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2. THE FIRE DEVAS THE GREATER BUILDERS. - Part 3

The astral plane is man's principal battle-ground and the area of his most intense field of sensation,—mental sensation (esoterically understood) is for him as yet only a possibility.  The astral body is the seat of man's most violent vibration, and these vibrations are a potent cause of his physical plane activities.  If man only realised it, the devas of the astral plane at present very largely control what he does and says, and his goal of evolution (his immediate goal) is to liberate himself from their control in order that he, the real Ego or thinker, may be the dominating influence.  To be explicit, and thus to illustrate this point:  the little elemental lives which form the body of the emotions, and the positive [663] life of any evolutionary deva who (through similarity of vibration) is linked to any particular man and who gives to him an astral body of a coherent and positive power, are as yet practically in control of the majority.  Man usually does as his desires and instincts prompt him.  If this evolutionary deva is of a high order (as will be the case in a highly developed man) the vibration will be high, and the desires and instincts will be good and exoterically right.  Nevertheless, if the man is controlled by them, he is as yet under deva influence, and must free himself.  If the deva life is of a low order, the man will demonstrate low and vicious instincts, and desires of a vile calibre.

If these remarks are rightly apprehended, some understanding will come of what is meant when the deva evolution is spoken of as being a "parallel evolution" to that of man.  In the three worlds the two lines of evolution parallel each other, and must not be consciously one.  In the planes of the Triad they are known as a unity, producing the Divine Hermaphrodite, or the Heavenly Man,—the self-conscious human units embodying the three aspects of divinity, while the conscious deva units embody the divine attributes.  The two, blended together, form the body of manifestation, the centres and substance of the Heavenly Man.  Great is the mystery, and until man knows his place within the conscious whole, he should reserve his opinion as to the meaning thereof.  It will be apparent, therefore, in view of the connection between the astral plane with its unified work, and the buddhic plane with the conscious harmony there experienced, that the astral body of man calls for the closest study and understanding.  A link will be found through its medium with the buddhic plane and harmonious activity on the physical plane will be produced.  The student of occultism should study carefully in this connection:

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a. The physical sun, and its relation to prana and the etheric body.

b. The subjective sun, and its connection with the astral plane, with the kama-manasic principle, and the astral body.

c. The central spiritual sun, and its relation to the Spirit or atma in man. [ccxiv] 15

d. The heart of the sun, and its relation to the lower and higher mental bodies, producing that peculiar manifestation we call the causal body.  In this connection it must be remembered that the force which flows from the heart of the sun, works through a triangle formed by the Venusian scheme, the Earth and the sun.

That another triangle was also formed involving two planets was to be expected under the law, and the triangles vary according to the scheme involved.

Cosmically there is a very interesting series of triangles which will be found by the student of esoteric astronomy and of occult cycles.  They originate in the central sun of our particular group of solar systems.  This series involves the Pleiades.  The fact that this is so will not be known until the last decade of the present century, and will not be recognised by science till that time when certain lines of knowledge and discovery will bring scientists to a realisation that there is a third type of electricity, which ever balances and forms the apex of the triangle.  But the time is not yet.

All that is here said is expressed in terms of deva groups and deva forces, which form (in their aggregate) substance responsive to analogous vibration.  This is occultly expressed under certain definite names.  It is possible, therefore, to transmit safely information of a character incomprehensible to the profane in such a phrase, for instance, as: "The triangle of...of...and of Group...of the Agnisuryans formed itself, and in the turning of the Wheel produced the third."  This conveys to the mind of the occultist the knowledge [665] that in the flow of force from a particular constellation, outside our system altogether, through a particular planetary scheme, and thus through the astral body of a planetary Logos, a condition was brought about which produced the appearance of the third kingdom in nature, the sentient conscious animal kingdom.  Some such similar phrase embodies also the deva connection with man's individualisation, but it profits not to pass it on; the above is only quoted in order to do three things:

1. Demonstrate somewhat the nature and extent of the forces flowing through our system.

2. Show the close connection we have with the deva evolution.

3. Emphasise the triangular nature and interrelation of all that eventuates.

It might be advisable here to bring out a point in connection with the devas of the lower planes (those with whom man is peculiarly connected).  They can be divided into certain groups, indicating their place in the scale of consciousness.  Perhaps the question may here be asked why we are dealing only with those deva groups which are to be found in the three worlds.  Occultly understood, these devas (of the type we are considering) are only found in the dense physical body of the Logos,—being the substance of the lower three subplanes of the cosmic physical.  The old Commentary says as follows:

"The spheres of fire seek location upon the lower three.  They originate by medium of the fifth, yet merge upon the planes of yoga.  When the fiery essences permeate all, then there is no more the fifth nor sixth, nor seventh, but only the three shining by medium of the fourth."

Therefore, for the purposes of our present study, the devas are only to be found in the three worlds.  Beyond those three planes we have the three aspects of [666] the major three manifesting through the fourth; we have consequently the spheres of the planetary Logoi upon the plane of buddhi.  They synthesise all that has been developing through the denser manifestation.  From the standpoint of the esoteric philosophy, the cosmic physical plane on which our entire solar system has its place must be studied in a dual manner:

1. From the point of view of the Heavenly Men, covering the evolutions of the four higher planes, or the etheric levels.  Of these we can know practically nothing until after initiation, at which time the consciousness of the human being is transferred gradually on to the cosmic etheric planes.

2. From the standpoint of the human being in the three worlds.  Man is the consummating evolution in the three worlds, just as the Heavenly Men are in the higher four.

In the three worlds, we have the parallel evolutions—deva and human in their many varying grades—the human naturally concerning us the most intimately, though the two evolve through interaction with each other.  In the higher four worlds, we have this duality viewed as a unity, and the aspect of the synthetic evolution of the Heavenly Men is the one considered.  It would interest us much could we but understand a little of the point of view of those great devas Who co-operate intelligently in the plan of evolution.  They have Their own method of expressing these ideas, the medium being colour which can be heard, and sound which can be seen.  Man reverses the process and sees colors and hears sounds.  A hint lies here as to the necessity for symbols, for they are signs which convey cosmic truths, and instruction, and can be comprehended alike by the evolved of both evolutions.  It should be borne in mind, as earlier pointed out, that:

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a. Man is demonstrating the aspects of divinity.  The devas are demonstrating the attributes of divinity.

b. Man is evolving the inner vision and must learn to see.

The devas are evolving the inner hearing and must learn to hear.

c. Both are as yet imperfect, and an imperfect world is the result.

d. Man is evolving by means of contact and experience.  He expands.

The devas evolve by means of the lessening of contact.  Limitation is the law for them.

e. Man aims at self-control.

Devas must develop by being controlled.

f. Man is innately Love,—the Force which produces coherency.  The devas are innately intelligence,—the force which produces activity.

g. The third type of force, that of Will, the balancing equilibrium of electrical phenomena, has to play equally upon and through both evolutions, but in the one it demonstrates as self-consciousness, and in the other as constructive vibration.

In the Heavenly Man these two great aspects of divinity are equally blended, and in the course of the mahamanvantara the imperfect Gods become perfect.  These broad and general distinctions are pointed out as they throw light upon the relationship of Man to the devas.

The devas of the physical plane, though divided into the three groups A, B, C, are under another grouping spoken of as "the Devas of the Seventh Order."  The seventh order is peculiarly linked to the devas of the first order on the first plane.  They are the reflectors of the mind of God of which the first order is the expression, and manifest it as it has worked through from the [668] archetypal plane.  This seventh order of devas is directly under the influence of the seventh Ray, and the planetary Logos of that Ray works in close co-operation with the Raja-Lord of the seventh plane.  As the goal of evolution for the devas is the inner hearing, it will be apparent why mantric sounds and balanced modulations are the method of contacting them, and of producing varying phenomena.  This seventh order of devas is the one with which the workers on the left hand path are concerned, working through vampirism and the devitalisation of their victims.  They deal with the etheric bodies of their enemies, and by means of sounds affect deva substance, thus producing the desired results.  The white Magician does not work on the physical plane with physical substance.  He transfers His activities to a higher level, and hence deals with desires and motives.  He works through the devas of the sixth order.

