A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  Viewing this process from the standpoint of the Logos, the Brahma aspect passes out, or the life withdraws from the physical permanent atom, leaving later stages on cosmic levels, with which we need not concern ourselves. These cover the withdrawal of the logoic life from out of the other two aspects. In a solar system, which is a physical incarnation of the Logos, the Brahma aspect is apparently the most important, it being the medium of expression, yet it is the subjective aspect, or the life-desire of the Logos which is fundamentally of moment; this concerns His endeavour on high levels, and on cosmic planes beyond the ken of the highest Chohan.

  It might be of value here if I pointed out that the Egoic Ray of the human unit (167) with which we are concerning [510] ourselves, manifests as regards each ray just as does the logoic manifestation. Each of the seven Rays, viewed in connection with the causal bodies of men, demonstrates as a unity on the first subplane, as a triplicity on the second and as seven on the third, forming there the forty-nine groups which most concern evolving man. According to the angle of vision, this numbering of groups may be increased or lessened, but for purposes of studying the aspects of mind, the above enumeration suffices. In the course of his many septenary lives, and as the cyclic sevens pass over him, man passes under the influence of the seven sub-rays of his own Ray. Then he begins to synthesise and merge the seven into the major three sub-rays, returning thus to unity on his own egoic Ray.

  First. The septenary status governs the time from individualisation till he enters upon the Path.

  Second. The threefold status governs the time up till the third Initiation.

  Third. He achieves the unity of his Ray by the fifth Initiation, and is then consciously a part of the body of the Heavenly Man.

  The same idea can be worked out in connection with the awakening of the life forces within the permanent atoms, viewing each atom as the seventh principle in each of the three aspects of the personality.

  2. Their Place In the Egoic Body.

  a. The importance of the astral permanent atom. There is one fact to be grasped in connection with the place of the permanent atom within the causal periphery and its evolution, that needs to be emphasised with care, and that is that the astral permanent atom in this solar system is the recipient of a great flow of force or energy, and receives more stimulation and energising than any of the others, and this for the following reasons: [511]

  First. The centre of polarisation for the fourth, or human kingdom, is in the astral consciousness viewing this kingdom as a unity in expression. From the astral, and through the desire nature, the majority of men inevitably direct and control the physical vehicle. The astral body is in the direct line of force via the buddhic from monadic levels, 2-4-6.

  Second. The goal set before humanity is that of becoming Masters of the Wisdom, or conscious units in the Body of the Dragon of Wisdom or of Love. This a man achieves when he can function consciously in the buddhic vehicle, or when the astral permanent atom is superseded by the buddhic permanent atom.

  Third. The next reason is that the second aspect of the Logos (that of love or the manifestation of the love nature of the Logos through the medium of the Son) is the one demonstrated in this system. This system is:

  a. A Son of Necessity, or of desire

  b. Vibrant to the key of the cosmic Ray of Love

  c. The form through which this ray of cosmic Love (shown in the inter-relation between the Self and the Not-Self, or through duality) is expressing itself

  d. Governed by the cosmic Law of Attraction. The monads of love are the dominating quality. (I choose this word ‘quality’ specifically.)

  Fourth. The centre in the cosmic body of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NOUGHT MAY BE SAID of which our solar Logos is the embodied force is the heart centre. Here we have one of the clues to the mystery of electricity. The sacred planets, with certain allied etheric spheres within the ring-pass-not, are parts of that heart centre, and are ‘petals in the Lotus,’ or in the heart centre of that great unknown Existence Who stands to the solar Logos as He in His turn stands to the Heavenly [512] Men Who are His centres, and specially as He stands to the particular Heavenly Man Who is the embodied force of the logoic Heart centre. Therefore, it will be apparent to the careful student that the entire force and energy of the system and its life quality will be that which we call (having perforce to use handicapping, misleading words) LOVE. This will account for the fact that the force that plays through that cosmic heart centre will be the paramount force found in the manifestation of a solar Logos, and of a Heavenly Man; it will likewise produce its microcosmic analogy, and reflective reactions; hence the relative importance of the astral permanent atom within the causal periphery. It is in the direct line of active force emanating from the cosmic existence, and passing to it in ever lessening degree, via the solar Logos in His system of love, and the planetary Logos within a scheme, the Dragon of Wisdom-Love.

  This force when rightly directed and properly controlled is the great transmuting agency, which eventually will make of the human unit a Master of the Wisdom, a Lord of Love, a Dragon of Wisdom in lesser degree.

  Finally: this solar system, the objective physical manifestation of the Logos, is interpenetrated by His astral body, as is the case with the human manifestation. As the Logos is polarised in His cosmic astral sheath and has not yet attained cosmic mental polarisation His force or desire nature is the main incentive for the subjective Life and lives that underlie the form.

