307. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire - 25. DIVISION B - II. THE POSITION OF MANAS - A. BAILEY

DIVISION B - MANAS AS A COSMIC, SYSTEMIC AND HUMAN FACTOR
II. THE POSITION OF MANAS

1. Manas and Karma.

Having seen that manas is the intelligent purpose of some Being, working out in active objectivity, and having touched upon the inter-relation existing between certain of these Entities, it may now be possible to vision—even if somewhat cursorily and dimly—the true position of the manasic principle in all three cases.  The whole mystery of this principle is hidden in two fundamentals:

The mystery of the resolution of the six-pointed star, into the five-pointed star. ^[cxlii]40, ^[cxliii]41

The mystery of the Lords of Karma, Who are, in themselves, the sole recipients of the Mind purposes [396] of that cosmic ENTITY Who enfolds our solar Logos within His consciousness.

When, therefore, the esoteric side of astrology, and of mystical geometry, has been studied, and alliance has been made between these two sciences, a flood of light will be thrown upon this matter of the intelligent principle; when the inner workings of the Law of Cause and Effect (the law whereby the Lipika Lords govern all Their action) is better comprehended, then—and then only—will the sons of men be able to study with profit the place of manas in the evolutionary scheme.  At the present time it is not possible to do more than point out the direction of the path which must be trodden before this [397] abstruse matter can be made clear, and to indicate certain lines of investigation which might (if strenuously and scientifically followed) yield to the student a rich reward of knowledge.  Until the intuition is better developed in the average man, the very principle of manas itself forms a barrier to its due understanding.

2. Manas and karmic purpose.

If it is realised by the student that manas and intelligent purpose are practically synonymous terms, it will be immediately apparent that karma, and the activities of the Lipika Lords, will be involved in the matter.  It will also be apparent that only as the lower mind is transmuted into the abstract or higher mind and from thence into the intuition, will man be able to understand the significance of manas.  We may perhaps ask why this must be so.  Surely it is because the abstract mind is the agent on cosmic levels whereby the Entity concerned formulates His plans and purposes.  These plans and purposes (conceived of in the abstract mind) in due course of evolution crystallise into concrete form by means of the concrete mind.  What we call the archetypal plane in connection with the Logos (the plane whereon He forms His ideals, His aspirations and His abstract conceptions) is the logoic correspondence to the atomic abstract levels of the mental plane, from whence are initiated the impulses and purposes of the Spirit in man,—those purposes which eventually force him into an objective form, thus paralleling logoic manifestation.  First the abstract concept, then the medium provided for manifestation in form, and, finally, that form itself.  Such is the process for Gods and for men, and in it is hidden the mystery of mind and of its place in evolution.

For the sake of clarity, let us take the microcosm for momentary study.  It should be realised by all students that man is Spirit or the Self, working through matter or [398] the Not-Self, by means of the intelligence or manas, and it should also be realised that the statement of this fact (which is equally true of a solar Logos, a Heavenly Man, and a human being) involves the admission of certain deductions based on manifestation itself.  One of these deductions is that by means of this principle of manas form is built.  Therefore, the whole subject of the Builders has to be studied—those entities who are the embodiment of Universal Mind, who are the animating lives within the form, and who are the Divine Manasaputras in their comprehensive totality.  In the occult realisation of this lies hid the secret of the close relationship between man and the deva evolution, man being the repository (through the Heavenly Man of Whose body he forms a part) of the purpose of the Logos, and the devas in all their higher grades being the cohesive attractive factor which manipulates matter, and which moulds it into shape.  The two are partners, indispensable to each other, and without the two working in close co-operation this objective solar system would immediately disintegrate, just as man's dense and etheric bodies disintegrate when the Spirit withdraws, and the Builders cease their work.

