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LETTER VI - THE USE OF FORM IN MEDITATION - Part 2

The synthetic work of the three Great Lords is inconceivably great.  Form-Life-Intelligence, Matter-Spirit-Mind, Prakriti-Purusha-Manas, are the three lines of development, and in their synthesis comes completeness.

Each of these three lines works through formulas, or through set forms, which by graded steps put the man who employs the form in touch with the particular line of evolution represented by the Head of that line.

................What I seek to bring out here are the three clear lines whereby a man may mount to the Logos and find union with the self of the Solar System.  He can mount by the line of the Manu, he can attain through the line of the Bodhisattva, or he can reach his goal via the path of the Mahachohan.  But specially note, that on this planet the Lord of Love and Power, the first Kumara, is the focal point for all three departments.  He [168] is the One Initiator, and whether a man works on the line of power, or on the line of love, or on the line of intelligence, he must finally find his goal on the synthetic Ray of Love and Wisdom.  He must be love, and manifest it forth, but it may be love working through power.  It may be love in harmony, or love working through knowledge, through ceremonial or devotion, or it may be just pure love and wisdom, blending all the others.  Love was the source, love is the goal, and love the method of attainment.

August 14th, 1920.

The three lines of approach.

As you will note (in continuation of that which we studied yesterday) there are three direct lines of contact between the higher and the lower, all finding their focal point through the same Initiator, and all, at the same time, quite distinct in their method of approach.  If this is borne in mind it will be apparent that each provides for the man (whose egoic note is one of the three, or a department of the third) the line of least resistance and the path whereby he may most easily approach the Ultimate.  It is fundamentally a matter dealing with various states of consciousness, and here it is that the Great Ones so powerfully assist the student.  Through meditation, adjusted to the desired line, the student can control step by step the various intermediate states that lie between him and his goal.  He rises by means of various focal points of force.  These focal points may be his Higher Self, they may be his Master, they may be an ideal.......But they are only steps upon the ladder whereby expansions of consciousness are obtained, and the man is enabled to extend the periphery of his consciousness until he gradually embraces all, and merges at last with the Monad, and later [169] [169] with the All-Self, the Logos Himself.

For the sake of clarity and in order to satisfy the craving of the concrete mind for differentiation these three departments are pictured as distinct and separated the one from the other, though having their points of contact.  In reality—apart from the illusion that mind always sets up—the three are one, and the seven are but blended parts of one synthetic whole.  They all interface and intermingle.  All the three departments are but necessary parts of one organisation over which the Lord of the World rules.  They are but the executives offices in which the business of our planet is handled, and each office is dependent upon the other offices, and all work in the closest collaboration.  The man who finds himself on one line has to remember that in time and before perfection is achieved he must realise the synthesis of the whole.  He must grasp it as a fact past all questioning and not just as a mental concept, and in his meditation there will eventually come a point when this realisation of the essential unity will be his and he will know himself as a fragment of a vaster whole.

In these three departments the method of approach to the Head of the Department is meditation, and the means whereby the student puts himself en rapport with the essential Life of that department (it is all a matter of terms) differ.  The life within the form manifests—as a result of meditation—in three different ways.  The results of meditation as demonstrated in terms of character, if I may so express it, are really the same aspects of manifestation under different terms or conditions.  Let me tabulate them for you:—

Line of the Manu

Force, Strength, Power to rule.

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Line of the Bodhisattva

Magnetism, Attraction, Healing.

Line of the Mahachohan

Electricity, Synthesis, Organisation.

I seek here to point out that the effect in the life of the student of meditation on one of these three lines will be as enumerated above, though all of course coloured and modified by his personality ray, and by the point attained in evolution.  If you study the three words applied to the three lines you will find it very illuminating.  (I seek not to enlarge the mental body but to train the intuition.)  These words demonstrate the law as working through the three groups, and the working out into active expression in the three worlds of the due following of the desired line.  Each line has its specific forms whereby those results are achieved, and the time is coming when the rudiments of these forms (the first fundamental formulas) will be given to students deemed ready and who have done the necessary preliminary work.

1. The line of the Manu.

We might here somewhat indicate the approximate method, and lay down certain rules which will serve to elucidate when the time comes.

This first line is specially the line of government, of racial, development, of working in and with the matter of all forms on all the planes of human evolution.  It is, as I have said before, the line of occultism.  It emphasises the hierarchical method, it embodies the divine autocracy, and it is the line whereby our Solar Logos imposes His Will on men.  It is closely linked to the Lords of Karma, and it is through the Manu's department that the Law of Cause and Effect is wielded.  The four Lords of Karma work closely with the Manu, for They impose the Law, and [171] He manipulates the forms of men, of continents, of races, and of nations so that that law may be duly worked out.

