Compilation   Akasha (16 Pages)

(CF 1167)   Strictly speaking, the Law of Attraction is a generic term under which are grouped several other laws similar in nature but diverse in their manifestations.  It might be useful if we enumerated a few of these laws, thereby enabling the student to get (as he studies them in their totality) a broad general idea as to the Law and its modifications, its spheres of influence and the scope of its activity.  It should be noted here as a basic proposition in connection with all atoms that the Law of Attraction governs the Soul aspect.  The Law of Economy is the law of the negative electron; the Law of Synthesis is the Law of the positive central life; whilst the Law of Attraction governs that which is produced by the relation of these two, and is itself controlled by a greater cosmic law which is the principle of the intelligence of substance.  It is the law of Akasha.

It must be borne in mind that these three laws are the expression of the intent or purpose of the three Logoic Aspects.  The Law of Economy is the governing principle of Brahma or the Holy Spirit; the Law of Synthesis is the law of the Father's life; whilst the Son's life is governed by, and manifests forth divine attraction.  Yet these three are the three subsidiary laws of a greater impulse which governs the life of the Unmanifested Logos.

(CF 156) This can be predicated likewise of the entire ring-pass-not of the solar system in relation to its cosmic environment.  Force flows into the solar system from three directions via three channels:

a. The sun Sirius,

b. The Pleiades,

c. The Great Bear.

I would here point out the connection or correspondence in this statement to an earlier one made when speaking of solar radiation, and the channels through which it can be felt.  These currents or radiations we call

a. Akashic.  Sirius Law of Attraction controlled by Law of Akasha

b. Electrical.  Pleiades  Law of Activity   Negative force

c. Pranic.  Great Bear  Law of Synthesis  Positive force (See (CF 1167) ZR)

In considering the occult meaning of what is here suggested, one point in elucidation may be imparted, leaving the

working out of the other two relationships to the student.  The Pleiades are to the solar system, the source of electrical energy, and just as our sun is the embodiment of the heart, or love aspect, of the Logos (Who is Himself the heart of ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID) so the Pleiades are the feminine opposite of Brahma.  Think this out, for much is contained in this statement.

(CF 1162) The energy centres of the solar Logos are themselves [Page 1162] in the form of vast lotuses24 or wheels, at the centre of which lies hidden that central cosmic Life, we call a planetary Logos.  He is the meeting place for two types of force, spiritual or logoic, which reaches Him (via the logoic Lotus on cosmic mental planes) from the seven Rishis of the Great Bear on Their own plane, and, secondly, of buddhic force, which is transmitted via the Seven Sisters or the Pleiades from a constellation called the Dragon in some books, and from which has come the appellation "The Dragon of Wisdom."

A third type of energy is added and, therefore, can be detected in these centres, that of manasic type.  This reaches the logoic centres via the star Sirius, and is transmitted from that constellation which (as earlier I have [Page 1163] hinted) must remain obscure at present.  These three great streams of energy form the total manifestation of a logoic centre.  This is known to us as a planetary scheme.

(LOS 275) Sutra 18. Knowledge of previous incarnations becomes available when the power to see thought images is acquired.

The significance of this sutra is very great, for it gives the basis for the regaining of a knowledge of past experience.  This basis is strictly mental, and only those mentally polarised and with the mind under control can regain this knowledge if they so wish.  The power to see thought-images only comes through mind control, and the mind can only be controlled by the real or spiritual man.  Therefore only egoically centred people can truly acquire this knowledge.  It might be asked here what therefore do those people see who are emotional and not mental, when they claim to know who they are, and to relate the past lives of their friends?  They are reading the akashic records and because their mental control and equipment are not adequate, they cannot discriminate nor ascertain accurately what they see.

The akashic record is like an immense photographic  film, registering all the desires and earth experiences of our planet.  Those who perceive it will see pictured thereon:

1. The life experiences of every human being since time began,

2. The reactions to experience of the entire animal kingdom,

3. The aggregation of the thought-forms of a kamic nature (based on desire) of every human unit throughout time.  Herein lies the great deception of the records.  Only a trained occultist can distinguish between actual experience and those astral pictures created by imagination and keen desire.

4. The planetary "Dweller on the Threshold" with all that appertains to that term and all the aggregations of forms which are to be found in its environment.

The trained seer has learnt to dissociate that which pertains to his own aura and the aura of the planet (which is in actuality the akashic record).  He can distinguish between those records which are:

a. Planetary,

b. Hierarchical or pertaining to the work of the twelve Creative Hierarchies as they bring to concretion the plan of the Logos.

c. Imaginative forms, the result of the desire-thought activity of the myriads of men, animated by desire for some form of experience or other.

d. The historical record pertaining to races, nations, groups and families in their two great divisions on the physical plane and on the astral.  [Page 277] It should be borne in mind that every human being belongs to a physical family which constitutes his link with the animal kingdom, and also belongs to an astral family.  Through that affiliation on the upward are he is linked with his egoic group and on the downward arc with the vegetable kingdom.

e. The astrological record, or the forms taken on the astral plane under the influence of the planetary forces.  These are in two great groups.

1. Those forms or pictures in the akasha produced by the inflow of solar force via the planets.

2. Those forms or pictures which are produced by the inflow of cosmic force from one or other of the signs of the zodiac, that is, from their corresponding constellations.

