Matter is Eternal

‘Aham eva param Brahma‘ – I am myself a god.
‘What do you mean by that?’

‘I mean that every being on earth, however humble, is an immortal portion of the immortal matter.’

The answer is one which would suggest itself to every ancient philosopher, Kabalist and Gnostic, of the early days. It contains the very spirit of the delphic and kabalistic commandment, for esoteric philosophy solved, ages ago, the problem of what man was, is, and will be.

~ H. P. Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled” Vol. 2, p. 262 ~

When the teachings of Theosophy repeat the important truth that “Matter is eternal,” they are not referring to the manifested, objective, tangible matter which we can see and feel around us.

In any and all of its seven degrees or planes of existence, manifested matter is illusion. This is the meaning of the Hindu saying that “Prakriti is Maya.” It is mayavic, illusory, because it is ultimately temporary, impermanent, evanescent, and finite. It is ever-changing and thus cannot be considered to be truly real, although it undoubtedly currently objectively exists.

But although Prakriti is Maya, Mulaprakriti is eternal Reality. “Mulaprakriti” literally means “Root-Matter” or the “Root of Matter.” In “The Secret Doctrine” and elsewhere, it is sometimes used synonymously with other Sanskrit terms such as Akasha, Pradhana, and Svabhavat. In “Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge,” HPB has described it as “Spiritual Matter.”

It is Absolute Abstract Matter, which is perfectly and literally ONE with Absolute Abstract Space, Absolute Abstract Motion, and Absolute Abstract Duration. Students of “The Secret Doctrine” will be aware that these are the four terms under which the Eastern Esoteric Science speaks of the One Supreme Reality. Parabrahm (or Brahman) and Mulaprakriti are one in essence and inseparable. Pure eternal Spirit is pure eternal Matter and vice versa.

In A. P. Sinnett’s book “Esoteric Buddhism,” based on some of the Mahatma Letters he had received, he used the expression “the transcendental materialism of the adept esoteric Buddhist philosophy.” The Masters and HPB thought “transcendental materialism” was a suitable term for their Esoteric Philosophy, provided it always be clearly emphasised that transcendental materialism is fundamentally different from and in opposition to ordinary materialism which, by contrast, is the main enemy of mankind.

This brief explanation, along with the following quotations, will hopefully help to make clearer what has at times been a source of confusion and misunderstanding over the years. Parabrahm-Mulaprakriti is the Causeless Cause and the Rootless Root.

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“ “Matter is eternal,” says the Esoteric Doctrine. But the matter the Occultists conceive of in its laya, or zero state, is not the matter of modern science . . . There is a difference between manifested and unmanifested matter, between pradhana, the beginningless and endless cause, and prakriti, or the manifested effect.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 545

“We hope to have proven so far the following facts: . . . (4) Matter is Eternal.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 280

“Occultism . . . repeats with as much assurance as ever: “MATTER IS ETERNAL, becoming atomic (its aspect) only periodically”.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 552

“The DIVINE THOUGHT . . . impregnates matter, which is co-eternal with the ONE REALITY; and all that lives and breathes evolves from the emanations of the ONE Immutable – Parabrahm = Mulaprakriti, the eternal one-root. The former of these . . . is absolute abstraction; whereas in its aspect as Mulaprakriti – the eternal root of all, – it gives one some hazy comprehension at least of the Mystery of Being.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 340

“Absolute Divine Spirit is one with absolute Divine Substance: Parabrahm and Mulaprakriti are one in essence.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 337

“The fundamental Law in that system [i.e. of the Ageless Wisdom, the Secret Doctrine itself], the central point from which all emerged, around and toward which all gravitates, and upon which is hung the philosophy of the rest, is the One homogeneous divine SUBSTANCE-PRINCIPLE, the one radical cause.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 273

“. . . this unknown Absolute Essence . . . IT is best described as neither Spirit nor matter, but both. “Parabrahm and Mulaprakriti” are One, in reality, yet two in the Universal conception of the manifested, even in the conception of the One Logos, its first manifestation, to which, as the able lecturer in the “Notes on the Bhagavadgita” [i.e. T. Subba Row] shows, IT appears from the objective standpoint of the One Logos as Mulaprakriti and not as Parabrahm.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 273-274

“The “Root” means, as already explained, pure knowledge (Sattva), eternal (Nitya) unconditioned reality or SAT (Satya), whether we call it Parabrahm or Mulaprakriti, for these are the two aspects of the ONE.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 68-69