The man therefore who attempts through meditation to contact these powers, to rise to union by these means, and to attain the consciousness of the Will aspect, works under set rules, rises from point to point under due forms, and broods ever on the Law and its workings.  He seeks to understand, he discriminates and studies; he is occupied with the concrete and its place in the divine plan.  He admits the fact of the indwelling life but concentrates primarily on its method and form of manifestation.  The basic rules of expression and of government occupy his attention, and by studying the rules and laws, and by seeking to comprehend, he necessarily contacts the Ruler.  From stage to stage he rises—from the ruler of the microcosm in the three worlds, to the group egoic and its focal point, a Master; from the ruler of the group he rises to the Manu, the Ruler of the department wherein he has his place, thence to the Ruler of the World, later to the Planetary Logos, and thence to the Solar Logos.

2. The line of the Bodhisattva.

This is the line of religion and of philosophy, and of the development of the indwelling life.  It deals with consciousness within the form more than with the form itself.  It is the line of least resistance for the many.  It embodies the wisdom aspect of the Logos, and is the line whereby His love is manifested in a predominant fashion.  The solar system being in itself a direct expression of the Logos, and of His love aspect, all in manifestation is based upon it—love in rule, love abounding, love in activity,—but in this second line the above manifestation is supreme, and will eventually absorb all the others.

The man who meditates on this line seeks ever to enter into the consciousness of all that breathes, and by [172] graded expansions of consciousness to arrive eventually at the All-Consciousness, and to enter into the life of the Supreme Being.  Thus he enters into the life of all within the Logoic Consciousness.

He broods not so much upon the Law as upon the life that is governed by that Law.  Through love he comprehends, and through love he blends himself first with his Ego, then with his Master, next with his group egoic and then with all groups, till finally he enters into the consciousness of the Deity Himself.

3. The line of the Mahachohan.

This is the line of mind or intelligence, of knowledge and of science.  It is the line of abstract mind, and of archetypal ideas.  The man broods not so much upon the Law, not so much upon the Life, as upon the effects of both in manifestation, and upon the reason why.  The man on this fivefold line ever asks why, and how, and whence, and seeks to synthesise, to comprehend and to make the archetypes and ideals facts in manifestation.  He broods on the ideals as he senses them; he aims at contacting the Universal Mind, at wresting its secrets from it, and giving them expression.  It is the line of business organisation, the line also in which the artists, musicians, scientists and the workers of the world have their place.  The Spirits of Love and Activity pass much time in each of its five departments before passing on to the lines of love and of power.

In meditation the man takes some ideal, some part of the divine plan, some phase of beauty and of art, some scientific or racial problem, and by brooding over it and by the employment of lower mind, finds out all that can be known and sensed.  Then, having done all that, he seeks to raise the consciousness still higher till he taps the source of illumination, and gains the light and information [173] required.  He mounts likewise by entering into the consciousness of those greater than himself, not so much from the point of view of love (as in the second line) as from admiration and joy in their achievement, and gratitude for what they have given to the world, and devotion to the same idea that impels them to action.

Therefore you will see from even the most superficial study of the above three lines how apparent it is that all the sons of men are rising.  Even the ones—so apt to be despised—who are the active workers of the world may, in their place and through their devotion to the ideals of work or science or even of business organisation, be just as far advanced as the more highly considered ones who demonstrate more patently the love aspect of the divine Self.  Forget not that activity is just as divine and just as fundamentally an expression of the All-Father as love in sacrifice, and even more so than what we now know as power, for the power aspect is as yet not comprehended by any of you, nor will it be until a further manifestation.

August 14th, 1920.

Forms used in calling devas and elementals.

In taking up the two points that you have enumerated six and seven, we shall be able to deal with them as one, for the mantrams and forms used in contacting the devas, angels or builders, and in calling the elementals or subhuman forms of existence, are practically the same, and should in these letters be counted as such.

As a preliminary step let us be quite clear wherein lies the distinction between these two groups.

The elementals are, in their essential essence, subhuman.  The fact that they can he contacted on the emotional plane is no guarantee that they are on the evolutionary [174] path.  On the contrary, they are on the path of involution, on the downward arc.  They are to be found on all planes, and the etheric elemental forms—such as the brownies, gnomes and pixies—are well known.  They can be roughly divided into four groups:—

1. The elementals of earth.

2. The elementals of water.

3. The elementals of air.

4. The elementals of fire.

They are the essence of things, if you could but realise it.  They are the elemental things of the solar system in their four grades as we know them in this fourth cycle on the fourth or earth planet.

