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INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS - Part 4

TABULATION II
EVOLUTION IN THE UNIVERSE
Entity Vehicle Centre Space Time
The Unknown . . . . . . . . . . . 7 constellations . . . . . . . cosmic Logos . . . . . . . . 5 cosmic planes.  
A cosmic Logos . . . . . . . . .  7 solar systems . . . . . . . solar Logos . . . . . . . . . .  4 cosmic planes.  
A solar Logos . . . . . . . . . . . 7 planetary schemes . . .  Heavenly Man . . . . . . . .  3 cosmic planes . . . . Period of three solar systems.
A Heavenly Man . . . . . . . . . 7 planetary chains . . . . . Chohans and groups . . .  2 cosmic planes . . . . Period of one solar system.
A Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 etheric centres . . . . . . a Principle . . . . . . . . . . .  1 cosmic plane . . . . . Period of one planetary scheme.

  

[294] or monadic sheath as the synthesiser of the seven principles, making thus the three, the seven, and the ten.

In closing I would point out that the mind must carefully be kept from reducing all these ideas into a rankly materialistic concept. It must be rigidly borne in mind that we are dealing with the subjective life, and not with the objective form, and that we are considering, for instance, the synthesis of the principles or the qualitating energies and not the synthesis of form.

Through each etheric centre man is bringing to perfect vibration some one principle or quality through which the subjective life may express itself.

Through each chain in a scheme a Heavenly Man is endeavoring to do the same.

Through each scheme in a system, a solar Logos is working at the same thing; the goal is synthetic quality and not primarily the perfection of the form. The response of the energised form to the qualitative life is naturally—under the law—equal to the demand, but this is of secondary importance and is not the object in view.

We have seen that the work to be accomplished in all the above cases is necessarily threefold:

First. The development of individual consciousness.

Second. The development of group consciousness.

Third. The development of God consciousness, of that consciousness in each case which represents the highest spiritual Source, and which is recognised as the same in essence as the God within the individual, whether man or solar Logos.

This concept must be meditated upon by all thinkers and its synthesis emphasised. The relation of the cell to the group, of the group to the aggregate of groups, and of them all to the indwelling Entity Who holds them in synthetic correlation by means of the Law of Attraction and Repulsion is of vital moment. Two main ideas must always be borne in mind:

[295] That the terms "cell, group, or congery of groups" relate entirely to the form of vehicle, and thus to the matter aspect.

That the idea of an Entity Who synthesises the groups and is the animating life of the cell has to do with the Spirit aspect.

These two concepts lead necessarily to a third, that of the development of consciousness, which is the gradual expansion of the realisation of the Indweller in the form, the apprehension by the Self of the relation of the form to Itself, and of its slow utilisation and control. This persists until that Realisation includes the cell, the group, and the totality of groups. These ideas can be applied to the three grades of consciousness referred to. As follows:

Man, the lowest type of coherent consciousness (using the word "consciousness" in its true connotation as the "One who knows") is but a cell, a minute atom within a group.

A Heavenly Man represents a coherent conscious group.

A solar Logos on His Own plane holds an analogous place to that of a Heavenly Man in a solar system, and from a still higher standpoint to that of a man within the solar system. When the place of the solar planes within the cosmic scheme is duly apprehended it will be recognised that on cosmic levels of a high order the solar Logos is an Intelligence as relatively low in the order of cosmic consciousness as man is in relation to solar consciousness. He is but a cell in the body of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID. His work parallels on cosmic levels the work of man on the solar planes. He has to undergo on the three lower cosmic planes a process of developing an apprehension of His environment of the same nature as man in the three worlds. This fact should be remembered by all students [296] of this central division of our subject; above all the analogy between the cosmic physical planes and the solar physical planes must be pondered upon. It holds hid the fourfold mystery:

1. The mystery of the Akasha.

2. The secret of the fifth round.

3. The esoteric significance of Saturn, the third planet.

4. The occult nature of cosmic kundalini, or the electrical force of the system.

One hint on this fourth point may be given for wise consideration. When the electrical interplay between the planets is better ascertained (and by this I mean their negative or positive interplay), then it will be revealed which are related or connected, and which are nearing the point of balance. I would here point out very briefly certain facts, not pausing to elaborate or to elucidate, but simply making various statements which—as the knowledge of man progresses—will assume their rightful place in the ordered scheme. They will then be seen as enlightening and revealing the necessary sequence of development.

2. The Work of the Atomic Units.

a. The seven Heavenly Men, considered in relation to the Entity of Whom the solar Logos is a reflection, are as the seven centres in the physical body of a human being. This will be realised as the correspondence between the cosmic physical plane and the systemic physical plane is studied.

b. Three of these centres, therefore

Concern the lower centres of the cosmic Being.

