Fellowship of Cosmic Fire

Commentary Semester III Section XII

TCF 332-340 : S3S12
22 September – 7 October 2006

(Most of the Tibetan’s text is put in font 16, to provide better legibility when projected during classes. Footnotes and references from other AAB Books and from other pages of TCF are put in font 14. Commentary appears in font 12. Underlining, Bolding and Highlighting by MDR)

 

It is suggested that this Commentary be read with the TCF book handy, for the sake of continuity. As analysis of the text is pursued, many paragraphs are divided, and the compact presentation in the book, itself, will convey the overall meaning of the paragraph.

 

 

3. MANAS IS THAT WHICH PRODUCES COHESION

 

1        VSK suggests: “Let’s review the concept – manas produces cohesion. We usually think of the manasic and fifth ray as dividing and discriminating, and the second ray as producing cohesion. Let’s attempt to recall from our previous instructions how manas (identified in one aspect with cosmic solar fire) produces cohesion.”

 

We come now to our third definition:  The manasic principle is above all else that cohesive something which enables an Entity (whether Logos, Heavenly Man, or man) to work:

 

1        We note that manas is here being considered only in relation to self-conscious units, and not to the tiny, unconscious atom of matter/substance.

2        Here the second aspect of manas is being emphasized.

3        In this regard we must remember that manas, as we experience and express it, originates on the higher part of the cosmic mental plane. From this point of view manas is cosmic solar fire.

 

[Page 333]

a      [Work] Through form, and thus exist.

 

1        Thus, manas is the cohesive something that enables ‘man’ to exist through form.

2        Manas contributes to the integrity of form. Without manas, form would not be created and the Entities referenced would not express through form.

 

b. [Work] By means of progressive development or cyclic evolution.

 

1        Manas is the cohesive something that enables ‘man’ to evolve through cyclic development.

2        Manas provides the intelligence that promotes progressive development. The planning factor within manas enables the process of “cyclic evolution”.

3        The soul/Solar Angel, for instance, has an intelligent plan for the development of its supervisee, the human personality.

 

c. [Work] On certain planes, that are, for the entity concerned, the battleground of life, and the field of experience.

 

1        Manas is the cohesive something that enables ‘man’ to consciously experience certain planes.

2        Without manas there would be no way for the evolving entity to come to terms with the conditions on the planes through which it must evolve.

3        There is the suggestion that every true field of experience is really an necessarily a “battleground”. If man does not fight for what he seeks to possess, he will not earn the right to possess. The ‘fight’ of course, takes place in man ways, not all of them violent, but all of them necessarily persistent.

 

d. [Work] By the method of manifestation, which is a gradual growth from a dim and distant dawn through an ever increasing splendour of light to a blaze of effulgent glory;

 

1        Manas allows such Entities to work “by the method of manifestation”.

2        Note the glorious (and progressive) language through which manifestation is portrayed.

3        Certainly, manifestation is not a fait accompli as ‘Creationism’ envisions. Its exercise is characterized by intelligent gradualism.

 

 then through a steadily dimming twilight to final obscuration.  Dawn, day, midday, twilight, night—thus is the order for the Logos, for a planetary Logos, and for man.

 

1        VSK suggests: “We note that this function of manasic cohesion is what creates the spheroidal forms which revolve and thus creates the phases of ‘a day’.”

2        We have five divisions of the day (though changes throughout the night are not noted).

3        Within manas the factor of timing is intrinsic. Saturn is the Lord of Time and also a primary ‘Lord of Intelligence’—thus related to manas.

4        The cohesive aspect of manas keeps the spheres in right alliance, thus producing the appearance of waxing and waning cycles. If lesser spheres were not magnetically related to a spherical source of light (producing, as a result, rotation and revolution), there would be no waxing and waning cycles. When dealing with “revolution” around a centralized source, rather than “rotation”, we are dealing with the second aspect of manas—that aspect of manas related to the love-wisdom and the second ray.

 

If the above four points are carefully studied, it will be found that they are fairly comprehensive, and embody the four points that are as yet the only ones available for man in this fourth round.

 

1        These four may be remembered in this way:

a        Manas allows existence through form.

b        Manas allows cyclic, progressive development.

c        Manas allows conscious functioning on the planes of experience.

d        Manas allows manifestation.

1        Are these four distinct to us?

2        Without manas there would be no adjustment of the inner Entity to his outer circumstances, nor would there be a vehicle and a location through which to function, nor intelligent unfoldment through time.

3        We note how availability of “points” (or aspects) is controlled through occult numerology. That is available which correlates with the number of the cycle through which an entity is passing. During the fifth round we may reasonably suppose the five points will be available to man.

 

Man regards himself as a synthesised aggregate of physical body, emotional nature, and mentality, yet knows himself as more than these three, and recognises himself as the utiliser of form, of emotion, and of mentality, holding them all together coherently so that he is a unit.

 

1        Man is Manas, the Thinker. Man, in essence, is the Observer. There is much to relate manas (as Thinker) to the Observer.

2        He recognizes the synthesized aggregate, yet also has found himself as the “utiliser” of the synthesized aggregate.

3        Manas, manifested through the Solar Angel and the causal body, exerts a cohesive influence holding together the synthesized aggregate and eventually controlling it.

 

 A planetary Logos similarly does the same, with the difference that manas is not the medium whereby he is a coherent whole.  Owing to his more advanced stage of development, wisdom is for Him the dominant factor.  A solar logos achieves through Will what a planetary Logos does through wisdom or buddhi, and man (on his tiny scale) through manas.

 

1        For man, manas is “the medium whereby he is a coherent whole”. Intelligence, as it were, holds him together as a synthesized aggregate.

2        Thus, for man, manas is the “dominant factor”.

3        For a Planetary Logos, “wisdom” is the dominant factor; a Planetary Logos is a “Dragon of Wisdom” and manas is secondary—more instrumental.

4        For a Solar Logos, Will is the means whereby He is a coherent whole.

5        Have we thought about what it means to produce coherence through these three means: Intelligence/Manas, Wisdom and Will?

6        Wisdom has much more experience than manas, per se. Manas knows what seems intelligent, but wisdom knows the eternal principles and how developing conditions fit within the objectives of the Plan. Will, per se, is, relatively, more potent than wisdom, related to Purpose, and assumes a certain factor of irresistibility. 

7        VSK queries: “Isn’t this contradictory to the opening statement that it is manas that allows all three types of ‘men’ to work? But here it is saying that the Planetary Logos uses Wisdom, not Manas; the Solar Logos uses Will, not manas. How do we resolve this to the first statement?”

8        May it be suggested that each successive quality includes the foregoing quality? Wisdom presumes manas, and Will presumes wisdom.

9        Manas, therefore, is required in all three types of demonstration—that of man, as Planetary Logos or the Solar Logos. However, we are interested in the additional factor. To do what a Planetary Logos must do (given His vast scope of expression), wisdom must be added to manas (which is not yet the case for man, with his much smaller scope of expression).

