Compilation Pralaya (20 Pages)
(EH 421) Therefore, at the next solar pralaya, at the close of the one
hundred years of Brahma, the matter of the solar system will be coloured by
active intelligence and by active love.
This means literally that the aggregate of solar atomic matter will
eventually vibrate to another key than it did at the first dawn of
manifestation.
100 years of Brahma is equivalent to one incarnation for a
human
(CF 132) This active intelligent matter was matter qualified by an
earlier experience, and coloured by an earlier incarnation. Now this matter is in form, the solar system is
not in pralaya but in objectivity,—his
objectivity having in view the addition of another quality to the logoic content, that of love and wisdom. Therefore at the next solar pralaya, at the close of the one hundred years of Brahma, the matter of the
solar system will be coloured by active intelligence, and by active love. This means literally that the aggregate of
solar atomic matter will eventually vibrate to another key than it did at the
first dawn of manifestation.
We can work this out in connection with the planetary Logos and the human unit, for the analogy holds
good. We have a correspondence on a tiny
scale in the fact that each human life period
sees a man taking a more evolved physical body of a greater
responsiveness, tuned to a higher key, of more adequate refinement, and
vibrating to a different measure. In
these three thoughts lies much information, if they are carefully studied and
logically extended.
(CF 686) If the student
endeavours to dissociate our solar system from that which preceded it, and if
he considers the pralaya at the close of
this mahamanvantara to be a final one, and the
utter consummation of all things, he errs.
In the preceding system the cosmic physical plane attained a certain
vibratory capacity, and the devas
of the internal furnaces became (relatively speaking) highly evolved, the
"fires of matter" then blazing forth.
Certain Existences attained self-consciousness in that earlier system,
and are the "nirvanis" spoken of by H. P. B.26 As might be
expected, they are characterised by active intelligence, achieved and developed
by means of material evolution during a previous mahamanvantara.
(CF 733) This connotation has
been preserved where the cosmic entities are concerned, but when man is under
consideration the term has been applied to the unification of the etheric double with the dense physical body, or to the
appropriation by man of the vehicle composed of the [Page 733] substance of the
lowest subplane of the cosmic physical plane in its
lowest aspects. This distinction has a certain significance and should be remembered. This appropriation is governed by the same
laws which governed the appropriation by the Logos of His physical
vehicle. In order to get an idea of what
the procedure is, it might be of value if we considered the different kinds
of pralaya, and pondered upon those periods which
ensue between incarnations. From the
point of view of any unit involved, a pralaya is a
period of quiescence, of cessation from a particular type of activity,
involving objectivity, yet from the point of view of the great whole with which
the unit may be involved, a pralaya may be considered
merely as a transference of force from one direction
into another. Though the
unit may be temporarily devitalised as regards its form, yet the greater Entity
persists, and is still active.
Let us take up the matter first from the human standpoint, and study pralaya as it affects the Monad in incarnation.44
There are five types of pralaya with which we may legitimately concern
ourselves. We should notice first the
fact that this condition is primarily one that concerns the relationship
between Spirit and matter, in which a condition in substance is brought about
through the action of the energising factor, the Spirit. It has, therefore, to do with the relation of
the greater devas as They carry out Their work of
form-building [Page 734] under the Law of Will of God to the lesser devas who represent living substance. It will be apparent to the student that it
concerns the relation of the Holy Spirit to the Mother in the production of the
Son, and then the relation of the Son to the Mother. If the ideas formulated in this treatise have
been carefully followed, it will be obvious that in studying the question of pralaya, we are studying the relation (in time and space)
of the positive energy of the solar Logos, the planetary Logos, and of Man to
the substance through which alone manifestation is possible. Through this relation, existence on the
objective planes can be brought about.
(b.) The Nature of Pralaya. We can view pralaya
as the work of "abstraction," and as the method which brings the form
under the Destroyer aspect of Spirit, working ever under the Law of Attraction,
of which the Law of Synthesis is but a branch.
The basic law of the system is that which governs the relation of all
atoms to the aggregate of atoms, and of the Self to the Not-self. It is (from the occult standpoint) the most
powerful force-demonstration in the system, and should the law inconceivably
cease to work, instantaneously the system and all forms therein, planetary,
human and other would cease to be. By an
act of will the planetary schemes persist, by an act of will the system IS; by
an act of the egoic will man appears. When the Will of the Logos, of the Heavenly
Man, and of the human divine Ego is turned to other ends, the substance of Their vehicles is affected, and disintegration sets in. The five types of pralaya which concern the human unit are as follows:
(CF 735) (1) The period of pralaya between two incarnations. This is of a triple nature and affects the
substance of the three vehicles, physical, astral and mental, reducing the
form to its primitive substance, and dissipating its atomic structure. The energy of the second aspect (that of the
form-builder) is withdrawn by the will of the Ego, [Page 735] and the atoms
composing the form become dissociated from each other, and are resolved into
the reservoir of essence to be re-collected again when the hour strikes. This condition is brought about gradually by
stages of which we are aware:
The first stage is the withdrawal of the life force in the etheric vehicle from the threefold (dense, liquid and
gaseous) dense physical body and the consequent "falling into
corruption," and becoming "scattered to the elements." Objective man fades out, and is no more seen
by the physical eye, though still in his etheric
body. When etheric
vision is developed, the thought of death will assume very different
proportions. When a man can be seen
functioning in his etheric physical body by the
majority of the race, the dropping of the dense body will be considered just a
"release."
The next stage is the withdrawal of the life force from the etheric body or coil, and its
devitalisation. The etheric
coil is but an extension of one aspect of the sutratma
or thread, and this thread is spun by the Ego from within the causal body much
as a spider spins a thread. It can be
shortened or extended at will, and when the period of pralaya
has been decided upon, this thread of light, or of solar fire (note the word
"solar") is withdrawn, and gathered back to the atomic subplane where it will still vitalise the permanent atom
and hold it connected within the causal body.
The life impulses are then—as far as the physical plane is
concerned—centralised within the atomic sphere.
The third stage is the withdrawal of the life force from the astral
form so that it disintegrates in a similar manner and the life is centralised
within the astral permanent atom. It has
gained an increase of vitality through physical plane existence, and added
colour through astral experience.
The final stage for the human atom is its withdrawal [Page 736] from
the mental vehicle. The life forces
after this fourfold abstraction are centralised entirely within the egoic sphere; contact with the three lower planes is still
inherently possible by means of the permanent atoms, the force centres of the
three personality aspects.
In each incarnation the life forces have gained through the utilisation
of the vehicles,
a. An increased activity, which is stored in the physical permanent
atom.
b. An added colouring, which is stored in the astral permanent atom.
c. A developed quality of strength, or purpose in action, which is
stored in the mental unit.
These are wrought into faculty in devachan.
