AGNI - Way Of Fire

SECTION TWO - STUDY

Chapter One - Introductory Notes

The keynote of the new yoga will be synthesis; its objective will be conscious development of the intuitive faculty. This development will fall into two categories: first, the development of the intuition and of true spiritual perception, and secondly, the trained utilisation of the mind as an interpreting agent.

In the book Agni Yoga, some of the teaching to be given has filtered through but only from the angle of the will aspect. No book has as yet made its appearance which gives in any form whatsoever the "yoga of synthesis" (TOWM p.429)

This current work is a treatise on Agni Yoga approached from the angle of the Second Aspect. The attempt is to provide a synthetic approach in consciousness to the Life Aspect using triadal awareness. Therefore the foundation of the approach is to be found upon the atmic plane and is derived from the Will emanating from the ashram of the Master Morya. This is the Will to register the teaching within the incarnated consciousness of humanity. This Will is primarily invisible however and is revealed via the comprehensive intuitive grasp of the Plan as it is distributed through the ashram of Koot Humi (and in particular the Master Djwhal Khul) and the particularised understanding of the detailed manifestation of that Plan via the ashram of the Master Rakoczi upon the higher mental plane. These three ashrams operating together, express the energy of synthesis.

In order to work consciously with this energy of synthesis, some significant changes in the approach to study by the student are required. While the direction of the teaching proceeds from the top down, the registration of it in the mind of man works from below up. Accordingly many details have been seeded into human consciousness via the work of the Masters over the last two centuries and in particular, in the trans-Himalayan tradition via the teachings through H.P. Blavatsky and Alice A. Bailey. These works have laid the foundation for occult science by providing a detailed understanding of the spiritual perspective. HPB provided an initiating impulse which drove a wedge into the prevailing materialism of the western mind, opening it up to a reorientation of perspective. Humans have a spiritual origin and that origin can be grasped and known by the mind of man. AAB provided the psychological key to this understanding by bringing through a vast and intellectually comprehensive map of the processes by which this spiritual origin is working out on Earth via the human kingdom.

Firstly we have the reorientation of the mind, its equipping with spiritual information and then the conversion of this knowledge to wisdom via the initiatory process. The next step is the synthesing of this wisdom in such a way that it reveals the Will that lies behind consciousness altogether. The doorway to this revelation is on the atmic plane, just as the doorway to spiritual consciousness is on the mental plane.
The key to the development of the synthetic approach was given in the final section of A Treatise on Cosmic Fire:

In connection with this final section...dealing with the Electric Fire of Spirit it should be remembered that it will be quite impossible to impart information of a definite character; this subject is considered (from the standpoint of the esoteric student) to be devoid of form and therefore incognisable by the lower concrete mind. The nature of Spirit can only be intelligibly revealed to the higher grades of the initiates, that is, to those who (through the medium of the work effected in the third Initiation) have been put in conscious contact with their "Father in Heaven," the Monad.

…The student of the new era will approach much that he has to master through the medium of the eye, learning thereby to appreciate and solve that which is presented to him in the form of lines and diagrams. All is symbol and these symbols must be mastered. (TCF 1229 & 1231)

Throughout this book a number of charts are used in an attempt to convey an appreciation of consciousness or the Second Aspect as it works through and conditions the Third Aspect of matter. We are in the second solar system and the principle of Love-Wisdom is being generated out of the impact of the energies of the First Logos upon the Third.
DK has said that the portrayal of states of consciousness as ‘planes’ placed one upon the other was almost obsolete and this is because it is primarily a 'Third Aspect' representation. In this teaching I am attempting to integrate the Second Aspect with the Third by introducing more fully the use of spheres.

The basic thought-form for the second system embodies the green swastika of the first manifestation, and adds to it concentric and interlaced circles in blue, in groups of three, linked by one large circle. (TCF 573)

The planes, while useful, have perpetuated the idea of ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ according to a linear view. They give the false impression of hierarchies of beings and states of consciousness sitting ‘one on top of another’ instead of the interpenetrating fields of energy which they truly are.
In working with the charts in this book it should be realised that:

• The charts require the faculty of contemplation as well as analysis.
• The planes refer primarily to the vibrational gradations of matter while the spheres represent the conscious expressing through the form. The planes are best understood through manas, the spheres require buddhi. By linking them together we balance the two 'eyes' as the divine hermaphrodite and the purpose operating through their fusion is revealed.

