2. Thought Form Building in the Three Worlds.
I have a few more words to say anent this subject of man as a Creator in mental matter. The words are addressed to all those students who—through their ability to concentrate—have developed a certain measure of thought control, and who desire to understand the process of creation with greater scientific accuracy. We will, therefore, consider two factors in the process of thought-form building:
a. That of aligning with the Ego. [cclxxxvii]88
b. The process of impressing the egoic will, on the physical brain, or (to word it otherwise) the initial utilisation of egoic energy.
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a. Alignment with the Ego. This, as we know, is only possible to the man who has reached the Probationary Path, or a certain very definite point in evolution. Through knowledge and practice, the power has been acquired of automatically and scientifically utilising the sutratma (or channel) as a means of contact. When to this ability is added that of utilising with equal ease the antaskarana (or bridge between the Triad and the personality) then we have a powerful agent of the Hierarchy on the earth. We might generalise in the following manner as to the stages of growth and consequent ability to become the agent of ever increasing powers, tapping the resources of dynamic energy in the three worlds.
Lower types of humanity use the sutratma as it passes through the etheric body.
Average men utilise almost entirely that part of the sutratma which passes through the astral plane. Their reactions are largely based on desire, and are emotional.
Intellectual men utilise the sutratma as it passes through the lower levels of the mental plane, down through the astral to the physical in its two sections. Their activities are energised by mind and not by desire, as in the earlier cases.
Aspirants on the physical plane use the sutratma as it passes through the two lower subplanes of the abstract levels of the mental plane, and are beginning gradually to build the antaskarana, or the bridge between the Triad and the Personality. The power of the Ego can begin to make itself felt.
Applicants for initiation and initiates up to the third initiation use both the sutratma and the antaskarana, employing them as a unit. The power of the Triad begins to pour through, thus energising all human [960] activities upon the physical plane, and vitalising in ever increasing degree the man's thought forms. The key to the formation of the Mayavirupa is found in the right comprehension of the process.
If students will study carefully the above differentiations, much light will be thrown upon the quality of the energy employed in thought-form building.
In the early stages of alignment, it has to be concisely and carefully brought about through concentration and meditation. Later, when the right rhythm has been set up in the bodies, and the purification of the sheaths has been rigidly pursued, the dual activity will become practically instantaneous, and the student can then turn his attention to the work of conscious building and vitalisation; his point of concentration will not then be given to the attainment of alignment.
Accurate alignment entails,
Mental quiescence, or stable vibration,
Emotional stability, resulting in limpid reflection,
Etheric poise, producing a condition in the head centre which would permit of the direct application of force to the physical brain via the centre.
b. Physical brain impression. The accurate realisation by the physical brain of what the Ego is seeking to convey concerning the work to be done only becomes possible when two things are realised:
Direct alignment.
The transmission of the egoic energy or will to one or other of the three physical centres in the head:
The pineal gland.
The pituitary body.
The alta major centre, or that nerve centre at the top of the spine, where the cranium and the spine make approximate contact. When this congery of nerves is fully developed, it forms a centre of communication between the vital energy of the spinal column (the kundalini fire) and the energy of the two head centres above enumerated. It is the physical correspondence to the antaskarana on higher levels.
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CHART X — THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION
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The pituitary body (in all cases of correct normal development) forms the centre which receives the threefold vitalisation pouring through the sutratma from the lower mental, the astral, and the etheric planes. The pineal gland comes into activity when this action is enhanced by the pouring through of energy from the Ego on its own plane. When the antaskarana is in process of utilisation the alta major centre is likewise employed, and the three physical head centres begin to work as a unit, thus forming a kind of triangle. By the time the third Initiation is reached, this triangle is fully awakened and the fire (or energy) is circulated freely.
It will be apparent, therefore, that man's ability to create in mental matter grows as he treads the Path. He needs to remember that (from the angle from which we are studying) we are not considering the power of the Ego to produce forms on the mental plane, but the ability of physical plane man to create upon the mental plane those vehicles for energy which—when set in motion by his conscious will—will produce certain specific effects upon the physical plane. This is brought about by egoic energy passed down the sutratma to the physical brain, and retransmitted back to the mental plane, plus or minus that which has been gained or lost in the process. The true Adept, through knowledge, conserves all energy while in process of transmission, and augments it with the energy contacted. It is, therefore, the energy of will, plus that of desire, fed by the energy of the physical brain. Literally, therefore, it is a small resume of the creative process of the Godhead, being the [963] energy of the three persons unified, and considered from the standpoint of the physical. It is the at-one-ment of the three fires in man, being in fact:
a. That much of the fire of spirit, or electric fire, which any particular Ego is embodying (relatively little prior to the third Initiation) or is able to transmit, coupled with,
b. That much of the fire of the solar Angel (solar fire) or the egoic aspect which the Ego is able to transmit. This is but little in average man, a good deal in the man on the probationary path, and a full downpour by the time the third Initiation is reached.
c. That much of the fire of substance in its purified state which can penetrate. This is dependent upon the purity of the three sheaths, and in the case of a highly advanced man is the kundalinic fire as it swells the blaze produced by the other two.
When, therefore, the alignment is corrected, and the physical head centres are awakening, it becomes possible for man to become a conscious creator in mental matter.