Have their analogies on the dense, liquid and gaseous planes.

Are at present the object of the attention of cosmic kundalini.

[297] c. One of these centres corresponds to the solar plexus and is the synthesiser of the lower three, thus making a quaternary.

d. The centre which is analogous to that at the base of the spine, or the reservoir of kundalini, has a permanence which is not seen in the other two lower centres. The Heavenly Man Who embodies this principle and is the source of generative heat to His Brothers, must be sought for by the aid of the intuition. Concrete Mind will not here avail.

e. The three higher centres, or the Heavenly Men Who correspond to the head, the heart and the throat of the solar Logos, have Their etheric analogies on the three higher etheric levels of the cosmic physical plane, just as the Heavenly Man Who embodies the logoic solar plexus finds His manifesting source on the fourth etheric.

f. This Heavenly Man, with His etheric vortex or wheel of force on the fourth cosmic ether, is in this fourth round, a vital factor in planetary evolution.

g. When the Heavenly Man, Who is at present demonstrating through the Earth scheme, has succeeded in vitalising His middle centre, or in directing the force of planetary kundalini away from the lower centres to the solar plexus centre, a new cycle will be reached, and much of the present distress will be ended. His work is as yet in an embryonic condition, and two and a half more cycles must transpire before He has accomplished the necessary work. When that is done, the result in connection with the human units in incarnation will be threefold:

Sex stimulation, as now understood, will be showing a tendency to manifest in creation, not so much on the physical plane, as on the astral and mental, demonstrating in the creations of art and beauty, and the objective work of the scientists.

Crime, as now seen, based largely on the sex emotion, [298] will be a thing of the past, and physical plane license, orgy and horror will be reduced seventy-five per cent.

The interplay between the three dense physical planets will be perfected and man will pass at will from one to another.

I would here point out the inadvisability of the method whereby the names of the globes in a chain, just as the names of a chain in a scheme, follow the planetary nomenclature. This has led to confusion.

A clue tending towards the correct understanding lies hid in the words: "Venus is the Earth's primary." [cxix]17

It is not permissible to say much about this mystery, that "Venus is the Earth's alter ego," nor is it advisable, but certain ideas may be suggested which—if brooded on—may result in a wider grasp of the beauty of nature's synthesis, and of the wonderful correlation of all that is in process of evolution.

Perhaps some idea may be gained if we remember that, in an occult sense, Venus is to the Earth what the higher Self is to man.

The coming of the Lords of Flame to the Earth was all under law and not just an accidental and fortunate happening; it was a planetary matter which finds its correspondence in the connection between the mental unit and the manasic permanent atom. Again, as the antaskarana is built by individual man between these two points, so—again in a planetary sense—is a channel being built by collective man on this planet to its primary, Venus.

In connection with these two planets, it must be remembered that Venus is a sacred planet and the Earth is not. This means that certain of the planets are to the Logos what the permanent atoms are to man. They embody principles. Certain planets afford only temporary [299] homes to these principles. Others persist throughout the mahamanvantara. Of these Venus is one.

Three of the sacred planets, it should be remembered, are the home of the three major Rays, of the embodied forms of the three logoic aspects or principles. Other planets are embodiments of the four minor rays. We might consider—from the standpoint of the present—that Venus, Jupiter and Saturn might be considered as the vehicles of the three super-principles at this time. Mercury, the Earth and Mars are closely allied to these three, but a hidden mystery lies here. The evolution of the inner round has a close connection with this problem. Perhaps some light may be thrown upon the obscurity of the matter by the realisation that just as the Logos has (in the non-sacred planets) the correspondence to the permanent atoms in the human being, so the middle evolution between these two (God and man) is the Heavenly Man, whose body is made up of human and deva monads, and Who has likewise His permanent atoms. Always the three higher principles can be distinguished in importance from the four lower.

The key is hidden in the fact that between the number of a globe in a chain and its corresponding chain lies a method of communication. The same is true likewise of the correspondence between a chain of globes and a scheme of analogous number. The connection between Venus and the Earth lies hid in number, and it took a moment of mysterious alignment between a globe, its corresponding chain and the scheme of allied number to effect the momentous occurrence known as the coming of the Lords of Flame. It occurred in the third rootrace in the fourth round. Here we have an analogy between the quaternary and the Triad, carrying the interpretation up to a Heavenly Man. The chain was the fourth chain and the globe, the fourth. The fourth [300] chain in the Venus scheme and the fourth globe in that chain were closely involved in the transaction.

h. The progress of development of the Heavenly Men is by no means uniform. One point has not been emphasised hitherto, and that is, that the problem before each of Them is dissimilar, and, therefore, it is not possible for man correctly to gauge the work done by Them and Their relative point of attainment. It has been said that as Venus is in the fifth round, the Venusian Lord is further progressed than His brothers. This is not altogether so. Just as in the development of humanity three main lines may be seen with four lesser lines merging into one of the three main lines, so in connection with the Heavenly Men, there are three main lines of which the Venusian is not one. The Lord of Venus holds place in the logoic quaternary, as does the Lord of Earth.

