328. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire - 46. DIVISION D - II. THOUGHT ELEMENTALS AND DEVAS. 3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. - Part 5 - A. BAILEY

DIVISION D - THOUGHT ELEMENTALS AND FIRE ELEMENTALS

II. THOUGHT ELEMENTALS AND DEVAS.

3. THE SOLAR ANGELS, THE AGNISHVATTAS. - Part 5

3. The Fiery.  The internal energy of the rapidly congregating atoms and their effect upon each other produces an increase of heat, and a consequent demonstration of the spheroidal form, so that the vehicle of all entities is seen to be fundamentally a sphere, rolling upon itself and attracting and repulsing other spheres.  "Pitris of the Fiery Spheres" add their labours to those of the earlier two and a very definite stage is reached.  The lunar Pitris on every scheme, and throughout the system, are literally the active agents in the building of the dense physical body of the Logos; they energise the substance of the three planes in the three worlds, the mental, the astral and the dense physical planes of the system.  This needs much pondering upon.

4. The Watery.  The ball or sphere of gaseous fiery essence becomes still more condensed and liquefied; it begins to solidify on its outer surface and the ring-pass-not of each sheath is more clearly defined.  The heat of the sphere becomes increased and is centralised at the core or heart of the sphere where it produces that pulsation at the centre which characterises the sun, the planet, and the various vehicles of all incarnating entities.  It is an analogous stage to that of the awakening of life in the foetus during the prenatal stage, and this analogy can be seen working out in the form-building which proceeds on every plane.  This stage marks the co-ordination of the work of the two higher groups of lunar Pitris, and the "Pitris of the Dual Heat" are now intelligently co-operating.  The heart and brain of the substance of the slowly evolving form are linked.  The student will find it interesting to trace the analogy of this, the watery stage, to the place the astral plane holds in the planetary and systemic body, and the alliance between mind and heart which is hidden in the term "kama-manas."  One [785] of the profoundest occult mysteries will be revealed to the consciousness of man when he has solved the secret of the building of his astral vehicle, and the forming of the link which exists between that sheath and the astral light in its totality on the astral plane.

5. The Etheric.  The stage is not to be confined to the building of the physical body in its etheric division, for its counterpart is found on all the planes with which man is concerned in the three worlds.  The condensation and the solidification of the material has proceeded till now the three groups of Pitris form a unity in work.  The rhythm set up has been established and the work synchronised.  The lesser builders work systematically and the law of Karma is demonstrating actively, for it should be remembered that it is the inherent karma, colouring, or vibratory response of the substance itself which is the selective reaction to the egoic note.  Only that substance which has (through past utilisation) been keyed to a certain note and vibration will respond to the mantram and to the subsequent vibrations issuing from the permanent atom.  This stage is one of great importance, for it marks the vital circulation throughout the entire vehicle of a particular type of force.  This can be clearly seen in relation to the etheric body which circulates the vital force or prana of the sun.  A similar linking up with the force concerned is to be seen on the astral and the mental planes.  "The Pitris of the Triple Heat" are now working synthetically, and the brain, the heart and the lower centres are co-ordinated.  The lower and the higher are linked, and the channels are unimpeded so that the circulation of the triple energy is possible.  This is true of the form building of all entities, macrocosmic and microcosmic.  It is marked by the active co-operation of another group of Pitris, termed "The Pitris of Vitality" in connection with the others.  Group after group co-operate, [786] for the three main bodies are distributed among many lesser.

6. The Solid.  This marks the final stage in actual form building, and signifies the moment wherein the work is done as regards the aggregating and shaping of substance.  The greater part of the work of the lunar Pitris stands now accomplished.  The word "solid" refers not solely to the lowest objective manifestation, for a solid form may be ethereal, and only the stage of evolution of the entity involved will reveal its relative significance.

All that has been here laid down as to the progressive stages of form construction on every plane is true of all forms in all systems and schemes, and is true of all thought-form building.  Man is constructing thoughtforms all the time, and is following unconsciously the same method as his Ego pursues in building his bodies, as the Logos follows in building His system, and as a planetary Logos uses in constructing His scheme.

