A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
Page 139
(301) No soul can be lost where—
a. One good aspiration is present.
b. One unselfish deed is done.
c. The life is strong in virtue.
d. The life is righteous.
e. The life is a naturally pure life.—Isis Unveiled, II, 368.
Read S. D., III, 528, 529. (back)
(302) H. P. B. has said that the elementals of the air are the most wicked and dangerous. He refers there to the physical plane, and to dangers menacing the physical body. They are the most dangerous where the physical plane is concerned, but in the case we are considering, we are dealing with man, the unity in the three worlds. (back)
(304) The courses open to the Divine Ego after separation are two.—S. D., III, 524.
a. It can start a fresh series of incarnations.
b. It can return to the ‘bosom of the Father’ and be gathered back to the Monad.
Two courses are open to the lower discarded self.—S. D., III, 525, 527.
a. If with a physical body it becomes a soulless man. In this case there is hope.
b. If without a physical body it becomes a spook, or one form of the Dweller on the Threshold. (back)
(306) The Atom.—S. D., I, 113, 566. It is on the illusive nature of matter and the infinite divisibility of the atom that the whole Science of Occultism is built.
1. Everything is atomic—God, Monads, atoms.
a. The sphere of solar manifestation . . . . . . . . . . . . God
The mundane egg. The logoic auric egg . . . . . . . . Macrocosm
b. The sphere of monadic manifestation . . . . . . . . .Monads
The monadic auric egg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Microcosm
c. The sphere of the ultimate physical atom . . . . . . Atoms
2. The solar system is a cosmic atom.
3. Each plane is an atom or complete sphere.
4. Each planet is an atom.
5. Each Heavenly man is an atomic unit.
6. Each human Monad is an atom in the body of one of the Heavenly Men.
7. The causal body is an atom, or sphere.
8. The physical plane elemental is an atomic unit.
What is an atom?
1. A sheath formed of the matter of the solar system in one or other of its seven grades and indwelt by life of some kind.
a. Absolute intelligence informs each atom.—S. D., I, 298.
b. Absolute life informs each atom.—S. D., I, 278, 28l; II, 742, note.
2. Atoms and souls are synonymous terms.—S. D., I, 620-622.
a. In this solar system atoms and souls are synonymous terms. The Primordial Ray plus the Divine Ray of Wisdom.
b. In the previous solar system atoms and mind were probably synonymous terms. It resulted in the Primordial Ray of active intelligent matter, the basis of the present evolution.
c. In the next system atoms and the third factor, pure spirit may be synonymous terms. The Primordial Ray and The Divine Ray plus the third cosmic Ray of Will or Power.
3. Atoms are inseparable from Spirit.—S. D., I, 367.
a. They are the sheaths through which the informing God manifests.
b. The form of the sheath is a sphere.
c. The quality of the sheath is latent love.
d. The matter of the sheath is active intelligent substance. (back)
(308) The four sub-divisions of desire should be studied in the Brahmana of the Sama-veda. (1) The desire to know; whence (2) the desire to possess; thereafter (3) the desire to secure possession, i.e., to take the necessary steps, the action, that will bring possession; and finally (4) the attainment—these respectively are the four sub-divisions, cognitive-desire, desire-proper, active-desire and summation-desire.
“The ruler of desire is Shiva and his instruction to his sub-hierarchs takes this shape: Behold, our work is the work of destruction. The order and the way thereof are these. This should be destroyed first, this afterwards; and such and such work of the nature of negation should be performed. First, make enquiry, entertain the ‘desire to know,’ and thoroughly and fully understand the nature of the I and the This. Then entertain the desire to possess, ‘I shall obtain the This and the I.’ Having obtained them, you will pass on to the Negation, to the declaration, ‘no (I want them no more).’ In the Negation is the summation, sam-a-hara, ‘bringing all together,’ and it is the sam-hara also, the ‘taking all in,’ re-absorption, destruction.”—Pranava-Vada, p. 364. (back)
(309) 1. The Names of the Sun mentioned in the Secret Doctrine are:
a. Maritanda.—S. D., I, 61, 126-129, 483; II, 221.
b. Agni.—S. D., II, 60, 400.
c. Surya.—S. D., I, 127, 643.
d. Helios.—S. D., II, 47.
e. Apollo.—S. D., II, 6, 129.