These points are enumerated to show how impossible it is that the majority of the claims regarding past incarnations can be true.  They are the result of a vivid imagination and the assumption that the flashes of astral sight which reveal glimpses of the akashic film give that which pertains to the one who sees.  This is not the case any more than the people and activities seen out of any window in a big city reveal to the onlooker his own relatives, friends and pursuits.

The knowledge referred to in the sutra comes in three ways:

1. Direct ability to see the records if so desired.  This form of acquiring knowledge is seldom employed except by initiates and adepts in connection with their pledged disciples.

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2. Through direct knowledge of the group activities and relations of a man's own ego.  This, however, only covers that cycle of time which began when a man stepped upon the probationary path.  Experiences prior to that are relatively of no more vital importance than is a second in the life of an old man as he passes in retrospect his long life.  All that stands out are events and happenings and not the individual hours and seconds.

3. Through the instinctual life.  This is based on memory, on acquired faculty and capacity and on the possession of those qualities which go to the equipment of the ego.  The ego knows that the possession of the power to do thus and so in the three worlds, is the direct result of past experience, and knows too that certain effects are only to be achieved through certain causes.  These he arrives at through concentrated meditation.

The thought images he becomes aware of are:

1. Those in his aura at the time of his meditation,

2. Those in his immediate environment,

3. Those of his present family, group and race,

4. Those of his present life cycle,

5. These of his egoic group.

Thus through the process of elimination he gradually works his way through grade after grade of thought images until he arrives at the particular layer of thought impression which deals with the cycle about which he is concerning himself.   This is not therefore simply a perception of certain aspects of the records, but a definitely [Page 279] scientific process, known only to the trained occultist.

(LOS 333) Sutra 41. By the means of one-pointed meditation upon the relationship between the akasha and sound, an organ for spiritual hearing will be developed.

To understand this sutra, it is essential that certain relationships are comprehended—relationships between matter, the senses and the one who experiences.

The Christian believes that "all things were made by the word of God."  The oriental believer holds that sound was the originating factor in the creative process and both teach that this word or sound is descriptive of the second Person of the divine Trinity.

This sound or word threw into peculiar activity the matter of the solar system, and was preceded by the breath of the Father which started the original motion or vibration.

First, therefore, the breath (pneuma or spirit) impinging upon primordial substance and setting up a pulsation, a vibration, a rhythm.  Then the [Page 334] word or sound, causing the pulsating vibrating substance to take form or shape, and thus bringing about the incarnation of the second Person of the cosmic Trinity, the Son of God, the Macrocosm.

This process eventuated in the seven planes of manifestation, the spheres wherein seven states of consciousness are possible.  All of these are characterized by certain qualities and differentiated from each other by specific vibrating capacities and called by certain terms. 

The following tabulation may prove useful if the student will bear in mind that the first triplicity of planes are those of divine manifestation and the lower triplicity constitute the reflection of that divine process and are the three planes of our normal experience.  These two triplicities of God and man are connected by the middle plane of at-one-ment or union whereon God and man are made one.  This is the Christ plane in Christian phraseology, the buddhic plane in the eastern terminology.

THE DIVINE PLANES.  [VSK note:  please see chart in original text]

Plane  I.  Logoic

               or divine The Sea of

                                          Fire               God the

                                                                         Father            Will. (Great Bear)

Plane II.  Monadic     The Akasha            God the Son      Love-Wisdom. (Sirius)

Plane lII. Spiritual

               or atmic   The AEther           God the Holy-

                                                                        Ghost.            Active  Intelligence.    (Pleaiades)

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THE PLANE OF UNION OR ATONEMENT

Plane IV.  Christ or

                 buddhic                Air          Union     Harmony                At-one-ment.

PLANES OF HUMAN ENDEAVOR.

Plane V.   Mental  Fire        Reflection of

                                                                        the Sea of Fire               Human will.

Plane VI.  Emotional

                or astral  Astral

                                          Light             Reflection of

                                                                        the Akasha    Human love

                                                                                                            and desire.

Plane VII. Physical               Ether       Reflection of

                                                                        the AEther     Human activity.

On all these planes, consciousness manifests and the senses, exoteric and esoteric, produce contacts.

Plane         I.           Fire         The Breath.

                  II.          Akasha  The Sound            Hearing  The Ear.

III.           AEther   Vibratory-response              Touch    The Skin.

                 IV.          Air          Vision                     Sight       The Eye.

                  V.          Fire         Discrimination      Taste      The Tongue.

                 VI.          Astral Light           Desire     Smell       The Nose.

                VII.          The Physical counterparts to all of these.

Another method of working these out is as follows:

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                VII.          Physical Plane.     Smell       Ether.

                 VI.          Astral     Taste      Astrsl Light.

                  V.          Mental   Sight       Fire.

                 IV.          Buddhic Touch    Air.

                 III.          Atmic     Hearing  AEther.

                  II.          Monadic                Mind      Akasha.

                   I.           Logoic    Synthesis.

It will be apparent, however, that one gives the microcosmic standpoint, the other gives the macrocosmic, and as the aspirant is one who seeks to function as "free in the macrocosm" and to transcend his microcosmic limitations, it is the first category with which we will concern ourselves.