A man speaks, and a very diversified mantram is the result.  The energy thus generated swings into activity a multitude of little lives which proceed to build a form for his thought; they pursue analogous stages to those just outlined.  At this time, man sets up these mantric vibrations unconsciously, and in ignorance of the laws of sound and of their effect.  The occult work that he is carrying on is thus unknown to him.  Later he will speak less, know more, and construct more accurate forms, which will produce powerful effects on physical levels.  Thus eventually in distant cycles will the world be "saved," and not just a unit here and there.

In connection with this building of man's sheaths certain interesting points of manifestation occur which might be dealt with now, leaving the student to work out the correspondences in relation to the system and the planet, and giving only general indications which may be of use to him in his conclusions.

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In all the work of form-building, certain very vital occasions occur which concern the Ego even more than the sheaths themselves, though the reflex action between the lower personal self and the higher is so close as to be well nigh inseparable.

The moment wherein the Ego appropriates the sheath.  This takes place only after the fourth spirilla is beginning to vibrate, and the period differs according to the power of the ego over the lower self.  In connection with the dense physical vehicle, an analogy can be seen when the Ego ceases from his work of overshadowing, and at some period between the fourth and seventh year makes his contact with the physical brain of the child.  A similar occurrence takes place in connection with the etheric vehicle, the astral, and the mental.

The moment wherein the energy of the Ego is transmitted from one sheath to a lower one.  It is often overlooked that the path of incarnation is not a quick one, but that the Ego descends very slowly and takes possession gradually of his vehicles; the less evolved the man, the slower is the process.  We are dealing here with the period of time which transpires after the Ego has made the first move towards descent, and not with the time which elapses between two incarnations.  This work of passing on to a plane for purposes of incarnation marks a definite crisis, and is characterised by the exertion of the will in sacrifice, the appropriation of the substance in love, and its energising into activity.

The moment wherein the particular type of force with which any particular sheath is energised is appropriated.  This brings the sheath concerned:

a. Under the influence of the egoic ray,

b. Under the influence of a particular subray of the egoic ray,

c. And through that influence,—

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Under certain astrological influences,

Under certain planetary radiations,

Under the influences of certain force currents, emanating from certain constellations.

These three events have a very interesting analogy in connection with the work of the Logos in the construction of His physical body, the solar system, and also in certain correspondences which can be seen embodied in facts dealt with at the first three Initiations.

From the standpoint of the lower self, the two most vital moments in the work of the reincarnating Ego, are those in which the mental unit is re-energised into cyclic activity, and in which the etheric body is vitalised.  It concerns that which links the centre at the base of the spine with a certain point within the physical brain via the spleen.  This is dealing purely with the physiological key.

We might now touch upon a very interesting point concerning the dense physical body, dealing therefore with that which is not considered a principle either in the macrocosm or the microcosm.  As we know, man is essentially mental man, and astral man; then the two take to themselves an etheric sheath for purposes of objective work.  That is the true lower man, these two in the etheric body.  But later—in order to know even on the lowest plane of all—man takes to himself a coat of skin, as the Bible expresses it, and puts on (over his etheric body) that outer illusory form we know so well.  It is his lowest point of objectivity and his direct "imprisoning."  This appropriation of a dense sheath by the Ego is subject to a very peculiar piece of karma connected with the four Kumaras, or Heavenly Men, Who form the logoic Quaternary.  In the schemes which concern the logoic Triad (or those of the three major Rays or Heavenly Men) dense physical incarnation is not the appointed [789] lot, and man functions in his lowest manifestation in etheric matter.

This appropriation of the lowest body is distinguished in several ways from the approach to the other sheaths.  For one thing, there is no permanent atom to be vitalised.  The physical plane is a complete reflection of the mental; the lowest three subplanes reflect the abstract subplanes and the four etheric subplanes reflect the four mental concrete planes.  The manifestation of the Ego on the mental plane (or the causal body) is not the result of energy emanating from the permanent atoms as a nucleus of force but is the result of different forces, and primarily of group force.  It is predominantly marked by an act of an exterior force, and is lost in the mysteries of planetary karma.  This is equally true of man's lowest manifestations.  It is the result of reflex action, and is based on the force of the group of etheric centres through which man (as an aggregate of lives) is functioning.  The activity of these centres sets up an answering vibration in the three lowest subplanes of the physical plane, and the interaction between the two causes an adherence to, or aggregation around, the etheric body of particles of what we erroneously term "dense substance."  This type of energised substance is swept up in the vortex of force currents issuing from the centres and cannot escape.  These units of force, therefore, pile up according to the energy direction around and within the etheric sheath till it is hidden and concealed, yet interpenetrating.  An inexorable law, the law of matter itself, brings this about, and only those can escape the effect of the vitality of their own centres who are definitely "Lords of Yoga" and can—through the conscious will of their own being—escape the compelling force of the Law of Attraction working on the lowest cosmic physical subplane.