The devas are on the evolutionary path, on the upward way.  They are, as you know, the Builders of the system, working in graded and serried ranks.  Devas are to be found of the same rank as the Planetary Logoi, and the Rulers of the five planes of human evolution hold rank equal to that of a Master of the seventh Initiation.  Others are equal in development (along their own line) to a Master of the fifth Initiation, and they work consciously and willingly with the Masters of the Occult Hierarchy.  They can be found on all the lesser grades down to the little building devas who work practically unconsciously in their groups, building the many forms necessitated by the evolving life.

Earlier—prior to my dictating these letters to you—you received one communication along the line of the mantric invocation of the elementals and the devas.  The information given was correct, as far as it went, and you may if you wish incorporate it here.

"Force in evolution and force in involution are two different things.  That is a preliminary statement. [175] In the one you have destruction, violence, blind elementary powers at work.  In involution it is the elementals who do most of the work, working blindly along as controlled by the Builders.  The work is constructive, cohesive, a gradual growing together, harmony out of discord, beauty out of chaos.  The lower kingdoms of the devas work, guided by the great Building Devas, and all move upward in ordered beauty from plane to plane, from system to system, universe to universe.  Therefore in studying occult lore you need to remember two things:—

a. You control elemental forces.

b. You co-operate with the devas.

In one you dominate, in the other case you endeavour to work with.  You control through the activity aspect, by the definite doing of certain things, by the preparation of certain ceremonies, for instance, through which certain forces can play.  It is a replica on a tiny miniature scale of what the third Logos did in world making.  Certain activities had certain results.  Later on, revelations can be made as to the rites and ceremonies through which you can get in touch with the various elementals, and control them.  The Ceremonial Ray—by coming into incarnation at this time, is making things much easier along this particular line.

Fire elementals, water sprites, and the lower elementals can all be harnessed by rites.  The rites are of three kinds:—

1. Protective rites, which concern your own protection.

2. Rites of appeal, which call and reveal the elementals.

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3. Rites that control and direct them when summoned.

In working with the devas you use the wisdom or love aspect, the second aspect of the Logos, the building aspect.  Through love and longing you reach them and your first step (as you are on the path of evolution, as they are) is to get in touch with them, for together you must work in the future for the guidance of the elemental forces and the helping of humanity.  It is not safe for human beings, poor foolish things, to tamper with the forces of involution until they themselves are linked with the devas through purity of character and nobility of soul.

Through rites and ceremonies you can sense the devas and reach them, but not in the same manner nor for the same reason that you can the elementals.  The devas attend ceremonies freely and are not summoned; they come, as you do, to tap the power.  When your vibrations are pure enough the ceremonies serve as a common meeting-ground.

............I want to say in closing that when you have learned to use the activity aspect in work with the involutionary powers, and the wisdom aspect in co-operating with the devas, you will then unitedly pass on to use the first aspect, that of will or power."

Before proceeding further I seek to sound a note of warning as to the danger that lies in the calling and the contacting of these groups of builders, and more especially in the contacting of the elemental forces.  Why especially the latter?  Because these forces at all times find a response in one of the three lower bodies of men, these bodies (regarded as separated sheaths) being composed of these involutionary lives.  Therefore he who unwittingly lays [177] himself open to direct contact with any elemental, runs a risk, and may bitterly rue the day.  But, as a man approaches adeptship and has achieved mastery over himself, and can consequently be trusted with the mastery of other forms of life, certain powers will be his.  These powers—based as they are on law—will put into his hands the rule over lesser lives, and will teach him that co-operation with the deva hosts which will be so essential towards the latter end of evolution.

Mantrams of power.

The mantrams that hold the secret of power are, as you know and have been told above, of different kinds, and are primarily four:

a. Of prime importance are the protective mantrams.

b. The mantrams that call the elementals and lesser devas, and bring them into the magnetic radius of the one who calls.

c. The mantrams that impose upon the elementals and lesser devas the will of the one who calls.

d. Mantrams that break the charm, if I may put it so, and place the elementals and devas again outside the magnetic radius of the caller.

These four groups of mantrams refer especially to the calling and contacting of the lesser grades and are not much used, except in rare cases by initiates and adepts, who, as a general rule, work through the instrumentality of the great guiding devas and builders.  The Dark Brotherhood work with the forces of involution and bend to their will the unwitting lesser forms of life.  The true procedure—as followed by the Brotherhood of Light—is to control these involutionary groups and low grade devas [178] through their own superior ranks, the cohorts of the building devas with their Deva Lords.