10   To do what a Solar Logos must do (given His scope of expression vaster far than that of a Planetary Logos), Will must be added to wisdom (which is certainly not the case for man, and is not even the case for a Planetary Logos, with His much smaller scope of expression). A Planetary Logos, of course, uses will, but not in the same way and same power that a Solar Logos does.

11   VSK states and enquires: “Wisdom and Buddhi are equated as the medium for the Planetary Logos. Is not wisdom more of the second plane, and buddhi the fourth?”

12   May it be stated that there is a close connection between wisdom and buddhi. When we speak of “Love-Wisdom”, we are speaking of buddhi and not only of that which transpires on the monadic plane.

13   Mercury is “Budh” or “Buddha” (EA 659). Mercury (“Buddha”) is “mind-wisdom”. “Mercury is the synthesis of manas-buddhi, mind-wisdom which expresses itself through the human soul;” (EA 284)

14   We might say that wisdom is in evidence through the quality of buddhi, but even more on the monadic plane.

15   Jupiter, planet of wisdom, is related to both planes—buddhic and monadic.

16   Buddhi is the sixth principle and the monadic plane is the sixth plane (numbering from below).

17   It requires wisdom to create “group unity”; it requires even a purer kind of wisdom to restore that “fundamental unity” characteristic of the monadic plane.

18   Words like “buddhi” and “wisdom” are difficult to categorize in terms of only one systemic or cosmic locale. They have a far more universal application.

 

Yet, as both planetary Logos and man are but parts of their greater whole, the electric fire of will permeates them also, merging with the solar fire of buddhi, and fanning the fires of matter.

 

1        Here is a most important statement. We cannot separate lesser entities from their incorporation in greater Entities.

2        That which a greater Entity expresses through its own nature makes its way also into and through the lesser entities which are incorporate parts of its nature.

3        So, in short, electric fire permeates solar fire and fire by friction, just as solar fire permeates fire by friction.

4        These thoughts can be applied to the problem of three distinct types of Heavenly Men—Planetary Logoi, Chain-Lords and Globe-Lords. They are distinct, but all three must, nevertheless, be considered the same entity.

 

 In all these distinctions and differentiations it must be remembered that they do not exist from the logoic standpoint, but are only to be predicated in relation [Page 334] to the lesser bodies which are included in the solar ring-pass-not.

 

1        Here a valuable principle emerges. When we see from a lofty point of vantage, differences and distinctions disappear, because we are viewing the many parts from the angle of vision of the Whole which includes them.

2        When viewing from lesser perspectives, the illusion of distinction and differentiation is not easily avoided.

3        From the logoic standpoint, all that is otherwise interpreted as distinction and differentiation is seen as part of Himself, incorporate to the whole.

4        We must, therefore, learn to see from the largest possible point of view.

5        If a human being sees from the soul perspective, how will he understand the personality and its apparent distinct parts?

 

A man is a coherent unit in objective manifestation for very brief periods on the physical plane simply because as yet he works only through manas and not through wisdom.

 

1        That which is produced by manas is of shorter duration than that which is produced by wisdom, and of far, far shorter duration than that which is produced by Will.

2        It is as if manas organizes sufficiently well, but not enduringly well.

3        As we enter the fifth kingdom of nature and become incorporated into the stream of wisdom, we have greater control over the duration of our manifestation—as is the case with the Masters of the Wisdom.

4        Man, we seem to be told, is intelligent but not yet wise.

5        VSK queries: “In this context, is wisdom here referring to the buddhic, or monadic assignation of ‘wisdom’. Using the table on TCF 331, how do we resolve these references to the planes?

6        If wisdom referred to the monadic level, in this context, a more proper term would be will. I believe wisdom refers to the buddhic hierarchical consciousness characteristic of the members of the Hierarchy. The consciousness of most Masters is not fully monadic.

 

His cycles are consequently soon run, and gone like a flash in the night.

 

1        Especially as this is seen from a soul perspective. Soul perspective is an outlook gradually merging with the perspective of a Planetary Logos.

2        We can we that the Tibetan works with a very different perspective of time than will the average disciple.

 

  A planetary Logos, Who is perfected manas and works through wisdom, has longer cycles, and from the angle of vision of man endures for aeons;

 

1        We might wonder about the duration of that seemingly elastic term “aeon”. Can it, conveniently, mean a chain-round?

2        From the angle of the vision of the Planetary Logos, His endurance does not seem to be aeons.

3        Each entity assesses time according to the scope of its own nature.

4        Although a Planetary Logos is a “Dragon of Wisdom”, He is not a perfected “Dragon of Wisdom”. Rather, He is “perfected manas”.

5        A Solar Logos, Who is a Lion of Cosmic Will, is perfected wisdom, but not yet perfected Will.

 

 His life is the basis of the comparative permanence of the egoic cycles of man.

 

1        VSK states and enquires: “This lends a sense of scale to the egoic cycles of man. Is man (collective or individual) of the same egoic ray for aeons?”

2        Much would depend upon the meaning of “aeon”. If an aeon is a shorter term than a round, it might be measured in terms of a root race. We are told that advanced man may change his egoic ray with every change of root race.

3        Man at an earlier stage of development may change his egoic ray with every round. Man as we know him was not present in the third round, so this piece of information has more to do with those whose development must continue into the fifth round.

 

The cycle of objectivity of a solar Logos persists for the greater mahamanvantara or solar cycle because it is based on will as well as on wisdom and manas.

 

1        Here we have a confirmation that the greatest of the three Entities described utilizes not only will, but wisdom and manas as well.

2        We recall that objectivity does not means materiality, but is more etheric in nature. The buddhic plane is the lowest point of true objectivity for the Solar Logos.

 

  Therefore, it will be apparent that:

 

a      Manas or intelligence is the basis of the separative manifestation of man.

 

1        VSK states: “Yet we have just learned that manas creates cohesion for all three?”

2        When considering man as a separate unit, we find that manas, per se (without the additional influence of wisdom and Will) is responsible for the manifestation of man.

3        We must remember that manas has been related to the third, second and first aspects and will assume different characteristics depending on the aspect to which it is related.

a        Manas as separation

b        Manas as cohesion

c        Manas as Will

 

b. Wisdom or buddhi is the basis of the group manifestation of a Heavenly Man.

 

1        It must be borne in mind that a Heavenly Man is, indeed, a group manifestation. A Heavenly Man is both a One and a many.

2        A Heavenly Man is a group-consciousness being.

3        We recall that groups of Solar Angels become a Heavenly Man.

4        The whole idea of how groups become Heavenly Men is mysterious but necessary to understand if we are to appreciate the hierarchical nature of cosmos.

5        In one way we can see the hierarchical necessity for the group nature of greater Beings. In another way, such great Beings must have pre-existed such emanations as human beings and Solar Angels. Emanation theory demands that the few become the many; the few must pre-exist the many. Yet, in another way (later) the man re-become the few.

 

The Pitris who formed the egoic body of a human being do not—alone and isolated—form planetary Logoi.

