17. Stimulation of the Man through desire.
18. Desire energy, instinct and aspiration.
VII. Ray of Ceremonial Order.
19. Union of energy and substance through group activity.
20. Stimulation of all etheric forms.
21. Vital energy.
These twenty-one methods and their synthesis sum up very largely all that can be said anent the actions and motions of all deva substance and all forms. Under the Law of Attraction, the interplay between these ray forces and all atomic forms is brought about, and manifestation becomes a fact in nature, and the great Maya is. It might here be noted in conclusion that the following factors:
3
Atomic Relations
7
Laws
22
Methods of activity
32
make the thirty-two vibrations necessary to produce, as far as man is concerned, the five planes of evolution. There are, as we know, the thirty-five subplanes, or in reality the thirty-two minor vibrations and the three which dominate. Just as the three planes of the Ego on [1224] the mental plane dominate the remaining planes in the three worlds, so in the five worlds of the Hierarchy the three higher subplanes of the atmic plane hold an analogous place.
THE SEVEN HIERARCHIES
Hierarchy Nos. Symbol Aspect Force Type
1. The Divine Lives. 1 or 6. Closed twelve petalled Lotus Golden. One of the 6th Cosmic Force or shakti
2. The Burning Sons of Desire. 2 or 7 Seven coloured Spheres, each with a central fire. Two of the 7th Shakti
3. The Triads or the Triple Flowers. 3 or 8 A triple Flame hovering over a glowing altar. Three of the 1st Shakti or type of force
4. The Lords of Sacrifice or The lnitiates. 4 or 9. The Son, standing with outstretched arms in space. Second of the 4th Cosmic energy.
5. The Crocodiles or the Perfect Ones. 5 or 10 The five-pointed Star with the symbol of Systern1 in the centre. Fourth of the 5th Cosmic force (Mahat).
6. The Sacrificial Fires. The Aspirants. 6 or 11 A silver Moon surmounted by an equal armed Cross. Third of the 6th Cosmic force.
7. The Baskets of Nourishment or The Blinded Lives. 7 or 12 A Man reversed with his eyes closed. Fourth of the 7th Creative force.
In closing, we might give certain of the symbols for the twelve Creative Hierarchies. It is not possible to give the symbols whereby the Adepts know them, for in those symbols would be revealed much that it is deemed wiser to guard in secrecy, but the symbols, as they are [1225] found in records accessible to disciples, may be given, and from the close scrutiny of these some knowledge as to the essential character of the hierarchy may be revealed.
The symbols for the five hierarchies which have passed on may be stated as follows:
1. A ball of green fire with three rays of rose.
2. A sphere, divided by a Tau, in colours green and silver.
3. A bird, with plumage dark and with the eye of radiant fire.
4. Two stars of vivid rose linked by a band of violet.
5. An ovoid of colour indigo with five letters or symbolic words within its borders.
These hierarchies are also classed together and viewed as one and are called in esoteric parlance:
“The Lives of that which appeared, rotated and gathered to themselves the fifth aspect of Mahat.”
This symbol, which signifies the liberation achieved and the gains attained in System One, takes the form of a blazing altar of pure fire out of which is escaping a bird of green and gold plumage with five wings outspread. Above this symbol appear certain hieroglyphics in the earliest Sensa script signifying, “Still I seek.”
The symbols of the seven Creative Hierarchies now in manifestation are all enclosed in a circle denoting limitation and the circumscribing of the Life. All these hierarchies are Sons of Desire, and are paramountly an expression of the desire for manifested life of the solar Logos. They receive their primary impulse from the cosmic astral plane. They are also the expression of a vibration emanating from the second row of petals in the logoic Lotus on the cosmic mental plane.
They are, therefore, one and all an expression of His love nature, and it is for this reason that buddhi is found at the heart of the tiniest atom, or what we call in this [1226] system, electric fire. For the positive central life of every form is but an expression of cosmic buddhi, and the downpouring of a love which has its source in the Heart of the Solar Logos; this is itself an emanating principle from the ONE ABOVE OUR LOGOS, HE OF WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID.
It is love limiting itself by desire, and for that which is desired. It is love pouring itself out into forms which are stimulated and aided thereby; it is the fulfillment of divine obligations incurred in the dim and distant kalpas which antedate the triplicity of solar systems which we can dimly vision, and it is the “Father of Light” (in a cosmic connotation) pouring Himself out for that which binds Him and which it is His dharma to lift up to His Throne. It is not possible to picture the revelation of the Love of the solar Logos as it reveals itself to the eye of the illuminated seer, nor to show the nature of the cosmic Lord of Sacrifice as He limits Himself in order to save. At each step along the Path, the extent of that love and sacrifice is opened up as the disciple knows himself to be in tiny measure also a Lord of Sacrifice and Love. It can only be appreciated as the two inner rows of egoic petals are unfolded; knowledge would not reveal it, and it is only as a man transcends knowledge, and knows himself to be something non-separative, and inclusive that this particular revelation comes to him.