The devas of the sixth order are those of the astral plane, and are the devas who have the most to do with the forces which produce the phenomena we call love, sex impulse, instinct, or the driving urge and motive which demonstrates later on the physical plane in activity of some kind.  The positive vibration set up on the astral plane produces results on the physical and that is why the White Brother, if He works with the devas at all, works only on the astral plane and with the positive aspect.

These devas of the sixth order, as might be expected, are closely linked with those of the second order on the monadic plane, and with the heart centre of the particular Heavenly Man on Whose Ray they may be found.  They are allied too to the deva forces on the buddhic plane and in these three great orders of devas we have a powerful triangle of electrical force,—the three types of electricity which are met with in occult books.  It should be borne in mind that the equilibrising [669] type of force (at present an unknown type) flows in from the buddhic plane at this time, and the apex of the triangle is there.

These three orders are (in this solar system) the most potent, especially in this fourth round.  They influence particularly the fourth kingdom of nature, and are the basis of that search for balance, of that aspiration towards harmony, union and yoga which distinguishes man in all grades; it shows in its lower manifestation as the sex instinct as we know it, and in its higher as longing for union with God.

These devas of the sixth order come under the special influence of the Lord of the sixth Ray of Abstract Idealism, and it is their connection with Him which facilitates the working through of the archetypal idea on to the physical plane.  The sixth Creative Hierarchy likewise is specially connected with this particular order of devas, and through this dual influence is produced that physical manifestation which is definitely objective,—one type of force working through the etheric manifestation, and the other through the dense physical.

This will as yet prove an insoluble mystery to the student, but in the significance of numbers much can be discovered.  This angle of the matter should be studied in order to bring out the true meaning of this sixth order of devas, whose symbol is the six-pointed Star set at a particular angle and in full manifestation.  The six-pointed star is the sign that a "Son of Necessity" [670] (no matter whether God or man) has sought physical incarnation.  The devas of the sixth order, the Agnisuryans, are a prime factor in bringing this about.  In the sixth round these devas will begin to make their presence felt more and more potently, but the strength of their vibration will be very gradually turned upwards, and not downwards into the physical plane.  This will involve the transmutation of desire into aspiration, and will produce eventually the liberation of the planetary Logos, and bring a manvantara (or His cycle of physical incarnation) to a close.  Withdrawal of the force of desire results likewise in the cessation of man's physical existence.  The old Commentary expresses this truth in the following words:

"The Sixth retire within themselves; they turn towards the Fifth, leaving the Seventh alone."

In continuing our consideration of these deva orders, it should be pointed out that these three lower deva orders—the lower fifth, the sixth and the seventh—have a close connection with the moon.  They are the building agents which (working on the involutionary matter of the three worlds) construct the lower three bodies of incarnating man.  They are a branch of the lunar Pitris, but the fact should be remembered that this particular branch of pitris are those functioning in our particular scheme, and are closely allied to our planetary Logos.  Groups of these Pitris are found wherever man is in incarnation in all the schemes, but in other schemes they differ somewhat from ours, as the "Mystery of the Moon" is connected with a peculiar esoteric condition which concerns our own planetary Logos.

Wherever man is in incarnation, the Builders of his bodies are to be found but they will differ in:

a. Their rate of vibration.

b. Their stage of development.

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c. Consciousness.

d. Fohatic, magnetic and dynamic force.

It should be remembered also that each round sees the deva substance or the deva evolution changing; they also evolve and, therefore, the subject of the devas in their dual aspect as the negative and positive substance which produces objectivity must be studied in a threefold manner if a true idea is to be approximated.  Therefore, the devas—who are the sum-total of substance—must be considered from:

The standpoint of round development.

