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Treatise on Cosmic Fire

 

Section 1: The Internal Fires

 

Division C

The etheric body and Prana

1.      The nature of the etheric body, its purpose and description

2.      The nature of prana, solar, planetary, and of forms

3.      The function of the etheric body, receiver, assimilator, transmitter of prana; its disorders

4.      Macrocosmic and microcosmic ethers, planetary Logos and the ethers, cosmic and systemic ethers, protective purpose of the etheric body

5.      Death & the etheric body, microcosmic death & macrocosmic pralaya

 

Main Topics in Section 1:

Introductory Remarks

Div. A The Internal Fires of the Sheaths

Div. B The Personality ray and its relationship to Fire

Div. C Prana and the Etheric Body

Div. D Kundalini and the Spine

Div. E Motion on the Physical and Astral lanes

Div. F The Law of Economy

TCF p. 77-97


Contents 05 TCF 77-97

Treatise on Cosmic Fire                                                                                             

Section 1: The Internal Fires                                                                                 

Division C

The etheric body and Prana                                                                                  1

Main Topics in Section 1:                                                                                                                                                  

Introductory Remarks                                                                                                                                                         

Div. A The Internal Fires of the Sheaths                                                                                                                         

Div. B The Personality ray and its relationship to Fire                                                                                                  

Div. C Prana and the Etheric Body                                                                                                                                   

Div. D Kundalini and the Spine                                                                                                                                         

Div. E Motion on the Physical and Astral lanes                                                                                                            

Div. F The Law of Economy                                                                                                                                              

DIVISION C - THE ETHERIC BODY AND PRANA                                                         2

THE ETHERIC BODY AND PRANA                                                                                                                                    

I. THE NATURE OF THE ETHERIC BODY                                                                      2

1. Its Purpose and Description                                                                                                                                              

1.      By studying the etheric body scientists and doctors will gain fuller comprehension of the laws of matter and of health.         

2.      Study of the etheric body and prana will reveal effects of those rays of the sun which, (for lack of better expression), we will call "solar pranic emanations."                                                                                                                                           

3.      Studying the etheric body and prana will bring comprehension of the method of logoic manifestation, and much else of interest to the metaphysician and abstract thinker.                                                                                                               3

The etheric body                                                                                                                                                           4

Thus the etheric body forms the archetypal plane in relation to the dense physical body.                              

The thinker on his own plane stands (in relation to the physical), as the Logos to His system.                      

The thinker on the astral plane, the plane of desire and of necessity, stands to the physical body:: as the Logos on the cosmic astral plane stands to His system.                                                                                                                                         

Yoga: An act of joining                                                                                                                                                     5

2. Eight Statements                                                                                                                                                             6

1.      The etheric body is the mould of the physical body.                                                                                    

2.      The etheric body is the archetype upon which the dense physical form is built (whether the form of a solar system, or a human body in an incarnation).  [Page 82]                                                                                                                              

3.      The etheric body is a web or network of fine interlacing channels, formed of ‘matter of the four ethers’, and built into a specific form

4.      These ‘pranic emanations’, when focalised and received, react on the dense matter which is built upon the etheric scaffolding or framework.                                                                                                                                                                      

5.      An ‘etheric web’, during incarnation, forms a barrier between the physical and astral planes.  This can only be transcended when consciousness is sufficiently developed to ‘permit of escape’.                                                                  

6.      In all the three bodies — human, planetary, and systemic or logoic — is found a ‘great organ’ within the organism, which acts as the receiver of prana.                                                                                                                                                    7

7.      Thus in all the three bodies is seen a resemblance, and a perfect correspondence is demonstrable:   

PRANA OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM                                                                                    8

8.      When the "will to live" vanishes, then the "Sons of Necessity" cease from objective manifestation.  Its working out can be seen in every case of entified objectivity.                                                                                                                          9

The form is made by the action of the two fires of matter — active and latent (radiatory and inherent) — aided by the fire of the second Logos.  When they are separated the form falls apart                                                                                              

II. THE NATURE OF PRANA                                                                                            11

He who knows himself in:                                                                                                                                             

Ø      Objective manifestation,                                                                                                                                     

Ø      Essential quality, and                                                                                                                                          

Ø      Comprehensive development                                                                                                                            

Also knows the Lord of his Ray, and the Logos of his system.                                                                             

I aim to make the ‘secondary body’ of man more real to you, to show its functions, and how it can be brought much more into the range of conscious mental comprehension                                                                                                               

Once the existence and basic function of the etheric body has been established past all controversy, the whole practise of preventive and curative medicine will shift to a higher level.                                                                                                  12

As the etheric body assumes a rightful place in world thinking, man will be brought into closer conscious contact with the other evolutions.                                                                                                                                                                      

1. Solar prana                                                                                                                                                                        13

This is a ‘vital and magnetic fluid’ that radiates from the sun.                                                                               

The Golden Devas                                                                                                                                                         

Ø      When men understand the deva evolution more correctly,                                                                      14

Ø      When men recognise their work in connection with the Sun, and                                                              

Ø      When they realise the devas represent the feminine pole (as they themselves represent the masculine pole - the fourth Creative Hierarchy being male),                                                                                                                                                   

Then they will comprehend the mutual relationship, and govern that relationship by law.                            

