304. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire - 22. DIVISION A - MANAS OR MIND AND ITS NATURE - Part 1 - A. BAILEY

DIVISION A - MANAS OR MIND AND ITS NATURE - Part 2

As time elapses the work of the Heavenly Men in the cosmic etheric spheres will be better comprehended, and assisted intelligently by those lesser intelligences who—by the study of the physical ethers—will eventually hold the key of the greater manifestation. Science is the handmaiden of wisdom, and opens the door to those infinite reaches and to those cosmic expanses, where stand Those vaster Intelligences, Who manipulate the matter of the higher planes, and bend it to the desired form, causing the vibrations thus set up to be felt at the furthest bounds of the solar ring-pass-not. Automatically then all lesser lives and all the denser materials are swept and carried into the needed channels and forms. Vibration, or initial activity, light, or activity taking form and animating form, soundthe basis of differentiation and the source of the evolutionary process, and colour the sevenfold differentiation—thus is the work carried on. We have been dealing with these four in connection with a solar Logos, and equally with the work of a Heavenly Man and of Man, of the human monad.

Students should also bear in mind another point that is often forgotten, which is that every plane can be studied and divided in two ways:

First. The seven subplanes can be divided into the [330] higher three planes or the abstract planes, and the lower four or the concrete planes. This division is the best and most purely metaphysical, for it embodies the entire idea of the Self, the Not-Self, and the Intelligence, with their synthesis, which produces the objective universe, whether solar system, planetary scheme, or human incarnation. In connection with the Logos it is fully discussed and illuminatingly considered in the first volume of the Secret Doctrine, where the work of the Father and the Mother in producing the Son through conscious intelligent co-operation is handled by H. P. B. in a masterly manner.

In connection with man the point can be grasped more easily if the causal body on the abstract levels of the mental plane is considered in connection with the lower four or concrete levels from whence manifestation emanates.

Second. Dividing the seven subplanes into the same higher three but making the fourth plane the plane of meeting or of at-one-ment, and regarding the lower three as the planes of endeavour. This division primarily concerns man.

Both these divisions will be seen later as existing on every plane in the system and as having their origin in electrical force which shows itself differently on each plane but acts on all under three laws: Attraction or Repulsion, Economy, and Synthesis. The lower three planes or subplanes act under the Law of Economy primarily; the plane of meeting or of union acts under a phase of the Law of Attraction. Paralleling them, of course, during evolution are their opposites, showing as Dispersion, Repulsion, and Differentiation.

The question of the electrical manifestation of the akasha on the seven planes has therefore to be studied in its three main divisions, then plane by plane or the sevenfold consideration, and finally as the forty-nine [331] fires. Throughout it must be recollected that the subject is still further complicated by the factor of time which brings these forty-nine fires at different stages under different spheres of influence and under the three laws of the cosmos. Thus the same fire at different periods will show itself forth as constructive light, or again bring about combustion and eventual obscuration as the result of burning out.

In connection with the manifestation of electricity on the mental, astral and physical planes. We will not enlarge upon the subject, as it will later be discussed as fully as may be possible. Suffice it to say that the law holds good and that what is laid down as fact anent a Heavenly Man on His Own planes is equally true of man on the four lower planes. Thus:

A SOLAR LOGOS
1. Electrical vibration	the plane logoic or adi.
2. Electrical light	the plane monadic or anupadaka.
3. Electrical sound	the plane of atma.
4. Electrical colour	the plane of buddhi.

A HEAVENLY MAN
1. Electrical vibration	the plane monadic.
2. Electrical light	the plane of atma.
3. Electrical sound	the plane of buddhi.
4. Electrical colour	the mental plane.
MAN
1. Electrical vibration	buddhic plane.
2. Electrical light	the mental plane.
3. Electrical sound	the astral plane.
4. Electrical colour	the physical plane.

We need to remember here that we were earlier dealing with the Logos, and with the Heavenly Men as incorporate parts of His body of manifestation. In the tabulation above given we are dealing with each separately, [232] and it should be observed that the manifestation of the groups of causal bodies on the mental plane is the colour manifestation of a Heavenly Man and His lowest point of objectivity. In man his lowest point of objectivity is the fifth subplane of the physical plane, as the liquid and the dense subplanes are not counted as principles any more than the cosmic liquid and dense (the astral and the systemic physical planes) count with a Heavenly Man.