“. . . pre-existent eternal substance, or matter . . . which substance, according to our teachings, is boundless, ever-existing space.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 2, p. 239

“. . . the eternal material.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 2, p. 510

“. . . Mulaprakriti, the root-matter and the first abstract Idea one can form of Parabrahm.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 536

“. . . Parabrahm and Mulaprakriti, the one under two aspects.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 46

“It is not matter as we know it, but the spiritual essence of matter, and is co-eternal and even one with Space in its abstract sense. Root-nature is also the source of the subtle invisible properties in visible matter. It is the Soul, so to say, of the ONE infinite Spirit. The Hindus call it Mulaprakriti, and say that it is the primordial substance, which is the basis of the Upadhi or vehicle of every phenomenon, whether physical, mental, or psychic.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 35

“The first primordial matter, eternal and coeval with Space, “which has neither a beginning nor an end,” is “neither hot nor cold, but is of its own special nature,” says the Commentary (Book II).”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 82

“. . . compare with Parabrahm-Mulaprakriti and the three Logoi, in the Secret Doctrine.”

– H.P. Blavatsky, “Thoughts on Ormuzd and Ahriman”

“In other words we believe in MATTER alone, in matter as visible nature and matter in its invisibility as the invisible omnipresent omnipotent Proteus with its unceasing motion which is its life.”

“Matter we know to be eternal, i.e., having had no beginning.”

“. . . boundless eternal matter . . .”

“Matter is infinite and indestructible and non-existent without Spirit which, in matter is Life.”

– Master K.H., “The Mahatma Letters” p. 55, 56, 158

“Matter is as indestructible and eternal as the immortal spirit itself, but only in its particles, and not as organized forms.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “Isis Unveiled” Vol. 1, p. 328

“The matter of the Eastern philosophers is not the “matter” and Nature of the Western metaphysicians.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 149

“The Matter here spoken of is not that which is vulgarly known as such. It is the real Matter which is always invisible, and has sometimes been called Primordial Matter. In the Brahminical system it is denominated Mulaprakriti.”

– William Q. Judge, “The Ocean of Theosophy” p. 15

“Light, then, like heat — of which it is the crown — is simply the ghost, the shadow of matter in motion, the boundless, eternal, infinite SPACE, MOTION and DURATION, the trinitarian essence of that which the Deists call God, and we — the One Element; Spirit-matter, or Matter-spirit, whose septenary properties we circumscribe under its triple abstract form in the equilateral triangle. If the mediaeval Theosophists and the modern Occultists, call the Spiritual Soul [i.e. Buddhi] — the vahan [vehicle] of the seventh [i.e. Atman], the pure, immaterial spark — “a fire taken from the eternal ocean of light,” they also call it in the esoteric language “a pulsation of the Eternal Motion”; and the latter cannot certainly exist outside of matter.

“. . . if we cannot conceive of movement or motion without force, we can conceive still less of an “energy or act” existing in boundless space from the eternity, or even manifesting, without some kind of body. . . .

“Therefore do the Occultists maintain that the philosophical conception of spirit, like the conception of matter, must rest on one and the same basis of phenomena, adding that Force and Matter, Spirit and Matter, or Deity and Nature, though they may be viewed as opposite poles in their respective manifestations, yet are in essence and in truth but one, and that life is present as much in a dead as in a living body, in the organic as in the inorganic matter. This is why, while science is searching still and may go on searching forever to solve the problem “What is life?” the Occultist can afford to refuse taking the trouble, since he claims, with as much good reason as any given to the contrary, that Life, whether in its latent or dynamical form, is everywhere. That it is as infinite and as indestructible as matter itself, since neither can exist without the other, and that electricity is the very essence and origin of — Life itself. “Purush” is non-existent without “Prakriti”; nor, can Prakriti, or plastic matter have being or exist without Purush, or spirit, vital energy, LIFE. Purush and Prakriti are in short the two poles of the one eternal element, and are synonymous and convertible terms. . . . Therefore, whether it is called Force or Matter, it will ever remain the Omnipresent Proteus of the Universe, the one element — LIFE — Spirit or Force at its negative, Matter at its positive pole; the former the MATERIO-SPIRITUAL, the latter, the MATERIO-PHYSICAL Universe — Nature, Svabhavat or INDESTRUCTIBLE MATTER.”