1.      The solar devas take the ‘radiatory’ rays of the sun, which ‘reach from its centre to the periphery along one of the three channels of approach’, pass them through their organism, and focalise them there.                                                       14

2.      These rays are then transmitted to man's etheric body, caught up by him, and assimilated.                 

When his etheric body is in good order, enough of this prana is absorbed to keep the form organised.      

This is the whole object of the etheric body's functioning                                                      

3.      The remainder is cast off in the form of ‘animal radiation’, or ‘physical magnetism’ — terms expressing the same idea.           

4.      In his turn he adds his quota of repolarised or remagnetised emanation to the sum total of the planetary aura.         

2. Planetary prana                                                                                                                                                                15

Planetary prana is the ‘vital fluid emanated from a planet’, which constitutes its basic colouring or quality.         

A planet (e.g. the Earth, or another planet) absorbs solar prana, assimilates what is required, and radiates off that which is not essential to its well-being in the form of ‘planetary radiation’.                                                                               

Planetary prana, therefore, is:                                                                                                                                       

Ø      Solar prana which has been absorbed and passed throughout the planet                                                

Ø      Has circulated through the planetary etheric body                                                                                      

Ø      Has been transmitted to the dense physical planet, and                                                                              

Ø      Has been cast off thence in the form of a ‘radiation’ of the same essential character as solar prana 

Ø      Plus the individual and distinctive quality of the particular planet concerned.                                   

The “Devas of the Shadows” – ethereal devas of slightly violet hue                                                                   

Thus there are two groups of devas working in connection with man:                                                                   16

1.      Solar devas                                                                                                                                                   

Solar devas transmit the ‘vital fluid’, which circulates in the etheric body.                                                         

2.      Planetary devas of a violet color                                                                                                

Planetary devas are allied to man's etheric body                                                                                                      

They transmit earth's prana (or the prana of whichever planet man may be functioning upon during a physical incarnation)            

3. The prana of forms                                                                                                                                                           17

Forms are of three kinds, each having a different place in the scheme:                                                                

1.      Forms that are the result of the work of the third and second Logos, and Their united life   (2 + 3) 17

2.      Forms that are the result of the united action of the three Logoi  (1 + 2 + 3)                                            

3.      There is also the still simpler form embodied in the substance of which all the other forms are made          17

CHART II — LOGOS OF A SOLAR SYSTEM                                                                17

Devas that are pale violet, almost grey                                                                                                                    18

Devas of a more pronounced violet hue                                                                                                                 20

The exquisite interdependence of all existences                                                                                                       

There is a close relationship between all the evolutions of nature, from the celestial sun down to the humblest violet via the deva evolution                                                                                                                                                                      21

Lastly, all work with fire                                                                                                                                             

The wheel of fire turns and all within that wheel is subjected to the threefold flame, and eventually stands perfected.       


DIVISION C - THE ETHERIC BODY AND PRANA

THE ETHERIC BODY AND PRANA [1]

I. THE NATURE OF THE ETHERIC BODY

[Page 78]

In considering the internal fires of the system we find much of interest to the coming generation of thinkers for three reasons:

1. Its Purpose and Description

1.      By studying the etheric body scientists and doctors will gain fuller comprehension of the laws of matter and of health. 

The word ‘health’ has become too localised in the past. 

Its has been meaning limited to:

Ø      The sanity of the body corporeal

Ø      The co-operative action of the atoms of the physical body of man,

Ø      The full expression of the powers of the physical elemental  

In days to come it will be realised that the ‘health’ of man is dependent upon

Ø      The health of all allied evolutions,

Ø      The co-operative action and full expression of the matter of the planet and of the planetary elemental, who is himself a composite manifestation of the physical elementals of all manifested nature.

2.      Study of the etheric body and prana will reveal effects of those rays of the sun which, (for lack of better expression), we will call "solar pranic emanations." 

These ‘solar pranic emanations’ are the produced effect of the central heat of the sun approaching other bodies in the solar system by one of the three main channels of contact; and producing on the bodies contacted certain effects differing somewhat from those produced by the other emanations. 

Ø      These effects are stimulating and constructive. 

Ø      Through their essential quality these effects produce conditions that further the growth of cellular matter, and concern its adjustment to environing conditions

Ø      They concern the internal health (demonstrating as the heat of the atom and its consequent activity) and the uniform evolution of the form of which that particular atom of matter forms a constituent part. 

“Emanative prana” does little in connection with form building; that is not its province, but it conserves the form through the preservation of the health of its component parts. [Page 79]

Other rays of the sun act differently,upon the forms and upon their substance

Ø      Some perform the work of the Destroyer of forms

Ø      Others carry on the work of cohering and of attracting

Ø      The work of the Destroyer and of the Preserver is carried on under the Law of Attraction and Repulsion.

Ø      Some rays produce accelerated motion

Ø      Others produce retardation 

Pranic solar emanations work within the four ethers, and are the basis of all physical plane life of the physical plane atoms of matter, , their inherent heat and their rotary motion)

The ones we are dealing with here—“pranic solar emanations”—work within the four ethers, that matter which (though ‘physical’) is not as yet objectively visible to the eye of man. 

Ø      Pranic solar emanations are the basis of all physical plane life (considered solely in connection with the life of the physical plane atoms of matter, their inherent heat and their rotary motion). 

