The Solar Initiation | Elementals | Animal Monads
G. de P. — I would like to point out a fact that may be illuminating to you in connection with the "incarnation" of the manasaputras. When a chela of higher degree is prepared to undertake one of the higher initiations — and I am thinking specifically of the initiation occurring at the time of the winter solstice — and is successful in passing the trials, then on the return of his peregrinating spirit-soul from the cosmic spaces he returns not as he went out, but more accurately he returns as he went out plus the companionship of a divinity which returns with him and abides with him for a period more or less long, depending primarily upon the grade of the new initiate, or rather the initiant, and depending also upon a number of other factors.
The divinity that returns with him, as a guest of his own constitution, fills the new initiate with the divinity's own divine flame, so that it appears as if the initiate's very body burned with the holy light. From every part of his being he radiates light. His body actually shines with the light of the sun, for indeed it is a sun-god who for the time being has imbodied itself in the new initiant's own higher manasic parts and thus infills him; so that when the newly created initiate rises from his trance, he does so literally as a man-god, a man with his higher parts temporarily fully awakened, and at the same time suffering, in the technical sense of the word, that is being the carriage of the solar god who has returned with him. The twain live for a while together as one. The solar god has inflamed the higher parts of the higher parts of the constitution of the neophyte; so that actually for a number of days or weeks, or months it may be, the man moves about as an incarnate god-man awakened to his own divinity, and likewise being the carrier of the still higher divinity unto whom he was joined when he reached the sun.
After the few hours, the few days, weeks or months, the divinity retires, returns to the sun; and the man thereafter is indeed a god-man who was, and who will be a god-man again, but no longer — at least for the time being — the carrier of the solar divinity. Nevertheless that solar divinity for the remainder of the incarnated life of the initiate infills him and clothes him with a ray from itself. This is exactly the way in which buddhas become: become such of course by their own self-devised efforts in the first instance; nevertheless it is thus that they become true buddhas because a ray of the buddhic splendor of a solar god infills them. A true buddha has this theopathy, to use the technical term, throughout his life, although the fact may not be perceptible to those who surround the buddha — at least not perceptible to all. Now then, in almost exactly similar way, but in less degree of intensity, did the manasaputras inflame the sleeping minds of the child-humanity of the third root-race on this fourth globe in this fourth round.
-------
This is indeed a very difficult theme; and yet I have often wondered why it should be found to be so difficult. Let me try to explain very briefly just what elementals are. According to our esoteric teaching, which is the doctrine taught in the Mystery-schools, the universe is built up of elements, i.e., of fundamental element-principles. As the entire universe is animate, full of life and lives, these fundamental elements or element-principles are compacted and builded of lives — not merely living in them, but these lives verily form or compose these fundamental elements. Now those entities or lives of these elements, which are the first remove from homogeneity in any of the elements, are what are called elementals — in other words entities just beginning to evolve into greater complexity of consciousness and structure. They too are beings growing from unself-conscious god-sparks in order finally to reach self-conscious godhood, and thereafter to take a self-conscious part in the labor of the universe.
Now then, the elementals really can be looked upon as the building bricks, or individualized substantial particles of energy-substance, belonging to the seven ranges of prakriti, and therefore of the universe. Everything in the prakriti or substantial side of the universe reposes on the three kingdoms of the elementals. From this point of view the elementals correspond to the life-atoms in our own bodies, because these life-atoms themselves are of seven or ten different classes corresponding to the seven ranges of prakriti, and therefore to the seven or ten cosmic elements. These life-atoms in our bodies build our bodies, and are used by the various monads composing the sevenfold, or tenfold, constitution of man. Hence, there are elementals which compose or are the foundation of every one of man's seven principles.
The elementals, therefore, in the aggregate are the forces of nature as well as the substances of nature. When acting aggregatively as energies they are forces, and when acting aggregatively as bodies they are the substances of nature. It is quite erroneous to look upon the elementals as beings merely living in nature, and as not forming nature; and it is also erroneous to consider them in a weird or spooky way, as mere little ghostlings flitting around us. The elementals are the inhabitants of the elements; and all beings more evolved than the elementals use these elementals for everything that these more evolved beings do or are.
