A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  Between Two Chains. This covers the period of a mahamanvantara, or of one year of Brahma.

  There are many ways of arriving at the greater cycles, but there is no need to confuse with the intricacies of figures. The ten Prajapatis or Rishis, or [744] the ten planetary Logoi, manifest through Their ten schemes in time and space, the hour of Their appearing differing. Each likewise manifests as does the Logos through a septenate and a triad, making again a ten of perfection.

  Between Two Solar Systems. This covers the period of one hundred years of Brahma, and through the study of the planetary cycles comprehension of these greater cycles may come. Complication comes to the student nevertheless in the fact that two of the schemes cover their cyclic periods in five rounds, while others have seven; one scheme has but three rounds, but a mystery is hidden here: on the inner round one planet has nine cycles to run before the purpose of its Lord is completed.

  Certain lesser periods of pralaya do not concern man at all, but concern the atom of matter as it is released from form of any kind in the subhuman kingdoms. Pralaya is the result of radioactivity carried to a conclusion.

  (c.) Types of Human Rebirth. In our study of the building of thought-forms and the agencies for their construction, we have considered:

  1. The deva substance out of which they are constructed.

  2. The energy which animates them and its source.

  3. Their appearance in time and space, or their incarnation.

  4. Their disappearance or pralaya.

  5. The constructing entities who in a threefold manner produce these forms, utilising the process of:

  a. Meditation, which is ever the preliminary to construction.

  b. Dynamic force, or the positive energy which seizes upon its polar opposite (negative substance), and utilises it. [745]

  c. The impartation of colour or quality, which moulds that which has been prepared.

  d. A secondary vitalisation, which sets in separate motion the thought-form thus created.

  We will now consider the mystery of rebirth, or the incarnation of those lives which exist in subtler matter, and yet which seek form according to law, and touch upon their specific intent on dense physical levels. We can consider this in connection with the cosmic entities who seek existence on the physical plane of the cosmos, our solar systemic planes, or the reincarnating jivas who are driven by the Law towards earthly manifestation in order to become fully conscious, and acquire (by means of sentient existence), added faculty and power.

  H. P. B. has said that rebirths may be divided into three classes: (S.D., III, 364, 365, 367.45.)

  a. Those of Avatars.

  b. Those of Adepts.

  c. Those of jivas seeking development.

  To those who are endeavouring to grasp somewhat the mystery of rebirth and its laws and purpose, and who are confused when considering the mystery of the Buddha, and the secret purpose of that mysterious Entity, the Silent Watcher; to those who find the problem of understanding the position of the Kumaras and Their relation to the planetary Logos almost an insuperable one, it might be wise to say: Study and meditate upon the difference existing between the lower principles and the higher three; study and meditate upon the place and position of these lower principles in the body of the planetary Logos and ponder upon the correspondence between:

  a. The devachan of the reincarnating jiva.

  b. The nirvana of the Adept. [746]

  c. The pralaya of a cosmic Entity, such as the Lord of a chain, the Lord of a scheme, and the Lord of a Ray.

  I say correspondence in its esoteric significance, and do not seek to infer analogy in detail, but only in purpose and in experience. It may be said of all three states that they are periods of development, long cycles of meditation, and interludes between stages of activity. Hence the emphasis laid in the East and in all occult schools of development upon meditation, for it is the means of bringing to the unit under development the capacity which will produce:

  a. Abstraction, or liberation from form.

  b. Creative power.

  c. Direction of energy, through an act of the will.

  d. Future constructive activity.

  By means of meditation, a man finds freedom from the delusion of the senses, and their vibratory lure; he finds his own positive centre of energy and becomes consciously able to use it; he becomes, therefore, aware of his real Self, functioning freely and consciously beyond the planes of sense; he enters into the plans of the greater Entity within Whose radiatory capacity he has a place; he can then consciously proceed to carry out those plans as he can grasp them at varying stages of realisation; and he becomes aware of essential unity. But when a man has thus freed himself from the objects of sense in the three worlds he again becomes aware of the need of further meditation, and it is this (to man in the three worlds), inconceivable form of meditation that engrosses the attention of the Adept, and which is undertaken by Him in two great stages, each preceding the two final Initiations, the sixth and the seventh. I refer not here only to Adepts who “make the sacrifice,” and choose rebirth for service on the planet, but to all adepts. Freedom to work on any Path must be gained by occult [747] meditation; freedom to escape beyond the ring-pass-not is also thus attained, and likewise the curious state of quiescence which is achieved by Those Who have offered for service as the occult Hierarchy in the next round. In Them have to be stored the psychic seeds of knowledge which will be available in the fifth round; this necessitates for Them an attitude of receptivity to occurrences at the close of each root-race, when there is, on subtler levels, a gathering in of psychic force, and its storing with Those prepared for its reception. Their work is analogous to that of the Seed-Manu, Who Himself works through a septenate as do these storers of the psychic life-forces.

