DIVISION A
THE INTERNAL FIRES OF THE SHEATHS
I. The three channels.
II. Fire elementals and devas.
[Page 55]
I. THE THREE CHANNELS FOR THE FIRE
The term "sheath" is used to indicate we are considering the ‘fires’ which manifest through the medium of external veils of substance which conceal the inner Reality.
We shall not here take up the subject of the sheaths on the higher planes. We will deal here with the ‘fires’ that animate the three lower vehicles,—the physical body/sheath in its two divisions (etheric and dense), the emotional or astral body/sheath, and the mental body/sheath.
It is frequently overlooked that both the astral and the mental bodies are material, and just as material in their own way, as is the dense physical body. Also, their substance is animated by a triple fire, as is the physical.
The Dense Physical Body
In the physical body we have the ‘fires of the lower nature’ (the animal plane) centralised at the base of the spine.
They are situated at a spot which stands in (metaphorical, Ed.) relation to the physical body as the physical sun to the solar system.
This ‘central point of heat’ radiates in all directions, using the spinal column as its ‘main artery’, working in close connection with ‘certain central ganglia’, and having a special association with ‘the spleen’.
[Page 56]
[There might be a
research project here to see, in the development of the human embryo, how the initial
change from a spherical embryo to an elongated one occurs. I wonder, does it start from this ‘central
point of heat’ which eventually becomes the ‘centre at the base of the spine’, apparently related
to the adrenal glands? Ed.]
CHART I — EVOLUTION OF MATTER
TCF p. 56
[Page 57]
The Etheric Body
In the etheric body, an exact replica of its denser counterpart, we have the organ of active or radiatory fire, the vehicle of prana.
Its function is to store up the rays of radiatory light and heat which are secured from the sun, and to transmit them, via the spleen, to all parts of the physical body.
In the future it will be recognised that ‘the spine’ and ‘the spleen’ are of the utmost importance to the physical well-being of man, and that
Ø when the spinal column is duly adjusted and aligned, and
Ø when the spleen is ‘freed from congestion’ and in a healthy condition,
there will be little trouble in the dense physical body.
When ‘the physical furnace’ burns brightly and when the fuel of the body (pranic rays) is adequately assimilated, the human frame will function as desired.
Blending the two fires: Blending ‘active radiatory fire’ with ‘latent fires of matter of the lower nature’
The subject of the blending of these two fires, which is complete in a normal and healthy person, should engross the attention of the modern physician.
The modern physician should interest himself in the subject of the blending of these two fires, [‘active or radiatory fire’ (etheric body and spleen), and ‘fires of the lower nature’ (base of spine)] which is complete in a normal and healthy person. He will concern himself with removal of ‘nerve congestion’ or ‘material congestion’, so as to leave a ‘free channel for the inner warmth’.
This ‘blending of the two fires’, which is in this period
natural and usual in every human being, was one
of the signs of attainment or of initiation in an earlier solar system.
Initiation and
liberation in this solar system are
marked by the blending of the fires of the body, mind and Spirit. In an earlier
cycle attainment was marked by the blending of ‘the latent fires of matter’
with ‘the radiatory or active fires’, and then their union with ‘the fires of
mind’.
In the earlier period, the effects in manifestation of the divine Flame, though dimly there, were deeply hidden as to be scarcely recognisable.
A correspondence is seen in the animal kingdom, in which instinct holds intuition in latency, and Spirit dimly overshadows.
Yet, all is part of a divine whole. [Page 58]
The subject of the Radiatory Heat of the Macrocosmic and microcosmic systems will be dealt with in detail in a later subdivision. In this section we will be dealing with the ‘latent interior fire’ of the
a. Sun.
b. Planet.
c. Man.
d. Atom.
Remember that in both astral and mental sheaths there exist counterparts of the centres as found in the physical body. These centres concern matter and its evolution
A statement about ‘the internal fires’ of all four (sun, planet, man, and atom):
There exists in the Sun, planet, man, and atom, a ‘central point of heat’, ‘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. [1]
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 to use) that are generally understood to exist whenever the sun is considered. [Page 59]
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’, ‘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.
The matter of ‘fire’ is as complex as that of the ‘rays’:
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
Ø the akashic current,
Ø the electrical current, or
Ø 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.
Ø The internal fires of the solar system become external and radiatory when considered from the standpoint of a planet, while
Ø The internal fires of the planet will affect a human being as radiation in exactly the same way as
Ø The pranic emanations of his etheric body affect another physical body as radiatory.