The forty-nine groups of solar fires concerned in the great work are those spoken of, and they become the forty-nine planetary Logoi in connexion with seven solar systems. (TCF 879)

 

c. Will is the basis of the One Life which synthesises all groups.

 

1        Will is that aspect of divinity which promotes synthesis.

2        When comparing these three types of ‘atoms’, man is the many; the Planetary Logoi are the few; the Solar Logos is the One (though naturally such a relationship is relative, for a Cosmic Logos is even more of a One than the Solar Logos, numbers of which would, in relation to a Cosmic Logos, become the few).

3        Of course, the principle of synthesis also applies in relation to both man and the Planetary Logos, for man synthesizes all the tiny lives contained within his ring-pass-not, and the same is true of the Planetary Logos.

4        The Solar Logos, Himself, is synthesized by greater Logoi and They by greater Logoi still.

 

Therefore again, in studying this Fire of Mind, we must remember that it is that which man is developing and with which he is learning to work, but that it is also that which a Heavenly Man has developed in an earlier system;

 

1        Our subject, we are reminded, is the Fire of Mind, especially, in this section, of the higher mind.

2        Man is developing the Fire of Mind; a Planetary Logos has developed it and perfected it in an earlier system.

3        We are told that a Planetary Logos was as a Master is now, many mahamanvantaras ago. We see the term “earlier system” is purposefully vague and general.

4        It is unlikely that a Heavenly Man developed the Fire of Mind only in the most recent previous system.

 

  Man is repeating His endeavor up to the fifth Initiation which will bring him to a stage of consciousness achieved by a Heavenly Man in a much earlier mahamanvantara. (TCF 272)

 

 

 it is to Him as automatic in its action as is the subconscious activity of a man's physical organs.

 

1        This is a good reference. Manas, to a Planetary Logos, is an automaticism. The Planetary Logos does not have to think about the application of manas. This is even more the case for the Solar Logos.

2        For some higher types of human beings, this is also becoming the case—though certainly not on the scale for which it is possible in the case of a Planetary Logos.

 

4. MANAS IS THE KEY TO THE FIFTH KINGDOM IN NATURE

 

We might also define manas as the key to the door through which entrance is made into the fifth kingdom of nature, the spiritual kingdom.

 

1        The fifth kingdom in nature is the kingdom of souls, the spiritual kingdom. We see that what we call the Fire of Mind is indispensable for entry.

2        This should be remembered by those who try to enter only by means of desire and aspiration.

 

  Each of the five kingdoms is entered by some one key, and in connection the first two kingdoms—the mineral and vegetable—the key or method whereby the life escapes into the higher kingdom is so inexplicable to man as his present stage [Page 335] of intelligent apprehension that we will not pause to consider it.

 

1        VSK remarks: “Certainly the mind wants to explain the inexplicable? What could it be?”

2        May it be suggested that the transition from mineral life to vegetable life involves a new relationship to prana, and that the transition from vegetable to animal suggests new forms of mobility (no longer rooted and ‘planted’) as well as the growth of animating intelligence.

3        Each transition from kingdom to kingdom is made by means of a certain faculty, quality, or key.

4        We are told that we cannot fathom the means by which mineral life becomes vegetable life, and vegetable life, animal life. With regard to the latter transition, science seems to have identified life forms which have a relation to both. DK, however, is mentioning the impossibility of discussing the technical means of this transition.

5        The point is that every entrance into a higher kingdom is a kind of escape or liberation. We are at that point in the development of the human kingdom with an ‘escape’ on a large scale is in process of preparation.

 

In relation to the animal kingdom it might be said that the key whereby entrance is effected into the human kingdom is that of instinct.

 

1        In other words, instinct helps to affect the transition from animal consciousness to human consciousness.

2        Instinct is a result of the conscious intelligence of the greater Life which embodies the animal kingdom, and the various higher forms of lives which embody the various aspects of that kingdom.

3        Instinct is based upon group learning.

4        When reliable instinct (as manifested in the higher members of the animal kingdom) acquires a center of reference, individualization is in process. We remember that not all individualization requires the intervention of Solar Angels.

 

 This instinct, towards the final stages of the animal's evolution, and as it becomes more and more detached from the group soul,26 becomes transmuted into mentality, or into that embryo mind which is latent in animal-man, and which simply needed the stimulating vibration which emanated from the Earth's Primary [i.e., Venus] to be fanned into something definitely human.

 

1        An important process is described. As the animal becomes more detached from the group soul, instinct is transmuted into mentality. Transmutation means “elevated”.

2        So an animal man has mentality of a kind, an “embryo mind”. This type of mind cannot yet be called “definitely human”. The influence of Venus, “Earth’s Primary” or “Alter Ego” is required to fan or transform this embryo mind into something that is definitely human.

3        Instinct is transmuted into mentality as an awareness of a center of reference arises within what might be called the ‘sphere of many responses’. There slowly emerges the observer of that which has been intelligently done under the sway of instinct. Then conscious intelligence can be added to the power of instinct, and animal man (now able to pre-arrange his actions according to conscious memory and anticipation) enters the fourth kingdom of nature.

 

26: "A Group-soul is a collection of permanent Triads in a triple envelope of monadic essence.

 

1        By “monadic essence” do we mean matter of the first sub-plane of a particular higher plane?

2        The “Triads” are permanent in that they are permanent representatives of the spiritual triad on its own levels, just as the spiritual triads are permanent representatives of the Monad throughout its long pilgrimage.

 

  The permanent Triads are a reflection upon the lower planes of the spiritual Triads on the higher. 

 

1        This is an important occult statement. The “permanent Triads” would, it seems relate to the lower permanent atoms. Indeed, the atomic triangle (consisting of physical permanent atom, astral permanent atom and the mental unit) is a reflection of the three higher permanent atoms.

2        So let us keep these two terms clearly in mind—“permanent Triads” and “spiritual Triads”.

 

This description is true of all group-souls functioning on the physical plane, but gives no idea of the extreme complexity of the subject."—From A Study in Consciousness, by Annie Besant.

 

1        Yes, a subject which is extremely complex. This is why it is so difficult to penetrate it.

2        Annie Besant’s clear fifth ray mind is very useful in offering a description which can be accurately followed.

 

We must always bear in mind that the method of individualisation on this globe was not the one followed on others, and that many of the present advanced units of humanity individualised normally, and through the driving force of evolution itself.

 

1        On this, our globe, we experienced an abnormal method of individualization. It was not the “driving force of evolution itself” which was responsible for individualization, but rather a kind of divine intervention appropriate to the evolutionary stage achieved by the Planetary Logos of our planet—i.e., the period of the awakening of the planetary heart.

2        We remember that the “Will to Evolve” is associated with the third ray and thus with the solar system and chain through which the third ray was powerfully expressive.

 

  They found (to express it as far as possible in terms of fire), their opposite electrical pole through the activity of animal instinct, and by the blending of the two a human being was produced,—the union of the three fires in the causal vehicle.

