A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  (269) All these will become solar Logoi of varying grades. (back)

  (271) From a Sensa word meaning “serpents.” These are the Dragons of Wisdom. See S. D., I, 55, 69, 70. (back)

  (273) C. W. Leadbeater had a dim apprehension of this idea when he referred to those boat loads of Egos from the moon chain. He has of course materialised the idea far too much; if the same fundamental idea is expressed in terms of force and of the appearance of force centres within the earth chain, which force centres are the result of energy emanating from an earlier chain and producing whorls in the ether or substance of the mental plane, then the true significance may be more easily grasped. (back)

  (275) Aspirant.

  “The practices which make for union with the Soul are: fervent aspiration, spiritual reading, and complete obedience to the Master.

  The word which I have rendered “fervent aspiration” means primarily “fire”; and, in the Eastern teaching, it means the fire which gives life and light, and at the same time the fire which purifies. We have, therefore, as our first practice, as the first of the means of spiritual growth, that fiery quality of the will which enkindles and illumines, and, at the same time, the steady practice of purification, the burning away of all known impurities.”

  “Their aim is, to bring soul-vision, and to wear away hindrances.”

  “The Rules are these: purity, serenity, fervent aspiration, spiritual reading, and perfect obedience to the Master.”

  “The perfection of the powers of the bodily vesture comes through the wearing away of impurities, and through fervent aspiration.”—Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book II, 1, 2, 32, 43 (C. Johnston’s Edition). (back)

  (276) The three Halls through which the soul of man must progress are spoken of in The Voice of the Silence, pp. 19, 20.

  1st Hall . . . Hall of Ignorance . . . infant humanity . . . Physical plane.

  2nd Hall . . . Hall of Learning . . . average man . . . . . .astral plane.

  3rd Hall . . . Hall of Wisdom . . . . spiritual man . . . . . mental plane.

  The longest time is spent in the Hall of Ignorance. The later period in the Hall of Learning is called the Probationary Path. In the Hall of Wisdom the Initiate approaches the central mystery of Being. (back)

  (279) 1. There are seven branches of knowledge mentioned in the Puranas:—S. D., I, 192.

  2. The Gnosis, the hidden Knowledge, is the seventh Principle, the six schools of Indian philosophy are the six principles.—S. D., I, 299.

  These six schools are:

  a. The school of Logic . . . . . . . . Proof of right perception.

  b. The atomic school . . . . . . . . . System of particulars. Elements. Alchemy and chemistry.

  c. The Sankhya school . . . . . . . . System of numbers. The materialistic school. The theory of the seven states of matter or prakriti.

  d. The school of Yoga . . . . . . . . Union. The rule of daily life. Mysticism.

  e. The school of Ceremonial Religion . . . . . . . . Ritual. Worship of the devas or Gods.

  f. The Vedanta school . . . . . . . . Has to do with non-duality. Deals with the relation of Atman in man to the Logos.

  3. There are four branches of knowledge to which H. P. B. specially refers—S.D., I, 192.

  These four are probably those with which man has dealt the most, in this fourth round and fourth chain.

  Compare S. D., I, 70, 95, 107, 227.

  The four Noble Truths. The four Vedas. The four Gospels. The four basic admissions. The four ready Elements. The four grades of Initiation.

  a. Yajna Vidya . . . . . . . . . . The performance of religious rites in order to produce certain results. Ceremonial magic. It is concerned with Sound, therefore with the Akasha or the ether of space. The “yajna” is the invisible Deity who pervades space.

  Perhaps this concerns the physical plane?

  b. Mahavidya . . . . . . . . . . The great magic knowledge. It has degenerated into Tantrika worship. Deals with the feminine aspect, or the matter (mother) aspect. The basis of black magic. True mahayoga has to do with the form (second aspect) and its adaptation to Spirit and its needs.

  Perhaps this concerns the astral plane?

  c. Guyha vidya . . . . . . . . . . The science of mantrams. The secret knowledge of mystic mantrams. The occult potency of sound, of the Word.

