Compilation Kundalini

 

(WM 391)  Agni controls not only the fires of the earth and rules the mental plane but he is definitely associated with [Page 391] the work of arousing the sacred fire, the kundalini.  Note how the correspondence works out.  A great part of the fifth root-race, three-fifths perhaps, stand close to the Probationary Path, and with the coming in of the new age and the advent of the Christ in due time and in His own place (note the care with which I express this; dogmatic assertions in terms of men's concrete minds are inadvisable) many will find it possible to make the adequate extra effort, entailed in the taking of the first major Initiation.  They will begin to pass from the fifth to the fourth plane.  The Lord of Fire will achieve his peculiar work for this cycle by arousing the fire of kundalini in the large numbers of those who are ready.  This will be begun in this century, and carried forward actively for the next one thousand years.

 

(CF 514)  The mental unit, having a position within the causal body analogous to the planet furthermost from the sun, becomes vibrant likewise, and the two other points (considered now as one) begin to interact with the mental unit, and a similar process is set up and is pursued until these two points—circulating around their positive centre—also approach each other, blend, merge, and dissolve.  The centre of positive life gathers or synthesises the three points, and thus the three fires of the personality repeat on their tiny scale the microcosmic procedure as seen in the synthesis of electric fire, solar fire, and fire by friction, and only a blazing unit is left.  This blazing unit, through the combined heat of its being, burns up the causal body, and escapes back on to the planes of abstraction.  Thus man is the Path itself, and also the pilgrim upon the Path; thus does he burn, but is also the burning-ground.

 

(CF 134-139)  DIVISION D - KUNDALINI AND THE SPINE

 

KUNDALINI AND THE SPINE

 

 

I. Kundalini and the three triangles.

1. In the head.

2. In the body.

3. At the base of the spine.

II. The arousing of Kundalini.

 

Very briefly, owing to the impossibility of revealing much on this necessarily dangerous subject, we will consider the subject of kundalini and the spine.

 

We must remember here that we are dealing with the etheric counterpart of the spine, and not with the bony structure which we call the spine or spinal column.  This is a fact not sufficiently recognised by those who treat of the matter.  Too much emphasis has been laid on the three spinal channels that compose the threefold spinal cord.

 

These channels are important in connection with the [Page 135] nervous system of the man, but in relation to the matter in hand, they are not primarily so important as the etheric channel, which is the unit enclosing these three.  Therefore, we must strictly remember that we are dealing with

a. The etheric channel,

b. The fire that passes up the channel,

c. The conjunction of this fire with the radiatory energising fire of the physical body at the point between the shoulder blades,

d. Their united ascension into the head,

e. Their blending eventually with the manasic fire which energises the three head centres.

 

I. KUNDALINI AND THE THREE TRIANGLES

 

The fire energising the triangle in the head is the higher correspondence to the triangle of prana, midway in the body, and its lower reflection at the base of the spine.  We have, therefore, in the human unit three important triangles:

 

1. In the head:  The triangle of the three major centres,

a. The pineal gland,

b. The pituitary body,

c. The alta major centre.

2. In the body:  The triangle of prana,

a. Between the shoulders,

b. Above the diaphragm,

c. The spleen.

3. At the base of the spine:  The three lower centres,

a. A point at the bottom of the spinal column.

b. and c. The two major sex organs in the male and female.62

 

[Page 136]

The merging of the fires of matter and the fires of mind results in the energising of the sumtotal of the atoms of the matter of the body.  This is the secret of the immense staying power of the great thinkers and workers of the race.  It results also in a tremendous stimulation of the three higher centres in the body, the head, the heart, the throat and in the electrification of this area of the body.  These higher centres then form a field of attraction for the downflow of the third fire, that of Spirit.  The many-petalled head centre at the top of the head becomes exceedingly active.  It is the synthetic head centre, and the sumtotal of all the other centres.  The stimulation of the centres throughout the body is paralleled or duplicated by the concurrent vivification of the many-petalled lotus.  It is the meeting place of the three fires, those of the body, of the mind, and of the Spirit.  The at-one-ment with the Ego is completed when it is fully stimulated, and combustion then ensues; this is duplicated in the subtler vehicles and causes the final consummation and the liberation of Spirit.

 

The merging of the fires of matter is the result of evolutionary growth, when left to the normal, slow development that time alone can bring.  The junction of the two fires of matter is effected early in the history of man, and is the cause of the rude health that the clean-living, high-thinking man should normally enjoy.  When the fires of matter have passed (united) still further along the etheric spinal channel they contact the fire of manas as it radiates from the throat centre.  Clarity of thought is here essential, and it will be necessary to elucidate somewhat this rather abstruse subject.

 

1. The three major head centres (from the physical standpoint) are the:

a. Alta centre,

b. Pineal gland,

c. Pituitary body.

[Page 137]

2. They form a manasic triangle, after their juncture with the two fires of the two lower triangles, i.e., when they become synthetic.

3. But the purely manasic triangle prior to this merging is,

a. The throat centre,

b. The pineal gland,

c. Pituitary body.

 

This is during the period when the human unit consciously aspires and throws his will on the side of evolution, thus making his life constructive.

 

The other fire of matter (the dual fire) is attracted upward, and merges with the fire of mind through a junction effected at the alta major centre.  This centre is situated at the base of the skull, and there is a slight gap between this centre and the point at which the fires of matter issue from the spinal channel.  Part of the work the man who is developing thought power has to do, is to build a temporary channel in etheric matter to bridge the gap.  This channel is the reflection in physical matter of the antaskarana63 that the Ego has to build in order to bridge the gap between the lower and higher mental, between the causal vehicle on the third subplane of the mental plane, and the manasic permanent atom on the first subplane.  This is the work that all advanced thinkers are unconsciously doing now.  When the gap is completely [Page 138] bridged, man's body becomes co-ordinated with the mental body and the fires of mind and of matter are blended.  It completes the perfecting of the personality life, and as earlier said, this perfecting brings a man to the portal of initiation—initiation being the seal set upon accomplished work; it marks the end of one lesser cycle of development, and the beginning of the transference of the whole work to a still higher spiral.

 

We must always bear in mind that the fires from the base of the spine and the splenic triangle are fires of matter.  We must not lose this recollection nor get confused.  They have no spiritual effect, and concern themselves solely with the matter in which the centres of force are located.  These centres of force are always directed by manas or mind, or by the conscious effort of the indwelling entity; but that entity is held back in the effects he seeks to achieve until the vehicles through which he is seeking expression, and their directing, energising centres, make adequate response.  Hence it is only in due course of evolution, and when the matter of these vehicles is energised sufficiently by its own latent fires that he can accomplish his long-held purpose.  Hence again the need of the ascension of the fire of matter to its own place, and its resurrection from its long burial and seeming prostitution before it can be united with its Father in Heaven, the third Logos, Who is the Intelligence of matter itself.  The correspondence, again, holds good.  Even the atom of the physical plane has its goal, its initiations and its ultimate triumph.

 

Other angles of this subject, such as the centres and their relationship to manas, the fire of Spirit and manas, and the eventual blending of the three fires, will be dealt with in our next two main divisions.  In this division we are confining ourselves to the study of matter and fire, and must not digress, or confusion will ensue.

 

[Page 139]

II. THE AROUSING OF KUNDALINI

 

How this fire at the base of the spine can be aroused, the form its progression should take (dependent upon the Ray), the blending of the fire with pranic fire and their subsequent united progression, are things of the past with many, and fortunately for the race, the work was achieved without conscious effort.  The second blending with the fire of manas has to be effected.  Scarcely as yet have men succeeded in directing the fire up more than one channel of the threefold column; hence two-thirds of its effect in the majority is yet confined to the stimulation of the organs of race propagation.  Only when the fire has circled unimpeded up another channel is the complete merging with the fire of manas effected, and only when it progresses geometrically up all the three—with simultaneous action and at uniform vibration—is the true kundalini fire fully aroused, and therefore able to perform its work of cleansing through the burning of the confining web and of the separating particles.  When this is accomplished the threefold channel becomes one channel.  Hence the danger.

 

No more can be imparted concerning this subject.  He who directs his efforts to the control of the fires of matter, is (with a dangerous certainty) playing with a fire that may literally destroy him.  He should not cast his eyes backwards, but should lift them to the plane where dwells his immortal Spirit, and then by self-discipline, mind-control and a definite refining of his material bodies, whether subtle or physical, fit himself to be a vehicle for the divine birth, and participate in the first Initiation.  When the Christ-child (as the Christian so beautifully expresses it) has been born in the cave of the heart, then that divine guest can consciously control the lower material bodies by means of consecrated mind.  Only when buddhi has assumed an ever-increasing control [Page 140] of the personality, via the mental plane (hence the need of building the antaskarana), will the personality respond to that which is above, and the lower fires mount and blend with the two higher.  Only when Spirit, by the power of thought, controls the material vehicles, does the subjective life assume its rightful place, does the God within shine and blaze forth till the form is lost from sight, and "The path of the just shine ever more and more until the day be with us."

 

(CF 167)  Three of these centres are called major centres, as they embody the three aspects of the threefold Monad—Will, Love and Intelligence:

 

1. The Head centre....The Monad.  Will or Power.

2. The Heart centre...The Ego.  Love and Wisdom.

3. The Throat centre..The Personality.  Activity or Intelligence.

 

The other two centres have to do primarily with the etheric body and with the astral plane.  The throat centre synthesises the entire personality life, and is definitely connected with the mental plane,—the three planes, and the two higher planes, and the three centres with the two other centres, the heart and head.  Yet, we must not forget that the centre at the base of the spine is also a synthesiser, as would normally be expected, if it is recognised that the lowest plane of all manifestation is the point of deepest reflection.  This lowest centre, by synthesising the fire of kundalini and the pranic fires, eventually blends and merges with the fire of mind, and later with the fire of Spirit, producing thus consummation.

 

We must disabuse our minds of the idea that these centres are physical things.  They are whirlpools of force that swirl etheric, astral and mental matter into activity of some kind.  Because the action is rotary, the result produced in matter is a circular effect that can be seen by the clairvoyant as fiery wheels situated:

 

1. In the region of the spine, the lowest part.

2. Between the ribs, just below the diaphragm.

[Page 168]

3. In the region of the left breast.

4. In the centre of the throat.

5. Just above the top of the head.

 

(CF 864) It should also be stated here that the centre between the shoulder blades is not a sacred centre, but is of a temporary nature, and is created by the aspirant himself during the process of transference.

 

(CF 886)  Suffice it to point out that the fires at the lower centres, those below the diaphragm-have by the time of the second initiation usually mounted to the centre between the shoulder blades; at the second initiation they rise as far as the head, and all the fires of the torso are then active.

 

(RI 600) During the initiatory process between the second and the third initiations, the initiate has to battle with illusion in exactly the same sense as he earlier had to battle with glamour. Illusion is, in the last analysis, the control of the mental processes by great and massive thoughtforms; this conflict persists  from the moment that the disciple has achieved mental polarisation (at a midway point between the second and third initiations) until he stands before the Initiator at the Sixth initiation of Decision

 

(RI 349)  I would point out also that even the black magician possesses these qualities, for they are the sine qua non of all magical art, both black and white; the black magician passes through the door of initiation as it opens twice for the first two initiations.  He passes through on the strength of his will and his character accomplishments and because the group-conscious aspect of the soul is active in him as in his brother seeking affiliation with the Great White Lodge.  The love aspect is, however, lacking in the black magician.  Forget not that all is energy and there is nothing else.  The energy which [Page 349] is an aspect of the soul and which we call magnetic attraction (the group-building quality) he shares with the spiritual aspirant.  He is essentially group conscious, and though his motives are separative, his methods are those of the group, and these he can get only from the soul.

 

You see again another reason why the first and second initiations are not regarded by the Lodge of Masters as major initiations.  Only the third is so regarded, because at that initiation the entire personality life is flooded with energy coming from the Spiritual Triad, via the "sacrifice petals" of the will and purpose aspect of the soul.  To this type of energy the black magician is not responsive.  He can and does respond to the knowledge—most ancient and hardly won—stored up in the "knowledge petals" of the souls he can appropriate and utilise the energy of attraction (erroneously called love by some students) stored up in the "love petals" of the soul, but he cannot respond to and use the energy of divine love, working out in the divine Plan which controls all knowledge and converts it into wisdom, and which actuates and clarifies the motive which brings loving magnetic attraction into action and which we call true group consciousness and group cohesion.  It is at this point that the two ways—of darkness and of light—become widely divergent.  Until the third initiation is taken, glamour may condition the attitude of those seeking to understand the life of a man upon the Path, and they may mistake the spurious for the real.  The black magician leads a disciplined life, analogous to that of the spiritual aspirant; he practices purity for his own safeguarding and not in order that he may become a channel for the energy of light; he works with power (the power of magnetic attraction) with and in groups, but he does this for his own selfish ends and for the fulfillment of his own ambitious purposes.  But at the third initiation there comes to the true spiritual initiate the revelation which is the reward of perseverance and purity rightly motivated—the revelation of the divine purpose, as the soul records it in terms of the hierarchical plan, though not yet in terms of the Monad.  To this purpose and [Page 350] to the loving Will of God (to use a trite Christian phrase) the black brother cannot respond; his aims are different.  You have here the true meaning of the oft-used and misunderstood phrase, "the parting of the ways."

 

(CF 178)  When we study, therefore, the sets of triangles earlier referred to and the periods of ray dominance, we will find much room for thought.  Let me here point out, however, that the six groups of triangles are in all but five if we eliminate the pranic triangle which has to do with matter itself and is not counted any more than the dense physical is counted a principle.  Therefore we have:

 

a. Two triangles brought to vivification by the personality ray.

b. Two triangles brought to vivification by the egoic ray.

c. The synthesising triangle of the Monad.