Devachan45,46 is a state of consciousness,
reflecting, in [Page 737] the life of the Personality, that higher state which
we call nirvanic consciousness, and which is brought
about by egoic action. It is but a dim reflection in the separated
units (and therefore tinged with selfishness and separative
pleasure) of the group condition called nirvanic. In this high state of consciousness each
separate identity, though self-realising, shares in the group realisation, and
therein lies bliss for the unit.
Separation is no longer felt, only unity and essential oneness is
known. Therefore, as might be naturally
deduced, there is no devachan for the savage or
little evolved man, as they merit it not, and have not the mentality to realise
it; hence, therefore, the rapidity of their incarnations, and the brevity of the pralayic period. There is little in their case for the Ego, on
its own plane, to assimilate in the residue of incarnations, and hence the life
principle withdraws rapidly from out of the mental form, with the resulting
impulse of the Ego to reincarnate almost immediately.
When the life of the personality has been full and rich, yet has not
reached the stage wherein the personal self can consciously co-operate with the
ego, periods of personality nirvana are undergone, their length depending upon
the interest of the life, and the ability of the man to meditate upon
experience. Later, when the Ego
dominates the personality life, the interest of the man is raised to higher
levels, and the nirvana of the soul becomes [Page 738] his goal. He has no interest in devachan. Therefore, those upon the Path (either the
probationary Path, or the Path of Initiation) do not, as a rule, go to devachan, but immediate incarnation becomes the rule
in the turning of the wheel of life; this time it is brought about by the
conscious co-operation of the personal Self with the divine Self or Ego.
(CF 738) (2) The period
between egoic Cycles. (of which there
are seven)
Herein is hid the mystery of the 777 incarnations and concerns the
relation of the unit to his group on the egoic plane,
prior to the unfoldment of the fifth petal. It concerns man in the period between the
savage stage and that of the disciple, when he is an average man but still in
the two Halls. The mystery of all root
races lies here, and the egoic cycles coincide with
the building of racial forms, and civilisations. A man will reincarnate again and again in the
various subraces of a root race until a certain cycle
has been covered; then he may undergo a pralayic
condition until in a later (and sometimes much later) root race he will respond
to its vibratory call, and the egoic impulse to
incarnate will again be felt. In
illustration of this, we should bear in mind that the more advanced humanity of
today did not incarnate until the fourth root race. These cycles are one of the mysteries of
initiation, though one of the earlier mysteries, and are revealed at the second
initiation as they enable the initiate to comprehend his position, to see
somewhat the nature of the karmic impulse, and to read his own record in the astral
light.
These might be considered the two lesser pralayic
periods and concern primarily life in the three worlds.
(CF 738) (3) Next comes the
period wherein the man has attained freedom.
A man has at this stage succeeded, under law, in "abstracting"
himself, the freed soul, from out of the matter of the three worlds. He has used and worked with deva substance and has gained all the vibratory [Page 739]
contact possible, and has secured all the intended "realisations" and
"revelations"; he can no longer be held imprisoned by the devas. He is free until,
consciously and willingly, and in another round, he can return as a member of a
Hierarchy to continue His work of service for the little evolved humanity of
that distant time. As this concerns the
seven paths of opportunity for a Master we will not deal with it here.47 This is the great human pralaya.
(CF 738) (4) Planetary Pralaya. Man, after these cyclic happenings, is now a conscious
part of his group, and a vibrant point in a centre in the body of a
Heavenly Man, consciously alive and consciously aware of his place in the great
whole. This involves a realisation as to
the centre of which he is a point of energy, a knowledge
of the type of force he is to transmit, and to manipulate from cosmic levels,
and a conscious relation with the six other centres in the planetary Life with
which he is associated.
This period of conscious activity in etheric
substance (of which the planetary body is formed) persists
according to the karma of the planetary Lord, for the unit is now
consciously associated with planetary karma, and is a participant in the
working out of the will and purpose of the Lord of His Ray. On the higher planes of the system, this stage
persists for the length of the life of a scheme; to which a period of pralaya succeeds that has its beginning towards the end
of the seventh round in any scheme or of the fifth if the Law of
Persistence of a scheme is working out through cycles of five. I am [Page 740] here generalising and speaking
in broad terms; the karma of the units differ and a man—according to the path
he chooses after the fifth initiation—stays and works within his own scheme,
but changes may occur through the following factors:
a. Planetary karma.
b. The will of the Lord of his Ray.
c. Orders emanating from the solar Logos which are conveyed to him
after liberation via the planetary Logos and through the medium of the chohan of his Ray.
He is then "abstracted" under a mysterious planetary law which only works on cosmic etheric levels, and is transferred to his destination. If we interpret all the above in terms of energy and of radioactivity and thus avoid the dangers of materialistic interpretation, the meaning will become clearer.
(CF 740) (5) The Great Pralaya. This
interval
comes at the close of every one hundred years of Brahma, and sweeps into dissolution forms
of every kind—subtle and dense—throughout the entire system. It is a period analogous to that dealt with
when we considered the abstraction of man from his etheric
vehicle, and his ability then to function on the astral plane, dissociated from
his dual physical form. Within the
system a process similar to that undergone when man withdraws the etheric body out of the dense physical vehicle, will be seen
towards
the close of the mahamanvantara. It will cover the period wherein the lesser
four Rays merge and blend, seeking duality, and their polar opposites. Eventually the four become two, the two
become one, and all are then synthesised into the third major Ray. The time is not yet, but lies countless aeons
ahead. It is the first appearance of the
destroyer aspect in connection with the planetary schemes, and marks the beginning
of the [Page 741] time when the "Heavens will melt with fervent
heat," and the Sun becomes seven suns.
The microcosmic correspondence can be seen in the following
process. The physical permanent atom
absorbs the entire life force of the physical body, and its inherent heat and
light is thereby increased until at the fourth initiation the seven spirillae are fully vitalised, and vibrant. The internal heat of the atom, plus the
external heat of the egoic body wherein it has its
place, produces then that which destroys the permanent atom. Temporarily, and just prior to destruction,
it becomes a tiny sevenfold sun owing to the radiation and activity of the spirillae. So with
the physical sun of the system; it will in a similar manner become seven suns,
when it has absorbed the life essence of the fully evolved planes, and of the
planetary schemes thereon. The ensuing
conflagration is the final work of the Destroyer aspect. It marks the moment of the highest
development of deva substance in the system, the
consummation of the work of Agni and his fire angels,
and the initiation of Brahma. Atomic substance will then individualise
(which, as we know, is the goal for the atom) and after the great pralaya the next solar system will start with
the threefold Spirit manifesting through substance which is essentially
distinguished by active intelligent love.
This is necessarily incomprehensible to our fourth round minds.
We have thus considered the various types of pralaya, in so far as
they affect the human unit; each unit finds its ways eventually into one of the cosmic
astral centres of the particular cosmic Entity Who
is the Lord of his Ray, and therefore at the great pralaya those human units who have achieved, and who
have not passed to other distant cosmic centres, will find their place there.