  Perhaps this concerns the mental plane?

  d. Atma vidya . . . . . . . . . . True spiritual wisdom.

  4. Knowledge of truth is a common inheritance.—S. D., II, 47, 3.

  5. Knowledge is a relative subject, and varies according to the grade achieved.

  a. Ranges of further knowledge open up before a planetary Logos.—S. D., II, 740.

  b. The four truths can be arrived at by unaided man.—S. D., III, 420.

  6. Finally, Knowledge is a dangerous weapon:

  This is due to: Personal Selfishness.

  It is only safe when:

  a. One gives oneself up to it, body, soul and spirit.—S. D., III, 62, 63.

  b. One has an unshakeable belief in one’s own divinity.—S. D., III, 62, 63.

  c. One recognises one’s own immortal Principle.

  d. One knows oneself:—S. D., III, 435, 436.

  e. All the virtues are practised.—S. D., III, 262.

  f. One has experience.—S. D., III, 481.

  g. One realises knowledge is the fruit of Spirit alone.—S. D., III, 453.

  h. Knowledge is acquired through the region of the higher mind.—S. D., III, 453. (back)

  (282)

  “Measure thy life by loss instead of gain,

  Not by the wine drunk but by the wine poured forth;

  Nor Love’s strength standeth in Love’s sacrifice;

  And he who suffers most has most to give.”

  —The Disciples, by Mrs Hamilton King. (back)

  (283) If man can be brought to a realisation of the nature of his own being and of his constitution, and can be led to comprehend the rationale of that which can be seen occurring, and if the thinkers of the race can be shown the risks incident upon present happenings in the deva evolution, much danger may be averted. Hence the decision to extend the scope of this book to include more detailed information anent the deva evolution. (back)

  (284) The Secret Doctrine says that: God, Monad, and Atom are the correspondences of Spirit, Mind and Body.—S. D., I, 679.

  The Logos is manifesting in this mahamanvantara as Manas (the Divine Manasaputras in their totality) utilising atomic sheaths for purposes of evolution and with the aim in view of developing the second aspect of buddhi or wisdom. Wisdom must have manas, or intelligent mind for its basis. He is the sumtotal of Intelligence, evolving in order to develop Love. (back)

  (285) Mantric Sounds.

  A mantram is a combination of sounds, of words and of phrases that, through virtue of certain rhythmic effects, achieve results that would not be possible apart from them. The most sacred of all the Eastern mantrams given out as yet to the public is the one embodied in the words: “Om mani padme hum.” Every syllable of this phrase has a secret potency, and its totality has seven meanings and can bring about seven different results.

  There are various mantric forms, based upon this formula and upon the Sacred Word, which, sounded rhythmically and in different keys, accomplish certain desired ends, such as the invoking of protective angels or devas, and definite work, either constructive or destructive upon the planes.

  The potency of a mantram depends upon the point in evolution of the man who employs it. Uttered by an ordinary man it serves to stimulate the good within his bodies, to protect him, and it will also prove of beneficent influence upon his environment. Uttered by an adept or initiate its possibilities for good are infinite and far-reaching.

  Mantrams are of many kinds, and generally speaking might be enumerated as follows:

  1. Some very esoteric mantrams, existing in the original Sensa, in the custody of the Great White Lodge.

  2. Some Sanskrit mantrams
employed by initiates and adepts.

  3. Mantrams connected with the different rays.

  4. Mantrams used in healing.

  5. Mantrams used in the departments of either the Manu, the Bodhisattva, or the Mahachohan.

  6. Mantrams used in connection with the devas and the elemental kingdoms.

  7. Special mantrams connected with fire.

  All these mantrams depend for their potency upon the sound and rhythm and upon the syllabic emphasis imparted to them when enunciating and intoning. They depend too upon the capacity of the man who uses them to visualise and to will the desired effect. (back)

  (287) The Solar Gods are the “Fallen Angels.”—S. D., II, 287.

  a. They warm the shadows...the human bodies.

  b. They in their turn are warmed by the Monad, or Atma.—S. D., II, 116, 117, 284.

  c. They are the Serpents of Wisdom.—S. D., II, 240.

  d. Their nature is Knowledge and Love.—S. D., II, 527.

  e. They come in from the cosmic mental plane.—S. D., III, 540.

