Nirvana

The nirvana plane or nirvana (Sanskrit: n., निर्वाण nirvāṇa; Pali: nibbāna "extinction" or literally "blowing out", from nis, nir "out of" and vā "blowing") is the source of all active being. Here, springs creation out of nothing. Nirvana is thus comparable to the Ain Soph (Hebrew: אין סוף "not finite") of the Jewish Kabbalah.

The nirvana plane, which still lies above the world of providence, the buddhi plane, is filled with the highest activity. Here, at the same time, all the deeds which man performs on the physical plane have their spiritual counter-image and are thus inscribed in the Akasha Chronicle.

„If one considers man in terms of these planes, one will see that every thought which man thinks is followed by another, active thought, as a reaction on the corresponding other plane. If one cherishes a thought on the lower mental plane, this causes a counter-image on the higher mental plane. If one cherishes a feeling, this causes a counter-image on the budhi plane. If one is active on the physical plane, this causes a counter-image on the nirvana plane. As formerly the active thought created our passive thought, so an active thought creates a corresponding passive counter-image on the higher mental plane, and so on. So no thought can be grasped by us that does not have its counter-image, likewise no feeling, no action.

The sum of all these counter thoughts, counter experiences, counter actions is called the Akashic Chronicle. One can therefore read all the thoughts of man on the higher mental plane, all feelings and experiences on the budhi plane and all actions on the nirvana plane. The entities which now regulate the connection between the counter-images and the human being have great significance. Man lives out his thoughts on the mental plane. What the human being does in thought happens on the mental plane. There, in Devachan, between death and new birth, he builds up the character of his thought body for the new life. There are the counter-images of his earlier thoughts. These he draws to his mental body, freed from the physical and astral, and thus forms his future mental body according to the thought-images he has created. On the other hand, he would not be able to connect the counter-images of his experiences and actions with himself. This is subject to outside regulating beings, the masters of karma, the lipikas, who bring the created counter-images of man's feelings and deeds on the budhi and nirvana plane into connection with him - who already has the kamic and other sheaths around him again - for the following incarnations.“ (Lit.:GA 89, p. 174ff)

Literature

• Georg Grimm: Die Lehre des Buddho. Die Religion der Vernunft und der Meditation., Hrsg. v. Maya Keller-Grimm u. Max Hoppe, Aurum Verlag, Freiburg 1988
• Rudolf Steiner: Bewusstsein, Leben, Form. Grundprinzipien der geisteswissenschaftlichen Kosmologie., GA 89 (2001)
• Rudolf Steiner: Grundelemente der Esoterik, GA 93a (1987)
• Rudolf Steiner: Der Christus-Impuls und die Entwickelung des Ich-Bewusstseins, GA 116 (1982)
• Rudolf Steiner: Anthroposophie als Kosmosophie – Erster Teil, GA 207 (1990)

References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated. Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com. Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English. Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA) Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.