Ø      These emanations are the basis of that "fire by friction" which demonstrates in the activity of matter.

3.      Studying the etheric body and prana will bring comprehension of the method of logoic manifestation, and much else of interest to the metaphysician and abstract thinker. 

The etheric body of man holds hid the secret of his objectivity

It has its correspondence on the archetypal plane—the plane of the divine manifestation, the first plane of our solar system, the plane Adi. 

The matter of that highest plane is called often the "sea of fire", and it is the ‘root of the akasha’, the term applied to the substance of the second plane of manifestation. 

1. Plane of Divine Manifestation = Plane of Adi = ‘Sea of Fire’ = ‘Root of Akasha’

2. Akasha = Monadic Plane

Etheric body : : Plane of Adi (correspondence)

Let us trace the analogy in detail; this will shed light on problems macrocosmic and microcosmic.    We begin with man and his etheric body.

The etheric body

The etheric body has been described as:

Ø      ‘A network, permeated with fire’

Ø      ‘A web, animated with golden light’

Ø      It is spoken of in the Bible as the ‘golden bowl’

[Page 80]

Ø      It is composed of ‘matter’ of the physical plane that we call ‘etheric’

Ø      Its ‘shape’ is brought about by fine interlacing strands of this ‘matter’ being ‘built by the action of the lesser Builders’ into a form or pattern on which the dense physical body is later moulded

Ø      Under the Law of Attraction, the denser matter of the physical plane is made to cohere to this vitalised form, and is gradually built up around it and within it, until the interpenetration is so complete that the two forms make but one unit

Ø      The ‘pranic emanations of the etheric body itself’ play upon the dense physical body in the same manner as the ‘pranic emanations of the sun’ play upon the etheric body. 

Ø      It is all one vast system of transmission and interdependence within the (solar, Ed.) system. 

Ø      All receive in order to give

Ø      All receive in order to pass on to that which is ‘lesser’ or ‘not so evolved’

Ø      Upon every plane this process can be seen

Thus the etheric body forms the archetypal plane in relation to the dense physical body.

The thinker on his own plane stands (in relation to the physical), as the Logos to His system. 

In the synthesis of thought it might be expressed thus: 

The thinker on the astral plane, the plane of desire and of necessity, stands to the physical body:: as the Logos on the cosmic astral plane stands to His system.

As we continue our study we will work out the correspondence in:

1.      The cosmos

2.      The system

3.      The three worlds

for we need to remember that the analogy must be perfect.

3. Man, the microcosm, the manifesting Monad, or One. (‘three worlds’)

2. The Heavenly Man, the planetary Logos, or the manifesting group.  (‘system’)

1. The Grand Man of the Heavens, the Macrocosm, the solar Logos, the manifestation of all groups and of all evolutions within His Body, the solar system (? ‘cosmos’ in the above context? Note how DK uses ‘system’ and ‘cosmos’ at different levels, Ed.)

[Page 81]

All these ‘bodies’—the ‘body’ of

Ø      A man

Ø      A planetary Logos

Ø      A solar Logos

are the product of desire originating on the planes of abstract mind, whether

Ø      Cosmic,

Ø      Systemic, or

Ø      Mind in the three worlds,

whether

Ø      Cosmic desire-mind or

Ø      Human desire-mind,

and all their bodies are "Sons of Necessity," as H. P. B. so aptly expressed it. [2]

Yajna: The evolution, preservation, and destruction of the world seen as one vast process in the psychical body of nature
Yaj: Service done to the thing above through service done onto its expression, the thing below

Yoga: An act of joining
2. Eight Statements

We are dealing with the etheric bodies of all, and with:

Ø      Their vivification by prana (whether cosmic, solar, planetary or human)

Ø      The organs of reception 

Ø      The basis of emanations 

Here are certain statements about the etheric  body:

1.      The etheric body is the mould of the physical body.

2.       The etheric body is the archetype upon which the dense physical form is built (whether the form of a solar system, or a human body in an incarnation).  [Page 82]

3.      The etheric body is a web or network of fine interlacing channels, formed of ‘matter of the four ethers’, and built into a specific form. 

It forms a focal point for (reception of, Ed.) certain radiatory emanations, which vivify, stimulate, and produce the rotary action of matter.

4.      These ‘pranic emanations’, when focalised and received, react on the dense matter which is built upon the etheric scaffolding or framework.

5.      An ‘etheric web’, during incarnation, forms a barrier between the physical and astral planes.  This can only be transcended when consciousness is sufficiently developed to ‘permit of escape’. 

This can be seen in both the microcosm and the macrocosm. 

Ø      When a man has, through meditation and concentration, expanded his consciousness to a certain point , he is able to include the subtler planes, and to ‘escape beyond the limits of the dividing web’

PHYSICAL SUB-PLANES

SOLAR SYSTEM PLANES

1st ether

Atomic sub-plane

Adi.              Divine       Sea of Fire

1st cosmic ether

2nd ether

Sub-atomic

Anupadaka   Monadic       Akasha

2nd cosmic ether

3rd ether

Super-etheric

Atmic           Spiritual         Aether

3rd cosmic ether

4th ether

Super-gaseous

Buddhic       Intuitional            Air

4th cosmic ether

DENSE PHYSICAL

PLANES OF HUMANITY

Gaseous

Sub-etheric

Mental                                      Fire

Cosmic gaseous

Liquid

 

Astral         Emotional           Water

Cosmic liquid

Etheric web between physical and astral planes

Logoic etheric web between cosmic physical and astral planes

Earthly

Dense

Physical                                 Earth

Cosmic dense

[Page 83]

Ø      When the Logos has expanded His Consciousness on cosmic levels He can then transcend the logoic etheric web, and escape beyond the ring-pass-not of His objective manifestation. 