  The Ego, or Solar Angel is imprisoned.--S. D., I, 621.

  a. It has to liberate itself from the thraldom of sensuous perception.

  b. It has to see in the light of the one Reality.

  c. See S. D., II, 578.

  d. To redeem humanity.—S. D., II, 257.

  e. To endow him with human affections and aspirations.—S. D., II, 257.

  f. They give to men intelligence and consciousness.—S. D., I, 204. (back)

  (288) Alignment: See Letters on Occult Meditation, pp. 1-7. (back)

  (289) The Pineal Gland. The Third Eye.—S. D., III, 548.

  1. Goal of evolution to develop the inner vision.

  2. The occult significance of the eye.—S. D., III, 577.

  3. The “eye of Taurus the Bull.”—(Compare bull’s-eye.)

  The constellation of Taurus was called the Mother of Revelation and the interpreter of the divine Voice.—S. D., I, 721.

  4. The organs of inner vision:

  a. The exoteric organ . . . . Pineal gland . . . . physical.

  b. The esoteric organ . . . . the third eye . . . . etheric.

  Note: Students must be careful to distinguish between the third eye and the pineal gland.—See S. D., II, 308. “The third eye is dead and acts no longer.” It has left behind a witness to its existence in the Pineal gland.

  5. The Pineal gland is a small pea-like mass of grey nervous matter attached to the back of the third ventricle of the brain.

  6. The Pituitary Body stands to the Pineal gland as manas does to Buddhi, or mind to wisdom.—S. D., III, 504, 505.

  7. The Pineal gland reached its highest development proportionately with the Lowest Physical development.—S. D., II, 308, 313.

  8. The third eye exists in etheric matter.

  a. In front of the head.

  b. On a level with the eyes.

  9. It is an energy centre formed by a triangle of force:

  a. The Pituitary Body.

  b. The Pineal Gland.

  c. The alta major centre.

  10. The opened or third eye does not convey direct clairvoyance but is the organ through which direct and certain knowledge is obtained.—S. D., I, 77.

  a. The initiate directs the eye towards the essence of things.

  b. The third eye must be acquired by the ascetic before he becomes an adept.—S. D., II, 651.

  11. Students of occultism ought to know that the third eye is indissolubly connected with karma.—S. D., II, 312, note; S. D., II, 316, 320.

  a. From its Atlantean past, the fifth root-race is working out fourth root-race causes.

  b. Because it reveals that which is its past.—S. D., II, 297, 320, 813.

  12. The third eye is the mirror of the soul.—S. D., II, 312.

  13. To the inner spiritual eye the Gods are no more abstractions than our soul and body are to us.—S. D., I, 694.

  a. The inner eye can see through the veil of matter.—S. D., I, 694.

  b. The spiritual eye reveals the super-sensual states.—S. D., II, 561.

  14. In the spiritual regenerated man the third eye is active.—S. D., II, 458. (back)

  (292) Magic.—S. D., I, 284.

  1. Magic is a divine science which leads to a participation in the attributes of divinity itself.—Isis Unveiled, I, 25-27.

  2. All magical operations consist in freeing oneself from the coils of the Ancient Serpent.—Isis Unveiled, I, 138.

  3. The object of the art of magic is the perfection of man.—Isis Unveiled, I, 309.

  4. Magic explores the essence and power of everything.—Isis Unveiled, I, 282; S. D., II, 538.

  5. Magic and magnetism are synonymous terms.—Isis Unveiled, I, 279.

  6. Magic is the sum-total of natural knowledge.—Isis Unveiled, II, 99, 189.

  7. Magic does not imply a transgression of the laws of nature.—Isis Unveiled, I, Preface.

  The Basis of Magic.

