A Treatise on Cosmic Fire Read online

  The karma of form is likewise a vast subject, too [76] involved for average comprehension but a factor of real importance which should not be overlooked in connection with the evolution of a world, a synthesis of worlds, or of a system when viewed from higher levels. Everything is, in its totality, the result of action taken by cosmic Essences and Entities in earlier solar systems, which is working out through the individual atoms, and through those congeries of atoms which we call forms. The effect of the personality Ray upon the internal fires is therefore, in effect, the result of the influence of the planetary Logos of whatever ray is implicated, as He works out that portion of Karma which falls to His share in any one cycle, greater or lesser. He thus brings about and eventually transmutes, the effects of causes which He set in motion earlier in relation to His six Brothers, the other planetary Logoi. We get an illustrative parallel in the effect which one individual will have upon another in worldly contact, in moulding and influencing, in stimulating or retarding. We have to remember that all fundamental influence and effects are felt on the astral plane and work thence through the etheric to the dense physical thereby bringing matter under its sphere of influence, yet not itself originating on the physical plane.

  DIVISION C - THE ETHERIC BODY AND PRANA

  (34)

  I. The nature of the etheric body.

  1. Its purpose and description.

  2. Eight statements.

  II. The nature of prana.

  1. Solar prana.

  2. Planetary prana.

  3. The prana of forms.

  III. The function of the etheric body.

  1. It is the receiver of prana.

  2. It is the assimilator of prana.

  3. It is the transmitter of prana.

  4. Disorders of the etheric body.

  IV. Macrocosmic and microcosmic ethers.

  1. The planetary Logos and the ethers.

  2. Cosmic and systemic ethers.

  3. Protective purpose of etheric body.

  V. Death and the etheric body.

  1. Microcosmic death.

  2. Macrocosmic pralaya.

  I. THE NATURE OF THE ETHERIC BODY

  [77] In our consideration of the internal fires of the system we shall find much of very real interest to the coming [78] generation of thinkers for three main reasons, which might be enumerated as follows:

  1. Its Purpose and Description

  First. In the study of the etheric body lies hid (for scientists and those of the medical profession) a fuller comprehension of the laws of matter and the laws of health. The word health has become too localised in the past, and its meaning confined to the sanity of the body corporeal, to the co-operative action of the atoms of the physical body of man, and to the full expression of the powers of the physical elemental. In days to come it will be realised that the health of man is dependent upon the health of all allied evolutions, and upon the co-operative action and full expression of the matter of the planet and of the planetary elemental who is himself a composite manifestation of the physical elementals of all manifested nature.

  Second. In the study of the etheric body and prana lies the revelation of the effects of those rays of the sun which (for lack of better expression), we will call “solar pranic emanations.” These solar pranic emanations are the produced effect of the central heat of the sun approaching other bodies within the solar system by one of the three main channels of contact, and producing on the bodies then contacted certain effects differing somewhat from those produced by the other emanations. These effects might be considered as definitely stimulating and constructive, and (through their essential quality) as producing conditions that further the growth of cellular matter, and concern its adjustment to environing conditions; they concern likewise the internal health (demonstrating as the heat of the atom and its consequent activity) and the uniform evolution of the form of which that particular atom of matter forms a constituent part. Emanative prana does little in connection with [79] form building; that is not its province, but it conserves the form through the preservation of the health of its component parts. Other rays of the sun act differently, upon the forms and upon their substance. Some perform the work of the Destroyer of forms, and others carry on the work of cohering and of attracting; the work of the Destroyer and of the Preserver is carried on under the Law of Attraction and Repulsion. Some rays definitely produce accelerated motion, others produce retardation. The ones we are dealing with here—pranic solar emanations—work within the four ethers, that matter which (though physical) is not as yet objectively visible to the eye of man. They are the basis of all physical plane life considered solely in connection with the life of the physical plane atoms of matter, their inherent heat and their rotary motion. These emanations are the basis of that “fire by friction” which demonstrates in the activity of matter.

  Finally, in the study of the etheric body and prana comes comprehension of the method of logoic manifestation, and therefore much of interest to the metaphysician, and all abstract thinkers. The etheric body of man holds hid the secret of his objectivity. It has its correspondence on the archetypal plane,—the plane we call that of the divine manifestation, the first plane of our solar system, the plane Adi. The matter of that highest plane is called often the “sea of fire” and it is the root of the akasha, the term applied to the substance of the second plane of manifestation. Let us trace the analogy a little more in detail, for in its just apprehension will be found much of illumination and much that will serve to elucidate problems both macrocosmic and microcosmic. We will begin with man and his etheric body.