We have seen that manas or mind is the fifth principle, or the basic vibration of the cosmic mental plane, the fifth plane; it was therefore impulse originating from the causal levels of the cosmic mental plane, which drove our solar Logos into manifestation, in the same way that the force which brings man into incarnation emanates from his causal body on the mental plane of the solar system. We have seen also that manas is that discriminative faculty which animates all substance, and which is also the electrical fire of the system showing forth as attraction and repulsion, with all that is involved in those two words. In the widest sense of the idea the Laws of Economy and of Synthesis are only divisions of that same cosmic law of which Attraction and Repulsion are also manifestations. This cosmic law, demonstrating thus in a threefold manner, might (for lack of a better term) be called the Law of Being,and is of a nature so incomprehensible to the finite mind of man that he can only sense it partially through the aforesaid three branches.

3. MANAS IS THAT WHICH PRODUCES COHESION

We come now to our third definition: The manasic principle is above all else that cohesive something which enables an Entity (whether Logos, Heavenly Man, or man) to work:

a. Through form, and thus exist.

[333] b. By means of progressive development or cyclic evolution.

c. On certain planes, that are, for the entity concerned, the battleground of life, and the field of experience.

d. By the method of manifestation, which is a gradual growth from a dim and distant dawn through an ever increasing splendour of light to a blaze of effulgent glory; then through a steadily dimming twilight to final obscuration. Dawn, day, midday, twilight, night—thus is the order for the Logos, for a planetary Logos, and for man.

If the above four points are carefully studied, it will be found that they are fairly comprehensive, and embody the four points that are as yet the only ones available for man in this fourth round.

Man regards himself as a synthesised aggregate of physical body, emotional nature, and mentality, yet knows himself as more than these three, and recognises himself as the utiliser of form, of emotion, and of mentality, holding them all together coherently so that he is a unit. A planetary Logos similarly does the same, with the difference that manas is not the medium whereby he is a coherent whole. Owing to his more advanced stage of development, wisdom is for Him the dominant factor. A solar logos achieves through Will what a planetary Logos does through wisdom or buddhi, and man (on his tiny scale) through manas. Yet, as both planetary Logos and man are but parts of their greater whole, the electric fire of will permeates them also, merging with the solar fire of buddhi, and fanning the fires of matter. In all these distinctions and differentiations it must be remembered that they do not exist from the logoic standpoint, but are only to be predicated in relation [334] to the lesser bodies which are included in the solar ring-pass-not.

A man is a coherent unit in objective manifestation for very brief periods on the physical plane simply because as yet he works only through manas and not through wisdom. His cycles are consequently soon run, and gone like a flash in the night. A planetary Logos, Who is perfected manas and works through wisdom, has longer cycles, and from the angle of vision of man endures for aeons; His life is the basis of the comparative permanence of the egoic cycles of man. The cycle of objectivity of a solar Logos persists for the greater mahamanvantara or solar cycle because it is based on will as well as on wisdom and manas. Therefore, it will be apparent that:

a. Manas or intelligence is the basis of the separative manifestation of man.

b. Wisdom or buddhi is the basis of the group manifestation of a Heavenly Man.

c. Will is the basis of the One Life which synthesises all groups.

Therefore again, in studying this Fire of Mind, we must remember that it is that which man is developing and with which he is learning to work, but that it is also that which a Heavenly Man has developed in an earlier system; it is to Him as automatic in its action as is the subconscious activity of a man's physical organs.

4. MANAS IS THE KEY TO THE FIFTH KINGDOM IN NATURE

We might also define manas as the key to the door through which entrance is made into the fifth kingdom of nature, the spiritual kingdom. Each of the five kingdoms is entered by some one key, and in connection with the first two kingdoms—the mineral and vegetable—the key or method whereby the life escapes into the higher kingdom is so inexplicable to man as his present stage [335] of intelligent apprehension that we will not pause to consider it. In relation to the animal kingdom it might be said that the key whereby entrance is effected into the human kingdom is that of instinct. This instinct, towards the final stages of the animal's evolution, and as it becomes more and more detached from the group soul,^[cxxviii]26 becomes transmuted into mentality, or into that embryo mind which is latent in animal-man, and which simply needed the stimulating vibration which emanated from the Earth's Primary to be fanned into something definitely human. We must always bear in mind that the method of individualisation on this globe was not the one followed on others, and that many of the present advanced units of humanity individualised normally, and through the driving force of evolution itself. They found (to express it as far as possible in terms of fire), their opposite electrical pole through the activity of animal instinct, and by the blending of the two a human being was produced,—the union of the three fires in the causal vehicle.