An interesting analogy (accurate on general lines [790] though in detail not so apparent) exists between the building of the antaskarana on mental levels between the mental unit and the manasic permanent atom (whereby the Path of Liberation is travelled, and man set free) and the opening up of the channel between the centre at the base ofthe spine and the brain and thence to the head centre.  Through this latter channel man escapes out of the dense physical body, and continuity of consciousness (between the astral and the physical planes) is reached.  In the one case, through right direction of force, the etheric web no longer forms a barrier; it is destroyed and the man is fullyconscious in the physical brain of what transpires on the astral plane.  In the other case, the causal body also is eventually destroyed through the right direction of force.  We will not here take up the specific work of building upon the scaffolding of the etheric body the dense physical form.  It has been sufficiently dealt with in other books.  We will only want to touch upon two more points which are of interest in this consideration of the work of the lunar Pitris in building man's body.

In connection with the building of the dense body, it should be stated that it appears as a human form, much in the nature of a cross within the ovoid of the other spheres. It is notably of a fivefold nature:

Head.

Two Arms.

Two Legs.

According to the position assumed by the man, he is seen as a symbol of the cross and is then fourfold (the two legs being considered as one lower limb) or, if separated, as fivefold, and has been then considered as the symbol of the five-pointed star.  This fivefold nature of the dense physical body is brought about through the fact that only five centres primarily are really active in average man [791] up to the third Initiation; all are there, and all are vitalised, but only five in this fivefold normal evolution are dominant.  The force emanating from these five, therefore, sweeps the dense substance into a close aggregation.  As two of the centres are not functioning as actively as the other five, an ovoid is not formed as in the case of the etheric, astral and mental sheaths.  The fivefold shape of physical man is the result of the fivefold direction of force currents from five centres.

It might be interesting also to point out that the interaction of the energy of the solar Pitris and of the lunar Pitris produces a very definite effect upon the lower group of lunar Pitris, and is one of the means whereby they will eventually reach the stage at which the solar Pitris are.  This (if fully realised by man) will bring him to a very careful control of his sheaths, and to a close attention to the direction in which his force or energy is turned.  He is responsible for the work of aiding in the evolution of substance, being himself a manasaputra.

(h.) Incarnation and Karma.  In resuming our consideration of the process pursued by the reincarnating Ego, it is necessary to point out that the entire subject radically concerns energy, and that according to the place in evolution of the unit of force involved, so will the length of time required for the process be brief, or the reverse.  In the early stages, the initiatory impulse is heavy and slow, and the matter required for the sheaths is of a correspondingly "low" grade, that is, it is of low vibratory capacity, and the time elapsing between the first vibration outwards on the mental plane, and the coordination of the dense physical body is a long one.  Later on, the vibration becomes more powerful and the effects therefore are more rapidly felt.  At the close of evolution, when the human unit is upon the Path and consciously controlling his destiny, and working off [792] karma, the intervals intervening between two incarnations are brief or not as the man may choose in the interests of the work to be done, and according to his intention to achieve liberation from form.  It must also be remembered that as the evolutionary process proceeds, the egoic activity calls out response not only from substance in the three worlds, but also from the formless levels of the system.  The response will be felt finally on monadic levels.  Then, after a moment of equilibrium, the effect of the rhythm is felt entirely on the higher planes, and leaves the lower.

The word "moment" is used here in its occult significance to specify a period of time, and must be considered as a period relative to a day or year of Brahma.  One of the secrets of initiation is concerned with the apprehension of cycles, and with their duration, and the following terms have to be appreciated, their duration recognised, and their antithesis (an intervening pralaya) duly considered before a man is considered a true occultist.

a. 100 years of Brahma	An occult century.  The period of a solar system.
b. One year of Brahma	The period of seven chains, where the seven planetary schemes are concerned.
c. One week of Brahma	The period of seven rounds in one scheme.  It has a chain significance.
d. One day of Brahma	The occult period of a round.
e. One hour of Brahma	Concerns interchain affairs.
f. One Brahmic minute	Concerns the planetary centres, and therefore egoic groups.
g. One Brahmic moment	Concerns an egoic group, and its relation to the whole.