The elementals may be also called the nature forces, or nature spirits, because all nature being conscious in greater or less degree, whatever takes place however seemingly unconscious, actually is brought about by the deliberate or unconscious action of elementals, either acting for themselves or as the vehicles of higher intelligences.
Therefore is it said that some of the elementals in the universe are friendly to man, because man happens to be at the certain point of his evolution where these particular elementals aid him. Other elementals are said to be unfriendly to man — not because the elementals themselves are evil, or wickedly wish to do evil to man, but simply because man happens to be in such an evolutionary position at the present time that these elementals automatically react unfavorably on him. As an instance, a draught of cold air may give a man a chill. This is not the fault of the elementals involved, but the fault of the man who remains in the cold draught thus exposing himself to this particular type of automatic elemental action. But there are elementals on all the planes of prakriti, and therefore on all the planes of man's constitution. Consequently there are manasic elementals, and kamic elementals, etc.; and some of these elementals belonging to the higher grades of prakriti can do man great injury unless the man is watchful and resists their action which he can always do by reason of his masterful will and high intelligence.
Now there are also elementals which have reached a point in their own evolution where they seek and can have imbodiments on our earth; and these are the classes of elementals which are much more evolved than other classes. Consequently they form the various orders and families of the animate beings below man, commonly spoken of as the higher vegetables, the insects, and the beasts. They are imbodied elementals, all of them; the beasts are highly evolved elementals; the insects are less evolved elementals. We humans also at one time in our far past evolution passed through the elemental stage, and obviously then were elementals.
The elementals of fire can be very friendly to man when he uses them properly; but they can become bitter foes of his, most dangerous enemies. The fire elementals can burn down his house, or burn the man's body; but it would be foolish to say that because the fire elementals automatically act according to their nature, they are wicked, or that they are fundamentally unfriendly to man. Taking the elementals of the four lower and best known classes, the salamanders, the sylphs, the undines, and the gnomes, it is probably the sylphs, the elementals of the air, which to man in his present state of evolution are the most dangerous of all, because for some strange reason they seem to have a peculiar psychological effect on the kama part of his constitution.
Finally, the elementals, being the inhabitants of the respective elements, themselves exist in orders, in families, and in various species. They actually compose the seven prakritis or elements of nature; and these seven cosmic elements are the great reservoirs of beings who in these elements begin their evolutionary march upwards to divinity. The elementals are therefore again partially individualized entities, baby souls in the school of life. Ordinarily they work in groups or in waves or flows; but quite frequently also there are manifestations of the action of individual elementals. It is wrong to look upon the elementals as quite individualized little sprites, in the manner in which European folklore regards the brownies or the pixies or the fairies or the kobolds or the leprechauns. All these are names for different kinds of elementals; and even the medieval descriptions of them are accurate enough, provided they do not induce the belief that the elementals are as intelligent as man or as having man's freedom of will or conscience, because all this last is not true. The elementals are quasi-individualized nature sprites, and actually perform all the physical work of the world. They may also be correctly looked upon as life-atoms in a certain stage of the latter's evolutionary progress.
Remember also that the elementals are monads imbodied through their rays in the respective prakritis or elements of the universe. In consequence, every elemental is on its way to become a man, and finally a god. Further, as every one of the seven or ten prakritis of nature, every one of the seven or ten element-principles of nature, is composed of these lives or life-atoms, therefore there are elementals of all these seven or ten different grades of ethereality or spirituality. These different grades of elementals slavishly copy the pictures in the astral light of past events, including of course the pictures of forms in all their multimyriad types. Furthermore they slavishly follow and try to emulate, although unconsciously, the orders or families or species of beings more evolved than themselves. Hence it is that the elementals of the higher prakritis or elements sometimes have a human shape or quasi-human shape, or have the forms of beasts, whether patterned after humans or beasts now on earth, or after the pictures in the astral light of human beings or beasts who lived in past manvantaras.