This brings me to another group of mantrams used in connection with the devas themselves.

a. Rhythmic mantrams, that put the one who uses them in contact with the deva group he seeks.  These mantrams are, of course, forms of Ray Mantrams, for they call the devas on some one ray.  These mantrams again will vary if the man himself is on the same ray as the group he calls.  You ask why protective mantrams are not used first as in the case of calling elementals.  Principally for the following reason.  The mantrams calling elementals are more easily found and used than those calling the devas.  History is full of instances of where this has been done, and all over the world (even at this time) are people who hold the secret that will put them in touch with elementals of one kind or another.  Everyone in Atlantean days knew how to do this, and among savage peoples and by some individuals in civilised countries the art is still known and practised.  Secondly, the average man, even if he knows the mantram, will probably fail in calling a deva, for it involves something more than just chanting the words and sounds.  This something is one of the secrets of initiation.  When a man is an initiate or an adept he needs not the protective rites, for it is a law in the occult world that only those of pure life and unselfish motive can successfully reach the deva evolution, whereas in connection with the elementary lives it works the other way.

b. Mantrams that permit of intercourse with the devas once they have been called.  Speech, as we know it, is not understood by the devas, but impulses, forces, vibrations can be set up by the use of specific forms that lead to the desired result and obviate the need of speech. [179] [179] These forms open the avenues of mutual comprehension.

c. Mantrams that influence groups, and others that influence specific devas.  I would like to point out here that as a rule devas are handled in groups and not as individuals until you contact devas of a very high order.

d. Mantrams that directly call the attention of one of the deva lords of a subplane, or the mighty Deva Lord of a plane.  They are known to very few and are only used by those who have taken high initiation.

August 17th, 1920.

The comprehension of force.

......The tension today is great, and the force pouring in on all the different centres is apt—unless duly regulated—to cause a feeling of fatigue, of tension, of excitement and of restlessness.  The secret of regulation which lies in non-resistance is known to very few, and consequently the intensity of emotion, the violent reactions, and present widespread era of crime are the results, very largely, of force misused and misapplied.  This can be seen demonstrating in all ranks of life, and only he who knows the secret of being naught but a channel, and who abides still within the secret place, can pass through the present crisis without undue shattering and pain.  Stimulation—such as is at present abroad—leads to pain and consequent reaction and must be guarded against with as much care as its opposite, loss of vitality—guarded against, not in the sense of shutting oneself off from stimulating force but of receiving that force, passing it through one's being, and only absorbing as much of it as one can carry.  The residue will then pass out from one as a healing agency on its return to the general reservoir.  The true and occult significant of force in nature, of the electrical [180] currents of the universe, and of the latent heat stored in all forms is little understood as yet by your exoteric scientists, or your would-be occult students.......approached the study of occultism from this angle, and therefore, he attained a profound knowledge of law.

I have touched on this matter as it lies back of all instruction along occult lines.  If you can grasp somewhat its meaning, and understand how the law is but the adaptation of the form to some one or other of these great streams of force, you will illuminate your whole life and be carried on those streams of force, those magnetic currents, that vital fluid, those electrical rays (no matter what the terms used) right to the heart of the unknown.

This same idea of force and of the magnetic currents of the solar system governs all I have imparted on meditation in all its branches—specific, individual and collective, based on form or formless; it is the medium through which the mantrams work, from those that touch the elemental lives up to the great Words chanted in rhythm that call the Lord of a Ray, the Deva of a Plane, or the Lord of a Solar System Himself.  The sounding of these Words, the ascent through graded forms to some specific point, and the chanting of mantrams but put the one who is thus working into the line of some one stream of force.  It is the finding of the line of least resistance whereby to reach some goal, to communicate with some individual Intelligence, to control some involutionary life, and to contact and co-operate with some group of devas.  The above digression may serve somewhat to sum up what I have lately imparted anent forms, mantric or otherwise, as used by the student of occult meditation.

As may be imagined, the calling of either the devas or the elementals can only be safely undertaken by one who has the power to utilise them wisely when called, [181] hence the mantrams we have enumerated above are only put into the hands of those who are on the side of the constructive forces of the system, or who can constructively control the destructive elements, bending them into line with the disintegrating forces that are themselves part of the great constructive scheme.  Should anyone—not thus capable—be able to contact the devas, and, through the use of mantrams gather them to him, he would find that the force they carry would descend on him as a destructive one, and serious consequences might result in one or other of his bodies.