  Again for such cosmic Entities as the planetary Logoi periods of meditation transpire, but these concern Them on the cosmic planes, and only the effects are felt on this. They meditate in Their physical brains, and therefore in substance as does man, but the process is carried on in the etheric brain. This should be pondered on, for it holds the mystery hid. Also, the fact that some of these Lords of the Rays are more proficient in meditation than others, and thus achieve differing results which work out in Their schemes, should be carefully borne in mind.

  (d.) The Future Coming of the Avatar.

  THE COMING AVATAR

  “From the zenith to the nadir, from dawn to fall of night, from the emergence into being of all that is or may be to the passing into peace of all that hath achieved, gleameth the orb of blue and the inner radiant fire.

  From the gates of gold down to the pit of earth, out from the flaming fire down to the circle of gloom, rideth the secret Avatar, bearing the sword that pierceth.

  Naught can arrest His approach, and none may say Him nay. To the darkness of our sphere He rideth alone, and on His approach is seen the uttermost disaster, and the chaos of that which seeketh to withstand. [748]

  The Asuras veil their faces, and the pit of maya reeleth to the foundation. The stars of the eternal Lhas vibrate to that sound,—the WORD uttered with sevenfold intensity.

  Greater the chaos becometh; the major centre with all the seven circulating spheres rock with the echoes of disintegration. The fumes of utter blackness mount upwards in dissipation. The noise discordant of the warring elements greets the oncoming One, and deters Him not. The strife and cries of the fourth great Hierarchy, blending with the softer note of the Builders of the fifth and sixth, meet His approach. Yet He passeth on His way, sweeping the circle of the spheres, and sounding forth the WORD.

  * * * * * * *

  From the nadir to the zenith, from eve unto the Day be with us, from the circle of manifestation to the centre of pralayic peace, is seen the enveloping blue, lost in the flame of achievement.

  Up from the pit of maya back to the portals of gold, forth from the gloom and darkness back to the splendour of day, rideth the Manifested One, the Avatar, bearing the shattered
Cross.

  Naught can arrest His return, none can impede His Path, for He passeth along the upper way, bearing His people with Him. Cometh the dissolution of pain, cometh the end of strife, cometh the merging of the spheres and the blending of the hierarchies. All then is re-absorbed within the orb, the circle of manifestation. The forms that exist in maya, and the flame that devoureth all, are garnered by the One Who rideth the Heavens and entereth into the timeless AEon.”

  (From the Archives of the Lodge.)

  We have touched upon the subject of Avatars and the various classes into which they might be divided. We might now enlarge somewhat more upon the methods. The methods whereby certain cosmic Existences and certain highly evolved Entities appear among men to do a specific work might be very inadequately, and cursorily summarised, as follows:

  The method of overshadowing.

  The method of embodying some principle. [749]

  The method seen in the mystery of the Bodhisattva, or the Christ.

  The method of direct incarnation.

  The handicap of words is great, and the above phrases but convey a hint as to the true meaning. Therein lies safety for the student, for the real significance would be incomprehensible to him, and would but mislead him and guide him along the path of misunderstanding. Until a man is a pledged initiate, he cannot comprehend the matter. Of these, the most ordinary method is the first. All these methods of manifestation will perhaps be better understood by the student if he interprets them always in terms of force and energy, and if he notes that dim reflections of the same processes, and faint analogies can be traced among the reincarnating jivas. When a man has reached a certain development and can be of service to the world, cases occur when he is overshadowed by a great adept, or—as in the case of H. P. B.—by One greater than an adept. A chela can be a centre through which his master can pour His energy and force for the helping of the world, and in certain important crises men have been overshadowed by more than one of the Great Ones. (250) [750] What occurs on lower planes is but a reflection of higher processes, and in this thought may lie illumination. A man is a force centre, either for his Ego, when sufficiently evolved, or, via his Ego, of his group force; when very highly developed he can consciously be overshadowed by an exponent of a different type of force, which blends with his group, or Ray, force, and produces significant results in his life on earth.

  Again when an Ego is highly evolved he may choose during any particular incarnation to work paramountly through any one principle among the lower four; when this is the case the man’s life on earth is significantly that of an embodied principle. He seems to strike one note and to sound out one tone. His work is clearly to be seen along one line. He is a fanatic of high degree, but accomplishes big things for his subrace, even though the physical brain may not be consciously aware of the egoic impulse. This process has a curious relation to the obscuration, or fading out, of the personality, for the particular principle embodied works through a corresponding permanent atom, and its spirillae become over-rapidly developed, and hence their term of service wears to a close. This is a fact which is nevertheless taken advantage of when a superman, or great adept, becomes the embodiment (during a rootrace) of a principle; the vestures or sheaths of which the permanent atom is the nucleus (through the innate strength of the developed spirillae) are preserved by the aid of mantric formulas. The vibration is perpetuated for a specific length of time, and for as long as the vesture or sheath may be required. A hint is here conveyed which may be of service.