These are the greater periods of time, and when their significance is comprehended, much that is now obscure[793] will be revealed.  As yet, it is only to initiates that the true figures are given, the figures in the Secret Doctrine,such as the 100 years of Brahma, strike the general average but it must be ever remembered that in considering the figures where a scheme, for instance, is concerned, much latitude has to be allowed for individual planetary karma, and idiosyncrasy.

The following points are worthy of consideration when upon this subject, and deal with some interesting factors.

All the planetary Rishis are not equally "long-lived," in the occult sense of the term, and the seven planetary Logoi of the seven sacred planets are at different stages of evolution; Their vibratory response, therefore, differs, producing varying effects in time.

The three major planetary schemes (Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn) have not, as yet, received their fullest stimulation, and will not do so until the "energy of the sacred seven" has been transferred to Them.  Figures, therefore, as regards their duration and persistence are not in order.

The figures for the planets concerned with the "inner round" differ as to length of time but not as to space location from those of other planets.

The true figures in connection with any planetary scheme and its occult activity are not ascertainable by the man who cannot be trusted with the significance of the other planetary bodies (of great number) within the solar ring-pass-not.  The entire solar sphere is full of such bodies, characterised by the same features as are the seven and the ten, and each of them in some degree has an effect upon the whole.  Figures, therefore, cannot be considered as final until the effect of the lesser planetary bodies upon their immediate neighbours is known, and the extent of their planetary radiation has been gauged.  There are more than 115 of such bodies to be reckoned with, and all are at varying stages of vibratory [794] impulse.  They have definite orbits, they turn upon their axis, they draw their "life" and substance from the sun, but owing to their relative insignificance, they have not yet been considered factors of moment.  This attitude of mind will change when etheric vision is a fact, and the reality of the existence of an etheric double of all that is in manifestation will be recognised by scientists.  This fact will be demonstrated towards the close of the century, and, during the early part of the next century a revolution in astronomical circles will occur which will result in the study of the "etheric planets."  As these bodies are organs of energy, permeating the dense form, the study of the interaction of solar energy, and the occult "give and take" of planetary bodies will assume a new significance.  Certain planetary bodies (both greater and lesser) are "absorbers," others are "radiators," while some are in the stage of demonstrating a dual activity, and are being "transmuted."  All these circumstances require to be considered by the initiate who is dealing with cycles.

Figures also must be computed when the effect upon the planets of what are called "asteroids" is known.  This is much greater than exoteric science has so far admitted, but the significance of this must eventually be interpreted in terms of energy and on etheric levels.

Another factor in computation which must also be considered is the effect of the various moons upon any planetary scheme, and the true meaning of the eighth sphere in connection with dense substance.  Every moon is occultly a "point of corruption," or that which is passing off in noxious gases.  The transmutation of the form has been proceeded with in their case to a point where all that represents vital energy has left, all solar life has passed off, no remnants of pranic energy remain, and that which is to be seen is simply the decay of the physical body,—a decay which is proceeding on etheric levels as well as [795] on physical.  The decay of a moon has as great an evil effect upon all that contacts it as a decaying body on earth has upon its surroundings.  It is occultly "offensive."  This will be more truly apprehended when the etheric double of our moon is studied.  As the moon becomes small through the process of disintegration, its effect upon the Earth will be correspondingly lessened, and this stage will be paralleled by a consequent greater freedom from evil impulse of the sons of men.  Better conditions among the animals will be another result above all else, and the dying out of that which is noxious in the animal kingdom.  By the time the seventh round is reached, the evil effect of the then moon (which will have to all intents and purposes practically disappeared) will be finished.  During the fifth round, men will discover how to neutralise any remaining effects through scientific achievement and knowledge of the necessary sounds and mantrams, and thus much evil will be offset.  The etheric moon is included in these remarks.  The greatest effect of moon conditions is to be seen working out predominantly in the terror, and present distress in the animal kingdom.

A further factor in cyclic computation lies in the effect of the following stars and constellations upon our system and upon any particular scheme within the system:

a. The Great Bear.

b. The Little Bear.

c. The Pole Star, especially where our planet is concerned.

d. The Pleiades.

e. The constellation of Capricorn.

f. Draco.

g. Sirius.

h. The various constellations and stars of the Zodiac.

