b. They act as a focal point for the force of the Lord Buddha and link up the coming Lord with Him, enabling Him to increase His Own stupendous resources by drawing upon still higher force centres, via the Lord Buddha.
This force will find its expression upon the astral plane, producing vast results of a quieting nature and bringing, by reflex action, peace on earth. The transmutation of desire into aspiration, and the transformation of low desire into high desire, will be some of the effects, while the result of the force flowing through will produce profound reactions of the deva denizens of that plane. Through the vibration thus set up will come the possibility of many (who would otherwise not do so) taking the first initiation. Later, towards the end of the greater cycle, the coming Avatar will again employ the vestures [755] with all that is entailed thereby, and will take a physical body, thus demonstrating on the physical plane the force of the Logos in the administration of the Law. When He comes at the close of this century and makes His power felt, He will come as the Teacher of Love and Unity, and the keynote He will strike will be regeneration through love poured forth on all. As He will work primarily on the astral plane, this will demonstrate on the physical plane in the formation of active groups in every city of any size, and in every country, which will work aggressively for unity, co-operation and brotherhood in every department of life—economic, religious, social and scientific.
These groups will achieve results now impossible, owing to the retention of buddhic force, but later this force will be set loose on earth via the medium of the Great Lord, operating as an aspect of the Logos, and as a focal point for the consciousness and energy of the Buddha.
It is this impending probability which is held in mind during the century at the annual recurrence of the Wesak festival. Students would do well to further the ends of the occult Hierarchy by a similar concentration at the time of the festival, thus setting up currents of thought which will have a great appeal in the occult sense of that term.
Indication of the nearing of this event will be seen in the reaction which will be set up during the next twenty-five years against crime, sovietism, and the extreme radicalism which is now being made use of by certain powers to achieve ends contrary to the plans of the Lord. The era of peace will be ushered in by a gathering together on earth of the forces which stand for construction, and development, and by a conscious deliberate banding together of groups in every land who embody the principle (as far as they can vision it) of Brotherhood. Watch [756] the signs of the times, and be not discouraged over the immediate future. The appearance of the Great Lord on the astral plane (whether followed by His physical incarnation or not) will date from a certain Wesak festival at which a mantram (known only to those attaining the seventh Initiation) will be pronounced by the Buddha, thus setting loose force, and enabling His great Brother to fulfil his mission. Hence the gradual recognition of the Wesak festival, and its true significance in the occident is desirable, and opportunity will be offered to all who are willing to place themselves in the line of this force, and thus become vitalised by it, and consequently available for service. The reaction mentioned above, will also become possible through the pressure brought to bear by the present children, many of whom are chelas and some initiates. They have come in to prepare the way for the coming of His Feet.
When the hour strikes (five years prior to the date of His descent) they will be in the full flower of their service and will have recognised their work, even though they may not be conscious of that which the future holds hid.
When the hour has come (and already a few cases are to be found), many cases of overshadowing will be seen and will demonstrate in a threefold manner. In all countries, in the orient and the occident, prepared disciples and highly evolved men and women, will be found who will be doing the work along the lines intended, and who will be occupying places of prominence which will make them available for the reaching of the many; their bodies also will be sufficiently pure to permit of the overshadowing. It will only be possible in the case of those who have been consecrated since childhood, who have been servers of the race all their lives, or who, in previous lives, have acquired the right by karma. This threefold overshadowing will manifest as:
First. An impression upon the physical brain of the [757] man or woman, of thoughts, plans for work, ideals and intentions which (emanating from the Avatar) will yet be unrecognised by him as being other than his own; he will proceed to put them into action, unconsciously helped by the force flowing in. This is literally a form of higher mental telepathy working out on physical levels.
Second. The overshadowing of the chela during his work (such as lecturing, writing, or teaching), and his illumination for service. He will be conscious of this, though perhaps unable to explain it, and will seek more and more to be available for use, rendering himself up in utter selflessness to the inspiration of His Lord. This is effected via the chela’s Ego, the force flowing through his astral permanent atom; and it is only possible when the fifth petal is unfolded.
Third. The conscious co-operation of the chela is necessitated in the third method of overshadowing. In this case he will (with full knowledge of the laws of his being and nature) surrender himself and step out of his physical body, handing it over for the use of the Great Lord or one of His Masters. This is only possible in the case of a chela who has brought all the three lower bodies into alignment, and necessitates the unfolding of the sixth petal. By an act of conscious will he renders up his body, and stands aside for a specific length of time.
These methods of overshadowing will be largely the ones used by the Great Lord and His Masters at the end of the century, and for this reason They are sending into incarnation, in every country, disciples who have the opportunity offered them to respond to the need of humanity. Hence the need of training men and women to recognise the higher psychism, and the true inspiration and mediumship, and to do this scientifically. In fifty years time, the need for true psychics and conscious mediums (such as H. P. B., for instance) will be very great [758] if the Master’s plans are to be carried to fruition, and the movement must be set on foot in preparation for the coming of Him for Whom all nations wait. In this work many have their share, provided they demonstrate the necessary endurance.