  Again, when a man has become a disciple he may, if he so wish, remain upon the astral plane and work there, and—at his pleasure, and under the adjustment of karma by [751] his Guru—he may take immediate physical birth. A hint as to the mystery of the Bodhisattva may be found in these two thoughts, provided the student transfers the whole concept to the etheric levels of the cosmic physical plane, and remembers that on these levels the adept works altogether as a part of a group, and not as a separated Identity, as does the ego in the three worlds. Therefore, the energy pouring through Him may be:

  a. That of a particular centre in the body of the planetary Logos in its total force.

  b. That of a particular set of vibrations within that centre, or a part of its vibratory force.

  c. That of the energy of a particular principle, either one of His own higher principles which He is seeking to bring to bear upon the earth, by taking incarnation for that specific purpose, or the energy of one of the planetary logoic principles, as it pours through Him via a particular spirilla or life current in the permanent atom of the planetary Logos.

  When these types of force are centralised in any particular adept, and He is expressing simply that extraneous force and nothing else, the effect is shown on the physical plane in the appearance of an avatar. An avatar is, but an adept is made, but frequently the force, energy, purpose or will of a cosmic Entity will utilise the vehicles of an adept in order to contact the physical planes. This method whereby cosmic Existences make Their power felt can be seen working out on all the planes of the cosmic physical plane. A striking instance of this can be seen in the case of the Kumaras, Who, under certain planetary forces, and through the formation of a systemic triangle, gave the impulse to the third kingdom which produced the fourth by bringing it into conjunction with the fifth. These Kumaras, Sanat Kumara and [752] His three pupils, having achieved the highest initiation possible in the last great cycle, but having as yet (from Their standpoint) another step to take, offered Themselves to the planetary Logos of Their Ray as “focal points” for His force, so that thereby He might hasten and perfect His plans on Earth within the cycle of manifestation. They have demonstrated three out of the four methods. They are overshadowed by the planetary Logos, and He works directly as the Initiator (in relation to man) through Sanat Kumara, and with the three kingdoms in nature through the three Buddhas of Activity,—Sanat Kumara, being thus concerned directly with the ego on the mental plane, and His three Pupils being concerned with the other three types of consciousness, of which man is the summation. At the moment of initiation (after the second Initiation) Sanat Kumara becomes the direct mouthpiece and agent of the Planetary Logos. That great Entity speaks through Him and for one brief second (if one can use such a term in connection with a plane whereon time, as we understand it, is not) the planetary Logos of a man’s Ray consciously—via His etheric brain—turns His thought upon the Initiate, and “calls him by His Name.”

  Again the Kumaras are embodied principles, but in this connection we must remember that this means that the force and energy of one of the principles of the Logos are pouring through Them via that which—to Them—corresponds to the Monad. Through Them, during Their period of incarnation and voluntary sacrifice, the great Prototype of the planetary Logos begins to make His Presence felt, and force from the constellation of the Great Bear faintly vibrates on earth. At initiation, man becomes aware consciously of the Presence of the planetary Logos through self-induced contact with his own divine Spirit. At the fifth Initiation he becomes aware of the full extent of this planetary group influence, and [753] of his part in the great whole. At the sixth and seventh Initiations the influence of the planetary Prototype is sensed, reaching him via the planetary Logos working through the Initiator.

  The method of direct incarnation was earlier seen when the Kumaras were in physical form. This only applied to some of Them; Sanat Kumara and His Pupils are in physical form, but have not taken dense physical bodies. They work on the vital etheric levels, and dwell in etheric bodies. Shamballa, where They dwell, exists in physical matter as do the Kumaras, but it is matter of the higher ethers of the physical plane, and only when man has developed etheric vision will the mystery lying beyond the Himalayas be revealed. Therefore, Sanat Kumara is the planetary logos yet He is not. A reflection of this method of direct incarnation can be seen when a disciple steps out of his body and permits his Guru, or a more advanced chela, to use it.

  The mystery of the
Bodhisattvas (S. D., I, 82, 83.) has been touched upon by H. P. B. and until students have assimilated and studied what she has said, there is no more to add. Apprehension of truth is ever the factor that calls for fresh revelation.

  A very interesting period will come about the year 1966 and persist to the end of the century. It is one for which the Great Ones are already making due preparation. It concerns a centennial effort of the Lodge and of the Personages taking part therein. Each century sees a centennial effort of the Lodge along a particular line of force made to forward the ends of evolution, and the effort for the twentieth century will be upon a larger scale than has been the case for a very long time, and will involve a number of Great Ones. In a similar effort during the nineteenth century, H. P. B. was concerned, and a fairly large number of chelas. In the effort immediately ahead, [754] several of the Great Ones are concerned and the Master of the Masters Himself; in Their “forthcoming” for work three out of the various methods of appearing mentioned earlier will be seen in full activity, and it is on these three that we might now touch.

  In the appearing of the Bodhisattva Himself, the mystery of the Bodhisattva will be seen in its fullest sense, and it is not for us here to enlarge upon it. Suffice it to say that the vestures of the GREAT ONE will be used, but time will show whether the coming Lord will clothe upon those vestures a physical vehicle at this particular juncture, or whether the astral plane may not be the field of His activity. If the student ponders upon the consequences entailed in the appropriation of this vesture, much light upon probable happenings will be thrown. The vestures act in a dual capacity:

  a. They are very highly magnetised, and therefore have a profound and far-reaching effect when utilised.