 

(CF 179)  a. The Heavenly Men.  The Heavenly Men, in Themselves, embody centres just as does a human being, and on Their Own plane these centres of force can be found.  Again we need to recollect that these centres of force on cosmic levels, and in manifestation in the objective system, demonstrate as the great force centres of which any particular group of adepts and Their pupils are the exponents.  Every group of Masters and all the human beings incarnate or discarnate—who are held within the periphery of Their consciousness—are centres of force of some particular kind or quality.  This is a fact generally recognised, but students should be urged to link up this fact with the information imparted on the centres of the human being, and see if much is not thereby learnt.  These centres of force will demonstrate on etheric levels and on the subtler planes just as they do in a man, and they will be vivified as are the human centres by planetary kundalini, progressing in the desired triangles.

 

Two hints can here be given for thoughtful consideration.  In connection with one of the Heavenly Men (which one cannot at this juncture be pointed out) we have one triangle of force to be seen in the following three centres:

 

a. The force centre of which the Manu, and His group, are the expression.

b. The centre of which the Bodhisattva or the Christ and His adherents are the focal point.

c. The centre of which the Mahachohan and his followers are the exponents.

 

These three groups form the three centres in one great triangle—a triangle which is not yet in complete vivification at this stage of evolutionary development.

 

[Page 181]

Another triangle in connection with our own planetary Logos is that formed by the seven Kumaras—the four exoteric Kumaras corresponding to the four minor head centres, and the three esoteric Kumaras corresponding to the three major head centres.

 

The second hint I seek to give, lies in the triangle formed by the Earth, Mars and Mercury.  In connection with this triangle, the analogy lies in the fact that Mercury and the centre at the base of the spine in the human being are closely allied.  Mercury demonstrates kundalini in intelligent activity, while Mars demonstrates kundalini latent.  The truth lies hid in their two astrological symbols.  In transmutation and planetary geometrising, the secret may be revealed.

 

b. The Grand Man of the Heavens.  The seven Heavenly Men are the seven centres in the body of the Logos, bearing to Him a relationship identical with that borne by the Masters and Their affiliated groups, to some planetary Logos.  Systemic kundalini goes forward to the vivification of these centres, and at this stage of development certain centres are more closely allied than others.  Just as in connection with our planetary Logos, the three etheric planets of our chain—Earth, Mercury and Mars77—form a triangle of rare importance, so it may be here said that at the present point in evolution of the logoic centres, Venus, Earth and Saturn form one triangle of great interest.  It is a triangle that is at this time undergoing vivification [Page 182] through the action of kundalini; it is consequently increasing the vibratory capacity of the centres, which are becoming slowly fourth-dimensional.  It is not yet permissible to point out others of the great triangles, but as regards the centres, we may here give two hints:

 

First.  Venus corresponds to the heart centre in the body logoic, and has an inter-relationship therefore with all the other centres in the solar system wherein the heart aspect is the one of greater prominence.

 

Second.  Saturn corresponds to the throat centre, or to the creative activity of the third aspect.

 

(CF 299) …..Venus is a sacred planet and the Earth is not. This means that certain of the  planets are to the Logos what the permanent atoms are to man. They embody principles.  Certain planets afford only temporary homes to these principles. Others persist throughout the mahamanvantara. Of these Venus is one.

 

(CF 300)  We might consider-from the standpoint of the present-that Venus, Jupiter and Saturn might be considered as the vehicles of the three super principles at this time. Mercury, the Earth and Mars are closely allied to these three, but a hidden mystery lies here.

 

(CF 390) Earth, Mars Mercury triangle

(CF 370) Venus Jupiter Earth triangle

(CF 378) Saturn is focal point for transmission of Cosmic manas to entire seven schemes.

Sirius influences whole system via Uranus, Neptune and Saturn

(CF 391) Mercurian life will begin to synthesize, and to be transferred to its synthesizing planet. In this case of Mercury this synthesizing planet is not Saturn, but one of the other two major centres. (Uranus?)

 

(EPII 99)  Saturn-mental, Mars-astral, Earth-physical of personality of Solar Logos

 

(CF 389) Which centre in the solar system is called the Earth scheme.

 

(EA 25)  It relates finally the lowest centre at the base of the spine to the highest centre, the head centre. This is a correspondence to the relation of the Earth to the Sun. Think this out.

 

(CF 323) ….coupled to the fact during certain stages of the evolutionary process different centres (such as the base of the spine) are positive to all the others, not even exluding the head centre…. (Could be Saturn-this at the fifth initiation)

 

(CF 280) a negative planet will be attracted by a positive

 

(CF 182) The Cosmos.  Our solar system, with the Pleiades and one of the stars of the Great Bear, form a cosmic triangle, or an aggregation of three centres in the Body of HIM OF WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID.  The seven stars in the constellation of the Great Bear are the correspondences to the seven head centres in the body of that Being, greater than our Logos.  Again, two other systems, when allied with the solar system and the Pleiades, make a lower quaternary which are eventually synthesised into the seven head centres in much the same way as in the human being after the fourth initiation.

 

[Page 183]

1. The base of the spine.

2. The solar plexus.

3. The heart.

4. The throat.

 

(CF 184) 3. The Centres and Kundalini.

 

As stated, it is not possible to impart much about kundalini, or the serpent fire.  It might be of value, however, briefly to enumerate what has been said:

 

a. Kundalini lies at the base of the spine, and, in the normal average man, its main function is the vitalisation of the body.

 

b. Kundalini makes three at-one-ments during the period of evolution:

 

1. With the radiatory fires of the body or prana at a point between the shoulder blades.

2. With the fires of mind at a point at the very top of the spine, in the centre of the back part of the throat.

3. With the fire of Spirit at the point where these two united fires of matter and of mind issue from the top of the head.

 

c. Each of the three channels within the spinal column have for specific purpose the blending of these threefold fires.  We need to bear in mind that the [Page 184] fires circulate, and that, at the moment of achievement, every triangle in the

 

body is vivified, every centre is fully functioning, and a threefold path of fire can be seen extending the entire length of the backbone.

 

d. When kundalini has blended with the pranic fire, the centres become three-dimensional.  When it blends with mind or solar fire and the two fires are perfectly united, the centres become fourth-dimensional.  When it blends with the electric fire of pure Spirit after the third Initiation, they take on two more dimensions.

 

e. Kundalini, as it is aroused, steadily increases the vibratory action, not only of the centres, but of every atom of matter in all the bodies—etheric, astral and mental.  This quickening of activity has a dual effect of great interest:

 

1. It causes the elimination of all matter that is coarse and unsuitable, and casts it off in exactly the same way as a rapidly rotating wheel casts off or rejects from its surface.

2. It sweeps into its sphere of influence matter that is keyed to its own vibration, and builds it into its vibratory content.  This is but a reflection of the action of the Logos in sweeping into differentiation the matter of the solar system.  Kundalini is likewise the fire or force of matter, and therefore the life of the third Logos.

 

f. Kundalini has two effects upon the etheric web, as it is called.

 

1. By its gradually increasing action it purifies that etheric form and cleanses it from "dross," as the Christian expresses it.

2. Eventually, after the two fires of matter and the fire of mind have begun to blend (a slow and gradual process), the web itself is destroyed [Page 185] and by the time the third Initiation is reached, the man should have continuity of consciousness.  This is so unless for certain work and for certain specific ends, the man consciously and willingly foregoes the burning of the web, a thing which can be brought about by the conscious action of the will.

 

(CF 209)  Third.  A burning away, through a gradual arousing of kundalini, and its correct geometrical progression through the etheric web.  This produces a resultant continuity of consciousness which enables the initiate consciously to utilise time as a factor in the plans of evolution.

 

(CF 210)  e. By the application of the Rod, the fire of kundalini is aroused, and its upward progress directed.  The fire at the base of the spine, and the fire of mind are [Page 210] directed along certain routes, or triangles, by the action of the Rod as it moves in a specified manner.  There is a definite occult reason, under the Laws of Electricity, behind the known fact that every initiate, presented to the Initiator, is accompanied by two of the Masters, who stand one on either side of him.  The three of them together form a triangle which makes the work possible.

 

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

 

1. The mystery of the Akasha.

2. The secret of the fifth round.

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

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

 

One hint on this fourth point may be given for wise consideration.  When the electrical interplay between the planets is better ascertained (and by this I mean their negative or positive interplay), then it will be revealed which are related or connected, and which are nearing the point of balance.  I would here point out very briefly certain facts, not pausing to elaborate or to elucidate, but simply making various statements which—as the knowledge of man progresses—will assume their rightful place in the ordered scheme.  They will then be seen as enlightening and revealing the necessary sequence of development.

 

(CF 1129)  A second factor which works into the general scheme here is the latent triple kundalini fire which is aroused and mounts through the triple spinal channel just as soon as the three major centres (the head, the heart and the throat) form an esoteric triangle, and can thus pass the fiery energy hidden in each centre in circulatory fashion.  To summarise therefore:  we have perfected alignment just as soon as the following factors have been put in touch with each other, or as soon as their motion or activity is synthesised; this is a most important subject for students of meditation, and for those who tread the Path of attainment to consider and practically realise.

 

1. The three tiers of petals.

2. The three sheaths.

3. The three major centres.

4. The threefold Kundalini fire.

5. The threefold spinal channel.

6. The three head centres, the pineal gland, the pituitary body, the alta major centre.20

 

(CF 297) 2. The Work of the Atomic Units.

 

a. The seven Heavenly Men, considered in relation to the Entity of Whom the solar Logos is a reflection, are as the seven centres in the physical body of a human being.  This will be realised as the correspondence between the cosmic physical plane and the systemic physical plane is studied.

 

b. Three of these centres, therefore

Concern the lower centres of the cosmic Being.

Have their analogies on the dense, liquid and gaseous planes.

Are at present the object of the attention of cosmic kundalini.

 

[Page 297] c. One of these centres corresponds to the solar plexus and is the synthesiser of the lower three, thus making a quaternary.

 

d. The centre which is analogous to that at the base of the spine, or the reservoir of kundalini, has a permanence which is not seen in the other two lower centres.  The Heavenly Man Who embodies this principle and is the source of generative heat to His Brothers, must be sought for by the aid of the intuition.  Concrete Mind will not here avail.

 

e. The three higher centres, or the Heavenly Men Who correspond to the head, the heart and the throat of the solar Logos, have Their etheric analogies on the three higher etheric levels of the cosmic physical plane, just as the Heavenly Man Who embodies the logoic solar plexus finds His manifesting source on the fourth etheric.

 

f. This Heavenly Man, with His etheric vortex or wheel of force on the fourth cosmic ether, is in this fourth round, a vital factor in planetary evolution.

 

g. When the Heavenly Man, Who is at present demonstrating through the Earth scheme, has succeeded in vitalising His middle centre, or in directing the force of planetary kundalini away from the lower centres to the solar plexus centre, a new cycle will be reached, and much of the present distress will be ended.  His work is as yet in an embryonic condition, and two and a half more cycles must transpire before He has accomplished the necessary work.  When that is done, the

result in connection with the human units in incarnation will be threefold:

 

Sex stimulation, as now understood, will be showing a tendency to manifest in creation, not so much on the physical plane, as on the astral and mental, demonstrating in the creations of art and beauty, and the objective work of the scientists.

 

Crime, as now seen, based largely on the sex emotion, [Page 298] will be a thing of the past, and physical plane license, orgy and horror will be reduced seventy-five per cent.

 

The interplay between the three dense physical planets will be perfected and man will pass at will from one to another.

 

I would here point out the inadvisability of the method whereby the names of the globes in a chain, just as the names of a chain in a scheme, follow the planetary nomenclature.  This has led to confusion.

 

A clue tending towards the correct undertanding lies hid in the words: "Venus is the Earth's primary."

 

The coming of the Lords of Flame to the Earth was all under law and not just an accidental and fortunate happening; it was a planetary matter which finds its correspondence in the connection between the mental unit and the manasic permanent atom.  Again, as the antaskarana is built by individual man between these two points, so—again in a planetary sense—is a channel being built by collective man on this planet to its primary, Venus.

 

In connection with these two planets, it must be remembered that Venus is a sacred planet and the Earth is not.  This means that certain of the planets are to the Logos what the permanent atoms are to man.  They embody principles.  Certain planets afford only temporary [Page 299] homes to these principles.  Others persist throughout the mahamanvantara.  Of these Venus is one.

 

Three of the sacred planets, it should be remembered, are the home of the three major Rays, of the embodied forms of the three logoic aspects or principles.  Other planets are embodiments of the four minor rays.  We might consider—from the standpoint of the present—that Venus, Jupiter and Saturn might be considered as the vehicles of the three super-principles at this time.  Mercury, the Earth and Mars are closely allied to these three, but a hidden mystery lies here. 

 

(CF 358)  Be characterised by different stages of activity according to the initiation towards which the Logos may be working.  Thus, at one period one centre or Heavenly Man may be the subject of logoic attention, and of specialised stimulation, and at another period a totally different scheme may be the object of vitalisation.  For some time the Logos has turned His attention to the Earth Scheme and to Saturn, whilst Uranus is receiving [Page 358] stimulation.  Much is therefore accentuated, and increased evolutionary development is the consequence of this divine attention.

