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THE SKANDHAS EXPLAINED BY WILLIAM JUDGE





William Judge was a great Theosophist. He did not write an article about skandhas, but he repeatedly mentioned them in his writings, and below I transcribe what he said about them:


In his book The Ocean of Theosophy, when William Judge explained about the Kama-Loka, he wrote:

« Struggling out of the body the entire man goes into Kama-Loka, to purgatory, where he again struggles and loosens himself from the lower skandhas

During mortal life the desires and passions are guided by the mind and soul; after death they work without guidance from the former master; while we live we are responsible for them and their effects, and when we have left this life we are still responsible, although they go on working and making effects on others while they last as the sort of entity I have described, and without our direct guidance. In this is seen the continuance of responsibility.

They are a portion of the skandhas — well known in eastern philosophy — which are the aggregates that make up the man. The body includes one set of the skandhas, the astral man another, the kama principle is another set, and still others pertain to other parts.

In kama are the really active and important ones which control rebirths and lead to all the varieties of life and circumstance upon each rebirth.

They are being made from day to day under the law that every thought combines instantly with one of the elemental forces of nature, becoming to that extent an entity which will endure in accordance with the strength of the thought as it leaves the brain, and all of these are inseparably connected with the being who evolved them.

There is no way of escaping; all we can do is to have thoughts of good quality, for the highest of the Masters themselves are not exempt from this law, but they "people their current in space" with entities powerful for good alone.

Now in Kama-Loka this mass of desire and thought exists very definitely until the conclusion of its disintegration, and then the remainder consists of the essence of these skandhas, connected, of course, with the being that evolved and had them.

They can no more be done away with than we can blot out the universe. Hence they are said to remain until the being comes out of Devachan, and then at once by the law of attraction they are drawn to the being, who from them as germ or basis builds up a new set of skandhas for the new life»
(Chapter 12)





And in this same book, when William Judge explained about the Devachan, he stated:

« What Master Kuhumi did say on this is as follows: The "dream of devachan" lasts until karma is satisfied in that direction. In Devachan there is a "gradual exhaustion of force." "The stay in Devachan is proportioned to the unfinished psychic impulses originating in earth-life: those whose attractions were preponderatingly material will be sooner drawn back into rebirth by the force of Tanha."

The thirst for life expressed by the word Tanha is the pulling or magnetic force lodged in the skandhas inherent in all beings»
(Chapter 13)





In an article where William Judge talks about karma, he pointed out:

« Karma in their cases operates through what Patanjali calls “mental deposits.” These are the net results stored from each life by Manas . For as the body dies, taking the brain with it, there can be no storage there, nor means of connecting with the next earth-life; the division known as Kāma is dissipated or purged away together with the astral body at some time before rebirth; the astral body retains nothing — as a general rule — for the new life, and the value of summation of those skandhas which belong to Kāma is concentrated and deposited in Manas or the mind. »
(Echoes of the Orient I, p.278-79)





And in another article where William Judge spoke about reincarnation, he explained that:

« When death arrives, the brain disintegrates and there is nothing left of it all, but a few tendencies — skandhas, not of the very best. The advantages then turn out in the end to be disadvantages altogether.

But imagine the same brain and body not in places of ease, struggling for a good part of life, doing their duty and not in a position to please the senses; this experience will burn in, stamp upon, carve into the character, more energy, more power and more fortitude. It is thus through the ages that great characters are made. »
(Echoes of the Orient I, p.485)





And on other occasions William Judge commented that:

« Every inimical and uncharitable thought makes for disunion, and every opposite one for harmony. The skandhas are full of all the impressions we received; those skandhas wait and are ours again when we emerge from Devachan. »
(Echoes of the Orient II, p.315)





« When the astral body in which they cohere is disintegrated, as it is in time, they remain a sort of entity in the Kama-Rupa, a form of still less materiality than the Linga-Sarira. Eventually this too is said to fade out, leaving only their essence, the skandhas, fateful germs of karmic consequence, which, when the Ego emerges from the devachanic state, are by the law of attraction drawn to the new being in which it incarnates. »
(Echoes of the Orient III, p.236)





And finally, when a person asked:

What is the relationship of the Esoteric Seventh principle to that principle which is derived from the violet sub-ray of the Violet Hierarchy of Nature?

William Judge replied:

« The Auric Egg is the esoteric seventh principle. The Linga-Sarira is derived from the violet sub-ray of the Violet Hierarchy [568]. The relation is that of transitory emanation to eternal basic principle. The essence of the Linga-Sarira is derived from the Violet Hierarchy, but its individual coloring, nature, and form are furnished by the Auric Egg and the taṇhic elementals or essence of former skandhas. »
(Echoes of the Orient III, p.405)









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