– Master K.H., “What is Matter and What is Force?” article in “The Theosophist” September 1882

“But the Occultists recognize but One Element which they divide into seven parts, which include the five exoteric elements and the two esoteric ones of the ancients. As to that Element, they call it, indifferently, matter or spirit, claiming that as matter is infinite and indestructible and Spirit likewise, and as there cannot exist in the infinite Universe two omnipresent Eternal elements, any more than two Indestructibles or Infinites can exist — hence Matter and Spirit must be one. “All is Spirit and all is Matter,” they say: Purusha Prakriti are inseparable and the one cannot exist without the other.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “Theosophy and Spiritism”

“Mûlaprakriti (Sk.). The Parabrahmic root, the abstract deific feminine principle —undifferentiated substance. Akâsa. Literally, “the root of Nature” (Prakriti) or Matter.”

“Pradhâna (Sk.). Undifferentiated substance, called elsewhere and in other schools — Akâsa; and Mulaprakriti or Root of Matter by the Vedantins. In short, Primeval Matter.”

“Svabhâvat (Sk.). . . . Svabhâvat is the world-substance and stuff, or rather that which is behind it — the spirit and essence of substance. . . . 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.”

“Akâsa (Sk.). The subtle, supersensuous spiritual essence which pervades all space; the primordial substance erroneously identified with Ether. . . . It is, in fact, the Universal Space in which lies inherent the eternal Ideation of the Universe in its ever-changing aspects on the planes of matter and objectivity, and from which radiates the First Logos, or expressed thought. This is why it is stated in the Purânas that Âkâsa has but one attribute, namely sound, for sound is but the translated symbol of Logos —”Speech” in its mystic sense.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, “The Theosophical Glossary” p. 218, 259, 314, 13

[The famous statement “In the beginning was the Word” or “The Logos was in the beginning” of John’s Gospel esoterically means:] “The First Logos was in Mûlaprakriti. The Point within the Circle of Space, “whose centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere.””

– H. P. Blavatsky, “Notes on The Gospel according to John”

“We know of no eastern philosophy that teaches that “matter originated out of Spirit.” Matter is as eternal and indestructible as Spirit and one cannot be made cognizant to our senses without the other — even to our, the highest, spiritual sense. Spirit per se is a non-entity and non-existence. It is the negation of every affirmation and of all that is. . . . Nor do we believe that “Spirit breathed out Matter”; but that, on the contrary, it is Matter which manifests Spirit. Otherwise, it would be a puzzle indeed.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, Notes from “The Theosophist,” “Theosophical Articles and Notes” p. 82

“Matter . . . in its primordial, cosmic state can be no more annihilated or even dissolved than spirit — but [can be] as a thing of matter having substance and form. Can a void be annihilated? And what is pure, absolute spirit but the “void” of the ancient Greek philosophers? . . . In the light we, Occultists, regard matter, we are all materialists. But it does not at all stand to reason that because of that, we should be, at the same time, “corporealists” denying in any sense or way the reality of the so-called spiritual existence, or of any being or beings, living on another plane of life, in higher and far more perfect worlds than ours, or having their being in states of which no untrained mind can have the smallest conception. . . .

“Undifferentiated cosmic matter or Mulaprakriti, as it is called in Hindu books, is uncreated and eternal. . . . When the common experience of generations of adepts in their own spiritual or psychic field of observation, and of the ordinary people in theirs — (i.e., in the domain of physical science) points to the conclusion that there never has been the utter annihilation of a single material particle, we are justified, we believe, in saying that matter is indestructible, though it may change its forms and properties and appear in various degrees of differentiation. Hindu and Buddhist philosophers have ages ago recognised the fact that Purush and Prakriti are eternal, coexistent, and not only correlative and interdependent but positively one and the same thing for him who can read between the lines.”

– H. P. Blavatsky, Notes from “The Theosophist,” “Theosophical Articles and Notes” p. 84-85

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By philosophical and logical necessity, the Absolute – or, more accurately, Absoluteness – must be both the very essence of Spirit (or Consciousness) and the very essence of Matter (or Substance). If it is truly absolute, meaning “not relative in any sense whatsoever,” it is That in which all seeming dualities and polarities are resolved into an ultimate, indescribable ONENESS. Hence it doesn’t really matter whether we call it Parabrahm or Mulaprakriti or “Parabrahm=Mulaprakriti” as HPB puts it. It’s just as correct to say “We believe in Spirit alone” as it is to say “We believe in Matter alone,” since the “two” are ONE in their absolute and ultimate nature and this ONE is the One and Only REALITY.

See also the explanatory section on “Primordial Substance and Divine Thought” in “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 325-341.