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III. THE PRESENT STAGE OF MANASIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE THREE GROUPS

Literally, should we paraphrase this sentence, we might express it in the form of an enquiry as to the point attained in the active working out of the purposes of the great Entities involved in cosmic and systemic manifestation; we might also enquire if the intelligent will of the cosmic Logos and of the solar Logos and equally (within the system) of the different planetary Logoi, proceeded satisfactorily to a stage where it can be both appreciated and somewhat comprehended.  These thoughts are involved in the consideration of this point, and open up for us much of very real interest.  It should here be pointed out that the manasic principle (whether cosmic, systemic, or human) manifests in five ways, is transmuted into wisdom after its fivefold manifestation, and eventually is resolved into pure will or power.  Herein lies the clue; all the objective display we see around us in connection with the Heavenly Men, and with the cells of Their bodies, [402] lies hidden in this.  Herein may be found the mystery of the five Kumaras, Who are awaiting the final resolution, and herein is secreted the knowledge of divine alchemy, which is based on the five elements, and is concerned with their transformation into a primal element through the medium of an intermediate stage.

1. In the Planets.

Occult students need, in considering these points, to remember very clearly the distinction between transmutation and the final resolution; between the process of transforming the five elements, esoterically understood, and the final resolution of the transmuted essences into their synthesis.  This has a vital bearing upon our subject, for resolution is as yet by no means possible, and the process of transmutation is only just beginning in the majority of cases.  In studying these subjects we have necessarily to confine ourselves to the Heavenly Men, for the human units—as cells in Their body—are of course included in all that is posited about Them, and until it is known which cosmic Logos recognises our solar Logos as a centre in His body, and which six other systems are affiliated with ours, it will not be possible to touch upon the systemic stage of manasic development.  But in connection with the Heavenly Men certain facts are possible of theoretical comprehension, even though not as yet demonstrable to the scientific mind.  We will, as usual, tabulate our premises, and thus keep clearly in mind, and visualised, the points under investigation:

First.  It might first be said that the third aspect, combined with the second, or Brahma and Vishnu allied, go to the totality of the Divine Manasaputras.  They are Will utilising matter, or active intelligent substance, in order to demonstrate Love-Wisdom; all this is based on purpose, and has causation as a fundamental.  This [403] Brahma aspect is fivefold and, with the Vishnu aspect, makes the six, or the pentagon, having Mahadeva or Will in the centre of all manifestation.

Second.  This fivefold Brahma aspect or the five Kumaras, are in full manifestation, and, with the reflection of the other two aspects, make the seven of our manifested system.

Third.  Mercury and Venus are in process of transmutation, and the manasic principle in both these schemes, having reached a high stage of development, is being transmuted into Love-Wisdom.  When three fifths of the units (deva and human) that go to the composition of the vehicles of any planetary Logos are entering upon the Path, then the process of transmutation is entered upon.  The faculty of MIND is then an instrument for creative use, and not the "slayer of the real," and a barrier to the free life of the Spirit.

Again, it must be noted that Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Vulcan are as yet developing manas, and the stage achieved in each varies, and is not for exoteric publication.  The Heavenly Men of these schemes have not yet succeeded in bringing Their bodies to the stage where transmutation on a large scale is possible.  They are approaching it, and when the necessary three fifths is reached, then They will begin to transmute on a larger scale.  The Earth scheme has about one fifth in process of transmutation in one or other of the globes at this time and Vulcan has very nearly two fifths.

We might here point out that though we are concerned primarily with manas in the human cells in the body of a planetary Logos, yet we must remember that the deva units in some schemes preponderate.  Although from the standpoint of a human being the devas are in no way considered as coming under the influence of manas, as we understand it, yet from another angle they are manas itself, the active creative force, the fifth and the sixth [404] Hierarchies in full display.  We should ponder upon the relationship (a necessarily close relationship) between the fifth deva Hierarchy and the fifth logoic principle, and we should also bear in mind that—viewing the whole matter from the angle of vision of a Heavenly Man—the devas are a corporate part of His nature, and He is a Manasaputra, a creative Builder, and the fivefold aspect of Brahma.  The sumtotal of manas is pure deva essence, and it is only as union is made between this fivefold third aspect and the other two aspects that what we understand as MAN—whether Heavenly Man or human—comes into being.  The devas are united with these other two factors and the result is:

a. A solar Logos.

b. A Heavenly Man.

c. A human being.

