DIVISION A - THE INTERNAL FIRES OF THE SHEATS
I. The three channels.
II. Fire elementals and devas.
I. THE THREE CHANNELS FOR THE FIRE
From the very use of the term "sheath" it will be noted that we are considering those fires which manifest through the medium of those externalities, of those veils of substance which hide and conceal the inner Reality. We shall not here take up the subject of the sheaths on the higher planes, but simply deal with the fires that animate the three lower vehicles,—the physical body in its two divisions (etheric and dense), the emotional or astral body, and the mental sheath. It is frequently overlooked by the casual student that both the astral and the mental bodies are material, and just as material in their own way, as is the dense physical body, and also that the substance of which they are composed is animated by a triple fire, as is the physical.
In the physical body we have the fires of the lower nature (the animal plane) centralised at the base of the spine. They are situated at a spot which stands in relation to the physical body as the physical sun to the solar system. This central point of heat radiates in all directions, using the spinal column as its main artery, but working in close connection with certain central ganglia, wherever located, and having a special association with the spleen.
In the etheric body, which is an exact replica of its denser counterpart, we have the organ of active or radiatory fire, and, as is well known, the vehicle of prana. Its function is to store up the rays of radiatory light and heat which are secured from the sun, and to transmit them, via the spleen, to all parts of the physical body. Hence in the future it will come to be recognised that the spine and the spleen are of the utmost importance to the physical well-being of man, and that when the spinal column is duly adjusted and aligned, and when the spleen is freed from congestion and in a healthy condition, there will be little trouble in the dense physical body. When the physical furnace burns brightly and when the fuel of the body (pranic rays) is adequately assimilated, the human frame will function as desired.
The subject of the blending of these two fires, which is complete in a normal and healthy person, should engross the attention of the modern physician. He will then concern himself with the removal of nerve congestion or material congestion, so as to leave a free channel for the inner warmth. This blending, which is now a natural and usual growth in every human being, was one of the signs of attainment or of initiation in an earlier solar system. Just as initiation and liberation are marked in this solar system by the blending of the fires of the body, of the mind and of the Spirit, so in an earlier cycle attainment was marked by the blending of the latent fires of matter with the radiatory or active fires, and then their union with the fires of mind. In the earlier period the effects in manifestation of the divine Flame were so remote and deeply hidden as to be scarcely recognisable, though dimly there. Its correspondence can be seen in the animal kingdom, in which instinct holds the intuition in latency, [58] and the Spirit dimly overshadows. Yet all is part of a divine whole.
The subject of the radiatory heat of the macrocosmic and microcosmic systems will be dealt with in detail in a later subdivision. Here we will only deal with the latent interior fire of the
a. Sun.
b. Planet.
c. Man.
d. Atom.
We must remember that in both the astral and the mental sheaths there exist the counterparts of the centres as found in the physical body. These centres concern matter and its evolution. One fundamental statement can be laid down anent the internal fires of all these four (sun, planet, man, and atom):
There exists in the Sun, in the planet, in man, and in the atom, a central point of heat, or ((if I might use so limiting and inappropriate a term) a central cavern of fire, or nucleus of heat, and this central nucleus reaches the bounds of its sphere of influence, its ring-pass-not by means of a threefold channel.
a. The Sun. Within the sun, right at its very heart, is a sea of fire or heat, but not a sea of flame. Herein may lie a distinction that perhaps will convey no meaning to some. It is the centre of the sphere, and the point of fiercest internal burning, but has little relation to the flames or burning gases (whatever terms you care [59] to use) that are generally understood to exist whenever the sun is considered. It is the point of fiercest incandescence, and the objective sphere of fire is but the manifestation of that internal combustion. This central heat radiates its warmth to all parts of the system by means of a triple channel, or through its "Rays of Approach" which in their totality express to us the idea of "the heat of the sun."
1. The akasha, itself vitalised matter, or substance animated by latent heat.
2. Electricity, substance of one polarity, and energised by one of the three aspects logoic. To express it more occultly, substance showing forth the quality of the cosmic Lord Whose energy it is.
3. Light Rays of pranic aspect, some of which are being now recognised by the modern scientist. They are but aspects of the latent heat of the sun as it approaches the Earth by a particular line of least resistance.
