A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  The fourth point to be noted is that when these three events have occurred, the light or fire that circulates along the manasic triangle is withdrawn to the centre of the lotus, and this “prototype” of the future antaskarana, if so it may be expressed, disappears. The threefold energy of the petals, the atoms and the “jewel” is now centralised, because impulse must now be generated which will produce a downflow of energy from the newly made causal vehicle into the three worlds of human endeavour.

  We have dealt with the method of individualisation through the coming in of the Lords of the Flame because it is the prime method in this solar system; whatever methods may be pursued in the varying schemes and chains, this—at the middle stage—is the universal rule. Karmic conditions having to do with a planetary Logos may effect modifications, and bring into action manasadevas whose activity may not be the same in working detail, but the results are ever similar, and the divine Egos in their causal bodies have analogous instruments to work through....

  A final point which is of profound significance is that the Agnishvattas construct the petals out of Their Own substance, which is substance energised by the principle [712] of “I-ness,” or ahamkara. They proceed to energise the permanent atoms with Their own positive force, so as to bring the fifth spirilla in due course of time into full activity and usefulness. All possibility, all hopefulness and optimism, and all future success lies hid in these two points.

  As we have seen, the work of the Agnishvattas on the mental plane resulted in a downflow of force or energy from the Monad (or Spirit) and this, in conjunction with the energy of the lower quaternary produced the appearance of the body of the Ego on the mental plane. In ordinary electric light, we have a faint illustration of the thought I seek to convey. By the approximation of the two polarities, light is created. By an analogous type of electrical phenomena, the light of the Monad shines forth, but we have to extend the idea to the subtler planes, and deal with seven types of force or energy in connection with the one polarity and with four in connection with the other. A scientific formula for the process of individualisation conveys this dual approximation with its differing types of energy in one symbol and a number, but it cannot here be revealed.

  The Manasadevas are themselves energised by force from the cosmic mental plane—a force which has been in operation ever since the individualisation of the solar Logos in kalpas far distant. They, in Their corporate nature, embody the will or purpose of the Logos, and are the cosmic “prototypes” of our solar Angels. The solar Angels on the mental plane of the system embody as much of that will and purpose as the Logos can work through in one single incarnation and as They, in Their groups, can develop. They work, therefore, through egoic groups and primarily, after individualisation, upon the mental units of the separated identities who go to the constituency of the groups. This is Their secondary work. Their work in part might be described as follows:

  [713] Primarily, they bring about the union of the divine Ego and the lower personal self. This has been dealt with.

  Secondly, they work through the mental units, impressing upon the atom that portion, microscopic as it may be, of the logoic purpose which the individual can work out on the physical plane. At first their influence is unconsciously assimilated, and the man responds to the plan blindly and ignorantly. Later, as evolution proceeds, their work is recognised by the man in a conscious co-operation with the plan of evolution. (238) After the third initiation, the will or purpose aspect predominates.

  It might here be noted that it is the positive force of the Manasadevas that produces initiation. Their function is embodied by the Hierophant. He, seeing before Him the vehicle for buddhi, passes the voltage from the higher planes through His body, and by means of the Rod (charged with positive manasic force) transmits this higher manasic energy to the initiate so that he is enabled to know consciously and to recognise the plan for his group-centre through the immensely increased stimulation. This force descends from the manasic permanent atom via the antaskarana and is directed to whichever centre the Hierophant—under the Law—sees should be stimulated. He stabilises the force, and regulates its flow as it circulates throughout the egoic Lotus, so that when the work of unfoldment is accomplished the sixth principle at the Heart of the Lotus can stand revealed. After each initiation the Lotus is more unfolded [714] and light from the centre begins to blaze forth—a light or fire which ultimately burns through the three enshrining petals, and permits the full inner glory to be seen, and the electric fire of spirit to be manifested. As this is brought about on the second subplane of the mental plane (whereon the egoic lotus is now situated) a corresponding stimulation takes place in the dense substance which forms the petals or wheels of the centres on the astral and etheric levels.

  (b.) Individualisation and the races. If this treatise serves no other purpose than to direct the attention of the scientific and philosophic students to the study of force or energy in man and in groups, and to interpret man and the human family in terms of electrical phenomena, much good will have been accomplished. The polarity of a man, of a group, and of a congery of groups, the polarity of the planets and their relationship to each other and to the Sun, the polarity of the solar system and its relationship to other systems, the polarity of one plane to another, and of one principle to another, the polarity of the subtler vehicles, and the scientific application of the laws of electricity to the totality of existence on the physical plane will bring about a revolution upon the planet second only to that effected at the time of individualisation. I would point out here a certain significant fact which students will do well carefully to consider.