This is a great mystery and is allied to the mystery of electricity (or of fohatic life) which H. P. B. [cxliv]42 refers to.  The Messengers, the Builders, the devas, are flaming fire, radiant electric matter, and only in time and space, only during manifestation and only through the cycles of objectivity, is such an entity as man possible, or can a Heavenly Man come into existence.  Outside a solar ring-pass-not, for instance, and as far as our evolution is concerned, we have radiant electric substance, active, intelligent ether, ensouled by the deva evolution. [cxlv]43  These [405] work blindly and under the laws of cosmic electricity.  (We must differentiate with care between cosmic electricity, and the electrical akasha of the system, which is electrical substance confined and brought under another set of laws through the instrumentality of another factor, that of pure Spirit.)  Outside the ring-pass-not, we have that abstraction which we call pure Spirit.  This "pure Spirit," or abstract, conscious Being, through conscious karma periodically seeks to manifest, and wills to work out a purpose under the laws of Its Own being, and is thus impelled by the attractive quality of its opposite pole, intelligent substance, to blend with it.  The meeting of these two polarities, and their point of merging, causes that flash in the cosmic universe which we call a sun, and results in light or objectivity.  Within the ring-pass-not, therefore, the electric fire of pure Spirit can only manifest through merging or union with electrical substance, and is, therefore, during evolution and for the major portion of the process, limited by it.  In fact, little as it is realised, the deva evolution controls for the greater portion of manifestation up to the beginning of the transmutative process.  They build incessantly the confining form.

When the process of transmutation is effected by the five Heavenly Men, then the whole system is reaching a very high stage of evolution, and with the two schemes which will be entering into the stage of obscuration, the resolving process will commence.  The plan, viewed largely, will be as follows:

The four schemes which form the logoic Quaternary [406] will merge into their synthesising scheme, that of Saturn, while Venus and Mercury will merge into Uranus and Neptune.  No importance need be attached to the sequence of these names.  The dual fact is all that is necessary to grasp.

Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn will, therefore, have absorbed the essence of manifestation and (in connection with the solar Logos) they correspond to the three permanent atoms in the causal body of a man.  We say "correspond" for the analogy is not in detail.  Uranus and Neptune are reflections of the logoic astral and mental permanent atoms. Saturn is in fact the correspondence to the logoic physical permanent atom.  This is an occult mystery and must not be separated from its allied truth in the cosmic scheme.

Viewing manas as the vibratory activity of all atoms and narrowing our concept down to our own scheme it is interesting to note that some correspondences can be traced as we study this fifth principle during the present round, the fourth.  The manasic principle is the basis of the coming into activity and the mental recognition of the following facts in nature.

The fifth spirilla within the atom of matter will become active.  This fifth spirilla is beginning faintly to vibrate, while the fourth spirilla in this fourth round is assuming a vibration that will cause the intense vitalisation of the vehicles, and eventually bring about the shattering of the form, and the subsequent escape of the Spirit into a form composed of matter which responds to the vibration of the fifth spirilla.

The fourth ether is coming into recognition, and along with it will come the knowledge of the lives which it embodies.  Hence the success of spiritualistic endeavour, for the larger number of the average discarnate entities at this stage who are willing to make contact with the physical plane are clothed in matter of this ether.  The devas [407] of this ether will also come to be known before the end of this round, and alliance will be made between the fourth Creative Hierarchy of men, and the devas of the fourth ether.

The fourth plane, the buddhic, by the aid of manas, will gradually be realised.  This will be done as manas is transmuted into wisdom.  By a few in this round the fifth principle will be superseded by the principle of buddhi.  Right on from now till the middle of the next round there will be an overlapping of the four and the five—manas and the buddhic principle—thus making the nine, or perfected man, the initiate.

It might also be remarked that more and more will the control of the fourth Kumara be evidenced and felt.  On this I cannot enlarge, being only permitted to make the statement.

The consciousness of the mass of the human family will gradually pass on to the fourth subplane of the mental plane, and be more and more controlled by purely concrete mind.  Unless this is paralleled by a steady influx of egos on to the buddhic plane in conscious activity, and thus out of the control of manas pure and simple, a very serious condition will have to be handled by the Hierarchy.