2. The Sun in the S. D. is used in the three following connotations:
a. The Central Spiritual Sun.—S. D., I, 519, 520, 700, 736; S. D., II,—120, 249, 251.
b. The visible physical Sun.—S. D., I, 628.
c. The three secondary Suns.—As above.
Consider the Microcosm, manifesting through the causal body, which contains the three permanent atoms, the centres of force for the three bodies, the mental, astral and physical.
3. Consider the following three statements.—S. D. I., 574.
a. In the Kosmos..The Sun is the kama-rupa, or desire body of Akasha (the second aspect of Brahma).
Compare ‘Son of necessity.’—S. D., I, 74.
b. In the system...The Sun is the sixth principle, buddhi, and its vehicle. (The Dragons of Wisdom taking form on the fourth cosmic ether, our buddhic plane).
c. As an entity...The Sun is the seventh principle of Brahma or the aspect of active intelligent matter.
Hence ‘rejection’ as it is called ensues because consciousness or the development of the Ego (logoic or human) is the goal of evolution, and not the matter aspect. “The Primordial Ray is only the vehicle of the Divine Ray.”—S. D., I, 108. (back)
(310) Form: “The model according to which nature does its external work.—S. D., II, 107; see S. D., I, 619.
1. Divine ideation passes from the abstract to the concrete or visible form.
a. The objective is an emanation of the subjective.—S. D., I, 407.
b. Impulse is Spirit energy causing objectivity.—S. D., I, 349, 683.
c. The Logos renders objective a concealed thought.—S. D., II, 28.
2. Three things required before any form of energy can become objective:—S. D., I, 89.
1. Privation....Separation. Initial impulse. Energy. Will.
2. Form....Quality or shape. Nature. Love.
3. Matter....Objective sphere. Intelligent activity.
See S. D., III, 561.
3. Life precedes form.—S. D., I, 242.
a. The Thinker ever remains.—S. D., II, 28.
b. Force of life is the transformation into energy of the thought of the Logos.—See S. D., III, 179.
4. Spirit evolves through form and out of form.—S. D., I, 680.
a. Spirit has to acquire full self-consciousness.—S. D., I, 215
b. Form imprisons Spirit.—S. D., II, 775.
c. The principle of limitation is form.—S. D., III, 561.
d. Spirit informs all sheaths.—S. D., I, 669, note.
e. Spirit passes through the cycle of Being.—S. D., I, 160.
5. The devas are the origin of form.—S. D., I, 488.
They exist in two great groups:
a. The Ahhi are the vehicle of divine thought.—S. D., I, 70.
b. The Army of the Voice.—S. D., I, 124.
They are the sum-total of the substance of the four higher planes and of the three lower.
6. There is a form which combines all forms.—S. D., I, 77, 118. (back)
(311) In connection with Transmutation the following ancient formula is of interest. It was the basis of the alchemical work of olden days.
“True, without error, certain
and most true; that which is above is as that which is below and that which is below is as that which is above, for performing the miracles of the one Thing; and as all things were from one by the mediation of one so all things arose from this one thing by adaptation.
The Father of it is the sun, the mother of it is the moon; the wind carries it in its belly and the Mother of it is the earth. This is the Father of all perfection, and consummation of the whole world. The power of it is integral if it be turned into earth.