In considering this sutra and its clarification by an understanding of the nature of the planes, their symbols and substance, it becomes apparent that the man who understands the nature of the word and of the second aspect, arrives at the realization of hearing.

This might also be grasped mystically by the aspirant when he realizes that when the voices of desire (astral voices or vibratory response to the second aspect of the reflection, the three lower planes) are superseded by the Voice of the Silence or of the Christ within, then the word or sound is known and the second aspect of divinity is contacted.

1. The Akasha....The word....The sound....The second aspect in manifestation.

2. The Astral Light..The voices of desire..The reflection of the second aspect.

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There are many sounds to be heard on all the planes but on the physical is the greatest diversity.  The aspirant has to develop the power to distinguish between:

1. The voices of earth....................................physical,

2. The voices of desire..................................astral,

3. The speech or formulated thoughts of the

        mind ....................................................mental,

4. The still small voice of the Christ within......buddhic,

5. The sounds of the Gods......The creative

                                                 words .........atmic,

6. The word or sound...........The AUM.........monadic,

7. The breath ................................................logoic,

and in these distinctions are symbolically conveyed the problem of correct hearing on the various planes and in the various states of consciousness.  Only the true mystic and aspirant will comprehend the nature of these distinctions.

Just as all the substances of our manifested solar system are differentiations of the akasha, the first differentiation of the primordial stuff, so all these distinctions of sound are differentiations of the one sound; all are divine in time and space.  But all have to be heard correctly and all lead eventually to and form in their totality the AUM, the Word of Glory, the Macrocosmic Word.

With the student of Raja Yoga, however, there are three main voices or sounds with which he is temporarily concerned:

1. The speech of the Earth, so as to rightly use it,

2. The Voice of the Silence, so as to hear it.  This is the voice of his own inner God, the Christ,

3. The AUM, the Word of the Father, expressed through the Son, which will, when heard, put him in touch with the Word of God, incarnate in all nature.

When speech is rightly used and the sounds of earth can likewise be stilled, then the Voice of the Silence can be heard.

It might be noted here that clairaudience is awareness of the voice of the great illusion and gives a man power to hear on the astral plane.  This in its right place and when controlled from above through knowledge, opens the ear to certain aspects of divine expression in the three worlds.  It is not the divine hearing referred to in the sutra.  In Charles Johnston's comments on this sutra, he covers the ground beautifully as follows:  "The transfer of a word by telepathy is the simplest and earliest form of the 'divine hearing' of the spiritual man, as that power grows, and as, through perfectly concentrated meditation, the spiritual man comes into more complete mastery of it, he grows able to hear and clearly distinguish the speech of the great Companions, who counsel and comfort him on his way.  They may speak to him either in wordless thoughts, or in perfectly definite words and sentences."

Sutra 42. By one-pointed meditation upon the relationship existing between the body and the akasha, ascension out of matter (the three worlds) and power to travel in space is gained.

The akasha is everywhere.  In it we live and move and have our being.  All is but one substance, [Page 339] and in the human body are found the correspondences to the various differentiations.

When a man knows himself, and is aware of the relationship existing between the energies working through the seven   centres and the seven states of matter and consciousness, then he is liberated and free and can contact at will and without time limitations all those states.  There is a relation between one of the seven states of matter and one or other of the centres; through each one of the centres is the door to a certain plane of the planetary spheres.  When the disciple has worked out into his life in correct realization the various means of yoga dealt with in the previous books, certain keys and knowledge, certain words and formulas, can be entrusted to him which will, through concentrated meditation give him the freedom of the heavens and the right to pass through certain gateways into the Kingdom of God.

Sutra 44.  One-pointed meditation upon the five forms which every element takes, produces mastery over every element.  These five forms are the gross nature, the elemental form, the quality, the pervasiveness and the basic purpose.

It should be remembered that this will have a dual reference, to the macrocosm and to the microcosm.  It can refer to the five planes of monadic evolution, or to the five forms which every element [Page 342] takes on each and every plane, bearing in mind that·this is the case as regards the mind apprehension and the modifications of the thinking principle, for mind is the fifth principle, and man is the five pointed star and therefore can (as man) achieve only a fivefold illumination.  There are, however, two higher forms and two other modes of perception, i. e., the intuitional and spiritual realization.  With these, however, the present sutra has not to do.  The head centre is dual in itself and is composed of the centre between the eyebrows and the highest chakra, the thousand petalled lotus.

The study and understanding of this sutra would result in the complete equipping of the white occultist for all forms of magical work.  Students must remember that this does not refer to the elements as we have them, but has relation to the elemental substance out of which all gross forms are made.  According to the Ageless Wisdom there are five grades of substance having certain qualities.  These five grades of substance form the five planes of monadic evolution; they compose the five vibratory spheres in which man and superhuman man are found.  These five planes have each an outstanding quality, of which the five physical senses are the correspondence.

Plane      Nature    Sense     Centre

Earth       Physical                 Smell       Base of spine

Astral     Emotional              Taste      Solar Plexus

Manasic Mental                  Sight        Head

Buddhic Intuitional              Touch    Heart

Atmic     Spiritual                 Sound    Throat

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As pointed out in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, these senses and their correspondences are dependent upon the point in evolution of the man, just as H. P. Blavatsky stated in connection with the enumeration of the principles.