The standpoint of any particular planetary Logos as they form His body of manifestation, a scheme.

The standpoint of the human kingdom.

When this is not done, a wrong and narrow idea is the result.  In future time, as may be seen from a study of the Secret Doctrine[ccxv]16the Logos in His septenary Nature will be seen as the Macrocosm for Man, whilst the Microcosm, Man himself, will be seen also as the Macrocosm for the three lower kingdoms.  This is simply one way of studying the evolution of the conscious Entity—God, Man, or lesser life—by means of deva substance; it involves the study of the positive and negative interaction.  As says the old Commentary again:

"When Father approaches Mother, that which will be taketh form.  The union of the two concealeth the true mystery of Being.

When the two great devas seek each other, when they meet and merge, the promise of life is fulfilled.

When the one who sees and knows stands midway between his parents, then can be seen the fruition of knowledge, and all is known upon the planes of consciousness.

When Anu, the infinitesimal, is seen to contain Ishvara in His potency, when the lesser spheres and cycles expand into the [672] circle of the Heavens, then shall the essential Unity be cognised and manifested fully.

When the One that holds the life becomes the three behind which that life is hidden; when the three by revolution become the seven and the ten; when the thirty million crores of deva lives repeat the revolution; when the central point is reached and reveals the three, the nine, and the inner blazing JEWEL, then is the circle of manifestation consummated, and the One again becomes the ten, the seven, the three and the point."

Herein lies the key to the mystic marriage, and to the student of occultism much may be revealed through the study of these pairs of opposites; it will cause the revelation of the process (in time and space) whereby this union and its fruit is consummated, and the resultant creation of the divine Hermaphrodite is seen upon His Own high plane.

We must ever keep clearly in mind that we are dealing in this section with the evolutionary devas who are the positive Life animating involutionary matter or deva substance.  Consequently, the correspondence of the mystic marriage of Spirit and matter can be seen working out also in deva substance itself, through the interaction of negative and positive deva lives.  Substance itself represents essential duality; forms repeat the same duality, and when we arrive at man himself again, we have duality plus a third factor.  These three orders of deva substance—the lower fifth, the sixth and seventh—are a very mysterious group as far as man is concerned. [ccxvi]17  [673] They have scarcely been hinted at as yet in occult literature, but they contain within themselves the secret of our planetary individualisation.  They were the group which had much to do with the "sin of the mindless," and are very closely associated with animal man.  To the power and control which these pitris assumed must be ascribed much of the disastrous early happenings referred to in the Secret Doctrine, such as the above mentioned "sin," and also the early "failures" in building suitable vehicles for Spirits seeking incarnation.  Here also may be found the beginnings of that mysterious divergence which we call the "left and right hand paths," which conditions (existing within the body logoic and consequently being part of the divine consciousness) originated in the remote "space of time," when the sons of God were seeking form.  It has to do with a special condition in the astral body of our planetary Logos, and with His history as it lies hidden in the astral light.

It concerns that which He has to surmount and many of the problems which face the occultist, including the "sin of the mindless," the failure in Atlantean days, and even that mysterious "failure" of the Buddha (which has a planetary significance only hinted at in the Secret Doctrine[ccxvii]18 can be traced back to the condition of the deva substance of which the astral body of our planet, and the astral bodies of all forms are formed.  Our planetary Logos is one of the Lords spoken of as being a lesser lord, and more "full of passion" than the higher three.  Not even yet is His work completed, and deva [674] substance in its various living orders is not yet brought fully under His control.  The deva evolution has far to travel.

If this idea be extended to the solar system, it will be apparent that the astral vehicles of the different planetary Logoi differ.  This difference is necessarily dependent upon Their cosmic astral life which directly affects the systemic astral, or the physical liquid subplane of the cosmic physical.  This is a point but little realised.  The dense physical body of the planetary Logos exists, as we know, in a threefold condition—dense, liquid, and gaseous—and each is acted upon directly from the corresponding cosmic plane.  The condition of the various physical planets will some day be found to be dependent upon this fact.