 

Third, one of the mysteries revealed at initiation is that of the logoic centre which our scheme represents, and the type of electrical fire which is flowing through it.  The "Seven Brothers," or the seven types of fohatic force, express Themselves through the seven centres, and the One Who is animating our scheme stands revealed at the third Initiation.  It is by knowledge of the nature and quality of the electrical force of our centre, and by realisation of the place our centre holds in the body logoic, that the Hierarchy achieves the aims of evolution.  It will be obvious that the Heavenly Man Who stands for the kundalini centre, for instance, will work differently, and have a different purpose and method, from His Brother Who stands for the heart centre in the body logoic, or to the Heavenly Man Who embodies the logoic solar plexus.  From this it is apparent that:

 

(CF 362) Our solar system, being considered as of the fourth [Page 362] order, and our scheme being the fourth in order, there is consequently a moment of special opportunity afforded our planetary Logos through the alignment brought about.  It eventuates in the turning of the attention of the logoic kundalini fire towards this centre, our scheme, and the subsequent results are in process of working out.

 

(CF 368)  First, the Venus Scheme, viewed as a logoic centre, is more active than ours, and therefore its radiatory magnetism is far more widely spread.  Its radiation is such that on the buddhic plane it swept within its magnetic radius that chain in our scheme which is composed predominantly of buddhic matter.  Then, via that chain, it magnetised the corresponding globe in our chain, and this resulted in a specific vitalisation in the dense planet itself.

 

Second, just as in the case of man, certain triangles of force are found at different stages of evolution, or (to word it otherwise) different centres become geometrically linked, such as the

 

a. Base of the spine,

b. Solar plexus,

c. Heart;

 

or again,

 

a. Solar Plexus,

b. Heart

c. Throat

 

so, in the case of a Heavenly Man, or of a solar Logos, a similar event occurs.  Such an event transpires in this round in relation to the centre which our planetary Logos (Base chakra) [Page 369] embodies.  It became geometrically linked with two other centres, of which Venus was one, and logoic Kundalini—circulating with tremendous force through this adjusted Triangle—brought about that intensification of vibration in the human family which resulted in individualisation.  We might here enumerate the schemes as a basis for our further work:

 

The seven planets, centres, or schemes:

 

1. Vulcan (the sun, exoterically considered).

2. Venus.

3. Mars.

4. Earth.

5. Mercury.

6. Jupiter.

7. Saturn.

 

The three synthesising planets:

 

1. Uranus.

2. Neptune.

3. Saturn.

 

The One Resolver.

 

The SUN.

 

I would caution you here against attaching any importance to the sequence followed in numbering these seven schemes, either in connection with their order of development or importance, or their position in relation to the central planet, the sun, or to each other.  Only two are to be considered numerically accurate at this stage and in this round, i.e., our Earth, the fourth scheme, and Venus, the second.  Venus is either the second or the sixth scheme, according to whether the schemes are counted mystically or occultly.  Inversely, Jupiter will be either the second or the sixth, and it must be remembered that:

 

[Page 370]

a. The planets Venus and Jupiter are exceedingly closely connected with the Earth, and form eventually an esoteric triangle.

b. Saturn is the synthesising scheme for the four planets which embody manas purely and simply, or is the major resolution of the minor four, and eventually for all the seven.

 

c. Mercury, the star of the intuition, or of transmuted manas, is, at this stage, considered as the fifth scheme.

 

Therefore, the Heavenly Men of Venus and Jupiter are magnetically linked with the Heavenly Man of our scheme.  The relationship of the Logos of Jupiter and His influence will not be realised nor felt until the sixth [Page 371] round is in full force, though during the sixth root-race His vibration will be acknowledged and sensed; in the middle of the fifth round the Logos of Mercury will, with the Logos of the Venus scheme, and of our Earth, form a temporary triangle of force.  We have here information given that has only been hinted at hitherto but for which, in this fifth subrace and in this fourth round, the world is now ready; it holds the solution of the mystery of this round.

 

The analogy holds good, for a Heavenly Man at the end of the seventh round reaches full maturity, but requires the final process of rounding out and perfecting which He attains during the two final periods

 

a. Of synthesis into the major three schemes. (Saturn, Uranus,Neptune)

b. Of resolution into the final one; (this is Saturn-see CF 370)

 

(CF 372) A clue to the idea of the final Avatar is likewise to be seen here.  Many temporary incarnations precede this consummating one, which will be the incarnation wherein the Heavenly Man, in the full beauty of His completed seven cycles, and prior to His merging into His synthesising goal, will demonstrate as the embodiment of that perfected quality, or logoic aspect, for which He primarily stands.  As a centre in the body logoic, He will be fully vitalised, and the logoic kundalini will have stimulated, and aroused to perfection His systemic Lotus.  For a brief period He will shine forth radiant as the Sun in His glory; then the kundalinic fire will pass in higher progressive spirals, and He will gradually become centred in the corresponding logoic head centre, the higher triangle or the major three schemes.  To illustrate by means of a human being, the microcosm:  Man attains a period of high development wherein his heart and throat centre are perfected and vitalised; they become radiant whorls of fire, fourth dimensional in action, and allied with each other and with some other centre; they become likewise the object of the attention of human kundalini.  This is a period of great activity and magnetic usefulness.  It is succeeded by still another, wherein the three head centres are synthesising their seven minor correspondences, and the force of kundalini passes there.  As above, so below.

 

I have especially mentioned these two centres (heart/throat) in the microcosm as they are closely concerned (on a larger scale) with the particular cycles through which our [Page 374] planetary Logos passes, and because they represent the third and second aspects.

 

We need to bear in mind that the stimulation of the centres is of three kinds, and the distinction between the three must be kept clear.

 

First, the vitalisation of the logoic centres, or the pouring through the seven schemes, during stupendous cycles, of logoic kundalini.

Next, the vitalisation of the planetary centres, or the pouring through the seven chains of a scheme, of planetary kundalini.

Finally, the vitalisation of the centres of a planetary Logos during some particular major incarnation, or the pouring through the seven globes of a chain, of kundalini.

 

(CF 379)  4. Manas and the Earth Chain

 

We have brought our consideration of our first point, the origin of cosmic and systemic manas, down to certain facts concerning our chain, and have (with the utmost brevity) passed in review the larger aspect of the question.  We touched first of all upon the subject of cosmic manas, as it concerned our Logos and the Heavenly Men.  Then we considered it more specifically in its relation to the individual Heavenly Men, and finally brought it down to that which more nearly concerns ourselves— [Page 379] manas and the Heavenly Man of our scheme.  Having proceeded thus far, we considered the stimulation of manas in our own chain, and saw that, in connection with our Earth, it came:

 

Via the Venus chain of our scheme.

As the result of a stimulation, originating in the Venus scheme.

Because logoic kundalini had vitalised one of the systemic triangles of force, of which (temporarily) Venus and the Earth formed two points of the triangle.

This produced the individualisation of those, particularly in the human Hierarchy, who form a particular centre in the body of the planetary Logos.

 

(CF 386)  First, it should be borne in mind by the occult student that:

 

a. This advent signalised the taking of a physical vehicle by the planetary Logos, and was literally the coming of the Avatar.

b. That this advent was brought about by a definite systemic alignment which involved:

The Venus scheme of the system.

The Venus chain of the Earth scheme.

The Venus globe of the Earth chain.

c. That the planetary Logos did not come from the Venus scheme but from the Venus chain of His own scheme, the Earth scheme.  Owing to systemic [Page 387] alignment logoic kundalini could flow through a certain triangle of which two points were Venus and the Earth.  This caused an acceleration of vibration, and enabled the Heavenly Man of our scheme to take a minor initiation, and to set about His preparations for a major initiation.

 

Next, it should also be remembered that in considering this matter we must be careful to view it not only as it affects our own globe and its present humanity, but from the systemic and cosmic point of view, or from the angle of its importance to a planetary Logos and a solar Logos.  Hence it is a fact that this event was not only the result of the taking of a minor initiation by our Earth Logos, but in the Venus scheme it was signalised by the taking of a major initiation by the Venusian planetary Logos on His fifth chain.  In connection with a solar Logos it followed upon the stimulation of one of His centres and from the geometrical progression of the fire through the earlier mentioned Triangle.

 

By middle 5th round Mercury, Mars and Earth will have completed a systemic triangle within body of Solar Logos

(CF 390)  They depict only one cycle in logoic evolution, and cover only the present greater period in the working out of which we are engaged.  They might be roughly described as embracing that period in the system which began for us in the middle of the third root-race of this round and continues until the period called "the Judgment" [Page 390] in the coming fifth round.  When that time comes our planetary Logos will have attained the initiation which is His present goal; the fifth round of the Venusian scheme will be closing, and the Venus scheme will begin to pass into obscuration, preparatory to transferring her life to the synthesising planet with which she is connected; Mercury will be reaching the apotheosis of achievement, and with Mars and the Earth, will form a systemic triangle.  We are speaking here of schemes and not of chains.

 

We must recognise another triangle within the Earth scheme, of the chains called "the Earth chain," the Venus chain, and the Mercurian chain, but this triangle entirely concerns the centres of the planetary Logos of our scheme.  A systemic formation of great importance in the next round should be pointed out which will bring three schemes:

 

The Earth scheme,

Mars,

Mercury,

into such a position in relation to each other that the following results will eventuate:

 

1. A systemic triangle will be formed.

 

2. Logoic kundalini will circulate freely between these three points.

 

3. A certain great logoic centre will be vitalised and the attention of logoic kundalini will pass from the present triangle in process of forming (the Earth, Venus, and a scheme whose name it is advisable to withhold) to the other.

 

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.

 

(CF 442)  Third.  The results to be looked for during the coming centuries.

 

The type of force, or the nature of the Heavenly Man of the seventh Ray, is fundamentally constructive.  It will be necessary here to touch somewhat upon His character and His place in the logoic scheme, calling attention to the need of refraining from personalisation and externalisation.  The Heavenly Man of the scheme in which the Ray of Ceremonial Magic  (Uranus?) is embodied is one of the main transmitters of radiation from the Sun to the system and has a close connection with logoic kundalini.  Herein lies a hint.  The Raja-Lord of the etheric levels of the physical plane works in close alliance with Him and this will be apparent if we bear in mind that the Lord of a plane is its embodied activity.  He is the energising force that expresses itself as a unified Identity in the matter of a plane, and we might therefore get some idea of the coherency of Their mutual work if we bear in mind that……

 

(CF 520)  On the second plane are found the seven Heavenly Men, Who are His principal centres of force.  There are others, but we are not here concerned with Them.  These latter have achieved a certain specific goal, and are the [Page 520] embodiment of centres which are now quiescent or out of manifestation, the logoic kundalini having turned its attention elsewhere.  Under another enumeration they make the ten of the esoteric life, and can also be enumerated as twelve, thus forming the twelve-petalled Lotus, or the heart centre in the Body of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NOUGHT MAY BE SAID.

 

On the fourth cosmic ether the buddhic plane, are found the etheric centres of the Logos.  There are to be found the esoteric planets and the Sun, viewed as the centre of the buddhic principles, and from thence the Logos animates His dense physical manifestation.

 

(CF 530)  Two and a half planes are concerned with the evolution of man, per se, in the fourth kingdom, and he only begins to transcend them as he nears the Path and treads it.  From the standpoint of average man in physical incarnation, the egoic consciousness, within the causal periphery, is as abstract as is the Logos viewed as the Dweller within the system.  These two and a half planes are of peculiar interest to the Logos, as they embody:

 

That which, for Him, lies below the threshold of consciousness.

Those centres from which logoic kundalini is turning.

That which is not considered a principle.

That which is gradually passing into obscuration.

 

(CF 641)  We have seen that the work of the lowest group of Agnichaitans is to build continents by fire, to purify by fire during alternate cycles, and to construct the metals and the minerals.  It is also concerned with the tending of the fires of the hearth, or those fires which warm, cheer and produce livable conditions in a planet, and incidentally in a home.  This is of very vital import, for it means that they are connected with the central basic fires in the bowels of the Earth, with the central basic fire that nourishes and warms the physical forms of all the kingdoms of nature, and consequently with the kundalini fire at the base of the spine in individual man.

 

(CF 647)  Class 5.  We have here a very important group of devas, who are peculiarly active and esoterically dominant during this round; they are the Agnichaitans who form the centre which vibrates to the measure of kundalini in its many forms and demonstrations; this is the centre at the base of the spine.  In this centre we have a very effective display of the two polarities, for the petals of the centre which is the seat of kundalini, and the fire or vitality which animates them are negative and positive to each other.  This centre is to be found in some form or other in all sentient beings and upon it largely depends:

 

[Page 647]

a. Consciousness at one of its seven stages.

b. Continuity of existence.

c. Perpetuation of species or reproduction on some or other of the planes.

 

It might be of interest here to note that this centre is literally a fourfold radiation, and the "Cross of the Holy Spirit," the equal armed Cross, is its symbol.  This four-petalled lotus is the result of evolution.  In the first kingdom of nature, the mineral, through which a specific Entity is manifesting, this centre is a unity on etheric levels, for only one petal is to be seen.  In the vegetable kingdom, viewing it as the expression of a great Existence, two petals are becoming active.  In the third kingdom, the animal, the centre at the base of the spine will be found to have three petals, whereas in man, the lotus is vibrating in a fourfold manner.  At each initiation of the great Being Who is manifesting through our planet, one of these petals becomes unfolded on etheric levels, so that at individualisation, the four became active, and His selfconscious activity was brought right down on to the physical plane.  The analogy can be seen typified at His great Initiation which took place in the fourth round and the third rootrace; the correspondence between the third kingdom and the fourth, and their production of the esoteric seven is one of the lines of study for the occultist.

 

As each of the petals of the etheric centres becomes vibrant, or an at-one-ment is brought about in deva substance, a quickening takes place on allied levels in the cosmic etheric body of the planetary Logos, and of the solar Logos.  Certain correspondences in the petals of the egoic lotus of the different units of the human family, and (on cosmic levels) in the solar and planetary egoic bodies become apparent.  It should also be borne in mind that these basic centres, wherein the [Page 648] kundalini fire lies hidden, are found in the following Existences, as They function in physical bodies:

 

1. A solar Logos.

2. A planetary Logos.

3. Those Entities Who are the sumtotal of consciousness as it expresses itself through the different kingdoms of nature—manifesting through them as a man manifests through his body.