 

1        Upward struggling instinct “found” the “opposite electrical pole” (the Spirit), and the two blended.

2        How this finding occurred, we have no idea. The technicalities must be extraordinary.

3        We do see this, however—that instinct is capable of seeking out and ‘finding’ the Spirit aspect, to which, numerologically, it is naturally resonant.

4        A human being, defined here, is “the union of the three fires in the causal body”.

5        Within the causal body, the jewel in the lotus is the representative of the first fire.

 

Man passes into the fifth kingdom through the transmutation of the discriminative faculty of mind, which—as in the animal's individualisation—brings about at a certain stage a spiritual individualisation which is the correspondence on higher levels to what transpired in Lemurian days.

 

1        We are speaking of two types of individualization—individualization, proper, and a “spiritual individualisation” which is its higher correspondence.

2        Man, as a member of the fourth kingdom, possesses the discriminative mind. It is his “stock in trade”—perhaps his foremost characteristic.

3        That discriminative mind is to be transmuted into wise-mind and intuitive mind under the guidance of Venus, a major planet of transmutation.

4        “Spiritual individualization” can be related to the first initiation—the “Birth of the Christ in the Heart”.

 

Therefore, we have:

Instinct...The key from the animal into the human kingdom or from the third into the fourth kingdom.

Manas......The key from the human into the spiritual kingdom, or from the fourth kingdom into the fifth kingdom.

 

1        Instinct and manas are, therefore, two “keys”, faculties or qualities involved in transition from one kingdom to the succeeding.

2        Instinct is intelligent but it is not observant. Manas, as it appears within the human being, presumes a center of intelligent observation which, at first, we name the lower ego.

 

[Page 336] Higher we need not go, for the transmutation of manas proceeds, and much as yet remains to be done.

 

1        We can expect that this transmutation will proceed as the soul becomes more influential, and as Venus (within the context of Aquarius—both in the first and third decanate) becomes a more prominent influence.

 

5. MANAS IS THE SYNTHESIS OF FIVE RAYS

 

1        When we see a statement of this nature, we think naturally of the five Rays of Brahma, representing the third aspect of divinity. There are, as we know, seven rays, and of all these, manas is not the synthesis—only of five.

 

One other definition might be given even though its abstruseness may prove but a bewilderment to the student.

 

1        The word “abstruse” suggests both abstraction and subtlety. Abstruse matters are difficult to comprehend, because they are often many times removed from common knowledge and because, not only are they abstracted, but they are extremely subtle, such that the concrete mind does not grasp them easily.

 

Manas is the united faculty of four of the Heavenly Men, synthesised through a fifth Heavenly Man on the third plane of the system.

 

1        These four Heavenly Men or Divine Manasaputras represent the Rays of Attribute.

2        The fifth Heavenly Man on the third plane of the system must be Saturn, the foremost Lord of Manas, and a planet intimately related to Brahma.

3        Manas is really the united faculty of five rays.

4        Should Uranus, expressing (from one perspective) the seventh ray, and Neptune, expressing (from one perspective) the sixth, be included among the manasic Heavenly Men? Because they are synthesizing planets, superior in spiritual maturity (though not in the degree of unfoldment) to the synthesizer of the four, it is difficult to think of them as manasic, even though they express (through their souls) two of the manasic rays.

5        While sixth ray Mars (from one level a very manasic planet) can take the place of Neptune, it is more difficult to find a seventh ray planet to take the place of Uranus, though, no doubt, one exists.

 

  These five Heavenly Men were the logoic embodiment in an earlier system and achieved the fullness of manasic life.

 

1        Numerologically, the number of the first solar system was five, just as our system is symbolized by seven and the next system will be symbolized by nine.

2        Can it be that in the previous solar system there were only five principal planets?

3        If Uranus and Neptune were included, then Saturn could be considered Their elder brother (not in terms of his spiritual value or inner status) but in terms of His degree of unfoldment.

4        We certainly expect that Venus and Mercury were present in that earlier system, just as Sirius was even more important then than now.

5        The presence or non-presence of current Planetary Logoi in the previous solar system is not necessarily an easy subject. As a contradiction to the possibility, we could turn to TCF 293 to learn that the duration of a Heavenly Man is the “period of one solar system”. Yet other references seem to indicate Their presence in the earlier system.

6        One wonders about the importance of presently non-sacred planets in an earlier solar system. If they are non-sacred now, what could they have been in that earlier system—a Chain Lord, perhaps, or a planet of status lesser than those in the present non-sacred group?

 

 Their synthetic life is that which is primarily understood when we speak of Brahma, that cosmic Entity Who is the sum-total of logoic active intelligence.

 

1        Is Brahma, the Logos of Saturn, or, with respect to our solar system, a greater and more inclusive Being?

2        I believe our systemic Brahma includes Saturn but transcends it (cf. TCF 1238, for the Entities surrounding the Solar Logos).

3        If this Brahma is a “cosmic Entity”, then the Solar Logos must certainly be considered so, because this Brahma represents that part of the Solar Logos which is “logoic active intelligence”.

 

  For lack of better terms we call Them the Lords of the four minor Rays, Who find Their synthesis through the third Ray of Activity.

 

1        Now, the Tibetan puts the matter in terms of the rays.

2        If the manasic rays and the Planetary Logoi who expressed them were prominent in the last solar system, to what extent did the second ray and the first ray express during that system?

3        Were they present but occultly ineffective?

4        Perhaps it can be said that in our present solar system, the first ray (in its true nature) is occultly ineffective.

5        We remember that esoterically, Uranus and Neptune are the Lords of the first and second rays respectively. (cf. EP I 420)

 

 They have been called in an endeavour to express the principles which They embody:

 

1        The Ray Lords have been named with a specific objective in mind—namely that the name given should express the principles that these Ray Lords embody.

2        We notice below that DK begins His numbering from above. This cannot be a random choice. Is He indicating something about their order of manifestation?

 

1. The Lord of Ceremonial Magic.

2. The Lord of Abstract Idealism, or Devotion.

3. The Lord of Concrete Science.

4. The Lord of Harmony and Art.

 

1        VSK asks: “Can we identify these four as the lower quaternary, and thus place Earth among them, or not?”

2        Earth holds place within the lower quaternary of the Solar Logos as does Venus.

3        But if the Logos of the Earth is placed in relation to these four, it would be in a subsidiary capacity, for the Planetary Logos of Earth is not one of the major Ray Lords.

4        It is possible, in relation to the Science of Triangles, that every ray is really represented principally by three Planetary Logoi.

5        Whenever there are seven, we look for a twenty-one and their synthesis, a twenty-two.

6        One still wonders about whether Uranus and Neptune should be involved in a lower quaternary; they are such essentially advanced Heavenly Men.

7        Mars can easily be substituted for Neptune and even Jupiter (a strongly seventh ray planet) for Uranus.

 

These four function through the fourth cosmic ether, and have vehicles of buddhic matter.