The point to be grasped in all these aspects is that one and all have to do with matter or substance, and not with mind or Spirit.
[Page 60]
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 filled with incandescent burning’, which 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’ and as yet 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. 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 behind the cry of the modern physician, when he wisely says "Back to the Earth."
It is the ‘fluidic emanation’ of this prana which acts on the physical body, though in this case not via the etheric body. It is absorbed through the skin purely, and the ‘pores’ (?acupuncture points? Ed.) are its line of least resistance. [Page 61]
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 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 vitalises the dense matter of the body and 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.
This triple manifestation of fire also demonstrates in the astral and mental bodies, having to do with the substance of those bodies. [Page 62]
We might express this ‘fire in its triple manifestation’ (physical, astral and mental, Ed.) as the ‘sumtotal of the essential fire, or life activity’ of the third Logos.
The manifestation
of the work of the three Logoi is the
expression of the mind of some cosmic Entity.
In the same way, the seven planetary Entities (the seven Heavenly Men), are seven Logoi (cosmic Beings) Who in Their totality form the Body of the threefold Logos.
We have:
1. The undifferentiated Logos—a cosmic Entity.
2. The (solar, Ed.) Logos, threefold in manifestation:
- The cosmic Lord of Will Power.
- The cosmic Lord of Love and Wisdom.
- The cosmic Lord of Active Intelligence.
3. The triple Logos, sevenfold in manifestation., i.e. The seven planetary Logoi.18,19,20 [2]
[Page 63]
Each of these three cosmic Entities is, in His essential essence, ‘Fire’
Each manifests as fire in a threefold manner.
The Cosmic Lord of Active
Intelligence (considered from
the standpoint of cosmic evolution),
is more evolved than His two Brothers, in this point of time.
He
is the ‘life of matter’, its ‘latent internal Fire’
His
is ‘the fire essence that lies at the heart of the Sun, of the planet, and of
man's material forms’
He is the sumtotal of the Past.
The Lord of Cosmic Love now seeks union with His Brother
In
point of time, he embodies all the Present.
He
is the sumtotal of all that is embodied; He is conscious Existence.
He is the ‘Son divine’ and ‘His life and nature evolve through every existent form’
The Lord of Cosmic Will
holds hid
the future within His plans and consciousness.
They are
Ø all three the Sons of one Father,
Ø all three the aspects of the One God,
Ø all three are Spirit,
Ø all three are Soul, and
Ø all three are Rays emanating from one cosmic centre.
All three are substance, but in the past one Lord was the elder Son, in the present another Lord comes to the fore, and in the future still another.
But this is so only in Time...
From the standpoint of the Eternal Now, none is greater nor less than another, for ‘the last shall be first, and the first last’
Out of manifestation time is not, and freed from objectivity, states of consciousness are not.
The ‘Fire of Spirit’ is ‘the essential fire of the first Lord of Will plus the fire of the second Logos of Love’.
These two cosmic Entities blend, merge, and demonstrate as Soul, utilising for purposes of manifestation the aid of the third Logos.
The three fires (Will, Love, and Intelligence, Ed.) blend and merge.
In this fourth round and on this fourth globe of our planetary scheme, the ‘fires of the third Logos of intelligent matter’ are fusing somewhat with ‘the fires of cosmic mind, showing as will or power, and animating the Thinker on all planes’. [Page 64]
The object of Their co-operation is the perfected manifestation of the cosmic Lord of Love.
This should be pondered upon for it reveals
a mystery.
Ø The blending of ‘the three fires’,
Ø The merging of ‘the three Rays’, and
Ø The co-operation of ‘the three Logoi’
have in view (at this time and within this solar system) the development of the Essence of the cosmic Lord of Love, the second Person in the logoic trinity.
Earlier it was not so, later it will not be, but now it is.
A hint as to the secret of the excessive ‘heat’ of the astral body at this period
When viewed from the cosmic mental plane the above Three constitute the PERSONALITY OF THE LOGOS, and are seen functioning as one.
Hence the secret (well recognised as fact, though not understood) of the excessive ‘heat’ (occultly expressed), of the astral or central body of the triple personality.
It animates and controls the physical body, and its desires hold sway in the majority of cases
It demonstrates in time and space the correspondence of the temporary union of spirit and matter, the ‘fires of cosmic love’ and the ‘fires of matter’ blended.
A similar analogy is found in the heat apparent in this second solar system.
d. The Atom
The ‘inner fires of the atom’ can be seen functioning along similar lines, their demonstration being already somewhat recognised by science.
