A Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 4
The waters dissipated. The solid ground emerged in certain destined places. The Fifth o’er-ran the Sacred Land, and in their fivefold groups developed the lower Fifth.
They passed from stage to stage. The watching Lords, recognising the rupas formed, gave a sign to the circulating Fourth and it speeded faster on its way. When the lesser Fifth had midway passed and all the lesser four were peopling the land, the Lords of Dark Intent arose. They said: “Not so shall go the force. The forms and rupas of the third and fourth, within the corresponding Fifth, approach too close the archetype. The work is far too good.”
They constructed other forms. They called for cosmic fire. The seven deep pits of hell belched forth the animating shades. The incoming seventh reduced to order all the forms,—the white, the dark, the red, and shaded brown.
The period of destruction extended far on either hand. The work was sadly marred. The Chohans of the highest plane gazed in silence on the work. The Asuras and the Chaitans, the Sons of Cosmic Evil, and the Rishis of the darkest constellations, [29] gathered their lesser hosts, the darkest spawn of hell. They darkened all the space.
* * * * *
From the coming of the heaven-sent One peace passed upon the earth. The planet staggered and belched forth fire. Part rose. Part fell. The form was changed. Millions took other forms or ascended to the appointed place of waiting. They tarried till the hour of progress should again sound forth for them.
* * * * *
The early Third produced the monsters, great beasts and evil forms. They prowled upon the surface of the sphere.
The watery Fourth produced within the watery sphere, reptiles and spawn of evil fame, the product of their karma. The waters came and swept away the progenitors of the fluidic spawn.
The separating Fifth built in the rupa sphere the concrete forms of thought. They cast them forth. They peopled the lower four, and like a black and evil cloud shut out the light of day. The higher three were hid.
* * * * *
The war upon the planet had been waged. Both sides descended into hell. Then came the Conqueror of form. He drew on the Sacred Fire, and purified the rupa levels. The fire destroyed the lands in the days of the lesser Sixth.
When the Sixth appeared the land was changed. The surface of the globe circled through another cycle. Men of the higher Fifth mastered the lower [30] three. The work was shifted to the plane whereon the Pilgrim stood. The lesser triangle within the lower auric egg became the centre of cosmic dissonance.
STANZA XI
[31] The wheel of life turns within the wheel of outer form.
The matter of Fohat circulateth, and its fire hardeneth all the forms. The wheel that is not glimpsed moveth in rapid revolution within the slower outer case, till it weareth out the form.
The forty-nine fires burn at the inner centre. The thirty-five circulating fiery vortices extend along the circle of the periphery. Between the two passeth in ordered sequence the various coloured flames.
The great Triangles in their just arrangement hold hid the secret of the wheel of life. The cosmic fire radiates as directed from the second sphere, controlled by the Ruler of the merging ray. The cohorts of the third encircling sphere in varied ranks mark out the lesser threes.
The wheel of life still moves within the form. The devas of the fourth connect the thirty-five, and blend them with the central forty-nine. Above they work, seeking to merge the whole. Upward they strive, who in their myriad forms revolve within the wheels of lesser magnitude. The whole is one, yet on the lower spheres only the forms appear. They seem in their divisions more than can be grasped or met.
The many circulate. The forms are built, become too firm, are broken by the life, and circulate again. The few revolve, holding the many in the heat of motion. The one embraces all, and carries all from great activity into the heart of cosmic peace.
STANZA XII
[32] The Blessed Ones hide Their threefold nature but reveal Their triple essence by means of the three great groups of atoms. Three are the atoms and threefold the radiation.
The inner core of Fire hides itself and is known only through radiation and that which radiates. Only after the blaze dies out and the heat is no longer felt can the fire be known.
STANZA XIII
[33] Through the band of violet that encircleth the Heavens passeth the globe of purple dark. It passeth and returneth not. It becometh enrapt in the blue. Three times the blue enfoldeth, and when the cycle is completed the purple fadeth and is merged into the rose, and the path again is traversed.
Three the great colours in the cycle that counteth as the fourth, violet, blue and rose, with the basic purple in revolution.
Four are the colours secondary in the cycle of discrimination in which the revolution taketh place. It is circled to the midmost point and somewhat passed. Yellow the band that cometh, orange the cloud that hideth, and green for vivification. Yet the time is not yet.
Many the circling fires; many the revolving rounds, but only when the complementary colours recognise their source, and the whole adjusteth itself to the seven will be seen completion. Then will be seen each colour in adjustment right, and the cessation of revolution.