In thinking out this analogy hold closely in mind that the seven major ‘planes’ of our solar system are the seven ‘sub-planes’ of the cosmic physical, or the lowest cosmic plane.

Note here the accurate working out of the correspondence in matter; and the radiatory correspondence is equally accurate.

6.      In all the three bodies — human, planetary, and systemic or logoic — is found a ‘great organ’ within the organism, which acts as the receiver of prana. 

This organ has its etheric manifestation and its dense physical correspondence

Ø      In the (logoic) System – the Central Sun: 

In the system, the ‘organ of cosmic prana’, of ‘the force vitalising matter’, is ‘the central sun’, which is the direct receiver and dispenser of cosmic radiation. 

This is one of the threefold divisions of the Primordial Ray of active intelligence. 

Each of the cosmic Rays is in essence threefold, a fact oft overlooked

Each Ray is the vehicle for a cosmic Entity, and all existence is triple in manifestation. 

The ‘central Sun’ has within its periphery a ‘centre of reception’ with a ‘surface radiation’

Ø      In the Planet. 

In the planet there will be found a similar organ (or receiver) within its etheric body, the locality of which is not for exoteric publication .

It is connected with the location of the two poles, north and south

It is the centre around which the globe rotates, and is the source of the legend of a sacred fertile land within the sphere of polar influences. 

The mythic land of exceeding fertility, abundant [Page 84] luxuriance, and phenomenal growth, vegetable, animal and human would naturally lie where prana is received. 

It is the esoteric “Garden of Eden”, the land of physical perfection. 

‘Surface radiation’ demonstrates, after distribution, as ‘planetary prana’.

Ø      In Man – the Etheric Spleen:

The organ of reception is the spleen through its etheric counterpart. 

After distribution over the entire body via the etheric network, it demonstrates in ‘surface radiation’ as ‘the health aura’.

7.      Thus in all the three bodies is seen a resemblance, and a perfect correspondence is demonstrable:


PRANA OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Entity manifesting

The solar Logos

Body of manifestation

The solar system

Receptive centre

Pole of the central Sun

Surface radiation or emanation

Solar prana

Movement produced

Systemic rotation

Distributive effect

Solar etheric radiation (felt cosmically).

THE PLANET

Entity manifesting

A planetary Logos

Body of manifestation

A planet

Receptive centre

The planetary pole

Surface radiation or emanation

Planetary prana

Movement produced

Planetary rotation

Distributive effect

Planetary etheric radiation - felt within the system

A HUMAN BEING

Entity manifesting

The thinker, a Dhyan Chohan

Body of manifestation

Physical body

Receptive centre

The spleen

Surface radiation or emanation

Health aura

Movement produced

Atomic rotation

Distributive effect

Human etheric radiation - felt by environment

THE ATOM OF MATTER

Entity manifesting

An elementary life

Body of manifestation

The atomic sphere

Receptive centre

Pole of the atom

Surface radiation or emanation

Contribution of atom to united health aura of body

Movement produced

Atomic rotation

Distributive effect

Atomic etheric radiation - felt in the physical form

[Page 85]

8.      When the "will to live" vanishes, then the "Sons of Necessity" cease from objective manifestation.  Its working out can be seen in every case of entified objectivity. 

When the Thinker on his own plane withdraws his attention from his little system within the three worlds and gathers (back, Ed.) within himself all his forces, then physical plane existence comes to an end, and all returns within the causal consciousness

This is as much an abstraction in the three worlds of the Thinker, as the Absolute is in the threefold solar system of the Logos. 

This demonstrates on the physical plane in the withdrawing from the top of the head of the ‘radiant etheric body’, with the consequent disintegration of the physical. 

The framework goes and the dense physical form falls apart

The ‘pranic life’ is abstracted bodily from out of the dense sheath, and the ‘stimulation of the fires of matter’ ceases to be. 

The latent fire of the atom remains.

It is inherent, but … the form is made by the action of the two fires of matter — active and latent, radiatory and inherent — aided by the fire of the second Logos, and when they are separated the form falls apart. 

This is a picture in miniature of the essential duality of all things acted on by Fohat.

The form is made by the action of the two fires of matter — active and latent (radiatory and inherent) — aided by the fire of the second Logos.  When they are separated the form falls apart

[Page 86]

There is a close connection between ‘the spleen’ and ‘the top of the head’ in connection with the etheric body. 
Human correspondence:

The ‘organ of the spleen’ has an interesting correspondence to the umbilical cord which attaches an infant to the mother for purposes of nourishment, and which is separated at birth, for:

Ø      When a man starts to live his own life of conscious desire,

Ø      When a man is born into a new world of a subtler form of life

that interlaced cord of etheric matter (which had united him to his physical body) is broken.

The "silver cord is loosed" and the man severs his connection with the dense physical body.