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The mystery is hidden in esoteric astrology, and until the subject of energy working through the etheric body, of radioactivity, and of the transmutation of all bodies from a lower state into a higher is better comprehended, the true mystery of the "influence" of these various bodies upon each other will remain at its present stage—an unrevealed secret.  If the radiatory effect of a human being or of a group of human beings upon each other is as yet practically an unknown thing from the standpoint of practical science, so the occult effect of these greater forms upon each other remains unknown.  Science recognises certain effects, leading and tending to the general coherence of the universe, just as the general laws of the social order among men are theoretically apprehended, but the true scientific realisation of energy-radiations emanating from the etheric bodies of all these suns and groups of suns, and from all these planets and groups of planets is little understood.  Their atomic activity is recognised, but that department of their being, which finds its correspondence in "animal magnetism" in man, is little realised, while the even more potent factor of the magnetic radiation of their astral bodies is totally uncalculated, nor is it admitted.  All these factors have to be allowed for in any consideration of the factor of time and cycles, and the true esoteric knowledge is not to be gained by the study of figures by the lower mind.  It comes as the result of the intuition and is stimulated at initiation.

All that has here been pointed out, can be applied equally (though in a very finite sense) to the ego and its cycles, and also equally, considerations other than the purely "personal" will enter into its time periods.  The influence of other groups and of other units, the effects of radiation from other rays, and of certain types of force as yet unrevealed, and thus outside our consideration, are concerned with its appearing, with the duration of its [797]manifestation, its subsequent obscuration, and final pralayic interval.  As the Ego has time periods corresponding to those of Brahma, and its "100 years" and its "777 incarnations" have a solar analogy, so equally groups of Egos differ as to time, just as the planetary schemes are analogous in evolution but differ where their periods are concerned.  The Law of Periodicity is one, but as it is based upon initial impulse, and upon the rhythmic beat of the "central heart" or the "central sun" of any organism (solar system, planetary scheme, planetary chain, egoic group or individual egoic life) the true nature or "family" of any such organism must be ascertained before cyclic pronouncements can be made with any hope of approximate accuracy.  This was why H. P. B. sought to emphasise the need of studying the "astral family" and occult heredity of any person, for in the astral is to be found the clue to the "egoic family or group."  With this clue the student can then ascertain the characteristics of his group on egoic levels, its place among other egoic groups, and eventually his ray or group centre.  As time elapses, the true study of heredity and esoteric transmission will open up, and the whole fabric of thought built up around such modern expressions as:

a. Consanguinity or blood ties

b. Physical heredity

c. Atavism

d. Intermarriage

e. Family relationships

f. The family unit

g. Soul mates

h. Divorce and many other terms

will be shifted to higher planes, and will be recognised and used in connection with soul relationships.  They are, as yet, but a faint realisation on the physical plane of [798] certain inner relations, which are seeking outer response.  When all aggregates of ideas are interpreted in terms of force and energy, in terms of attraction and repulsion, or the vibratory response of units to each other, and of aggregates of units to other groups, we shall have the clearing up of many problems and a simplification of life.  Men will be true to their group affiliations, and the present misgrouping and mismating will gradually, through knowledge, die out.

We can now take up the consideration of karma in its relation to the act of reincarnation.  As we are well aware, the law of karma is the most stupendous law of the system and one which it is impossible for the average man in any way to comprehend, for, if traced back along its central root and its many ramifications, one eventually reaches the position where causes antedating the solar system have to be dealt with, and this point of view can only be usefully grasped by a high initiate.

This great law really concerns, or is based on causes which are inherent in the constitution of matter itself and on the interaction between atomic units whether we use this expression in connection with an atom of substance, a human being, a planetary atom or a solar atom.

We might express it also in saying that the will aspect or initiatory impulse is primarily that which produces cause, which is cause itself.  It should be remembered ever that cause involves the idea of duality, i.e., that which initiates, and that which is produced simultaneously by the initiation.  The two ideas are inseparable, yet nevertheless the second idea in its most abstract connotation must not be considered literally as an effect; true effect involves a third idea.  Some appreciation of the problem may be gleaned by a consideration of phenomena which ever involves this dual initiatory cause and its objective effect:

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a. Spirit-matter in dual activity produces the objective universe.

b. Electric fire and fire by friction when brought into contact produce solar fire; it flashes forth from darkness, yet a darkness which is potent with energy.

c. Will-desire is the cause of incarnation; the will-to-be reacting on substance (whose main quality is desire or responsiveness to sensation) produces the forms through which the central Life or Existence seeks expression.

d. Ideas and thought-matter together produce thoughtforms.