SECTION ONE. The Internal Fires - Fire by Friction
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
I. Fire in the Macrocosm.
II. Fire in the Microcosm.
III. Fire in manifestation.
[37] We purpose in these few introductory remarks to lay down the foundation for a ‘Treatise on Cosmic Fire,’ and to consider the subject of fire both macrocosmically and microcosmically, thus dealing with it from the standpoint of the solar system, and of a human being. This will necessitate some preliminary technicalities which may seem at first perusal to be somewhat abstruse and complicated but which, when meditated upon and studied, may eventually prove illuminating and of an elucidating nature, and which also, when the mind has familiarised itself with some of the details, may come to be regarded as providing a logical hypothesis concerning the nature and origin of energy. We have elsewhere, in an earlier book, touched somewhat upon this matter, but we desire to recapitulate and in so doing to enlarge, thus laying down a broad foundation upon which the subject matter can be built up, and providing a general outline which will serve to show the limits of our discussion.
Let us, therefore, look at the subject macrocosmically and then trace the correspondence in the microcosm, or human being.
I. FIRE IN THE MACROCOSM
In its essential nature Fire is threefold, but when in manifestation it can be seen as a fivefold demonstration, and be defined as follows: [38]
1. Fire by friction, or internal vitalising fire. These fires animate and vitalise the objective solar system. They are the sumtotal of logoic kundalini, when in full systemic activity.
2. Solar Fire, or cosmic mental fire. This is that portion of the cosmic mental plane which goes to the animation of the mental body of the Logos. This fire may be regarded as the sumtotal of the sparks of mind, the fires of the mental bodies and the animating principle of the evolving units of the human race in the three worlds.
3. Electric Fire, or the logoic Flame Divine. This flame is the distinguishing mark of our Logos, and it is that which differentiates Him from all other Logoi; it is His dominant characteristic, and the sign of His place in cosmic evolution.
This threefold fire may be expressed in ray terms as follows:
First, we have the animating fires of the solar system, which are the fires of the primordial ray of active intelligent matter; these constitute the energy of Brahma, the third aspect of the Logos. Next are to be found the fires of the divine Ray of Love-Wisdom, the ray of intelligent love, which constitutes the energy of the Vishnu aspect, the second aspect logoic.(4) Finally are to be found [39] the fires of the cosmic mental plane, which are the fires of the cosmic ray of will. They might be described as the rays of intelligent will and are the manifestation of the first aspect logoic, the Mahadeva aspect.(5) Therefore we h
ave three cosmic rays manifesting:
The Ray of intelligent activity. This is a ray of a very demonstrable glory, and of a higher point of development than the other two, being the product of an earlier mahakalpa, or a previous solar system.(6) It embodies [40] the basic vibration of this solar system, and is its great internal fire, animating and vitalising the whole, and penetrating from the centre to the periphery. It is the cause of rotary motion, and therefore of the spheroidal form of all that exists.
The Ray of intelligent love. This is the ray which embodies the highest vibration of which our solar Logos or Deity is capable in this present solar system. It is not yet vibrating adequately nor has it yet attained the peak of its activity. It is the basis of the cyclic spiral movement of the body logoic, and just as the Law of Economy is the law governing the internal fires of the system so the cosmic Law of Attraction and Repulsion is the basic law of this divine Ray.
The Ray of intelligent will. Little as yet can be said about this ray. It is the ray of cosmic mind and in its evolution parallels that of cosmic love, but as yet its vibration is slower and its development more retarded. This is definitely and deliberately so, and is due to the underlying purpose and choice of the solar Logos, Who seeks on His high level (just as do His reflections, the sons of men) to achieve a more rounded out development, [41] and He therefore concentrates on the development of cosmic love in this greater cycle.
This ray is governed by the Law of Synthesis, and is the basis of the systemic movement which may be best described as that of driving forward through space, or forward progression. Little can be predicated anent this ray and its expression. It controls the movements of the entire ring-pass-not in connection with its cosmic centre. (7)
The tabulation on page 42 may make the above ideas somewhat clearer.
These three expressions of the divine Life may be regarded as expressing the triple mode of manifestation. First, the objective or tangible universe; second, the subjective worlds or form; and thirdly, the spiritual aspect which is to be found at the heart of all. (8) The internal fires that animate and vitalise shew themselves in a twofold manner: [42]
TABULATION I.
Fire Ray Aspect Expression Law Quality
1. Internal Primordial Intelligent Activity Rotary motion Economy Fire by friction
2. Of Mind Love Intelligent Love Spiral Cyclic motion Attraction Solar Fire.
3. Divine Flame Will Intelligent Will. Forward Progression Synthesis Electric Fire.
[43] First as latent heat. This is the basis of rotary motion and the cause of the spheroidal coherent manifestation of all existence, from the logoic atom, the solar ring-pass-not, down to the minutest atom of the chemist or physicist.
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 [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.
It might here be useful to point out that magnetism is the effect of the divine ray in manifestation in the same sense that electricity is the manifested effect of the primordial ray of active intelligence. It would be well to ponder on this for it holds hid a mystery.
The fires of the mental plane also demonstrate in a twofold manner:
First, as the Fire of Mind, the basis of all expression and in one peculiar occult sense the sumtotal of existence. It provides the relation between the life and the form, between spirit and matter, and is the basis of consciousness itself.