When the term "channel or ray of approach" is used, it means approach from the centre of solar radiation to the periphery. What is encountered during that approach—such as planetary bodies, for instance—will be affected by the akashic current, the electrical current, or the pranic current in some way, but all of these currents are only the internal fires of the system when viewed from some other point in universal, though not solar, space. It is, therefore, obvious that this matter of fire is as complex as that of the rays. The internal fires of the solar system become external and radiatory when considered from the standpoint of a planet, while the internal fires of the planet will affect a human being as radiation in exactly the same way as the pranic emanations of his etheric body affect another physical body as radiatory. The point to be grasped in all these [60] aspects is that one and all have to do with matter or substance, and not with mind or Spirit.
b. The Planet. Deep in the heart of the planet—such a planet as the Earth, for instance—are the internal fires that occupy the central sphere, or the caverns which—filled with incandescent burning—make life upon the globe possible at all. The internal fires of the moon are practically burnt out, and, therefore, she does not shine save through reflection, having no inner fire to blend and merge with light external. These inner fires of the earth can be seen functioning, as in the sun, through three main channels:
1. Productive substance, or the matter of the planet vitalised by heat. This heat and matter together act as the mother of all that germinates, and as the protector of all that dwells therein and thereon. This corresponds to the akasha, the active vitalised matter of the solar system, that nourishes all as does a mother.
2. Electrical fluid, a fluid which is latent in the planet though as yet but little recognized. It is perhaps better expressed by the term "animal magnetism." It is the distinctive quality of the atmosphere of a planet, or its electrical ring-pass-not. It is the opposite pole to the solar electrical fluid, and the contact of the two and their correct manipulation is the aim—perhaps unrealised—-of all scientific endeavor at this time.
3. That emanation of the planet which we might term Planetary Prana. It is that which is referred to when one speaks of the health-giving qualities of Mother Nature, and which is back of the cry of the modern physician, when he wisely says "Back to the Earth." It is the fluidic emanation of this prana which acts upon the physical body, though in this case not via the etheric body. It is absorbed [61] through the skin purely and the pores are its line of least resistance.
c. The Man. At the base of the spine lie hid the fires of the human system, or the internal fires of the Microcosm. The centre is located there, and from it the radiations go forth along the three channels, recognisable in the spine.
1. Bodily warmth, the channel along which the heat radiates and which finds the goal of its attention to be the heating of the corporeal frame. This vitalisation of the dense matter of the body finds its correspondence in the systemic akasha, and in planetary productive substance.
2. Nervous response. This is the vitalising tenuous fluid which applies itself to the stimulation of the nervous centres, and which creates electrical response to contact between the nerves and the brain. It should now be more closely studied. It corresponds to systemic electricity, and to planetary electricity.
3. Pranic emanation. The emanation, via the etheric body, which corresponds in man to solar prana and to planetary prana. This demonstrates principally in the health aura and has naught to do with magnetic qualities, as generally interpreted when considering a personality, or man as a unit. I make this repetition as it is very necessary that no mental confusion exists between that magnetism which is a spiritual emanation and that which is purely animal.
It might be wise here to point out that this triple manifestation of fire demonstrates in the astral and mental bodies likewise, having to do with the substance of those bodies. We might express this fire in its triple manifestation as the sumtotal of the essential fire, or life activity of the third Logos. It should be carefully borne [62] in mind that the manifestation of the work of the three Logoi is the expression of the mind of some cosmic Entity. In the same way, the seven planetary Entities, the seven Heavenly Men, are seven Logoi (likewise cosmic Beings) Who in Their totality form the Body of the threefold Logos. We have, therefore:
1. The undifferentiated Logos—a cosmic Entity.
2. The Logos, threefold in manifestation:
a. The cosmic Lord of Will Power.
b. The cosmic Lord of Love and Wisdom.
c. The cosmic Lord of Active Intelligence.
3. The triple Logos, sevenfold in manifestation., i.e. The seven planetary Logoi.
Each of these cosmic Entities is, in His essential essence, Fire; each manifests as fire in a threefold manner. In point of time the cosmic Lord of active Intelligence, considered from the standpoint of cosmic evolution, is more evolved than His two Brothers. He is the life of matter, its latent internal Fire. His is the fire essence that lies at the heart of the Sun, of the planet, and of man's material forms. He is the sumtotal of the Past.
The Lord of Cosmic Love now seeks union with His Brother, and, in point of time, embodies all the Present. He is the sumtotal of all that is embodied; He is conscious Existence. He is the Son divine and His life and nature evolve through every existent form. The Lord of Cosmic Will holds hid the future within His plans and consciousness. They are all three the Sons of one Father, all three the aspects of the One God, all three are Spirit, all three are Soul, and all three are Rays emanating from one cosmic centre. All three are substance, but in the past one Lord was the elder Son, in the present another Lord comes to the fore, and in the future still another. But this is so only in Time. From the standpoint of the Eternal Now, none is greater nor less than another, for the last shall be first, and the first last. Out of manifestation time is not, and freed from objectivity states of consciousness are not.
The fire of Spirit is the essential fire of the first Lord of Will plus the fire of the second Logos of Love. These two cosmic Entities blend, merge, and demonstrate as Soul, utilising for purposes of manifestation the aid of the third Logos. The three fires blend and merge. In this fourth round and on this fourth globe of our planetary scheme, the fires of the third Logos of intelligent matter are fusing somewhat with the fires of cosmic [64] mind, showing as will or power, and animating the Thinker on all planes. The object of Their co-operation is the perfected manifestation of the cosmic Lord of Love. This should be pondered upon for it reveals a mystery.