The work of the four Maharajahs who apportion karma within the ring-pass-not will reach its culminating point during the fourth round.  In the next round, the work of the Lipikas who handle affairs in connection with our system outside the ring-pass-not will become more prominent.  This is necessarily so, as the Lipika Lords dispense the law to those who have merged themselves with their divine principle, and are no longer held by the material forms of the three worlds.  The Lords of Karma, or the Maharajahs, work with the sons of men in the three worlds, and through manasic principle.

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2. In the System.

We have now for consideration some further points on the subject of manasic development within the system and then we can proceed to discuss the future of manas, our final subheading.

It will be apparent to all of us that the vastness of the subject and the enormous cycles of time involved tend to obscurity and lack of definiteness.  Only the high lights stand out, and only broad general concepts, and the impartation of fundamental facts (to the exclusion of detail) are in any way possible in this treatise.  Certain ideas stand out clearly against the background of intricate plans, against the apparent confusion caused by the overlapping of cycles, both great and lesser, and against accumulation of chaotic detail.  This apparent chaos, and even seeming contradiction, is the result of our imperfect evolution, the result of our entire lack of perspective incident upon our place in the planetary scheme, and the result of the shortness of our vision.  Broad outstanding generalisations are all that we can appreciate at our present state, and they might be summed up as three in number:

Position or the place of the system within its greater whole, and the corporate nature of all manifestation.  This involves the concept of:

A cosmic system, involving lesser systems and holding them together by the power of a unified life. [cxlvi]44

A solar system, a portion of that greater system of manifestation, [409] equally involving lesser forms of objectivity, and holding them likewise unified by the power of its own life.

A planetary scheme, or subdivision of that solar system.  This likewise persists as a unit by itself, yet has no existence apart from other units.

Groups or unified bodies within the scheme.  These are again individualised, yet at the same time are a part of the greater whole.

Congeries or aggregations of cells, the subdivisions of groups.  These must be similarly interpreted.

The cells, or the individualised units, within the groups.  Each of these is a conscious entity, yet each has no existence apart from its groups.

Each of these divisions is characterised by:

An ensouling life, which—as far as we are concerned, emanates from the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID, Who ensouls the seven solar systems, down through the Lord of a solar system, through the cosmic Entities we call the Heavenly Men, and the solar Entities ensouling groups and through that peculiar central manifestation we call a human being to the little cell within the body of that human being, and the atom which is the basic material whereof all forms in all the kingdoms of nature are made.

Intelligent activity, or the display of purpose or manas, the fifth principle in every type of manifestation.  This, as earlier pointed out, is the intelligent plan of the Entity concerned working out in time and space.

Power to evolve or progress.  This is literally the distinctive ability of the ensouling life within the form to progress intelligently from lower to higher forms of manifestation.  This is above all the peculiar and perfected attribute of the fifth principle.

Capacity to cohere.  This is the ability of all intelligent, active Lives during evolution to conform to the Law of Attraction and Repulsion, and thus form a conscious, intelligent part of a greater life.  It is literally [410] the transmutation of manas into wisdom.  Though all that IS exists in form yet little is as yet brought under the intelligent control of the entity within the form.  Only the Heavenly Men and Their superior embracing lives are consciously and intelligently working through and dominating the form, for only They, as yet, are perfected manas.  Beneath them come many grades of consciousness.  Man is gradually achieving that conscious control over matter in the three worlds which his divine Prototypes, the Heavenly Men, have already achieved.  They are attaining a similar control on higher levels.  Below man come many lives who are blind and unconscious of the congery or subdivision of which they form part.  Thus can be seen, in general outline, the place of manas at the present stage.

Relation.  Another outstanding feature that is the result of our studies is that of relation.  The realisation of this in future years will lead to the study of the different polarities of the different spheres (from a planetary scheme to an atom) within the solar ring-pass-not, and of the relation existing between:

a. A scheme and the totality of schemes.

b. Scheme and scheme.

c. Chain and chain.

d. Globe and globe.

e. Group and group.

f. Subdivision and subdivision.

g. Unit and unit. [cxlvii]45

h. Cell and cell.

The interrelation of all these factors and their profound interdependence is one of the most important points for us to grasp; though this whole relation is governed by the law of Attraction and Repulsion, and [411] therefore comes more under what we call the second aspect, yet self consciousness itself is the result of the manasic principle, and the close co-operation between these two factors of mind and love-wisdom, or the two laws of Attraction and Synthesis, must ever be carefully remembered.

