MFVN Wiki

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
Death

The Journey of Darkness

**1. Chapter - course 430**

Lower and higher psychism

**2. Chapter - course 420**

The buddhic plane

**3. Chapter - course 410**

Macrocosmic centers and rounds

**4. Chapter - course 440**

Group initiation

**5. Chapter - course 450**

Esoteric healing

**6. Chapter - course 460**

Rules on white magic

**7. Chapter - course 470**

Service and solutions for humanity

__Subtitles and page numbers:__

**Chapter One:** Perspectives on the subject of death, pg. 2-5

**Chapter two:** Relationships of death, pg. 5-8

**Chapter three:** Cycles in the continuity of consciousness, pg. 8-12

**Chapter four:** Death and the seven rays, 12-15

**Chapter five:** Return of the principles to the reservoir of life (the death process), pg. 16-19 **Chapter six:** Meditation, Death and sleep, pg. 19-21

**Chapter seven:** Death and service of humanity, pg. 22

**Chapter 1**

**Perspectives on the subject of death**

(course 430 – higher and lower psychism)

//“Death is in reality degeneration in time and space, caused by the tendency of matter-spirit to isolate itself while in manifestation”//. (EA pg. 555)

Note the words:

__Death //is in// reality (degeneration)__; these words may indicate that death //is//, and a transitory state //in// reality, not reality itself.

//In reality// may as well indicate a ring-pass-not and limited sphere of existence, within a degenerative reality subject to time and space.

The first five words in the sentence thus expose a dualistic tendency and threefold relationship, which a student of the ancient wisdom may relate to the mental instrument, ego principle and buddhic consciousness. The words carefully indicate successive stages and causal states of (individual) consciousness. The sentence also includes a perspective of an involving and evolving relationship, and touch upon the veil of what is called the Great illusion; mistaking one thing for something else; that which is not.

__Time and space__; expose the nature and law of karma, and the duality in unity; the Individuality and Identity in Universality; the Soul, Monad and the periodically created form nature in-cyclic-carnation. One may understand these as the dynamic path of evolution, -discipleship and –initiation; leading to recognition of identification and synthesis of the threefold will aspect in the lower worlds. (RI pg. 118)

__The tendency of matter-spirit to isolate itself__; these words indicate the nature of the three gunas and their karmic tendencies. The words expose not only the 4<sup>th</sup> quality and power of the 1<sup>st</sup> Ray, but include the ego principle; the permanent atoms; the causal body; the monadic plane and exposure of Logoic synthesis. (TCF 149)

//“Death and limitation are synonymous concepts. When consciousness is concentrated in the form and identified with limitation, freedom from life in form is seen as death”.// (EA pg. 555)

The above quote expose valuable references to the processes of life, such as; dissolution of form, return to the source, the way of service, the tension of will and purpose, pralaya, the law of attraction, reincarnation, the life of the personality, the struggles of the ego and the qualifications preliminary to treading the Path<sup>1</sup>. Some of these subjects will be touched upon throughout this paper on death.

<sup>1</sup>The four preliminary statements: (Talks on the Path of occultism, pg. 17-39, 305-310)

a. **Before the eyes can see they must be incapable of tears:** thus elimination of the lower self, followed by elimination of the individuality, the reincarnating ego, so that life comes entirely under the direction of the Monad. (To be able to see is to have attained perception)

**b. Before the ear can hear it must have lost its sensitiveness:** thus entire indifference and non-affection to the opinions of others, as far as one owns feelings are concerned, including the progressed perception and psychic powers revealing the thoughts and criticism in the mind of others.

(To be able to hear is to have opened the doors to the soul/buddhic consciousness)

In the light of the ancient teachings, Death manifests the recycling of form utilized by the soul. To the personality death symbolize the apparent difference between two ways of the previous mentioned “Path” - indicating a Dark/”pleasant” and White/”pure” side of life. The first tends towards separateness all the time, and ends up in a condition of absolute isolation, while the second aims constantly at union, and ends in a state of perfect unity. (Light on the path, pg. 19)

A similar resourceful discrimination is made in the following:

“Difficulties and problems concerning the personality have no access to the Ashram (or group). Only evolutionary limitations are registered”. (A.A.B. DINA II 331-332, Reincarnation, pg. 226)

A deeper study of Death may therefore reveal further significance, to the serious student, if approached in the light of the first six of fifteen rules and instructions for disciples, described in the occult treatise “//Light on the Path”//<sup>2</sup>//.// The first six rules begin with “kill out” and expose two ways of killing out - one on the line of death, the other on the line of growth.

