Nirvāṇa
Nirvāṇa (devanāgarī: निर्वाण) is a central concept in Indian religions. The word literally means "blowing out"—referring in the Buddhist context, to the blowing out of the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion, or simply of all consciousness. In sramanic thought it is the state of being free from suffering. In Hindu philosophy it is the union with Brahman through mokṣa.
Theosophical view
H. P. Blavatsky wrote:
Nirvana (Sk.). According to the Orientalists, the entire "blowing out", like the flame of a candle, the utter extinction of existence. But in the esoteric explanations it is the state of absolute existence and absolute consciousness, into which the Ego of a man who has reached the highest degree of perfection and holiness during life goes, after the body dies, and occasionally, as in the case of Gautama Buddha and others, during life.[1]
According to Mme. Blavatsky "there are two kinds of Nirvâṇa: the earthly, and that of the purely disembodied Spirits".[2]
Parinirvāṇa
In Buddhism, parinirvana is the final nirvana, which occurs upon the death of the body of someone who has attained complete awakening (bodhi). The parinirvana (Pāli: parinibbana) of Gautama Buddha is described in the Mahāparinibbāna sutta.
In Blavatsky's writings the term "paranirvana" is used to refer to the state the universe enters at "the great day of Be-with-Us",[3] when:
. . . everything becomes one, all individualities are merged into one, yet each knowing itself, a mysterious teaching indeed. But then, that which to us now is non-consciousness or the unconscious, will then be absolute consciousness.[4]
This "day" does not come after a planetary pralaya, but only at the end of the maha-manvantara, when the universal pralaya sets in:[5]
In Paranirvana — when Pralaya will have reduced not only material and psychical bodies, but even the spiritual Ego(s) to their original principle — the Past, Present, and even Future Humanities, like all things, will be one and the same. Everything will have re-entered the Great Breath. In other words, everything will be ‘merged in Brahma’ or the divine unity.[6]
In paranivana all things are in paranishpanna or absolute perfection.[7]
During the course of the manvantara it is said that there is a "Ring Pass-Not" that prevents embodied consciousness from entering in this state.
Notes
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 232.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. XIV (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1995), 436, fn.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 134.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. X (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1988), 405.
- ↑ Michael Gomes (transcriber), The Secret Doctrine Commentaries (The Hague: I.S.I.S. foundation, 2010), 385.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 265-266.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 53.
Further reading
- Nirvāṇa at Theosopedia