Thou shalt separate the earth from the fire and subtle from the gross, gently with much sagacity; it ascends from earth to Heaven, and again descends to earth; and receives the strength of the superiors and the inferiors—so thou hast the glory of the whole world; therefore let all obscurity fly before thee. This is the strong fortitude of all fortitudes overcoming every subtle and penetrating every solid thing. So the world was created.”—Emerald Tablet of Hermes. (back)
(312) Man must understand the nature of the wheel in which he is turned, called in Sanskrit the wheel of Samsara. This latter word derived from the root Sru, to move, indicates a motion wheel or the great wheel of changing life in which the human entities have been called upon to work and which must never be abandoned out of compassion for man and in obedience to the law of oneness which connects the many, in the opinion of all true yogees and Sri Krishna. The Teacher gives the nature of the samsaric wheel in a certain peculiar way which deserves to be thought over by you all. He says “all bhootas spring up from food and food from Parjanya or rain. Rain comes out of yagna and yagna out of Karma. Karma is out of the Veda and Veda is of the Eternal.” Here you see a Septenary gamut is given with the bhoota (or manifested form) at one end and the eternal substance unmanifested to us at the other end. If we divide this seven according to the theosophical plane of a lower four dominated over by a higher triad, we get form, food, rain and yagna as the lower four and karma, Veda and eternal substance as the higher triad. The eternal substance that pervades all space, worked on by the world song and giving rise to all the laws of karma that govern the development of the world, develops a lower four and this four is started by yagna—the spirit of evolution that connects the higher and lower or in Puranic fashion, the spirit that seeks to add to the harmony of the unmanifested by giving it a field of disharmony to work upon and establish its own greatness. This spirit of yagna in its way to produce the manifested form gives rise to the Parjanya or rain. The word Parjanya is applied to rain and often times to a spirit whose function is to produce rain.—Some Thoughts on the Gita, p. 127. (back)
(314) Colour.—Originally meant a “covering.” From root “celare” to cover or hide. Also Occultare, to hide.
Symbology of colours. The language of the prism, of which “the seven mother colours have each seven sons,” that is to say, forty-nine shades or “sons” between the seven, which graduated tints are so many letters or alphabetical characters. The language of colours has, therefore, fifty-six letters for the initiate. Of these letters each septenary is absorbed by the mother colour as each of the seven mother colours is absorbed finally in the white ray, Divine Unity symbolised by these colours. (back)
(315) Maya or Illusion. The word Maya is one which has to be properly understood by you in order that you may catch the spirit of the ancient philosophy. The derivation that is given for the word is Ma + Ya or not that. Maya is therefore a power that makes a thing appear as what it is not, or a power of illusion that arises out of limitation in the ancient concept of a true unity periodically appearing as multiplicity by the power of Maya that coexists with that unity. (back)
(316) “Mind the Slayer of the Real.”—Voice of the Silence, pp. 14-15. (back)
(317) Ahamkara. The “I” making principle necessary in order that self-consciousness may be evolved, but transcended when its work is over. (back)
(320) The alta major centre, which is formed at the point where the spinal channel contacts the skull and is therefore situated in the lowest part of the back of the head is formed of the lowest grade of etheric matter: matter of the fourth ether, whereas the etheric centres of the disciples are composed of matter of the higher ethers. (back)
(321) “Hence every manifested God is spoken of as a Trinity. The joining of these three Aspects, or phases of manifestation, at their outer points of contact with the circle, gives the basic Triangle of contact with Matter, which, with the three Triangles made with the lines traced by the Point, thus yields the divine Tetractys, sometimes called the Kosmic Quaternary, the three divine Aspects in contact with Matter, ready to create. These, in their totality, are the Oversoul of the kosmos that is to be.
“Under Form we may first glance at the effects of these Aspects as responded to from the side of Matter. These are not, of course, due to the Logos of a system, but are the correspondences in universal Matter with the Aspects of the universal Self. The Aspect of Bliss, or Will, imposes on Matter the quality of Inertia-Tamas, the power of resistance, stability, quietude. The Aspect of Activity gives to Matter its responsiveness to action—Rajas, mobility. The Aspect of Wisdom gives it Rhythm—Sattva, vibration, harmony. It is by the aid of Matter thus prepared that the Aspects of Logoic Consciousness can manifest themselves as Beings.”—A Study in Consciousness, by Annie Besant, p. 9. (back)
(322) Symbols.
“In a symbol lies concealment or revelation.”—Carlyle.