The above mentioned treatise is provided by the Mahatmas* for disciples and not for the lower self, since the lower self often have natural difficulties understanding the larger cycles of life; accepting reincarnation or even the processes of involution, evolution and progress. Meditative education, spiritual understanding

and higher psychic faculties are all a natural part and necessity to perceive the teachings, and seem of essential relevance to a truly comprehensive study of death.

*The Mahatmas<sup>3</sup>provides a most valuable and essential summary of human ideals to the students of Wisdom and reveal the evolutionary limitations of importance in any inquiry of Death, of Nature and of cosmic evolution. It thus seems to be in the Light and Presence of a Mahatma that all students of the Ancient Wisdom kneel and come to stand.

The Chohan<sup>4</sup>exposed as the Venetian Master, made additions to the ancient rules and instructions in //Light on the Path// ; Master Hilarion added notes for the disciples in the western world and impressed the

**c. Before the voice can speak in the presence of the Masters it must have lost the power to wound:** thus elimination of desire and every form of word that can cause pain or hurt others by drawing attention to a fault in his/her character. (To be able to speak is to have attained the power of helping others)

**d. Before the soul can stand in the presence of the Masters its feet must be washed in the blood of the heart:** thus complete sacrifice of the lower life, of everything known, loved and valued, to the higher in order to stand in the presence of the Master. It is the feet of the soul - the personality on earth - that must be washed in the heart´s blood of emotions before the higher life can be gained. (To be able to stand is to have confidence)

<sup>2</sup> Written down by Mabel Collins and originally published in 1885. //Light on the Path, At the Feet of the Master// and //The Voice of Silence// are all part of //The book of the Golden Precepts//, which contains aphorisms translated from Sanskrit into Greek, English and Egyptian by the Chohans.

<sup>3</sup>A Mahatma is a personage who, by special training and education, has evolved those higher faculties and has attained that spiritual knowledge which ordinary humanity will acquire after passing through numberless series of incarnations during the process of cosmic evolution, provided, of course, that they do not go, in the meanwhile, against the purpose of Nature…//H.P.B. The Mahatma and Chelas, the Theosophist, July, 1884.//

<sup>4</sup>The Chohans whom Helena P. Blavatsky knew as members of the White Lodge, the Brotherhood of Perfected men, was first exposed, by her and others, to the world in the //Letters from the Masters of Wisdom// and //The Mahatma letters to A.P. Sinnett// (Alfred P. Sinnett) dated year 1880-1886 and first published in 1923.

teachings upon the brain of his disciples/influenced various chelas, who thus wrote them down. As did the Mahatmas Morya<sup>5</sup>and Koot Hoomi<sup>6</sup>in their work with Helena P.Blavatsky and other Chelas, -Koot Hoomi with Djual Khul<sup>7</sup>and DK with Alice A. Bailey.

“Masters of wisdom have learned the importance of all limiting forms and taken control of these by utilizing the law of each plane corresponding to the form. He outgrows the form and discards it to capture other and higher forms. That way he advances through the sacrifice and death of the ever limiting form” (Letters on Occult Meditation pg. 261)

A Master know the Word (of the Monad) to which the Light (Soul) respond, descend, enlighten and anchor itself for cyclic appearance and experience, and by which the Light ascend, leaving the time and space that it previously enlightened in darkness, at the time when the goal-, purpose- and threefold will of the Logos has been realized and fulfilled. (EH pg. 434)

Death may therefore be seen as a continuous process of sacrifice of the lower to the higher, and thus not only cognitive //ex//perience of the One Life in terms of light and vibration, but life´s willful perfection and elimination of duality too. What is therefore considered life on a lower scale is death on a higher (to the Soul and Monad) and vice versa. The worlds of effects may thus be realized, not as localities but as the shadow of the world of causes – their souls.

The theme of Life and Death may be recognized as the Occult truth of a Cosmic idea descending into existence as One Life (Reality) and One Conscious Being (Relativity) in a variety of successive vehicles (Relationships) of which each is an expression of its Creator, followed by the ascent and perfection of Life in form, through karmic* cycles of reincarnation.

*** The ancient wisdom outlines three aspect of karma that influences the principle of reincarnation:** (EH pg. 379)

**1. The law of karmic obligation** – that controls life in the three worlds of human evolution. (Ceases at the 4<sup>th</sup> initiation)

**2. The law of karmic necessity** – that controls the life of the advanced disciple and initiate from the 2<sup>nd</sup> Initiation until “a certain initiation higher than the 4<sup>th</sup>“. Initiation provides the capacity to progress unto the way of higher evolution.