 

1        The fourth cosmic ether is the buddhic plane. Earlier we discussed which Planetary Logoi might have etheric vehicles principally composed of buddhic matter. We included Venus and Mercury in the enumeration; Vulcan might also be included.

2        We did not know whether to include the non-sacred planets, though their inclusion is a possibility. For such planets, the higher mental plane might number as the lowest ether.

3        For planets like Venus and Mercury, the buddhic plane might be, in fact, the third ether, representing an ascent from the relative physicality of the focus of the non-sacred Planetary Logoi.

4        Whichever may be the Ray Lords associated with the Rays of Attribute, and expressing through certain planets, the planets through which these four rays express have “vehicles of buddhic matter”.

5        Part of the confusion in this area of thought stems from the fact that Uranus and Neptune are assigned Rays of Attribute, but essentially and esoterically they are expressive of the two major Rays of Aspect (the first and the second rays, respectively).

6        So while Uranus and Neptune seem to belong among the four, from the point of view of the rays they express, they definitely seem to belong among the higher three, because they are synthesizing planets. Uranus is the Father of Saturn. This tells something about His priority. Neptune, however, is the Brother of Jupiter, who, himself is as Son of Saturn.

7        Sometimes, in these old theogonies, the relative spiritual stature of planetary Deities can be understood.

 

  They merge into the greater life of the Lord of the third Ray of Aspect on atmic levels, and these four (with the one synthetic Ray), are the totality of manasic energy.

 

1        This merging occurs during a period of absorption.

2        Because of this merging, Uranus and Neptune cannot be included among the four, even though their soul rays are among the manasic rays (seven and six, respectively).

3        Uranus and Neptune are synthesizing planets and, themselves are absorbers.

4        So we see how many things have to be considered before handily assigning Heavenly Men to certain positions within the constitution of the Solar Logos.

 

  They are the life of the five lower planes.

 

1        The Five Kumaras here noted are the “life of the lower planes”.

2        We note that such Kumaras are Planetary Logoi.

3        Each plane is principally animated by a Kumara.

 

  They are the five Kumaras, and two remain, making the seven Kumaras or Builders of the universe;

 

1        The “universe” in this case is our solar system. The term “universe” represents a systemic or cosmic whole, and is not always meant as the ‘Great Entirety’.

 

 these five have been called the five Mind-born Sons of Brahma. [27 S.D., I, 119, 493; II, 111, 112.]

 

1        VSK asks an interesting but abstruse question: “Looking at the chart on page 34 of Esoteric Astrology, we see these Five Kumaras as the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh Rays, expressing respectively via Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer. Are these Kumaras, located as they are on the cosmic astral plane, the Mind-born Sons of Brahma?

2        There is a serious question whether it is the Divine Kumaras which are listed in this Table of Creative Hierarchies. Such groupings are lives emanating from the second tier of petals of the solar logoic egoic lotus.

3        From all that can be presently determined, the Planetary Logoi (i.e., the Kumaras here in question) are Beings greater than those of the five Creative Hierarchies of the cosmic astral plane.

4        If an entity is “Mind-born”, it is emanated from a superior and inclusive source.

5        From the manner in which the Sun (Martanda) and His seven Brothers are described in the Secret Doctrine, it would seem that the Solar Logos and the Planetary Logoi were emanated from the same superior Source. This stands to reason in relation to the physical description of the nascent Sun and nascent planets, but does not stand to reason from other perspectives (such as the perspective in which the planets are as chakras for the Solar Logos, and, some of them, even as permanent atoms).

 

Manas, therefore, is the psychic effect of Their united group work, and shows forth in different ways according to the units involved, the forms [Page 337] animated, and the planes concerned.

 

1        Here we have an unusual definition. Manas is a “psychic effect” of the “united group work” of the Five Mind-born Sons of Brahma.

2        The word “psychic” in this context refers to the energy of the higher mental plane.

3        Manas demonstrates in different ways. Much depends upon

a        Which of the Kumaras, Logoi or Mind-born Sons are involved.

b        Which types of forms are animated by these manasic Sources.

c        Which planes are concerned as recipients of Their influence.

 

  They demonstrate predominantly on the five lower subplanes of each plane, and this factor should be remembered in connection with the major initiations of manas.

 

1        We gather that the Five Systemic Kumaras demonstrate on all the sub-planes of the cosmic physical plane, with special focus upon the five lower sub-planes of the each systemic plane.

2        As well, their influence is probably most prominent on the five lowest sub-planes of the cosmic physical plane.

3        The major initiations of manas are the five initiations with which we are normally familiar.

4        The five lower sub-planes of the cosmic physical plane are the systemic physical, astral, mental, buddhic and atmic planes. These systemic planes can easily be arranged in relation to the five major initiations (beginning with the Birth in Bethlehem).

5        If we subdivide the matter further, we shall see that the Five Systemic Kumaras relate most to the five systemic sub-planes of every systemic plane.

6        A Master would be particularly related to the third sub-plane of the atmic plane. Perhaps an Arhat would be coming in contact with the fourth sub-plane of the atmic. A Master would also be related to the third sub-plane of the buddhic plane, and an Arhat definitely to the fourth sub-plane of the buddhic.

7        The five lowest sub-planes of the mental, astral and physical systemic planes would relate to initiations lower than that of Arhat. We remember, however, that the lowest two sub-planes of the systemic astral and physical planes are, for man, occultly ‘off limits’.

8        The matter is really quite intricate. It is not so simple as saying that a Master will influence all third sub-planes of the five systemic planes; that an Arhat will influence all fourth sub-planes; a third degree initiate all fifth sub-planes, etc.

9        We are dealing with subject of inter-planar resonances.

10   VSK asks: “Do we see a relationship between this and the senses, pages 188-189?”

11   After the foregoing, I think we would definitely have to say, “yes”. To study these pages in relation to the subject of the influence of the Five Divine Kumaras would be profitable—and time-consuming.

12   If we link the Heavenly Men with the five initiations, we would find Saturn in relation to the fifth initiation; Mercury in relation to the fourth; Venus in relation to the fifth; both Mars and Neptune in relation to the sixth; and Uranus (and perhaps another seventh ray planet) in relation to the first.

 

Nevertheless—as They are the sumtotal of the third or Brahma aspect—Their main sphere of influence is on the lowest or third division of the manifested universe or on the mental, astral, and physical planes.

 

1        The number associated with the Mind-born Sons is five—for there are five of them.

2        However, from a larger perspective, they are, in our solar system, the sumtotal of the third or Brahma aspect and therefore, would resonate with the number three.

3        The three lower worlds of normal human evolution would be the vibrational sphere where their energy would be most keenly felt.

4        This being the case, it would seem necessary to include some of the lesser Planetary Logoi along with the four of Attribute, because these lesser Logoi definitely relate to the three lower worlds, and are more Brahmic in their nature than related to Vishnu.

 

I would here suggest a third division of the major planes of the system which will hold much of interest for the real student of occultism.