The above sutra therefore can be applied to the mastery of each plane as well as to the mastery of elements composing that plane.  It has reference to the mastery and utilization of all the subtler sheaths through which a man contacts a plane  or peculiar rate of vibration.

Ganganatha Jha in his able commentary says:  "The specific qualities, sound and the rest belonging to the earth, together with the properties of shape and the rest, are named 'gross.'  This is the first form of the elements.  The second form is their respective generic characteristic: Shape for the earth, viscidity for the water, heat for fire, velocity for air and omnipresence for the akasa.  The specific forms for these generic ones are sound and the rest."  He gives a translation of this forty-fourth sutra which is analogous to all the others with the exception of Johnston's, and which runs as follows:

"Mastery over the elements, from the sanyama with the reference to grossness, character, subtlety, concomitance and usefulness."

1. Crossness, gross nature.

Sound and the other senses as they show forth on the physical plane.  We must bear in mind that this plane is the gross summation of all the others.  Spirit is matter at its lowest point.

2. Character, elemental form.

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The nature of the specific characteristics of the elements.

3. Subtlety, or quality.

The basic atomic substance of any one element.  That which produces its phenomenal effect.  It is that which lies back of all sense perception, and of all the five senses.  Another word for this "subtle" form is tanmatra.

4. Concomitance, or pervasiveness.

This is the all-pervasive nature of every element; its inherence.  It is the sum total of the three gunas, tamas, rajas and sattva.  Every element according to its place in the manifested scheme is characterised by inertia, activity or rhythm.  It is inherent in substance.  Only the rate of vibration differs.  There is the correspondence to every element on every plane.

5. Usefulness, or basic purpose.

This is the right use of every element in the great work of evolution.  It is literally the power hidden in every atom of substance which drives it on (through all the kingdoms of Nature) to self expression, and enables it to perform its work in time and space and to proceed towards eventual fruition.

When, through concentrated meditation upon the five distinctive forms of all the elements, the knower has arrived at a knowledge of all their qualities, characteristics and nature, he can then cooperate intelligently in the plan and become a white magician.  For the majority it is as yet only possible for us to arrive at three of the forms, and this is touched upon in Light on the Path in [Page 345] the words:  "Inquire of the earth, the air and the water, of the secrets they hold for you.  The development of your inner sense will enable you to do this."

(EOH 12) Because there is in this form much emotional substance and also a certain amount of mental substance, it can make a wide appeal and its validity is such that like all shells, for instance, which are contacted in the seance room, it masquerades as myself and where the intuition is unawakened the illusion is complete and real. Devotees can therefore tune in with great facility on this illusory form and be completely deceived. Its vibration is of a relatively high order. Its mental effect is like a beautiful parody of myself and serves to place the deluded devotees in touch with the scroll of the astral light, which is the reflection of the akashic records. These latter are the eternal scroll whereon the plan for our world is inscribed and from which those of us who teach gather our data and much of our information. This, the astral light distorts and steps down. Because this is a distorted image and functions in the three worlds of form and has no source of validity higher than those of form, it has in it the seeds of separativeness and of disaster. Forms of flattery are sent out from it, ideas of separateness, those thoughts which feed ambition and which foster love of power, and those germs of desire and personal longing (which divide groups) emerge from contact with it. The results to those who are deceived thereby are sad.

(IHS 41)  Besides these main presiding Personalities in the Council Chamber at Shamballa, there is a group of four Beings Who are the representatives upon the planet of the four Maharajas, or the four Lords of Karma in the solar system, who are specifically concerned with the evolution at the present time of the human kingdom.  These four are connected with:—

1. The distribution of karma, or human destiny, as it affects individuals, and through the individuals, the groups.

2. The care and tabulation of the akashic records.  They are concerned with the Halls of Records, or with the "keeping of the book," as it is called in the Christian Bible; They are known in the Christian world as the recording angels.

3. The participation in solar councils.  They alone have the right during the world cycle to pass beyond the periphery of the planetary scheme, and participate in the councils of the Solar Logos.  Thus They are literally planetary mediators, representing our Planetary Logos and all that concerns Him in the greater scheme of which He is but a part.

(IHS 170) At the second initiation "the secret of the sea" is unfolded to him, and through this revelation two subjects of profound [Page 170] interest become clarified to his inner vision.  They are:—

a. The mystery of the astral light.

b. The law of karma.

He is, after this, in a position to do two things, without which he cannot work off that which hinders, and thus achieve liberation; he can read the akashic records and ascertain the past, thereby enabling himself to work intelligently in the present, and he can begin to balance his karma, to work off his obligations, and to understand how karma in the three worlds can be negated.  The relation of that hierarchy of spiritual beings who are connected with the law of karma as it affects man is demonstrated to him, and he knows with first-hand knowledge that the lords of karma are no myth, or symbolical units, but are highly intelligent entities who wield the law for the benefit of humanity, and thus enable men to become fully self-conscious and self -reliant in the occult sense, and to become creators through perfected knowledge.