Naturally, the first group will be the largest, for it does not necessitate so much knowledge, but more risk is entailed with them than with the others—the risk of a perversion of the plans, and of disaster to the unit involved. The second group will be less numerous, and the last group will involve only a handful, or two or three in certain countries. In this case, it will be verily true that, through sacrifice, the Son of Man will again tread the highways of men, and His physical incarnation be a fact. Very few will be thus available for His use, as the force He carries requires a peculiarly resilient instrument, but due preparation is being made.
Again the method of direct incarnation will be employed by certain of the Masters and initiates through the process of:
a. Physical birth.
b. Appropriation of a suitable vehicle, or body.
c. Direct creation by an act of will. This will be rare.
The second, or middle, method will be the one most frequently employed. Six of the Masters, as yet quite unknown to the average occult student by name, have already sought physical incarnation—one in India, another in England, two in northern America, and one in central Europe, whilst another has made a great sacrifice, and taken a Russian body in the desire to act as a peace centre in that distracted land. Certain initiates of the third Initiation have taken feminine bodies,—one in India will in due time do much toward the emancipation of the women of India, whilst another has a peculiar work to do in connection with the animal kingdom which likewise is awaiting the day of His appearing.
[759] The Master Jesus will take a physical vehicle, and with certain of His chelas effect a re-spiritualisation of the Catholic churches, breaking down the barrier separating the Episcopal and Greek churches from th
e Roman. This may be looked for, should plans progress as hoped, about the year 1980. The Master Hilarion will also come forth, and become a focal point of buddhic energy in the vast spiritualistic movement, whilst another Master is working with the Christian Science endeavour in an effort to swing it on to sounder lines. It is interesting to note that those movements which have laid the emphasis so strongly on the heart or love aspect, may respond more rapidly to the inflow of force at the Coming than other movements which consider themselves very advanced. The “mind may slay” the recognition of the Real, and hatred between brothers swing the tide of love-force away. The three Masters so closely allied with the theosophical movement are already making Their preparations, and will also move among men, recognised by Their Own and by those who have eyes to see. To those of Their chelas on earth who undergo the necessary discipline, opportunity will be offered to work on the astral plane and, should they so choose, an immediate incarnation, provided they have achieved continuity of consciousness. He Who is known as D. K. is planning to restore—via His students—some of the old and occult methods of healing and to demonstrate:
a. The place of the etheric body.
b. The effect of pranic force.
c. The opening up of etheric vision.
It is not permissible to say more in connection with the plans of the Great Ones. Their appearing will not be simultaneous in time, for the people could not stand the tremendously increased inflow of force, and recognition of Them and of Their methods will depend upon the intuition, [760] and the training of the inner senses. They come with no herald, and only Their works will proclaim Them.
(e.) Impulse and Incarnation. Perhaps light upon this very difficult question of the incarnating jivas, of adepts and of avatars may come if the student remembers that:
1. An ordinary man demonstrates the third aspect of intelligent activity in his personality life, and is evolving consciously the second aspect, or the egoic manifestation on the physical plane.
2. An adept in incarnation is demonstrating fully the second aspect as well as the third, and in his own internal life is in process of evolving the first aspect, or is endeavouring to bring through the monadic life into conscious activity on the buddhic plane.
3. An avatar demonstrates one of two things, according to his peculiar karma:
a. The pure light of the Monad, brought through by means of the perfected Ego and personality on to the physical plane. The line of force extends straight through from monadic levels to the physical.
b. The light of the Logos Himself in one or other aspect, this being transmitted consciously via the Monad straight through to the physical plane from the planetary Logos, or even from the solar Logos Himself.
In the first two cases, desire for sentient existence, or desire for service to humanity, are the factors which produce physical manifestation (one through the force of evolution itself, the other through a conscious act of the will). Desire for sentient existence is but the latent second aspect seeking expression by means of the Not-Self, and in the other case the manifested second aspect consciously utilises form as a means to an end. In the case [761] of all avatars it is the will aspect which is brought into play, and which produces appearance—either the will of the perfected adept, such as the Buddha Himself, or (as in the case of the true Avatar, Who is, and Who has not achieved) the will of the planetary Logos or of the solar Logos, taking form for a specific purpose. It involves a higher display of the creative faculty than that displayed by the Adept in the creation of His body of manifestation, the Mayavirupa. (252) The terms “appropriation of a physical body” and “creation of a physical body” must be extended to include all the planes of the solar system, and not just our physical plane, the seventh subplane of the cosmic physical.
The causes which combine to produce incarnation, are seen to be three:
1. Egoic impulse.
2. The activity of the solar and lunar Angels.
3. Karma, or the place which antecedent action plays in producing manifestation.
We can hardly dissociate them in the consideration of our subject owing to the innate constitution of the egoic body itself and the factor the indwelling consciousness plays in producing appearance through an act of will. Let us briefly, therefore, reconsider what we have learned anent the egoic body and its constitution, and then take up the steps followed by the Ego in producing results in the three worlds.