Before we take up planetary and cosmic pralaya, we might here consider the relationship of the Agnishvattas [Page 742] (who caused the individualisation of animal man on this planet), to other and previous cycles of evolution, and why we have only dealt with them from the point of view of a mahamanvantara, and of a kalpa. The reason we have not considered specifically the group of Agnishvattas, Kumaras and Rudras connected with the Earth has been because we have handled the entire subject from the planetary standpoint, and not from that of the human family. The student who seeks detailed information as to the Agnishvattas of the Earth chain has but to study the Secret Doctrine. We have attempted to carry the thought of the student beyond his own tiny sphere to the consideration of the work of the Manasadevas in the solar system. In every scheme They have Their place, but in some—as in the Jupiter scheme—They are just beginning Their work, and in others—as in the Vulcan and Venus schemes—Their work is nearly completed. Venus is in her last round, and has nearly developed her fourth kingdom to perfection, or as much as it is possible in the system. In the Earth scheme, They are in full tide of work, and only in the next round will They demonstrate the height of Their activity. They pass cyclically through the schemes and under Law—the Law of Karma for the planetary Logos, for They are essentially concerned with His Life as it actuates His centres. They come into a scheme on a wave of manasic energy from the head centre of the Logos, and in the process of passing through his Heart centre three things occur:
1. They become differentiated into seven groups.
2. They direct Themselves as streams of energy to some particular scheme.
3. Their contact with a scheme is that which produces the manifestation of the fourth Creative Hierarchy, and leads to the Monads taking form in the three worlds.
These entities who sacrifice Themselves for the human Hierarchy (and we must note here the accuracy of the fact that They emanate from the logoic head centre, or from the will aspect), are the true Saviours who give Their lives for the good of the race. They stand in relation to the totality of the schemes as the Occult Hierarchy of any particular planet stands to men upon that planet. During pralaya They are withdrawn (as all else), from manifestation, and return to a cosmic centre of which the logoic head centre is but a dim reflection; they return the richer for experience.
The old Commentary says:
"The deva shineth
with added light when the virtue of the will hath entered. He garnereth colour
as the reaper garners wheat, and storeth it up for
the feeding of the multitude. Over all this deva host the mystic Goat
presideth. Makara is, and
is not, yet the link persisteth."
Rounds come and go but (except from the standpoint of a particular
planet), the Manasadevas are forever present, but
their influence is not forever felt.
In considering planetary pralaya we might briefly
enumerate the following periods of quiescence:
(CF 743) Between Two Globes in a Chain. This covers the period of abstraction of the
seeds of all life, and its transference from one sphere to another. The seed manu of a
globe gathers all the life forces into Himself, as
does the Logos at the close of a system, and as also transpires at the close of
a chain, and holds them quiescent in His aura.
This covers a period of a manvantara, or
of one day of Brahma.
(CF 744) Period of Two Chains. This covers the period of a mahamanvantara, or of one year of Brahma.
There are many ways of arriving at the greater cycles, but there is no
need to confuse with the intricacies of figures. The ten Prajapatis
or Rishis, or [Page 744] the ten
planetary Logoi, manifest through Their
ten schemes in time and space, the hour of Their appearing differing. Each likewise manifests as does the Logos
through a septenate and a triad, making again a ten
of perfection.
(CF 744) Between
Two Solar
Systems. This
covers the period of one hundred years of Brahma, and through the
study of the planetary cycles comprehension of these greater cycles may
come. Complication comes to the student
nevertheless in the fact that two of the schemes cover their cyclic periods in five rounds, while others
have seven; one scheme has but three rounds, but a mystery is hidden here: on the inner round one planet has nine cycles
to run before the purpose of its Lord is completed.
Certain lesser periods of pralaya do not
concern man at all, but concern the atom of matter as it is released from form
of any kind in the subhuman kingdoms. Pralaya is the result of radioactivity carried to a
conclusion.
(c.) Types of Human Rebirth. In
our study of the building of thought-forms and the agencies for their
construction, we have considered:
1. The deva substance out of which they are
constructed.
2. The energy which animates them and its source.
3. Their appearance in time and space, or their incarnation.
4. Their disappearance or pralaya.
5. The constructing entities who in a
threefold manner produce these forms, utilising the process of:
a. Meditation, which is ever the preliminary to construction.
b. Dynamic force, or the positive energy which seizes upon its polar
opposite (negative substance), and utilises it.
[Page 745]
c. The impartation of colour or quality, which moulds that which has
been prepared.
d. A secondary vitalisation, which sets in separate motion the
thought-form thus created.
(CF 745) To those who are endeavouring to grasp somewhat the mystery of rebirth and its laws and purpose, and who are confused when considering the mystery of the Buddha, and the secret purpose of that mysterious Entity, the Silent Watcher; to those who find the problem of understanding the position of the Kumaras and Their relation to the planetary Logos almost an insuperable one, it might be wise to say: Study and meditate upon the difference existing between the lower principles and the higher three; study and meditate upon the place and position of these lower principles in the body of the planetary Logos and ponder upon the correspondence between:
a. The devachan of the reincarnating jiva.
b. The nirvana of the Adept.
[Page 746]
c. The pralaya of a cosmic
Entity, such as the Lord of a chain, the Lord of a scheme, and
the Lord of a Ray.
(CF 792) The word
"moment" is used here in its occult significance to specify a period
of time, and must be considered as a period relative to a day or year of
Brahma. One of the secrets of initiation
is concerned with the apprehension of cycles, and with their duration, and the
following terms have to be appreciated, their duration recognised, and their
antithesis (an intervening pralaya) duly considered
before a man is considered a true occultist.
a. 100 years of Brahma An occult century. The period of a solar system.
b. One year of Brahma The period of seven chains, where the seven planetary schemes are
concerned.
c. One week of Brahma The period of seven rounds in one scheme. It has a chain
significance.
d. One day of Brahma The occult period of a round.
e. One hour of Brahma Concerns interchain affairs.
f. One Brahmic minute Concerns the planetary centres, and therefore egoic
groups.
g. One Brahmic moment Concerns an egoic group, and its relation to the whole.
(CF 851) The "coming-in" of advanced Egos from the inner
round, or from other planetary schemes, or from subtler spheres where they have been in pralaya awaiting opportunity is produced in a
triple manner and is the result of a triple activity. It is caused by an understanding between the
planetary Logos of a scheme, and a brother planetary Logos whereby an exchange
is effected.
The student must here think in terms of force and energy, of magnetic
interaction and the conscious transmission of energy out of the body of the
planetary Logos, via centres or a centre, into the body of another planetary
Logos. The cause here is the will or
purpose, the object is sensation, and the method is force transference. Exactly the same understanding lies back of
the coming in of egos from the inner round, only this time the energy is sent
forth by certain existences (working in connection with any planetary Logos)
who are the "custodians of the inner circle." This touches upon a mystery and deals with
the coming-in of high Egos, of Avatars, of Buddhas,
[Page 852] of masters, of initiates, and of disciples, and of all who have to
wait for group, and not individual, urge for the fulfillment
of cyclic karma on a large scale, and whose "wheels" are controlled
by cosmic forces and not by purely systemic forces.