(OM 54) First, let us repeat the truism that the worlds are the effect of sound.  First life, then matter; later the attraction [Page 54] of the matter to the life for purposes of its manifestation and expression, and the orderly arrangement of that matter into the necessary forms.  Sound formed the allying factor, the propelling impulse, and the attractive medium.  Sound, in an occult and deeply metaphysical sense, stands for that which we term "the relation between", and is the creating intermediary, the linking third factor in the process of manifestation.  It is the akasha.  On the higher planes it is the agent of the great Entity Who wields the cosmic law of gravitation in its relation to our solar system, whilst on the lower planes it demonstrates as the astral light, the great agent of reflection, that fixes and perpetuates on its vibratory bosom the past, the present and the future, or that which we call Time.  In direct relation to the lower vehicle it manifests as electricity, prana and the magnetic fluid.  A simplification of the idea may come to you perhaps in the recognition of sound as the agent of the law of attraction and repulsion.

(OM 329) Psychic Development.

a. Study of practical occultism.

b. Study of psychism.

c. Study of the astral light and the akashic records.

d. Study of mediumship and inspiration.

e. Study of past lives.

f. Study of the macrocosmic and microcosmic centres.

(LOS 140) The four vidyas of the Hindu philosophy might be enumerated as follows:

1. Yajna Vidya.—The  performance of religious rites in order to produce certain results.  Ceremonial magic.  Is concerned with sound, therefore with the Akasa or the ether of space.  The "Yajna" is the invisible deity who pervades space.

(SAIM 75)  The Egyptians held the soul was a divine ray, [Page 75] acting through a peculiar, fluid-like compound, whilst the Jews regarded it as the vital principle. The Hindus teach that the human soul is a portion of an immutable Principle, the Soul of the World, the Anima Mundi, the all-pervading Ether (Akasa) of space. This Ether is simply the conductor of certain types of energy and serves as the interrelating medium between essential spirit and tangible matter.

(SAIM 93) The Occidental scientist recognises ether and motion. The Oriental teacher speaks of the akasha and of prana. Both are dealing with the vital livingness which permeates all forms, and is the cause of their coherency, sentiency, and terms of existence. The following passage from the Kenopanishad will substantiate this.

"Unmanifested, formless, the one giver of light, is the Great Power; from that appeared the sonoriferous ether (Akasha); from that had birth the tangiferous ether.

"From the tangiferous ether, the luminiferous ether, and from this the gustiferous ether; thence was the birth of the odoriferous ether. These are the five ethers and they have fivefold extension.

"From these the universe came forth; by these it continues; into these it disappears; among these also it shows itself again."2

A resemblance between the luminiferous ether of the ancient Indian scriptures, and the light waves of the modern scientist is obvious. Rama Prasad in an amazingly interesting book called Nature's Finer Forces lists four states of

 subtle matter:

1. Prana or life matter

2. Psychic matter

3. Mental matter

4. Spiritual matter

and it becomes apparent that these four are qualities of the energies which use the Akasha as their medium of expression. A study of the Oriental books gives us a picture of a material world which is brought into being and animated by a subjective world of forces, which use the ether (Akasha) as their playground, and are responsible for all forms, qualities and differentiations in the phenomenal world.

(SAIM 96) n another book Arthur Avalon says:

"In the first place, it is now admitted that `matter,' even with the addition of all possible forces, is insufficient to explain many phenomena, such as those of light; and it has, accordingly, come to be an article of scientific faith that there is a substance called `Ether'; a medium which, filling the universe, transports by its vibrations the radiations of light, heat, electricity, and perhaps action from a distance, such as the attraction exercised between heavenly bodies. It is said, however, that this Ether is not `matter,' but differs profoundly from it, and that it is only our infirmity of knowledge which obliges us, in our attempted description of it, to borrow comparisons from `matter' in its ordinary physical sense, which alone is known by our senses. But if we assume the existence of Ether, we know that [Page 96] `material' bodies immersed in it can change their places therein. In fact, to use an Indian expression, the characteristic property of the vibrations of the Akasha Tattva is to make the space in which the other Tattvas and their derivatives exist. With `Matter' and Ether as its materials, Western purely `scientific' theories have sought to construct the world."

Vivekananda, who did so much to reveal the soul of India to the West, says:

"According to the philosophers of India, the whole universe is composed of two materials, one of which they call Akasa. It is the omnipresent all penetrating existence. Everything that has form, everything that is the result of the compounds, is evolved out of this Akasa. It is the Akasa that becomes the air, that becomes the liquids, that becomes the solids; it is the Akasa that becomes the sun, the earth, the moon, the stars, the comets; it is the Akasa that becomes the body, the animal body, the planets, every form that we see, everything that can be sensed, everything that exists. It itself cannot be perceived; it is so subtle that [Page 97] it is beyond all ordinary perception; it can only be seen when it has become gross, has taken form. At the beginning of creation there is only this Akasa; at the end of the cycle the solids, the liquids, and the gases all melt into the Akasa again, and the next creation similarly proceeds out of this Akasa.

"By what power is this Akasa manufactured into this universe? By the power of Prana. Just as Akasa is the infinite omnipresent material of this universe, so is this Prana the infinite omnipresent manifesting power of this universe. At the beginning and at the end of a cycle everything becomes Akasa, and all the forces that are in the universe resolve back into the Prana; in the next cycle, out of this Prana, is evolved everything that we call energy, everything that we call force. It is the Prana that is manifesting as motion; it is the Prana that is manifesting as gravitation, as magnetism. It is the Prana that is manifesting as the actions of the body, as the nerve currents, as thought force. From thought, down to the lowest physical force, everything is but the manifestation of Prana. The sum-total of all force in the universe, mental or physical, when resolved back to its original state, is called Prana..."