  In the third rootrace (239) individualisation took place. It was an event which became possible through certain conditions and polar relationships, and because the scientific laws were understood and the Knowers took [715] advantage of a peculiar electrical condition to hasten the evolution of the race. It was electrical phenomena of a stupendous kind, and produced the “lights which ever burn.” It was the result of the knowledge of natural law and its adaptation to opportunity.

  In the fourth rootrace another adaptation of force occurred. Again time and opportunity were taken advantage of to open the door into the fifth kingdom by the method of forced initiation. A third type of electricity played its part in bringing about this event, and it is the effect of this electrical phenomenon upon the units (who are themselves centres of energy) which—scientifically viewed—indicates a man’s suitability for the ceremony of initiation, and his availability as a transmitter of spiritual energy to the world. Every initiate is technically a transmitter of force and his work is consequently threefold:

  1. To provide a threefold vehicle capable of the necessary resistance to the force and able to receive and hold it.

  2. To transmit it as energy to the world which he serves.

  3. To store up a certain amount of it for a twofold purpose:

  a. To provide a reservoir of force for emergencies and for special work as required by the Great Ones.

  b. To act as a dynamo for the immediate group which all advanced souls, disciples and initiates gather around them on some one or other of the planes in the three worlds.

  In the fifth rootrace, another tremendous happening may be looked for, and the time lies immediately ahead. It had its beginning in the energy which eventually culminated in the world war. The first effect of the appearance of fresh electrical stimulation from extra-systemic [716] centres, is ever to bring about a primary destruction leading on to revelation. That which is imprisoned must be loosed. So it will be in this rootrace, the fifth. Certain cosmic forces are at work and the full effect of their energy is not yet apparent. This incoming force, the Hierarchy will avail itself of in order to push forward the planetary plans. In every case the effect of the phenomenon is felt in some one or other of the kingdoms beside the human. In the individualisation period, it is apparent that a tremendous stimulation took place in the animal kingdom—a stimulation which has pe
rsisted, and which has led to the phenomenon of “domestic animals” as we call them, and their relatively high stage of intelligence as compared to the wild animals. In Atlantean days the opening of the door into the fifth kingdom, or into the stage of buddhic consciousness, had a profound effect upon the vegetable kingdom. This effect can be seen working out in such results as are achieved by Burbank, and which are of a nature corresponding to the initiatory process in man, involving a rapid achievement of relative perfection.

  In the tremendous event which is impending, in the great revelation which is near at hand, the Hierarchy will again take advantage of the time and the energy to bring about certain events which will work out primarily in the human kingdom but which will also be seen as force regeneration in the mineral kingdom. The energy, when first felt in the human kingdom, brought about the conditions which caused the tremendous activity which resulted in war, and which is causing the present world stress; in the mineral kingdom it affected certain of the minerals and elements, and the radioactive substances made their appearance. This characteristic (or radioactivity) of pitchblende and the other involved units is comparatively a new development under the evolutionary law, and one which, though latent, only [717] needed the drawing forth of the type of energy now beginning to pour in on the earth. This force began to flow in at the end of the eighteenth century, and its full effect is by no means yet felt, for it will be several hundred years before it passes away. By means of it, certain discoveries are possible, and the new order comes in upon it. The Great Ones, Who know the time and the hour, will bring about, in our rootrace, that which corresponds to the occurrences in the earlier third and fourth races.

  (c.) Methods of Individualisation. We have seen how the characteristic method of individualisation in this solar system is the result of force emanating from the cosmic mental plane, which sweeps into activity those entities whose function it is to form the body of the ego out of their own living substance on the mental plane and thus, through their own quality and nature, endow human units on the physical plane with the faculty of self-consciousness, thus producing Man. It is their work also to energise the mental units of all men, and to co-ordinate, by means of the force which they embody, and to energise the sheaths of the threefold lower man, so that they may in due course of time intelligently express the will and purpose of the indwelling Thinker. Through the carrying out of this function in the case of the human family, certain planetary and systemic conditions are brought about. The dense and etheric bodies of the Logos and of the planetary Logoi are merged, and one coherent vehicle of expression is provided for these cosmic Entities.

  In the producing of self-consciousness in the human family, the full conscious occupation by the Logos involved is consummated. It is the moment of fruition, and (from a certain esoteric standpoint) marks the attainment of one perfected Septenary. The three involutionary or elemental kingdoms and the three sub-human [718] kingdoms find their seventh principle in the fourth kingdom in nature, 3 + 4 = 7. When the life of God has circled through these seven kingdoms, then full self-consciousness is achieved from a certain relative standpoint, and the Son is on the way to attainment. This relative perfection has then to be carried on to other stages, but they are stages in which the separated self-consciousness of the Identities concerned (whether human or planetary) must eventually merge itself in universal consciousness.

  Certain centres in the bodies logoic and planetary are also stimulated and the Rays (if it might be so expressed) become radioactive. It is this radiation which will eventually bring about conscious group activity, which will lead to interaction between the planets, and which, under the Law of Attraction and Repulsion, will bring about eventual synthesis.