He passes out (through the highest centre of the body instead of the lowest) to life in a higher world and dimension. 

So it is with all the bodies (or sheaths) of the microcosm, for the analogy will persist on all planes during manifestation

Planetary correspondence:

When more scientific knowledge has been gained, it will be found that the same procedure, on a larger scale, takes place in planetary manifestation. 

A planet is but the body of a planetary Logos, that body being etheric, and the Logos expressing Himself through it and building upon the etheric scaffolding a vehicle of manifestation.  The MOON once was the body of expression for one of the Logoi; the Earth now is, and the cycles change continuously. 

The ‘centre of escape’ for the etheric body is found in a physical planet, and the ‘planetary silver cord’ is loosed at the time appointed

But the times and cycles, their commencement and termination, are hid in the mysteries of Initiation, and do not concern us.

Solar correspondence:

In the solar system a similar action will eventuate at the close of a Mahamanvantara. 

The Logos will withdraw within Himself, abstracting His three major principles. [3]  

His ‘body of manifestation’ — the Sun and the seven sacred Planets, existing in etheric matter — will withdraw from objectivity and become obscured.  [Page 87]

From the usual physical standpoint, the light of the system will go out. 

This will be succeeded by a gradual in-breathing, until He shall have gathered all unto Himself

Ø      The ‘etheric’ will cease to exist, and the ‘web’ will be no more. 

Ø      Full consciousness will be achieved, and in the moment of achievement, existence, or entified manifestation, will cease. 

Ø      All will be reabsorbed within the Absolute

Ø      Pralaya [4] or ‘the cosmic heaven of rest’ will then ensue, and

Ø      The Voice of the Silence will be heard no more. 

Ø      The reverberations of the WORD will die away, and

Ø      The "Silence of the High Places" will reign supreme.


II. THE NATURE OF PRANA

In dealing with the etheric body as an assimilator and distributor of prana, we have dealt with it from the standpoint of its place in the scheme of things. 

We have considered this matter of etherics from the angle of correspondences, and have traced analogies in the system, the planet, and man. 

We saw how it forms the foundation of the dense physical form, and constitutes an important link between:

1.      Physical man, and the emotional (or astral) plane.

2.      Planetary Man, and essential emotional quality.

3.      The Logos, the grand Heavenly Man, and the cosmic astral plane.

We now narrow the subject down and consider the etheric body of the human being. 

We will not touch on correspondences to things systemic or cosmic at all, though it is necessary to remind ourselves that the line along which wisdom comes is the interpretative one. [Page 88]

He who knows himself in:

Ø      Objective manifestation,

Ø      Essential quality, and

Ø      Comprehensive development

Also knows the Lord of his Ray, and the Logos of his system. 

It is only then a matter of

Ø      Application,

Ø      Conscious expansion, 

Ø      Intelligent interpretation,

Ø      Coupled to a wise abstention from dogmatic assertion, and

Ø      A recognition that the correspondence lies in quality and method more than in detailed adherence to a specified action at any given time in evolution

What is possible here is to give material which:

Ø      Rightly pondered on, may result in more intelligent practical living (in the occult sense of the term "living")

Ø      If studied scientifically, religiously and philosophically, may further the aims of the evolutionary process in this next lesser cycle. 

I aim to make the ‘secondary body’ of man more real to you, to show its functions, and how it can be brought much more into the range of conscious mental comprehension

Science is reaching the point where it will soon admit the fact of the etheric body. It will become increasingly difficult to refuse to acknowledge it and easier to admit its existence. 

Scientists admit already the fact of etheric matter (Do they? Perhaps we are talking quantum electrodynamics here? Ed.)

Photography has demonstrated the reality of what was previously considered unreal, because (from the standpoint of the physical), intangible.   (Are MRI, CAT scans,  Infra-red thermography scans, ultra-sound scans,  biofeedback, Kirlian photography, the forerunners of our breakthrough into etheric reality? Ed.)

Phenomena are occurring all the time, which seem supernatural unless the medium of etheric matter is used to account for them.  (Such as telepathy or psychometry? Ed.)

Trying to prove spiritualists wrong, scientists have ironically aided the cause of higher spiritism by moving towards the idea of a body of emanative radiation, i.e. an etheric body.  However, the emanative radiation is an effect and not the cause. [Page 89]

Some medical men are beginning to study (blindly as yet) the question of vitality, the effect of solar rays upon the physical organism, and the underlying laws of ‘inherent’ and ‘radiatory’ heat.  (Mostly current studies of solar radiation seem to be concerned only with the effect of increased ultra-violet radiation, through the diminished ozone layer, and how the sun causes increased incidence of skin cancer.  However, study of the sun’s emanations is certainly increasing, especially with  the Helios satellite.   Ed.)

Some medical men are beginning to ascribe to ‘the spleen’ functions hitherto not recognised (I am unsure what He means here, Ed.)

They are beginning to study the effect of the action of the glands, and their relation to the assimilation of ‘the vital essences’ by the bodily frame.  (Psycho-neuro-immuno-endocrinology is a cutting edge science.  But is it related yet to assimilation of ‘the vital essences’ by the bodily frame? How many researchers are trying to relate the endocrine system to the electro-physiology of the glands (as has been done with the heart and brain, for example)?  It is of interest however that electricity is used to trigger the division of the fertilised embryo in fertility clinics.  Ed.)