(SAIM 99) The energies which utilise the akasha (ether) in the universe are divided into three main divisions according to the Ageless Wisdom.

1. Fohat, is analogous to what the Christian regards as the spirit; it is the will-to-exist, the determining life principle of God, Who, we can predicate, is the sum total of all forms, and of all states of consciousness; it is divine Purpose, actively functioning.

2. Prana, is analogous to the activity of the consciousness principle, the Soul of the Christian. This prana is an effect of the union of spirit or life, and matter or substance, and demonstrates as the energy of the form, as it produces cohesion, animation and sensitivity, carrying out divine purpose.

3. Kundalini, as it is called in connection with the human form, is the force latent in matter itself; it is the integral life of the atom, apart from any form in which that atom may participate in its tiny cycle of experience.

(CF 44)   Second, as active heat.  This results in the activity and the driving forward of material evolution.  On the highest plane the combination of these three factors (active heat, latent heat and the primordial substance which they animate) is known as the 'sea of fire,' of which akasha is the first differentiation of pregenetic matter.  Akasha, in manifestation, expresses itself as Fohat, or divine Energy, and Fohat on the different planes is known as aether, air, fire, water, electricity, ether, prana and similar terms.9,10,11  It is the sumtotal [Page 44] of that which is active, animated, or vitalized, and of all that concerns itself with the adaptation of the form to the needs of the inner flame of life.

Second, as active heat or prana; this animates all, and is the driving force of the evolving form.  It shows itself in the four ethers and in the gaseous state, and a correspondence is here found on the physical plane in connection with man to the Akasha and its fivefold manifestation on the plane of the solar system.

(CF 59) There exists in the Sun, in the planet, in man, and in the atom, a central point of heat, or ((if I might use so limiting and inappropriate a term) a central cavern of fire, or nucleus of heat, and this central nucleus reaches the bounds of its sphere of influence, its ring-pass-not by means of a threefold channel.17

a. The Sun.  Within the sun, right at its very heart, is a sea of fire or heat, but not a sea of flame.  Herein may lie a distinction that perhaps will convey no meaning to some.  It is the centre of the sphere, and the point of fiercest internal burning, but has little relation to the flames or burning gases (whatever terms you care [Page 59] to use) that are generally understood to exist whenever the sun is considered.  It is the point of fiercest incandescence, and the objective sphere of fire is but the manifestation of that internal combustion.  This central heat radiates its warmth to all parts of the system by means of a triple channel, or through its "Rays of Approach" which in their totality express to us the idea of "the heat of the sun."

1. The akasha, itself vitalised matter, or substance animated by latent heat.

2. Electricity, substance of one polarity, and energised by one of the three aspects logoic.  To express it more occultly, substance showing forth the quality of the cosmic Lord Whose energy it is.

3. Light Rays of pranic aspect, some of which are being now recognised by the modern scientist.  They are but aspects of the latent heat of the sun as it approaches the Earth by a particular line of least resistance.

When the term "channel or ray of approach" is used, it means approach from the centre of solar radiation to the periphery.  What is encountered during that approach—such as planetary bodies, for instance—will be affected by the akashic current, the electrical current, or the pranic current in some way, but all of these currents are only the internal fires of the system when viewed from some other point in universal, though not solar, space.  It is, therefore, obvious that this matter of fire is as complex as that of the rays.  The internal fires of the solar system become external and radiatory when considered from the standpoint of a planet, while the internal fires of the planet will affect a human being as radiation in exactly the same way as the pranic emanations of his etheric body affect another physical body as radiatory.  The point to be grasped in all these [Page 60] aspects is that one and all have to do with matter or substance, and not with mind or Spirit.

b. The Planet.  Deep in the heart of the planet—such a planet as the Earth, for instance—are the internal fires that occupy the central sphere, or the caverns which—filled with incandescent burning—make life upon the globe possible at all.  The internal fires of the moon are practically burnt out, and, therefore, she does not shine save through reflection, having no inner fire to blend and merge with light external.  These inner fires of the earth can be seen functioning, as in the sun, through three main channels:

1. Productive substance, or the matter of the planet vitalised by heat.  This heat and matter together act as the mother of all that germinates, and as the protector of all that dwells therein and thereon.  This corresponds to the akasha, the active vitalised matter of the solar system, that nourishes all as does a mother.

2. Electrical fluid, a fluid which is latent in the planet though as yet but little recognized.  It is perhaps better expressed by the term "animal magnetism."  It is the distinctive quality of the atmosphere of a planet, or its electrical ring-pass-not.  It is the opposite pole to the solar electrical fluid, and the contact of the two and their correct manipulation is the aim—perhaps unrealised—-of all scientific endeavor at this time.