(CF 881) f.
The true significance of those force aspects which we call "periods of pralaya" and those we call
"periods of manifestation." It
also involves a right realisation of the laws of obscuration.
(CF 948) A gigantic thought form
hovers over the entire human family, built by men everywhere during the ages,
energised by the insane desires and evil inclinations of all that is worst in
man's nature, and kept alive by the promptings of his lower desires. This thought form has to be broken up and
dissipated by man himself during the latter part of this round before the
conclusion of the cycle, and its dissipation will be one of the forces tending
to the production of interplanetary pralaya. It is this piece of creative bungling, if so
it might be called, which the Great Ones are occupied in destroying. Under the Law of Karma it has to be
dissipated by those who have created it; the work of the Masters has to be
carried on, therefore, indirectly, and must take the form of illuminating the
sons of men in gradually increasing degree, so that they can see clearly this
"Dweller on the Threshold" of the new life, and the antagonist who
stands between the fourth kingdom of nature and the fifth.
(CF 1042) We are told in the
Secret Doctrine that "the seven solar Rays dilate to seven suns and set
fire to the whole cosmos."7 This it is which produces that final
burning which ushers in the great pralaya, and brings to an end the logoic incarnation. It is produced under this Law of Expansion,
and causes that eventual merging and blending of the seven sacred planetary
schemes which marks the achievement of the goal, and their eventual perfection.
(CF 1090) He must also bear in
mind that groups of Monads come into incarnation according to which centre in
a Heavenly Man of a particular planetary scheme, or which centre of the solar
Logos, is in process of vivification or cyclic activity, and that certain of the
centres of a solar Logos and this particular solar system are in a condition of
partial pralaya through the process of the
absorption of the lower solar life forces by the centres of higher
vitality. Again, he must remember that
the entire aspect of the Divine Life is not intended to reach its full unfoldment at any time in this solar system but must wait
for the vitalising impulses of a later.
This is due to the fact that there exist in this solar system effects of
causes originating in earlier kalpas or—to word it
otherwise—the karmic seeds of earlier logoic
activities.
(CF 1119) The Jewel of fire blazes forth as seven jewels within the
one, or as the sevenfold electric spark, and in the intensity of the blaze thus
created is reabsorbed into the Monad or the One. This process is paralleled at the final consummation
of solar evolution when the seven Suns blaze
forth before the great Pralaya.
(CF 1132) Seventh, the relation of the informing Life of a solar system to the group of constellations of which He forms part, and His periodic manifestation.
These subjects have been touched upon when we studied incarnation and,
earlier still, when considering pralaya or
obscuration, but we dealt then with them in general terms. We might now deal more specifically with the
final activities, or modes of motion, in these various
congeries of lives, and see what occurs during the final stages of
conscious existence, and of limited manifestation.
(CF 1142) Another series of files in the records give—under a different
formula—information as to what is esoterically called "the heat
content" of any unit, "the radiating light" of any form, and the
"magnetic force" of every life.
It is through this knowledge that the Lipikas
control the bringing in, and the passing out, of every Life, divine,
superhuman, solar and human, and it is through a consideration of that formula
which is the basic formula for a solar system that the physical plane
appearance of a solar Logos is controlled, and the length of a
cosmic pralaya settled. We must not forget that the Lipika Lords of the solar system have Their cosmic
prototypes, and that These have Their feeble and groping human reflections in
the great astronomical scientists who endeavour to ascertain facts anent the
heavenly bodies, being subconsciously aware of the existence of these cosmic
formulas conveying information as to the specific gravity, constitution,
radiation, magnetic pull, heat and light of any sun, solar system, or
constellation. Many of them in future
and remote ages will pass to a full comprehension, and will have the formulas
committed to their care, thus joining the ranks of the Lipikas. It is a peculiar line, requiring cycles of
careful training in divine mathematics.
(CF 1201) They are latent germs of force centres and manifest subjectively; they warm and vitalise groups of forms; they flower forth and express themselves through the medium of a form, or another hierarchy. These hierarchies are all interrelated and are negative or positive to each other as the case may be.
As is stated in the Secret Doctrine, this hierarchy is the nursery for
the incarnating Jivas;33 and it carried in it the
germs of the Lives which achieved the human stage in another solar system, but were not
able to proceed beyond that owing to the coming in of pralaya, which projected them into a state of latency. The condition of the hierarchy is similar,
only on a cosmic scale, to the condition of the seeds of human life held in a
state of obscuration during an interchain period. The three other hierarchies dealt with
(first, second, and third) were those who have (in previous kalpas
of logoic manifestation) passed beyond the human
stage altogether. They are, therefore,
the formless groups, as the remaining are the rupa
groups or those having forms.
(EPII 210) It might be of
interest here to note that Christ was the first of our earth humanity to
achieve the goal, whereas the Buddha was the last of the moon chain humanity to
do so. As far as the development of
these two sons of God was concerned, so rapid was the development of the Christ
that in Atlantean days He found Himself upon the Path
of Probation as did also the Buddha. He,
coming into incarnation from the moon chain (having been held in what the
occult teaching calls "pralaya" till that
time), entered upon the probationary Path a very short time ahead of His
Brother, the Christ. From the angle of
evolution the rapid unfoldment of the evolution of
Christ was, and has been, totally unparallelled. It has never been duplicated, though there
are people living today upon the planet who are beginning to develop now with
equal rapidity (but not earlier, so that they have a background of slow
individual development, which is only now being accelerated). This rapidity is, however, a different matter
altogether, for many of the disciples today came into this earth evolution from
the moon chain where already much had been unfolded. They have not worked up to their present point
from Lemurian times as the Christ has done. He, therefore, stands uniquely alone.
(EA 43) As is stated in The Secret Doctrine,
13. "The seven rays of the sun will expand at the final pralaya into seven suns and absorb the material of
the whole universe." (S.D. II. 647.)
(EH 106) 1. The will aspect manifests through the organs of
respiration. Another of its expressions
is the faculty of sleep. In both of
these you have a repetition or an analogy in the microcosm of Logoic manifestation and Logoic pralaya.
(EH 108) By
the development of goodwill, which is the will of good intention and motive,
will come the healing of diseases of the respiratory tract, lungs and throat,
the stabilising of the cells of the brain, the cure of insanities and
obsessions, and an attainment of equilibrium and of rhythm. Longevity will ensue, for death should be the
recognition by the soul of work consummated and pralaya earned. It will only take place later at long and
separated periods, and will be controlled by the will of the man. He will cease to breathe when he has finished
his work, and then will send the atoms of his body into pralaya. That
is the sleep of the physical, the end of manifestation, and the occult
significance of this is not yet comprehended.