4. The Lord of a chain.

5. The Lord of a globe.

6. Certain Beings Who form the life of specific groups.  They are esoteric, and Their function is one of the secrets of initiation.

7. Man.

8. Animals.

(CF 648)  It should be here also remarked that in the logoic manifestation one of the planetary schemes forms the centre in the logoic body which harbours kundalini.  This scheme, whose name must not as yet be revealed, is largely given over to deva control—the two groups of devas meeting there, and performing their function of animating the dense physical body of the Logos in the same way as the kundalini in man at this stage animates his dense physical vehicle.  Later, as the third major scheme assimilates the life-activity of the lower four, this kundalini fire will be withdrawn, and will be transmuted into the activity of the logoic Throat centre.

 

In planetary manifestation, one of the chains performs a similar work in the evolutionary process of the planetary Logos.  Again the same can be predicated of one of the globes in a chain.  In this fourth round, therefore, it can be seen why the fire at the base of the spine (viewing it in its esoteric significance, and in connection with the Logos, and the Logoi, and not only in connection with man) plays so dominant a part in the stimulation of [Page 649] the logoic Quaternary, or of His Lower Self.  Herein is found the mystery of present evil, the source of present distress, and the basis of planetary experience.  The kundalini fire in the logoic body is at the height of its activity in stimulating His physical body—our lower three systemic planes—and the four petals of that particular centre are coming into full activity in this fourth round.  It must be remembered that He is the sum-total of all the centres in manifestation, and the aggregate of all the fires of kundalini in every department of nature.  The trouble in our planet, and likewise the hope for our planet, lies in this very

fact.  The etheric centre of our planetary Logos being in matter of the fourth cosmic ether (the buddhic plane) stimulates at present His lower quaternary, our three worlds of human endeavour.  The direction of the force lies here, and not until the next round (when three-fifths of the human kingdom will be developing the buddhic vehicle), will the point of equilibrium for Him be reached, and the direction of the serpent fire be directed higher.

 

This holds the clue to much.  A further clue to the sad condition to be seen in the world (especially along sex lines) lies in the fact that those units of the human family who contribute to the constitution of this particular centre out of the seven, are frequently at this stage over-vitalised, the physical vehicle vitality indicating to them the line of least resistance.  To word it otherwise:  The deva forces who form the centre, and are likewise the activity of the centre, are as yet over-dominant, and the power they acquired in the earlier solar system has not yet been transmuted into spiritual power.

 

(CF 886)  All this again is closely connected with the threefold energy of the physical body, and produces effects within the spinal column which arouses the kundalini fire at the base of the spine, causing it to mount along the triple spinal channel, again according to ray and aspect involved.  More anent this may not here be said, as the dangers of a premature knowledge along this line are far greater than the dangers of ignorance.  Suffice it to point out that the fires at the lower centres,—those below the diaphragm—have, by the time the second initiation is reached, usually mounted to the centre between the shoulder blades; at the second initiation they rise as far as the head, and all the fires of the torso are then active.  All that remains then to do is to centralise them, to produce the necessary geometrical interplay between the seven head centres, and then to focus them all prior to the final liberation in the highest centre of all.

 

(EA 46)  Hierarchy V. The fifth Creative Hierarchy is, as we know from study of The Secret Doctrine, a most mysterious one. This mystery is incident upon the relation of the fifth Hierarchy to the five liberated groups. This relation, in connection with our particular planet, which is not a sacred planet, can be somewhat understood if the history of the Buddha, and His work is contemplated. This is hinted at in the third volume of The Secret Doctrine.

 

The relation of the fifth Hierarchy to a certain constellation has also a bearing upon this mystery. This is hidden in the karma of the solar Logos, and concerns His relationship to another solar Logos, and the interplay of force between Them in a great mahakalpa. This is the true "secret of the Dragon," and it was the dragon-influence or the "serpent energy" which caused the influx of manasic or mind energy into the solar system. Entangled closely [Page 46] with the karma of these two cosmic Entities, was that of the lesser cosmic Entity Who is the Life of our planet, the planetary Logos. It was this triple karma which brought in the "serpent religion" and the "Serpents or Dragons of Wisdom," in Lemurian days. It had to do with solar and planetary Kundalini, or Serpent fire. A hint lies in the fact that the constellation of the Dragon has the same relation to the ONE greater than our Logos as the centre at the base of the spine has to a human being. It concerns stimulation, and vitalisation with a consequent co-ordination of the manifesting fires.

 

(CF 893)  The secret of the reptile kingdom is one of the mysteries of the second round, and there is a profound significance connected with the expression "the serpents of wisdom" which is applied to all adepts of the good law. [Page 893] The reptile kingdom has an interesting place in all mythologies, and all ancient forms of truth impartation, and this for no arbitrary reason.  It is not possible to enlarge upon the underlying truth which is hidden in the karmic history of our planetary Logos, and is revealed as part of the teaching given to initiates of the second degree.

 

The second great life impulse, or life wave, initiated by our planetary Logos, when brought in conjunction with the first, was the basis of that activity which we call evolutionary energy; it resulted in a gradual unrolling, or revelation, of the divine form.  The heavenly serpent manifested, being produced out of the egg, and began its convolutions, gaining in strength and majesty, and producing through its immense fecundity millions of lesser "serpents."  The reptile kingdom is the most important part of the animal kingdom in certain aspects, if such an apparently contradictory statement can be made.  For all animal life can be seen passing through it during the prenatal stage, or returning to it when the form is in advanced decomposition.  The connection is not purely a physical one, but it is also psychic.  When the real nature and method of the kundalini, or serpent fire, is known, this relation will be better understood, and the history of the second round assume a new importance.

 

(CF 894)  The secret of life lies hidden in the serpent stage,—not the life of the Spirit, but the life of the soul, and this will be revealed as the "serpent of the astral light" is truly approached, and duly studied.  One of the four Lipika Lords, Who stand nearest to our planetary Logos, is called "The Living Serpent," and His emblem is a serpent of blue with one eye, in the form of a ruby, in its head.  Students who care to carry the symbology a little further can connect this idea with the "eye of Shiva" which sees and knows all, and records all, as [Page 894] does the human eye in lesser degree; all is photographed upon the astral light, as the human eye receives impressions upon the retina.  The same thought is frequently conveyed in the Christian Bible, in the Hebrew and Christian recognition of the all-seeing eye of God.  The application and value of the hints here given may be apparent if the subject of the third eye is studied, and its relation to the spine, and the spinal currents investigated.  This third eye is one of the objects of kundalinic vivification, and in the spinal territory there is first the centre at the base of the spine, the home of the sleeping fire.  Next we have the triple channel along which that fire will travel in due course of evolution, and finally we find at the summit of the column, and surmounting all, that small organ called the pineal gland, which when vivified causes the third eye to open, and the beauties of the higher, subtler planes to stand revealed.  All this physico-psychical occurrence is possible to man owing to certain events which happened to the Heavenly Serpent in the second, or serpent, round.  These happenings necessitated the formation and evolution of that peculiar and mysterious family we call the reptilian.  These forms of divine life are very intimately connected with the second planetary scheme, being responsive to energy emanating from that scheme, and reaching the earth via the second globe in the second chain.  A group of special devas (connected with a particular open sound in the planetary Word), work with the reptile evolution.

 

It should be noted here that this evolution on the etheric planes has a closer effect upon man than on the physical.  If students will apply themselves to the consideration of these facts, to the investigation of the serpent lore in all lands, mythologies and scriptures, and if they will link up all this knowledge with that concerning those heavenly constellations which have a serpent appellation (such as, for instance, the Dragon), much [Page 895] illumination may come.  If the intuition suffices, knowledge may then be imparted which will make clearer the connection between the physical bodies with their centres, and the psychic nature.

 

(CF 1204)  The relation of the fifth Hierarchy to a certain constellation has also a bearing upon this mystery.  This is hidden in the karma of the solar Logos, and concerns His relationship to another solar Logos, and the interplay of force between them in a greater mahakalpa.  This is the true "secret of the Dragon," and it was the dragon-influence or the "serpent energy" which caused the influx of manasic or mind energy into the solar system.  Entangled closely with the karma of these two cosmic [Page 1204] Entities, was that of the lesser cosmic Entity Who is the Life of our planet, the planetary Logos.  It was this triple karma which brought in the "serpent religion" and the "Serpents or Dragons of Wisdom" in Lemurian days.  It had to do with solar and planetary Kundalini, or serpent fire.  A hint lies in the fact that the constellation of the Dragon has the same relation to the ONE greater than our Logos as the centre at the base of the spine has to a human being.  It concerns stimulation, and vitalisation with a consequent co-ordination of the manifesting fires.

 

(CF 908)  The work of the Mahachohan can also be seen in the [Page 908] effect that the devas of the kundalini fire are producing upon man.  These are a peculiar group of Agnichaitans who have reached a stage of evolution which permits of their being separated off from their group into a group connected with a certain fire in man's bodies.  This fire owing to its present activity, and the direction of that activity, is responsible for the reaction against physical marriage, and for the desire evinced by highly evolved men everywhere to evade the marriage relation, and confine themselves to creation upon the mental or astral planes.  This is due to the present inclination of the manipulatory devas of the lower generative organs to seek the throat centre, and to function there, utilising the strength of the kundalini fire to bring this about.  All this is under the law of evolution, but in the interim between cause and justified effect much harm, evasion of the law, and consequent suffering can be seen.  Owing, therefore, to the violent reaction at this time against the safeguarding laws of civilisation, it has been decided that the nature and functions of the devas must be somewhat revealed to man, and that their place in the scheme of things, and man's close connection and dependence upon them, must be given out.83  At the same time, the means whereby they can be contacted, and the words whereby they can be controlled, will be withheld.

 

(CF 960)  b. Physical brain impression.  The accurate realisation by the physical brain of what the Ego is seeking to convey concerning the work to be done only becomes possible when two things are realised:

 

Direct alignment.

The transmission of the egoic energy or will to one or other of the three physical centres in the head:

 

The pineal gland.

The pituitary body.

The alta major centre, or that nerve centre at the top of the spine, where the cranium and the spine make approximate contact. When this congery of nerves is fully developed, it forms a centre of communication between the vital energy of the spinal column (the kundalini fire) and the energy of the two head centres above enumerated.  It is the physical correspondence to the antaskarana on higher levels.

 

 

(CF 988)  The white magician works through the force centres, on the first and fourth subplanes of each plane.  The black magician works through the permanent atoms, and with the substance and forms concerned.  The white magician utilises in this connection the higher three centres.  The black magician uses the energy of the lower three centres (the organs of generation, the spleen, and the solar plexus) synthesising their energy by an act of the will and directing it to the centre at the base of the spine, so that the fourfold energy is thence transmitted to the throat centre.

 

The white magician uses the kundalini force as it is transmitted via the central spinal channel.  The black magician uses the inferior channels, dividing the fourfold energy in two units, which mount via the two channels, leaving the central one dormant.  Hence it will be apparent that one works with duality and the other with unity.  On the planes of duality, therefore, it is apparent why the black magician has so much power.  The plane of unity for humanity is the mental plane.  The planes of diversity are the astral and the physical.  Hence the black magician is of more apparent power than the white brother on the two lower planes in the three worlds.

 

(CF 1127) These three groups of forces in man, when synthesised, produce eventually that perfect co-ordination and adaptation to all conditions, forms and circumstances which eventuate in the escape of the liberated vital spark.  This is technically accomplished when the "bud" opens, and it becomes possible for the Hierophant at initiation to liberate the energy of the Monad, and to direct that energy (through the agency of the Rod) so that eventually it circulates free and untrammelled through every part of the lower threefold manifestation.  As it circulates, it destroys by burning, for it arouses the kundalini aspect perfectly by the time the fifth Initiation is taken.  The destroyer aspect becomes dominated, and the form is "burnt upon the altar."

 

(CF 370)  It is many thousands of years since what are now studied as the Cosmic Rays (discovered by Millikan) played definitely upon our planet, and at that time the fifth ray was not active as it now is.  Therefore scientific knowledge of their activity was not possible.

 

Other cosmic rays will play upon our earth as this seventh ray activity becomes increasingly active, and the result of their influence will be to facilitate the emergence of the new racial types, and above all else, to destroy the veil or web which separates the world of the seen and tangible from the world of the unseen and the intangible, the astral world.  Just as there is a veil called "the etheric web" dividing off the various force centres in the human body, and protecting the head centres from the astral world, so there is a separating web between the world of physical life and the astral world.  This will be destroyed, slowly and certainly, by the play of the cosmic rays upon our planet.  The etheric web which is found between the centres in the spine, and which is found at the top of the head (protecting the head centre) is destroyed in man's mechanism by the activity of certain forces found in that mysterious fire which we call the kundalini fire. The cosmic rays of which the modern scientist is aware constitute aspects of the planetary kundalini, and their effect will be the same in the body of the planetary Logos, the Earth, as it is in the human body; the etheric web between the physical and astral planes is in process of destruction, and it is of this event which the sensitives of the world and the spiritualists prophesy as an imminent happening.

 

(EPII 64) 6. This subjective and objective system governs the manifestation of the soul on the physical plane.  It indicates to those who can see in truth, the grasp or hold that the soul has upon its instrument; it can be seen whether that grasp is occasional and partial or whether it is entire and whole.  This is most wonderfully indicated in a certain Masonic grip, which marks a climax in the experience of the candidate to the mysteries.