Man passes into the fifth kingdom through the transmutation of the discriminative faculty of mind, which—as in the animal's individualisation—brings about at a certain stage a spiritual individualisation which is the correspondence on higher levels to what transpired in Lemurian days. Therefore, we have:

Instinct...The key from the animal into the human kingdom or from the third into the fourth kingdom.

Manas......The key from the human into the spiritual kingdom, or from the fourth kingdom into the fifth kingdom.

[336] Higher we need not go, for the transmutation of manas proceeds, and much as yet remains to be done.

5. MANAS IS THE SYNTHESIS OF FIVE RAYS

One other definition might be given even though its abstruseness may prove but a bewilderment to the student.

Manas is the united faculty of four of the Heavenly Men, synthesised through a fifth Heavenly Man on the third plane of the system. These five Heavenly Men were the logoic embodiment in an earlier system and achieved the fullness of manasic life. Their synthetic life is that which is primarily understood when we speak of Brahma, that cosmic Entity Who is the sum-total of logoic active intelligence. For lack of better terms we call Them the Lords of the four minor Rays, Who find Their synthesis through the third Ray of Activity. They have been called in an endeavour to express the principles which They embody:

1. The Lord of Ceremonial Magic.

2. The Lord of Abstract Idealism, or Devotion.

3. The Lord of Concrete Science.

4. The Lord of Harmony and Art.

These four function through the fourth cosmic ether, and have vehicles of buddhic matter. They merge into the greater life of the Lord of the third Ray of Aspect on atmic levels, and these four (with the one synthetic Ray), are the totality of manasic energy. They are the life of the five lower planes. They are the five Kumaras, and two remain, making the seven Kumaras or Builders of the universe; these five have been called the five Mind-born Sons of Brahma. ^[cxxix]27 Manas, therefore, is the psychic effect of Their united group work, and shows forth in different ways according to the units involved, the forms [337] animated, and the planes concerned. They demonstrate predominantly on the five lower subplanes of each plane, and this factor should be remembered in connection with the major initiations of manas. Nevertheless—as They are the sumtotal of the third or Brahma aspect—Their main sphere of influence is on the lowest or third division of the manifested universe or on the mental, astral, and physical planes.

I would here suggest a third division of the major planes of the system which will hold much of interest for the real student of occultism.

First Logos...Mahadeva..Will Aspect....First plane.

Second Logos..Vishnu....Wisdom Aspect..Second, Third, Fourth.

Third Logos...Brahma....Intelligence...Fifth, Sixth, Seventh.

In these five definitions of manas we have suggested scope for thought and much has been hinted at for those who have ears to hear. Many more explanatory words might be spoken but we aim to start students thinking for themselves, and seek to see them defining these ideas in their own words.

6. MANAS IS THE INTELLIGENT WILL OR PURPOSE OF AN EXISTENCE

Manas might finally be defined as the intelligent will and ordered purpose of every self-conscious entity. I would urge the student to bear in mind certain basic facts which will serve to keep his mind clear, and which will enable him to comprehend something of the place which this fire of mind holds in the cosmos and the solar system, and (needless to say), in his life also,—the reflection of the other two.

He should ever remember that manas is a principle of the Logos, and necessarily therefore is felt in all those [338]evolutions which are a part of His nature but is allied especially to the throat and head centres; it is the active intelligent factor which enables a solar Logos, a planetary Logos or Heavenly Man, and a human being to:

a. Use intelligently a form or vehicle.

b. Build faculty into the causal body.

c. Reap the benefit of experience.

d. Expand the consciousness.

e. Make progress towards a specified goal.

f. Discriminate between the two poles.

g. Choose the direction in which his activity shall trend.

h. Perfect the form as well as use it.

i. Obtain control of active substance, and turn its forces into desired channels.

j. Co-ordinate the different grades of matter, and synthesise the utilised forms till each and all show a unanimous line of action and express simultaneously the will of the Indweller.