When the psychic nature of the planetary Logos is understood (which knowledge is entered upon after initiation, being a part of the Wisdom) the nature of the different schemes, as regards their watery aspect, for instance, will be found to be connected with a particular astral state.  As the initiate progresses in wisdom, he intuitively comprehends the essential nature of the seven groups, or of the logoic Septenate, which is that concerning their colour or quality.  This colour or quality is dependent upon the psychic nature of any particular planetary Logos, and His emotional or desire nature can thereby be somewhat studied by the initiate.  This will lead eventually to a scientific consideration of the effect of this nature upon His dense physical body, and particularly that portion of it which we call the astral plane, the liquid sub-plane of the cosmic physical plane.  A reflection of this (or a further working out, if that term is preferred) is found in the liquid portions of the physical planet.

The seventh subplane of the cosmic physical plane can be subdivided into seven, which are our seven physical [675] subplanes.  It is this knowledge which enables a magician to work.  Given a certain physical phenomenon—such as the weight of water, for instance, upon a planet—and an initiate of the higher orders can form deductions from it as to the quality of the exalted Life manifesting through a plane.  He arrives at this knowledge through a process of reasoning from the liquid (sixth) subplane of the systemic physical plane to:

a. The liquid subplane of the cosmic physical, our systemic astral plane.

b. The fourth cosmic ether, the buddhic plane.

c. The second cosmic ether, the monadic plane, or the plane of the seven Heavenly Men.

d. The cosmic astral plane, thus getting in touch with the desire nature of the God.

This method naturally involves a vast knowledge of the deva substance and predicates an intuitive realisation of their orders and groups, the keynotes of those orders and of the planes, and also of the triple nature of substance and a knowledge of how to work with the third type of electrical force, which is the type of energy which puts a man in touch with extra-systemic phenomena.  Hence that force still remains unknown, and is only contacted as yet by high Initiates.

It will again be apparent why the Agnisuryans are of such supreme importance; they embody force which is a direct emanation from the cosmic astral plane and which reveals—when triply blended—the desire nature of our Heavenly Man, and of any particular planetary Logos.  In the two opposites, which are called by the theologians "Heaven and Hell," we have two of these types of force hinted at, and in this thought we have indicated one of the keys to the astral plane.

2. Summary.  Before passing to the consideration of [676] those devas who are concerned with the construction of man's causal body, and who are the linking group between the Triad and the Quaternary, both in man and the Logos, we will briefly enumerate the principal groups of Agnisuryans on the systemic astral plane, as they, in their totality, form the body of manifestation of the great deva or Raja-Lord of the plane.

First.  The Raja-Lord of the Plane, the great deva Varuna, Who is the central Life of the substance of the astral plane of our planetary scheme.  He is Himself an outpost of the consciousness of that greater Deva Who embodies the substance of the solar astral plane, or the sixth subplane of the cosmic physical plane.  He again in His turn reflects His prototype, that great cosmic Entity Who ensouls the cosmic astral plane.

Second.  Seven great Devas, who are the positive force of each of the seven subplanes of the systemic astral plane.

Third.  Various groups of devas, performing different functions carrying out varying activities, and producing constructive results.  They might be enumerated as follows, bearing in mind the fact that we are but touching upon a few of the many groups, and that there are numbers whose name is utterly unknown to man and would be unintelligible if mentioned:

1. Those devas who form the permanent atomic substance of all the Monads, both in and out of physical incarnation.  They are divided into seven groups according to the Ray of the Monad.

2. Those devas who form the "liquid" aspect in the physical body of the planetary Logos and of the solar Logos.  They are myriads in number, and include deva existences ranging all the way from those who ensoul the astral plane, and the astral currents of the highest religious and aspirational nature, to the little water [677] spirits which are reflections of such astral entities precipitated in watery physical matter.