Think this out, therefore, remembering that those dangers would lie along the line of over-stimulation, of sudden shattering, and of disintegration through fire or heat.  Should he gather involutionary lives around him the dangers would be different or rather would demonstrate in the opposite effect,—such as loss of vitality due to vampirism, a sucking out of the forces of one or another of his bodies, an abnormal building in of material into some one body (due to the action of such involutionary lives as the physical or desire elementals), and death through water, earth or fire, understood in an occult sense.

I have dealt here with the risks run by anyone who calls within his magnetic radius either of these two groups, without possessing the necessary knowledge to protect, to control and to use.  Why have I dealt with this subject at all?  Because these magic forms exist, and will be used and known when the student is ready, and the work requires it.  Some day the lesser forms will be gradually given out to those who have prepared themselves, and who unselfishly work for the helping of the race.  As I said earlier, these were known in Atlantean days.  They led to dire results at that time, for they were used by those of unclean life, for selfish ends and evil purpose.  They called [182] the elemental hosts to perpetuate their vengeance on their enemies; they called the lesser devas, and utilised their powers to further their ambitions; they sought not to co-operate with the law, but to wield that law for physical plane schemes which originated in their desires.  The ruling Hierarchy deemed the danger too great, for the evolution of men and devas was threatened, so They withdrew gradually from the human consciousness the knowledge of the formulas and Words until such a time as the reason was developed somewhat, and the spiritual mind showed signs of awakening.  In this way the two great evolutions, and the latent third evolution (composed of involutionary lives) were separated and shut off from each other.  Temporarily the whole scale of vibration was slowed down for the original purpose had been a parallel development.  The secret of this apparent setting back of the plans of the Logos lies hid in the remnants of active cosmic Evil that had found their way into manifestation,—a remnant of the first or activity solar system, and the basis of this, the love system.  Evil is but the sediment of unfinished karma and has its root in ignorance.

This separation on a threefold scale of the evolving and the involving lives has continued up to date.  With the coming in of this seventh Ray of Ceremonial Magic, a tentative approximation of the two evolving groups is to be somewhat permitted, though not as yet with the involving group.  Remember this statement.  The deva and human evolution will, during the next five hundred years, become somewhat more conscious of each other, and be able therefore more freely to co-operate.  With this growing consciousness will be found a seeking after methods of communication.  When the need of communication for constructive ends is sincerely felt, then, under the judicious guidance of the Masters, will certain of the old mantrams [183] be permitted circulation.  Their action, interaction and reaction will be closely studied and watched.  It is hoped that the benefit to both groups will be mutual.  The human evolution should give strength to the deva, and the deva, joy to the human.  Man should communicate to the devas the objective point of view, while they in turn will pour in on him their healing magnetism.  They are the custodians of prana, magnetism and vitality, just as man is the custodian of the fifth principle, or manas.  I have given several hints here and more is not possible.

Tomorrow we will take up perhaps the most vitally interesting division on forms connected with fire.  Today the matter imparted suffices.

August 19th, 1920.

Mantric forms connected with fire.

Perhaps it would be of value if I touched somewhat upon the part fire plays in evolution and on the various departments connected with fire that may be found within our solar system.  I especially emphasise it because in meditation the domain of fire is entered, and because of its prime importance.  The departments in which fire plays its part are five.  Let us therefore enumerate them.  I will deal first with fire in the Macrocosm, and later show its microcosmic correspondence.

1—The vital fire that animates the objective solar system.  For instance, as evidenced in the internal economy of our planet, and the central ball of fire, the sun.

2—That mysterious something called by H. P. B. Fohat, of which some of the manifestations are electricity, certain forms of light, and the magnetic fluid wherever encountered.

3—The fire of the mental plane.

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4—The fire elementals who, in their essence, are fire itself.

5—The vital spark we call the "divine flame," latent in each human being, which distinguishes our Solar Logos from all other Logoi, and which is the sum of all His characteristics.  "Our God is a consuming Fire."

All these differentiations of fire are practically differentiations of one and the same thing; they are basically the same though in manifestation they are diverse.  They originated fundamentally from cosmic fire found on the cosmic mental levels.  In the Microcosm you find this fivefold differentiation again, and it is in the recognition of this correspondence that illumination comes, and the purpose of meditation is achieved.

1—The vital fires that keep the internal economy of the human being,—the microcosmic system—in full manifestation.  At the cessation of that inner burning, death ensues, and the physical objective system passes into obscuration.  So it is in the Macrocosm.  Just as the sun is the centre for our system, so the heart is the focal point for the microcosmic heat; similarly, as the earth is vitalised by the same heat and is, for our chain, the point of densest matter, and of greatest physical heat, so the lower generative organs are the secondary centre in the majority of cases for the internal fire.  The correspondence is accurate, mysterious and interesting.

