Thought Power

General description

T. Subba Row defined Kriya-shakti (the power of thought) as follows:

The mysterious power of thought which enables it to produce external, perceptible, phenomenal results by its own inherent energy. The ancients held that any idea will manifest itself externally if one's attention is deeply concentrated upon it. Similarly an intense volition will be followed by the desired result.

Mme. Blavatsky referred to Kriya-Shakti as: "The power of thought; one of the seven forces of Nature. Creative potency of the Siddhis (powers) of the full Yogis."

This power in latent in all human beings, but it is not strong enough to produce external phenomena, unless it is awakened by yogic training:

Kriyasakti [is] that mysterious and divine power latent in the will of every man, and which, if not called to life, quickened and developed by Yogi-training, remains dormant in 999,999 men out of a million, and gets atrophied.

However, our thoughts are constantly producing effects on the inner planes:

Thoreau pointed out that there are artists in life, persons who can change the colour of a day and make it beautiful to those with whom they come in contact. We claim that there are adepts, masters in life who make it divine, as in all other arts. Is it not the greatest art of all, this which affects the very atmosphere in which we live? That it is the most important is seen at once, when we remember that every person who draws the breath of life affects the mental and moral atmosphere of the world, and helps to colour the day for those about him. Those who do not help to elevate the thoughts and lives of others must of necessity either paralyse them by indifference, or actively drag them down. When this point is reached, then the art of life is converted into the science of death; we see the black magician at work. And no one can be quite inactive. Although many bad books and pictures are produced, still not everyone who is incapable of writing or painting well insists on doing so badly. Imagine the result if they were to! Yet so it is in life. Everyone lives, and thinks, and speaks. If all our readers who have any sympathy with [the journal] Lucifer endeavoured to learn the art of making life not only beautiful but divine, and vowed no longer to be hampered by disbelief in the possibility of this miracle, but to commence the Herculean task at once, then 1888, however unlucky a year, would have been fitly ushered in by the gleaming star.

Thought-forms

Mahatma KH wrote to A. O. Hume:

Every thought of man upon being evolved passes into the inner world and becomes an active entity by associating itself — coalescing, we might term it — with an elemental; that is to say with one of the semi-intelligent forces of the kingdoms. It survives as an active intelligence, a creature of the mind's begetting, for a longer or shorter period proportionate with the original intensity of the cerebral action which generated it. Thus, a good thought is perpetuated as an active beneficent power; an evil one as a maleficent demon. And so man is continually peopling his current in space with a world of his own, crowded with the offspring of his fancies, desires, impulses, and passions, a current which reacts upon any sensitive or and nervous organization which comes in contact with it in proportion to its dynamic intensity. The Buddhist calls this his "Skandha," the Hindu gives it the name of "Karma"; the Adept evolves these shapes consciously, other men throw them off unconsciously.

This power can be used for good or evil, and therefore, H. P. Blavatsky warned the sincere aspirant:

It may equally be employed for a good or evil purpose. In the former case it is magic; in the latter, sorcery.

The first and most important step in occultism is to learn how to adapt your thoughts and ideas to your plastic potency . . . because otherwise you are creating things by which you may be making bad Karma. No one should go into occultism or even touch it before he is perfectly acquainted with his own powers, and that he knows how to commensurate it with his actions. And this he can do only by deeply studying the philosophy of Occultism before entering upon the practical training. Otherwise, as sure as fate—HE WILL FALL INTO BLACK MAGIC.

Sending Thought-Forms

Thought-forms can be used to help others. As Annie Besant stated:

When a thought goes out and takes form, it is vivified or entered into by an Elemental, and the character of the Elemental will be according to the character of the thought, and according to the motive that has inspired the thought. If the thought be a good one, for instance directed to human service with a desire to serve, then it will be helped from outside by this Elemental which is of a good and a pure type, and the thought will be a force for good, reacting on the person who has thought it, and reacting on all those who come within the sphere of his influence. So that every thought which is loving and helpful lives in the world of thought as a useful influence. And supposing that these good thoughts are directed towards people, then they go to the people to whom the will directs them and, so to speak, encircle them with a protective and aiding power.

But they can also be used for evil purposes:

Evil thoughts, thoughts which have in them the element of hate, of revenge, of passion—those draw to themselves from the outer world Elementals which increase this energy. So that an evil thought directed against a person is an absolutely mischievous agent, which may injure him either in physical health, in the astral body, or in any part of his body or mind. . . . Therefore is it that everything which is of the nature of evil thought consciously directed towards a person has been called, and rightly called, Black Magic. A thought of revenge or of anger which is directed towards any person with a view to injure him is essentially of the nature of Black Magic. And the greater the power of the person who does it, and the greater the knowledge of the person who does it, the greater is their crime for which they have to answer to the Law.

There are persons who can kill toads by merely looking at them, and can even slay individuals. The malignance of their desire brings evil forces to a focus, and the death-dealing bolt is projected, as though it were a bullet from a rifle.

Evil eye

The evil eye . . . simply means possessing enormous plastic power of imagination working involuntarily, and thus turned unconsciously to bad uses. For what is the power of the “evil eye”? Simply a great plastic power of thought, so great as to produce a current impregnated with the potentiality of every kind of misfortune and accident, which inoculates, or attaches itself to any person who comes within it. A jettatore (one with the evil eye) need not be even imaginative, or have evil intentions or wishes. He may be simply a person who is naturally fond of witnessing or reading about sensational scenes, such as murder, executions, accidents, etc., etc. He may be not even thinking of any of these at the moment his eye meets his future victim. But the currents have been produced and exist in his visual ray ready to spring into activity the instant they find suitable soil, like a seed fallen by the way and ready to sprout at the first opportunity.

See also

• Kriya-Shakti
• Thought-Forms
• Thought Forms (book)
• Egregore

Online resources

Articles

• Kriyāśakti in Theosophy World
• Evil Eye in Theosophy World
• Thoughts of the Dead by H. P. Blavatsky
• The Creative Power of Thought by A. Trevor Barker
• A Word on Man, His Nature and His Powers by Annie Besant
• Thought Power and Gratitude by Barbara Hebert
• Kriyashakti by Raghavan Iyer
• Manifestation of Intention through Visualisation by Pablo Sender
• Power of Thought at Theosophical.org

Pamphlets

• Leadbeater, Charles Webster. The Power and Use of Thought. Seventh edition: Adyar, Madras, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1987. Also available at AnandGholap website.

Books

• Thought Power - Its Control and Culture by Annie Besant

Audios

• The Power Of Thought by Jack Patterson

Videos

• The Power of Thought to Change Our Inner and Outer Worlds by Tim Boyd
• The Power of Thought in Regeneration by Dora Kunz
• The Power of Thought and Its Use by Pablo Sender