  If the student will ponder with care these five facts, he will get a clue to the problems of existence as realised around us, to the causes of the heat of the solar system, to the method of the cosmic Law of Attraction and Repulsion, which governs all atomic forms, and to the question of SEX which is apparent in every kingdom of nature. They give the clue also to the constitution of the Divine Hermaphrodite.

  [513] Therefore, it is necessary to bear in mind the relative importance of the permanent atom of the second aspect of the personality within the causal periphery, and to remember that the force which flows through that atom and which is the animating force of the astral body is following the lines of least resistance and really might be considered as bearing upon his physical manifestation in a manner twice as strong as that reaching him through the other two. The Logos expresses Himself now through the Divine Ray, His second aspect, and this Ray is the sumtotal of the radiation of the Lords of Wisdom, the Heavenly Men, the Dragons Who are Unity and Who are Love. Through Them this force flows, and They in turn clothe Themselves with form, or as H. P. B. expresses it ‘The primordial Ray becomes the vahan for the Divine Ray.’ (168) Their life animates every atom of substance when built into form, and Their life is the sumtotal of Logoic magnetism, or the great desire nature of the Logos going out after the Not-Self, producing the cosmic Marriage; it is the logoic demonstration of the sex appeal, His search for His polar opposite, and their mystic union.

  This process is repeated by the microcosm following the line of his being, and this brings him likewise into incarnation, or into mystic union with form.

  b. The atomic triangle. The causal sheath is to the clairvoyant therefore a sphere of vibrant living substance; within it can be seen three fiery points. At the heart of the sphere is a central blaze of light, emitting [514] rays; these rays are given as seven in number, and play upon these points or circles (analogous to the electrons in the atoms of science) and at this stage produce most effect upon the astral permanent atom. The physical permanent atom has a position relatively close to the positive centre, and the force plays through it, and passes on to the astral permanent atom in the form of five rays of parti-coloured light which blend with the intensely vivid hue of the astral permanent atom, and increase its intensity until the blaze is so excessive that it appears to the onlooker as if the two points blended, or the two electrons merged, and (in merging) produce such an intensity of light that they are seen as dissolving. The mental unit, having a position within the causal body analogous to the planet furt
hermost from the sun, becomes vibrant likewise, and the two other points (considered now as one) begin to interact with the mental unit, and a similar process is set up and is pursued until these two points—circulating around their positive centre—also approach each other, blend, merge, and dissolve. The centre of positive life gathers or synthesises the three points, and thus the three fires of the personality repeat on their tiny scale the microcosmic procedure as seen in the synthesis of electric fire, solar fire, and fire by friction, and only a blazing unit is left. This blazing unit, through the combined heat of its being, burns up the causal body, and escapes back on to the planes of abstraction. Thus man is the Path itself, and also the pilgrim upon the Path; thus does he burn, but is also the burning-ground.

  The analogy holds true in the case of the microcosm viewed from monadic levels in his manifestation as Monad, Ego and Personality, and thus the process is carried on as it concerns a Heavenly Man, and likewise a solar Logos. Should the brain suffice to hold the concept, thus [515] is the process also on cosmic levels for such high existences as the seven Rishis of the Great Bear, and that still greater Being, the ONE ABOUT WHOM NOUGHT MAY BE SAID.

  3. The Spirillae and the Egoic Ray.

  We will take up now the subject of the spirillae within the permanent atom, and see in what manner they are affected by the egoic ray, remembering always that we are considering them as:

  First. The interior economy of the life germ on the three planes which concern man in the three worlds; second, as the seventh principle in each of the three sheaths; and third, as the positive nucleus of force which holds together the matter of the three sheaths.

  Let us therefore study two things:

  The composition of the permanent atom.

  The difference between the mental unit and the astral and physical permanent atoms.

  To do this with clarity, and so bring some kind of definite concept into being from the dark regions of abstraction, let us tabulate:

  a. The composition of the permanent atom: The permanent atom of the astral and physical planes is a sphere of physical or astral substance, composed of atomic matter, and characterised by the following qualities:

  Responsiveness. This is its inherent power to respond to the vibration of some one of the Heavenly Men, as it is transmitted via the deva, or Brahma aspect, of His threefold nature. The permanent atom finds its place within the sphere of influence of one or other of the great devas who are the Raja-Lords of a plane.

  Form Building Power. These devas sound forth two syllables of the threefold microcosmic word and are each (on their own plane) the coherent agency which gathers [516] substance into form, and attracts matter for purposes of objectivity. The astral sound produces the microcosmic ‘Son of Necessity,’ and when it reverberates on the physical plane produces physical incarnation, and the sudden appearance on etheric levels of the seven centres. The building of the dense physical is the result of consequent automatic action in deva essence, for it must ever be borne in mind that man is essentially (as regards the physical plane) an etheric being, and his dense physical body is esoterically regarded as ‘below the threshold’ and is not considered a principle.