  On extra-systemic or cosmic levels, the individualisation process produces a corresponding activity in the egoic body of the Logos, and hence increased vibration in that centre in the body of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NOUGHT MAY BE SAID, which our Logos represents. It also produces a reaction or “occult recognition” in the prototype of the Septenate, or in the seven Rishis of the Great Bear, and this reaction in cosmic circles will persist until the end of the mahamanvantara, when the Logos is set free (even though temporarily), from physical plane existence.

  It also brings about a setting loose of force from the cosmic mental plane which is cyclic in character. In this round, the fourth, the maximum force of this cycle was felt in the third root race. In the next round, during the fourth root race, and for a very brief period, a fresh cycle will reach its zenith, and will again open the door of individualisation in order to permit the entry of certain very advanced Egos who are seeking [719] incarnation in order to carry out a special piece of work. This round will provide no bodies adequate to their need. The next round may do so if the plans proceed as anticipated. In this case the Manasadevas concerned will not individualise animal men as in the previous round, but will stimulate the mental germ in those members of the present human family who—as H. P. B. says—though apparently men, are without the spark of mind. (240) During the next seven hundred years, these low aboriginal races will practically die out and will not—in this round—reincarnate. They will be rejected. In the next round opportunity will again occur, and the Manasadevas will again renew their work of forming individualistic nuclei for the development of self-consciousness. The Egos awaiting opportunity will not, of course, enter in until the human type of that era is sufficiently refined for their purpose. They are concerned with the unfoldment of the sixth petal of the logoic egoic Lotus, and are of such a nature that we can scarcely conceive of them. They are on the line of the Buddhas of Activity, but the above named are free for this mahamanvantara, whereas these particular Egos have yet somewhat to work out. They could only “come in” in the middle of the fifth round, and were a group of initiates who arrested their own evolution (technically speaking) in order to take up a special piece of work on the planet Vulcan; therefore, they must return to continue and complete that which has been left undone. Owing to the results of their experience on Vulcan, the physical vehicle necessitated is of such an order that they could not at this time, and in this round, incarnate without disaster.

  Individualisation in the next round will begin to show indications of the third method,—that of the next system. [720] This method has been described as that of “occult abstraction.” It will concern itself with the withdrawal from out of the lowest type of the then existing men (through knowledge of the etheric constitution of the body) of the vitality latent in it, and a temporary turning of that latent fire to the increase of the activity of the germ or spark of mind; this will be effected by a dynamic action of the will. This seems impossible, and well nigh senseless phraseology when considered in terms of consciousness and of spirituality, but let the student study the phenomenon in terms of the cosmic physical plane, and from the standpoint of the gaseous and etheric subplanes, and he will see that in all these septenary fires it is ever the fire of matter in reality, and these sevenfold diversifications of electrical phenomena can ever affect each other.

  Thus, in the mahamanvantara, the three methods of individualisation in connection with our planetary scheme are to be seen

  a. In the Moon chain, the gradual evolution of self-consciousness under natural law.

  b. In the Earth chain that of achieved self-consciousness through the aid of extraneous agencies. It is the distinctive method of this system.

  c. In the next round and chain the method will be abstraction through will power, but this in an embryonic manner.

  I have dealt with these three from the standpoint of our own scheme. In all the schemes whereon man is found at some period or another, these three methods will be contacted. They mark the gradual control by the Logos on cosmic levels of His threefold lower nature. In the first, the correspondence lies in the latent consciousness of matter, and works under the Law of Economy. It concerns primarily the Self-consciousness of the Logos [721] in His dense physical body, and His polarisation therein. It
is likewise the same for a Heavenly Man, and a part of the mystery of evil is to be found in the readiness of certain of these cosmic entities (particularly our planetary Logos in the moon chain) to remain polarised in the physical etheric body after having supposedly dominated the material aspect, or gained the control of the third Fire in an earlier system. A hint lies here for the wise student anent present evil on this planet.

  The second correspondence concerns the latent “consciousness of desire,” and works under the Law of Attraction; it is the law for this system, and deals with the ability of the Logos to “love wisely,” in the occult sense of the term. It has relation to the polarisation of the Logos in His astral body, and produces the phenomenon called “sex activity” on all planes in the system. In the earlier system, emancipation was effected through the faculty of discrimination, though that word as used to-day is but a faint indication of the systemic process in those days. Through the force engendered during the process that vibration was set up which persists to-day in matter. It is evidenced by the active intelligence and the discriminative selective capacity of the atom of substance. In this system emancipation will be brought about through the line of occult dispassion; this likewise will leave its mark upon matter, tinging it in such a way that in the third system, primordial substance will demonstrate a second quality. In the next system “non-attachment through abstraction” is as near as we can get to the method of the liberating process but it is useless for man to speculate upon this as his mind cannot conceive of the condition.