The elementals of the fifth cosmic plane, counting upwards, or what we may call the mahatic or manasic elementals, tend to assume the human shape; but this is merely a maya, the appearance of form, because although they may have as semi-individualized entities the human shape, they are soulless because without a human soul. It is merely the form in the astral light that they copy blindly, slavishly, automatically. This is one of the reasons why the kama-loka and the astral light are filled with elementals in various degrees of advancement, who take on, assume, or disguise themselves in the appearances or forms of human beings who have lived. Mark these words because they are important. But all these appearances are soulless because they are merely elementals in the human shape or form. The elemental has as yet evolved no human soul, and therefore from the human standpoint is without conscience or moral principle.
Thus it may be seen once more how elementals of this type can be friendly to man or very unfriendly, in fact even malignant, not because of any evil in themselves, but because of the mischief that they can work by reason of their mayavi or illusory appearance and the effects they can produce.
In conclusion — and to draw a comparison which may be helpful — there is somewhat the same difference in evolution between an elemental and a man that there is between a life-atom and a man; or to put the matter in another way, between a human embryo in its first stages of growth and a full-grown man, as there is between an elemental and an animal.
-------
The matter of the animal monads entering the human kingdom sounds complicated; I suppose it is, yet the principles are simple enough. Suppose we abandon the details and just turn our minds for a few moments to fundamental principles, then perhaps we can get the Ariadne's thread which will make it easy. Details are important always, but they confuse minds.
Now then, the general principles by which any life-wave or kingdom of beings moves into the next higher kingdom are the same for the entire ladder of life, the same in analogical outline, not necessarily the same in details. This is the first point to remember, and it will be illustrated by the manner in which humans move into the lowest of the three dhyan-chohanic kingdoms just above our own.
The next point to remember is that it is the migrating, peregrinating monads which are the important things to keep in mind. If they have attained self-conscious individuality you might call them even higher egos. If they have not attained self-conscious individuality, the term monad is better. Thus we speak of the monads of mineral, vegetable, and even animal kingdoms, although the highest animals, the very highest, are beginning to become egoic. In other words the monad is sufficiently experienced in these low planes to have built around itself an egoic sheath of consciousness.
The third point to remember is that monads cannot enter into the next higher kingdom until it is itself ready to receive the incoming monads from the next lower kingdom. The next higher kingdom must have very lowest ranges of beings providing bodies for the monads from the kingdom below, and these monads from the kingdom below are always the highest from that kingdom, otherwise they would not be ready to move into the bodies of the lowest of the next kingdom above.
Thus the highest of all animals are the anthropoid apes, that is the most evolved as regards a feeble glimmering of egoity. During the fourth round the egos or infant egos or monads of the apes will gradually begin to incarnate into the very lowest and least evolved of the humans of the sixth root-race. Please remember this has nothing to do with the bodies of the apes. The apes as apes will die out during the sixth root-race, thus freeing the apes to enter into the very lowest human bodies of the sixth root-race.
The bulk of the animal kingdom will also die out, and go into the animal nirvana where they must wait for the next earth imbodiment before they can have their chance to become humans. The reason is that the bulk of the animals are not yet ready to follow the ascending arc, but the anthropoid apes will be able to do this and will become in the manner explained very low humans by the end of the sixth root-race. The opening of the seventh root-race in this fourth round will see no more anthropoid bodies at all. They will have died out, and their baby egos will be then the lowest humans. Some animals, many indeed, will have appeared for a brief while during the fifth round on our fourth globe, but they will not last long, and will die out more quickly than they will in the future die out in this fourth round. Then indeed they will have entered their nirvana permanently for the remainder of the seven rounds in which our chain is now working. All these sidelines of thought are parts of the explanation and therefore must be brought into the picture.
Thus the lower kingdom by evolving gradually rises towards the kingdom immediately above it, and the monads in many manners and in many ways seek to enter the higher kingdom, just as we humans seek to become dhyani-chohans by evolving more. There are several ways in which we can enter the dhyan-chohanic kingdom, and there are several ways in which the beasts can enter the human kingdom. Please remember I am speaking of monads, not of bodies. No beast body ever becomes a human body. No human body ever becomes a dhyan-chohanic body.