 

I previously referred to the main channel of communication between the soul and its mechanism as being:—

 

a. The centre at the base of the spine.

b. The centre at the top of the head, where the most important centre in the body is situated, from the standpoint of the soul.  There is its point of entry and exit; there is the great radio station of reception, and the distributing centre for direction.

c. The spleen.  This is a subsidiary centre and organ in connection with the heart centre.

 

It is through the spleen that a linking up takes place between the life principle (seated in the heart) and the consciousness system, interlinking all the material organs and the atomic [Page 65] substance of the physical body.  This statement indicates that, in the location in the human body where the spleen is found, along with its corresponding subjective force centre, two great currents of energy cross:  these are the current of physical vitality or life and the current of the consciousness of the atoms which construct the form.  It will be observed that we are here discussing the group subconscious life and not the conscious life and the self-consciousness.  The spleen is the organ in which planetary prana or vitality is received and passed.  This enters in through "the open gateway" of the splenic force centre, and passes to the heart.  There it merges with the individual life principle.  Through the splenic centre also passes the conscious life of the sum-total of the bodily cells, which are, in their turn, the recipients of the energy of the consciousness aspect or principles of all atoms and forms within the fourth kingdom of nature.  This we cannot be expected to comprehend as yet, but the truth will be appreciated later on in the racial development.  A hint can here be found as to the excessive sensitivity of the solar plexus centre to surrounding group impacts and impressions of an astral kind.  There is a close rapport between the splenic centre and the solar plexus, as well as with the heart.

 

7. These two subjective and subconscious streams of energy cross each other in the region of the spleen and there form a cross in the human body, as they traverse each others lines of force.  This is the correspondence in the human body to the cross of matter, spoken of in connection with Deity.  Consciousness and life form a cross. The downpouring stream of life from the heart and the stream of life-giving energy from the spleen pass on (after crossing each other and producing a whirlpool of force) into the solar plexus region; from thence [Page 66] they are very definitely drawn together as one stream at a certain stage in the life of the advanced aspirant.  There they merge with the sum-total of energies, using the three points referred to—the head, the base of the spine and the spleen—as a definite mode of communication, of distribution and of control, and finally of ultimate withdrawal, consciously or unconsciously, at the moment of death or in the technique of inducing that stage of control known as Samadhi.

 

8. When the directing Agent in the head, deliberately and by an act of the will, raises the accumulated energies at the base of the spine, he draws them into the magnetic field of the centres up the spine and blends them with the dual energy emanating from the spleen.  The spinal tract with its five centres then awakens into activity, and finally all the forces are gathered together into one fused and blended stream of energy.  Three things then happen:

 

a. The kundalini fire is raised and immediately burns away all the etheric webs which are the protective barriers, separating the various centres.

 

b. The etheric body intensifies its vitality, and the physical body is consequently powerfully vitalised, galvanised, and energised.

 

c. The entire aura is coordinated and illumined, and the soul can then, at will, withdraw from its physical vehicle in full waking consciousness, or stay in it as an incarnated Son of God, Whose consciousness is complete on the physical plane, the astral plane, and on the mental levels, as well as in the three aspects of lower mind, causal consciousness and nirvanic realisation.  This process finds its consummation at the third initiation.

 

(EH 147)  2. The Ajna Centre.  This is the centre between the eyebrows and is found in the region of the head just above [Page 147] the two eyes, where it "acts as a screen for the radiant beauty and the glory of the spiritual man."

 

a. It corresponds to the physical sun and is the expression of the personality, integrated and functioning—first of all as the disciple, and finally as the initiate.  This is the true persona or mask.

 

b. It achieves this functioning activity fully by the time the third initiation is taken.  I would remind you that this initiation is regarded by the Hierarchy as the first major initiation, a fact which I have already communicated.  It is the organ for the distribution of the energy of the third aspect—the energy of active intelligence.

 

e. It is related to the personality by the creative thread of life, and is therefore closely connected with the throat centre (the centre of creative activity), just as the head centre is related to the centre at the base of the spine.  An active interplay, once established between the ajna centre and the throat centre, produces a creative life and a manifested expression of the divine idea on the part of the initiate.  In the same way, the active interplay between the head centre and the centre at the base of the spine produces the manifestation of the divine will or purpose.  The forces of the ajna and the throat centres, when combined, produce the highest manifestation of "fire by friction," just as the energies of the head centre and the basic centre produce the individual "electric fire" which, when fully expressing itself, we call the kundalini fire.

 

(EPII 302)  It will also be apparent that, as the relationships of the different aspects of a man's manifested life appear, his seven centres are related to the seven aspects or qualities which [Page 302] embody a man's essential divinity.  The following is therefore of interest:

 

1. The head centre               Monad.  Life.  First aspect.

2. The heart centre               Soul.  Consciousness.  Second aspect.

3. The ajna centre Personality.  Substance.  Third aspect.

 

These are the three major centres for the advanced man.

 

4. The throat centre             Mind.  The mental aspect and energy.

5. The solar plexus centre   Emotion.  The astral aspect and energy centre.

6. The sacral centre              Physical.

7. The centre at base of the spine     Life itself.  Monadic centre.

 

The latter centre is only awakened in its true and final sense at the third initiation.  At that time the circle is completed.  As was earlier stated, the etheric body is related to the monad and is the exteriorisation of the life aspect.  It is the etheric body, with all its seven centres, which is swept into activity when the basic centre is awakened, and the kundalini fire is aroused.  It might be of value to students to point out that frequently when a student is under the impression or belief that the kundalini fire has been aroused in him, all that has really happened is that the energy of the sacral centre (i.e. the sex centre) is being transmuted and raised to the throat, or that the energy of the solar plexus centre is being raised to the heart.  Aspirants do, however, love to play with the idea that they have succeeded in arousing the kundalini fire.  Many advanced occultists have mistaken the raising of the sacral fire or of the solar plexus force to a position above the diaphragm for the "lifting of the kundalini" and have therefore regarded themselves or others as initiates.  Their sincerity has been very real and their mistake an easy one to make. [Page 303] C. W. Leadbeater frequently made this mistake, yet of his sincerity and of his point of attainment there is no question.

 

(EPII 340)  5. The awakening of the head centre, with the consequent arousing of the kundalini fire at the base of the spine.  This leads to the final integration of soul and body, and the appearance of a perfected humanity upon earth.  This will express the nature of the final race.

 

(EPII 387)  3. This illumination, coming from the highest aspect which [Page 387] man can conceive follows a direct line of approach, or pours down through a direct channel from

 

a. The level of Atma, or that centre of spiritual will which is dynamic and effective but seldom called into play, to the will petals of the egoic lotus, upon which I touched in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.  These petals are the reflection in the soul of this particular aspect of energy.

b. From this layer of petals to the mind body.

c. From the mind body to the brain.

d. From the brain, in due and set time, to the centre at the base of the spine, thus arousing the kundalini fire.

 

It will interest students to note how the first ray disciple, when employing this first ray technique of fusion, ends by producing second ray characteristics of which illumination, producing understanding love and sympathetic cooperation, is the predominant note.  The second ray disciple, through rightly applied technique, produces curiously enough, third ray results, of which the use of the creative imagination is the outstanding characteristic.

 

(EPII 528)  Then comes the third and final stage with which we need not concern ourselves wherein there is a complete blending of the bodily forces (focussed through the ajna centre) with the Soul forces, (focussed through the head centre).  It is at this time that there comes the final evocation of the personality will (purified and consecrated) which has been "sleeping, coiled like the serpent of wisdom" at the base of the spine; this surges upward on the impulse of devotion, aspiration and enlightened will and thus fuses itself in the head with the spiritual will.  This is the final raising, by an act of discriminating determination, of the kundalini fire.  This raising takes place in three stages, or impulses:

 

1. The stage wherein the lower energies are carried to the solar plexus centre.

 

2. The stage wherein these energies, pouring through to the heart, are blended with it and carried to the throat.

 

3. The stage wherein all the five lower forms of energy are focussed in the ajna centre in the head.

 

Students might here ask:  Are there any other energies below the diaphragm, except those of the sacral centre and those focussed in the centre at the base of the spine which are carried up to the ajna centre via the solar plexus centre?  There are quite a large number of lesser centres and their energies, but I am not specifying them in detail for the sake of clarity; we shall deal here only with the major centres and their effects and inter-relations.  The subject is abstruse and difficult in any case without our complicating it unduly.  There are energies, for instance, pouring into the spleen from planetary sources as well as into two small centres situated close to the kidneys, one on either side, besides several others and these forces must all be understood, transmuted, transformed and transferred.  It is interesting to note that the two little centres close to the kidneys are related to the lower levels of the astral plane and let loose into the system much of the fear, etc., which is the distinguishing factor in those subplanes.  They are, therefore, found close to the centre which can control them because even the modern endocrinologist knows that the adrenal glands, when stimulated, produce (as a psychological result of a physical happening) an access of courage and a form of directed will which enables achievements to be carried out that are, at other time, well-nigh impossible.

 

I would like here to point out that the statement so frequently made in occult books that "kundalini sleeps" is only partially true.  The centre at the base of the spine is subject to [Page 539] the same rhythmic life as are the other centres.  The specific period wherein "kundalini awakes" refers to that period wherein the "point at the centre" becomes vibrant, potent and active:  its forces can then penetrate throughout the entire spinal area until the highest head centre is reached.  This, however, would not be possible had there not been three earlier "uprisings of the latent force of will".  These uprisings serve to clear the passage up the spine, penetrating and destroying the etheric web which separates each centre and the area it controls from the next above.

 

(EA 297)  As you have been told, the Sun veils certain hidden planets, and in the case of Leo, the two planets through which the Sun focusses its energy or influences (like a lens) are Neptune and Uranus. The "heart of the Sun" employs Neptune as its agent, whilst the central, spiritual Sun pours its influences through Uranus. The activity of Uranus is, however, only registered at a very advanced stage of development upon the Path and is analogous to that point in the unfoldment of consciousness wherein, by an act of the will, the conscious and illumined man (focussed in the highest head centre) arouses the centre at the base of the spine and draws the kundalini fire upwards. Making a broad and consequently [Page 297] somewhat inaccurate generalisation, it might be said that this process is followed upon the three Crosses:

 

1. Upon the Mutable Cross, it is the physical Sun and its influences which affect the man, stimulate the bodily cells and sustain the form nature, affecting the centres below the diaphragm.

 

2. Upon the Fixed Cross, it is the "heart of the Sun" which is called into activity and which pours its energies through Neptune upon man. These stimulate and affect the heart, the throat and the ajna centres.

 

3. Upon the Cardinal Cross, it is the central, spiritual Sun which is called into play, and Uranus is then the distributing agency and the head centre becomes the centre in the initiate's body through which direction and control come.

 

In connection with the Mutable Cross, the rays of the Sun in a threefold form (combining the lowest energies of the threefold Sun) pour into and through the man, via Jupiter. Jupiter is the agent of the second ray which the Sun expresses—cosmically and systemically.

 

Hence the triple relation of the Sun to Leo which is unique in our solar system, and hence the importance of the triangle which controls the man born under Leo—the Sun, Uranus and Neptune. The energy of Leo is focussed through the Sun, and is distributed to our planet via the Sun and the two planets which it veils.

 

(EA 301)  It will be apparent to you (given a little thought) that the Sun, as it veils Neptune, produces a potent effect upon the personality, symbolised for us here by the astral body, whilst Uranus (which is also veiled by the Sun) symbolises the effect of the soul upon the personality. Hence the activity of the seventh ray, which is—from one angle—the lowest aspect of the first ray. Hence you have also the underlying idea of:

 

[Page 301]

1. The awakening of the personality to soul control and contact, with a true expression eventually, in the three worlds, of soul-will, desire and intent.

 

2. The awakening of the seventh centre, the centre at the base of the spine, by the soul working through the first or highest head centre and producing (as a consequence) the surging upwards of the kundalini fire. This, in its turn, produces fusion with the higher forces. When this takes place the three major centres in the body are

 

The Head                                               The Heart                                              The base of Spine

 

Central spiritual Sun                            The heart of the Sun                            The physical Sun.

Sirius                                                      Mercury                                                Saturn.

The Sun                                                Uranus                                                    Neptune.

 

As the above alignment corresponds to a very high stage of initiation, it will not be possible to grasp all the implications, but enough may be apparent to reveal the underlying theme and purpose of the great work.

 

(CF 181)   "The second hint I seek to give lies in the triangle formed by the Earth, Mars and Mercury. In connection with this triangle, the analogy lies in the fact that Mercury and the centre at the base of the spine in the human being are closely allied. Mercury demonstrates kundalini in intelligent activity whilst Mars demonstrates kundalini latent."

 

(EA 681)  That the planetary Logos did not come from the Venus scheme but from the Venus chain of His own scheme, the Earth scheme. Owing to systemic alignment logoic kundalini could flow through a certain triangle of which two points were Venus and the Earth. This caused an acceleration of vibration, and enabled the Heavenly Man of our scheme to take a minor initiation, and to set about His preparations for a major initiation.

 

(EPII 539)   The awakening of the centre at the base of the spine during the final stages of the higher mystical experience carries with it its own dangers.  These definitely affect the spine and consequently all the nerves which branch out in all directions from the spinal column.  [Page 539] The raising of the kundalini force—if brought about ignorantly and prematurely—may produce the rapid burning through of the protective web of etheric matter which separates the various areas of the body (controlled by the seven centres) from each other.  This causes serious nervous trouble, inflammation of the tissues, spinal disease, and brain trouble.

 

(EH 122)   Those which are specifically due to the receptivity or the non-receptivity, to the functioning or the non-functioning, [Page 122] and to the influence of the centre.  Necessarily, these fall into seven groups, affecting seven major areas of the body.  For the average disciple, before there is complete soul control and monadic direction, the major directing agent, via the brain, is the vagus nerve, along which the energies (entering via the head centre) are distributed to the rest of the body.  A definite science of the centres and their relation to kundalini has been built up by a certain powerful esoteric school in the orient.  It has in it much truth, but also much error.