 

1        So, this is a test! Is any of us a “real student of occultism”?

 

1st Logos        Mahadeva      Will Aspect     First plane.

2nd Logos       Vishnu            Wisdom          Second, Third, Fourth.

3rd Logos        Brahma          Intelligence     Fifth, Sixth, Seventh.

 

1        This method of division has been previously mentioned. It involves primarily three types of entity—the Solar Logos, the Planetary Logos and Man.

2        The Solar Logos is represented on the first plane, with some overlapping into the second. The Planetary Logos is represented on the next three planes with some overlapping into the fifth. Man is represented on the fifth sixth and seventh planes.

 

In these five definitions of manas we have suggested scope for thought and much has been hinted at for those who have ears to hear.

 

1        Perhaps the development of the siddhi found upon the seventh sub-plane of the buddhic plane is required.

2        DK is hinting at the necessity for esoteric hearing. “Those who have eyes to see” have esoteric sight.

3        The allusion to hearing also relates to the Brahmic or third aspect.

 

 Many more explanatory words might be spoken but we aim to start students thinking for themselves, and seek to see them defining these ideas in their own words.

 

1        Well, here is what the Masters expect of us. Perhaps they could explain much, but how would we profit from those explanations?

2        Instead, we are to start thinking for ourselves, no matter how halting such thought may be—at first.

3        The effort to rephrase in our own words what the Tibetan has said, is, therefore, of real value. In our studies we are attempting to do this.

4        VSK includes the five definitions of Manas: The five definitions of Manas being:

I. Three manifestations of Manas [p. 308]

II. Definitions of Manas or Mind [p. 309]

III. Manas is that which produces cohesion [p. 332]

IV. Manas is the key to the fifth kingdom in nature [p. 334]

V. Manas is the synthesis of five rays [p. 336]

 

6. MANAS IS THE INTELLIGENT WILL OR PURPOSE OF AN EXISTENCE

 

Manas might finally be defined as the intelligent will and ordered purpose of every self-conscious entity.  I would urge the student to bear in mind certain basic facts which will serve to keep his mind clear, and which will enable him to comprehend something of the place which this fire of mind holds in the cosmos and the solar system, and (needless to say), in his life also,—the reflection of the other two.

 

1        Manas is here given a definition emphasizing the first, third and seventh rays: will is of the first ray; intelligent will brings in the third; ordered purpose brings in both the seventh and the first rays.

2        The life of man (we are being told) is a reflection of the cosmic system and the solar system.

3        From a certain perspective, we are being shown that Manas (as a Source focussed on the higher levels of the cosmic mental plane) utilizes all the seven rays as they express on the lower cosmic planes, and, especially for our purpose, on the cosmic physical plane.

 

He should ever remember that manas is a principle of the Logos, and necessarily therefore is felt in all those [Page 338] evolutions which are a part of His nature but is allied especially to the throat and head centres;

 

1        All logoic principles are felt throughout the entirety of the solar logoic nature.

2        Manas is Intelligence and is, therefore, particularly allied to the throat center, which can be counted either as the third or the fifth center—both of these numbers being manasic.

3        Manas is also Will and is therefore allied with the highest directing center—the head center. It is apparent, also, that the “head” is directly related to the process of thinking, which is manasic.

4        We are going now to be given a further description of manas.

 

 it is the active intelligent factor which enables a solar Logos, a planetary Logos or Heavenly Man, and a human being to:

 

1        There follows quite a list of processes for which manas is responsible:

 

a. Use intelligently a form or vehicle.

 

1        Simply to possess a vehicle is one thing. To utilize it in an intelligent manner takes many life-cycles of manasic application.

 

b. Build faculty into the causal body.

 

1        The Solar Angel, so strongly manasic in nature, is the author of this process. It uses manas in relation to the Law of Attraction.

2        We, the human being, may provide the faculty through the exercise of virtue, but by what mathematical alchemical process is the faculty built into the causal body? One day we will know—perhaps when we are Solar Angels.

 

c. Reap the benefit of experience.

 

1        Here, we the Observer, learn from experience. We notice patterns of causality and thus adjust our behavior.

 

d. Expand the consciousness.

 

1        We learn the methods of such expansion, and attempt intelligently to apply them.

 

e. Make progress towards a specified goal.

 

1        Through manas we discriminate that which is of greatest value, and towards this objective we proceed intelligently.

 

f. Discriminate between the two poles.

 

1        We learn the fundamental nature of the pairs of opposites. Manas has the power to differentiate, and the fundamental discrimination is between the positive and negative poles.

 

g. Choose the direction in which his activity shall trend.

 

1        The factor of choice is correlated to Libra and Saturn—both strongly related to the third or manasic ray. Direction, per se, is related to the first ray.

 

h. Perfect the form as well as use it.

 

1        Perfecting the form requires the ability to notice where improvement is needed, and an understanding the methods whereby that improvement can be pursued. The manasic factor of comparison is necessary in this task.

 

i. Obtain control of active substance, and turn its forces into desired channels.

 

1        This is the manasic power to manipulate. Through intelligence one learns to control and then direct. This is all part of the management of forces.

 

j. Co-ordinate the different grades of matter, and synthesise the utilised forms till each and all show a unanimous line of action and express simultaneously the will of the Indweller.

 

1        It is quite clear that we are speaking of an integrative process, and that manas is indispensable in this process. Manas organizes, correlates, utilizes and coordinates. The result is an integrated vehicle through which the Indweller can express his Will.

 

All these ends are the result of the manasic development and perhaps the student might apprehend the underlying idea more clearly if it is realised that

 

1        We realize that manas is a huge factor in our developmental process. The last solar system was manasic in nature, and the developments in that system are our foundation.

2        We are learning that manas is a ubiquitous factor in human, planetary logoic and solar logoic development..

 

a. The Spirit employs manas in all that concerns matter, the electrical substance, or the active akasha.

 

1        We are dealing here with the fohatic application of manas.

2        All planes are composed of “electrical substance”. If electrical substance is “active akasha”, then all planes are composed of active akasha.

3        Sound has created these planes and akasha is the medium for sound.

4        We notice that That which employs manas (or buddhi or atma) is the Spirit—That which wields principle and faculty.

5        Manas is especially related to matter, as buddhi is to psyche, as atma is to essence.

 

b. The Spirit employs buddhi in all that relates to the psyche, that relates to the soul of the world, to the soul of an individual, or to the soul of every form.

 

1        The concept of buddhi is inseparable from the soul of the world.

2        Buddhi unifies diversities into “group unity” and so does soul.

3        Buddhi is the pervasively “psychic” factor.

 

c. The Spirit employs will or atma in all that relates to the essence of all, to itself, considering the essence and the Self as pure Spirit as distinguished from spirit-matter.

 

1        We are discussing “pure Spirit” (in and of itself) as distinguished form “spirit-matter”.

2        We are being told that atma relates to the Atman, which is the essence and the reality of the Self—“pure Spirit”.