(EH 417) Therefore the study of pralaya, or the withdrawal of the life from out of the etheric vehicle, will be the same whether one studies the
withdrawal of the human etheric double, the
withdrawal of the planetary etheric double, or the
withdrawal of the etheric double of the
solar system. The effect is
the same and the consequences similar.
What is the result of this withdrawal, or rather, what causes that something which we call death or pralaya? As we are strictly pursuing the text book style in this treatise, we will continue our method of tabulation. The withdrawal of the etheric double of a man, a planet, and a system is brought about by the following causes:
(EH 419) All these mark the points for the disappearance of the unit
into pralaya.
We need here to remember that it is always pralaya
when viewed from below. From the
higher vision, that sees the subtler continuously overshadowing the dense when
not in objective manifestation, pralaya is simply
subjectivity, and is not that "which is not," but simply that which is
esoteric.
(EH 421) The work of the second Logos ends, and the divine incarnation
of the Son is concluded. But the faculty
or inherent quality of matter also persists, and at the end of each period of
manifestation, matter (though distributed again into its primal form) is active
intelligent matter plus the gain of objectivity, and the increased radiatory and latent activity which it has gained through
experience. Let us illustrate: The matter of the solar system, when
undifferentiated, was active intelligent matter, and that is all that can be
predicated of it. This active
intelligent matter was matter qualified by an earlier experience, and coloured
by an earlier [Page 421] incarnation.
Now this matter is in form, the solar system is not in pralaya but in objectivity—this objectivity having in view
the addition of another quality to the logoic
content, that of love and wisdom.
Therefore, at the next solar pralaya, at the close of the one
hundred years of Brahma, the matter of the solar system will be coloured by
active intelligence and by active love.
This means literally that the aggregate of solar atomic matter will
eventually vibrate to another key than it did at the first dawn of
manifestation.
(EH 468) Perhaps some lines from
the Manual of Death which is to be found in the hierarchical archives would
prove explanatory to you, and might aid you in gaining a new perspective upon
death. This manual has in it what are
called the "Formulas preceding Pralaya." These deal with all the
death or abstraction processes, covering the death of all forms, whether it be the death of an ant, a man or a planet. The formulas concern only the two aspects of
life and light—the first conditioned by Sound and the second by the Word. The
writing which I have in mind concerns the light, and the Word which abstracts
it from the form or focusses it within the form.
(RI 479) "In the Cross is
hidden Light.
The vertical and horizontal in mutual friction creates a vibrant Cross
scintillates, and motion originates.
When the vertical assumes the horizontal, pralaya
supervenes. Evolution is the movement of
the horizontal to upright positiveness. In the secret of direction lies
the hidden wisdoms in the doctrine of absorption lies the healing faculty in
the point becoming the line, and the line becoming the cross is evolution. In the cross swinging to the horizontal lies salvation and pralayic
peace."
(RI 767) In the Cross is hidden Light. The vertical and horizontal in mutual
friction create; a vibrant Cross scintillates, and motion originates. When the vertical assumes the
horizontal, pralaya supervenes. Evolution is the movement of the horizontal to
upright positiveness.
In the secret of direction lies the hidden wisdom; in the doctrine of
absorption lies the healing faculty; in the point becoming the line, and the
line becoming the cross is evolution. In
the cross swinging to the horizontal lies salvation
and pralayic peace.
(WM 243) The outstanding cycle for every soul is that of its forthgoing into incarnation and its return or flowing back
into the centre from whence it came.
According to the point of view will be the understanding of this ebb and
flow. Souls might esoterically be regarded
as those "seeking the light of experience" and therefore turned
towards physical expression, and those "seeking the light of
understanding", and therefore retreating from the realm of human
undertaking to forge their way inward into the soul consciousness, and so
become "dwellers in the light eternal". Without appreciating the significance of the
terms, the psychologists have sensed these cycles and call certain types,
extraverts, and others, introverts.
These mark an ebb and flow in individual experience and are the tiny
life correspondences to the great soul cycles.
This passing into, and passing out of, the web of incarnated existence
are the major cycles of any individual soul, and a study of the types
of pralaya dealt with in The Secret Doctrine and A
Treatise on Cosmic Fire would be found of real value by the student.
(WM 323) All occult training has in view the development of the
aspirant so that he may indeed be a focal point of spiritual energy. It should be remembered, however, that under
the law, this training will be cyclic, and will have its ebb and flow, as all else
in nature. Times of activity succeed times of pralaya, and periods of registered contact alternate
with periods of apparent silence. Note
here the choice of words. This
alternation is due to the imposition of the Law of Periodicity and if the
student develops as desired, each pralayic
period is succeeded by one of greater activity, and of more potent
achievement.
(WM 363) Remember always that in the vivification of a centre there is
always a corresponding vitalisation of the analogous head centre, till
eventually the seven centres in the body and the seven centres in the head
rotate in unison. Remember also that
just as the four minor rays pass into the three major rays, so the four minor
centres carry on the correspondence and pass into pralaya, finding their
focal point in the throat centre. Thus
you will have the three centres—head, heart and throat—carrying the inner fire,
with the three major head centres vibrating in unison also.
(WM 513) With the manner in which this One Life of the solar system works in these vast interludes of meditative silence, called technically a pralaya, we need not concern ourselves. The activity of the Universal Mind and its comprehensive purpose can only be perceived when each son of God enters consciously into his divine heritage. The mode of working by means of which our planetary Life utilises the cycles of silence concerns Him alone, and it must be remembered that each planetary Logos has a different pulsation, a varying periodic interlude, and His Own unique method of procedure.
(CF 87) Again in the solar system itself similar action will
eventuate at the close of a Mahamanvantara. The Logos will withdraw within Himself, abstracting His three major principles.37 His body of
manifestation—the Sun [Page 87] and the seven sacred Planets, all existing in etheric matter—will withdraw
from objectivity and become obscured. From the usual physical standpoint, the light
of the system will go out. This will be
succeeded by a gradual inbreathing until He shall have gathered all unto
Himself; the etheric will cease to exist, and the web
will be no more. Full consciousness will
be achieved, and in the moment of achievement existence or entified
manifestation will cease. All will be
reabsorbed within the Absolute; pralaya,38 or the cosmic
heaven of rest will then ensue, and the Voice of the Silence will be heard no
more. The reverberations of the WORD
will die away, and the "Silence of the High Places" will reign
supreme.
(CF 111) Man, the indwelling thinker, passes at night from out of his etheric ring-pass-not and functions elsewhere. Therefore, under the law, the planetary Logos likewise can pass His ring-pass-not at stated
seasons which correspond in the planet to the
hours of man's temporary repose, or pralaya.