  The etheric body has been described as a network, permeated with fire, or as a web, animated with golden light. It is spoken of in the Bible as the “golden bowl.” [80] It is a composition of that matter of the physical plane which we call etheric, and its shape is brought about by the fine interlacing strands of this matter being built by the action of the lesser Builders into the form or mould upon which later the dense physical body can be moulded. Under the Law of Attraction, the denser matter of the physical plane is made to cohere to this vitalised form, and is gradually built up around it, and within it, until the interpenetration is so complete that the two forms make but one unit; the pranic emanations of the etheric body itself play upon the dense physical body in the same manner as the pranic emanations of the sun play upon the etheric body. It is all one vast system of transmission and of interdependence within the system. All receive in order to give, and to pass on to that which is lesser or not so evolved. Upon every plane this process can be seen.

  Thus the etheric body forms the archetypal plane in relation to the dense physical body. The thinker on his own plane stands, in relation to the physical, as the Logos to His system. In the synthesis of thought it might be expressed thus: The thinker on the astral plane, the plane of desire and of necessity, stands to the physical body as the Logos on the cosmic astral plane stands to His system.

  As we continue the study we will work out the correspondence in the cosmos, the system, and in the three worlds, for we need to remember that the analogy must be perfect.

  1. Man, the Microcosm, the manifesting Monad, or One.

  2. The Heavenly Man, the planetary Logos, or the manifesting group.

  3. The Grand Man of the Heavens, the Macrocosm, the solar Logos, the manifestation of all groups and of all evolutions within His Body, the solar system.

  [81] All these bodies—the body of a man, a planetary Logos, and a solar Logos—are the product of desire originating on the planes of abstract mind, whether cosmic, systemic, or mind in the three worlds, whether cosmic desire-mind or human desire-mind, and all their bodies are “Sons of Necessity,” as H. P. B. so aptly expressed it. (S. D., I, 74), (36)

  2. Eight Statements.

  It is with the etheric bodies of all we are dealing, and with their vivification by prana (whether cosmic, solar, planetary or human), with the organs of reception and with the basis of emanations. Here, therefor
e, we can arrive at certain dicta anent the etheric body which for purposes of clarity might well be enumerated:

  First. The etheric body is the mould of the physical body.

  Second. The etheric body is the archetype upon which [82] the dense physical form is built, whether it is the form of a solar system, or of a human body in any one incarnation.

  Third. The etheric body is a web or network of fine interlacing channels, formed of matter of the four ethers, and built into a specific form. It forms a focal point for certain radiatory emanations, which vivify, stimulate and produce the rotary action of matter.

  Fourth. These pranic emanations when focalised and received, react upon the dense matter which is built upon the etheric scaffolding and framework.

  Fifth. This etheric web, during incarnation, forms a barrier between the physical and astral planes, which can only be transcended when consciousness is sufficiently developed to permit of escape. This can be seen in both the microcosm and the macrocosm. When a man has, through meditation and concentration, expanded his consciousness to a certain point he is enabled to include the subtler planes, and to escape beyond the limits of the dividing web.

  Physical Sub Planes Solar System Planes

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

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

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

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

  Dense Physical Planes of Humanity

  5. Gaseous. Sub-etheric Mental. Fire. Cosmic gaseous.

  6. Liquid Astral. Emotional plane. Water. Cosmic liquid.

  7. Earthly. Dense Physical plane. Earth. Cosmic dense.

  [83] When the Logos has expanded His Consciousness on cosmic levels He can then transcend the logoic etheric web, and escape beyond the ring-pass-not of His objective manifestation. In thinking out this analogy we must hold closely in mind the fact that the seven major planes of our solar system are the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical or the lowest cosmic plane.

  We might note here the accurate working out of the correspondence in matter and the radiatory correspondence is equally accurate.

  Sixth. In all the three bodies—human, planetary, and systemic or logoic—will be found a great organ within the organism which acts as the receiver of prana. This organ has its etheric manifestation and its dense physical correspondence.

  In the system. In the system, the organ of cosmic prana, of the force vitalising matter, is the central sun, which is the direct receiver and dispenser of cosmic radiation. This is one of the threefold divisions of the Primordial Ray of active intelligence. Each of the cosmic Rays is in essence threefold, a fact which is oft overlooked, though logically obvious; each Ray is the vehicle for a cosmic Entity, and all existence is necessarily triple in manifestation. The central Sun has within its periphery a centre of reception with a surface radiation.