3        Will or atma, however, are not the Spirit, for the Spirit is That which wields them.

4        So the Spirit wields manas, buddhi and atma/will.

5        We will now review the three qualities, faculties or principles which the Spirit wields.

 

In the first case, the distinctive quality of manas is discrimination which enables the Spirit to differentiate between:

 

1        It has dawned upon us that the Tibetan is offering us many ways to consider the nature of manas.

2        Here we are offered the “distinctive quality of manas”—discrimination.

3        It helps to have this “mental peg” amidst the abundance of definitions and descriptions.

4        Discrimination, astrologically, is related to Mercury and Saturn, two very manasic planets, much associated (from one perspective) with the third and fifth rays.

5        The discriminations below are truly fundamental.

 

[Page 339]

1. The Self and the Not-Self.

2. Spirit and Matter.

 

1        The first two are the primary discriminations. The first is even more fundamental, as it suggests a cognizance of the existence of BE-NESS.

 

3. The planes and the subplanes.

 

1        Each has its distinct vibratory level and quality.

 

4. The different grades of atomic matter in the system.

 

1        There are seven grades.

 

5. Vibrations, engendered by will, working through love-wisdom, and energising substance.

 

1        We live in a sea of vibrations. Can we discriminate the three major types?

 

6. All that concerns forms of every kind and in every type of essential existence.

 

1        We can see that our manasic ability is in its infancy.

 

In the second case, the buddhic principle has for its distinctive quality love, and demonstrates as wisdom working through love and producing:

 

1        Buddhi has a “distinctive quality” and a mode of demonstration. Buddhi is essential love, but demonstrates as wisdom.

2        We can see that if wisdom is to be expressed or demonstrated, knowledge is not sufficient, though it is necessary.

3        With regard to manas we dealt with essential discriminations. With regard to buddhi we now look at the results of wisdom working through love.

 

1. Unity between all Selves.

 

1        All souls are at-one with the Oversoul.

 

2. Group coherence.

 

1        In relation to humanity—humanity is One Family. The members of the Fourth Creative Hierarchy are all aspects of one whole and cannot be separated from that whole (except under the rarest either unfortunate or highly progressive circumstances).

 

3. Qualities that are distinctively along the line of what we call love.

 

1        How would we list them?: kindness, sympathy, empathy, patience, humility, tolerance, inclusiveness, etc.

 

4. Effective work in connection with evolution, or the fundamentals of hierarchical work.

 

1        Although the “Will to Evolve” relates to the third ray, there can be no effective work in promoting the evolutionary process unless the love and wisdom motivating the process are understood.

2        Further, love-wisdom underlies the fundamentals of hierarchical work.

 

In the third case the Spirit employs the will aspect or atma (in man), which has, for its distinctive feature, that coherent force which keeps the purpose of the entity ever in view, working it out through love in substantial form.

 

1        It is not easy to get a grasp on atma. Here we find an understandable and useful definition, “that coherent force which keeps the purpose of the entity every in view”.

2        Atma/will is therefore a “coherent force” which holds the entity in question to purpose, and which works out that purpose using love within the field of substantial form.

3        Atma is ‘purpose-focussed’. Atma does not allow one to ignore purpose or to scatter one’s attention so that purpose is no longer seen. Atma holds the field of consciousness coherent so that purpose ever has a central place.

 

I have pointed out these distinctions as it serves to bring the scope, and equally the limitations, of the active mental principle somewhat more clearly before the student.

 

1        We are learning what can be apprehended by the human mind as presently constituted, and what cannot.

2        These matters, rarely thought through by the average student of occultism, are here receiving detailed attention.

 

In the Hall of Ignorance the accumulative side of manas and its ability to store and acquire knowledge and information is being developed.

 

1        If we notice the way in which the third ray soul destroys the causal body, it is through the manasic faculty. Accumulation is definitely related to the third ray, and is accentuated when the third works in cooperation with the second.

2        This is a phase of “gathering” and is related to the claws of the third ray crab (Cancer).

 

  A man, for instance, acquires facts, and application, and sets up vibrations which have to be worked out intelligently.  The acquisitive side of this principle is showing forth.

 

1        This phase might be called the “love of that which is desired”, or, even, the “love of money”.

2        All that is accumulated has, eventually, to be worked out intelligently.

 

In the Hall of Learning the discriminative side is being developed, and the man learns not only to choose but to discard, and he begins to merge the two poles intelligently.

 

1        The first phase in the Hall of Ignorance, is characterized by accumulation without discrimination.

2        In the Hall of Learning the mental principle is much more developed.

3        The activities are: discrimination, choice, discarding, merging of the two poles.

4        The power of selectivity is also related to the third ray, and in the Hall of Learning, the third ray is still very active.

5        What are the two poles to be merged? At first, the poles of soul and personality, and only later Spirit and Matter or Monad and lower quaternary.

6        The intelligent merging of the two poles requires some orientation towards the second aspect (soul) usually found during the period in which the fifth petal of the egoic lotus is unfolding.

 

In the [Page 340] Hall of Wisdom he discards also, and perfectly blends the two poles, thereby producing that objective something we call light.  The illuminating side of manas is shown.

 

1        In the Hall of Wisdom, the second and first rays are of paramount influence. Wisdom confers a sense of values so that one knows what it is that must be discarded (an action of the first ray).

2        The two poles now are Spirit and matter/form. The light produced shines through the causal body eventually producing a liberating display.

3        In the Hall of Learning the two poles are slowly merging. In the Hall of Wisdom the two poles are perfectly blended. The first phase of this is total soul infusion. The second phase has to do with the expression of the Monad through the soul-infused personality.

4        Manas definitely has a discriminative side—its “distinctive quality”. As wisdom is pursued and understood the “illuminating side of manas is shown”.

5        Discrimination, however, must precede illumination.

 

He becomes an intelligent creator, and by the time he has taken the four major initiations he has:

 

1        In the Hall of Wisdom, man becomes an “intelligent creator”.

2        The one who has taken the four major initiations is an Arhat.

 

1. Developed perfectly the Brahma aspect, which—as pointed out—functions primarily in the three worlds.  It is the active intelligent aspect.

 

1        The Arhat is highly accomplished in Brahmic attainments. The Arhat is actively intelligent—among other things.

 

2. Achieved the point of development at which a Heavenly Man, the Divine Manasaputra, commenced this circle of manifestation we call a solar system.

 

1        There is an attainment of an Arhat which is analogous to the attainment of a Heavenly Man as He was about to being the manifestation of a solar system.

2        This is telling us something about the level of creativity of the Arhat. The buddhic plane is a plane of creativity, especially when allied to the manasic level. The Arhat is focussed in buddhi-manas and increasingly in buddhi.

3        Notice here that we are speaking of a solar system and not of a planetary scheme. The terms “Heavenly Man” and “Divine Manasaputra” are here, it could seem, being used to refer to a Solar Logos. Or a Heavenly Man might simply be a Planetary Logos.