The solar Logos likewise does the
same during stated cycles, which are not the cycles succeeding those which we
term solar pralaya, but lesser cycles
succeeding the 'days of Brahma' or periods of lesser activity, periodically
viewed. All these are governed by karma,
and just as the true Man himself applies
the law of karma to his vehicles, and in his tiny system is the correspondence
to that fourth group of karmic entities whom we call the Lipika
Lords; He applies the law to his threefold
lower nature. The fourth group of
extra-cosmic Entities Who have Their place subsidiary
to the three cosmic Logoi Who are the
threefold sumtotal of the logoic
nature, can pass the bounds of the solar
ring-pass-not in Their stated cycles. This is a profound mystery and its complexity
is increased by the recollection that the fourth Creative Hierarchy of human
Monads, and the Lipika Lords in Their three groups
(the first [Page 112] group, the second, and the four Maharajahs, making the totality of the threefold karmic rulers who stand between
the solar Logos and the seven planetary Logoi), are
more closely allied than the other Hierarchies, and their destinies are
intimately interwoven.
(CF 129) Therefore, the study of pralaya, or the
withdrawal of the life from out of the etheric
vehicle will be the same [Page 129] whether one studies the withdrawal of the
human etheric double, the withdrawal of the planetary
etheric double, or the withdrawal
of the etheric double of the solar system. The effect is the same and the consequences
similar.
What is the result of this withdrawal, or rather what causes that
something which we call death or pralaya? As we
are strictly pursuing the text-book style in this treatise, we will continue
our methods of tabulation. The
withdrawal of the etheric double of a man, a planet,
and a system is brought about by the following causes:
The cessation of desire. This should be the result of all evolutionary process. True death, under the law, is brought about by the attainment of the objective, and hence by the cessation of aspiration. This, as the perfected cycle draws to its close, will be true of the individual human being, of the Heavenly Man, and of the Logos Himself.
b. By the slowing down and gradual cessation of the cyclic rhythm, the
adequate vibration is achieved, and the work accomplished. When the vibration or note is perfectly felt
or sounded it causes (at the point of synthesis with other vibrations) the
utter shattering of the forms.
Motion is characterised, as we know, by three qualities:
1. Inertia,
2. Mobility,
3. Rhythm.
These three are experienced in just the above sequence and presuppose a
period of slow activity, succeeded by one of extreme movement. This middle period produces incidentally (as
the true note and rate is sought) cycles of chaos, of experiment, of experience
and of comprehension. Following on these
two degrees of motion (which are characteristic of the atom, Man, of the
Heavenly Man [Page 130] or group, and of the Logos or the Totality) comes a
period of rhythm and of stabilisation wherein the point of balance is
achieved. By the force of balancing the
pairs of opposites, and thus producing equilibrium, pralaya
is the inevitable sequence.
c. By the severing of the physical from the
subtler body on the inner planes, through the shattering of the web. This has a threefold effect:
First. The life that had animated the physical form
(both dense and etheric) and which had its starting
point in the permanent atom and from thence "pervaded the moving and the unmoving"
(in God, the Heavenly Man, and the human being, as well as in the atom of
matter) is withdrawn entirely within the atom upon the plane of
abstraction. This "plane of
abstraction" is a different one for the entities involved:
a. For the physical permanent atom, it is the atomic level.
b. For man, it is the causal vehicle.
c. For the Heavenly Man, it is the second plane of monadic life, His
habitat.
d. For the Logos, it is the plane of Adi.
All these mark the points for the disappearance of the unit
into pralaya. We need here to remember that it is always pralaya when viewed from below. From the higher vision, that sees the subtler
continuously overshadowing the dense when not in objective manifestation, pralaya is simply subjectivity, and is not that
"which is not," but simply that which is esoteric.
(CF 131) In the system, the same
process is followed by the solar Logos; from His high place of abstraction, He
ceases to be attracted by His body of manifestation. He withdraws His interest and the two pairs
of opposites, the spirit and the matter of the vehicle, dissociate. With this dissociation the
solar system, that "Son of Necessity," or of desire, ceases to be,
and passes out of objective existence.
Third. This leads finally, to the scattering of the
atoms of the etheric body into their primordial
condition. The subjective life, the
synthesis of will and love taking active form, is withdrawn. The partnership is dissolved. The form then breaks up; the magnetism that
has held it in coherent shape is no longer present, and dissipation is
complete. Matter persists, but the form
no longer persists.
The work of the second Logos ends, and the divine [Page 132]
incarnation of the Son is concluded. But
the faculty or inherent quality of matter also persists, and at the end of each
period of manifestation, matter (though distributed again into its primal form)
is active intelligent matter plus the gain of objectivity, and the increased radiatory and latent activity which it has gained through experience. Let us illustrate: The matter of the solar system, when
undifferentiated, was active intelligent matter, and that is all that can be
predicated of it.
(CF 132) This active intelligent matter was matter qualified by an
earlier experience, and coloured by an earlier incarnation. Now this matter is in form, the solar system is
not in pralaya but in objectivity,—his
objectivity having in view the addition of another quality to the logoic content, that of love and wisdom. Therefore at the next solar pralaya, at the close of the one hundred years of Brahma, the matter of the
solar system will be coloured by active intelligence, and by active love. This means literally that the aggregate of
solar atomic matter will eventually vibrate to another key than it did at the
first dawn of manifestation.
We can work this out in connection with the planetary Logos and the human unit, for the analogy holds
good. We have a correspondence on a tiny
scale in the fact that each human life period
sees a man taking a more evolved physical body of a greater
responsiveness, tuned to a higher key, of more adequate refinement, and
vibrating to a different measure. In
these three thoughts lies much information, if they are carefully studied and
logically extended.
(CF 149) Hence
too the fact that the first Logos is called the Destroyer, because He is
abstraction, if viewed from below upwards. His work is the synthesis of Spirit with
Spirit, their [Page 149] eventual abstraction from matter, and their
unification with their cosmic source.
Hence also He is the one who brings about pralaya or the disintegration of form,—the form from
which the Spirit has been abstracted.
If we carry the analogy down to the microcosm a glimpse can be gained
of the same idea and hence ability to comprehend with greater facility. The Ego (being to the man on the physical
plane what the Logos is to His system) is likewise the animating
will, the destroyer of forms, the producer of pralaya and the One Who withdraws the inner spiritual man from out of his
threefold body; he draws them to himself the centre of his little system. The Ego is
extra-cosmic as far as the human being on the physical plane is concerned, and in the
realisation of this fact may come elucidation of the true cosmic problem
involving the Logos and "the spirits in prison," as the Christian
puts it.
(CF 150) Second, Increased the vibration of
matter itself by means of its own energy, so that matter at the moment of pralaya and obscuration will have two main
characteristics,—activity, the result of the Law of Economy, and a dual
magnetism which will be the result of the Law of Attraction.
All of these three concepts are governed by the Law of Synthesis, which
is the law of a coherent will-to-be, persisting [Page 150] not only in time and
space, but within a still vaster cycle.
