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'''Svābhāvat''' is a term used by [[H. P. Blavatsky]] in her writings, although it is not found in [[Sanskrit]] as a noun in the way she uses it, but as ''svabhāva''. The origin of the term is allegedly Buddhist:
#REDIRECT [[Svabhavat]]
 
<blockquote>The Svabhâvikas, or philosophers of the oldest school of Buddhism (which still exists in Nepaul), speculate only upon the active condition of this “Essence,” which they call Svâbhâvat, and deem it foolish to theorise upon the abstract and “unknowable” power in its passive condition.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 3.</ref></blockquote>
 
However, there is at present not knowledge of a "Svabhāvika school", either in Nepal or Tibet.
 
== Spelling of the word ==
 
[[H. P. Blavatsky]] explains the meaning of the term Svābhāvat as follows:
 
<blockquote>The name comes from Subhâva and is composed of three words--su, good, perfect, fair, handsome; sva, self; and bhâva being, or state of being.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 314.</ref></blockquote>
 
However, she added a final "t" that is not found in [[Sanskrit]] for a noun. The origin of Mme. Blavatsky's spelling was explained by David Reigle as follows:
 
<blockquote>After standing for more than 120 years, the problem of the word svābhāvat was solved by Daniel Caldwell, and he did this without knowing Sanskrit. Ironically, it had entered [[The Secret Doctrine (book)|''The Secret Doctrine'']] because of HPB not knowing Sanskrit. As Daniel found (on Oct. 13, 2009), HPB had copied svābhāvat from [[Max Müller|F. Max Muller]], who had used it as declined in the ablative case: svabhāvāt. The word itself, undeclined, is svabhāva. This is obviously what HPB intended, especially in its seven occurrences in the stanzas that she published from the [[Book of Dzyan]].<ref>[http://prajnaquest.fr/blog/svabhavat-svabhavat-and-svabhava/# Svābhāvat, svabhāvāt, and svabhāva] at The Book of Dzyan</ref></blockquote>
 
== General description ==
 
Svābhāvat is defined by Mme. Blavatsky as "the Eternal and the uncreated Self-existing Substance which produces all; while everything which is of its essence produces itself out of its own nature".<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Isis Unveiled'' vol. II, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), 266.</ref> She further adds:
 
<blockquote>Svâbhâvat, the “Plastic Essence” that fills the Universe, is the root of all things. Svâbhâvat is, so to say, the Buddhistic concrete aspect of the abstraction called in Hindu philosophy Mulaprakriti. It is the body of the Soul, and that which Ether would be to Akasa, the latter being the informing principle of the former.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 61.</ref></blockquote>
 
<blockquote>Svabhâvat (Sk.). Explained by the Orientalists as “plastic substance”, which is an inadequate definition. Svabhâvat is the world substance and stuff, or rather that which is behind it-the spirit and essence of substance.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 314.</ref></blockquote>
 
In these quotes Blavatsky shows three levels of the same principle becoming more and more concrete, as follows: i) [[Mulaprakriti]], ii) Svābhāvat, and iii) world substance.
 
In [[ML65|Mahatma Letter No. 65]], [[Koot Hoomi|Master KH]] wrote to [[Allan Octavian Hume|A. O. Hume]]:
 
<blockquote>You will have first of all to view the eternal Essence, the Swabavat not as a compound element you call spirit-matter, but as the one element for which the English has no name. It is both passive and active, pure Spirit Essence in its absoluteness, and repose, pure matter in its finite and conditioned state.<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 65 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), ???.</ref></blockquote>
 
There is a reference that interprets Svābhāvat as the manifestation of the universal [[Akasha]] on our earth:
 
<blockquote>Everything has come out of Akâsa (or Svâbhâvat on our earth) in obedience to a law of motion inherent in it, and after a certain existence passes away.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 635-636.</ref></blockquote>
 
This corresponds with another passage where Mme Blavatsky identifies Svābhāvat with the [[Anima Mundi]].<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. I (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1988), 293.</ref>
 
However, we should not think of Svābhāvat as inert or unconscious substance, because at this level consciousness and matter are not yet separated:
 
<blockquote>Everyone knows that Buddhism does not recognize either one god or many gods. Yet the Arhat, for whom every atom of dust is as much replete with Svabhavat (plastic substance, eternal and intelligent, though impersonal) as he himself, and who strives to assimilate that Svabhavat by identifying himself with the All, in order to attain NirvâŠa, must travel the same painful road of renunciation, of good works and of altruism, and must lead the same saintly life, though less egotistical in its motive, as the beatified Christian.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. XI (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 127.</ref></blockquote>
 
In [[Stanzas of Dzyan#Stanza III|Stanza III.12]] it is Svābhāvat who sends [[Fohat]] "to harden the atoms".<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 85.</ref></blockquote>
 
== Father Mother ==
 
H. P. Blavatsky asserts that from an occult point of view it is the "father-mother on the mystic plane".<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 98, fn.</ref>
 
<blockquote>From it all nature proceeds and into it all returns at the end of the life-cycles. In Esotericism it is called “Father-Mother”. It is the plastic essence of matter.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 314.</ref></blockquote>
 
[[Stanzas of Dzyan#Stanza III|Stanza III.10]] talks about the Father-Mother spinning the web of the universe out of the "two substances made in one, which is Svābhāvat".<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 83.</ref>
 
== Notes ==
 
<references/>
 
==Further reading==
 
*[http://www.theosophy.ph/encyclo/index.php?title=Svabhavat# Svabhavat] at Theosopedia
 
*[http://prajnaquest.fr/blog/why-the-form-svabhavat-in-theosophical-writings/# Why the Form Svabhavat in Theosophical Writings] at The Book of Dzyan
 
 
[[Category:Sanskrit terms]]
[[Category:Theosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Concepts in The Secret Doctrine]]
[[Category:Buddhist concepts]]

Latest revision as of 20:31, 31 July 2017

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