Limitation.  This is a prime factor to be borne in mind in considering a cosmos, a system, a scheme, a chain, or any form of limiting sphere down through them all to the physical atom of the scientist.  It presupposes:

a. Capacity beyond that manifested.

b. Duality, or that which is limited and the limiting substance.

c. Purpose, for in an ordered scheme of existence, the limitation persists just as long as it is required in order to attain certain ends.  It is succeeded by "abstraction" occultly understood, and in its literal sense.

When these three factors:

Position,

Relation,

Limitation,

are studied within the system, the close connection of all the groups within the whole will be evidenced, and the need of each part for all other parts will be brought out.

As regards cosmic position, relation and limitation, little can be said, as e'en to the Heavenly Men Themselves the matter is obscure.  That this is necessarily so must be apparent when Their place in the scheme of things is realised and Their relative unimportance is considered.  Therefore, we can do no more than accept the fact of the inconceivable magnitude of that EXISTENCE which is manifesting through seven solar systems, and the extension of this concept of Being to [412] embrace the entire vault of the Heavens.  It is interesting to bear in mind in this connection that all that is seen, being objective forms or Beings in manifestation through certain spheres of light, may not be all that IS, but that there may lie back of everything visible a vast realm or realms of Existences.  The very brain of man reels in contemplation of such a concept.  Yet just as there are tens of millions of human beings out of objective manifestation, or discarnate, on the subtler planes of the solar system, so there may be cosmic entities, in rank equal to the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID, Who are in a similar sense discarnate, and found in realms subtler than that of the manifestation of light.

3. On the Earth.

a. The five Kumaras.  We might now consider briefly the subject of the five Kumaras, Who are the sum total of manas on the Earth.  I have stated that the Lord of the World, the first Kumara, is the planetary Logos of our scheme in physical incarnation, but nowhere has the impression been conveyed that the three Kumaras, associated with Him, are three other planetary Logoi.  This is in no way the case.  These three, called the "Buddhas of Activity," are but the vicegerents upon our planet of those three planetary Logoi, Who, with our planetary Logos, make the sum total of the logoic Quaternary.  Associated with them are the three esoteric Kumaras, mentioned in the Secret Doctrine, [cxlviii]46 Who represent the three other Logoi, and so make focal points for all the logoic forces within our chain.  In each chain such representatives are found, six focal points embraced by the seventh, the planetary Logos of the scheme, Who holds them all within His aura.

[413]

Their work is threefold:

First.  They are the centres in the body of the planetary Logos.  Each chain corresponds to one centre, and the globes are but the lesser wheels within any particular centre.  The life of the Logos in this incarnation on the Earth is flowing through three centres and beginning to stimulate a fourth, hence four globes are involved and the three Kumaras (so called for lack of a better term) are vitally intelligently active; three are in abeyance and one is beginning to function.  The globes correspond to the chains.  This fourth Kumara is as yet practically unrealised, but as hinted at earlier His day is about to dawn.

Second.  They act as transmitters of a particular type of force to those units who go to the content of any particular centre.  They are, in fact, the agents for the Lords of the Rays to the Monads of any ray in incarnation in any particular chain and on any particular globe.

Third.  They are the agents for:

a. The Lord of a Ray as stated above.

b. The four Maharajahs.

c. The planetary Logos of Their own scheme.

d. The great Deva of the Earth planet.

They work with the law; They are the cognizers of the intelligent purpose of the planetary Logos, and know His plans; They are the vital activity of the planet, and in a subtle sense they are not only the Ray representatives but likewise the link between the chain and the scheme.

It might here be stated that the relative failure that was the fate of the Moon chain in our scheme has greatly handicapped Their work, and made it imperative for Them to employ drastic measures in order to offset that failure.  Herein lies another clue to the world turmoil.

[414]

b. The Moon chain.  It might be of interest here, if, before passing on to other matters, we took up the very difficult subject of the moon chain and answer certain pertinent questions that may have arisen in the minds of students.