The following distinctions with respect to consciousness will also be useful:

• Matter consciousness—the intelligence of substance itself. There is devic life and therefore 'intelligent substance' on all the planes and often confusion in the minds of students between the devas of the lower three planes and those on higher planes. This confusion is a result of the current state in the evolution of self consciousness. This matter consciousness is related to the devas.

• Self consciousness—the awareness of the entity who is expressing through the devic life of the planes. Self consciousness implies 'choice' and therefore the cooperation or non cooperation of these self conscious lives with the Purpose of the entity in which they form a part. This consciousness is related to the hierarchies.

• Group consciousness—the united directed awareness of groups of self-conscious lives operating together to form centres within the ring-pass-not of the entity in which they live, move and have their being. This consciousness is related to the rays and to the Heavenly Men.

• God consciousness—the synthetic directed awareness of the entity who is attempting to pervade all lesser lives within its sphere of responsibility and manifestation. This consciousness is related to the Solar Logos.

In relating consciousness with form then we are seeking to relate the rays to the planes via the Hierarchies within the solar sphere.
In Letters on Occult Meditation we have the following indication of this new direction:

Some day some student of colour and of the Divine Wisdom should compile a large chart of the seven planes, and superimposed upon those planes should be placed a seven-coloured serpent of wisdom. If correctly drawn to scale some interesting geometrical patterns will be found as the circles cut across the planes, and some impression will be conveyed occularly of the complexity of the matter of the seven rays...... (LOM, p.212)

In the preceding chart the circles are a simple division of the cosmic physical plane into 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. While still somewhat two-dimensional it conveys something of the idea. Note the places of intersection between the different circles—for example divisions 3, 4 and 5 on the higher atmic and lower mental. Divisions 2, 4 and 6 in the centre of the buddhic plane.

For the purposes of this treatise we will confine ourselves to the development of a simple and progressive revelation of the energies of the rays and planes as they work together. We will attempt to build gradually on what has been given before so that the antahkarana of understanding is not broken. Eventually however it should be possible to create comprehensive three-dimensional models of this interaction which include rotational direction and movement that can be examined from every angle. A two-dimensional example of the increasing complexity is shown in Figure 13 below.

In connection with these two types of spheres we might, by way of illustration and for the sake of clarity, say that:
a. The planes rotate from east to west.
b. The rays rotate from north to south.
Students should here bear carefully in mind that we are not referring here to points in space; we are simply making this distinction and employing words in order to make an abstruse idea more comprehensible. From the point of view of the totality of the rays and planes there is no north, south, east nor west. But at this point comes a correspondence and a point of real interest, though also of complexity. By means of this very interaction, the work of the four Maharajahs or Lords of Karma, is made possible; the quaternary and all sumtotals of four can be seen as one of the basic combinations of matter, produced by the dual revolutions of planes and rays. (TCF p.153)

In the above chart we must also conceive of two more dark blue spheres contained within the ring-pass-not: One above the page and one beneath, making three vertical spheres and four horizontal. All the spheres are rotating and one can begin to glimpse the way in which the model of rays and planes is not dissimilar from that of schemes and chains.
Having introduced the theme of interpenetrating rays and planes and encouraged a more three-dimensional way of approaching them, I would like to introduce you to a slightly more complex interaction of these two essential ingredients of consciousness and form. This approach views the ray energies as synthesising consciousness on different planes.

The rays in effect group the Hierarchical lives operating on the different planes into entities of different magnitude. So for example, in Figure 14 we have the Third Ray synthesing consciousness on the lower five planes (which relates to the third solar system), the Second Ray synthesing the lower six (the monadic plane as synthetic plane in this system), and so on. When a ray influence predominates then we can expect the consciousness of entities that span several planes to be put together in specific ways. For example, we currently have a focus on the incoming Seventh Ray which tends to synthesise consciousness in each plane. The Aquarian influence adds to the emphasis upon the physical plane—systemic and cosmic.