We have seen that on the third level of the mental plane, the egoic lotus is found and the student should picture it to himself as follows:
Concealed at the very centre or heart of the lotus is a brilliant point of electric fire of a blue-white hue (the [762] jewel in the lotus) surrounded, and completely hidden, by three closely folded petals. Around this central nucleus, or inner flame, are arranged the nine petals in circles of three petals each, making three circles in all. These petals are formed out of the substance of the solar angels, as are the central three,—substance which is not only sentient as is the substance of the forms in the three worlds and the lunar bodies, but which has an added quality of “I-ness” or of self-consciousness, enabling the spiritual unity at the centre (by means of it) to acquire knowledge, awareness, and self-realisation. These nine petals are of a predominant orange hue, though the six other colours are found as secondary colours in a varying degree. The inner three petals are of a lovely lemon-yellow hue. At the base of the lotus petals are the three points of light which mark the position of the permanent atoms, and which are the medium of communication between the solar Angels and the lunar Pitris. By means of these permanent atoms the Ego, according to its state of evolution can construct his lunar bodies, acquire knowledge on the lower three planes, and thus buy his experience, and becomes aware. On a higher turn of the spiral, the Monad through the egoic petals, and thus with the aid of the solar Angels, acquires knowledge and equally on more exalted levels becomes aware.
The light within these permanent atoms has a dull red glow and we have, therefore, all the three fires demonstrating in the causal body—electric fire at the centre, solar fire enclosing it as the flame encloses the central nucleus or essence in a candle flame, and fire by friction, this latter fire resembling the glowing red wick which lies at the base of the higher flame.
These three types of fire on the mental plane—meeting and unified in the egoic body—produce in time a radiation or warmth which streams out from all sides of the lotus, and forms that spheroidal shape noted by investigators. [763] The more fully developed the Ego may be, and the more the petals are unfolded, the greater the beauty of the surrounding sphere, and the more refined its colouring.
At the early stages after individualisation, the egoic body has the appearance of a bud. The electric fire at the centre is not apparent, and all the nine petals are closed down upon the inner three; the orange colour has a dead aspect and the three points of light at the base are just points and nothing more; the triangle which is later seen connecting the points is not demonstrated. The surrounding sphere is colourless and is only to be appreciated as undulatory vibrations (like waves in the air or ether) reaching barely beyond the petal outline.
By the time the third Initiation is reached, a wondrous transformation has transpired. The outer sphere is palpitating with every colour in the rainbow, and is of wide radius; the streams of electrical energy circulating in it are so powerful that they are escaping beyond the periphery of the circle, resembling the rays of the sun. The nine petals are fully unfolded, forming a gracious setting for the central jewel, and their orange hue is now of a gorgeous translucence, shot with many colours, that of the egoic ray predominating. The triangle at the base is now quickened and scintillating, and the three points are small blazing fires, showing to the eye of the clairvoyant as sevenfold whorls of light, circulating their light from point to point of a rapidly moving triangle.
By the time the fourth Initiation is reached, the activity of this triangle is so great that it looks more like a wheel in rapid revo
lution. It has a fourth dimensional aspect. The three petals at the centre are opening up, revealing the “blazing jewel.” At this initiation, through the action of the Hierophant wielding the electric Rod of Power, the three fires are suddenly stimulated by a downflow of electric, or positive force, from the [764] Monad, and their blazing out in response produces that merging which destroys the entire sphere, dissipates all appearance of form, and produces a moment of equilibrium, or of suspension, in which the “elements are consumed with fervent heat.” The moment of highest radiation is known. Then—through the pronouncement of a certain Word of Power—the great solar Angels gather back into themselves the solar fire, thus producing the final dissipation of the form, and hence the separation of the life from the form; the fire of matter returns to the general reservoir, and the permanent atoms and the causal body are no more. The central electric fire becomes centralised in atma-buddhi. The Thinker or spiritual entity stands free of the three worlds, and functions consciously on the buddhic plane. Between these two stages of quiescent (though self-conscious) inertia and of that radiant activity which produces a balancing of forces, is a long series of lives.
In our consideration of the subject of the reincarnating jivas, we have touched upon three subjects:
a. Avatars, with the intent of disposing of the confusion in the minds of students as to certain types of appearances. In our present study we shall deal only with the process followed by ordinary men.
b. Pralayas, with the intent of arousing in the mind of the student the idea of interludes of quiescence dependent upon the intervening periods of activity.
c. The appearance of the body egoic and its general conformation, with the intent of awakening the realisation of the student to the fact that evolution affects that body also, and not only man’s forms in the three worlds. The effects of the process are interdependent, and as the lower self develops, or the personality becomes more active and intelligent, results are produced in the higher body. As these effects are cumulative, and not ephemeral [765] as are the lower results, the egoic body becomes equally more active and its manifestation of energy is increased. Towards the close of the evolutionary period in the three worlds a constant interchange of energy is seen to be taking place; the lower forms become irradiated with light, and reflect the higher radiance; the egoic body is the Sun of the lower system, and its bodies reflect its rays, as the moon reflects the light of the solar sun. Similarly the egoic Sun,—through the interaction—shines with ever greater intensity and glory. On the higher levels a similar interaction takes place for a brief period between the Monad and its reflection the Ego, but only in the coming solar system will this interaction be carried to its logical conclusion.
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 66