3. A group of devas, who form the desire body of that great entity who ensouls the animal kingdom.  They are the total kamic manifestation (divorced from mentality) of animal desire in its incentive impulsive aspect.

4. Certain devas who—being of the third order—form the Heaven of the average orthodox Christian or believer of any faith.  Another group—being the seventh order—form the Hell for the same class of thinker.

5. Those devas who form the astral life of any thought-form.  These we will deal with later when studying thought-form construction.

6. A mysterious group of devas intimately connected at this time with the sex expression in the human family on the physical plane.  They are a group who are, at this juncture, swept into being, and they embody the fire of sex expression as we understand it.  They are the impulse, or instinct, back of physical sex desire.  They were peculiarly dominant in the fourth root-race, at which time sex conditions reached a stage of unbelievable horror from our point of view.  They are gradually being controlled, and when the last of the Lemurian Egos has passed into the fifth root-race they will be slowly passed out of the solar system altogether.  They are connected with the passional "fire" of the solar Logos and with one of His centres in particular; this centre is being gradually obscured and its fire transferred into a higher centre.

7. There is also a group of devas connected with the Lodge of Masters, whose work it is to build the aspirational forms towards which average man may aspire.  They are divided into certain groups—three in number—connected with science, religion and philosophy, and through these groups of deva substance the Heads of the three departments reach men.  It is one of Their [678] channels for work.  The Master Jesus is particularly active at this time along this line, working in collaboration with certain adepts on the scientific line, who—through the desired union of science and religion—seek to shatter the materialism of the west on the one hand and on the other the sentimental devotion of the many devotees of all faiths.  This is made possible now through the passing out of the sixth Ray and the coming in of the seventh.  It should be borne in mind by all students when considering the planes, plane substance and energy that they are in a condition of flux and change all the time.  The matter of all planes circulates, and cyclically certain portions become more energised than others; the matter of the planes is thus under a threefold influence, or—to word it otherwise—deva substance is subjected to a threefold cyclic stimulation:

1. Ray stimulation, dependent upon any Ray being in or out of power.  It is inter-systemic and planetary.

2. Zodiacal stimulation, which is an extra-systemic stimulation, and is also cosmic and cyclic.

3. Solar stimulation, or the impact of direct solar force or energy upon the substance of a plane; this emanates from the "Heart of the Sun" and is peculiarly potent.

All the planes are subjected to this threefold influence but in the case of the buddhic and the astral planes, the force of this third stimulation is very great.  The adepts—working in conjunction with the great devas—utilise cyclic opportunity to effect definitely constructive results.

8. A group of devas closely connected with the mysteries of initiation.  They form what is esoterically called the "path of the Heart," and are the bridge between the astral and the buddhic planes.  They are in no way [679] connected with the permanent atoms in the causal body, but are very definitely associated with the central tier of petals in the egoic lotus, or with the "petals of love."  Force interacts between these three petals on the one hand, and the devas who form the "Path of the Heart" upon the other, those who are the bridge of astral-buddhic matter whereby initiates of a certain mystic type make the "great approach."

9. Devas of all degrees and vibratory capacity who make up the bulk of the desire forms of every kind.

10. The devas of transmutative force.  They are a peculiar group of devas who embody the "fires of transmutation" and are called by various names, such as:

The furnaces of purifications.

The melting elements.

The gods of incense.

It is impossible to enumerate more now, and likewise profitless and it has only been deemed advisable to bring these many types of deva substance to the notice of students on account of the pre-eminent importance of the astral body in the three worlds.  It is by the domination of these deva lives, and the "transmutation of desire" into aspiration, and by the purificatory fires of the astral plane that man eventually succeeds in attaining buddhic consciousness.

It has been the recognition of the cleansing power of the occult fluids—water and blood—that has led to the emphasis laid by Christians (even though erroneously interpreted) upon these two.