We must remember that when considering the cosmic planes, the red sphere that represents the grouped consciousness of the whole cosmic physical plane becomes the violet sphere within the greater whole. This reveals the intimate relationship between the First and Seventh Rays

.

When we examine the planes through the lens of a particluar ray influence, our attention is drawn to different combinations of consciousness. For example in Figure 15a the Fifth Ray influence draws our attention to the three-fold divisions of Spirit-Soul-Personality, while in Figure 15b the Fourth Ray focuses our attention on the Spirit/Matter duality.

The next step is to ‘propagate’ the spheres within the ring-pass-not of the seven planes. When dealing with the Second Ray there are two spheres that can encompass six planes; with the Third Ray there are three spheres that can each cover five planes, and so on. Each spherical division can give us specific information about the synthesis of consciousness within that sphere.

When all of the rays are considered, we have in total 28 (7!) distinguishable spheres of activity on the planes. Compare this with the chart on the Pleroma by Valentinus (TCF 226). "Such are the Contents of the Pleroma or Completion, the Ideas in the Divine Mind, 28 in all..." Remember also that there are 28 stars in Capricorn and 28 groups found on the third subplane of the mental plane.
While much information is conveyed intuitively by examining the patterns as a whole, the key to using these patterns to increase our specific understanding of the way consciousness expresses on the planes, is to focus on one portion of the overall map, allowing us to relate the Hierarchies involved in revealing ways.
Note the focus on the central three and five planes which is generated out of the relationship of rays 1, 2 and 3 in Figure 17a. A 'bull's eye' can be generated from the 1,3,5,7 combination in 17b and the even numbered rays express an essential duality in 17c.

Perhaps the most significant combination of ray energies relevant to the current study is the combination of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Rays. These are the rays of the triad and it is triadal consciousness that we are trying to develop.

Finally, the student should very carefully study here the significance of the numbers three, four and five in the evolution of consciousness. Numerology has hitherto been studied primarily, and rightly, from the substance aspect, but not so much from the standpoint of conscious energy. (TCF, p.695)

Figure 18a shows all the interactions of these rays on the seven planes. Figure 18b focuses particularly on their interaction to create the triad.
If we remember that these ray energies relate specifically to group entities which are the result of the united functioning of Hierarchies we may be able to identify some of these entities.
The Third Ray energies divide the seven planes into a higher five, a lower five and a central five. Fourth Ray energies give us four spheres each covering four planes, and the Fifth Ray five spheres each of three planes. All these divisions provide us with twelve ‘entities’ for that is in effect what they are, illustrating various ways in which the Creative Hierarchies group themselves and interact.
Lets try and get a sense of some of these groupings. Some of them are well-known to us while others are more mysterious.

Groupings of Three—Ray 5 (orange circles)

In Figure 18b we have the well known spheres of:
the personality
the triad
the monad

This is an essential grouping that creates the nine-fold expression of consciousness on the seven planes.
As to the interim circles in Figure 18a both seem to be related in some way to Agni.
The following quote relates to the fourth, five and sixth planes, although in Esoteric Astrology (p.36) the count is from the bottom up and refers to the Hierarchies on the cosmic astral—we will deal with this more later.

Three hierarchies are, in this mahamanvantara, of profound significance, the fourth or human Creative Hierarchy, and the two deva hierarchies, the fifth and sixth.

The fourth Hierarchy in the larger scheme is literally the ninth, for five hierarchies have earlier passed on and are considered as pure abstractions. In this system concretion concerns us, and the blending of form and of energy into one coherent whole. In the ninth, tenth and eleventh Hierarchies lie the clue to the nature of Agni, the Lord of fire, the sumtotal of systemic vitality. He who understands the significance of these figures, and their relation to each other as the triple division of a Unity in time and space will have discovered one of the keys which will unlock a door hitherto fast closed. (TCF, pp.605-6)

As to the triplicity on the second, third and fourth subplanes:

I would point out that the Lord Agni shows forth His fiery life on the atomic subplane of each plane; He shows forth as solar fire on the second, third and fourth, and as 'fire by friction' on the fifth, sixth and seventh. (TCF, p.521)

Note how all the Fifth Ray divisions seem to have a relationship with Agni—we will find out why in due course.