2—The correspondence in the Microcosm to Fohat is found in the pranic currents that, through the etheric body, keep the dense physical vitalised and magnetised.  The resources of the pranic fluid are illimitable and little understood, and in their [185] proper comprehension lies the secret of perfect health.   We will touch upon this later.

3—The correspondence to the fire of the mental plane is easily demonstrable.  For the work of the Lords of Flame in implanting the spark of mind has so developed and grown, that now the fire of intellect is to be seen burning in all civilised peoples.  All energies are turned to the feeding of that spark and the turning of it to the greatest profit.

4—The fire elementals are known in some measure in the microcosm by the thoughtforms conjured up and vitalised by the man whose thought power suffices to do so.  These thoughtforms, built by the man who can think strongly, are vitalised by his life or capacity to heat, and last as long as he has the power so to animate them.  This is not for long at this time as the real power of thought is little comprehended.  In the fifth great cycle, which for this chain will see the culmination of the fifth principle of mind, this correspondence will be more understood.  At present the connection is necessarily obscure.

5—The vital spark latent in each human being which marks him out as of the same nature as the Solar Logos.

Here you have fire as it may be seen in the greater and the lesser systems.  I would here sum up for you the purpose of fire in the microcosm, and what must be aimed at.  You have the three fires:

1—The vital divine spark.

2—The spark of mind.

3—Kundalini, the twofold blending of the internal heat and of the pranic current.  The home of this [186] force is the centre at the base of the spine and the spleen as a feeder of that heat.

When these three fires—that of the quaternary, of the triad and of the fifth principle—meet and blend in proper geometrical manner, each centre is adequately vitalised, every power is sufficiently expressing itself, all impurity and dross is burnt away, and the goal is reached.  The spark has become a flame, and the flame is part of the great egoic blaze which animates all of the objective universe.

Therefore, we are brought logically to the position that there will be for these three types of mantrams another mantram which will bring about their union and merging.  You have in fact:—

Mantrams that affect kundalini, and arouse it in the right manner.  By the power of the vibration they send it circulating through the centres according to their natural, geometrical progression.  A secondary branch of these mantrams deals with the spleen, and the control of the pranic fluids for the purpose of health, for vitalisation, and for affecting the fire at the base of the spine.

Mantrams that work on the matter of the mental plane, on one or other of its two main divisions,—abstract and concrete,—and which work there in a twofold manner, producing an increased capacity to think, wield or manipulate mental matter, and, acting as a stimulant to the causal body, fit it more rapidly as a vehicle of consciousness, and prepare it for the final disintegration which is effected by fire.

Mantrams that evoke the God within, and work specifically on the Ego.  From thence they set up a [187] strong vibration within the higher Triad, and so cause a downflow of the monadic force into the causal body.  All these mantrams can be used separately, and achieve their own result.

There are seven great mantrams, one for each ray, that (when used by the Master or by a member of the Hierarchy) combine all the three effects.  They arouse kundalini, they work on the causal vehicle on the mental plane, and they set up a vibration in the Triad and thus effect an at-one-ment of the lower, the higher and the fifth principle.  This is a reflection of what occurred at the coming of the Lords of Flame.  It leads to complete unification, and marks the man out henceforth as one in whom love demonstrates in action by the aid of illuminated mind.

These are the four most important mantrams as regards individual evolution and development, and are well-known to all those who train pupils for initiation.  But by themselves, even if discovered by the unready, they could accomplish little, for their use must be accompanied by the power that comes from the application of the Rod of Initiation.  This Rod, through its surmounting diamond, focuses the three fires in the same way that a burning-glass reacts to the sun, and causes a conflagration.

I have here given you a lot of information in very few words.  The matter is much condensed.  It has a special significance for the man who nears the Path of Initiation.  Ponder carefully on this which is imparted, for, by brooding upon it in the silence of the heart, light may come, and the inner fire glow with greater heat.

Other mantrams connected with fire can be further enumerated.  There are two groups that are contacted by the use of certain rhythmic sounds.

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The fire elementals and their various hosts in the bowels of the earth, on the surface of the earth, and in the air above the earth.

The devas of the mental plane, who are essentially the devas of fire.

With the mantrams affecting the elementals of fire there is nought to be said or imparted.  They are, in many ways, the most dangerous and the most powerful of the elementals who attend to the earth economy.  For one thing, they far outnumber all the other elementals, and are found on every plane from the highest to the lowest.  The elementals of water or earth are found only in certain localities or spheres in the solar system, whilst the next most numerous elementals are those of air.