(CF 155) Final
combustion or disintegration, when the fires latent and radiatory
have achieved a specific stage.
This is the secret of final obscuration
and of pralaya, but cannot be dissociated
from the two other factors of solar and electric fire.
(CF 281) We might, therefore,
consider time as that process of activity, or that progression in development,
wherein the indwelling Consciousness is seeking its opposite, and coming under
the Law of Attraction, which leads to atomic, human, planetary, spiritual,
solar and cosmic marriage. This idea is
comparatively simple in relation to a human being, and can be seen in daily
demonstration in his contacts with other men; these contacts are governed, for
instance, very largely by his likes and dislikes. All these attractions and repulsions are
under law, and their cause exists in form itself. The emotion of like or of dislike is nothing
else but the realisation by the conscious entity of the swinging into his
magnetic radius of an atomic form which he is led, by the very law of his own
being, to either attract or repulse.
Only when the form is transcended, and Spirit seeks out Spirit, will the phenomena of repulsion cease. This will be the inevitable finale at the cessation of
solar evolution, and it will bring about pralaya. The duration of the
interplay, the period of the search of Spirit for Spirit, and [Page 281] the
vibratory process necessitated by the utilisation of the form, this we call
Time, whether in connection with a man, a planetary Logos, or the Deity.
(CF 391) 4. An entirely new
group of human beings will sweep into incarnation in our Earth scheme. Three fifths of the present humanity, being
on the Probationary Path, or the Path of Initiation, at that time, will have
their centre of consciousness definitely on the mental plane [Page 391] whilst two fifths will
remain focussed on the astral.
These two fifths will pass into temporary pralaya, preparatory to
their transference to another scheme, as the Earth scheme will no longer
provide for them an adequate place of nurture.
5. Entities will come in from Mars to the Earth scheme, and will there
find their necessary field of endeavour.
6. Mercurian life will begin to synthesise,
and to be transferred to its synthesising planet. In the case of Mercury this synthesising
planet is not Saturn, but one of the other two higher major centres.
(CF 392) The struggle in the
fifth round, being on mental levels, will be between
Egos and egoic groups, each working consciously, and
with intellectual application, to bring about certain group results. It will result in the triumph (the ultimate
triumph) of Spirit over matter, in the driving out of certain groups as yet
unable to shake themselves free from the trammels of matter, and who prefer
captivity to the life of the Spirit; it will mark the beginning of the
obscuration of our scheme, and the gradual passing into pralaya, during the remaining two and a half rounds of our
entire seven chains. It is an
interesting occult fact that our Earth should now be in her fifth round, and paralleling
the Venusian scheme, but the moon chain of our scheme
saw a period of temporary retardation of the evolutionary process of our
Heavenly Man; it resulted in a temporary slowing down of His activities, and
caused "lost time," if such an expression might reverently be
permitted.
(CF 462) In the fifth round, a
corresponding division will take place in the fourth kingdom, and the lives in
that kingdom will be subjected to an analogous test; some will be passed and
will continue their evolution on this planet, while others will be rejected,
and will go into temporary pralaya.
After the rejection in the fourth rootrace of
three-fourths of the animal units, the remaining triads (or one-fourth)
proceeded on their way holding the promise of opportunity for all in time, and
the guarantee of their [Page 462] own attainment in the next
round. Just as the human Monads, who
are passed in the fifth round, will enter into the fifth kingdom, or respond to
its vibration before the climax of the seventh, so the animal monads (if I may
employ such a term) who were passed in this round will achieve
individualisation during the fifth and enter the fourth
kingdom. This will be brought about by
the strong manasic impulse which will characterise
the whole cycle of the fifth round, and will thus be effected
normally and as the result of due evolutionary growth. An electrical stimulation of the nature of
the occurrence in Lemurian days will not be required.
(CF 577) In manifestation the
cosmic Law of Attraction controls all these subsidiary laws, just as the Law of Synthesis
governs pralaya and obscuration, and the
law of Economy deals with the general working out, along the line of least
resistance, of the logoic scheme. During manifestation we have most to do with
the Law of Attraction, and it will be found, on study, that each subsidiary law
is but a differentiation of that law.
(CF 597) This law governs the
seventh chain in each scheme; each chain having achieved the fullest
expression possible in the scheme, comes under the Law of Death, and
obscuration and disintegration supervenes.
In a cosmic sense and analogy, it is the law that governs the coming in of pralaya at the end of a system. It is the law that shatters the cross of the
cosmic Christ, and places the form of the Christ within the tomb for a period
of time.
(CF 700) A hint may here be
given to those who have power to see. Three
constellations are connected with the fifth logoic
principle in its threefold manifestation:
Sirius, two of the Pleiades, and a small constellation whose name must
be ascertained by the intuition of the student.
These three govern the appropriation by the Logos of His dense body. When the last pralaya
ended, and the etheric body had been co-ordinated, a
triangle in the Heavens was formed under law which permitted a flow of force,
producing vibration on the fifth systemic plane. That triangle still persists, and is the
cause of the continued inflow of manasic force; it is
connected with the spirillae in the logoic mental unit and as long as His will-to-be persists,
the energy will continue to flow through.
In the fifth round, it will be felt at its height.
In considering the Entities33 who gave the manasic
principle to man, we must remember that they are the beings who, in earlier manvantaras have achieved, and who—in this
round—waited for a specific moment at [Page 700] which to enter, and so
continue their work. A parallel case can
be seen at the entry—in Atlantean days—of Egos from the
moon-chain. The parallel is not exact, as a
peculiar condition prevailed on the moon, and a peculiar karmic purpose brought
them all in at that time.
(CF 702) The question of the coming of the Lords of Flame is discussed
hereafter under the heading "Individualisation." At this point we are only dealing with the
work of these chohanic forces in a systemic and
cosmic sense. These solar entities,
being liberated intelligent Essences were in pralaya
of a secondary nature when the time came for their reappearance in
manifestation. When the WORD sounded
forth which produced desire in the Triad for self-expression, and when the
sound of the lower manifestation had blended with it, and had risen up into the
Heavens, as the occult books express it, [Page 702] an effect was produced
which caused a response in certain allied constellations; this set loose energy
which swept into the solar system, carrying with it those solar angels who
"rested in the Heart of God until the hour was come." Their appearance upon the mental plane
brought about the union of Spirit and matter, and from this union was born a
self-conscious Identity, the Ego. On
cosmic levels, an analogous process occurs in connection with such stupendous
Identities as a solar Logos, and the septenary Lives.
(CF 724) An avatar from the
cosmic centre will appear as pralaya is nearing and will produce
in the body of the Logos that which we call "Death." He is the cosmic Reaper, and (to reduce the
above to words of an understandable nature) He belongs to a group which
represents the abstracting energy of the cosmos, of which we find faint
correspondences in the work of the "destroyer" aspect of the Logos,
and in the forces which produce physical death, and the disintegration of the
physical body of man. It is not possible
to say more on these fundamentally esoteric matters, and the value of what is
said lies largely in the bringing to the mind of the student the reality of our
cosmic interrelation.
