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A Treatise on Cosmic Fire - Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals
c. On Incarnation

(a.) Cosmic, Planetary and Human

We leave now the consideration of self-consciousness, as it is produced through the medium of the particular type of deva substance which the Agnishvattas provided for the body of the Ego, and pass on to the study of incarnation, cosmic, planetary and human. A hint as to the constitution of these solar Pitris and Manasadevas may come to the student who ponders upon the place of the egoic unit in the body of the planetary Logos, and in the particular center of which it forms a component part. These Manasadevas and Dhyan Chohans who produce self-consciousness in man are indeed the energy and substance of the cosmic Heavenly Man.

The word "incarnation" in its root meaning conveys the fundamental truth involved in the taking of a dense physical body, and should technically be applied only to that period of manifestation which concerns the three lower subplanes of the:

  1. Cosmic physical plane, in relation to a solar Logos and to a planetary Logos.
  2. Systemic physical plane, in relation to man.

This connotation has been preserved where the cosmic entities are concerned, but when man is under consideration the term has been applied to the unification of the etheric double with the dense physical body, or to the appropriation by man of the vehicle composed of the [733] substance of the lowest subplane of the cosmic physical plane in its lowest aspects. This distinction has a certain significance and should be remembered. This appropriation is governed by the same laws which governed the appropriation by the Logos of His physical vehicle. In order to get an idea of what the procedure is, it might be of value if we considered the different kinds of pralaya, and pondered upon those periods which ensue between incarnations. From the point of view of any unit involved, a pralaya is a period of quiescence, of cessation from a particular type of activity, involving objectivity, yet from the point of view of the great whole with which the unit may be involved, a pralaya may be considered merely as a transference of force from one direction into another. Though the unit may be temporarily devitalized as regards its form, yet the greater Entity persists, and is still active.

Let us take up the matter first from the human standpoint, and study pralaya as it affects the Monad in incarnation. 44 There are five types of pralaya with which we may legitimately concern ourselves. We should notice first the fact that this condition is primarily one that concerns the relationship between Spirit and matter, in which a condition in substance is brought about through the action of the energizing factor, the Spirit. It has, therefore, to do with the relation of the greater devas as They carry out Their work of form-building [734] under the Law of Will of God to the lesser devas who represent living substance. It will be apparent to the student that it concerns the relation of the Holy Spirit to the Mother in the production of the Son, and then the relation of the Son to the Mother. If the ideas formulated in this treatise have been carefully followed, it will be obvious that in studying the question of pralaya, we are studying the relation (in time and space) of the positive energy of the solar Logos, the planetary Logos, and of Man to the substance through which alone manifestation is possible. Through this relation, existence on the objective planes can be brought about.


44 There are fundamentally three kinds of Pralaya. See S. D, I, 397-398.

  1. Solar pralaya. This comes at the end of one hundred years of Brahma. It marks reabsorption into unity. It marks end of manifestation of solar system. Concerns the solar Logos.
  2. Incidental pralaya. This succeeds the days of Brahma. It marks periods between manvantaras. Temporary form ceases but duality remains. Concerns a planetary Logos.
  3. Individual pralaya. Achieved by a man at the fifth initiation. Marks attainment of perfection. Concerns the monad.

There is also the pralaya in connection with human evolution which we call devachanic. It concerns the personality.

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