If the student considers these points, it will become apparent that it is not possible for him to do more than study the effects produced by the juxtaposition of the pairs of opposites; he cannot dissociate them in his mind and deal with Spirit per se, or with matter per se any more than the atom of substance in man's physical body can dissociate itself from that body, and consider itself independently of form influences.  All atoms are always controlled by the following factors, just as a man in the body of a planetary Logos, and a planetary Logos within His greater Whole will be equally controlled by the same basic principles:

The influence and quality of the organ or unit in which it finds a place.  In the human atom this means his group force or influence.

The life influence of the entire physical body of which any atom is a corporate part.  In the human atom this means the influence of the particular centre in which his egoic group has a place, and the type of energy which it embodies.

The life influence of the desire or astral body, the strongest karmic agency which has to be considered. [800] In the human atom, this involves the influence of the three centres in the body of the Heavenly Man which form any specific "force triangle," and which have much to do with the liberation of groups of Egos from manifestation.

The life influences of the mental body, or of that principle which imposes upon the atom the quality of activity in form, which governs the reaction of the atom to its group life, and which enables the quality of its life to be demonstrated.  In the human atom this concerns those causes which are incident to a man's Ray, or literally the influence of the life of the planetary Logos as He functions as a self-conscious Life on His Own plane, as He works out His Own plans, and consequently sweeps into activity the cells of His body as mere incidents where He (the basic central life) is concerned.

The life impulse of the Thinker functioning in the causal body who—though a great abstraction or the Absolute where the cellular life is concerned—is nevertheless a potent and active factor in the imposition of rhythm upon the atom in every body.  In the human atom, this brings in the influence of the life of the solar Logos, for that Life imposes rhythm upon every human atom in the system, and does so through the agency of substance and its inherent quality, sensation.

In these thoughts, we have but approached the study of karma from a fresh angle, and endeavoured to show the sources of the "influences" which play upon all atomic lives.

The atom likewise is controlled by its own "esse," or by its own inherent nature or vibration, which was the quality of matter itself before it was aggregated into a solar system, and which was the vibratory activity produced through the rhythmic life of an earlier solar system. [801] This is equally true of all atoms of all grades, but only in connection with the atom of substance, and to some degree with the human atom, is it in any way possible to ascertain the predisposing causes.  Until the mystery of the Great Bear is revealed and is known as it is, and until the influence of the Pleiades is comprehended, and the true significance of the cosmic triangle formed by

a. The seven Rishis of the Great Bear,

b. The seven planetary Logoi of our solar system,

c. The seven Pleiades or Sisters,

is revealed, the karma of the seven sacred planets will remain unknown.  All that we can see is its working out in the solar system.  The intricacy of the whole subject will be apparent when it is borne in mind that not only do these three groups form a cosmic triangle, but that within that triangle many lesser triangles have to be studied.  Any one of the seven Rishis with one of our planetary Logoi and one of the seven Sisters may form a subsidiary triangle, and all must thus be studied.

In connection with the karma of the solar Logos, the subject is even more abstract and incomprehensible.  It lies hidden—not in the seven constellations—but in the three constellations which concern the three bodies of His Personality and which in themselves are but manifestations of a central LIFE past our concept and our recognition.  It concerns the manifestation in time and space of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID, and Whose relationship to the solar Logos finds a faint analogy in that of the planetary Logos to man, the human unit.  It profits not to extend the thought any further.

We are but seeking to emphasise the fact of the interdependence of all atoms and forms, to lay stress upon the reality of the variety of influences which play upon all [802] that is manifesting, and to call attention to the fact of the karma of the past aeons, kalpas and that unknowable period in which the initiatory impulses were set up which are still persisting, and which God, man and atoms are still working out and off.  Influences or vibrations, calling forth response, play upon every form and atom in the solar system and all that can be predicated of them is that they tend to develop consciousness of some kind, impose certain rhythms according to that conscious response, and produce aggregations or group activity.