The main idea underlying the question we have been endeavoring to answer has to do with the relationship between the schemes, chains, rounds, and races, and it should be borne in mind that these manifestations bear the same relationship to a Heavenly Man as incarnations do to a human being. This gives the opportunity here to bring out perhaps a little more clearly the place of cycles in the evolution of all these Entities from a man up to a cosmic Logos, via a Heavenly Man and a solar Logos. [cxx]18 Just as it is pointed out in the Secret Doctrine that there are greater and lesser cycles in the evolution of a solar system, so it can be predicated equally of a Heavenly Man, of a human being, and of an atom. This brings us, therefore, to another statement:

i. The cycles in the evolutionary process of all these Entities may be divided mainly into three groups, though necessarily these groups can be extended into septennates and into an infinity of multiples of seven.

[301] In connection with a solar Logos the cycles might be called:

1. One hundred years of Brahma.

2. A year of Brahma.

3. A day of Brahma.

These periods have been computed by the Hindu students and are the sumtotal of time as we understand it or the duration of a solar system.

In connection with a Heavenly Man we have the corresponding cycles to those of the Logos:

1. The period of a planetary scheme.

2. The period of a planetary chain.

3. The period of a planetary round.

Within these three divisions, which are the differentiations of the three great cycles of incarnation of a planetary Logos, are numerous lesser cycles or incarnations but they all fall within one or other of the three main divisions. Such lesser cycles might be easily comprehended if it were pointed out that they mark such periods as:

a. The period of manifestation on a globe.

b. The period of a root-race.

c. The period of a sub-race.

d. The period of a branch race.

In order to apprehend even cursorily the identity of manifestation of a planetary Logos in a root-race, for instance, it must be remembered that the sumtotal of human and deva units upon a planet make the body vital of a planetary Logos, whilst the sumtotal of lesser lives upon a planet (from the material bodies of men or devas down to the other kingdoms of nature) form His body corporeal, and are divisible into two types of such lives:

a. Those on the evolutionary arc, such as in the animal kingdom.

[302] b. Those on the involutionary arc, such as the totality of all elemental material forms within His sphere of influence. All the involutionary lives, as earlier pointed out, form the vehicles for the spirit of the planet, or the planetary entity, who is the sumtotal of the elemental essences in process of involution. He holds a position (in relation to a Heavenly Man) analogous to that held by the different elementals that go to the make-up of man's three bodies, physical, astral and mental, and he is—like all manifesting beings—threefold in his nature, but involutionary. Therefore, man and devas (differentiating the devas from the lesser Builders) form the SOUL of a Heavenly Man. Other lives form his BODY, and it is with body and soul that we are concerned in these two divisions of our thesis on FIRE. One group manifests the fire of matter, the other group the fire of mind, for the devas are the personification of the active universal mind, even though man is considered manasic in a different sense. Man bridges in essence; the devas bridge in matter.

In connection with Man the cycles are equally threefold:

1. The Monadic cycle, which corresponds in man to the 100 years of Brahma, and to a planetary scheme.

2. The Egoic cycle.

3. The Personality cycle.

In these thoughts on cycles we have opened up a vast range of thought, especially if we link the idea of egoic and personality cycles to the vaster periods in connection with a planetary Logos. The idea is capable of vast expansion, and is governed by certain fundamental ideas that must be carefully considered and contemplated.

[303] The cycles in a man's personality manifestation demonstrate in groups of fours and sevens, and follow the usual evolutionary sequence, as:

a. Differentiation, the involutionary process, or the one becoming the many, the homogeneous becoming the heterogeneous.

b. Balance, or the process of karmic adjustment.

c. Synthesis, or spiritualisation, the many again becoming the One.

d. Obscuration, or liberation, the end of the evolutionary process, or the freeing of Spirit from the limitations of matter.

By this we must understand that all incarnations on the physical plane are not of equal importance, but some are of more moment than others; some, from the point of view of the Ego, are practically negligible, others count; some are to the evolving human Spirit of importance analogous to the incarnation of a planetary Logos in a globe, or through a root-race, whilst others are as relatively unimportant to him as the manifestation of a branch-race is to a Heavenly Man.