All these ends are the result of the manasic development and perhaps the student might apprehend the underlying idea more clearly if it is realised that

a. The Spirit employs manas in all that concerns matter, the electrical substance, or the active akasha.

b. The Spirit employs buddhi in all that relates to the psyche, that relates to the soul of the world, to the soul of an individual, or to the soul of every form.

c. The Spirit employs will or atma in all that relates to the essence of all, to itself, considering the essence and the Self as pure Spirit as distinguished from spirit-matter.

In the first case, the distinctive quality of manas is discrimination which enables the Spirit to differentiate between:

[339] 1. The Self and the Not-Self.

2. Spirit and Matter.

3. The planes and the subplanes.

4. The different grades of atomic matter in the system.

5. Vibrations, engendered by will, working through love-wisdom, and energising substance.

6. All that concerns forms of every kind and in every type of essential existence.

In the second case, the buddhic principle has for its distinctive quality love, and demonstrates as wisdom working through love and producing:

1. Unity between all Selves.

2. Group coherence.

3. Qualities that are distinctively along the line of what we call love.

4. Effective work in connection with evolution, or the fundamentals of hierarchical work.

In the third case the Spirit employs the will aspect or atma (in man), which has, for its distinctive feature, that coherent force which keeps the purpose of the entity ever in view, working it out through love in substantial form.

I have pointed out these distinctions as it serves to bring the scope, and equally the limitations, of the active mental principle somewhat more clearly before the student. In the Hall of Ignorance the accumulative side of manas and its ability to store and acquire knowledge and information is being developed. A man, for instance, acquires facts, and application, and sets up vibrations which have to be worked out intelligently. The acquisitive side of this principle is showing forth. In the Hall of Learning the discriminative side is being developed, and the man learns not only to choose but to discard, and he begins to merge the two poles intelligently. In the [340] Hall of Wisdom he discards also, and perfectly blends the two poles, thereby producing that objective something we call light. The illuminating side of manas is shown. He becomes an intelligent creator, and by the time he has taken the four major initiations he has:

1. Developed perfectly the Brahma aspect, which—as pointed out—functions primarily in the three worlds. It is the active intelligent aspect.

2. Achieved the point of development at which a Heavenly Man, the Divine Manasaputra, commenced this circle of manifestation we call a solar system.

3. Transmuted manas into wisdom or love.

4. Synthesised the Rays of Activity or Intelligence and is beginning to merge this synthesis into the higher one of love-wisdom.

To sum it all up in words of fire: The fire of matter has blazed out perfectly, and the vibratory activity of the man has been keyed up to synchronise with that of a Heavenly Man, thus enabling a man to function consciously, or be vitally active on the buddhic plane.

The fire of mind has blended with the fire of matter and has stimulated it to such an extent that it has brought about the liberation of the entity, man, from the three worlds, and has occultly "obscured" his manifestation on the three planes in exactly the same way as the manifestation of a Logos "goes out" (occultly) when the fires are sufficiently fierce. As regards the fire of Spirit, or pure electric fire, this is finally synthesised with the other two and brings about the escape of the life on to another plane cosmically considered.

[341]

A MAN

a. The blending of the fire of matter and of the fire of mind liberates from the three worlds.

b. The blending of electric fire with the two other fires brings about liberation from the five lower planes, and enables a man to function consciously on the cosmic physical plane.

A HEAVENLY MAN

a. The blending of the fire of matter and of mind liberates from the three planes of His manifestation.

b. The blending of the electric fire in His case brings about escape from the planetary ring-pass-not and enables Him to function consciously on the cosmic astral plane.

A SOLAR LOGOS

a. The blending of the fire of matter and of mind liberates Him from the solar ring-pass-not, and gives Him the freedom of the cosmic physical, astral and the lower subplanes of the cosmic mental planes.

b. The blending of electric fire with the other two enables Him to function consciously in His causal body thus paralleling the work of Man in the three worlds.