They are on the right road, and before long (perhaps within this (20th) century) the FACT of the etheric body will have been established.  

Once the existence and basic function of the etheric body has been established past all controversy, the whole practise of preventive and curative medicine will shift to a higher level. 

What I will do here is give some condensed information, which may hasten the day of recognition, and stimulate your interest as an true investigator. 

What remains to be dealt with is:

  1. The functions of the etheric body
  2. Its relation to the physical during life
  3. The diseases of the etheric body (taking care to retain the original meaning of the word "disease.")
  4. Its after death condition

This is all that is as yet of practical use.  More may later be forthcoming if what is given to the public now is carefully followed up, and if investigators study this important matter wisely and broadly.

Man evolves in a dense physical body.

As the etheric body assumes a rightful place in world thinking, man will be brought into closer conscious contact with the other evolutions.

As the nature and functions of the etheric body of man assume their rightful place in world thinking, and as it is realised that the etheric is the most important of the two physical bodies, man will be brought into closer conscious contact with the other evolutions that evolve in etheric matter, just as he evolves in a dense physical body. (This will, it seems, include the deva evolution, Ed.)

[Page 90]

There are certain large groups of devas, called "the devas of the shadows," or the violet devas, who are closely allied with the evolutionary development of man's etheric body, and who transmit to him ‘solar and planetary radiation’. 

The etheric body of man receives prana of different kinds and in different ways. 

All these ways bring him into touch with varying entities.

1. Solar prana

This is a ‘vital and magnetic fluid’ that radiates from the sun.

The Golden Devas

Solar prana is that ‘vital and magnetic fluid’ which radiates from the sun. 

It is transmitted to man's etheric body through the agency of certain deva entities of a very high order, and of a golden hue. 

It is passed through their bodies and emitted as powerful radiations, which are applied direct through certain plexi in the uppermost part of the etheric body, the head and shoulders, passed down to the etheric correspondence of the physical organ, the spleen, and from thence forcibly transmitted into the spleen itself. 

These ‘golden hued pranic entities’ are in the air above us. 

They are especially active in such places as California, and in tropical countries where the air is pure and dry, and the rays of the sun are recognised as being specially beneficial. 

Relations between man and this group of devas are very close, but fraught as yet with much danger to man. 

These devas are of a very powerful order, and, along their own line, are further evolved than man himself. 

Unprotected, man lies at their mercy. 

In this lack of protection, and man's failure to understand the laws of magnetic resistance, or of solar repulsion comes, for instance, the menace of sunstroke. 

When the etheric body and its assimilative processes are comprehended scientifically, man will then be immune from dangers due to solar radiation. 
He will then protect himself by applying the laws governing magnetic repulsion and attraction, and not so much by clothing and shelter. 

It is largely a question of polarisation. [Page 91]

One hint might here be given: 

Ø      When men understand the deva evolution more correctly,

Ø      When men recognise their work in connection with the Sun, and

Ø      When they realise the devas represent the feminine pole (as they themselves represent the masculine pole - the fourth Creative Hierarchy being male), [5]

Then they will comprehend the mutual relationship, and govern that relationship by law.

1.      The solar devas take the ‘radiatory’ rays of the sun, which ‘reach from its centre to the periphery along one of the three channels of approach’, pass them through their organism, and focalise them there. 

They act almost as a burning glass acts. 

2.      These rays are then transmitted to man's etheric body, caught up by him, and assimilated. 

When his etheric body is in good order, enough of this prana is absorbed to keep the form organised. 

This is the whole object of the etheric body's functioning

This point cannot be sufficiently emphasised

3.      The remainder is cast off in the form of ‘animal radiation’, or ‘physical magnetism’ — terms expressing the same idea. 

Man is repeating (on a lesser scale) the work of the great solar devas

4.      In his turn he adds his quota of repolarised or remagnetised emanation to the sum total of the planetary aura.


2. Planetary prana

Planetary prana is the ‘vital fluid emanated from a planet’, which constitutes its basic colouring or quality.

It is produced by repetition in a planet of the same process undergone in connection with man and solar prana.  [Page 92]

A planet (e.g. the Earth, or another planet) absorbs solar prana, assimilates what is required, and radiates off that which is not essential to its well-being in the form of ‘planetary radiation’. 

Planetary prana, therefore, is:

Ø      Solar prana which has been absorbed and passed throughout the planet

Ø      Has circulated through the planetary etheric body 

Ø      Has been transmitted to the dense physical planet, and

Ø      Has been cast off thence in the form of a ‘radiation’ of the same essential character as solar prana

Ø      Plus the individual and distinctive quality of the particular planet concerned.  

This again repeats the process undergone in the human body. 

The ‘physical radiations’ of men differ according to the quality of their physical bodies. 

So it is with a planet.

The “Devas of the Shadows” – ethereal devas of slightly violet hue

Planetary emanative prana (as in the case of solar prana) is caught up and transmitted via a particular group of devas, called the "devas of the shadows," who are ethereal devas of a slightly violet hue. 

Their bodies are composed of the matter of one of the four ethers

They focalise and concentrate the emanations of the planet, and of all forms on the planet. 

They have an especially close connection with human beings, owing to the fact of the essential resemblance of their bodily substance to man's etheric substance,

They have an especially close connection with human beings, because they transmit to him the magnetism of "Mother Earth" as it is called. 