Three hierarchies in particular are concerned with objective manifestation in etheric matter, the fourth, or strictly human hierarchy, and the fifth and sixth or the deva hierarchies.  The other hierarchies fulfill other purposes connected with the life of the Spirit in the higher forms in the cosmic ethers, but in connection with our present subject these three hierarchies work on the lower levels of the cosmic physical plane the subplanes of which we call the mental, astral, and physical planes.  When the five and the four are perfectly blended, we shall have achieved the nine of a major initiation, and when the six is added we shall have the resolution into one of the groups embodied by a Kumara, as has been hinted earlier. [399] This marks the resolution of the six-pointed star finally into the five-pointed star; this is a great mystery, and concerns primarily the Heavenly Man of our scheme, and only incidentally the groups within His body of etheric manifestation.

It will, therefore, be apparent that if all manifestation is the embodiment in form of a cosmic conception, and the working out of it in concrete shape, manas or intelligence is a basic factor of the process and the means whereby the link is made between the abstract and the concrete.  This is already realised to be true in connection with man, and it is equally true of cosmic entities.  As man progresses towards the heart of the mystery he awakens to a realisation that the aim of evolution for him is to build consciously the channel between the levels which are to him the planes of the abstract or of the ideal, and the concrete ones whereon he normally functions.  This connecting channel has been inadequately called, and is literally "THE PATH" itself.  He builds it:

By means of the manasic principle consciously applied.

By the process of transcending the karmic limitations of the three lower planes.

Through the method of dominating matter, or the Personality, considering it as the Not-Self.

Through the expansion of his consciousness through graded steps until it includes the planes he seeks to reach, and thereby demonstrating the truth of the statement that in order to tread the Path he must become that Path itself, and the accuracy of the occult truth that the antaskarana is itself but illusion.  Ponder on this, for it carries illumination for those who have eyes to see.

In the process of treading that Path and of achieving the goal, man is resolved into the five-pointed star, finally into the triangle of Spirit.  Between these two stages is [400] a mysterious esoteric stage wherein he is resolved into the four,—not this time the four of the lower quaternary, but a higher four.  He becomes part of the consciousness of that occult group hinted at in various places which stands next to the three Logoi, the four great Maharajahs, the dispensers of karma, the repositories of cosmic purpose, who are reflected (but only reflected) in the logoic Quaternary, or in those four Heavenly Men Who embody (with their synthesising third) logoic manas.  These four with the synthesising one are in Themselves the sumtotal of manas, the Brahma aspect, or Intelligence in activity.  Karma works through manas, and only as the six-pointed star (or the sumtotal of concrete mind in its various divisions) becomes the five-pointed star, or the synthesis of the lower into the abstract or higher, is the transmutation into the three, or the Spiritual Triad, made possible via the four, or the formless repositories of karmic purpose; thus is liberation achieved, thus is man set free, and the microcosm attains BEING without the necessity of form-taking.  A hint here in connection with the microcosm may help:  When the microcosm has transcended the three worlds of matter and has become the five pointed star, he passes into the consciousness of the Monad, or pure Spirit, via the fourth plane of buddhi.  For him the buddhic plane is the plane of karmic correspondence.  On it he enters into the sphere of conscious co-operation in the working out of karma for a Heavenly Man, having completely worked out his personal karma in the lower three spheres.  The student whose intuition suffices can work out the planes which correspond to the buddhic plane, for a Heavenly Man and for a solar Logos.  This will only be possible if the concept is extended to cosmic levels and beyond the systemic.

Through the ideas here imparted it may be possible for the student to think out, for himself, some aspects of the[401] place of manas in cosmic evolution.  It necessitates a somewhat synthetic viewpoint, and the steady holding of the thought of PURPOSE in all activity, whether cosmic, systemic, planetary, or microcosmic.  It is the fire of divine impulse permeating all forms and driving those forms to certain action and achievement.

The fire of matter earlier dealt with is the dynamic fire of motion, which keeps in activity each atom of matter.  The fire of mind is the coherent impulse and purpose, driving the forms (built up of active matter) in a specific direction, and along certain destined paths.  It is consequently karmic impulse, originating cause, and operating will.  It is likewise the result or the effect of this action in time, and only as the Triad comes into play, via the esoteric four, are the fires of both mind and matter burnt out and the fire of Spirit set free.