Mantrams calling them, controlling and dismissing them, were in common use among the Atlanteans.  The dangers aroused, and the menace stalking the land through the indiscriminate use of elementals, so disturbed the accurate working of the logoic plans, and so displeased the Guides of the race that the knowledge was withdrawn.  The Atlantean root race passed away through disasters by water, by floods, by submergings; when you remember that water is the natural enemy of fire, and that the two groups of elementals have no point of at-one-ment at this stage, you may be able to understand an interesting point about the Atlantean cataclysms.

Mantrams calling the fire devas are equally well guarded, not only because of the dangers involved but because of the obstructions in time that are caused when these devas are heedlessly called and held by mantric charm from pursuing their necessary vocations.  Under these two groups of mantric forms will be found many lesser groups which work specifically with different bands of elementals and devas.

[189]

We have here enumerated six groups of mantrams connected with fire.  There are still a few more which I might briefly enumerate.

Purificatory mantrams that awaken a fire that purifies, and burns on one of the three lower planes.  This is effected through the activity of elementals, controlled by fire devas, and under the direct guidance of an initiate or disciple for some specific purificatory end.  The end may be to cleanse some one of the bodies or to purify a locality, a house or a temple.

Mantrams that call down fire for the magnetisation of talismans, of stones and of sacred spots.

Mantrams that bring about healing through the occult use of flame.

The mantrams used:—

a—By the Manu, in manipulating that which is necessary in the moving of continents, and the submerging of lands.

b—By the Bodhisattva, in stimulating the inner flame in each human being.

c—By the Mahachohan, in His work with the intelligence, or the fifth principle.

All these mantric forms and many others exist......The first step towards the attainment of these mantrams is the acquirement of the faculty of occult meditation, for it is not the sounding of the words alone that bring about the desired end but the mental concentration that visualises the results to be attained.  This must be accompanied by the will that causes those results to be dominated by the one who chants the sounds.  These mantric forms are dangerous and useless apart from the concentrated mental equilibrium of the man, and his power to control and vitalise.

[190]

August 21, 1920.

We come now to the last division of our sixth letter.

The use of Form collectively.

I propose to take this up under three heads which for purposes of clarity we will call:—

1—The use of sound collectively in a meditation form.

2—The use of rhythm collectively in meditation.

3—Special occasions on which these forms are used.

......We have rather exhaustively considered in this series of letters individual meditation and have taken up the subject from many and varied angles.  In all our handling of the matter only enough has been communicated to arouse the interest of the student and to incite him to greater effort, closer study, and deeper investigation.  Only that which is understood and grasped as a fact in experience by the inner consciousness avails aught in the hard path of occult development.  Theories and mental concepts avail not.  They but increase responsibility.  Only when these theories are put to the test, and are consequently known to be facts in nature, and only when mental concepts are brought down and demonstrated on the physical plane in practical experience, can the student be in a position to point the way to other searchers, and to hold out a helping hand to those following behind.  To say:  "I hear" may prove helpful and encouraging; to add to that the words "I believe" may carry added assurance, but to sound forth a trumpet note and say "I know" is the thing needed in this one of the darkest hours of the Kali Yuga.  The knowers are as yet few.  Yet to know is fully possible and is subject only to the diligence, the sincerity, and the capacity of the pupil on the path to stand firm in suffering.

[191]

Now having some dim idea of the results to be achieved, and the methods to be employed in individual meditation, and having enlarged a little on the use of forms by individuals, we can now take up the consideration of the matter from the collective standpoints.

Some of the most important things to note about the collective use of forms are that it has a universal vogue, is very effective, and can also be very dangerous.  The collective worshipping of the Deity and the performance of religious rites in unison is so much a part of the public life of all peoples that its raison d'etre, and the results achieved, are apt to be overlooked.  Every religion—Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Mohammedan, down to the distorted fetish worship of the most degraded race—has emphasised the value and efficiency of a united attempt to contact the Divine.  Results are inevitably achieved, ranging all the way from the calm and peaceful feeling that rests upon the participant in the Christian mysteries, to the frenzy and gyrations of the wildest dervish or the most benighted Zulu.  The difference lies in the ability of the worshipper to assimilate force, and in his capacity to hold and carry it.  These points are decided by his place on the ladder of evolution, and by the emotional and mental control of which he may be possessed.