Thus there are two groups of devas working in connection with man:

1.      Solar devas

Solar devas transmit the ‘vital fluid’, which circulates in the etheric body.

2.      Planetary devas of a violet color

Planetary devas are allied to man's etheric body

They transmit earth's prana (or the prana of whichever planet man may be functioning upon during a physical incarnation)

[Page 93]

A pertinent question might here be asked.  We may not fully explain the mystery, yet a few suggestive hints may be possible:

What causes the apparent deadness of the Moon? 
Is there deva life upon it? 
Does solar prana have no effect there?  
What constitutes the difference between the apparently dead Moon, and a live planet, such as the Earth? [6]

Here we touch on a mystery.  The solution lies in the fact that human beings and certain groups of devas are no longer found upon the Moon. 

Man has not ceased to exist on the Moon because it is dead and cannot support his life, but the Moon is dead because man and the deva groups have been removed from its surface and sphere of influence. [7]  

Man and devas on every planet act as intermediaries, or as transmitting agencies. 

Where they are not found, then certain great activities become impossible, and disintegration sets in. 

The reason for this removal lies in the cosmic Law of Cause and Effect, or cosmic karma; in the history (composite, yet individual) of the Heavenly Man Whose body the Moon happened to be (or any other dead planet at any time).


3. The prana of forms

Forms are of three kinds, each having a different place in the scheme:

1.      Forms that are the result of the work of the third and second Logos, and Their united life   (2 + 3)

Such forms are the units in the vegetable, animal and mineral kingdoms

2.      Forms that are the result of the united action of the three Logoi  (1 + 2 + 3)

These comprise the strictly deva and human forms

3.      There is also the still simpler form embodied in the substance of which all the other forms are made

This matter is strictly speaking the atomic and molecular matter, and is animated by the life or energy of the third Logos.

[Page 94]

CHART II — LOGOS OF A SOLAR SYSTEM

Chart II TCF p. 94

[Page 95]

Devas that are pale violet, almost grey

In dealing with the first group of forms (forms that are the result of the work of the third and second Logos, and Their united life), note that the pranic emanations given off by units of the animal and vegetable kingdom (after they have absorbed both solar and planetary prana) are a combination of the two (solar and planetary, Ed.)

They are transmitted by means of ‘surface radiation’(as in solar and planetary prana), to certain lesser groups of devas (of a not very high order), who have a curious and intricate relationship to the group soul of the radiating animal or vegetable. 

[This matter cannot be dealt with here]  These devas are also of a violet hue, but of such a pale color as to be almost grey. 


They are transitional, merging, rather confusingly, with groups of entities almost on the involutionary arc.  [8]    [Page 96]

Devas of a more pronounced violet hue

In dealing with the second group of forms (forms that are the result of the united action of the three Logoi), the human form transmits the ‘emanative radiations’ to a much higher grade of deva. 

These devas are of a more pronounced hue.

After due assimilation of the human radiation, they transmit it principally to the animal kingdom, demonstrating the close relationship between the two kingdoms. 

The exquisite interdependence of all existences

If the above explanation of the intricate inter-relation

Ø      Between the sun and the planets,

Ø      Between the planets and the evolving forms upon them,

Ø      Between the forms themselves in ever descending importance demonstrates nothing more than the exquisite interdependence of all existences,

Then much will have been achieved.


There is a close relationship between all the evolutions of nature, from the celestial sun down to the humblest violet via the deva evolution

Another fact is the close relationship between all these evolutions of nature, from the celestial sun down to the humblest violet via the deva evolution, which acts as the transmitting transmuting force throughout the system.

[Page 97]

Lastly, all work with fire   

Ø      Fire internal, inherent and latent

Ø      Fire radiatory and emanative

Ø      Fire generated, assimilated and radiated

Ø      Fire vivifying, stimulating, and destroying

Ø      Fire transmitted, reflected, and absorbed

Ø      Fire, the basis of all life

Ø      Fire, the essence of all existence

Ø      Fire, the means of development, the impulse behind all evolutionary process

Ø      Fire, the builder, the preserver and the constructor

Ø      Fire, the originator, the process, and the goal

Ø      Fire the purifier and the consumer …

The God of Fire and the fire of God interacting upon each other –

Ø      Till all fires blend and blaze and

Ø      Till all that exists from a solar system to an ant, is passed through the fire

Ø      And emerges as a triple perfection. 

Fire then passes out from the ring-pass-not as perfected essence, whether essence emerging from

Ø      The human ring-pass-not,

Ø      The planetary ring-pass-not or

Ø      The solar ring-pass-not 

The wheel of fire turns and all within that wheel is subjected to the threefold flame, and eventually stands perfected.



[1] Prana (the vital principle): Prana is the special relation of the Atma with a certain form of matter, which by the relation of Atma, organizes and builds up as a means of having experience. This special relation constitutes the individual Prana in the individual body.

The cosmic all‑pervading Prana is not Prana in the gross sense, but is a name for the Brahman, as the author of the individual Prana…..All beings, whether Devatas, men or animals, exist only so long as the Prana is within the body. It is the life duration of all….Prana, or vitality, is the common function of the mind and all the senses.  Serpent Power, pp. 94, 95.

[2] (a) S. D., I, 74.