As yet, owing to the small point of development of the average man, the astral incarnations or cycles count for little, but they are by no means to be discounted, and are oft relatively of more importance than the physical. In due course of time the astral cycles will be better comprehended and their relation to the physical. When it is realised that the physical body is not a principle but that the kama-manasic principle (or desire-mind principle) is one of the most vital to man then the period or cycle in which a man functions on the fifth subplane of the astral (the fundamentally kama-manasic plane) will assume its rightful place. It is so again with the mental cycles and so with the causal. The causal cycles or the egoic cycles, which include all the groups of lesser [304] cycles in the three worlds correspond to a complete round in the cycles of a Heavenly Man. There are seven such cycles, but the number of lesser cycles (included within the seven) is one of the secrets of Initiation.

The egoic cycles proceed in groups of sevens and of threes, and not in groups of fours and sevens as do the personality cycles, and the same ratio must be predicated of the central cycles of a Heavenly Man and of a solar Logos.

The monadic cycles proceed in groups of ones and of threes as do the basic cycles of those great Entities of which man is the microcosmic reflection. If the general concept here laid down is studied in relation to the schemes, and other forms of manifestation to each other and, if the microcosm himself is studied as the clue to the whole, some idea will begin to permeate the mind as to the purpose underlying all these manifestations. It should be borne also in mind that just as the average man in each incarnation achieves three objects:

1. The development of consciousness or the awakening of the faculty of awareness,

2. The achievement of a certain proportion of permanent faculty, or the definite increase of the content of the causal body,

3. The making of karma, or the setting in motion (by action), of causes which necessitate certain unavoidable effects,

so a Heavenly Man at one stage of His evolution does the same. As man progresses and as he enters upon the Probationary Path and the subsequent Path of Initiation, he succeeds in bringing about some further noticeable developments.

1. As before, his consciousness expands, but he begins to work intelligently from above and does not work blindly on the lower planes.

[305] 2. The building of the causal body is carried to full completion, and he begins next to shatter what he earlier wrought, and to destroy the Temple so carefully constructed, finding it too to be a limitation.

3. He ceases to make karma in the three worlds, but begins to work it off, or, literally, to "wind up his affairs."

So do the Heavenly Men, for They likewise have a cosmic path to tread, analogous to that trodden by man, as he nears the goal of his endeavor.

Again we can with exactitude carry the concept further still, and predicate action of a similar nature by the solar Logos.

The consideration of this question is nearly concluded and it must be apparent that the relation between the aforementioned manifestations is of a psychic nature (using the word psychic in its true sense, as having reference to the psyche, or soul, or consciousness) and deals with the gradual expansion of Soul-Knowledge in a Heavenly Man. A word of warning should here be sounded. Though all these cosmic Beings find in man a reflection of Their Own Nature, yet the analogy of resemblance must not be pushed to extremity. Man reflects, but he reflects not perfectly; man is evolving, but he is not occupied with the same problems in exact detail as are the perfected Manasaputras.

Man aims at becoming a Divine Manasaputra, or perfected Son of Mind showing forth all the powers inherent in mind, and thus becoming like unto his monadic source, a Heavenly Man. A Heavenly Man has developed Manas, and is occupied with the problem of becoming a Son of Wisdom, not inherently but in full manifestation. A solar Logos is both a Divine Manasaputra and likewise a Dragon of Wisdom, and His problem concerns itself [306] with the development of the principle of cosmic Will which will make Him what has been called a "Lion of Cosmic Will."

Throughout all these graded manifestations the law holds good, and the lesser is included in the greater. Hence the need for the student to preserve with care a due sense of proportion, a discrimination as to time in evolution, and a just appreciation of the place of each unit within its greater sphere. Having sounded this note of warning we can now proceed with the concluding remarks anent this final question.

It has been stated that a mystery lies hid in the 777 incarnations. This figure provides room for much speculation. [cxxi]19 It should be pointed out that it does not hold the number of a stated cycle of incarnations through which a man must pass, but holds the key to the three major cycles previously mentioned. Primarily this number applies to the planetary Logos of our scheme and not so much to other schemes. Each Heavenly Man has His number and the number of our Heavenly Man lies hid in the above three figures, just as 666 and 888 holds the mystery hid of two other Heavenly Men. This number 777 is also the number of transmutation, which is the fundamental work of all the Heavenly Men. The basic work of man is accumulation and acquisition, or the acquiring of that which must later be transmuted. The work of transmutation, or the true cycle of 777 commences on the Probationary Path, and is definitely the activity of a Heavenly Man being realised and responded to by the cells in His Body. Only when His Body has reached a certain vibratory movement can He truly influence the individual cells. This work of transmuting cell activity was begun on this planet during the last root-race, and the divine alchemy proceeds. The progress made is as yet but small, but each transmuted [307] conscious cell increases the speed and the accuracy of the work. Time alone is needed for the completion of the work. In connection with this matter of transmutation comes the legend of the Philosopher's Stone, which is literally the application of the Rod of Initiation, in one sense.