4        It should not be thought that an Arhat has achieved the same state of consciousness as has a Heavenly Man or Solar Logos at the beginning of the solar system. There is a parallel, but the different between the scope of the Arhat and that of the greater Men must never be forgotten.

 

3. Transmuted manas into wisdom or love.

 

1        In a human being (and an Arhat is still a human being as is a Master) manas is not perfected. But within its own scope, it can be transmuted into that degree of wisdom or love available to human being.

 

4. Synthesised the Rays of Activity or Intelligence and is beginning to merge this synthesis into the higher one of love-wisdom.

 

1        The fourth initiation is taken on the fourth ray which has a strong resonance with the ray of Love-Wisdom.

2        Before an initiate becomes an Arhat the synthesis petals of the egoic lotus must open. It is, therefore, natural for DK to speak in terms of synthesis when discussing an Arhat.

 

To sum it all up in words of fire:  The fire of matter has blazed out perfectly, and the vibratory activity of the man has been keyed up to synchronise with that of a Heavenly Man, thus enabling a man to function consciously, or be vitally active on the buddhic plane.

 

1        We are being given the attainment of an Arhat expressed in terms of fire.

2        We note that the destruction of the causal body is considered a perfect blazing out of the fires of matter.

3        The Heavenly Men, we remember, the majority of them, work on the buddhic plane and are associated with the development of group consciousness.

4        The Arhat (accommodating himself to the buddhic plane) is coming into true relationship, therefore, with the Heavenly Man in which he is incorporated, though that buddhic relationship is rudimentary compared to what it will later be.

5        We are speaking of a ‘buddhic synchronisation”.

6        The Arhat is becoming a buddhically focussed being. He is learning to be vitally active on the buddhic plane.

7        To become an Arhat, there is necessitated a great “keying up”.

8        VSK notes: “Thus the activity of manas is required before buddhic functioning.”

 

The fire of mind has blended with the fire of matter and has stimulated it to such an extent that it has brought about the liberation of the entity, man, from the three worlds, and has occultly "obscured" his manifestation on the three planes in exactly the same way as the manifestation of a Logos "goes out" (occultly) when the fires are sufficiently fierce.

 

1        The liberation of the Arhat does not involve the Spirit so much as it involves the merging of the fires of mind and matter.

2        The fiery display on one level is accompanied by obscuration on another.

3        One day the outward expression of a Solar Logos will also occur. This will accompany that cosmic initiation which will make of Him as Cosmic Arhat.

4        If this is the case, then the fifth cosmic initiation (which our Solar Logos may be in line to take) will be accomplished despite an obscured solar system.

 

As regards the fire of Spirit, or pure electric fire, this is finally synthesised with the other two and brings about the escape of the life on to another plane cosmically considered.

 

1        We have been discussing largely the fire of mind in relation to the fire of matter. The fire of Spirit is not the main focus for the majority of advanced humanity beings at this time.

2        The “fire of Spirit” is, let us note, “pure electric fire”.

3        What is the “life” that escapes? Can we call it the Monad? Or is it the essence of the Monad?

4        We are speaking of that process which eventually liberates a member of the Fourth Creative Hierarchy onto the cosmic astral plane.

5        Here is an important tabulation which will assist us in correlating and understanding that which we have studied.

 

A MAN

a. The blending of the fire of matter and of the fire of mind liberates from the three worlds.

 

1        The initial phases of this liberation begin with the third degree, become effective at the fourth, and complete at the fifth.

 

b. The blending of electric fire with the two other fires brings about liberation from the five lower planes, and enables a man to function consciously on the cosmic physical plane.

 

1        A man becomes a consciousness Monad, apparently able to function on (all?) levels of the cosmic physical plane?

2        The Monad hovers above the five lower planes. To merge with the Monad is the destiny of the Divine Pilgrim, man.

 

A HEAVENLY MAN

a. The blending of the fire of matter and of mind liberates from the three planes of His manifestation.

 

1        Does this suggest that the Heavenly Man has become a Cosmic Arhat?

2        What are the three planes of His manifestation? Shall we consider them (holding the analogy to man’s process) to be the eighteen lower cosmic sub-planes?

3        Or, more modestly, shall we consider the “three planes of His manifestation” to be the planes of the spiritual triad? This seems more probable.

 

b. The blending of the electric fire in His case brings about escape from the planetary ring-pass-not and enables Him to function consciously on the cosmic astral plane.

 

1        The planetary ring-pass-not and the solar systemic ring-pass-not do not reach as ‘far’ as the cosmic astral plane.

2        We have to ask again, “Of which Heavenly Man are we speaking?”

3        Our Planetary Logos is already functioning on the cosmic astral plane (its fourth level, reaching towards the fifth) and yet is no Cosmic Arhat—far from it—unless we consider His attainment in terms of the fourth chain.

4        This has to be examined. It would seem that for the Planetary Logos, escape from the cosmic physical plane occurred long ago at a period long before the possibility of becoming a Cosmic Arhat. He still has far to go before such a possibility becomes likely.

5        As there are three types of Heavenly Men, when scale problems seem to arise, we have to question which of the three may DK be discussing?

 

A SOLAR LOGOS

a. The blending of the fire of matter and of mind liberates Him from the solar ring-pass-not, and gives Him the freedom of the cosmic physical, astral and the lower subplanes of the cosmic mental planes.

 

1        The development of the Solar Logos seems far in advance of our Planetary Logos.

2        The series of initiations facing a Solar Logos (though likewise called “cosmic initiations”) must be very different from the series facing a Planetary Logos.

 

b. The blending of electric fire with the other two enables Him to function consciously in His causal body thus paralleling the work of Man in the three worlds.

 

1        The blending of electric fire with the other two liberates man into the domain of the Monad; this same blending liberates a Planetary Logos onto the cosmic astral plane; the same blending liberates our Solar Logos into His causal body on the higher cosmic mental plane.

2        Man is liberated from five planar worlds; the Heavenly Man is liberated from seven planar worlds; the Solar Logos is liberated from eighteen planar worlds. There seems to be too huge a discrepancy between the liberation which electric fire causes in a Planetary Logos with the liberation caused in a Solar Logos.

3        For a Solar Logos, the blending of electric fire with the other two, brings him to cosmic causal functioning. What brings a man into causal functioning is the blending of the fire of mind (solar fire) with the fires of matter.

4        We do not know what it would take to bring a Heavenly Man into a state of cosmic causal functioning. It is hard to think of Him as so far behind the Grand Heavenly Man, in this regard, as their causal bodies are both on the cosmic higher mental plane.

5        VSK asks: “Again do we note more similarity of man and the solar logos, than of man and the Heavenly Man?”

6        VSK states: “Man and Solar Logos are concentrating on the mental and physical cosmic planes, whereas the Heavenly man is focused on the cosmic astral.”

7        It should be remembered in this context that our Planetary Logos is a cosmic initiate of the first degree working towards His cosmic second. Our Solar Logos, on the other hand, is (within His own stream of initiations) a cosmic initiate of the second degree, working towards His cosmic third.