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Preface
5 Planes of Existence
Introduction
Five Planes of Manifestation
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ALTER, FIRE
A
symbol of the Soul in its complete and perfect, but latent,
condition at the commencement of the evolutionary cycle. It requires
to be evolved by the Spirit (Fire) from within it.
"That Pragâpati who became relaxed is this very Fire-altar which
here is built." - Sata. Bráh., X. 1, 1, 3.
The Archetypal Man having become perfected through involution,
ceases to manifest, and becomes the potential Soul of the next
sub-cycle.
"Once granted that the real purport of all sacrificial performances
is the restoration of the dismembered Lord of creatures, and the
reconstruction of the All, it cannot be denied that of all
ceremonial observances, the building of the great Fire-altar was the
one most admirably adapted for this great_symbolic purpose." - J.
EGGELING, S. B. of E., Vol. XLIII. Intro.
“Moreover, this process of transmutation, this rebuilding of the
self on higher levels will involve the establishment within the
field of consciousness, the making central for life,' of those
subconscious spiritual perceptions which are the primary material of
mystical experience. The end and object of this 'inward alchemy'
will be the raising of the whole self to the condition in which
conscious and permanent union with the Absolute takes place; and
man, ascending to the summit of his manhood, enters into that
greater life for which he was made." - E. UNDERHILL, Mysticism, p.
108.
"But thou, O Lord, shalt abide for ever; and thy memorial unto all
generations. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for it is
time to have pity upon her, yea, the set time is come. For thy
servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity upon her dust.
So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of
the earth thy glory for the Lord hath built up Zion, he hath
appeared in his glory." - Ps. cii. 12-16.
This refers to the building-up of the soul (Zion), or higher nature,
when the higher qualities (servants) are stirring in the lower
nature. "Now that Pragâpati is no other than the Fire-altar which is
here built up, and what five mortal parts there were of him (viz.
the hair on the mouth, the skin, the flesh, the bone, and the
marrow), they are these layers of earth; and those which were
immortal (viz. the mind, the voice, the vital air, the eye, and the
ear) they are these layers of bricks." - Sata. Brah., X. 1, 3, 4-5.
The Archetypal Man becomes the latent Soul in which the five planes
of manifestation are potential to the new cycle, these are on the
matter side, the physical, the astral, the mental, the buddhic, and
the atmic planes. On the side of Spirit there are five immortal
modes of being, namely, Atma, buddhi, higher manas, the higher
consciousness, and the lower consciousness;-these build up the
immortal Soul within the cycle.
"And the Fire that is laid down on the built altar, that is yonder
Sun ; that same Agni is indeed raised on the altar, and that just
because Agni has restored him (Pragâpati)." - Sata. Bráh., VI. 1, 2,
20.
And the Spirit dawns in the fully formed Soul, and is the incarnate
Self (sun) which is indeed raised up in the Soul, for it is a
restoration of the Self involved within.
"In the fire the gods healed him (Pragâpati) by means of oblations;
and that whatever oblation they offered became a baked brick and
passed into him. And because they were produced from what was
offered (ishta), therefore they are bricks (ishtaka). - Ibid., VI.
1, 2, 22.
Through the purifying and transmuting Spirit the higher qualities
healed the Soul by means of the offering up of the desires; and
whatever the higher nature offered up, that was transmuted, and it
became a spiritual quality which passed into the evolving Soul. And
because the spiritual qualities are transmuted desires therefore
they are desirable.
"On which side is the head of the brick - Where he touches it and
says a prayer,' so say some. Those bricks, doubtless, are Agni's
limbs, his joints. . . . But indeed, the fire which is deposited on
the pile, that is the head of all those bricks." - Ibid., VI. 1, 2,
31.
“The aspiration (prayer) of the lower nature is at the head of the
qualities that are transmuted. Those spiritual qualities are the
body of Christ and severally members thereof” (1 COR. xii. 27). But
indeed, the Spirit within the Soul, the indwelling God,-that is the
head of all the higher qualities. "For the perfecting of the saints,
unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of
Christ." - EPH. iv. 12.
"Think of a spiritual altar on which Christ is being offered
unceasingly for the life of the world, for the atonement, or
making-one of man and God. That one spiritual altar has a possible
manifestation in every human soul. It is there that Christ is being
offered for the doing away of sin and the uplifting of our poor
sunken race to its eternal home. No sharp line of division can be
rightly drawn between the sacrifice of Christ for man, and the
sacrifice of Christ in man. It is indeed Christ who saves, but that
is how he does it; in all outpouring of human love, human
self-devotion, human effort and struggle in the service of the true
and the good, Christ is being offered on the spiritual altar, and
the day of his final triumph is coming ever nearer." - R. J.
CAMPBELL, Serm., The Souls under the Altar.
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