Groupings of Four—Ray 4 (yellow spheres)

In Fig 18 (b) the lower circle has to do with man in incarnation:

Thus it can be seen that where man is concerned, the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh hierarchies are, during the cycle of incarnation, his very self. (TCF 1200)

While the highest sphere is the four cosmic ethers. Together they make up the duality of Spirit/Matter.
The two middle circles in Figure 18a are harder to identify, but one links the atmic and astral planes (the link between Rays Three and Six?) while the other links the monadic with the mental (the link between Rays Two and Five?) Another quote from A Treatise on Cosmic Fire may also have relevance here:

In the process of treading that Path and of achieving the goal, man is resolved into the five-pointed star, finally into the triangle of Spirit. Between these two stages is a mysterious esoteric stage wherein he is resolved into the four,—not this time the four of the lower quaternary, but a higher four. (TCF, p.400)

Groupings of Five—Ray 3 (green circles)

The lower five planes refer to the five planes of human and superhuman evolution.

All soul-infused personalities are creating the human antahkarana which will unite, in an indissoluble unity, the three aspects or energies of the Spiritual Triad and the three aspects of the soul-infused personality in the three worlds. In time to come, the phrase "life in the three worlds" will be discontinued; men will talk in terms of "life in the five worlds of the manifested Kingdom of God.” (DINAII, p.409)

The higher five planes concern the manifestation of a Heavenly Man and the central five concern man, the perfected manasaputra once the physical body is discarded.

This should be enough to get the basic idea. The understanding of the way the rays and planes interact is a key to unlocking many of the passages in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire that refer to the operation of the Hierarchies upon the various planes.
Let us return for a moment to the three primary divisions of three generated from the Fifth Ray. Figure 19 is a reproduction of Figure 1 which we looked at in the meditation section. The large red circle represents the consciousness of the whole seven planes, and I have coloured the smaller circles red, blue and green to illustrate the Three Aspects as they express in these particular entities.

The many seeming paradoxes contained within the teaching concerning colour and number can be somewhat resolved by the attempt to determine which entities are being discussed and what the relative relationship is between them.
For example, when talking about ‘the three’, confining the discussion to the manifestation of a human being illustrated in this particular chart, the following possibilities are evident:

• The three aspects of the monad.
• The three of monad, soul and personality.
• The three aspects of the triad.
• The three aspects of the personality.

This example illustrates what I call the Law of Relative Identity which states that you can only interpret the colour or number or function of an entity when you understand the relationship of that entity to those around it and containing it. The lower aspect of the Fifth Ray would like to have everything tidily in boxes behaving predictably; rays assigned to chakras to planes to planets in one coherent and repeatable system. The many paradoxes in the presentation of the teaching are most frustrating to those held in the concrete mind. The higher aspect of the Fifth Ray understands that all depends upon ‘relationship’, and that paradoxes merely indicate that a level of relationship has yet to be grasped in context.

For example in Figure 19 it will be seen that atma and manas are both dual, being both the First Aspect of one trinity and the Third Aspect of another. For this reason they are represented as being both red and green in a three-colour system. They are planes where the great cry of identity ‘I am’ rings out—first in mastery of a lesser trinity and then in humility as the greater trinity is recognised and the identity is transferred. Their dual nature has a correspondence to the duality of the solar plexus and throat centres. Under different ray energies however they can operate as Second Aspect or relational planes—for example the mental plane operates as the centre or ‘heart’ of the five-fold manifestation of man.
Other points to note in the chart: Planes 1, 3 and 5 are linked in that they all represent the First Aspect in one sense. Planes 2, 4 and 6 are all considered ‘hearts’ in some sense and relate to the second system. Planes 3, 5 and 7 together represent the Third Aspect. Planes 1 and 7 are polar opposites, each representing a relatively ‘pure’ expression of one Aspect—they turn into each other as the focus shifts from cosmic to systemic and back, as already pointed out.
Careful examination of the chart will also reveal the 1, 3, 7 and 10.

The lower six of nine are eventually synthesised in the seventh, being the Third Aspect of the primary triad in the same way in which Saturn synthesises the schemes. Atma is the ‘mountain’ top of the five worlds where the fires of consciousness and matter blend. There is a curious relationship here between exoteric and esoteric Saturn, the throat and alta major centres. We will explore the duality of the mental plane more fully later.
We might also pause with this chart to consider another key which I call the Law of Reflective Action, which describes the phenomena of ‘inversion’ that occurs when the ‘light’ of higher planes is thrown into the lower without a consciously functioning antahkarana. The primary reflection on the cosmic physical plane is generated by viewing the buddhic plane as a double mirror. Atma then is reflected into manas, the monadic into the astral and the logoic into the etheric/physical planes. In The Secret Doctrine HPB expresses this phenomenon in her explanation of the old Kabbalistic adage, ‘Demon est Deus Inversus’:

Demon est Deus inversus, being a very old adage. Indeed, evil is but an antagonizing blind force in nature; it is reaction, opposition, and contrast, —evil for some, good for others. There is no malum in se: only the shadow of light, without which light could have no existence, even in our perceptions. If evil disappeared, good would disappear along with it from Earth. (SD 1, p.414)

The reflection of the ‘essential self’, the monad, into the astral plane is one of the reasons that the pull of emotions is so strong and why many are so reluctant to leave them, as if they were abandoning their ‘true’ self. The unconscious seeking of spiritual identity in addiction also has its roots here. In the search for our ‘daimon’ (Plato's expression for that which holds the soul’s purpose), we can end up dancing with our ‘demon’. The crucial importance of the soul is highlighted here. It is the linking mechanism that can relate the personality to the monad in a conscious manner.
We are told that in order to relate the monad to his reflection two connecting principles are needed:

There are two statements in the Secret Doctrine which are often overlooked by the casual reader but which, if duly pondered upon, convey much information. Let us make note of these two statements:
1. Two connecting principles are needed. This requires a living spiritual Fire of the middle principle from the Fifth and third states of Pleroma. This fire is the possession of the Triangles.
2. These Beings are Nirvanis from a preceding Mahamanvantara. (TCF, p.681)

Also we are told that our mental plane is the reflection of the third and fifth states of Pleroma in the three worlds. (TCF, p.683)

We are here on the edge of a deep mystery which we will explore further later. It concerns the five liberated Hierarchies who developed manas in the previous solar system (whose collective symbol is a blazing altar of pure fire out of which is escaping a bird of green and gold plumage with five wings outspread) and the functioning of the Lord of the Fifth Ray (one of whose symbols is an inverted five pointed star with a triangle in the centre).

I hope I have given enough in these notes to assist the reader in viewing the rays and planes in a more synthetic way and to emphasise the importance of the Fifth Ray, aided by the Fourth and Third, to our study of Agni. The Fifth Ray is crucial to the Third Initiation when the human soul is able to fuse with the personality through the wise and loving understanding of the form.

The Fifth Purpose of Deity

The thunders crash around the mountain top; dark clouds conceal the form. The mists, arising from the watery sphere, serve to distort the wondrous......found within the secret place. The form is there. Its note is sounding forth.

A beam of light illuminates the form; the hidden now appears. Knowledge of God and how He veils Himself finds consummation in the thoughts of man. The energies and forces receive their secret names, reveal their inner purpose, and all is seen as rhythm, a returning on itself. The great scroll can now be read. God's purpose and His plans are fixed, and man can read the form.

The plan takes form. The plan is form. Its purpose is the revelation of the mind of God. The past reveals the form, but the present indicates the flowing in of energy.

That which is on its way comes as a cloud which veils the sun. But hid behind this cloud of immanence is love, and on the earth is love and in the heaven is love, and this,—the love which maketh all things new—must stand revealed. This is the purpose back of all the acts of this great Lord of Knowledge. (EPI, p.75)

To CHAPTER TWO