A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  Lotuses of passion or desire. They are so called because their fundamental nature is embodied love in some one or other form. The bulk of the Monads of Love are among this large group and they are to be seen incarnating in the bulk of the well-to-do, kindly people of the world. They are divided into five groups, of whom three individualised upon this planet, and two were the very latest to individualise upon the moon chain. They have two petals unfolded and the third is for them at this time the object of their attention. Many may succeed in unfolding it before the seventh rootrace of this round but the bulk of them will unfold it in the second rootrace of the next round, and will stand ready before the close of the round to pass on to the probationary path, having unfolded one tier of petals, and organised the second. All these lotuses of the first circle are divided into groups but interplay goes on between them; energy in any centre [843] produces reflex energy in another. It must be remembered that in closing the door in Atlantean times to the animal kingdom, and the consequent temporary cessation of the forming of any more “bud lotuses” the effect was dual, in directions other than the human or the animal. It was the result of the internal decision on the part of the planetary Logos to turn His attention away from the act of creation on the systemic mental plane to the work of progressive evolution. This caused a cessation of certain types of activity, producing a quiescence in certain of His centres, and an increased activity in others. It also had an effect upon the solar Angels, and consequently upon the Heart of the solar system from whence they are drawn. Floods of energy or streams of force from the heart of the sun (the subjective Sun) were arrested and directed elsewhere, while the Pitris already active began to centre their attention upon the work begun, and temporarily new beginnings were out of order. It must not be forgotten here that the work of the solar Pitris from their point of view, is not primarily the evolution of man, but is the process of their own development within the plan of the solar Logos. The evolution of the human race is, for them, but a method.

  Perfected men are in the councils of the planetary Logos of their particular ray; the solar Pitris are in the council of the solar Logos. (269)

  It might be of value here if we temporarily stopped our consideration of the egoic groups and briefly tabulated the evolutions, remembering that in this tabulation, the planes of differentiation alone are concerned; on the plane of the unmanifest or of the subjective, only unity is known. It must again be remembered that the term “unmanifest” is one of relative importance only, and concerns man’s apprehension of all that is. To the solar Logos the planes of the unmanifest are objective. Man has not as yet achieved etheric vision, and the etheric

  [844] TABULATION VI

  Lives Goal

  1. Planetary Logoi - The major Three. Cosmic liberation; the final cosmic Initiations.

  2. The minor four planetary Logoi Cosmic Initiation, or the first four Initiations.

  3. The informing Lives of a planetary globe Manus of a cosmic chain. Not a seed manu, but a periodical manu of lesser degree. This involves an unrevealable mystery, connected with certain Hierarchies of color.

  4. The informing life of a kingdom in nature Transference in one of three directions:

  a. To the line of the solar Pitris.

  b. To Sirius, as a karmic adjuster.

  c. To the solar system of the next order to work in connection with the planetary Logos of his own line as ruler of a kingdom or life wave in the system, and not just in a scheme.

  5. The solar Pitris. The highest three groups will become major planetary Logoi; the lower four groups will become minor planetary Logoi.

  6. The human evolution. To become the solar Pitris of another cycle. To follow any of the paths earlier enumerated. Those who become solar Pitris, being the bulk of humanity, return to Sirius to be breathed out again into activity.

  7. The lunar Pitris To become men. They will in their higher grades pass directly into the animal evolution of the next cycle and so eventually individualise. Their three higher grades will become animal-men, and the lower four will contribute to the quaternic forms of the men of the next creation.

  8. The animal evolution Human kingdom.

  9. The vegetable evolution The animal kingdom.

  10. The mineral evolution The vegetable kingdom.

  11. The four higher grades of lesser Builders on all planes They will form the manifested double or form of that mysterious third evolution of the next system; that is, the etheric body of the planetary entity. This mysterious life is as yet an unfathomable mystery and one which will not be revealed till the final one of the triplicity of solar systems of our solar Logos.

  12. The three lower grades of the lesser Builders The physical body in its densest form of the planetary entity.

  [845] subplanes are to him as yet unmanifest. The solar Logos has cosmic etheric vision fully developed, and because He is on the cosmic Path all is known and fully revealed to Him within the solar System.

  It might here be noted that the planetary Entity is the sumtotal of all the elemental lives of the lesser Builders functioning as, or forming, the substance of any particular globe in physical objectivity. The mystery of the whole subject lies hidden in three things:

  First, the fact that our three planes, physical, astral, and mental, form the dense body of the solar Logos, and are therefore not considered as forming principles.