The liberation from karma about which would-be occult students so glibly talk is after all but the freeing of the atom from its own personal problem (the problem of response to unitary sensation), and its conscious acquiescence in group response and work.  It marks the dissociation of the human atom from the rhythm imposed upon him by the lower "influences" which find their channel of approach through his vehicles, or lunar bodies, and his consequent willing recognition of the will-impulse of his greater whole, or the life of the egoic group—a centre in the planetary body.  It involves atomic control, but involves also conscious subjection to the karma of the Heavenly Man.  Man is no longer the slave of the rhythm of matter per se, but controls it in the three worlds of his endeavour; he is still nevertheless controlled by the group karma of the planetary centre, by its influence, life and vibratory impulse.  The same can be predicated of a Heavenly Man, and of a solar Logos.

We might, in closing, express the same thought in terms of fire, remembering that words only limit and confine the thought, and that the main reason for this mode of approach is to bring pictorially before man some aspects of the central idea.

"Electric fire, or will-impulse" in conjunction with "fire by friction" produces light or "solar fire."  Electric fire is force or energy of some kind, and hence in itself [803] is fundamentally an emanation.  "Fire by friction" is substance with the quality of heat as its predominant characteristic; it is latent heat or sensation.  Both these ideas, therefore, convey the idea of duality.  An emanation must have its originating source, and heat is but the result of friction, and is necessarily dual.  Both these concepts involve facts long antedating the solar system, and hidden in the Universal Mind.  All that we can scientifically ascertain is the nature of that which is produced by their approximation, and this is solar fire or light.  These thoughts may make clear somewhat the significance of the number five, esoterically considered.  Electric fire, being an emanation is essentially dual in concept, and so is fire by friction; they together produce solar fire, and thus the esoteric fifth.

It will be apparent that when a man speaks of karma, he is dealing with something much wider than the interplay of effect and cause within the sphere of his own individual routine.  He is, in all things, governed by causes originating in the aggregate of lives which form his egoic group, by the aggregate of groups which form one petal in a centre of a Heavenly Man, by force or purpose circulating through a triangle of centres, and by the life energy or purposeful will of the planetary Logos Himself.  Finally he is governed by the will of the solar Logos as it demonstrates itself in initiatory activity.  Beyond this we need hardly go, but enough has been said to show that every human atom is under the dominance of forces outside his own consciousness, which sweep him and others into situations from which there is no escape, and which are to him incomprehensible.

This has been at no time better illustrated than in the event of the late war and in present world conditions; these are effects of causes having their origin in the renewed activity of a certain planetary triangle, and in the vibration set up by our planetary Logos on the moon-chain, [804] and which had a faint beginning in an earlier solar system.  This vibration impinged primarily upon certain atoms and groups of atoms in His body, principally those composing the human and animal kingdoms, and produced the apparently dire results which we have been witnessing.  So great was the effect of His energy, that the vegetable kingdom was somewhat (though not so much) affected, and the mineral kingdom felt the effect in a startling manner, far more than the vegetable kingdom and almost as much as the animal.  Here we have a setting of circumstances outside human and even group control, which illustrates the helplessness of man in certain conditions, and which serves to bring in factors apparently apart from the individual vibration of the fourth kingdom.

Nevertheless, within limits, man definitely does "control his destiny," and can initiate action which produces effects recognisable by him as being dependent upon his activity along a particular line.  He does, on a miniature scale, repeat the procedure of the Logos on a vaster scale, and thus is the arbiter of his own destiny, the producer of his own drama, the architect of his own home, and the initiator of his own affairs.  Though he may be the meeting place of forces outside his control, yet he can utilize force, circumstance and environment and can turn them, if he so will, to his own ends.

The working out of karmic law in a man's own life might be broadly divided into three divisions, in each of which a different type of energy is demonstrating, producing effects upon the lower and higher bodies of a definite nature.

In the very early stages, when man is scarcely more than an animal, the vibratory activity of the atoms of his three sheaths (and of the lowest primarily) governs all actions on his part.  He is the victim of the vibratory activity of physical substance, and much that occurs is the [805] consequence of the interaction between the Ego and its lowest manifestation, the physical sheath.  The centre of attention is the physical body and only faintly are the two subtler bodies responding.  The egoic impulse is slow and heavy, and the vibration is directed to producing response between the egoic consciousness and the atoms of the physical body.  The physical permanent atom is more active than the other two.  It is the aspect of "fire by friction" which is fanned by the egoic breath, with a triple object in view:

a. Co-ordinating the physical body.

b. Increasing the resistance of the etheric web, a work which was only carried to the desired point by the middle of the Atlantean root-race.

c. Bringing certain of the lower centres to the necessary stage of expression.