3. That emanation of the planet which we might term Planetary Prana.  It is that which is referred to when one speaks  of the health-giving qualities of Mother Nature, and which is back of the cry of the modern physician, when he wisely says "Back to the Earth."  It is the fluidic emanation of this prana which acts upon the physical body, though in this case not via the etheric body.  It is absorbed [Page 61] through the skin purely and the pores are its line of least resistance.

c. The Man.  At the base of the spine lie hid the fires of the human system, or the internal fires of the Microcosm.  The centre is located there, and from it the radiations go forth along the three channels, recognisable in the spine.

1. Bodily warmth, the channel along which the heat radiates and which finds the goal of its attention to be the heating of the corporeal frame.  This vitalisation of the dense matter of the body finds its correspondence in the systemic akasha, and in planetary productive substance.

2. Nervous response.  This is the vitalising tenuous fluid which applies itself to the stimulation of the nervous centres, and which creates electrical response to contact between the nerves and the brain.  It should now be more closely studied.  It corresponds to systemic electricity, and to planetary electricity.

3. Pranic emanation.  The emanation, via the etheric body, which corresponds in man to solar prana and to planetary prana.  This demonstrates principally in the health aura and has naught to do with magnetic qualities, as generally  interpreted when considering a personality, or man as a unit.  I make this repetition as it is very necessary that no mental confusion exists between that magnetism which is a spiritual emanation and that which is purely animal.

(CF 79) Finally, in the study of the etheric body and prana comes comprehension of the method of logoic manifestation, and therefore much of interest to the metaphysician, and all abstract thinkers.  The etheric body of man holds hid the secret of his objectivity.  It has its correspondence on the archetypal plane,—the plane we call that 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.  Let us trace the analogy a little more in detail, for in its just apprehension will be found much of illumination and much that will serve to elucidate problems both macrocosmic and microcosmic.  We will begin with man and his etheric body.

(CF 82) PHYSICAL SUB-PLANES    SOLAR SYSTEM PLANES

1. First ether.  Atomic plane               Adi.  Divine.  Sea of fire.  First cosmic ether.

2. Second ether.  Sub-atomic              Anupadaka.  Monadic plane.  Akasha.  Second cosmic ether.

3. Third ether.  Super-etheric              Atmic.  Spiritual plane.  Aether.  Third cosmic ether.

4. Fourth ether.  Super-gaseous        Buddhic.  Intuitional Plane.  Air.  Fourth cosmic ether.

(CF 296)   A solar Logos on His Own plane holds an analogous place to that of a Heavenly Man in a solar system, and from a still higher standpoint to that of a man within the solar system.  When the place of the solar planes within the cosmic scheme is duly apprehended it will be recognised that on cosmic levels of a high order the solar Logos is an Intelligence as relatively low in the order of cosmic consciousness as man is in relation to solar consciousness.  He is but a cell in the body of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID.  His work parallels on cosmic levels the work of man on the solar planes.  He has to undergo on the three lower cosmic planes a process of developing an apprehension of His environment of the same nature as man in the three worlds.  This fact should be remembered by all students [Page 296] of this central division of our subject; above all the analogy between the cosmic physical planes and the solar physical planes must be pondered upon.  It holds hid the fourfold mystery:

1. The mystery of the Akasha.

2. The secret of the fifth round.

3. The esoteric significance of Saturn, the third planet.

4. The occult nature of cosmic kundalini, or the electrical force of the system.

(CF 312) Electricity on the monadic plane demonstrates as the first manifestation of form, as that which causes forms to cohere.  Matter (electrified by "fire by friction") and the electric fire of spirit meet and blend, and form appears.  Form is the result of the desire for existence, hence the dynamic fire of Will is transmuted into the burning fire of Desire.  I would call attention to the choice of those two phrases, which might also be expressed under the terms:

Dynamic electrical manifestation.

Burning electrical manifestation.

Here on the second plane, the sea of electrical fire, which distinguished the first plane, is transformed into the akasha, or burning etheric matter.  It is the plane of the flaming Sun, just as the first plane is that of the fire mist [Page 312] or the nebulae.  This idea will be easier to comprehend if it is borne in mind that we are dealing with the cosmic physical plane.

(CF 326) The whole subject of the akasha will be greatly clarified as exoteric science delves into the question of the ethers.  As knowledge of the four types of ethers is available, as the vibratory action of these ethers is realised, and as the details concerning their composition, utilisation, light-bearing capacity, and the various angles from which they may be studied become known then paralleling knowledge anent the corresponding four cosmic ethers will be forthcoming.  Much concerning them may be deduced from the already apprehended facts which relate to the four solar physical ethers.

(CF 331)  The question of the electrical manifestation of the akasha on the seven planes has therefore to be studied in its three main divisions, then plane by plane or the sevenfold consideration, and finally as the forty-nine [Page 331] fires.  Throughout it must be recollected that the subject is still further complicated by the factor of time which brings these forty-nine fires at different stages under different spheres of influence and under the three laws of the cosmos.  Thus the same fire at different periods will show itself forth as constructive light, or again bring about combustion and eventual obscuration as the result of burning out.

(CF 338)   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

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

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.

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.

(CF 405)   These [Page 405] work blindly and under the laws of cosmic electricity.  (We must differentiate with care between cosmic electricity, and the electrical akasha of the system, which is electrical substance confined and brought under another set of laws through the instrumentality of another factor, that of pure Spirit.)  Outside the ring-pass-not, we have that abstraction which we call pure Spirit.

