Arvindus

Questions

How Do the Threads Run in the Body and in the Aura?

Question

Could you please explain how the life thread / the sutratma / the silver cord, the consciousness thread / the soul thread, the creative thread and the antahkarana / the rainbow bridge physically and qua aura exactly run?

Answer

In 'Tijdloze wijsheid, Tripliciteiten in de mens' [English: 'Ageless Wisdom, Triplicities in Man'] an overview was given of the constitution of man. It consists of (1) a monadic trinity, (2) a threefold soul and (3) a threefold personality. The soul consists of (1) will or atma, (2) intuition or love-wisdom or buddhi and (3) abstract thought. The personality consists of (1) concrete thought or the mental body, (2) the emotion-body or the astral body or kama and (3) the physical body. This physical body then again consists of (1) a subtle physical or etheric body and (2) a gross physical body. In figure 6 of that publication an overview thereof is given.1

In 'Tijdloze wijsheid, De mens op de gebieden' [English: 'Ageless Wisdom, Man on the Planes'] the human constitution was placed on the different planes. The monad is found on the monadic plane, the soul on (1) the atmic, (2) the buddhic and (3) the manasic or mental plane and the personality on (1) the manasic or mental, (2) the kamaic or astral or emotion and (3) the physical plane. This was depicted in the figures 2 and 3.2

In 'Tijdloze wijsheid, De draden' [English: 'Ageless Wisdom, The Threads'] an overview was given of the different threads that can be descried in man, as also of their relations to the different planes. The life thread or sutratma or the silver cord runs from the monad through the different layers to in the physical body anchor itself in the heart. The consciousness thread runs from the soul through the different layers to in the physical body anchor itself in the head. And the creative thread is anchored in the throat of the physical body from where it is built through the different layers until the soul and then until the monad. The antahkarana or the rainbow bridge regards in its generality the composite thread that consists of the life thread, the consciousness thread and the creative thread, and especially where it runs between the concrete thought of the personality and the abstract thought of the soul. This is symbolized in figure 1 of that publication.3

Because these threads rather lay connections between the human principles on different planes and not so much lay connections on a same plane they cannot be pointed out as running on the physical plane; we can at best indicate their anchorages in the heart, the head and the throat.

Master Djwhal Khul through Alice Bailey also points out that the aforementioned planes and threads are not locations and wires in an objectivistic sense, but rather states of consciousness and awareness.4, 5 The general antahkarana regards initially our alignment of acting, feeling and thinking. The specific antahkarana regards the formation of our concrete thoughts in line with our abstract ideas. And eventually the general antahkarana will regard our acting, feeling and thinking according to the intuition and still later according to the will of God. The aforementioned figures then are no more than symbolic depictions.

There are however also threads that do connect centres on the same plane. These threads are known as 'ida', 'pingala' and 'sushumna'. These are located at the subtle physical plane and run between the base centre and the crown centre, and like everything on the subtle physical plane they also have their counterparts on the gross physical plane. These threads were also discussed in 'De draden' [English: 'The Threads'], and there they were symbolized in figure 3.6

These threads are in the Hindu teachings called 'nadis', and traditionally the ida is placed left, the pingala right and the sushumna in the middle.7 About the exact running of the ida and pingala there is no consensus. Different teachers may indicate different crossings in different chakras. Master Djwhal Khul through Alice Bailey then advises to not give too much attention to the exact placing of these nadis but rather attend to the energies which they represent.8

Regarding the relations between the aforementioned threads and the aura the following can be said. An aura regards a radiation of a body.9 A human thus has a physical, an emotion or astral and a mental aura. Together these auras form one synthesized aura on the etheric or subtle physical plane.10 Now the firmer and further reaching the creative thread is woven in the course of human evolution, so the firmer and further reaching the antahkarana is built, the more pure, radiating and extensive the aura of man becomes,11 for in increasing measure the soul and later the monad will influence the radiation of that aura. So in that sense the human aura does indicate for the seer the status of the antahkarana, but it will then not be directly seen as a wire running through an aura.