This is the secret behind the seven symbols, each one of which hides an aspect of the sevenfold Love of God as it is revealed through the hierarchy of Beings, or as the Son reveals it, Who is the sumtotal of the Love of God.
We might at the same time consider the type of force wielded by a particular hierarchy.
SECTION THREE. The Fire of Spirit - Electric Fire
DIVISION A. CERTAIN BASIC STATEMENTS.
[1229] In connection with this final section of the Treatise on Cosmic Fire, dealing with the Electric Fire of Spirit it should be remembered that it will be quite impossible to impart information of a definite character; this subject is considered (from the standpoint of the esoteric student) to be devoid of form and therefore incognisable by the lower concrete mind. The nature of Spirit can only be intelligibly revealed to the higher grades of the initiates, that is, to those who (through the medium of the work effected in the third Initiation) have been put in conscious contact with their “Father in Heaven,” the Monad. Esoteric students, disciples and the initiates of lower degree are developing contact with the soul, or the second aspect, and only when this contact is firmly established can the higher concept be entertained. The nature of Spirit is dealt with in the New Testament in one of the esoteric statements addressed by the Great Lord to the initiate, Nicodemus. As he was an initiate of the second degree it may be supposed that he had some glimmering of understanding as to the meaning of the words, which were spoken to him as part of his training in preparation for the third Initiation.
“The wind (prana or Spirit) bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.”
Two ideas are conveyed in this thought-form,—those of an emanating sound and direction, and that which is [1230]
[1231] the result of the sound. This is evolution and the effect of the directing energy or activity of Spirit. From the point of view of consciousness these are the only things which the disciple can intelligently comprehend.
All that it will be possible for us to do in this section will be to impart the truth in three ways. Through the illumination of the student’s mind as he studies the stanzas of Dzyan which will be found at the commencement of the treatise. Secondly, through the realisation that will come to the student as he correlates and ponders upon the various occult fragments found scattered through the pages, primarily centeri
ng his attention upon the following words:
“The secret of the Fire lies hid in the second letter of the Sacred Word. The mystery of life is concealed within the heart. When the lower point vibrates, when the Sacred Triangle glows, when the point, the middle centre and the apex, connect and circulate the Fire, when the threefold apex likewise burns, then the two triangles—the greater and the lesser—merge into one Flame, which burneth up the whole.”
Thirdly, through the consideration of the various charts and word pictures which will be found also scattered through the Treatise. The student of the new era will approach much that he has to master through the medium of the eye, learning thereby to appreciate and solve that which is presented to him in the form of lines and diagrams. All is symbol and these symbols must be mastered.
It must also be borne in mind that students who approach the subject of SPIRIT need to grasp the following facts.
I. Whilst in manifestation and therefore during the period of an entire solar system, it is not possible for the highest Dhyan Chohan to think in terms of the negation of organised substance and of the non-existence of form. The goal of realisation for man is consciousness of the nature of the Soul, the medium through which the Spirit [1232] aspect, ever works. More it is not possible for him to do. Having learnt to function as the soul, detached from the three worlds, man then becomes a conscious corporate active part of that Soul which permeates and pervades all that is in manifestation. Then, and only then, the pure light of Spirit per se becomes visible to him through a just appreciation of the Jewel hidden at the heart of his own being; then only does he become aware of that greater Jewel which lies hidden at the heart of solar manifestation. Even then at that advanced stage all that he can be aware of, can contact and visualise, is the light which emanates from the Jewel and the radiance which veils the inner glory.
The seer (see-er) has then become pure vision. He perceives but as yet comprehends not the nature of that which is perceived, and it remains for another solar system and another kalpa to reveal to him the meaning of that revelation, the source of that illumination, and the essence of that Life whose quality is known to him already by its vibratory rate, its heat and its light. Needless it is, therefore, for us to study and consider that which the initiate of high degree can only dimly sense; useless it is for us to seek for terms to express that which lies safely hidden behind all ideas and all thought, when thought itself is not perfectly understood, and the machinery for comprehension is not perfected. Man himself—a great idea and a specific one—knows not the nature of that which he is seeking to express.
All that we can do is to apprehend the fact that there exists THAT which may not as yet be defined, to realise that a central life persists which permeates and animates the Soul and which seeks to utilise the form through which the soul expresses itself. This can be stated to be true of all forms, of all souls, human, subhuman, planetary and solar. [1233]
II. The wise student will likewise regard all forms of expression as in the nature of symbols. A symbol has three interpretations; it is itself an expression of an idea, and that idea has behind it, in its turn, a purpose inconceivable as yet. The three interpretations of a symbol might be considered in the following way:
1. The exoteric interpretation of a symbol is based largely upon its objective utility, and upon the nature of the form. That which is exoteric and substantial serves two purposes:
a. To give some faint indications as to the idea or the concept. This links the symbol in its exoteric nature with the mental plane, but does not release it from the three worlds of human appreciation.
b. To limit and confine and imprison the idea and so adapt it to the point in evolution which the solar Logos, the planetary Logos and man have reached. The true nature of the latent idea is ever more potent, complete and full than the form or symbol through which it is seeking expression. Matter is but a symbol of a central energy. Forms of all kinds in all the kingdoms of nature, and the manifested sheaths in their widest connotation and totality are only symbols of life—what that Life itself may be remains as yet a mystery.