Second, as the Elementals of Fire, or the sumtotal of the active expression of thought, showing itself through the medium of those entities who, in their very essence, are fire itself.
These dualities of expression make the four necessary factors in the logoic quaternary, (12) or the lower nature of the Logos viewing His manifestation from one esoteric angle; exoterically, they are the sumtotal of the logoic quaternary, plus the logoic fifth principle, cosmic mind.
The divine spark does not as yet manifest (as do the other two fires) as a duality, though what lies hidden in a later cycle, evolution alone will disclose. This third fire, along with the other two, make the necessary five of logoic evolutionary development and by its perfected merging with the other two fires as the evolutionary process proceeds is seen the goal of logoic attainment for this greater cycle or period of this solar system.
[45] When the primordial ray of intelligent activity, the divine ray of intelligent love, and the third cosmic ray of intelligent will meet, blend, merge, and blaze forth, the Logos will take His fifth initiation, thus completing one of His cycles. When the rotary, the forward, and the spiral cyclic movements are working in perfect synthesis then the desired vibration will have been reached. When the three Laws of Economy, of Attraction, and of Synthesis work with perfect adjustment to each other, then nature will perfectly display the needed functioning, and the correct adaptation of the material form to the indwelling spirit, of matter to life, and of consciousness to its vehicle.
II. FIRE IN THE MICROCOSM
Let us briefly consider therefore the correspondence between the greater whole and the unit man and then block out our subject in detail and consider the sections into which it will be wise to divide it.
Fire in the Microcosm is likewise threefold in essence and fivefold in manifestation.
1. There is Internal Vitalising Fire, which is the correspondence to fire by friction. This is the sumtotal of individual kundalini; it animates the corporeal frame and demonstrates also in the twofold manner:
First, as latent heat which is the basis of life of the spheroidal cell, or atom, and of its rotary adjustment to all other cells.
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.
This fire is the basic vibration of the little system in which the monad or human spirit is the logos, and it [46] holds the personality or lower material man in objective manifestation thus permitting the spiritual unit to contact the plane of densest matter. It has its correspondence in the ray of intelligent activity and is controlled by the Law of Economy in one of its subdivisions, the Law of Adaptation in Time.
2. There is next the Fire or Spark of Mind which is the correspondence in man to solar fire. This constitutes the thinking self-conscious unit or the soul. This fire of mind is governed by the Law of Attraction as is its greater correspondence. Later we can enlarge on this. It is this spark of mind in man, manifesting as spiral cyclic activity, which leads to expansion and to his eventual return to the centre of his system, the Monad—the origin and goal for the reincarnating Jiva or human being. As in the macrocosm this fire also manifests in a twofold manner.
It shows as that intelligent will which links the Monad or spirit with its lowest point of contact, the personality, functioning through a physical vehicle.
It likewise demonstrates, as yet imperfectly, as the vitalising factor in the thought forms fabricated by the thinker. As yet but few thought forms, comparatively, can be said to be constructed by the center of consciousness, the thinker, the Ego. Few people as yet are in such close touch with their higher self, or Ego, that they can build the matter of the mental plane into a form which can be truly said to be an expression of the thoughts, purpose or desire of their Ego, functioning through the physical brain. Most of the thought forms at present in circulation may be said
to be aggregations of matter, built into form with the aid of kama-manas (or of desire faintly tinged with mind producing thus an admixture of astral and mental matter, mostly astral), and largely due to reflex elemental action.
These dualities of expression are: [47]
1. Active fire or prana.
Latent fire or bodily heat.
2. Mental energy in the mental body.
Purely mental thought forms, animated by self-engendered fire, or by the fifth principle, and therefore part of the sphere, or system of control, of the Monad.
These form an esoteric quaternary which with the fifth factor, the divine spark of intelligent will, make the five of monadic manifestation—manifestation in this case connotating a purely subjective manifestation which is neither altogether spiritual nor altogether material.
3. Finally there is the Monadic Flame Divine. This embodies the highest vibration of which the Monad is capable, is governed by the Law of Synthesis, and is the cause of the forward progressive movement of the evolving Jiva.
We now come, in due course, to the point of merging or to the end of manifestation, and to the consummation (viewing it monadically) of the great cycle or manvantara. What shall we therefore find? Just as in the macrocosm the blending of the three essential fires of the cosmos marked the point of logoic attainment, so, in the blending of the essential fires of the microcosm, do we arrive at the apotheosis of human attainment for this cycle.
When the latent fire of the personality or lower self blends with the fire of mind, that of the higher self, and finally merges with the Divine Flame, then the man takes the fifth Initiation in this solar system, and has completed one of his greater cycles. (13) When the three blaze forth as one fire, liberation from matter, or from material form is achieved. Matter has been correctly adjusted to spirit, and finally the indwelling life slips forth out of its sheath which forms now only a channel for liberation.