  The second fact is that the lesser “lives” or the elemental essence are the “refuse” of an earlier system, and react to inherent impulses so powerfully that it was only possible to control them through the dynamic will of the Logos, consciously applied. The word “refuse” must be interpreted analogically, and as is understood when it is said that man gathers to himself in each fresh incarnation matter to form his dense physical body which is tinged with the earlier vibrations of preceding incarnations. These “lives” have been gradually drawn in during the entire mahamanvantara as it became safe and possible to control and bend them to the will of the greater Builders. Much of the earlier energy-substance in systemic construction has been passed on into that force-matter which we call that of the lunar Pitris, and its place has gradually been taken by this type of energy, gathered in from the greater sphere in which our Logos has place. The twelve evolutions are after all but the twelve types of energy, manifesting ever in three groups of forces, and again as one group when synthesised during the process of manifestation. They are fourfold in interaction, and have a systemic ebb and flow about which little is known.

  Third, the fact of the coming into incarnation of the [846] informing “life” of this low grade substance, who is an entity from a point in the Heavens which may not be mentioned: He embodies influences of a manasic nature, but manas at its very lowest vibration. Perhaps some idea of this may be gathered if it is stated that there is a resemblance between this vibration, or this energising life, and the basic vibration of the solar system preceding this one. We must remember that our basic vibration was the result of the evolutionary process of the entire earlier system. This entity has the same analogous relation to the deva evolution as the mysterious “bridges” which baffle scientists, and which are found between the vegetable and the animal kingdom, and the mineral and the vegetable; they are neither the one nor the other. On a large scale, this “life” or the informing entity of the lower life of the physical plane of the solar system is neither a full exponent of the subconscious life of the earlier system, nor of the elemental life of this; only in the next system will be seen the manifestation of a form of consciousness of a type at present inconceivable to man. Esoterically he is stated to have “neither sight nor hearing”; he is neither deva nor human in essence. He is occultly “blind,” utterly unaware; he is capable only of movement, and resembles the foetus in the womb; that which is coming to the birth only the next greater cycle will reveal. The mystery of the moon (S. D., I, 172, footnote.) or of the “divine lunatic” is connected somewhat with the revelation (through the premature compassion of our plane
tary Logos) of the life of this nature, informing the dense globe of the moon chain. On His high level, pity awoke in the heart of the planetary Logos for certain involutionary existences within the moon chain, and (like the Buddha on a lesser scale and at a much later date) compassionate zeal brought the karmic results with which we are still concerned. The “beast” must be driven back [847] for his own good to run his cycle, hidden in his den and confined within safe limits until the dawning of a new system brings him conscious opportunity.

  More we may not say. It must be remembered that the mysteries of existence are as yet but little cognised by man. In cases where profound mysteries lie, man is often totally unaware of it; and frequently man remains blind and deaf where no mystery is but only revelation for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. When man has penetrated to those secrets which lie behind the lower kingdoms in nature, when he has solved the problem of the constitution of the interior of the Earth, and has from there worked his way back to knowledge of the working of the involutionary path and the lives which tread that path, then and then only will he begin to realise the strangeness of that which lies beyond his ken.

  One further hint may be given, which will serve to throw a beam of light upon the problem for those who are ready, and will add to the confusion of the non-intuitive:—From the standpoint of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID, to Whom our solar system is but a centre (which centre being one of the three truths revealed at the seventh Initiation)

  a. System I was characterised by the organisation of a centre, and the mysterious life we have been speaking about was produced by the “lowest vibration of the centre.”

  b. System II is characterised by the activity in three dimensions of this centre, and the evolution of three types of consciousness, deva, human and subhuman, in all their many grades and hierarchies. It is the period of the balancing of the forces in the centre.

  c. System III will be characterised by the fourth dimensional activity of the centre, and the twelve types of evolution will become four types of force.

  [848] This is next to impossible for man to understand and will seem inexplicable, but this hint is imparted in order that man may realise the interdependence of the various systems, and the place they hold in a greater scheme; the intent is not to give the student uncorrelated facts of no apparent use to him. Without the premise of our position within a vaster scheme, man’s deductions will remain inaccurate.

  We will now proceed with our enumeration of the groups of Egos according to their characteristics, but it might be wise to deal first with a problem which may be in some minds and see if it is not capable of solution. Two problems come before the mind of the thoughtful student; one concerns the position (in connection with any particular planetary scheme) of those vast groups of Egos, which are embodied by Lives, emanating from any one of the seven Rays, and associated with any of the various schemes. The other deals with the effect produced by the “coming-in” of Egos on the mental plane which are not “bud” Egos, but are possibly very fully developed, such as disciples and initiates.

  These thoughts may be clarified if certain statements are made relating to the mental plane, and which will serve as indications as to the direction in which the solution of these problems may be sought.

  The mental plane is, as H. P. B. has pointed out, the vastest of all the planes with which we are concerned. It is the key plane of the solar system. It is the pivotal plane upon which the great Wheel turns. It is the meeting place of the three lines of evolution and has been for this reason esoterically termed “the council chamber of the Three Divinities.” On this plane, the three Persons of the logoic Trinity meet in united work. Below two Persons may be seen associated; above another duality functions, but only on this plane do the Three make an at-one-ment.

