Causal body
Encyclopedia
The Causal body - originally Karana-Sarira - is a Yogic
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...

 and Vedantic
Vedanta
Vedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...

 concept that was adopted and modified by Theosophy
Theosophy
Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...

 and from the latter made its way into the general New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...

 movement and contemporary western esotericism
Esotericism
Esotericism or Esoterism signifies the holding of esoteric opinions or beliefs, that is, ideas preserved or understood by a small group or those specially initiated, or of rare or unusual interest. The term derives from the Greek , a compound of : "within", thus "pertaining to the more inward",...

. It generally refers to the highest or innermost subtle body
Subtle body
A subtle body is one of a series of psycho-spiritual constituents of living beings, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings...

 that veils the true soul.

Hinduism

The Mandukya Upanishad
Mandukya Upanishad
The Mandukya Upanishad is the shortest of the Upanishads – the scriptures of Hindu Vedanta. It is in prose, consisting of twelve verses expounding the mystic syllable Aum, the three psychological states of waking, dreaming and sleeping, and the transcendent fourth state of illumination.This...

 refers to the Self
Atman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...

 having four "feet" or states of consciousness. These are: waking, dreaming
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...

, dreamless sleep, and the transcendent (Turiya
Turiya
In Hindu philosophy, turiya is the experience of pure consciousness. It is the background that underlies and transcends the three common states of consciousness: the state of waking consciousness , the state of dreaming , and dreamless sleep .-Advaita concept:The first two states are not true...

). Each of these is associated with both an individual state of consciousness and a cosmic state. Dreamless sleep corresponds to prajna
Prajña
Prajñā or paññā is wisdom, understanding, discernment or cognitive acuity. Such wisdom is understood to exist in the universal flux of being and can be intuitively experienced through meditation...

. In Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...

, this is associated with the Anandamaya kosha
Anandamaya kosha
The Anandamaya kosha or "sheath made of bliss" is in Vedantic philosophy the most subtle or spiritual of the five levels of embodied self...

or "sheath" (kosha
Kosha
A Kosha , usually rendered "sheath", one of five coverings of the Atman, or Self according to Vedantic philosophy. They are often visualised like the layers of an onion. Belling states:...

) made of bliss, and with the causal principle or causal body (karana sarira).

Theosophy

In Blavatsky's synthesis of eastern philosophy
Eastern philosophy
Eastern philosophy includes the various philosophies of Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Iranian philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Indian philosophy and Korean philosophy...

 with western esotericism
Esotericism
Esotericism or Esoterism signifies the holding of esoteric opinions or beliefs, that is, ideas preserved or understood by a small group or those specially initiated, or of rare or unusual interest. The term derives from the Greek , a compound of : "within", thus "pertaining to the more inward",...

, the union of the higher Manas with the Buddhi (i.e. the essential nature of the fifth, along with the sixth, of the seven principles
Septenary (Theosophy)
The Septenary in Helena Blavatsky's teachings refers to the seven principles of man. In The Key to Theosophy she presents a synthesis of Eastern and Western ideas, according to which human nature consists of seven principles...

) is referred to as the Causal Body (Blavatsky, Key to Theosophy, pp. 121, 174). This higher principle is contrasted with the lower, the Kama-Manas, which is the seat of lower passions.
In the Theosophy of Annie Besant
Annie Besant
Annie Besant was a prominent British Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule.She was married at 19 to Frank Besant but separated from him over religious differences. She then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society ...

 and C. W. Leadbeater, the "Causal Body" refers not to the "Buddhi-Manas" but to Blavatsky's "Higher Manas" alone. This is also referred to as the "Higher Mental", "Abstract Mind" (as opposed to Lower Mental or "Concrete Mind"), or "Causal Body". It is considered the highest subtle body
Subtle body
A subtle body is one of a series of psycho-spiritual constituents of living beings, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings...

, beyond even the mental body
Mental body
The mental body is one of the subtle bodies in esoteric philosophies, in some religious teachings and in New Age thought. It is understood as a sort of body made up of thoughts, just as the emotional body consists of emotions and the physical body is made up of matter...

. As with all the vehicles of consciousness, the Causal Body is associated with an objective or cosmic plane, in this case the Causal plane
Causal plane
Causal plane is a term used in Neo-Theosophy, some contemporary Vedanta, the New Age, , and sometimes Occultism, to describe a high spiritual plane of existence, i.e. . However there is great variation between the different definitions.-Neo-Theosophy:The Neo-Theosophy of Annie Besant and C. W...

. A detailed definition of the Causal Body, is provided by A. E. Powell, who has brought together information in the works of Besant and Leadbeater in a series of books on each of the subtle bodies.

Samael Aun Weor

In the tradition of Samael Aun Weor
Samael Aun Weor
Samael Aun Weor , born Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez, Colombian citizen and later Mexican, was an author, lecturer and founder of the 'Universal Christian Gnostic Movement' with his teaching of 'The Doctrine of Synthesis' of all religions in both their esoteric and exoteric aspects...

 it is taught that most people have only incarnated a fraction of the causal body or human soul. This fraction is known as the Essence or the Buddhata
Buddha-nature
Buddha-nature, Buddha-dhatu or Buddha Principle , is taught differently in various Mahayana Buddhism traditions. Broadly speaking Buddha-nature is concerned with ascertaining what allows sentient beings to become Buddhas...

, which in humanity is bottled up in the psychological aggregates that constitute the ego. Samael Aun Weor states:
Thus, the various aggregates that are within ourselves represent different volitional impulses. There are, therefore, several wills within our psyche which fight against each other. The intellectual animal doesn’t have any autonomous, independent and unitotal will. There is no unity in the intellectual animal’s willpower. But when a man has created his Body of Conscious Will [causal body], he has individual willpower he can work with in the whole universe.

The way to create the causal body is by working in the "Forge of Cyclops", that is, sexual alchemy between husband and wife.

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