These exoteric symbolic forms are of many kinds and serve many purposes, and this is largely responsible for the confusion in the minds of men on these matters. All symbols emanate from three groups of Creators:
The solar Logos, Who is constructing a “Temple in the Heavens not made with hands.”
The Planetary Logoi, who—in Their seven groups—create through seven ways and methods, and thus produce a diversity of symbols and are responsible for concretion.
[1234] Man, who builds forms and creates symbols in his work of every day, but who as yet works blindly and largely unconsciously. Nevertheless, he merits the name of creator, because he utilises the faculty of mind and employs the rational quality.
The lesser devas and all the subhuman entities and all those builders who must in some distant future pass through the human state of consciousness are not regarded as creators. They work under impulses emanating from the other three groups. Each of the three groups is free within certain specified limits.
2. The subjective interpretation is the one which reveals the idea lying behind the objective manifestation. This idea, incorporeal in itself, becomes a concretion on the plane of objectivity, and as stated above, an idea lies behind every form without exception and no matter which group of creators is responsible for its construction. These ideas become apparent to the student after he has entered the Hall of Learning, just as the exoteric form of the symbol is all that is noted by the man who is as yet in the Hall of Ignorance. As soon as a man begins to use his mental apparatus and has made even a small contact with his ego three things occur:
a. He reaches out beyond the form and seeks to account for it.
b. He arrives in time at the soul which every form veils, and this he does through a knowledge of his own soul.
c. He begins then himself to formulate ideas in the occult sense of the term and to create and make manifest that soul-energy or substance which he finds he can manipulate.
To train people to work in mental matter is to train them to create; to teach people to know the nature of the [1235] soul is to put them in conscious touch with the subjective side of manifestation and to put into their hands the power to work with soul energy; to enable people to unfold the potencies of the soul aspect is to put them en rapport with the forces and energies hidden in the akasha and the anima mundi.
A man can then (as his soul contact and his subjective perception is strengthened and developed) become a conscious creator, co-operating with the plans of the Hierarchy of Adepts who work with ideas, and who seek to bring these ideas (planetary ideas) into manifestation upon the physical plane. As he passes through the different grades in the Hall of Learning his ability so to work and his capacity to get at the thought lying behind all symbols increases. He is no longer taken in by the appearance but knows it as the illusory form which veils and imprisons some thought.
3. The spiritual meaning is that which lies behind the subjective sense and which is veiled by the idea or thought just as the idea itself is veiled by the form it assumes when in exoteric manifestation. This can be regarded as the purpose which prompted the idea and led to its emanation into the world of forms. It is the central dynamic energy which is responsible for the subjective activity.
These three aspects of a symbol can be studied in connection with all atomic forms. There is, for instance, that unit of energy which we call the atom of the physicist or chemist. It has itself a form which is the symbol of the energy which produces it. This form of the atom is its exoteric manifestation. There are likewise those atomic aspects which we call—for lack of a better term—the electrons; these electrons are largely responsible for the quality of any particular atom, just as the soul of a man is responsible for his peculiar nature. They represent the subjective aspect or life. Then, finally, there is the positive aspect, the energy responsible for the coherence [1236] of the whole and for the un
iformity of the dual manifestation, exoteric and subjective. This is analogous to the spiritual meaning, and who can read that meaning?
In man likewise, the human atom, these three aspects are found. Man on the physical plane is the exoteric symbol of an inner subjective idea which is possessed of quality and attributes and a form through which it seeks expression. That soul in its turn is the result of a spiritual impulse, but who shall say what that impulse is? Who as yet shall define the purpose behind the soul or idea, whether logoic or human? All these three factors are yet in process of evolution; all are as yet “imperfect Gods,” each in their degree and therefore unable to express fully that which is the spiritual factor lying behind the conscious soul.
III. The wise student will also ponder well the words “the mystery of electricity,” which is the mystery surrounding that process which is responsible for the production of light and therefore of vibration itself. We have concerned ourselves in the other two sections primarily with effects, with the results produced through the operation of the subjective side of nature (that alone which the occultist considers and works with) and the consequent production of objective manifestation. Now we arrive at the realisation that there is a cause lying behind that which has hitherto itself been regarded as a cause, for we discover that behind all subjective phenomena there lies an essentially spiritual incentive. This incentive, this latent spiritual cause, is the object of the attention of the spiritual man. The man of the world is occupied with objective phenomena, with that which can be seen, be touched, and handled; the occult student is engaged in studying the subjective side of life, and is occupied with the forces which produce all that is familiar [1237] upon the terrestrial plane. These forces fall into three main groups:
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 109