  Relative Permanency. In the seventh principle of all manifesting entities is stored up and developed capacity, acquired ability, and the atomic memory, or in other words the heredity of the Thinker, viewing him from the physical standpoint or from the emotional. There is no permanence whatever in the sheaths; they are built into temporary forms, and dissolved when the Thinker has exhausted their possibilities, but the seventh principle of each sheath gathers to itself the achieved qualities and stores them up—under the Law of Karma—to work out again and to demonstrate as the plane impulse at each fresh cycle of manifestation. This permanency is itself likewise only a relative one, and as the inner fire within the atom burns more brightly, as the external fires of the ego or solar fire beat upon it with ever increasing intensity, the atom in due time is consumed, and the inner blaze becomes so great that it destroys its encompassing wall.

  Heat. Herein lies the distinction between the permanent atoms on all planes, and the atomic matter of which they form a part. It is not easy to make this distinction clear, nor is it desirable at this time; the true facts of the case are one of the guarded secrets of initiation, but the distinction between the permanent atom, and atomic matter, may be somewhat comprehended if we state: [517]

  The permanent atom is one that has been appropriated by one of the lives that form the centres in the body of a solar Lord, whilst atomic matter per se goes to the formation of other parts of His great body of light.

  A permanent atom is one which has come under the attractive power of the second aspect, whilst atomic matter itself is vitalised by the life of the third aspect.

  A permanent atom follows the line of the least resistance of force, and is passing out of the control of the Deva Lord and coming under the control of positive life. This concerns the evolution of consciousness in substance.

  A permanent atom comes under the direct control of the lower of the three groups of Lipika Lords, and is the agency through which They work in the imposition of karma upon the particular entity who may be utilising it. They work directly with the permanent atoms of men, and produce results through the agency of form until they have exhausted the vibratory capacity of any particular atom; when this is the case the atom passes into the stage of obscuration, as does the seventh principle of any sheath. It comes under the influence of the first aspect, manifesting as the Destroyer.

  Remember that in these affirmations we are concerning ourselves with the microcosm, and with the permanent atoms which are related to him; as regards the solar Logos manifesting in the system, we are concerned with but one permanent atom, and this is His physical permanent atom. It is thus true that within the permanent physical atom of the solar Logos lies hid the ability to respond consciously to the vibration of all the planes, lies hid the secret of the karmic purpose of His incarnation, [518] and lies concealed the mystery of His functional activity; but we cannot penetrate the secret as yet of His three lower permanent atoms as they function as a unity within His causal vehicle. Until we can do this it is useless for us to conjecture as to His fundamental Being.

  The difference between them: The mental unit is in a unique and peculiar position as regards man, the Thinker in the causal body. This point will be discussed shortly, suffice it to say here that its mystery lies hid in the nature of the Heavenly Men Themselves. The following correspondence holds the key to this mystery, but it can only be indicated, leaving it to the student to work out the truth for himself. On the three planes of logoic manifestation—the highest three—we have the three aspects manifesting; on the buddhic plane, the fourth cosmic ether, we have the logoic etheric centres demonstrating, or those force vortices which animate the three lower planes of the dense physical manifestation. In connection with the Heavenly Men we have a secondary manifestation, and on the buddhic plane we have Their third aspect found, leaving for Their paramount manifestation of force, the cosmic gaseous plane, or the manasic plane; They are essentially the divine Thinkers, the Manasaputras. In connection, therefore, with the Microcosm, viewing him as part of a centre in the body of a Heavenly Man, we have a lesser descent within the gaseous or fire manifestation of a solar Lord. This concerns the three higher subplanes of what might be considered as the manifestation of Man’s three higher aspects in mental matter, whilst on the fourth subplane we have the mental centres of man within the periphery of his mental body, of which the mental unit is the unifying factor. This is—as has been earlier said—a deep mystery, and one that can be no further amplified.

  b. The Planes and Fiery Energy. It seems desirable [519] that we should here discuss the analogies on each plane, (169) with the seven sub-planes, reminding the student that we are speaking of the planes as the field of evolution of a solar Logos, and not only as a field for the development of man. In the solar system we have:

  Fir
st, the three higher planes, which have been rightly called the planes of the three aspects; second, the seventh logoic principle is on the first plane, and we can consider it as the impulse in physical matter which produced His body of objectivity.

  On the second plane are found the seven Heavenly Men, Who are His principal centres of force. There are others, but we are not here concerned with Them. These latter have achieved a certain specific goal, and are the [520] embodiment of centres which are now quiescent or out of manifestation, the logoic kundalini having turned its attention elsewhere. Under another enumeration they make the ten of the esoteric life, and can also be enumerated as twelve, thus forming the twelve-petalled Lotus, or the heart centre in the Body of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NOUGHT MAY BE SAID.

  On the fourth cosmic ether the buddhic plane, are found the etheric centres of the Logos. There are to be found the esoteric planets and the Sun, viewed as the centre of the buddhic principles, and from thence the Logos animates His dense physical manifestation.