(CF 553) The vibrations to which the systemic thought-form must respond are many in number, but for our purposes might be enumerated as mainly seven:

1. The vibrations of the cosmic physical plane, viewing it as all the matter of that plane which exists [Page 553] outside the logoic ring-pass-not.  It concerns the pranic and akashic fluids and currents.

(CF 955)   First, to purify their lower desires so that they are enabled to see clearly in the occult sense.  No man has clear vision who is obsessed with his own needs, actions, and interests, and unconscious of that which is higher and of group activity.  This clear vision brings about an ability to read, even if unconsciously at first, the akashic records, and thus ascertain the point of departure for the new and incoming thought impulses, an ability to lose sight of self interest in group interest, and thus co-operate with the plan, and a faculty that enables him to become aware of the keynote of the race, and aware of the "cry of humanity."

(CF 1011) As these three types of energy, or the vibration of these three centres, begin to contact each other, a definite interplay is set up.  This triple interplay forms in time a vortex or centre of force, which finds its place in the centre of the forehead, and takes eventually the semblance of an eye looking out between the other two. [Page 1011] It is the eye of the inner vision, and he who has opened it can direct and control the energy of matter, see all things in the Eternal Now, and therefore be in touch with causes more than with effects, read the akashic records, and see clairvoyantly.  Therefore, its possessor can control the builders of low degree.

(CF 1235)   To train people to work in mental matter is to train them to create; to teach people to know the nature of the  soul is to put them in conscious touch with the subjective side of manifestation and to put into their hands the power to work with soul energy; to enable people to unfold the potencies of the soul aspect is to put them en rapport with the forces and energies hidden in the akasha and the anima mundi.

(CF 236)  Here it is apparent how valuable is the teaching of this sutra, when the consciousness aspect is held carefully in mind, and how the relationships, on a larger scale than the simply human, become clear:

1. The body           mineral kingdom   the dense prison of life.

2. The akasha                vegetable kingdom              the fluid conscious life.

3. Ascension

      out of matter   animal kingdom    the evolutionary goal of

                                   the relation between body

                      and  akasha.

4. Power to travel

      in space           human kingdom    the goal of the human

                                   consciousness through

                                   the realisation of the above three.

(EPI 241)    One point of interest might here be noted.  It is known esoterically that the vegetable kingdom is the transmitter and the transformer of the vital pranic fluid to the other forms of life on our planet.  That is its divine and unique function.  This pranic fluid, in its form of the astral light, is the reflector of the divine akasha.  The second plane therefore reflects itself in the astral plane.  Those who seek to read the akashic records, or who endeavour to work upon the astral plane with impunity, and there to study the reflection of events in the astral light correctly, have perforce and without exception to be strict vegetarians.  It is this ancient Atlantean lore which lies behind the vegetarian's insistence upon the necessity for a vegetarian diet, and which gives force and truth to this injunction.  It is the failure to conform to this wise rule which has brought about the misinterprertions of the astral and akashic records by many of the psychics of the present time, and has given rise to the wild and incorrect reading of past lives.  Only those who have been for ten years strict vegetarians can work thus in what might be called the "record aspect of the astral light".  When they add to their purified astral and physical bodies the light of reason and illumination of the focussed mind (which is very rarely found), then they become accurate interpreters of astral phenomena.  Their link with the vegetable kingdom is then very close and unbreakable, and that link or binding chain will lead them through the door to the scene of their investigations.  But unless the goal of a vegetarian diet is this field of service, the arguments for its following and for that form of diet are usually futile and of no real moment.  From the standpoint of the eternal verities, what a man eats or wears are seen in a connotation very different to that of the one-pointed fanatic. 

(EPI 418) Ray 1...... Will or Power

Planet     Sun, substituting for the veiled planet Vulcan.

Day         Sunday.

Exoteric Colour     Orange. S.D.III. p. 478.

Esoteric Colour     Red.

Human Principle   Prana or life-vitality.

Divine Principle    The One Life. Spirit. This is regarded as a principle only when our seven planes are seen as the seven sub-planes of the cosmic physical plane.

Element      The Akasha. "It is written."

Instrument of Sensation     The Light of Kundalini.

Bodily location     Vital airs in the skull.

Plane governed    The logoic plane.  Divine Purpose or Will.

Metal      Gold.

Sense     A synthetic sense, embracing all.

Esoterically. this power is viewed as the life principle seated in the heart.

(WM 223)   Add to these forms that persistent and steadily growing scenario we call the "akashic records" which concern the emotional history of the past, add the activities of the discarnate lives which are passing through the astral plane, either out of or towards incarnation, add the potent desire, purified and intelligent, of all superhuman Lives, including those of the occult planetary Hierarchy, and the sum total of forces present is stupendous.  All play upon, around and through every human being, and according to the calibre of his physical body, and the condition of his centres [Page 223] will be his response.

(WM 304) It is possible also for the more advanced aspirant and those upon the Path of Discipleship to contact ancient vibrations of evil and misery on the astral plane—evil long past and gone; it is possible for them to read a tiny fragment of the akashic records which concerns coming distress to an individual or a group, which they themselves may never see and yet nevertheless appropriate the conveyed information to themselves and suffer consequently.