1. Symbols are intended for:—
a. The little evolved. They teach great truths in simple form.
b. The bulk of humanity. They preserve truth intact and embody cosmic facts.
c. The pupils of the Masters. They develop intuition.
2. Symbolic books in the Master’s archives used for instruction. These books are interpreted:—
a. By their colour.
b. By their position, i.e. above, on and beneath a line.
c. By their connection with each other.
d. By their key. One page may be read four ways:—
1. From above downwards . . . . involution.
2. From beneath upwards . . . . ..evolution.
3. Right to left . . . . . . . . . . . . . .greater cycles, etc.
4. Left to right...lesser cycles.
3. The three keys:—
1. Cosmic interpretation. The symbols standing for cosmic facts. i.e., Darkness. Light. The cross. The triangle.
2. Systemic interpretation. Dealing with evolution of system and all therein.
3. Human interpretation. Dealing with man himself. The cross of humanity. Seven-branched candlestick.
4. Four kinds of symbols:—
1. Symbols of extraneous objects physical . . . plane things.
2. Symbols of emotional nature . . astral plane things; pictures.
3. Numerical symbolism . . . Lower mental. Man used himself to count by.
4. Geometrical symbolism . . . abstract symbolism, higher mental. (back)
(323) The rising and setting of the Sun symbolises manifestation and obscuration.—S. D., II, 72. Pralaya is of different kinds:—
1. Cosmic pralaya . . . The obscuration of the three suns, or of three solar systems.
2. Solar pralaya . . . The obscuration of a system at the end of one hundred years of Brahma. Period between solar systems.
3. Incidental pralaya . . . The obscuration of a scheme. Period between manvantaras.
Man repeats this at seventh, fifth initiations and at each rebirth in three worlds.
The Pleiades are the centre around which our solar system revolves.—S. D., II, 251, 581, 582.
The Sun is the kernel and matrix of all in the solar system.—S. D., I, 309, 310, 590, 591.
Kernel comes from the same word as corn.
Compare the words in Bible:—
“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.”
The Sun is governed by the same laws as all other atoms.—S. D., I, 168, 667. (back)
(324) See Sectio
n VIII, Secret Doctrine, Volume I.
The Lotus is symbolical of both the Macrocosm and of the Microcosm.
a. The seeds of the Lotus contain in miniature the perfect plant.
b. It is the product of fire and matter.
c. It has its roots in the mud, it grows up through the water, it is fostered by the warmth of the sun, it blossoms in the air.
MACROCOSM
The mud . . . . . . . . The objective physical solar system.
Water . . . . . . . . . . .The emotional or astral nature.
Flower on water . . Fruition of the spiritual.
Method . . . . . . . . . Cosmic fire or intelligence.
MICROCOSM
The mud . . . . . . . . The physical body.
Water . . . . . . . . . . .Emotional or astral nature.
Flower on water . . Fruition of the buddhic or spiritual.
Method . . . . . . . . . Fire of mind.
“The significance of the tradition that Brahma is born from or in the lotus, is the same. The lotus symbolises a world-system, and Brahma dwells therein representing action; he is therefore called the Kamal-asana, the Lotus-seated. The lotus, again, is said to arise from or in the navel of Vishnu, because the navel of Vishnu or all-knowledge is necessary desire, the primal form of which, as embodied in the Veda-text, is: May I be born forth (as multitudinous progeny). From such central and essential desire, the will to live, arises the whole of becoming, all the operations, all the whirls and whorls, of change and manifestation, which make up life. In such becoming dwells Brahma, and from him and by him, i.e., by incessant activity, arises and manifests the organised world, the trib huvanam, the triple world. Because first manifested, therefore is Brahma named the first of the gods; by action is manifestation, and he is the actor; and because actor, therefore is he also sometimes called the preserver or protector of the world; for he who makes a thing desires also the maintenance and preservation of his handiwork, and, moreover, by the making of the thing supplies the basis and opportunity for the operation of preservation, which, in strictness, of course, belong to Vishnu.”—Pranava-Vada, pp. 84, 311. (back)