 

 

 

(CF 38)  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:

 

[Page 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.

 

(CF 45) 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.

 

 

(CF 103) Hence, when the pranic vehicle is working perfectly in all three groups, human, planetary and solar, the union with latent fire will be accomplished.  Here lies [Page 103] the reason for the emphasis laid on the necessity for building pure, refined physical vehicles.  The more refined and rarefied the form, the better a receiver of prana will it be, and the less will be the resistance found to the uprising of kundalini at the appointed time.  Coarse matter and crude immature physical bodies are a menace to the occultist, and no true seer will be found with a body of a gross quality.  The dangers of disruption are too great, and the menace of disintegration by fire too awful.  Once in the history of the race (in Lemurian days) this was seen in the destruction of the race and the continents by means of fire.45  The Guides of the race at that time availed Themselves of just this very thing to bring about the finish of an inadequate form.  The latent fire of matter (as seen in volcanic display, for instance) and the radiatory fire of the system were combined.  Planetary kundalini and solar emanation rushed into conjunction, and the work of destruction was accomplished.  The same thing may again be seen, only in matter of the second ether, and the effects therefore will be less severe owing to the rarity of this ether and the comparatively greater refinement of the vehicles.

 

(CF 122)  3. The Protective Purpose of the Etheric Body.

 

Now let us, after this somewhat lengthy digression, leave things cosmic and incomprehensible, and come down to practical evolution, and to the study of the matter of man's etheric body, and of the harm that may ensue to him should that body (through the breaking of the law) no longer perform its protective function.  Let us see first of all what those protective functions are:

 

First.  The etheric web acts as a separator or a dividing web between the astral and the dense physical body.

 

Second.  It circulates the inflowing vitality or pranic fluid and carries on its work in three stages.

 

The first stage is that wherein the pranic fluid and [Page 123] solar radiations are received, and circulated three times around the triangle, thence being distributed to the periphery of the body, animating and vitalising all the physical organs and conducing to the automatic subconscious workings of the body of dense matter.  When perfectly accomplishing its object it protects from disease, and the ills of the flesh are unknown to the man who absorbs and distributes prana with accuracy.  This hint is recommended to all physicians, and when properly comprehended, will result in a basic change in medicine, from a curative to a preventive foundation.

 

The second stage is that in which the pranic fluids begin to blend with the fire at the base of the spine and to drive that fire slowly upwards, transferring its heat from the centres below the solar plexus to the three higher centres—that of the heart, the throat and the head.  This is a long and slow process when left to the unaided force of nature, but it is just here that (in a few cases) a quickening of the process is permitted in order to equip workers in the field of human service.  This is the object of all occult training.  This angle of the matter we will take up in still greater detail when we handle our next point of "Kundalini and the Spine."

 

The third stage is that in which active radiatory matter or prana is blended ever more perfectly with the fire latent in matter; this results (as will be brought out later) in certain effects.

 

It produces a quickening of the normal vibration of the physical body so that it responds with more readiness to the higher note of the Ego, and causes a steady rising of the blending fires through the threefold channel in the spinal column.  In the second stage this vitalising blended fire reaches a centre between the lower part of the shoulder blades, which is the point of conjunction, and of complete merging, of the fire from the base of the [Page 124] spine and the fire circulating along the pranic triangle.  It will be remembered how one point of this triangle originates there.  When the threefold basic fire and the threefold pranic fire meet and merge, then evolution proceeds with greatly increased velocity.  This is effected definitely at the first Initiation when the polarisation becomes fixed in one or other of the three higher centres,—which centre being dependent upon a man's ray.

 

The result of this merging leads to a change in the action of the centres.  They become "wheels turning upon themselves," and from a purely rotary movement become fourth dimensional in action, and manifest as radiant whirling centres of living fire.

 

The three major head centres (the sequence varying according to ray) become active and a similar process is effected between them as was effected in the pranic triangle.  From being three centres that react faintly to each other's vibratory movement (feeling the warmth and rhythm of each other, yet separated), the fire leaps from centre to centre, and each whirling wheel becomes linked by a chain of fire till there is a triangle of fire through which the kundalini and pranic fires radiate back and forth.  Circulation is also carried on.  The fire of kundalini produces the heat of the centre, and its intense radiance and brilliance, while the pranic emanatory fire produces ever increasing activity and rotation.

 

As time elapses between the first and fourth Initiation, the threefold channel in the spine, and the entire etheric body is gradually cleansed and purified by the action of the fire till all "dross" (as the Christian expresses it) is burnt away, and naught remains to impede the progress of this flame.

 

As the fire of kundalini and prana proceed with their work, and the channel becomes more and more cleared, the centres more active, and the body purer, the flame [Page 125] of spirit, or the fire from the Ego, comes more actively downwards till a flame of real brilliance issues from the top of the head.  This flame surges upwards through the bodies towards its source, the causal body.

 

Simultaneously with the activity of these fires of matter and of Spirit, the fires of mind, or manas, burn with greater intensity.  These are the fires given at individualisation.  They are fed continuously by the fire of matter, and their heat is augmented by solar emanatory fire, which originates on the cosmic levels of mind.  It is this aspect of the manasic fire that develops under the forms of instinct, animal memory, and functional recollection which are so apparent in the little evolved man.  As time progresses the fire of mind burns more brightly and thus reaches a point where it begins to burn through the etheric web—that portion of the web that can be found guarding the centre at the very top of the head, and admitting entrance to the downflow from the Spirit.  By its means certain things are brought about:

 

The kundalini fire is consciously directed and controlled by the mind or will aspect from the mental plane.  The two fires of matter by the power of the mind of man are blended first with each other, and, secondly, with the fire of mind.

 

The united result of this blending is the destruction (under rule and order), of the etheric web, and the consequent production of continuity of consciousness and the admission into the personal life of man of "Life more abundant," or the third fire of Spirit.

 

The downrush of Spirit, and the uprising of the inner fires of matter (controlled and directed by the conscious action of the fire of mind) produce corresponding results on the same levels on the astral and mental planes, so that a paralleling contact is brought about, and the great work of liberation proceeds in an ordered manner.

 

The three first initiations see these results perfected, [Page 126] and lead to the fourth, where the intensity of the united fires results in the complete burning away of all barriers, and the liberation of the Spirit by conscious directed effort from out its threefold lower sheath.  Man has consciously to bring about his own liberation.  These results are self-induced by the man himself, as he is emancipated from the three worlds, and has broken the wheel of rebirth himself instead of being broken upon it.

 

It will be apparent from this elucidation that the exceeding importance of the etheric vehicle as the separator of the fires has been brought forward, and consequently we have brought to our notice the dangers that must ensue should man tamper injudiciously, ignorantly or wilfully with these fires.

 

Should a man, by the power of will or through an over-development of the mental side of his character, acquire the power to blend these fires of matter and to drive them forward, he stands in danger of obsession, insanity, physical death, or of dire disease in some part of his body, and he also runs the risk of an over-development of the sex impulse through the driving of the force in an uneven manner upwards, or in forcing its radiation to undesirable centres.  The reason of this is that the matter of his body is not pure enough to stand the uniting of the flames, that the channel up the spine is still clogged and blocked, and therefore acts as a barrier, turning the flame backwards and downwards, and that the flame (being united by the power of mind and not being accompanied by a simultaneous downflow from the plane of spirit), permits the entrance, through the burning etheric, of undesirable and extraneous forces, currents, and even entities.  These wreck and tear and ruin what is left of the etheric vehicle, of the brain tissue and even of the dense physical body itself.

 

The unwary man, being unaware of his Ray and therefore of the proper geometrical form of triangle that is [Page 127] the correct method of circulation from centre to centre, will drive the fire in unlawful progression and thus burn up tissue; this will result then (if in nothing worse), in a setting back for several lives of the clock of his progress, for he will have to spend much time in rebuilding where he destroyed, and with recapitulating on right lines all the work to be done.

 

If a man persists from life to life in this line of action, if he neglects his spiritual development and concentrates on intellectual effort turned to the manipulation of matter for selfish ends, if he continues this in spite of the promptings of his inner self, and in spite of the warnings that may reach him from Those who watch, and if this is carried on for a long period he may bring upon himself a destruction that is final for this manvantara or cycle.  He may, by the uniting of the two fires of matter and the dual expression of mental fire, succeed in the complete destruction of the physical permanent atom, and thereby sever his connection with the higher self for aeons of time.  H. P. B. has somewhat touched on this when speaking of "lost souls"; we must here emphasise the reality of this dire disaster and sound a warning note to those who approach this subject of the fires of matter with all its latent dangers.  The blending of these fires must be the result of spiritualised knowledge, and must be directed solely by the Light of the Spirit, who works through love and is love, and who seeks this unification and this utter merging not from the point of view of sense or of material gratification, but because liberation and purification is desired in order that the higher union with the Logos may be effected; this union must be desired, not for selfish ends, but because group perfection is the goal and scope for greater service to the race must be achieved.

 

 

(HIS 128)  All Rods of Initiation cause certain effects:—

 

a. Stimulation of the latent fires till they blaze. 

b. Synthesis of the fires through an occult activity that brings them within the radius of each other.

c. Increase of the vibratory activity of some centre, whether in man, a Heavenly Man, or a solar Logos. 

d. Expansion of all the bodies, but primarily of the causal body.

e. The arousing of the kundalini fire (or the fire at the base of the spine), and the direction of its upward progression.  This fire, and the fire of manas, are directed [Page 128] along certain routes—or triangles—by the following of the Rod as it moves in a specified manner.  There is a definite occult reason, under the laws of electricity, behind the known fact that every initiate presented to the Initiator is accompanied by two of the Masters, Who stand one on either side of the initiate.  The three of Them together form a triangle which makes the work possible.

 

The force of the Rod is twofold, and its power terrific.  Apart and alone the initiate could not receive the voltage from the Rod without serious hurt, but in triangular transmission comes safety.  We need to remember here that two Masters sponsor all applicants for initiation, and represent two polarities of the electric All.  Part of Their function is to stand with applicants for initiation when they come before the Great Lord.

 

(HIS 140)  The centres, at initiation, receive a fresh access of vibratory capacity and of power, and this results in the exoteric life as:—

 

3. A burning away of the etheric web, through the gradual arousing of kundalini and its correct geometrical progression, and a resultant continuity of consciousness that enables the initiate consciously to utilise time as a factor on the planes of evolution.

 

(HIS 171) At the third initiation "the secret of fohat" is given to him, and then the mystery of the threefold body of the triple Logos is his, and the why of the phenomena of the dense liquid and gaseous bodies of the Supreme Being is enfolded before his amazed vision.  The two secrets previously imparted, and the knowledge which they gave having been utilised, the initiate is now in a position to profit by this greater revelation, and to understand somewhat the following facts:—

 

1. The creative process of thought form building. 

2. The transmission of energy from the Ego to the physical body via the force centres on the various planes.

[Page 171]

3. The uprising of kundalini, its geometrical progression, and its vivification of all the centres.

 

(OM 75)  Period V—marks the application of the fire to the head centres and their complete awakening.

 

Before initiation, all the centres will be rotating in fourth dimensional order, but after initiation they become flaming wheels, and—seen clairvoyantly—are of rare beauty,  The fire of Kundalini is then awakened and is progressing in the necessary spirals.  At the second initiation the emotional centres are similarly awakened, and at the third initiation those on the mental plane are touched.  The initiate can then stand in the Presence of the Great King, the One Initiator.

 

I seek to point out that the student must ever remember that here generalisations only are given.  The complexity in the development of the microcosm is as great as in the macrocosm.  The awakening of the centres and their particular order is dependent on several factors, such as:

 

a—The Ray of the Spirit or Monad.

b—The Ray of the Ego, Higher Self, or Son, or the sub-ray.

 

(OM 79)  The connection between the centres, the causal body and meditation lies hid in the following hint:  it is through the rapid whirling and interaction of these centres and their increased force through meditation (the ordered occult meditation) that the shattering of the causal body is effected.  When the inner fire is circulating through each centre and when kundalini is spiralling accurately and geometrically from vortex to vortex, the intensification interacts in three directions.

 

a—It focuses the light or the consciousness of the Higher Self into the three lower vehicles, drawing it downward into fuller expression and widening its contact on all the three planes in the three worlds.

 

b—It draws down from the threefold Spirit more and more of the fire of the Spirit, doing for the causal body what the Ego is doing for the three lower vehicles.

 

c—It forces the unification of the higher and lower, and it attracts the spiritual life itself.  When this is done, when each successive life sees an increase of vitality in the centres, and when kundalini in its seven-fold capacity touches each centre, then even the causal body proves inadequate for the influx of life from above.  If I might so express it, the two fires meet, and eventually the egoic body disappears; the fire burns up entirely the Temple of Solomon; the permanent atoms are

 

(OM 80) Later the teacher can train the pupil in the safe awakening of the inner fire, in its scientific culture and transmission, and instruct him in the order required for its convolutions along the path of the triangles until it reaches the head centres.  When kundalini has traversed these geometrical lines the man is perfected, the personality has served its purpose, and the goal is reached.  Hence the fact that all the centres have petals whose numbers are multiples of four, for four is the number of the lower self, of the quaternary.  The total number of petals in the centres, if we eliminate the spleen which has a purpose all its own, and the three lower organs of creation, is one thousand, one hundred and ten, the total number signifying the perfection of the microcosm,—ten the number of perfected personality, one hundred the number of causal perfection, and one thousand the number of spiritual [Page 81] achievement.  When every petal vibrates in all the dimensions, then the goal for this manvantara is reached.  The lower lotus is full blown, and reflects the greater with precision.

 

(OM 84) When meditating in the heart centre, picture it as a golden lotus closed.  When the Sacred Word is enunciated, picture it as a lotus slowly expanding until the inner centre or vortex is seen as a radiating whirlpool of electric light, more blue than golden.  Build there the picture of the Master, in etheric, emotional and mental matter.  This entails the withdrawing of the consciousness ever more and more inwards.  When the picture is fully built then gently sound the Word again, and with an effort of the will withdraw still further inwards and link up with the twelve petalled head centre, the centre of causal consciousness.  Do all this very slowly and gradually, maintaining an attitude of perfect peace and calm.  There is a direct relationship between the two twelve petalled centres and occult meditation, and the action of the kundalini fire will later reveal its significance.  This visualization leads to synthesis, to causal development and expansion, and eventually conducts a man into the presence of the Master.

 

(OM 103)  In meditation the student seeks to contact the divine flame that is his Higher Self, and to put himself likewise en rapport with the fire of the mental plane.  When meditation is forced, or is pursued too violently, before the alignment between the higher and lower bodies via the emotional is completed, this fire may act on the fire latent at the base of the spine (that fire called kundalini) and may cause it to circulate too early.  This will produce disruption and destruction instead of vivification and stimulation of the higher centres.  There is a proper geometrical spiralling which this fire should follow, dependent upon the ray of the student and the key of the vibration of his higher centres.  This fire should only be permitted to circulate under the direct instruction of the Master and consciously distributed by the student himself, following the specific oral instructions of the teacher.  Sometimes the fire may be aroused and spiral with correctness without the student knowing what is occurring on the physical plane; but on the inner planes he knows and has but failed to bring the knowledge through to the physical plane consciousness.

 

(OM 185)  5—The vital spark latent in each human being which marks him out as of the same nature as the Solar Logos.

 

Here you have fire as it may be seen in the greater and the lesser systems.  I would here sum up for you the purpose of fire in the microcosm, and what must be aimed at.  You have the three fires:

 

l—The vital divine spark.

2—The spark of mind.

3—Kundalini, the twofold blending of the internal heat and of the pranic current.  The home of this [Page 186] force is the centre at the base of the spine and the spleen as a feeder of that heat.

 

When these three fires—that of the quaternary, of the triad and of the fifth principle—meet and blend in proper geometrical manner, each centre is adequately vitalised, every power is sufficiently expressing itself, all impurity and dross is burnt away, and the goal is reached.  The spark has become a flame, and the flame is part of the great egoic blaze which animates all of the objective universe.

 

Therefore, we are brought logically to the position that there will be for these three types of mantrams another mantram which will bring about their union and merging.  You have in fact:—

 

Mantrams that affect kundalini, and arouse it in the right manner.  By the power of the vibration they send it circulating through the centres according to their natural, geometrical progression.  A secondary branch of these mantrams deals with the spleen, and the control of the pranic fluids for the purpose of health, for vitalisation, and for affecting the fire at the base of the spine.

 

(OM 187)  There are seven great mantrams, one for each ray, that (when used by the Master or by a member of the Hierarchy) combine all the three effects.  They arouse kundalini, they work on the causal vehicle on the mental plane, and they set up a vibration in the Triad and thus effect an at-one-ment of the lower, the higher and the fifth principle.  This is a reflection of what occurred at the coming of the Lords of Flame.  It leads to complete unification, and marks the man out henceforth as one in whom love demonstrates in action by the aid of illuminated mind.

 

These are the four most important mantrams as regards individual evolution and development, and are well-known to all those who train pupils for initiation.  But by themselves, even if discovered by the unready, they could accomplish little, for their use must be accompanied by the power that comes from the application of the Rod of Initiation.  This Rod, through its surmounting diamond, focuses the three fires in the same way that a burning glass reacts to the sun, and causes a conflagration.

 

(LOS 83)  4. Each centre corresponds to a sacred planet, the body of manifestation of one of the seven Heavenly Men.

 

5. Every centre has to be developed through the use of the Word.  This word is AUM and it must appear in the vibrant centre eventually.  When it shines forth perfectly within the wheel then that centre has perfectly awakened.

 

6. Certain of the qualities of the sun are the qualities of the centres.

 

a. Quality of the solar plexus              warmth.

b. Quality of centre at base of spine kundalini fire.

c. Quality of the ajna centre between the eyebrows      illuminating light.

d. Quality of the head centre              cold light.

e. Quality of the sacral centre            moisture.

f. Quality of the throat centre             red light.

g. Quality of the heart centre             radiant or magnetic light.

 

(LOS 209)  The secondary meaning has of course direct reference to the work of the kundalini or serpent fire at the base of the spine as it responds to the soul vibration (felt in the head, in the region of the pineal gland, and called "the light in the head").  Mounting upward, it burns out all obstructions in the spinal etheric channel and vitalizes or electrifies the five centres up the spine and the two in the head.  The vital airs within the ventricles of the head are also swept into activity and produce a cleansing, or rather eliminating effect therein.  With this the student has as yet nothing to do, beyond seeing to it that as far as in him lies, the aspiration of his heart is of the needed "fiery" character, and that the steady purification of his physical, emotional and mental [Page 210] nature, proceeds as desired.  When this is the case, the response of the soul will be effective and the consequent reactions within the etheric centres will take place safely, under law, and normally.

 

(LOS 221)  I. The external, internal or motionless control [Page 221] of the life currents of the body  (dense and etheric).  This concerns:

 

1. The breathing apparatus and the use of the breath.

2. The vital airs and their radiation.

3. The centres, and their awakening.

4. The kundalini fire and its right progression up the spine.

 

(LOS 222)  It will be obvious that much of the teaching conveyed in this sutra can only safely be given directly by the teacher to the pupil, after a proper study of the bodily conditions of that pupil.  It is not possible nor right to give in a book intended for the general public those rules, practices and methods which enable the trained disciple to bring his dense physical vehicle into instantaneous synchronization with his etheric body, to densify and irradiate his aura so as to produce certain magnetic results in his environment, and to awaken his centres so that certain psychic powers are displayed.  The methods for arousing the kundalini [Page 222] fire and blending it with the downpouring egoic force must also be left for direct teaching by a master in this science to his pupil.  There is extreme danger attendant upon the premature awakening of the fire, and the consequent destruction of certain protective structures in the etheric body and the breaking down of the barriers between this world and the astral world, before the pupil is properly "balanced between the pairs of opposites.  There is a menace in the premature growth of the lower psychic powers before the higher nature is awakened, and the effect upon the brain can be seen as insanity in some form or other, mild or the reverse.  A few explanatory words can, however, be given which will enable the true occult student to gain that information which, if correctly used, acts as a key to the possession of more.  This is ever the occult method.  Let us, therefore, deal briefly with our three points.

 

(SAIM 100)  The physical body is the expression in its component parts or atoms of the third type of energy, and the sum-total of that atomic energy is called Kundalini:

 

"The centre where all residual sensations are, as it were, stored up is called Mul-adhara chakra, and the coiled up energy of action is Kundalini, `the coiled up'."

"It is the individual bodily representative of the great cosmic power (Shakti) which created and sustains the universe."9

 

The physical body itself is often regarded as an atom in the body of the human kingdom, and in this case the Kundalini energy, localised as it is supposed to be in a centre at the base of the spine, would be a positive nucleus, with the other atoms of the body regarded as electronic in nature.

 

The vital body, or body of ether, is the medium [Page 101] for the expression of the life soul, that sentient vivifying duality which we call prana. This dual energy has two positive centres in the vital body and consequently in the physical—one in the heart, where feeling and sentiency are claimed to be centred, and another in the head where the mind and the spiritual consciousness find expression.

 

(SAIM 107) The object, therefore, of all methods and practices is to bring about conscious union with the soul, and produce the subordination of the two lower energies, those of matter and those of the sentient mental nature, to the highest of the three energies, the spiritual life. When this is accomplished, the spiritual life principle animates a soul which knows no barriers and limitations because it has brought its mechanism to the highest state of perfection. Matter has been raised into heaven, and hence the Hindu teaching that the Kundalini fire, the energy of matter (sometimes called the mother) has eventually to be raised from its position at the base of the spine up into the head. This is a correspondence to the Roman Catholic teaching as to the Assumption of the Virgin-Mother into Heaven to take her place by the side of her Son, the Christ, the Soul. This has to be brought about [Page 107] consciously by the soul or self, seated in the mind and brain consciousness, and from there assuming control of the energies of the entire natural man. This is Yoga or union, which is not only a mystical experience, but a vital or physical one also. This is the at-one-ment of the Christian. It is an integration of the entire man, physical, sentient, and mental, and then a conscious unification with the universal soul. Dr. Rele says:

 

 

 

 

(EOH 170)  In the esoteric teaching, this takes place in the life of the individual when—by an act of the will—the centre at the base of the spine is aroused and the fire and the light of the personal threefold life (one aspect of which is often called the kundalini fire) is carried upwards and merged with the power and the light of the soul. The major approach of the two basic energies of form and soul (as an expression of spirit) are thereby related within the human being; the "marriage in the heavens" takes place and the task of the creative process of incarnation or individual manifestation is on the way to completion. Within the planetary life, the same process goes on. The life of humanity as a whole (which is intelligent form life) and the life of the Hierarchy (which is the life of the soul), under impulse from the Spirit or will aspect as symbolised in Shamballa, are fused and blended and then a new departure in the evolutionary process becomes possible. The kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of souls, and the human kingdom as mutually expressive and interrelated, are perfectly synthesised and anchored on earth. The glory of the One can then be faintly seen, which is the glory of Shamballa. The Dweller upon the threshold of divinity and the Angel of the Presence then stand face to face.

 

(EOH 19)  When this is done with detachment and is paralleled by a life of loving service, the awakening of the centres and the raising of the sleeping fire of kundalini will go forward with safety and sanity and the whole system will be brought to [Page 19] the requisite stage of "aliveness." I cannot too strongly advise students against the following of intensive meditation processes for hours at a time, or against practices which have for their objective the arousing of the fires of the body, the awakening of a particular centre and the moving of the serpent fire. The general world stimulation is so great at this time and the average aspirant is so sensitive and finely organised that excessive meditation, a fanatical diet, the curtailing of the hours of sleep or undue interest in and emphasis upon psychic experience will upset the mental balance and often do irretrievable harm.

 

(EH 182)  7. The Centre at the Base of the Spine.  This centre is, above everything else, controlled and governed by the Law of Being, above referred to, and is established where spirit and matter meet and where matter, the Virgin Mary—under the influence of the Holy Spirit, time energy of the etheric vehicle—is translated "into Heaven," there (as the Christian phraseology puts it) "to be seated beside her Son in the house of the Father."

 

This centre is found at the very base of the spine, and supports all the other centres.  It is relatively quiescent at this time, for it is only roused into full activity by an act of the will, directed and controlled by the initiate.  It is responsive only to the will aspect, and the will-to-be in incarnation is the factor which at present controls its life and produces its effects as it feeds and directs the life principle in matter and form.  Just as we are told that the life principle is "seated in the heart," so the will-to-be is seated in the base of the spine.  There has been much idle and dangerous talk anent this centre, and the whole subject of the "kundalini fire" has proved an exciting and enticing tale by the pseudo-occultists of the world.  The true occultist in training has naught to do with the kundalini fire—as usually [Page 182] understood.  It is not possible for me to do more than make certain facts somewhat clearer to you, and yet at the same time I must refrain from indicating modes and methods of arousing the activity of this centre, on account of the extreme danger involved in any premature work on the basic centre.  The best I can do is to make a series of statements which will be comprehended in the right way by those who know (and these are as yet few and far between), which will aid the thinking of those who are in training and give them a somewhat more complete picture, but which will protect the ignorant from disaster.  I shall make these statements as clearly and briefly as possible, but shall give practically no explanatory matter with them.

 

1. This basic centre is the point where, under the evolutionary law, spirit and matter meet, and life is related to form.

 

2. It is therefore the centre where the essential dualism of the manifested divinity—man or planetary Logos—meet and produce form.

 

3. The nature of this divinity is only revealed when the second aspect has accomplished its work, through the medium of the third aspect, but under the directing will of the first aspect.

 

4. It is the centre where the "serpent of God" undergoes two transformations:

a. The serpent of matter lies coiled.

b. This serpent is transformed into the serpent of wisdom.

c. The serpent of wisdom is translated and becomes the "dragon of living light."

 

5. These three stages are nurtured by the life and energy pouring down through the entire length of the spinal [Page 183] column, via the etheric correspondence of the spinal cord, and—in time and space—this downpouring (plus the simultaneously uprising life) produces:

 

a. The awakening in a gradual and orderly manner of the centres, according to ray types.

b. The reversal of the centres so that the consciousness of the indwelling man is adequate to his environment.

c. The synthesis of the life energies of all the centres, and adequacy to the demands of the initiate and the service of the Hierarchy and of Humanity.

 

6. The spinal column (from the angle of the esoteric sciences) houses a threefold thread.  This is the externalisation of the antahkarana, composed of the antahkarana proper, the sutratma or life thread, and the creative thread.  This threefold thread within the spinal column is therefore composed of three threads of energy which have channeled for themselves in the substance of the interior of the column a "threefold way of approach and of withdrawal."  These are called in the Hindu terminology:  the ida, the pingala and the sushumna paths, and they together form the path of life for the individual man and are awakened into activity sequentially and according to ray type and the point of evolution.  The sushumna path is not used correctly and safely until the antahkarana has been built and the Monad and Personality are thereby related, even if it is only by the most tenuous thread.  Then the Monad, the Father, the will aspect, can reach the personality in a direct manner, and can arouse the basic centre, and with it blend, unify and raise the three fires.

 

[Page 184]

7. One of these paths is the one along which the energy which feeds matter is poured.  Another is related to the path of consciousness and of sensitive psychic unfoldment.  The third is the path of pure spirit.  Thus in every living form the work of the Father, of the Mother and of the Son is carried on.  Life-consciousness-form and life-quality-appearance are blended, and the response apparatus of the divine man is perfected, enabling him to contact and recognise the major divine aspects in the kingdoms in nature, in the planet and in the solar system—eventually.

 

Be not betrayed into placing these interlaced spheres of living energy on the right or the left of the spinal cord.  Constantly a movement, an interplay and a reversal is going on.  I can but portray the nature of a symbol which will indicate the special path of the three energies of the divine Trinity.  I indicate not a fact in location or place, for it is this materialising and localising of the main concept which has produced so much danger.  The initiate-student seeks to grasp the relation of the three basic energies, the three paths of living fire, their relation and inter-relation and their sequential polarisation.  He seeks not to narrow the teaching down to points and lines and place until such [Page 185] time when these terms mean little to him and he knows more.

 

8. These three paths of life are the channels for electric fire, solar fire and fire by friction, and are related in their usage to the three stages of the path of evolution:  the path of evolution in the material, earlier stages; the Path of Probation, and the early stages of the Path of Discipleship until the third initiation; and the Path of Initiation itself.

 

9. The Kundalini Fire, about which so much is taught and written in the East, and increasingly in the West, is in reality the union of these three fires, which are focussed by an act of the enlightened will, under the impulse of love, in the basic centre.  This unified fire is then raised by the use of a Word of Power (sent forth by the will of the Monad) and by the united authority of the soul and personality, integrated and alive.  The human being who can do this in full consciousness is therefore an initiate who has left the third initiation behind him.  He, and he alone, can safely raise this triple fire from the base of the spine to the head centre.

 

10. As usually interpreted by the ignorant esotericist in the various occult groups, the kundalini fire is something which must be "raised," and when it is raised all the centres will then come into functioning activity and the channels up and down the spine will be cleared of all obstruction.  This is a dangerous generalisation and a reversal of the facts.  The kundalini fire will be raised and carried up into heaven when all the centres are awakened and the channels up the spine are unimpeded.  This removal of all obstruction is the result of the livingness of the individual centres which, [Page 186] through the potency of their life, themselves are effective in destroying all hindrances and obstructions.  They can "burn up" all that hinders their radiation.  What usually happens in those accidental cases (which do so much harm) is that the aspirant, through his ignorant curiosity and by an effort of the mind (not of the spiritual will, but purely as an expression of personality will), succeeds in arousing the lowest of the three fires, the fire of matter, fire by friction; this produces a premature burning and destroys the etheric web in the etheric body.  These circular disks or webs are to be found between each pair of the centres up the spine and also in the head.  They are normally dissipated as purity of life, the iscipline of the emotions, and the development of the spiritual will are carried forward.

 

There are four of these webs.  When the fourfold personality is highly developed and the ajna centre is awakening, then these webs slowly and gradually, normally and automatically disappear.  The webs in the head are of much higher quality and bisect the skull horizontally and vertically.  Thus they symbolise the Cross upon which a Son of God is crucified.

 

11. The three channels up the spine are responsive in their totality to the three major centres:

 

a. To the solar plexus centre, providing thus the impulse of desire and feeding the physical life and the creative urge.

b. To the heart centre, providing the impulse to love and to conscious contact with ever widening areas of divine expression.

c. To the head centre, providing the dynamic impulse of the will to live.

 

I do not indicate which channel is responsive to which centre, except in the case of the sushumna channel which is responsive only to the energy of the head centre and the directing will, centred in the 1000-petalled lotus.  This can be safely stated, as the spiritual will is as yet undeveloped in those who seek to arouse kundalini.  When it is aroused, they will know what they can safely do.

 

12. The three centres in the head are also related to this triple channel:

 

a. The medulla oblongata area (the alta major centre) and the carotid gland.

b. The ajna centre and the pituitary body.

c. The 1000-petalled lotus and the pineal gland.

 

Students will find it interesting to relate all these triplicities to the three major rays:

 

[Page 188]

a. The first ray of will or power,

b. The second ray of love-wisdom,

c. The third ray of active intelligence,

 

and also to the three human races which are endowed with the power to unfold the seed of these divine aspects:  Lemuria, Atlantis and the Aryan race.  These can be linked, as seed, to the two final races which will fuse and synthesise all the above powers, qualities, achievements and goals into one perfected planetary life.

 

Another synthesis is also possible and of importance:

 

a. Path of Evolution             centres below the diaphragm.

b. Path of Discipleship        centres above the diaphragm.

c. Path of Initiation              centres in the head.

 

These groups and triplicities are all related in time and space to the triple spinal cord.

 

13. There is also—again in relation to all the above points of synthesis in the body—one consummating point of complete fusion.  I give each of these in the sequence of their work of fusion:

 

a. The solar plexus centre, fusing the centres below the diaphragm.

b. The ajna centre, fusing centres both above and below the diaphragm.

c. The base of the spine, fusing all six centres.

d. The thousand-petalled lotus of the head, fusing all the seven energies.

 

(CF 323) during certain stages of the evolutionary process different centres (such as the base of the spine) are positive to all the others,   (Mercury at 5th initiation) not even excluding the head centre…. Likewise certain of the planetary schemes are positive and others negative; three of the schemes are dual, both negative and positive….Venus is negatively polarised….

 

(CF 391) 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,  (Uranus/Head-Mercury/Base)  but one of the other two higher major centres.

 

(CF 280) a negative planet will be attracted by a positive

 

(CF 292) ….in the case of the Microcosm the causal body or the body of the Ego acts as the synthesiser of the energy of the Quaternary or lower self, and the spiritual or monadic sheath as the synthesiser of the seven principles, making the three, the seven, and the ten.  

 

Probably after 3rd Mercury rules base centre, Saturn rules ajna

(EH 151)  The throat centre is ruled by Saturn just as the two head centres are ruled respectively by Uranus (ruling the head centre) and Mercury (ruling the ajna centre).  This is only where the disciple is concerned; the rulership changes after the third initiation or before the first.  These three planets constitute a most interesting triangle of forces and in the following triplicities and their inevitable inter-relations you have—again only in the case of disciples—a most amazing picture story or symbol of the ninefold of initiation:

 

(EH 336)  On the Vagus Nerve.

 

There are two powerful centres connected with the vagus nerve:  the heart centre and the centre at the base of the spine.  These two, when brought under the control of the soul, functioning through the head centre (the [Page 336] brahmarandra), produce the raising of the kundalini fire.  This, when taking place, swings the entire nervous system into a special form of rhythmic activity and responsiveness, and it is through the stimulation and the control of the vagus nerve that this is accomplished.  It is not the vagus nerve which is instrumental in raising the kundalini fire, but the reverse situation.  When the head, the heart and the centre at the base of the spine are in magnetic and dynamic rapport, producing a radiatory effect, then they affect the vagus nerve and the fires of the body are unified and raised, producing purification and the "opening of all doors."

 

(WM 80)  b. The wisdom of the Triad exists for the use of the personality, but is barred by the disquisitions of the lower mind.  When the fire of mind burns too fiercely, it forms a current which counteracts the higher downflow, and forces the lower fire back into seclusion.  Only when the three fires meet, through the regulation of the middle fire of mind, can a full light be achieved, and the whole body be full of light, the fire from above—the triadal light—the fire of the lower self,—kundalini—and the fire of mind,—cosmic manas—must meet upon the altar.  In their union comes the burning away of all that hinders and the completed emancipation.

 

(WM 572)  c. The capacity, therefore, to work at will through the medium of any particular center.  This is only possible when the soul can dwell as the Ruler on the "throne between the eyebrows" and when the Kundalini fire has been what is occultly called raised.  This fire has to pass up through the spinal column and burn its way through the web which separates center from center on the "Golden Rod of Power."

 

(WM 591)  The underlying objective in all laya yoga work (or [Page 591] work with the centres) is based upon the fact that the energy of the cells which compose the body or the matter aspect (called in The Secret Doctrine, and in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, "fire by friction") must be blended with the fire of consciousness.  This latter is the energy, present in matter yet different from the fire of matter itself, which underlies the entire nervous system and because it so underlies it produces sensitivity and awareness.  It is the cause of response to contact and confers the ability to register and record impression, as you well know.  This fire is technically called "solar fire", and when it blends with the fire of matter and with the "electric fire" of the highest divine aspect, then man's being comes into its fullest manifestation and the great work is completed.  But it is a most dangerous undertaking, when induced before the mechanism is ready to deal with it.

 

This triple blending can only be safely undertaken by the highly organised and rounded-out person, and by one who has achieved the capacity to focus his attention in the head and from that high point direct the entire process of fusion.  It involves the ability to withdraw the consciousness literally into the etheric body and yet at the same the to preserve—in full awareness—a point of contact in the head, and from that point direct the automaton, the physical body.  It presupposes, if successful, certain etheric conditions in the body.  One of these is the process of burning through or destruction (partial or complete) of any obstructions found along the spinal cord which could prevent the free rising of the fire at the base of the spine, commonly called the kundalini fire, which lies quiescent, latent and potential in the lowest centre.  This is "the sleeping serpent which must arise and uncoil".

 

Each centre in the spine is separated from the one above it and the one below it by an interlaced protective [Page 592] web which is composed of a curious blend of etheric and gaseous substance.  This has to be burnt away and dissipated before there can be the free play of the fires of the body.  A complete network of nadis and centres underlies and is the subtle counterpart of the nervous and endocrine systems.  A little clear thinking therefore will demonstrate the need for excessive care, for there will obviously lie a direct effect upon the external apparatus and this in its turn will definitely affect what the psychologists call "behaviour".  There are four of these interlaced circular  "webs" lying between the five centres found on the rod of the spinal column, such as follows: 0/0/0/0/0, and three are to be found in the head.  These three bisect the head, and form a series of crosses, as follows:

 

This is much like the cross upon the Union Jack, which has always had an esoteric significance for the student, and indicates a point in racial evolution.  This cross in the head separates the ajna centre (the centre between the eyebrows) from the head centre, for it lies behind that centre in the forehead, and at the same time forms a protective shield between the ajna and throat centres.

 

These etheric webs are in reality disks, rotating or revolving at specific rates, which differ for the different centres, and according to the point in evolution of the system of centres concerned.  Only when these webs are burnt away by the ascending and descending fires can the true centres really be seen.  Many clairvoyants confuse the centres and their protective counterparts, for the latter have a radiance and light of their own.

 

As the life achieves an increasingly high vibration through purification and discipline, the fire of the soul, which is literally the fire of mind, causes the centres also to increase their vibration, and this increased activity sets up a contact with the protective "webs", or disks of pranic energy found on either side of them.  Thus, [Page 593] through the interplay, they are gradually worn away, so that in the course of time they become perforated, if I might use such an inadequate term.

 

Many aspirants feel convinced that they have raised the kundalini fire at the base of the spine and are consequently making rapid progress, whereas all that they have accomplished is to burn or "rub through" the web at some point or other up the spine.  A sensation of burning or of pain in any part of the spine, when not due to physiological causes, is, in the majority of cases, due to the piercing of one or other of the webs, through the activity of the centres allied to them.  This happens very frequently in the case of women in connection with the solar plexus centre, and with men in connection with the sacral centre.  Both these centres—as a result of evolutionary development—are exceedingly active and highly organised, for they are the expression of the physical creative nature and of the emotional body.  A sense therefore of burning and of pain in the back indicates usually undue activity in a centre, which produces destructive results upon the protective apparatus, and is no true indication of spiritual unfoldment and superiority.  It may indicate the latter, but it should be remembered that, where there is true spiritual growth, pain and danger are in this connection practically eliminated.

 

 

There has been much loose talk about the raising of the kundalini fire and much misapprehension in the matter.  Let me assure you that it is most difficult to raise, and can only be done by a definite act of the will and through the intense mental focussing and concentrated attention of the man, seated on the throne of consciousness in the head.  The Masonic tradition has the teaching clearly held in its beautiful ritual of the raising of the great Master-Mason.  Only when there is united effort of a fivefold kind, and only after repeated failure, does the [Page 594] vivifying life course through the entire body and bring to life the true man.

 

(WM 596)  It will be apparent therefore from the above that I cannot give specific instructions as to the awakening of the centres and the burning of the etheric web which will result in the release of energy.  Such information is too dangerous and too intriguing to be put in the hands of the general public, who are driven by desire for some new thing, and lack right poise and the needed mental development.  The time has come however when the fact that there is an energy body underlying the nervous system must be recognized by the world at large, and when the nature of the seven centres, their structure and location should be grasped technically, and when the laws of their unfoldment should be widely known.  But more than this cannot yet be safely given.  The intricate nature of this science of the centres is too great for general usefulness.  The teaching to be given in any particular case and the methods to be applied are dependent upon too many factors for a general rule and instruction to be given.  The ray and type, the sex and point in [Page 596] evolution must be considered and also the balance of the centres.  By this I mean the consideration as to their over-development in one case and under development in another and as to whether there is a preponderance of the force below or above the diaphragm, or whether the main energy is concentrated in that central clearing house, the solar plexus.  The quality and the brilliance of the light in the head has to be studied, for it indicates the measure of soul control and the relative purity of the vehicles, and the various etheric "webs" have to be carefully dealt with, and also the rate of vibration of the web and the centre.  A synchronisation has to be set up and this is most difficult to bring about.  These are only a few of the points that the teacher has to note, and it is apparent therefore that only a teacher who has achieved synthetic vision and can see a man "whole," or as he really is, can give those instructions which will reverse the ancient rhythm of the centres, destroy without pain and danger the protective sheaths, and raise the kundalini fire from the base of the spine to the exit in the head.