This being so there exists no necessity for further elaboration.21[3]
[Page 65]
II. FIRE ELEMENTALS AND DEVAS
We now consider the fire elementals and devas, and then the relation of the Personality Ray to the ‘internal fire of the system in its threefold manifestation’.
Certain facts are known in connection with ‘the fire spirits’ (if so they may be termed).
Agni – the Lord of Fire, Ruler of the three lowest Planes
He Who rules over all ‘the fire elementals and devas on the three planes of human evolution’, the physical, the astral, and the mental, and rules over them not only on this planet, called the Earth, but on the three planes in all parts of the system, is called AGNI, the Lord of Fire,.
The Seven Brothers, Fohat and the seven Planes
Agni is one of ‘the seven Brothers’ (to use an expression familiar to students of the Secret Doctrine)
Ø The seven Brothers each embody one of the seven principles, or
Ø The seven Brothers are in Themselves the seven centres in the body of the cosmic Lord of Fire, called by H. P. B. "Fohat."
Fohat
Fohat is that ‘active fiery Intelligence’, Who is the basis of ‘the internal fires of the solar system’.
On each plane one of the seven Brothers holds sway
The three ‘elder Brothers’ (for always the three are seen, and later the seven, who eventually merge into the primary three) rule on the first, third and the fifth planes, or on the plane of adi, of atma [4] and of manas. (1st , 3rd, 5th Planes)
Remember that They are ‘fire’ viewed in its third aspect, the ‘fire of matter’.
Ø In Their totality these seven Lords form the essence of the cosmic Lord, called in the occult books, Fohat. 23[5] [Page 66]
Ø This is so in the same sense as the seven Chohans,24[6] with Their affiliated groups of pupils, form the essence or centres in the body of one of the Heavenly Men, one of the planetary Logoi.
Ø These seven again in Their turn form the essence of the Logos.
Each of the seven Lords of Fire or Seven Brothers 25[7] are differentiated into numerous groups of fire entities, from the ‘Deva-Lords of a plane’ down to the ‘little salamanders of the internal furnaces’.
We are not dealing with the ‘fiery essences of the higher planes’ at this stage in our discussion.
We will only enumerate some of the better known groups, contacted in the three worlds.
1. Physical Plane.
Salamanders
These are the little ‘fire elementals’ who can be seen dancing in every flame, tending the fires of the hearth, home, and factory.
They are of the same group as the ‘fire spirits’ who can be contacted deep in the fiery bowels of the planet.
Fire spirits
These are latent in all focal points of heat. They are themselves the essence of warmth. They can be contacted [Page 67] in ‘the heat of the bodily frame’, whether human or animal, and are likewise the ‘warmth terrestrial’.
Agnichaitans – terrestrial and solar
These are a higher grade of fire spirit. They form a ‘vortex of fire’ when viewed on a large scale, such as in volcanoes and large destructive burnings.
They are closely allied to a still more important group of devas, who form ‘the fiery envelope of the sun’.
Pranic elementals
These are minute fiery essences who have ability to permeate the texture of the human body, of a tree, or of all that may be found in the human, vegetable and animal kingdoms, and who ‘blend with the fires of the microcosmic systems’.
Certain of the deva kingdom who ‘ensoul certain of the great light rays’, and Who are in Themselves the essence of those rays
Other forms of elemental lives and deva groups might be enumerated, but the above tabulation will suffice for our present purpose.
2. The Astral Plane.
The ‘fiery essences’ of this plane are more difficult for us to comprehend, since we do not, as yet, have the ‘seeing eye’ upon that plane.
They are in themselves ‘the warmth and heat of the emotional body’, the ‘body of feeling’.
They are of a low order when upon the path of desire,
They are of a high order when upon the path of aspiration, for the elemental is then transmuted into the deva.
The grades and ranks of ‘fiery essences’ on the astral plane are many; their names matter not save in one instance:
The Agnisuryans
It may be of interest to know the appellation applied to the ‘devas of fire’ whose part it is to ‘tend the fires that will later destroy the causal body’.
Remember that it is the upspringing of the latent fire of matter and its merging with two other fires that causes ‘destruction’.
These elementals and devas are called the Agnisuryans, and in their totality are the ‘fiery essences of buddhi’, hence their lowest manifestation is on the sixth plane, the astral. [Page 68]
Further information concerning these deva lives will be found further on in the Treatise, where they are dealt with at some length. [Page 69]