and incoherent; energy was jumping between people and their chakras (or energy centres), their bodies responded as though they were being threatened. When magnetism was decreased, gross in-coordination occurred, where people could not balance their bodies any more.
Other experiments showed, that reflexes from material reality, like body or personal states, are recorded in and recovered from the brain. Other impressions such as experienced knowing, higher information, transcendental ideas, insight about ultimate sources of reality and creativity in its purest form are properties of the higher mind, outside the domain of material reality, yet interacting with them in an open system, because Valerie Hunt and her team were able to measure them. The mind can explore far beyond the closed circuit of the brain, and the brain may not even be aware of it.
Grounded in a state of material reality, the energy field ranges from about 350-600 cycles per second; an altered state of consciousness exhibits a range of up to 200.000 cycles per second, containing information of previous lifehoods, which can be experienced – HPB says, that experiences from past incarnations are the memory of the heart, and the capacity to impress it on the brain, so that it can become part of its consciousness, is the “opening of the Third Eye” (CW XII p. 696)
To close with the words of one of the Masters Instruction No. III p. 596-598 CW XII:
“Observe that the first of the steps of gold which mount towards the Temple of Truth is – A CLEAN LIFE. This means purity of body, and a still greater purity of mind, heart and spirit … how many violate one or more of these conditions, and yet expect to be freely taught the highest Wisdom and Sciences, the Wisdom of the Gods …
Though if such a person with any of the above faults declared should fill the world with his charities, and make his name known throughout the nation, he would make no advancement in the practical occult sciences, but be continually slipping backward. The six and ten transcendental virtues, the Paramitas, are not for full grown yogis and priests alone, but for all those who would enter the Path”.
References:
SD I & II, ML, CW XII & XIII
Valerie Hunt “Science of Human Vibrations of Consciousness”, Glossary, and “Uncork your Consciousness”