  In the Planet. In the planet there will be found a similar organ or receiver within its etheric body, the locality of which is not for exoteric publication and cannot therefore be revealed. It is connected with the location of the two poles, north and south, and is the centre around which the globe rotates, and is the source of the legend of a sacred fertile land within the sphere of polar influences. The mythic land of exceeding fertility, of abundant [84] luxuriance, and of phenomenal growth, vegetable, animal and human would naturally lie where prana is received. It is the esoteric Garden of Eden, the land of physical perfection. Surface radiation demonstrates, after distribution, as planetary prana.

  In Man. The organ of reception is the spleen through its etheric counterpart. After distribution over the entire body via the etheric network it demonstrates in surface radiation as the health aura.

  Seventh. Thus in all the three bodies will the resemblance clearly be seen, and the working out in perfect correspondence is easily demonstrable:

  PRANA OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

  THE SOLAR SYSTEM

  Entity manifesting The solar Logos.

  Body of manifestation The solar system.

  Receptive centre Pole of the central Sun.

  Surface radiation or emanation Solar prana.

  Movement produced Systemic rotation.

  Distributive effect Solar etheric radiation (felt cosmically).

  THE PLANET

  Entity manifesting A planetary Logos.

  Body of manifestation A planet.

  Receptive centre The planetary pole.

  Surface radiation or emanation Planetary prana.

  Movement produced Planetary rotation.

  Distributive effect Planetary etheric radiation (felt within the system).

  A HUMAN BEING

  Entity manifesting The thinker, a Dhyan Chohan

  Body of manifestation Physical body.

  Receptive centre The spleen.

  Surface radiation or emanation Health aura.

  Movement produced Atomic rotation.

  Distributive effect Human etheric radiation (felt by environment).

  [85]

  THE ATOM OF MATTER

  Entity manifesting An elementary life.

  Body of manifestation The atomic sphere.

  Receptive centre Pole of the atom.

  Surface radiation or emanation Contribution of atom to the united health aura of body.

  Movement produced Atomic rotation.

  Distributive effect Atomic etheric radiation (felt within the physical form).

  Eighth. When the “will to live” vanishes, then the “Sons of Necessity” cease from objective manifestation. This is logically inevitable, and its working out can be seen in every case of entified objectivity. When the Thinker on his own plane withdraws his attention from his little system within the three worlds and gathers within himself all his forces, then physical plane existence comes to an end and all returns within the causal consciousness; this is as much an abstraction in the three worlds of the Thinker as the Absolute is in the threefold solar system of the Logos. This demonstrates on the physical plane in the withdrawing from out of the top of the head of the radiant etheric body and the consequent disintegration of the physical. The framework goes and the dense physical form falls apart; the pranic life is abstracted bodily from out of the dense sheath, and the stimulation of the fires of matter ceases to be. The latent fire of the atom remains; it is inherent, but the form is made by the action of the two fires of matter—active and latent, radiatory and inherent—aided by the fire of the second Logos, and when they are separated the form falls apart. This is a picture in miniature of the essential duality of all things acted upon by Fohat.

  [86] There is a close connection between the spleen and the top of the head in connection with the etheric body. The organ of the spleen has an interesting correspondence to the umbilical cord which attaches an infant to the mother for purposes of nourishment, and which is separated at birth. When a man starts to live his own life of conscious desire, when a man is born into a new world of a subtler form of life, that interlaced cord of etheric matter (which had united him to his physical body) is broken; the “silver cord is loosed” and the man severs his connection with the dense physical body and passes out through the highest center of the body instead of the lowest to life in a higher world and of another dimension. So it will be found in all the bodies and sheaths of the microcosm, for the analogy will persist on all planes during manifestation. When more scientific knowledge has been gained it will be found that the same procedure on a larger scale, takes place in planetary manifestation. A planet is but the body of a planetary Logos, that body being etheric, and the Logos expressing Himself through it and building upon the etheric scaffolding a vehicle of manifestation. The MOON once was the body of expression for one of the Logoi; the Earth now is, and the cycles change continuously. The centre of escape for the etheric body is found likewise
in a physical planet, and the planetary silver cord is loosed at the time appointed; but the times and cycles, their commencement and termination are hid in the mysteries of Initiation, and do not concern us.

  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 [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.

  II. THE NATURE OF PRANA

  In dealing with the subject of the etheric body and its functions as an assimilator and distributor of prana, we have dealt with it from the standpoint of its place in the scheme of things. We have considered this matter of etherics from the angle of correspondences, and have traced analogies in the system, the planet, and man. We have seen that it formed the foundation of the dense physical form, and in itself constituted a most important link between:

  a. Physical man, and the emotional or astral plane.

  b. Planetary Man, and essential emotional quality.

  c. The Logos, the grand Heavenly Man, and the cosmic astral plane.