Section One – The Internal Fires – Fire by Friction
Introductory Remarks
We purpose in these few introductory remarks to lay down
the foundation for a "Treatise on Cosmic Fire," and to
consider the subject of fire both macrocosmically and
microcosmically, thus dealing with it from the standpoint
of the solar system, and of a human being. This will
necessitate some preliminary technicalities which may seem
at first perusal to be somewhat abstruse and complicated
but which, when meditated upon and studied, may eventually
prove illuminating and of an elucidating nature, and which
also, when the mind has familiarized itself with some of
the details, may come to be regarded as providing a logical
hypothesis concerning the nature and origin of energy. We
have elsewhere, in an earlier book, touched somewhat upon
this matter, but we desire to recapitulate and in so doing
to enlarge, thus laying down a broad foundation upon which
the subject matter can be built up, and providing a general
outline which will serve to show the limits of our
discussion.
Let us, therefore, look at the subject macrocosmically and
then trace the correspondence in the microcosm, or human
being.
I. Fire in the Macrocosm
In its essential nature Fire is threefold, but when in
manifestation it can be seen as a fivefold demonstration,
and be defined as follows: [38]
- Fire by friction, or internal vitalizing fire. These
fires animate and vitalize the objective solar system.
They are the sumtotal of logoic kundalini, when in full
systemic activity.
- 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.
- Electric Fire, or the logoic Flame Divine. This flame
is the distinguishing mark of our Logos, and it is that
which differentiates Him from all other Logoi; it is His
dominant characteristic, and the sign of His place in
cosmic evolution.
This threefold fire may be expressed in ray terms as
follows:
4 "That whereinto all enter, vishanti, is
Vishnu; he who covers up, envelopes, surrounds, undertakes
all, is Brahma; he who sleeps, shete, in everything, is
Shiva. Shiva sleeps, lies hidden, in all and everything as
the nexus, the bond, and this is the nature of desire.
Vrinite signifies the envelopment, the covering with an
envelope, the demarcation of the limiting bounds or the
periphery, and so the formation or creation (of all forms);
and this is action presided over by Brahma. Vishanti
sarvani indicates that all things enter into It and It into
all, and such is the Self, connected with cognition and
Vishnu. The summation or totality of these is Mahavishnu.
"Mahavishnu, 'the overlord of all this world-system, is
described as the Ishvara, white-colored, four-armed,
adorned with the conch, the discus, the mace, the lotus,
the forest-wreath, and the kanstubha-gem, shining, vestured
in blue and yellow, endless and imperishable in form,
attributeless yet ensouling and underlying all attributes.
Here, the epithet Ishvara indicates the rule; the four
arms, the four activities of cognition, etc.; the white
resplendence is the illumination of all things; the
shankha, conch [39] or shell, indicates all sound, and the
chakra, wheel or discus, all time, there being a connection
between the two; gada, the (whirling) mace, is the spiral
method of the procession of the world and the lotus-flower
is the whole of that procession; the vana-mala, the wreath
of forest flowers, indicates the stringing together of all
things into unity and necessity; the nila-pit-ambara, blue
and yellow vestures, are darkness and light; the kaustubha
jewel indicates inseparable connection with all; Nirguna,
attributeless, shows the presence of the nature of
Negation; while saguna, attributeful, implies possession of
name and form. The World-process (as embodied in our
world-system) is the result of the ideation of Mahavishnu."
– Pranava-Vada, pp. 72-74, 94-95.
5 Mahadeva is literally "great Deva." The
term is frequently applied to the first Person of the
manifested Trinity, to Shiva, the Destroyer aspect, the
Creator.
6 "One day out of this long life of Brahma is
called Kalpa; and a Kalpa is that portion of time which
intervenes between one conjunction of all the planets on
the horizon of Lanka, at the first point of Aries, and a
subsequent similar conjunction. A Kalpa embraces the reign
of fourteen Manus, and their sandhis (intervals); each Manu
lying between two sandhis. Every Manu's rule contains
seventy-one Maha Yugas, – each Maha Yuga consists of four
Yugas, viz., Krita, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali; and the
length of each of these four Yugas is respectively as the
numbers, 4, 3, 2 and 1. The number of sidereal years
embraced in the foregoing different periods are as
follows:
Mortal
years
360 days of mortals make a year 1
Krita Yuga contains 1,728,000
Treta Yuga contains 1,296,000
Dwapara Yuga contains 864,000
Kali Yuga contains 432,000
The total of the said four Yugas constitute a Maha Yuga
4,320,000
Seventy-one of such Maha Yugas form the period of
the
reign of one Manu 306,720,000
The reign of 14 Manus embraces the duration of
994 Maha Yugas, which is equal to 4,294,080,000
Add Sandhis, i.e., intervals between the reign of
each Manu, which amount to 6 Maha Yugas, equal to
25,920,000
The total of these reigns and interregnums of 14
Manus,
is 1,000 Maha Yugas, which constitute a Kalpa, i.e.,
one day of Brahma, equal to 4,320,000,000
As Brahma's night is of equal duration, one day and
night
of Brahma will contain 8,640,000,000
360 of such days and nights make one year of Brahma,
equal to 3,110,400,000,000
100 of such years constitute the whole period of
Brahma's age, ie., Maha Kalpa 311,040,000,000,000
That these figures are not fanciful, but are founded
upon astronomical facts, has been demonstrated by Mr.
Davis, in an essay in the Asiatic Researches; and this
receives further corroboration from the geological
investigations and calculations made by Dr. Hunt, formerly
President of the Anthropological Society, and also in some
respects from the researches made by Professor Huxley.
Great as the period of the Maha Kalpa seems to be, we
are assured that thousands and thousands of millions
of such Maha Kalpas have passed, and as many more are
yet to come. (Vide Brahma-Vaivarta and Bhavishyre
Puranas; and Linga Purana, ch. 171, verse 107, ∧c.) and
this in plain language means that the Time past is infinite
and the Time to come is equally infinite. The Universe is
formed, dissolved, and reproduced, in an indeterminate
succession (Bhagavad Gita, VIII, 19). – The
Theosophist, Vol. VII, p. 11 15.
7 The term "ring-pass-not" is used in occult
literature to denote the periphery of the sphere of
influence of any central life force, and is applied equally
to all atoms, from the atom of matter as dealt with by the
physicist or chemist through the human and planetary atoms
up to the great atom of a solar system. The ring-pass-not
of the average human being is the spheroidal form of his
mental body which extends considerably beyond the physical
and enables him to function on the lower levels of the
mental plane.
8
- The Primordial is the Ray and the direct emanation of
the Sacred Four. (S. D., I, 115, 116) The Sacred Four
are:
- Unity (Father – Mahadeva – 1st Logos – Will –
Spirit).
- Duality (Son – Vishnu – 2nd Logos –
Love-Wisdom).
- Trinity (Mother – Brahma – 3rd Logos –
Intelligent activity).
- Sacred Four (The united manifestation of the tree
– Macrocosm).
- The manifested Quaternary and the seven Builders
proceed from the Mother (S.D., I, 402)
- The seven Builders are the Manasaputras, the
Mind-born sons of Brahma, the third aspect. (S. D.,
III, 540)
- They come into manifestation to develop the
second aspect. (S. D., I., 108)
- Their method is objectivity
- The reawakened Energies sprang into space.
- They are the veiled synthesis (S. D., I,
362)
- They are the totality of manifestation (S. D., I,
470)
- They are precosmic (S. D., I, 152, 470)
9 Akasha. Definition (S. D., II,538)
- It is the synthesis of ether (S. D., I, 353,
354)
- It is the essence of ether (S. D., I, 366)
- It is primordial ether (S D., I, 585)
- It is the third Logos in manifestation (S D., I,
377)
10 H. P. B., defines the Akasha in the
following terms: (S. D., II, 538) "Akasha the astral Light
can be defined in a few words: It is the Universal soul,
the Matrix of the Universe, the Mysterium Magicum from
which all that exists is born by separation or
differentiation. In the various occult books it is called
by different terms and it would be of value perhaps if we
enumerate some of them here: There is one universal element
with its differentiations.
Homogeneous |
Differentiated |
1. Undifferentiated cosmic substance |
1. Astral Light. |
2. Primordial ether |
2. Sea of fire. |
3. Primordial electric entity |
3. Electricity. |
4. Akasha |
4. Prakriti. |
5. Super-astral light |
5. Atomic matter. |
6. Fiery serpent |
6. The serpent of evil. |
7. Mulaprakriti. |
7. Ether, with its four divisions "air, fire, water
earth". |
8. Pregenetic matter. |
|
11 Fohat is divine thought or energy (Shakti)
as manifested on any plane of the cosmos. It is the
interplay between Spirit and matter. The seven
differentiations of Fohat are:
- The Plane of divine life – Adi – Sea of fire.
- The Plane of monadic life – Anupadaka – Akasha.
- The Plane of spirit – Atma – Aether.
- The Plane of the intuition – Buddhi – Air.
- The Plane of mind – Mental – Fire.
- The Plane of desire – Astral – Astral Light.
- The Plane of density – Physical – Ether.
(S. D., I, 105, 134, 135, 136)
12 The quaternary is composed of the four
lower principles and the sheaths through which they
manifest as a coherent unit, being held together during
manifestation by the life force of the indwelling
entity.
First, we have the animating fires of the solar system,
which are the fires of the primordial ray of active
intelligent matter; these constitute the energy of Brahma,
the third aspect of the Logos. Next are to be found the
fires of the divine Ray of Love-Wisdom, the ray of
intelligent love, which constitutes the energy of the
Vishnu aspect, the second aspect logoic.4
Finally are to be found the fires of the cosmic mental
plane, which are the fires of the cosmic ray of will. They
might be described as the rays of intelligent will and are
the manifestation of the first aspect logoic, the Mahadeva
aspect.5 Therefore we have three cosmic rays
manifesting:
The Ray of intelligent activity. This is a ray of a
very demonstrable glory, and of a higher point of
development than the other two, being the product of an
earlier mahakalpa, or a previous solar system.6
It embodies [40] the basic vibration of this solar system,
and is its great internal fire, animating and vitalizing
the whole, and penetrating from the center to the
periphery. It is the cause of rotary motion, and therefore
of the spheroidal form of all that exists.
The Ray of intelligent love. This is the ray which
embodies the highest vibration of which our solar Logos or
Deity is capable in this present solar system. It is not
yet vibrating adequately nor has it yet attained the peak
of its activity. It is the basis of the cyclic spiral
movement of the body logoic, and just as the Law of Economy
is the law governing the internal fires of the system so
the cosmic Law of Attraction and Repulsion is the basic law
of this divine Ray.
The Ray of intelligent will. Little as yet can be
said about this ray. It is the ray of cosmic mind and in
its evolution parallels that of cosmic love, but as yet its
vibration is slower and its development more retarded. This
is definitely and deliberately so, and is due to the
underlying purpose and choice of the solar Logos, Who seeks
on His high level (just as do His reflections, the sons of
men) to achieve a more rounded out development, [41] and He
therefore concentrates on the development of cosmic love in
this greater cycle.
This ray is governed by the Law of Synthesis, and is the
basis of the systemic movement which may be best described
as that of driving forward through space, or forward
progression. Little can be predicated anent this ray and
its expression. It controls the movements of the entire
ring-pass-not in connection with its cosmic
center.7
The (following) tabulation on page 42 may make the above
ideas somewhat clearer.
Fire and the Aspects (Tabulation I)
Fire |
Ray |
Aspect |
Expression |
Law |
Quality |
|
1. Internal |
Primordial |
Intelligent Activity |
Rotary motion |
Economy |
Fire by friction. |
2. Of Mind |
Love |
Intelligent Love |
Spiral cyclic motion |
Attraction |
Solar Fire. |
3. Divine Flame |
Will |
Intelligent Will |
Forward Progression |
Synthesis |
Electric Fire. |
These three expressions of the divine Life may be regarded
as expressing the triple mode of manifestation. First, the
objective or tangible universe; second, the subjective
worlds or form; and thirdly, the spiritual aspect which is
to be found at the heart of all.8
The internal fires that animate and vitalize shew
themselves in a twofold manner: [42/43] First as latent
heat. This is the basis of rotary motion and the cause
of the spheroidal coherent manifestation of all existence,
from the logoic atom, the solar ring-pass-not, down to the
minutest atom of the chemist or physicist.
Second, as active heat. This results in the activity
and the driving forward of material evolution. On the
highest plane the combination of these three factors
(active heat, latent heat and the primordial substance
which they animate) is known as the 'sea of fire,' of which
akasha is the first differentiation of pregenetic matter.
Akasha, in manifestation, expresses itself as Fohat, or
divine Energy, and Fohat on the different planes is known
as aether, air, fire, water, electricity, ether, prana and
similar terms. 9, 10, 11 It is the sumtotal [44]
of that which is active, animated, or vitalized, and of all
that concerns itself with the adaptation of the form to the
needs of the inner flame of life.
It might here be useful to point out that magnetism is the
effect of the divine ray in manifestation in the same sense
that electricity is the manifested effect of the primordial
ray of active intelligence. It would be well to ponder on
this for it holds hid a mystery. The fires of the mental
plane also demonstrate in a twofold manner:
- First, as the Fire of Mind, the basis of all
expression and in one peculiar occult sense the sumtotal
of existence. It provides the relation between the life
and the form, between spirit and matter, and is the basis
of consciousness itself.
- Second, as the Elementals of Fire, or the
sumtotal of the active expression of thought, showing
itself through the medium of those entities who, in their
very essence, are fire itself.
These dualities of expression make the four necessary
factors in the logoic quaternary,
12 or the lower
nature of the Logos viewing His manifestation from one
esoteric angle; esoterically, they are the sumtotal of the
logoic quaternary, plus the logoic fifth principle, cosmic
mind.
The divine spark does not as yet manifest (as do the other
two fires) as a duality, though what lies hidden in a later
cycle, evolution alone will disclose. This third fire,
along with the other two, make the necessary five of logoic
evolutionary development and by its perfected merging with
the other two fires as the evolutionary process proceeds is
seen the goal of logoic attainment for this greater cycle
or period of this solar system. [45] When the primordial
ray of intelligent activity, the divine ray of intelligent
love, and the third cosmic ray of intelligent will meet,
blend, merge, and blaze forth, the Logos will take His
fifth initiation, thus completing one of His cycles. When
the rotary, the forward, and the spiral cyclic movements
are working in perfect synthesis then the desired vibration
will have been reached. When the three Laws of Economy, of
Attraction, and of Synthesis work with perfect adjustment
to each other, then nature will perfectly display the
needed functioning, and the correct adaptation of the
material form to the indwelling spirit, of matter to life,
an
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 Vitalizing Fire, which is the
correspondence to fire by friction. This is the sumtotal of
individual kundalini; it animates the corporeal frame and
demonstrates also in the twofold manner:
- First, as latent heat which is the basis of life of
the spheroidal cell, or atom, and of its rotary
adjustment to all other cells.
- Second, as active heat or prana; this animates
all, and is the driving force of the evolving form. It
shows itself in the four ethers and in the gaseous state,
and a correspondence is here found on the physical plane
in connection with man to the Akasha and its fivefold
manifestation on the plane of the solar system.
This fire is the basic vibration of the little system
in which the monad or human spirit is the logos, and it
[46] holds the personality or lower material man in
objective manifestation thus permitting the spiritual unit
to contact the plane of densest matter. It has its
correspondence in the ray of intelligent activity and is
controlled by the Law of Economy in one of its
subdivisions, the Law of Adaptation in Time.
2. There is next the
Fire or Spark of Mind which is
the correspondence in man to solar fire. This constitutes
the thinking self-conscious unit or the soul. This fire of
mind is governed by the Law of Attraction as is its greater
correspondence. Later we can enlarge on this. It is this
spark of mind in man, manifesting as spiral cyclic
activity, which leads to expansion and to his eventual
return to the center of his system, the Monad – the origin
and goal for the reincarnating Jiva or human being. As in
the macrocosm this fire also manifests in a twofold manner.
- It shows as that intelligent will which links the
Monad or spirit with its lowest point of contact, the
personality, functioning through a physical vehicle.
- It likewise demonstrates, as yet imperfectly, as the
vitalizing factor in the thought forms fabricated by the
thinker. As yet but few thought forms, comparatively, can
be said to be constructed by the center of consciousness,
the thinker, the Ego. Few people as yet are in such close
touch with their higher self, or Ego, that they can build
the matter of the mental plane into a form which can be
truly said to be an expression of the thoughts, purpose
or desire of their Ego, functioning through the physical
brain. Most of the thought forms at present in
circulation may be said to be aggregations of matter,
built into form with the aid of kama-manas (or of desire
faintly tinged with mind producing thus an admixture of
astral and mental matter, mostly astral), and largely due
to reflex elemental action.
These dualities of expression are: [47]
- Active fire or prana. Latent fire or bodily
heat.
- Mental energy in the mental body.
Purely mental thought forms, animated by
self-engendered fire, or by the fifth principle, and
therefore part of the sphere, or system of control, of the
Monad. These form an esoteric quaternary which with the
fifth factor, the divine spark of intelligent will, make
the five of monadic manifestation – manifestation in this
case connotating a purely
subjective manifestation
which is neither altogether spiritual nor altogether
material.
3. Finally there is the Monadic Flame Divine. This
embodies the highest vibration of which the Monad is
capable, is governed by the Law of Synthesis, and is the
cause of the forward progressive movement of the evolving
Jiva.
We now come, in due course, to the point of merging or to
the end of manifestation, and to the consummation (viewing
it monadically) of the great cycle or manvantara. What
shall we therefore find? Just as in the macrocosm the
blending of the three essential fires of the cosmos marked
the point of logoic attainment, so, in the blending of the
essential fires of the microcosm, do we arrive at the
apotheosis of human attainment for this cycle.
13 These terms, Lower Self, Higher Self, Divine
Self, are apt to be confusing [48] until the student
apprehends the various synonyms connected with them. The
following table may be found helpful:
Father |
Son |
Mother |
Spirit |
Soul |
Body |
Life |
Consciousness |
Form |
Monad |
Ego |
Personality |
Divine Self |
Higher Self |
Lower Self |
Spirit |
Individuality |
Personal Self |
The Point |
The Triad |
The Quaternary |
Monad |
Solar Angel |
Lunar Lords |
When the latent fire of the personality or lower self
blends with the fire of mind, that of the higher self, and
finally merges with the Divine Flame, then the man takes
the fifth Initiation in this solar system, and has
completed one of his greater cycles.13 When the
three blaze forth as one fire, liberation from matter, or
from material form is achieved. Matter has been correctly
adjusted to spirit, and finally the indwelling life slips
forth out of its sheath which forms now only a channel for
liberation.
III. Fire in Manifestation
To continue our consideration of the fires which sustain
the economy of the visible solar system, and of the visible
objective human being, which produce evolutionary
development, and which are the bases of all objective
efflorescence, it must be noted that they demonstrate as
the sumtotal of the vital life of a solar system, of a
planet, of the entire constitution of active functioning
man upon the physical plane, and of the atom of substance.
Speaking broadly we would say that the first fire deals
entirely with:
- Activity of matter.
- The rotary motion of matter.
- The development of matter by the means of friction,
under the law of Economy. H.P.B. touches on this in the
Secret Doctrine.14
14 See S. D., I, 169, 562, 567, 569; II, 258,
390, 547, 551, 552.
15 In the Study of Consciousness Mrs. Besant
says (page 37): "Consciousness is the one reality, in the
fullest sense of that much-used phrase; it follows from
this that any reality found anywhere is drawn from
consciousness. Hence, everything which is thought, is. That
consciousness in which everything is, everything literally,
"possible" as well as "actual" – actual being that which is
thought of as existent by a separated consciousness in time
and space, and possible all that which is not so being
thought of at any period in time and any point in space –
we call Absolute Consciousness. It is the All, the Eternal,
the Infinite, the Changeless. Consciousness, thinking time
and space, and of all forms as existing in them in
succession and in places, is the Universal Consciousness,
the One, called by the Hindu the Saguna Brahman – the
Eternal with attributes – the Pratyag-Atma – the Inner
Self; by the Parsi, Hormuzd; by the Mussulman, Allah.
Consciousness dealing with a definite time, however long or
short, with a definite space, however vast or restricted,
is individual, that of a concrete Being, a Lord of many
universes, or a universe or of any so-called portion of a
universe, his portion and to him therefore a universe –
these terms varying as to extent with the power of the
consciousness; so much of the universal thought as a
separate consciousness can completely think, i.e., on which
he can impose his own reality, can think of as existing
like himself, is his universe."
16 Universal consciousness, manifesting as
consciousness in time and space, as Mrs. Besant so ably
expresses it, includes all forms of activity and spiral
cyclic evolution from the standpoint of cosmic evolution,
and in terms of absolute consciousness, may again be
rotary.
The
second fire, that from the cosmic mental plane,
deals with:
- The expression of the evolution of mind or
manas.
- The vitality of the soul.
- The evolutionary expression of the soul as it shows
forth in the form of that elusive something which brings
about the synthesis of matter. As the two merge by means
of this active energizing factor, that which is termed
consciousness appears.15 As [49] the
merging proceeds and the fires become more and more
synthesized, that totality of manifestation which we
regard as a conscious existence becomes ever more
perfected.
- The operation of this fire under the Law of
Attraction.
- The subsequent result in the spiral-cyclic movement
which we call, within the system, solar evolution, but
which (from the standpoint of a cosmos) is the
approximation of our system to its central point. This
must be considered from the standpoint of
time.16
The
third fire deals with:
- The evolution of spirit.
Practically nothing can at this stage be communicated
anent this evolution. The development of spirit can be
only expressed as yet in terms of the evolution of
matter, and only through the adequacy of the vehicle, and
through the suitability of the sheath, the body or form,
can the point of [50] spiritual development reached in
any way be appraised. A word of warning should here be
interpolated: Just as it is not possible upon the
physical plane for the physical vehicle fully to express
the total point of development of the Ego or higher self,
so it is not possible even for the Ego fully to sense and
express the quality of spirit. Hence the utter
impossibility for human consciousness justly to appraise
the life of the spirit or Monad.
- The working of the flame divine under the Law of
Synthesis – a generic term which will be seen eventually
to include the other two laws as subdivisions.
- The subsequent result of forward progressive motion –
a motion which is rotary, cyclic and progressive.
The whole matter dealt with in this Treatise concerns the
subjective essence of the solar system, not primarily
either the objective or spiritual aspect. It concerns the
Entities who indwell the form, who demonstrate as animating
factors through the medium of matter, and primarily through
etheric matter; who are evolving a second faculty, the fire
of mind, and who are essentially themselves points of fire,
cast off through cosmic friction, produced by the turning
of the cosmic wheel, swept into temporary limited
manifestation and due eventually to return to their central
cosmic center. They will return plus the results of
evolutionary growth, and through assimilation they will
have intensified their fundamental nature, and be spiritual
fire plus the fire manasic.
The internal fire of matter is called in the Secret
Doctrine "Fire by Friction." It is an effect and
not a cause, It is produced by the two fires of spirit and
of mind (electric and solar fire) contacting each other
through the medium of matter. This energy demonstrates in
[51] matter itself as the internal fires of the sun, and of
the planets and finds a reflection in the internal fires of
man. Man is the Flame Divine and the fire of Mind brought
into contact through the medium of substance or form. When
evolution ends, the fire of matter is not cognizable. It
persists only when the other two fires are associated, and
it does not persist apart from substance itself.
Let us now briefly recognize certain facts regarding fire
in matter and let us take them in order, leaving time to
elucidate their significance. First we might say that the
internal fire being both latent and active, shows itself as
the synthesis of the acknowledged fires of the system, and
demonstrates, for instance, as solar radiation and inner
planetary combustion. This subject has been somewhat
covered by science, and is hidden in the mystery of
physical plane electricity, which is an expression of the
active internal fires of the system and of the planet just
as inner combustion is an expression of the latent internal
fires. These latter fires are to be found in the interior
of each globe, and are the basis of all objective physical
life.
Secondly, we might note that the internal fires are the
basis of life in the lower three kingdoms of nature, and in
the fourth or human kingdom in connection with the two
lower vehicles. The Fire of Mind, when blended with the
internal fires, is the basis of life in the fourth kingdom,
and united they control (partially now and later entirely)
the lower threefold man or the personality; this control
lasts up to the time of the first Initiation.
The fire of Spirit finally, when blended with the two other
fires (which blending commences in man at the first
initiation), forms a basis of spiritual life or existence.
As evolution proceeds in the fifth or spiritual kingdom,
these three fires blaze forth simultaneously, producing
perfected consciousness. This blaze results in the final
[52] purification of matter and its consequent adequacy; at
the close of manifestation it brings about eventually the
destruction of the form and its dissolution, and the
termination of existence as understood on the lower planes.
In terms of Buddhistic theology it produces annihilation;
this involves, not loss of identity, but the cessation of
objectivity and the escape of Spirit, plus mind, to its
cosmic center. It has its analogy in the initiation at
which the adept stands free from the limitations of matter
in the three worlds.
The internal fires of the system, of the planet, and of man
are threefold:
1. Interior fire at the center of the sphere, those inner
furnaces which produce warmth. This is latent fire.
2. Radiatory fire. This type of fire might be expressed in
terms of physical plane electricity, of light rays, and of
etheric energy. This is active fire.
3. Essential fire, or the fire elementals who are
themselves the essence of fire. They are mainly divided
into two groups:
- Fire devas or evolutionary entities.
- Fire elementals or involutionary entities.
Later we will elaborate on this when we consider the
Fire of Mind and deal with the nature of the thought
elementals. All these elementals and devas are under the
control of the fire Lord, Agni. When considering Him and
His kingdom the subject can be taken up at greater length.
We might here point out, however, that our first two
statements concerning the internal fires, express the
effect that the fire entities have upon their
environment. Heat and radiation are other terms which might
be applied in this sense. Each of these effects produces a
[53] different class of phenomena. Latent fire causes the
active growth of that in which it is embedded and causes
that upward pushing which brings into manifestation all
that is found in the kingdoms of nature. Radiatory fire
causes the continued growth of that which has progressed,
under the influence of latent fire, to a point receptive of
the radiatory. Let us tabulate it thus:
Systemic or Macrocosmic: The solar Logos or The
Grand Man of the Heavens. Latent or interior fire produces
the internal heat which makes the solar system productive
of all forms of life. It is the inherent warmth that causes
all fertilization, whether human, animal, or vegetable.
Active or radiatory fire retains in life and causes the
evolution of all that has evolved into objectivity by means
of latent fire.
Planetary, or the Heavenly Men: What is laid down
anent the system, as a whole, can be predicated of all
planets which in their nature reflect the Sun, their elder
brother.
Human, or the Microcosmic Man: Human latent fire,
the heat interior of the human frame causes production of
other forms of life, such as:
- The physical body cells.
- Organisms nourished by the latent heat.
- The reproduction of itself in other human forms, the
basis of the sex function.
Human radiatory, or active fire, is a factor as yet
but little comprehended; it relates to the health aura and
to that radiation from the etheric which makes a man a
healer, and able to transmit active heat.
It is necessary to differentiate between this radiation
from the etheric, which is a radiation of prana, and
magnetism, which is an emanation from a subtler body
(usually the astral), and has to do with the manifestation
of [54] the Divine Flame within the material sheaths. The
Divine Flame is formed on the second plane, the monadic,
and magnetism (which is a method of demonstrating radiatory
fire) is therefore felt paramountly on the fourth and sixth
planes, or through the buddhic and astral vehicles. These
are, as we know, closely allied to the second plane. This
distinction is of importance and should be carefully
recognized.
Having, therefore, made the above statements, we can
proceed to take up somewhat in greater detail the interior
fires of the systems, microcosmic and macrocosmic. [55]