The first postulate to remember in considering the collective use of form in meditation is that those forms, in employing sound and rhythm, should open up a funnel of communication between those taking part in them and the Intelligences or Powers they are seeking to approach.  By the means of this funnel which penetrates from the physical to the emotional, or still higher to one or other of the mental levels, the Intelligences or Powers are enabled to pour forth illuminating light or power of some kind or other into those who thus approach Them.  The funnel [192] forms a channel whereby the contact can be made.  The whole process is purely scientific and is based on vibration, and on a knowledge of dynamics.  It is dependent upon the accurate formation, through occult knowledge, of a vacuum.  The occult statement that "Nature abhors a vacuum" is entirely true.  When through the correct intoning of certain sounds, this vacuum or empty funnel between the higher and the lower is formed, force or power of some manifestation of fohatic energy pours into the funnel under the inevitable working of the law, and, via that funnel, reaches its objective.

It is on the misuse of this knowledge that much of what we call black art or evil magic is based.  By means of invocation and forms the Dark Brothers (or those who tamper with what you ignorantly term the powers of evil) tap forces connected with dark intelligences in high places.  Thus they set in motion happenings on the physical plane that have their origination in the dark mysterious caves of cosmic evil as found within our solar system.  Equally so, it is possible to tap the still greater forces of light and good and to make application of them on the side of evolution.

The use of sound collectively in meditation forms.

We will now take up the matter specifically from the standpoint of sound.  In the study of the Sacred Word and its use we found that it had a triple effect, destructive, constructive and personal,—if I might so express it—or acting directly in a stimulating sense on the centres of the body.  These three effects may be seen in the use of all sound collectively and by a large body of persons.  We might enumerate still further for the sake of clarity a fourth effect, that of the creation of a funnel.  This fourth effect is but a synthesis of the others in actuality, for adjustments [193] in the matter of the three lower planes have to be made in this creation of a funnel of communication.  Those adjustments result first of all in the destruction of obstructing matter, and then in the construction of a funnel for use.  This is very definitely effected through the instrumentality of the centres.  This latter point is of fundamental interest, and holds hid the secret of the most potent use of sound.  That use is its projection in mental matter by means of one or other of the major centres.  The effects achieved by a group of persons who have the power to work on mental levels, and to employ simultaneously one of the major centres (either entirely the head centre or one of the other major centres in connection with its corresponding head centre) can be unbelievably powerful.  It is well for the race that as yet that power is not theirs.  Only when united purity of motive and an unselfish adherence to the good of all can be found, will this power be permitted to return to the common knowledge of men.  As yet it is practically impossible to get a sufficient number of people at the same stage of evolution, at the same point on the ladder, employing the same centre and responding to the same ray vibration to meet in unison, and sound together the same note or mantram.  They must also be animated by pure love, and work intelligently for the spiritual uplift of all.

Part of the power of the Hierarchy is based on Their ability to do just this very thing.  As evolution progresses, and the matter is more fully comprehended, meditation groups will change from their present status, which is that of bands of earnest aspirants seeking illumination, to bands of workers constructively and intelligently working together for certain ends.  You have in the Christian Bible the remnant of a tale which has descended to us from Atlantean days.  In those days the use of sound on physical [194] and emotional levels was understood and practised, being utilised for selfish ends in most of the cases.  You read that at the sound of trumpets, sounded a certain number of times after a rhythmical circuit of the walls of Jericho those walls collapsed.  This was made possible by the occult knowledge of the leaders of the people who—being versed in the science of sound and having studied its destructive and creative effects,—knew just the moment to apply that science and effect the desired end.

These sounds can be grouped under three heads:—

The united sounding of the Sacred Word.

This is one of the most usual methods, and the most direct way of forming a funnel for the transmission of power.  If it is so effective in the case of the individual, as has been again and again demonstrated, surely its united use will be tremendously effective, and even dangerously potent.  It is the loss of the use of this Word that has crippled and hindered the efficiency of all the present exoteric faiths, but this loss has been deliberately brought about owing to the dangers incident to the low point of evolution of the human hierarchy.  When the use of this word is restored collectively, and when congregations of men can sound it correctly on the right note and in the right cadence or rhythm, then the downflow of force from above (the quality of that force depending on key and tone) will be such that the vivification of the microcosm will affect the surrounding country and environment.  It will cause corresponding stimulation in all the kingdoms of nature, for the human kingdom forms a link between the higher and the lower, and, in conjunction with the deva kingdom, provides a meeting ground for the forces of life.

These effects upon the different centres will be definitely felt on one or other plane in the three worlds.  Let [195] me illustrate, for clarity is desired.  I must warn you however to bear in mind that no importance must be attached to the order specified here.  The time is not ripe for the opening up of accurate information on this matter.