The blending of the three fires, the merging of the three Rays, and the co-operation of the three Logoi have in view (at this time and within this solar system) the development of the Essence of the cosmic Lord of Love, the second Person in the logoic trinity. Earlier it was not so, later it will not be, but now it is. When viewed from the cosmic mental plane these Three constitute the PERSONALITY OF THE LOGOS, and are seen functioning as one. Hence the secret (well recognised as fact, though not understood) of the excessive heat, occultly expressed, of the astral or central body of the triple personality. It animates and controls the physical body, and its desires hold sway in the majority of cases; it demonstrates in time and space the correspondence of the temporary union of spirit and matter, the fires of cosmic love and the fires of matter blended. A similar analogy is found in the heat apparent in this second solar system.
d. The Atom. The inner fires of the atom can likewise be seen functioning along similar lines, their demonstration being already somewhat recognised by science. This being so there exists no necessity for further elaboration.
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II. FIRE ELEMENTALS AND DEVAS
We might now briefly consider the subject of the fire elementals and devas, and then deal with the relation of the Personality Ray to this internal fire of the system in its threefold manifestation.
Certain facts are known in connection with the fire spirits (if so they may be termed). The fundamental fact that should here be emphasised is that AGNI, the Lord of Fire, rules over all the fire elementals and devas on the three planes of human evolution, the physical, the astral, and the mental, and rules over them not only on this planet, called the Earth, but on the three planes in all parts of the system. He is one of the seven Brothers (to use an expression familiar to students of the Secret Doctrine) Who each embody one of the seven principles, or Who are in Themselves the seven centres in the body of the cosmic Lord of Fire, called by H. P. B. "Fohat." He is that active fiery Intelligence, Who is the basis of the internal fires of the solar system. On each plane one of these Brothers holds sway, and the three elder Brothers (for always the three will be seen, and later the seven, who eventually merge into the primary three) rule on the first, third and the fifth planes, or on the plane of adi, of atma and of manas. It is urgent that we here remember that They are fire viewed in its third aspect, the fire of matter. In Their totality these seven Lords form the essence of the cosmic Lord, called in the occult books, Fohat.
This is so in the same sense as the seven Chohans, with Their affiliated groups of pupils, form the essence or centres in the body of one of the Heavenly Men, one of the planetary Logoi. These seven again in Their turn form the essence of the Logos.
Each of the seven Lords of Fire are differentiated into numerous groups of fire entities, from the Deva-Lords of a plane down to the little salamanders of the internal furnaces. We are not dealing with the fiery essences of the higher planes at this stage in our discussion. We will only enumerate somewhat briefly some of the better known groups, as contacted in the three worlds.
1. Physical Plane.
Salamanders, those little fire elementals who can be seen dancing in every flame, tending the fires of the hearth and the home, and of the factory. They are of the same group as the fire spirits who can be contacted deep in the fiery bowels of the planet.
Fire spirits, latent in all focal points of heat, who are themselves the essence of warmth, and can be contacted in the heat of the bodily frame, whether human or animal, and who are likewise the warmth terrestrial.
The Agnichaitans, a higher grade of fire spirit, who form a vortex of fire when viewed on a large scale, such as in volcanoes and large destructive burnings. They are closely allied to a still more important group of devas, who form the fiery envelope of the sun.
The pranic elementals, those minute fiery essences who have the ability to permeate the texture of the human body, of a tree, or of all that may be found in the human, vegetable and animal kingdoms, and who blend with the fires of the microcosmic systems.
Certain of the deva kingdom who may be described as ensouling certain of the great light rays, and Who are in Themselves the essence of those rays. Other forms of such elemental lives and of deva groups might be enumerated, but the above tabulation will suffice for our present purpose.
2. The Astral Plane.
The fiery essences of this plane are more difficult for us to comprehend, having not, as yet, the seeing eye upon that plane. They are in themselves the warmth and heat of the emotional body, and of the body of feeling. They are of a low order when upon the path of desire, and of a high order when upon the path of aspiration, for the elemental is then transmuted into the deva.
Their grades and ranks are many, but their names matter not save in one instance. It may be of interest to know the appellation applied to the devas of fire whose part it is to tend the fires that will later destroy the causal body. We need to remember that it is the upspringing of the latent fire of matter and its merging with two other fires that causes destruction. These elementals and devas are called the Agnisuryans, and in their totality are the fiery essences of buddhi, hence their lowest manifestation is on the sixth plane, the astral.
Further information concerning these deva lives will be found further on in the Treatise, where they are dealt with at some length.
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