Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

TREE OF LIFE IN THE MIDST OF THE GARDEN

Symbol of the Atmic Ray, or current of the Divine Life flowing downward through the central essence of the buddhic nature (garden).

"This is the ancient Tree, whose roots grow upward, and whose branches grow downwards, that is called Brahman. All worlds are contained in it, and no one goes beyond." - Katha. Upanishad, VI. 1.

"In the middle of the sea Vouru-kasha is the well-watered tree Harvis-ptokhm, tree of all seeds."-Vendidad, V.

The “sea Vouru-kasha” is the Ocean of Reality, the upper water of Truth. The “tree" is a symbol of the atmic outpouring. It is founded in Truth and bears the spiritual germs of all the manifest qualities and forms.

“The wonderful tree called the Tuba or Beatitude,' the roots of which are in the region of the Loti-tree above the highest Paradise, sends its branches down into all the Eight Gardens, a shoot entering the abode of every inhabitant, just as the sun, which is aloft in the skies, sends its beams into every house on earth." - E. J. W. GIBB, Hist. of Ottoman Poetry, Vol. I. p. 37.

"I rather conceive that Moses was speaking in an allegorical spirit, intending by his paradise to intimate the dominant character of the soul, which is full of innumerable opinions, as this figurative paradise was of trees. And by the Tree of Life he was shadowing out the greatest of the virtues-namely, piety towards the Gods, by means of which the soul is made immortal; and by the tree which had the knowledge of good and evil, he was intimating that wisdom and moderation, by means of which things contrary in their nature to one another, are distinguished. ... The Tree of Life is that most general virtue which some people call Goodness; from which the particular virtues are derived, and of which they are composed . . The unspeakable formations and impressions of all the things in the universe are all borne forward into and comprehended by the soul, which is only one. When, therefore, that receives the impression of perfect virtue, it has become the Tree of Life ; but when it has received the impression of vice, it has then become the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil." - PHILO, Works, Yonge, Vol. I. pp. 46, 66, 67.

"The Tree of Life is the Central Will or Divine Life, the God, that is, whether of the universe or of the individual. And the Tree of Knowledge is experience which comes of trespass, or a descent from the region of spirit to that of matter. It is thus Maya, or illusion; and the Serpent, or tempter, is the impulse by yielding to which the inward reality of Being is abandoned for the outward appearance. . . . The Tree of Life signifies also the secret of regeneration, or final transmutation into pure Spirit, and the consequent attainment of eternal life, which can come only when all the necessary processes have been performed, and the soul-Eve-is once more pure and free, when she becomes' Mary.' - A. KINGSFORD, Clothed with the Sun, pp. 22, 23.

"Whatever feeds and sustains the spiritual life of man comes from the Tree of Life, whose roots are in the garden of God. . . . The leaves of the tree of God's love are numberless, and the ... TREE Life they bear is for the healing of the nations."-R. J. CAMPBELL, Serm., Healing of the Nations.

"The Great Tree in whom is all healing (is Mani)." - The Manichaean Fihrist.

See Also

ATMAN
BRAHMARANDHRAM
ISVARA
KAIOMARTS
SUN
SUTRATMA
TRIDENT