The heat of the atoms in the bodies is increased during this stage, and their atomic life co-ordinated, while the triangle between the three permanent atoms becomes a demonstrable fact and not a faint indication.

During the second stage, the law of karma or karmic influence (through the inevitable reflex action produced by the increased activity of the sheaths) turns its attention to the working out of desire, and its transmutation into the higher aspiration.  Through experience, the pairs of opposites are recognised by the Thinker, and he becomes no longer the victim of the vibratory impulses of his physical body; the factor of intelligent choice becomes apparent.  The man begins to discriminate between the pairs of opposites, choosing ever in the early stages that which appeals most to his lower nature and that which he believes will bring him pleasure.  The centre of the attention of the Ego is the astral body, and it becomes so closely co-ordinated with the physical body that the two form one united expression of desire.  The mental body [806] remains comparatively inactive at this stage.  The love nature of the Ego is in process of being developed, and this stage is the longest of the three.  It deals with the evolution of the petals of the egoic lotus, and with the blending of solar fire and of fire by friction.  Reflex action between the lower and the higher during this middle period produces three effects, which will be seen, if carefully studied to convey much information anent the working out of the law of Karma.  These three effects are:

1. The development of the astral permanent atom with a concurrent stimulation of the physical permanent atom, and thus the growth and evolution of the two sheaths concerned.

2. The co-ordination of the threefold man through the innate vitality of the astral body and its effect upon the mental and the physical.  This is the kama-manasic period, and as this body is the only complete sphere in the threefold lower man, it is the most powerful body inherently for it embodies (as does the solar system) the heart aspect, or embryonic love nature, which it is the object of macrocosmic and microcosmic evolution to develop.

3. Finally the unfoldment of the nine egoic petals in three stages.

In the working out of the law we must therefore note that man is first of all the victim of the impulses of dense substance or of the brahma aspect, and thus repeats rapidly the evolutionary process of the preceding solar system; in the second stage he is the victim of desire, or of his own love nature.

In the third stage, the law of karma works through a man's mental nature, and awakens in him recognition of the law, and an intellectual apprehension of cause and of effect.  This is the shortest stage but is also the most powerful; it concerns the evolution of the three inner [807] petals shielding the "jewel," and their ability to disclose at the right moment that which lies hidden.  It covers the period of the evolution of advanced man, and of the man upon the Path.  In connection with the human family it covers the first half of the next round, prior to the great separation.  Electric fire is beginning to make its radiations felt, and the will or purpose of the Ego is now consciously realised upon the physical plane.  The three permanent atoms form a triangle of light, and the petals of the lotus are rapidly unfolding.  When the will and purpose of the Ego are realised by man in his waking consciousness in the physical brain, then the law of karma in the three worlds is becoming neutralised, and man is on the verge of liberation.  He has exhausted the initial vibration, and there is no response within his sheaths to the threefold vibration of the three worlds; he stands freed from the three kingdoms and the fourth.

d. On the building of the Causal Body.

We enter now upon one of the most vitally practical parts of our Treatise on Fire, that which deals with the building of the causal body, or body of manifestation of the Ego.  It concerns the work of the solar Angels, or the true self-conscious Identity, man.  If the student has in any way apprehended the general trend of the earlier pages, he will now be in a condition of mind which will enable him to interpret all that is said in terms of energy, or of that vibratory activity which is produced by the three major phases of electrical phenomena, the union which produces that divine manifestation called Man, or, when the aggregated units are considered, the human kingdom.

(a) Introductory remarks.  We have studied somewhat the constitution of the Triangles, or Pitris, Who, through self-sacrifice, endow man with self-consciousness, building his egoic vehicle out of Their own essence.  We [808] have touched briefly upon the lunar Pitris, who endow man with his lower sheaths and principles through which the energy of the solar Lords may make itself felt, and we shall now proceed to study three things:

First, the effect of the higher energy upon the lower bodies, as it gradually makes itself felt during the evolutionary process, and thus simultaneously "redeems" man in an occult sense, and also "elevates" the lunar Pitris.

Second, the effect of this energy on the mental plane in the development and unfoldment of the egoic lotus.

Third, the awakening to activity of the central Life within the lotus.  This activity demonstrates in a twofold manner: