A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  Each kingdom is positive to the one next below it, and between them is found that period of manifestation which bridges the two, and connects the positive and the negative. The types of most intense rajas or activity in the mineral kingdom are found in those forms of life which are neither mineral nor vegetable but which bridge the two. Similarly in the vegetable kingdom, the rajas period is seen in fullest expression just before the activity becomes rhythmic and the vegetable merges in the animal. In the animal kingdom the same is seen in the animals which individualise, passing out of the group soul into separated identity. These types of activity must be regarded as constituting for the mineral, physical activity, for the vegetable, sentient activity, and for the animal, rudimentary mental activity.

  When this triple activity is achieved it might be noted that the dense physical body of the solar or planetary Logos is fully developed, and conscious contact can then [1136] be made with the etheric or vital body. It is this contact which produces man, for Spirit (as man understands the term) is after all but the energy, vitality, or essential life of the solar, or planetary Logos. Its correspondence in man is prana. A comprehension of this will be brought about if man realises that all the planes of our solar system are but the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane. It is the realisation of this which will eventually unite science and religion, for what the scientist calls energy, the religious man calls God, and yet the two are one, being but the manifested purpose, in physical matter, of a great extra-systemic Identity. Nature is the appearance of the physical body of the Logos, and the laws of nature are the laws governing the natural processes of that body. The Life of God, His energy, and vitality, are found in every manifested atom; His essence indwells all forms. This we call Spirit, yet He Himself is other than those forms, just as man knows himself to be other than his bodies. He knows himself to be a will, and a purpose, and as he progresses in evolution that purpose and will become to him ever more consciously defined. So with the planetary Logos and solar Logos. They dwell within, yet are found without, the planetary scheme or solar system.

  It is useful to remember that in the three lower kingdoms, manifestation, or appearance on the physical plane, is ever group manifestation and not the appearance of separated units. Each group soul, as it is called, is divided into seven parts which appear in each of the seven races of a world period, and there is an interesting distinction between them and the units of the human kingdom. When portions of the group soul in one of its seven parts are out of incarnation they are to be found on the astral plane, even though the Mother group soul is found on the mental plane. Human units of the fourth kingdom when out of incarnation pass through the astral to the mental and descend again to incarnation from mental levels. [1137] Each group soul, therefore, subjectively forms a triangle of force with one point (the highest) to be found on the mental plane, the lowest on the etheric levels of the physical plane, and another on the astral plane. The third point for the mineral group-soul is found on the second subplane of the astral, the vegetable on the third, and the animal on the fourth. It is owing to the fact that a centre of force for the animal group soul is found on the fourth subplane of the astral plane that it is possible for transference eventually to be made out of that kingdom into the fourth.

  Certain laws govern the appearance periodically of the three kingdoms of nature, which are the laws of involution, the laws of the elemental kingdoms, and the laws of the three great groups which hold the germs and seeds of all manifested forms. We have in logoic manifestation the following seven groups for consideration:

  1. 2. 3. Three groups of superhuman existence:

  a. The group forming the Father aspect of which little can here be predicated.

  b. The group of seven planetary Logoi.

  c. The group of seven raja devas, or the life of each of the physical planes.

  4. A group of solar lives who are the manasaputras or man.

  5. 6. 7. Three groups of elemental lives, who form the three involutionary elemental kingdoms.

  These three lower groups achieve concretion, and enter the upward arc, through the medium of the three lower kingdoms. The fourth group is the most important in some ways during the present cycle for it borrows from all the other six groups and is therefore the synthesis of energies taken from each and manifested. The higher three groups are closely allied, and until a man has passed out of the period of existence wherein he is controlled by [1138] that which he has borrowed from the three lower kingdoms, he cannot comprehend the nature and purpose of the three higher. We might express the matter as follows:

  The three higher groups are sattvic.

  The three lower groups are tamasic.

  The fourth group, or human, is rajasic.

  Again, the three higher groups are energised by three streams of force which enter along the line of the three spirillae of the logoic permanent atom. The three lower groups are energised by energy entering by the three lowest spirillae (which we call the three lowest planes) and these spirillae energise the logoic dense body, were vitalised in the previous solar system, and are no longer in any way controlling factors in logoic existence. The fourth group, the human, is energised by the force of the fourth spirilla, to which we give the name of buddhic energy, and this fourth group has, therefore, the problem of bringing about conditions whereby the buddhic vibrations may dominate the other, and lower, three. It is this imposition which eventually releases the human units, and permits of their passing into the higher group. The elemental group souls find correspondences in the higher—first, in the human kingdom in the three main groups of Egos, in whom the three types of energy predominate; again in the three main or major planetary groups, and finally in the three aspects.

  Elemental group animal kingdom Sattvic Solar Logos Uranus.

  Father aspect.

  Elemental group vegetable kingdom Rajasic Planetary Logoi Neptune.

  Son aspect

  Elemental group mineral kingdom Tamasic Plane devas. Saturn.

  Mother, Brahma aspect.

  [1139] The fourth or human group, unites all three lives. The periodic manifestation of the three elemental groups (through the medium of the three lower kingdoms) is, therefore, governed by factors hidden in the nature of that great vibration which we call tamasic, or heavy rhythm. It is the vibration of Brahma, the third aspect, the mother or matter aspect. Their appearance, therefore, is one of a very slow manifestation, the seven subsidiary vibrations bringing in one or other of the seven groups of each group soul in a very slow alternation. The cycles cannot be given; two things only can be said: the appearance of these groups as units in manifestation is controlled by three factors:

  1. The moon, for these are the many lunar fathers.

  2. The ray in manifestation at any time.

  3. The karma of the informing Life of any kingdom.

  The second consideration is the karma and life-history of the planetary entity. He sleeps and awakes; he is the embodiment of tamas, and as he progresses and evolves so do the lower kingdoms.

  The lunar pitris are to the planetary entity what the three major centres are to man or to the Logoi. The lunar Pitris who contribute the human form are (to the planetary entity) the correspondence to the head centre. Those who are the fathers of the vegetable forms correspond to his heart centre, whilst the Pitris of the mineral kingdom are analogous to the throat centre. This is all very obscure but hints of much value lie here.

  It is not possible to give much further information relative to the periodical appearing of the subhuman forms of life. The subject is too obscure, and the detail too vast. Until the student has fitted himself to appreciate [1140] the symbolic, or hieroglyphic writings of the adepts, (322) it is impossible for him to grasp the matter. Much of the teaching on this matter is found in records in the department of the Manu, as it concerns primarily the initial stages of form building. It might be said that the appearance of any life in manifestation is due to primary activity on the part of som
e Entity, which activity is largely the expression of the first Ray. This concerns the periodical manifestation of the life or lives of any round just as it concerns also the ephemeral existence of a dragon fly; it deals with the form through which what we call a race is evolving and concerns itself with the tiny life of an individual in that race. The same laws govern all, though the response to the law may be relative and in degree. This law has the generic name of the “Law of Cycles,” and is expressed in terms of time; [1141] but the secret to the cycles may not as yet be given as it would convey to the intuitive too much dangerous information. It is the knowledge of this law as it concerns rounds, races, subraces, groups (involutionary and evolutionary) and individuals (human and superhuman) which enables the Lords of Karma, and the Adepts of the good Law, to manipulate force or energy, and so carry all that is, on to its triumphant conclusion. In connection with this, students may get much light on this difficult question of force if they bear in mind that every form in every kingdom on the downward, and the upward arc, is in itself a negative force impelled into activity by a positive force and demonstrating as a combination of the two. The distinctions are demonstrated in the fact that some forms are negative-positive, others positive-negative, whilst still others are at the point of equilibrium. This includes all the intermediate stages. The Builders of the cosmos work under cyclic law consciously, and utilise the aggregate of these forces in any kingdom, any group or any unit to bring about the consummation of the plan.

  It would interest men much if they could see and interpret some of the records in the hierarchical records, for in them men and angels, minerals and elements, animals and vegetables, kingdoms and groups, Gods and ants are specified in terms of energy formulas and by a scrutiny of these records the approximate increase of vibration in any form of any kind can be found out at any time. This might be expressed in terms also of the Gunas; it will be found by disciples (when permitted access to the records) that they themselves, along with every other expression of the divine life, are described by a triple formula which conveys to the mind of the initiate the proportions of tamas or inertia, of rajas or activity, and of sattva or rhythm to be found in any form. This, therefore, through correspondences, imparts knowledge as to past achievement, present opportunity and the immediate [1142] future of any unit or embodied life, manifesting under any of the three aspects.

  Another series of files in the records give—under a different formula—information as to what is esoterically called “the heat content” of any unit, “the radiating light” of any form, and the “magnetic force” of every life. It is through this knowledge that the Lipikas control the bringing in, and the passing out, of every Life, divine, superhuman, solar and human, and it is through a consideration of that formula which is the basic formula for a solar system that the physical plane appearance of a solar Logos is controlled, and the length of a cosmic pralaya settled. We must not forget that the Lipika Lords of the solar system have Their cosmic prototypes, and that These have Their feeble and groping human reflections in the great astronomical scientists who endeavour to ascertain facts anent the heavenly bodies, being subconsciously aware of the existence of these cosmic formulas conveying information as to the specific gravity, constitution, radiation, magnetic pull, heat and light of any sun, solar system, or constellation. Many of them in future and remote ages will pass to a full comprehension, and will have the formulas committed to their care, thus joining the ranks of the Lipikas. It is a peculiar line, requiring cycles of careful training in divine mathematics.

  The Lipika Lords, controlling the periodical manifestation of life are, roughly speaking, divided into the following groups, which it might be of interest to note:

  1. Three extra-systemic or cosmic Lords of Karma, Who work from a centre in Sirius through the medium of three representatives. These form a group around the solar Logos, and hold to Him a position analogous to the three Buddhas of Activity Who stand around Sanat Kumara. [1143]

  2. Three Lipika Lords Who are the karmic agents working through the three aspects.

  3. Nine Lipikas Who are the sumtotal of the agents for the Law working through what the Qabbalah calls the nine Sephiroth.

  4. Seven presiding agents of karma for each one of the seven schemes.

  These four groups correspond in manifestation to the Unmanifested, manifesting through the triple Aspects, and under Them work an infinity of lesser agents. These lesser agents might again be somewhat differentiated, each of the following groups being found in every scheme and on every ray-emanation.

  1. The Lipika Lords of a scheme Who, through the manipulation of forces, make it possible for a planetary Logos to incarnate under the Law, and work out His cyclic problem.

  2. Those who (under the first group) control the destiny of a chain.

  3. Those who are the energy-directors of a globe.

  4. Agents of every kind Who are concerned with the karmic adjustments, incident upon the periodical manifestation of such forms as:

  a. A round, seven in all.

  b. A kingdom in nature, seven in all.

  c. The human kingdom.

  d. A rootrace, subrace and branch race.

  e. A nation, a family, a group, and their correspondences in all the kingdoms.

  f. A plane.

  g. The reptile and insect world.

  h. The bird evolution.

  i. The devas.

  j. Human units, egoic groups, monadic lives, [1144] and myriads of other forms, objective and subjective, planetary and interplanetary, in connection with the Sun, and in connection with the planetoids.

  All work with energy emanations, and with force units under cyclic law, and all have the same objective,—the producing of perfected activity, intensification of heat, and of radiant magnetic light as an expression of the will or purpose of each embodied life.

  Periodicity of manifestation is the cyclic appearance of certain forms of specified energy, and this is true whether a man is speaking of a solar system, of a Ray, of the appearance of a planet in space, or of the phenomenon of human birth. Certain factors extraneous to any energy unit under consideration, will inevitably affect its appearance, and act as deflecting or directing agents. The Law of Cycles has ever been regarded as one of the most difficult for a man to master, and it has been truly said that when a man has mastered its technicalities, and can understand its methods of time computation, he has attained initiation. Its intricacies are so numerous and so bound up with the still greater law, that of cause and effect, that practically the whole range of possible knowledge is thereby surmounted. To comprehend this law involves ability to:

  a. Deal with the higher mathematical formulas of the solar system.

  b. Compute the relationship between a unit of any degree and the greater whole upon whose vibration that unit is swept into periodic display.

  c. Read the akashic records of a planetary system.

  d. Judge of karmic effects in time and space.

  e. Differentiate between the four streams of karmic effects as they concern the four kingdoms of nature.

  f. Distinguish between the three main streams of energy [1145] —the units of inertia, mobility and rhythm—and note the key of each unit, and its place in the great group of transitional points. These latter units are those who are on the crest of one of the three waves, and ready, therefore, to be transferred into a wave of a higher vibratory capacity.

  g. Enter the Hall of Records and there read a peculiar group of documents dealing with planetary manifestation in a fourfold manner. It concerns the planetary Logos, and deals with the transference of energy from the moon chain. It concerns the transmission of energy to another planetary scheme, and concerns the interaction between the human Hierarchy (the fourth Kingdom) and the great informing Life of the animal kingdom.

  When a man can do all these things and has earned the right to know that which produces the phenomenon of manifestation, he has earned the right to enter into the councils of the planetary Hi
erarchy, and himself to direct streams of energy upon, through and out of the planet.

  Some idea of the complexity governing the periodical manifestation of a human being may be gathered by a consideration of the forces which bring human units into manifestation, which produce individualisation; this is, after all, the appearing of a third stream of energy in conjunction with two others. A man is the meeting ground of three streams of force, one or other preponderating according to his peculiar type.

  Let us briefly enumerate these factors and thus get some idea as to the complexity of the matter:

  The first and paramount factor is the ray upon which a particular human unit is found. This means, that there are seven specialised force streams, each with its peculiar quality, type and rhythm. The matter is further complicated by the fact that though the Ray of the Monad is its [1146] main qualifying factor, yet two subsidiary Rays, those of the Ego and of the personality, have likewise to be considered.

  Secondly, it must be borne in mind that the human units now upon this planet fall naturally into two great groups—those who reached individualisation, or became “units of self-directing energy,” upon the moon, and those who attained self-consciousness upon the earth. There are important distinctions between these two groups, for the units of the moon chain are distinguished, not only by a more advanced development, owing to the longer period of their evolution, but also by the quality of great and intelligent activity, for (as might be expected) on the third or moon chain, the third Ray was a dominant factor. In this fourth chain, the quaternary dominates, or the synthesis of the three so as to produce a fourth, and this is one reason for the intensely material nature of those who entered the human kingdom on this planet. The distinctions between the two groups are very great, and one of the mysteries lying behind the main divisions of humanity—rulers and the ruled, capitalists and labourers, the governed and those who govern—is found right here. No system of sociological reform will be successfully worked out without a due consideration of this important fact. Other distinguishing features might be enumerated but would only serve at this stage to complicate the matter.