  [849] All the Logoi of the differing schemes are expressing Themselves upon this plane. There are certain schemes in the system which find their lowest manifestation on this plane, and have no physical body such as the Earth, and the other dense planets. They exist through the medium of gaseous matter, and their spheres of manifestation are simply composed of the four cosmic ethers and the cosmic gaseous. But all the great Lives of the solar system do possess bodies of our systemic mental matter, and therefore on that plane communication between all these Entities becomes a possibility. This fact is the basis of occult realisation, and the true ground for the at-one-ment. Matter of the abstract levels of the mental plane enters into the composition of the vehicles for all these greater Existences and through the medium of this energised substance each can get en rapport with each, no matter what Their individual goal of attainment may be. The units, therefore, in Their bodies can equally get in touch with all other Egos and groups once they have achieved the consciousness of the mental plane (causal consciousness) and know the varying group “keys,” the group tones and colors.

  It will consequently be apparent to the careful student that in this fact lies the true relationship between the various groups of Egos, no matter what degree of evolution, or what ray and in which scheme they may be. The basic truth here involved may be better grasped if the following occult phrases are studied:

  “Within the Hall of Ignorance kama-manas rules. The man, weighed down by much misplaced desire, seeks for the object of his heart’s attention within the murky halls of densest maya. He finds it there but dies ere garnering all the longed-for fruit. The serpent stings him, and the joy desired recedes from out his grasp. All seeking thus the selfish fruits of karma must each despise each other; hence strife and greed, ill-will and hatred, death and retribution, karmic invocation and the thunderbolt of vengeance characterise this Hall. [850]

  Within the Hall of Learning intellect rules and seeks to guide. Desire of a higher kind, the fruit of manas and its use, supplants the lower kamic urge. Man weighs and balances, and in the twilight Halls of Intellection seeks for the fruit of knowledge. He finds it but to realise that knowledge is not all; he dies upon the open field of knowledge, hearing a cry beat on his dying ears: Know that the knower greater is than knowledge; the One who seeks is greater than the sought.

  Within the Hall of Wisdom the Spirit rules; the One within the lesser ones assumes supreme control. Death is not known within these halls, for its two great gates are passed. Discord and strife both disappear and only harmony is seen. The knowers see themselves as One; they recognise the field wherein knowledge grows as Brahmic dissonance and differentiation. Knowledge they know as method, an instrument of purpose utilised by all and just a germ of eventual recognition. Within this hall union of each with each, blending of one and all, and unity of action, goal and skill marks every high endeavor.”

  If these words are pondered on, it will be realised that true union exists in the realisation that the greater life ever includes the lesser, and that each expansion of consciousness brings man closer to this realised Oneness.

  Therefore, if one might venture to express an abstraction and a state of consciousness in terms of time and space, and through the limitation of language, it might be stated that on egoic levels, or on the three higher subplanes of the mental plane, there exists a channel of communication, based on similarity of vibration and oneness of endeavour, between every one of the planetary schemes, within the solar ring-pass-not. Here, and here alone (as regards the three worlds and the human kingdom), becomes possible the establishing of egoic relationships and the transmission of thought substance between

  a. Units and egoic groups.

  b. Groups and other groups. [851]

  c. Greater groups with still greater or with lesser ones.

  d. Egos in one planetary scheme with those in another.

  The Ah-hi, the greater Builders, (271) Who are the Lords working out the will of the solar Logos, mainly use two planes for communication with each other and with Their cohorts:

  First, the second plane, where They communicate by means of a spiritual medium incomprehensible to man at present.

  Second, t
he mental plane, where They communicate with all lesser lives by means of a type of mental telepathy.

  The “coming-in” of advanced Egos from the inner round, or from other planetary schemes, or from subtler spheres where they have been in pralaya awaiting opportunity is produced in a triple manner and is the result of a triple activity. It is caused by an understanding between the planetary Logos of a scheme, and a brother planetary Logos whereby an exchange is effected. The student must here think in terms of force and energy, of magnetic interaction and the conscious transmission of energy out of the body of the planetary Logos, via centres or a centre, into the body of another planetary Logos. The cause here is the will or purpose, the object is sensation, and the method is force transference. Exactly the same understanding lies back of the coming in of egos from the inner round, only this time the energy is sent forth by certain existences (working in connection with any planetary Logos) who are the “custodians of the inner circle.” This touches upon a mystery and deals with the coming-in of high Egos, of Avatars, of Buddhas, [852] of masters, of initiates, and of disciples, and of all who have to wait for group, and not individual, urge for the fulfillment of cyclic karma on a large scale, and whose “wheels” are controlled by cosmic forces and not by purely systemic forces.