Notes
  1. 'Tijdloze wijsheid, Tripliciteiten in de mens', Index: 201308291.
  2. 'Tijdloze wijsheid, De mens op de gebieden', Index: 201212032.
  3. 'Tijdloze wijsheid, De draden', Index: 201504192.
  4. Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Healing, A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Volume IV, in: Twenty-Four Books of Esoteric Philosophy, (CD-ROM), Lucis Trust, London / New York, 2001, p. 490. "Forget not that a plane is essentially a state of consciousness and not a locality, as so many esotericists seem to think."
  5. Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, Volume II, in: Twenty-Four Books of Esoteric Philosophy, (CD-ROM, Release 3), Lucis Trust, London / New York, 2001, p. 193. "May I remind you that, just as the soul is not a twelve-petalled lotus floating around in mental substance, but is in reality a vortex of force or twelve energies held together by the will of the spiritual entity (the Monad on its own plane), so the antahkarana is not a series of energy threads, slowly woven by the soul-infused personality, and met by corresponding threads projected by the Spiritual Triad, but is in reality a state of awareness."
  6. Nota 3.
  7. Sri Swami Sivananda, Kundalini Yoga, The Divine Life Trust Society, Shivanandanagar, 1999, p. xix. "The Nadis of each side Ida and Pingala are the left and right sympathetic cords crossing the central column from one side to the other, making at the Ajna with the Sushumna a threefold knot called Triveni; which is said to be the spot in the Medulla where the sympathetic cords join together and whence they take their origin—[…]."
  8. Esoteric Healing, p. 184-185. "Be not betrayed into placing these interlaced spheres of living energy on the right or the left of the spinal cord. Constantly a movement, an interplay and a reversal is going on. I can but portray the nature of a symbol which will indicate the special path of the three energies of the divine Trinity. I indicate not a fact in location or place, for it is this materialising and localising of the main concept which has produced so much danger. The initiate-student seeks to grasp the relation of the three basic energies, the three paths of living fire, their relation and inter-relation and their sequential polarisation. He seeks not to narrow the teaching down to points and lines and place until such time when these terms mean little to him and he knows more."
  9. Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, Volume I, in: Twenty-Four Books of Esoteric Philosophy, (CD-ROM, Release 3), Lucis Trust, London / New York, 2001, p. 752. "The aura of any form of life can be defined as the quality of a sphere of radiatory activity."
  10. Alice A. Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, in: Twenty-Four Books of Esoteric Philosophy, (CD-ROM), Lucis Trust, London / New York, 2001, p. 97. "I would recall to your minds the knowledge that the aura which each of you has created around the central nucleus of your incarnated self or soul is a fragment of the over-shadowing soul which brought you into manifestation. This aura is (as you well know) composed of the emanations of the etheric body, and this in its turn embodies three types of energy for which you are individually responsible. These three types are (when added to the energy of prana which composes the etheric vehicles):
    1. The health aura. This is essentially physical.
    2. The astral aura, which is usually by far the most dominant factor, extensive and controlling.
    3. The mental aura, which is in most cases relatively small but which develops rapidly once the disciple takes his own development consciously in hand, or once the polarisation of the personality is upon the mental plane."
  11. Ibidem, p. 98. "All of us, therefore, carry around with us a subjective mechanism which is a true and perfect picture of our peculiar point in evolution. It is the aura which a Master watches, and this is a factor of major importance in the life of the disciple. The light of the soul within the aura and the condition of the various aspects of the aura indicate whether or not the disciple is nearing the Path of Discipleship."
Bibliography
  • 'Tijdloze wijsheid, De draden', Index: 201504192.
  • 'Tijdloze wijsheid, De mens op de gebieden', Index: 201212032.
  • 'Tijdloze wijsheid, Tripliciteiten in de mens', Index: 201308291.
  • Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, Volume I, in: Twenty-Four Books of Esoteric Philosophy, (CD-ROM, Release 3), Lucis Trust, London / New York, 2001.
  • Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, Volume II, in: Twenty-Four Books of Esoteric Philosophy, (CD-ROM, Release 3), Lucis Trust, London / New York, 2001.
  • Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Healing, A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Volume IV, in: Twenty-Four Books of Esoteric Philosophy, (CD-ROM), Lucis Trust, London / New York, 2001.
  • Alice A. Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, in: Twenty-Four Books of Esoteric Philosophy, (CD-ROM), Lucis Trust, London / New York, 2001.
  • Sri Swami Sivananda, Kundalini Yoga, The Divine Life Trust Society, Shivanandanagar, 1999.