(DINAII 29) Hold these brothers,
who still remain your group brothers though temporarily in pralaya,
warmly in your hearts. Hold them in love. Seek not to bring them aid or draw
them back again within the circle of your service. They are at the point where
their own souls alone and I, their Master, know the right timing of approach.
(DINAII 287) c.
Under this Law of Sacrifice, Sanat Kumara (to express
the idea in occult terms) "must turn His back upon the Central Spiritual
Sun, and with the light of His Countenance irradiate the path of the prisoners
of the planet." He sentences Himself to stay for as long as may be needed,
"acting as the Sun and light of the planet until the Day be with us and the night of pralaya descends upon His finished task." Thus and only thus can
the light of the Central Spiritual Sun begin to penetrate the dark places of
the Earth; when this happens all "shadows disappear"—an occult
reference to the all-embracing radiance of the Monad as it absorbs both its reflection, the soul, and its shadow, the
personality.
(EINA 134) a. Many souls are rapidly
achieving perfection and passing away altogether from our planetary life. This process will be intensified during the
coming Aquarian Age. It should be remembered
that the door will be shut for some time as yet upon the animal kingdom, and
for a long period no individualisation will culminate in materialisation into
physical bodies. Technically, any
individualisation which may take place will be that which is technically called
"individualisation into pralaya, there to await
the inevitable call." There will
be, therefore, no necessity for a massed and hurried creation of human forms.
(EOH 76) We come now, for a
brief moment, to a consideration of the Jewish question. Remember that it is an
interesting fact that the Jews are found in every land without exception, that
their influence is potent and widespread (far more so than they themselves are willing to recognise), and that they wield
most potently that peculiar concretisation of energy which we call money. They
constitute, in a strange manner, a unique and distinctly separated world centre
of energy. The reason for this is that they represent the energy and the life
of the previous solar system. You have often been told how, at the close of this solar system, a certain percentage of
the human family will fail to make the grade and will then be held in pralaya, or in solution, until the
time for the manifestation of the next and third solar system comes around.
Then they will constitute the advanced guard and the symbol of the coming
humanity of that system. The same thing occurred in the system before this one and those whom we now call
the Jews (a purely modern name and distinction, as I tried to show in the last
few pages of A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Vol. I, Esoteric Psychology), are
the descendants of that
earlier group which was held in pralaya between the
first and second solar systems. If you will
remember that the third ray governed that system and also governs the Jewish
race, if you bear in mind that that system was occupied with [Page 77] the
divine aspects of matter only and with external conditions, and that the Jews were the highest product of that
system you can come to an understanding of the Jew, his separateness, his
desire for racial purity and his interest in that which is commercial and
tangible. The Jew, down the ages, has insisted upon being separated from all
other races but he brought over from the previous system the knowledge
(necessary then but obsolete now) that his race was the "chosen
people." The "Wandering Jew" has wandered from System One to this where he must learn the lesson of absorption and cease his wandering.
He has insisted upon racial purity, for that was his major problem in early Lemurian times when the race came into a world that had in
it no human beings, for it was before the coming of the Lords of Flame; this
insistence has been carried down the ages and has governed the rules of
marriage and the preparation of food instead of being dropped (as it should
have been) thousands of years ago. It is these facts (unknown to the modern
Jew) which has militated against him down the years and made it possible for
the forces of separativeness and of hate, to use the
Jewish race to stir up world difficulty, and thus bring to a crisis the basic
human problem of separation. When humanity has solved the Jewish problem (with
the understanding cooperation of the Jew) and overcome ancient antipathies and
hatreds, it will do so by fusing the problem in one vast humanitarian
situation. When that happens, the problem will be rapidly solved and one of the
major difficulties will disappear off the face of the earth. Racial fusion will
then be possible. Our earth humanity and the group of human beings who are far
more ancient in their origin than we are, will form
one humanity and then there will be peace on earth.
Why our planet and this solar system should have been constituted the
nursery for the seeds of separativeness and why this remnant of humanity, far more advanced than ours, should have
been destined to work out its future on our earth, is hid in the
knowledge of the Lord of Shamballa, and is
unattainable knowledge for you and, indeed, for many [Page 78] in the
Hierarchy….
(HIS 174) At the fifth initiation the great secret which concerns the
fire or spirit aspect is revealed to the wondering and amazed Master, and He
realises in a sense incomprehensible to man the fact that all is fire and fire
is all. This secret may be said to
reveal to the Initiate that which makes clear to Him:—
a. The secret name of the Planetary Logos, thus revealing one syllable
of the name of the Solar Logos.
b. The work and method of the destroyer aspect of divinity.
c. The processes whereby obscuration and pralaya are induced.
d. The mathematical formula which sums up all the cycles of
manifestation.
e. The triple nature of fire, and the effect of the great fire upon the
lesser.
As this Shiva, or first, aspect is the one which will arrive at
perfection, or, rather, come within the reach of comprehension
within the next solar system, it profits not to continue considering this
secret.
(HIS 198) The disciple who seeks to enter within the Portals of
Initiation cannot do so until he has learnt the power of speech and the power
of silence. This has a deeper and a
wider significance than perhaps is apparent, for it holds, if rightly
interpreted, the key to manifestation, the clue to the great cycles, and the
revelation of the purpose underlying pralaya. Until
a man comprehends the significance of the spoken word, and until he utilises
the silence of the high places for the bringing about of desired effects on one
plane or another, he cannot be admitted into those realms wherein every sound
and every word spoken produces powerful results in matter of some kind, being
energised by two predominant factors, (a) a powerful will, scientifically
applied, (b) right motive, purified in the fires.
(
(
During the six weeks' vacation he is recommended
to rest entirely from all mental effort save that associated with the practice
of the imparted occult meditation. He mentally follows the cycle and goes into pralaya
temporarily. At the end of six weeks he
returns to his work with the object in view of systematising the mass of
information, of perfecting his comprehension of the facts earlier studied, of
practicing that part of the occult lore permissible, with the object in view of
becoming proficient and to discover his weak points. He writes
during the "dark period" of the year the themes and essays, the
books and pamphlets that will embody the product of the assimilated
information. The best of these books
will be published yearly by the college, for the use of the public. In this way he serves his time and generation
and educates the race in the higher knowledge.
2. In exactly the same way his studies each month will be so arranged
that the harder part (dealing with the higher mind) will be
undertaken during the part of the month which is
called the bright half, whilst the work of the dark half will be more
given over to the things concerning lower mind and to an effort to hold the
gain of the earlier weeks. Each day will
be likewise divided into set times, the earlier
hours being those in which the more abstract and occult data will be given,
the latter part of the day being given over to a more practical type of work.