Third Eye

The Third Eye (also known as the "Eye of Siva") is proposed to be an invisible eye which provides perception beyond ordinary sight. In Hinduism the third eye refers to the ajna chakra. Mme Blavatsky said that the third eye is the partially dormant pineal gland, which resides between the two hemispheres of the brain. The third eye is often associated with religious visions, clairvoyance, precognition, etc.

General description

The legends and traditions of the Cyclops are pointed out, and attention is directed to the Hindoo statues of gods having an eye in the middle of the forehead and endowed with four arms, as these are still to be seen in the Buddhist temples of India:

There were four-armed human creatures in those early days of the male-females (androgynes), with one head, yet three eyes. They could see before them and behind them."

The loss or atrophy of the third eye is attributed by the Occult authorities to the progress of sensuality.

The “eye of Siva” did not become entirely atrophied before the close of the Fourth Race. When spirituality and all the divine powers and attributes of the deva-man of the Third had been made the hand-maidens of the newly-awakened physiological and psychic passions of the physical man, instead of the reverse, the eye lost its powers. But such was the law of Evolution, and it was, in strict accuracy, no FALL. The sin was not in using those newly-developed powers, but in misusing them; in making of the tabernacle, designed to contain a god, the fane of every spiritual iniquity. And if we say “sin” it is merely that everyone should understand our meaning; as the term Karma* would be the right one to use in this case; while the reader who would feel perplexed at the use of the term “spiritual” instead of “physical” iniquity, is reminded of the fact that there can be no physical iniquity. The body is simply the irresponsible organ, the tool of the psychic, if not of the “Spiritual man.” While in the case of the Atlanteans, it was precisely the Spiritual being which sinned, the Spirit element being still the “Master” principle in man, in those days. Thus it is in those days that the heaviest Karma of the Fifth Race was generated by our Monads.

Pineal gland

Pituitary gland

The pituitary gland, or hypophysis in vertebrate anatomy is an endocrine gland (known as the "master" endocrine gland). In humans it is about the size of a pea and weighs 0.5 g (0.02 oz.). It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, and rests in a small, bony cavity. This gland secretes nine hormones that regulate homeostasis.

According to H. P. Blavatsky this gland has an important role from an esoteric point of view:

There are seven cavities in the Brain . . . These cavities are called in Occultism the “Seven Harmonies,” the scale of the Divine Harmonies, and it is in these that visions must be reflected, if they are to remain in the Brain-memory. These are the parts of the Brain which receive impressions from the Heart, and enable the memory of the Heart to be impressed on the memory of the Brain.
The fourth of these cavities is the Pituitary Body, which corresponds with Manas-Antaskarana, the bridge to the Higher Intelligence; it contains various essences.

The Pituitary Body is the organ per se of the psychic plane. Pure psychic vision is caused by the molecular motion of this body, which is directly connected with the optic nerve, and thus affects the sight, and gives rise to hallucinations. Its motion may readily cause flashes of light, seen within the head, similar to those that may be obtained on pressing the eyeballs, and so causing molecular motion in the optic nerve. When molecular action is set up in the Pituitary Body these flashes are seen, and further action gives psychic vision, as similar motion in the Pineal Gland gives Spiritual Clairvoyance. Drunkenness and fever cause disorderly motion in the Pituitary Body, and so produce illusions of sight, visions, hallucinations. This body is sometimes so affected by drunkenness that it is paralyzed, and the strict forbiddance of alcoholic liquids to all students of Occultism turns on this effect which alcohol produces on the Pituitary Body and Pineal.

Notes

Online resources

Articles

• Pituitary Gland at Theosopedia
• The Eye of Shiva by the Avatar
• The Third Eye and Human Evolution by John Van Mater, Jr.
• Third Eye and Counting by Theosophy Watch
• Waking the Third Eye by Theosophy Watch

Videos

• Awakening the Third Eye by Felix Conradi