(b) This whole solar system, being conceived of as one vast mechanism with an exquisite adjustment of its parts in all major details, is only the physical expression of Vishnu, or the ethereal basic substance, as we may understand the word for the present.

All the harmonies observable in the manifested cosmos are the result of the harmoniously working energies that resolve ether into the expression that we recognize.

All planets, worlds, human beings, etc., are only ‘parts of the body’, each functioning in sub­ordination to the law which governs the whole.

The evolution, preservation and destruction of the world is one vast process called Yagna, which takes place in the body of Yagna Purusha, or ‘the psychical body of nature’.

Humanity taken collectively is ‘the heart and brain’ of this Purusha, and all the Karma generated by humanity, physical, mental, or spiritual, determines the character of the Yagnic process.

Sri Krishna calls the process ‘the Yagnic life’ that he has been giving out to Arjuna as Yoga (1st Sloka 4th Chr).

Yoga and Yagna are very closely allied, even inseparable, though often people seem to disconnect the two.

Yoga, derived from the root Yuj, to join, means ‘an act of joining’.

Now as ‘the heart’ is the great centre in man, likewise ‘the Yogi of the heart’ keeps his central position in the universe, and hence his individuality.

The individuality, or the Higher Manas, being the pivot of the human constitution, or the centre on which two hemispheres of higher and lower existence turn, ‘the Yogi of the heart’ (i) has a heavenly dome above and (ii) an earthly abyss below, and his yoga becomes twofold as a consequence:

He joins himself on to the thing above in dhyana, and the thing below in action.

The word yagna, derived from the root Yaj, to serve, means a twofold service: service done to the thing above through service done onto its expression, the thing below.'

Some Thoughts on the Gita, pp. 15, 134.

[3] Principles: The basic differentiations, essential qualities or types of energy, upon which all things are built.  They give the distinctive nature of all forms.

[4] Pralaya: A period of obscuration or repose‑planetary, systemic or cosmic. An interlude between two periods of manifestation

[5] S. D., 1, 232‑238.

The whole cosmos is guided, controlled and animated by an almost endless series of Hierarchies of sentient Beings, each having a mission to perform. ‑  S.D., I, 295.   Among these the Hierarchy of human Monads has a place.

[6] S.D., I, 170-180

[7] S.D., I, 179

[8] A. Involutionary Arc:  This is the term applied to the first part of the evolu­tionary process. It covers the ''path of descent,'' or the coming down of Spirit into increasingly dense matter, until the point of densest concretion. The second half of the process is called evolutionary and marks the ascent or return of Spirit to its emanating source, plus the gains of the evolutionary process.

The Three Outpourings: In the diagram the symbols of the three Aspects (of the Logos) are placed outside of time and space, and only the streams of influence from them descend into our system of planes.  They represent what are commonly called the three Persons of the Trinity . . .

It will he seen that from each of them an outpouring of life or force is projected into the planes below.

The first of these is the straight line which descends from the third Aspect

The second is that part of the large oval which lies on our left hand - the stream which descends from the second Aspect until it has touched the lowest point in matter; and then rises again up the side on our right hand until it reaches the lower mental level.

Note that in both outpourings the divine life becomes darker and more veiled as it descends into matter, until at the lowest point we might almost fail to recognize it as divine life at all.  But as it rises again when it has passed its nadir it shows itself somewhat more clearly.

The third outpouring, which descends from the highest aspect of the Logos differs from the others in that it is in no way clouded by the matter through which it passes, but retains its virgin purity and splendor untarnished.

Note that this outpouring descends only to the level of the buddhic plane (the fourth plane) and that the link between the two is formed by a triangle in a circle, representing the individual soul of man ‑ the reincarnating ego. Here the triangle is con­tributed by the third outpouring and the circle by the second . . .

The Christian Creed, by C. W. Leadheater, pp. 39, 40.

B. See S. D., I, 98, 99, 100, 103.

1. The root of life was in every drop of the ocean of immortality.

 Every atom in matter was impregnated with the life of the Logos.

2. The ocean was radiant light, which was Fire, Heat, Motion.

These three are the subjective life manifesting objectively.

Fire:                         The essence of the first Logos                          Electric fire                                           Spirit 

Heat:  Duality.       The essence of the second Logos                      Solar fire, the Son aspect       Consciousness 

Motion:                   The essence of the third Logos                          Fire by friction                                     Matter

THE MACROCOSM

First Logos

Fire

The will to live or to be

Electric.

Second Logos

Heat

Duality, or love between two

Solar

Third Logos

Motion

The fire of mind, the relation between

Fire by friction

This is the subjective expression

The Sun

 

Will or power

 

Venus‑Mercury

 

Love and Wisdom

 

Saturn

 

Activity or intelligence

 

This is the objective expression

THE MICROCOSM

The Monad

 

Will or power.

Electric fire

The Ego, Soul

 

Love and wisdom

Solar fire

The Personality

 

Activity or intelligence

Fire by friction

This is the subjective expression

The mental body

 

Will or power

Fire.

The astral body

 

Love-Wisdom

Heat

The physical body

 

Active intelligence

Motion

This is the objective expression

Physical body

The brain

Monad

Will or power

Electric fire

The heart

Ego

Love-wisdom

Solar fire

Lower organs

Personality

Active intelligence