Now with regard to the so-called animal monads in the human kingdom: these animal monads in the human kingdom are the highest of all possible animal monads, and are the first to become genuine humans in a new or future manvantara. They are monads at one time belonging to the animal kingdom below the human, which because of karmic links of destiny with a monad, pass into the human kingdom as a human animal monad when that animal monad out of the animal kingdom has reached what might be called a semi-human stage, the dawn of egoity, the beginning of semi-human consciousness, but yet of an animal type. It is what might be called an animal human, and not a human, as human beings are.
Carry out the same line of thought on how human monads enter the lowest dhyan-chohanic kingdom, and you will perhaps understand it better. Just above I have spoken of the ape monads, or ape baby egos, entering the lowest stages of the human kingdom during the sixth root-race. Now what does this mean? It means that an ego called X of an ape, when it has finished with the animal kingdom and is seeking imbodiment, does not again reincarnate in the animal kingdom because it is finished with all possible evolution there. Its tendencies are upward, and it is as it were caught by a human monad which will incarnate in one of the lowest races of the human kingdom.
Thus, this ape X when the apes die out towards the end of the sixth root-race will on its last ape imbodiment be semi-human, or a little more. Its egoity is beginning to function, and it will reincarnate as part of the constitution called the animal monad of a low human being during the sixth root-race, and will become the human animal monad of that low human of the sixth root-race. And that is what has been happening in the past and provides us human beings with what we now call our animal monads. They are graduated animals from the animal kingdom, caught by karmic links of destiny in the incarnation of a human monad, providing that human being with his human animal monad.
Now then, at the next chain-manvantara, the next imbodiment of our globe, we humans or human monads will become the low, lowest dhyan-chohans of that future chain-imbodiment when our earth will be the moon of the new chain. What are now our human animal monads will then be the distinct human humans of the human kingdom of that new chain. I hope all this is clear. I am being much more explicit than I have ever been before, because I think sufficient time has elapsed for the puzzled minds of our students to have pretty nearly grasped the truth by their own efforts, and thus they will not forget that truth.
To recapitulate. Animals enter the human kingdom by any method nature permits. There are several such methods, but they all reduce to a few general facts. No animal can enter the human kingdom until that animal's baby ego has become ready to do so, in other words more or less human. It then enters the human kingdom by attaching itself because of karmic links of the spiritual past with an imbodying human at some stage in that human being's destiny, and thus becomes the animal monad of that human. It is thus that the graduated animal egos become distinctly humanized by being for long periods a part of the constitution of a human being, and then finally become fully human, and are then independent human beings, or human monads when the age arrives. Please understand that there are always exceptions to every rule. But even to touch upon the exceptions would, I fear, bring about intolerable confusion, for the teaching is so contrary to anything the West has known for ages — contrary to its religion and to its science, and even to its philosophy, nevertheless intuitively perceived by poets sometimes or other uninitiated people who get flashes or glimpses of the truth.
With the exceptions referred to, it is my belief that no animal monad can pass directly from the animal kingdom into the human kingdom as a human being, for there are intermediate stages of mental and psychical growth that must be passed through before an animal monad by unfolding itself can become a true human. These intermediate stages are found in the animal monads in human beings. I hope these many repetitions are not tiresome, but I have discovered that unless I repeat and keep repeating thoughts do not sink home.
Numerous questions in the minds of students are bound to arise, mainly because they ask questions before they have tried to solve these questions themselves by careful meditation and brooding over the matter. So students should not be anxious if questions arise in their minds about this new raising of a corner of the veil, but should themselves endeavor to reconcile what I have here stated with what they already know before rushing into questions and expecting to have them answered. The only way of learning a thing thoroughly is by solving it yourself, and that is what a true teacher always does. He tries to stimulate curiosity, to arouse the student's own intuitive perception, and even will not answer a question plainly, but will insist that the student answer his own questions. Only when the student is too confused to get a clear answer from his own mind will the teacher give another bit of help.