The enumeration of the chains and of the schemes as given in the two charts is entirely for the present, and covers a period comparatively recent, carrying forward the history of evolution to the middle of the next round in our chain.  Had we been given the charts embracing pre-Lemurian days, and extending back a distance into the (humanly speaking) unfathomable past, we would have seen the moon chain portrayed with the Neptune chain omitted.  In the chart as given two chains are apparently lacking, the moon chain and the Uranus chain.  The reasons are abstruse, but something may be hinted at as follows:

The Moon chain with the Earth chain formed two units, or two polarities, negative and positive.  The point of merging was reached, and the Earth chain absorbed or synthesised the moon chain in the same sense as certain of the schemes will merge until only three will apparently be left.  Therefore the Earth chain is essentially dual in its nature, being the sumtotal of a male and a female chain.  This is a mystery impossible to elucidate further, but it is dealt with in certain occult books, and hinted at by H. P. B. [cxlix]47

In due course of time another merging in the scheme will eventuate and then Uranus (the chain of that name in our scheme) will flash into objectivity.  Forget not that the schemes manifest as seven, as ten, as three from the angle of the Eternal Now, or—from the point of view of a Heavenly Man—the manifestation may be written as (3|7).  In time and space the order might be stated to be 7-3-10, and at certain stages 10-7-3.  As [415] the opposites merge the ten become the seven and the three, and it is during this process that entire chains and globes, and eventually schemes, will apparently vanish from objectivity, and drop out of sight.  They will be simply absorbed.  During the twofold process of evolution, it might be numerically expressed as:

During involution the sequence is seen as three, then seven and finally ten.

During evolution the sequence is ten, then seven and finally three.

The involutionary process is over practically and the evolutionary is approximately midway through.  This will be marked by the disappearance or absorption of certain chains as they find their polar opposites, and a simultaneous appearance of the more subtle chains or globes as the manasic principle enables man to see them.  The moon chain is in process of disappearance, and only a decaying body is left; the life of the second and the first Logos has been withdrawn from it, and only the latent life of matter itself remains.  Simultaneously Neptune arose over the horizon, and took its place as one of the seven manifesting chains of the planetary Logos.  We are here dealing with the Neptune chain of the earth scheme.

The Moon chain has in itself a curious occult history, not yet to be disclosed.  This differentiates it from the other chains in the scheme and even from any other chain in any scheme.  An analogous situation or correspondence will be found in another planetary scheme within the solar system.  All this is hidden in the history of one of the solar systems which is united to ours within a cosmic ring-pass-not.  Hence the impossibility of yet enlarging upon it.  Each Heavenly Man of a scheme is a focal point for the force and power and vibratory life of seven stupendous ENTITIES in exactly the same sense [416] as the seven centres in a human being are the focal points for the influence of a corresponding heavenly Prototype.  Our Heavenly Man, therefore, is esoterically allied to one of the seven solar systems, and in this mysterious alliance is hidden the mystery of the moon chain.

Certain brief hints may be given for the due consideration of students:

The Moon chain was a chain wherein a systemic failure was to be seen.

It is connected with the lower principles, which H.P.B. has stated are now superseded.

The sexual misery of this planet finds its origin in the moon failure.

The progress of evolution on the moon was abruptly disturbed and arrested by the timely interference of the solar Logos.  The secret of the suffering in the Earth chain, which makes it merit the name of the Sphere of Suffering, and the mystery of the long and painful watch kept by the SILENT WATCHER, [cl]48 has its origin in the events which brought the moon chain to a terrific culmination.  Conditions of agony and of distress such as are found on our planet are found in no such degree in any other scheme.

[417]

The misuse of the vibratory power of a certain centre, and the perversion, or distortion of force to certain erroneous ends, not along the line of evolution, account for much of the moon mystery.

Certain results, such as the finding of its polar opposite, were hastened unduly on the moon chain, and the consequence was an uneven development and a retardation of the evolution of a certain number of deva and human groups.

The origin of the feud between the Lords of the Dark Face and the Brotherhood of Light, which found scope for activity in Atlantean days, and during the present root race, can be traced back to the moon chain.

We have here all that it is possible to give out at this time, and much that has hitherto not been permitted publication.  It is necessary again to emphasise the need of attaching no importance to the names of the chains and globes, and the necessity of a numerical enumeration; at the same time should the student decide to number the chains, and globes, he must carefully bear in mind that the sequence of numbers has no reference or relation to place or time, nor to sequence of appearance, or order of manifestation.