  1. Magic is based on the inner powers in man’s soul.—Isis Unveiled, I, 459.

  2. The trinity of nature is the lock of magic, the trinity of man the key that fits it.—Isis Unveiled, II, 635.

  3. Magic is occult psychology.—Isis Unveiled, I, 612-616.

  4. The astral light is the chief agent of magic.—Isis Unveiled, I, 128, 616; S. D., I, 275; II, 537. (back)

  (293) Magic.—The very word Magic bears within itself proof of its high origin. The Latin Magus, the Greek Magos, a magician, gives us all those other words that are so indicative of authority, wisdom, superiority. Then we have magnitude, magnificent, magniloquent, to express greatness in position, in action and in speech. With the termination slightly changed the same words become majesty, implying dominion, and again, we have magistrate, anything that is magisterial which again has been simplified into Master, and finally by the process of word evolution has become plain Mister. But the Latin is only a transmitter of words. We can equally follow up the historical development of this root until we reach the Zend where we find it doing duty as the name for the whole priestly caste. The magi were renowned all over the world for their wisdom and skill in occultism and no doubt our word magic is mostly indebted to that source for its present existence and meaning. That we need not pause even here for back of the Zend “mag,” “looms up the Sanskrit, maha, signifying great.” It is thought by good scholars that maha was originally spelled magha. To be sure, there is in the Sanskrit the word Maga meaning a priest of the Sun, but this was evidently a later borrowing from the Zend which had originally derived its root from its neighbor the Sanskrit.—Lucifer, Vol. X, p. 157. (back)

  (294) Magic.—The art of divine Magic consists in the ability to perceive the essence of things in the light of nature (astral light), and—by using the soul-powers of the Spirit—to produce material things from the unseen universe, and in such operations the Above and the Below must be brought together and made to act harmoniously.—S. D., II, 538.

  Magic is the second of the four Vidyas, and is the great maha-Vidya in the Tantric writings. It needs the light of the fourth vidya (atmavidya) thrown on it in order to be White magic.—S. D., I, 192.

  Black Magic is defined by H. P. B. as follows:

  a. Black magic employs the astral light for purposes of deception and seduction, whereas the white magician employs it for purposes of information, and the aiding of evolution.—S. D., I, 274.

  b. Black magic works with opposing poles. The white magician seeks the point of equilibrium or balance, and of synthesis.—S. D., I, 448.

  c. Black magic has for its symbol the inverted 5-pointed star. White magic uses the same symbol with the point uppermost.

  d. Black magic is maha-vidya without the light of atma-vidya. White magic is maha-vidya illumined by atma-vidya.—S. D., I, 592.

  e. Black magic is ruled over by the moon. White magic is ruled over by the sun.

  f. Black and white magic arose during the great schism which started during the fourth root-race.—S. D
., II, 221, 445, 520.

  g. Black magic is based on the degradation of sex and of the creative function.

  White magic is based on the transmutation of the creative faculty into the higher creative thought, the generative organs being neglected by the inner fire, which passes to the throat, the centre of creative sound.

  h. Black magic deals with the forces of involution.

  White magic works with the powers of evolution.

  i. Black magic is concerned with the form, with matter.

  White magic is concerned with the life within the form, with Spirit. (back)

  (299) It might here be asked what, if any, relation there may be in this connection with the inner round? The inner round has many meanings some impossible to give, but two things may here be said: That it concerns itself with the effect of the triangular balancing of forces towards the close of the cycle, when the force or energy involved is circulating unimpeded, even if slowly, through:

  1. Two constellations of the solar system,

  2. The planetary schemes

  3. Three globes in the scheme.

  It should be remembered that all these three are interdependent. The force begins thus to flow when any cycle is two thirds run. It deals with the greater Initiations, and is the correspondence on the higher planes to the occult short cut to wisdom and knowledge which we call the Path of Initiation. (back)