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The '''circle''' is an ancient symbol which, being formed by an unbroken line that has no beginning, no end, and no direction, frequently represents a unity that encompasses all space and Time.
 
[[H. P. Blavatsky]] defined it as follows:
 
<blockquote>The one circle is divine Unity, from which all proceeds, whither all returns.  Its circumference—a forcibly limited symbol, in view of the limitation of the human mind—indicates the abstract, ever incognisable PRESENCE, and its plane, the Universal Soul, although the two are one.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 1.</ref></blockquote>
 
<blockquote>The first and only form of the prima materia our brain-consciousness can cognise, is a circle. Train your thought first of all to a thorough acquaintance with a limited circle, and expand it gradually. You will soon come to a point when without its ceasing to be a circle in thought, it yet becomes infinite and limitless even to the inner perceptions. It is this circle which we call Brahmâ, the germ, atom or anu: a latent atom embracing infinitude and boundless Eternity during Pralaya, an active one during the life-cycles; but one which has neither circumference nor plane, only limitless expansion. Therefore the Circle is the first geometrical figure and symbol in the subjective world, and it becomes a Triangle in the objective.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. IV (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1981), 385.</ref></blockquote>
 
The Circle was with every nation the symbol of the Unknown—“Boundless Space,” the abstract garb of an ever present abstraction—the Incognisable Deity. It represents limitless Time in Eternity. The Zeroana Akerne is also the “Boundless Circle of the Unknown Time,” from which Circle issues the radiant light—the Universal SUN, or Ormazd [the Logos, the “First Born” and the Sun]. . . . For the circle is Sar, and Saros, or cycle, and was the Babylonian god whose circular horizon was the visible symbol of the invisible, while the sun was the ONE Circle from which proceeded the Cosmic orbs, and of which he was considered the leader. Zero-ana, is the Chackra or circle of Vishnu, the mysterious emblem which is, according to the definition of a mystic, “a curve of such a nature that . . . if the curve be protracted either way it will proceed and finally re-enter upon itself.” No better definition could thus be given of the natural symbol and the evident nature of Deity, which having its circumference everywhere (the boundless) has, therefore, its central point also everywhere; in other words, is in every point of the Universe.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 113-114.</ref></blockquote>
 
[[Koot Hoomi|Master K.H.]] wrote:
 
<blockquote>The circle indicates the bounding, circumscribing quality of the ''All'', the Universal Principle which, from any given point expands so as to embrace all things, while embodying the potentiality of every action in the Cosmos.<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 111 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 378.</ref></blockquote>
 
== The Point in the Circle ==
 
[[Koot Hoomi|Master K.H.]] explained that while the circle represents the seventh Universal Principle, the central point stands for seventh (manifested) principle, being respectively the [[Macrocosm and Microcosm|macrocosm and the microcosm]].<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 111 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 378.</ref> However, the two are essentially identical. He explained:
 
<blockquote>As the point then is the centre round which the circle is traced — they are identical and <u>one</u>, and though from the standpoint of [[Māyā|''Maya'']] and [[Avidyā|''Avidya'']] — (illusion and ignorance) — one is separated from the other by the [[Triad#Cosmic_triad|manifested triangle]], the 3 sides of which represent the three [[Guṇa|''gunas'']] — finite attributes. In symbology the central point is [[Jīva#Jivatman|''Jivatma'']] (the [[Seventh Principle|7th principle]]), and hence [[Avalokiteśvara|Avalokitesvara]], the [[Kwan-Shi-Yin|''Kwan-Shai-yin'']], the manifested "Voice" (or ''[[Logos]]''), the germ point of manifested activity; — hence — in the phraseology of the [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Kabbalah|Kabalists]] "the Son of the Father and Mother," and agreeably to ours — "the Self manifested in Self — Yih-sin, the "one form of existence," the child of [[Dharmakāya|''Dharmakaya'']] (the universally diffused Essence), both male and female. [[Parabrahman|Parabrahm]] or [[Ādi-Buddha|"Adi-Buddha"]] while acting through that germ point outwardly as an active force, reacts from the circumference inwardly as the Supreme but latent Potency.<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 111 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 378.</ref></blockquote>
 
== Notes ==
<references/>
 
[[Category:Symbols]]
[[Category:Theosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Concepts in The Secret Doctrine]]

Latest revision as of 23:07, 11 August 2016

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