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the correctness of my remarks regarding the unsatisfactory nature of this seven-fold classification, and I am not in the least afraid that by doing so I shall forfeit my right to follow the teachings of "the old school of Aryan and Arhat adepts." I am yet to be convinced that the seven-fold classification we have adopted was the real seven-fold classification of this ancient school of occultism.
I have characterized this seven-fold classification as misleading and unscientific. It is admitted in the reply that the classification is really misleading, but the blame is thrown on Western Materilaism. This is putting the blame on the wrong party. If the classification has misled no less a person than its original exponent herself, and made her change her conceptions about the nature of the various principles from time to time, it is pretty nearly certain that the classification itself must be held responsible for all the confusion it has created.
I must now invite the attention of my readers to the "Fragments of Occult Truth" (p. 17, Theosophist, Oct. 1881) which contains the "original teaching" on the subject, and the other articles and publications herein referred to. I shall take up principle after principle in the order of enunciation, and point out what new ideas have subsequently been introduced into the conception of these various principles.
The first principle is here described as the physical body. It is made to correspond to Rupa or form in "Esoteric Buddism" (p. 21). It will perhaps be said that both mean the same thing. But a distinction is drawn in the original article between the astral body and the astral shape. They are counted as two distinct principles.
The second principle is here called the vital principle or Jiva-Atma. It is differentiated from the astral elements in the human constitution and is described as a "form of force." It is however identified in an article headed "Transmigrations
