Svābhāvat

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:

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.

However, there is at present not knowledge of a "Svabhāvika school", either in Nepal or Tibet.

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". She further adds:

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.

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.

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.

There is a reference that interprets Svābhāvat as the manifestation of the universal Akasha on our earth:

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.

This corresponds with another passage where Mme Blavatsky identifies Svābhāvat with the Anima Mundi.

However, we should not think of Svābhāvat as inert or unconscious substance, because at this level consciousness and matter are not yet separated:

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.

In Stanza III.12 it is Svābhāvat who sends Fohat "to harden the atoms".

Father Mother

H. P. Blavatsky asserts that from an occult point of view it is the "father-mother on the mystic plane".

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.

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".

The Spelling of the word

How Mme. Blavatsky came to use this form was explained by David Reigle:

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 because of HPB not knowing Sanskrit. As Daniel found (on Oct. 13, 2009), HPB had copied svābhāvat from 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.

H. P. Blavatsky explains the meaning of the term Svābhāvat as follows:

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.

Further reading

• Svabhavat at Theosopedia

• Why the Form Svabhavat in Theosophical Writings at The Book of Dzyan