**3. The law of karmic transformation** – that control the processes of initiated life on a higher spiral of liberation related to the Planetary will, Solar logos and Cosmic mental plane.

<sup>5</sup> Mahatma Morya has been exposed as a Rajput prince – the Rajput, being the ruling caste of northern India at the time. Mahatma Morya was the Master of H.P.B.

<sup>6</sup>The name Koot Hoomi is a mystical name which he instructed H.P.B. to use in connection with the correspondences to Alfred P. Sinnett. Mahatma Koot Hoomi was familiar with European ways and thinking. He is said to speak fluently French and English, though he was a KashmiriBrahman, later a monk of the Gelugpa or “Yellow Hat” division of Tibetan Buddhism. He refers to himself in the letters as a “Cis- and Transhimalayan cave dweller”. (Virginia Hanson, introductory notes, The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett)

<sup>7</sup>Djual Khul was also called “the disinherited” and Benjamin from bejam = seed.

In Patanjalis yoga sutra no. 25 we find the following hint regarding the seed:

//“In him exist the seed of all knowingness in a special manner”// [Tatra Niratishyam Sarvagnabejam]

//“Every individuality (centered in the middle or 3<sup>rd</sup>, 4<sup>th</sup> and 5<sup>th</sup> principles) will be followed on its ascending arc by the law of retribution – Karma and death accordingly”//

(The mahatma letters to Alfred. P. Sinnett, ML-13 Letter No. 44, pg. 123)

To gain a fair idea of such great perspective one may have to realize, integrate and actualize the practical methods and knowledge in Patanjali´s book IV Y.S. 1-34 (isolated unity) as well as teachings and processes of human-, planetary-, solar- and cosmic- yoga and liberation.

**CHAPTER 2**

**Relationships of Death**

Death can be analyzed in various terms related to cosmic-, systemic-, planetary-/ and human cycles and evolution.

1. From one perspective death may be considered in terms of sacrifice of the lower to the higher. (Goal)

2. From another perspective death may be considered in terms of;

a. elimination of all relations (Life, singularity)

b. awareness of relationships (Consciousness, evolution)

c. mastery of karmic response and reaction in the instrument with which the soul identify (mind, vibration, vital force).

“Relation and relationship” express the central themes of death itself and brings the antahkarana<sup>8</sup>, between the higher and lower mind, into consideration, just as buddhi-, the buddhic plane and the 4<sup>th</sup> principle embody the seed and quality of the two. Relation thus indicate a position in which the ego no longer need an instrument, but work directly on the personality in consciousness, whereas relationship indicate the vibratory link and establishment of unity between the higher and lower self. Death, in such consideration, indicates disappearance of the antahkarana, when One Will operates the higher and the lower. The herein related interplay of intuition and intellect, illuminates the lower mind, liberates the old forces, expands and eliminates fixed structures and sets into motion the new higher vibrations.

3. From a third perspective, death may be considered as the return of all colors (form) into the Light (soul) of a still Greater Darkness (spirit). Herein is a reference to the Darkness of Life itself which Is pure Being, “beyond” human awareness, consciousness and mind. Thus not the ignorant darkness of matter, or relative darkness, light and purpose of dual consciousness, but the brilliant Darkness of Presence and blazing Light of transcendental sacrifice, of clear cold fire, of the Monad penetrating and eliminating the ever limited perspective born by words.

<sup>8</sup>Bridge or channel between the awakened part of the ego and its instrument, the personality. When the personality and the ego are perfectly in tune and united, the threads of the antahkarana ceases to exist.

4. From a fourth perspective death indicate; change, transformation, transfiguration and thus detachment of the mind to the forces of nature; release and absorption of the mind in the consciousness of soul; and dissolution of the quality of the soul in the life of the monad.

Since the personality is considered a vehicle of the soul and the soul a vehicle of the monad, there exists no real death, but dissolution of the physical form.

It is therefore important, for a fair consideration of death and sacrifice, that man recognizes the trinity expressing through him as Life, consciousness and appearance/ Spirit, soul and body/ Monad, Ego and personality. One may thus fairly summarize that only as long as man knows not himself as Life, will he be blinded by the illusion of death and not immortality.

To the oriental occultist, life of the personality is often considered a threefold (physical, astral-mental) dreamstate and illusion, which every soul, subordinated the active agent of Will, is born to realize-, transcend-, awaken from-, die through and master.

The idea of a dream state is interwoven in the cosmic physical nature and subordinated the five klesas: attraction and repulsion, desire, power of identification and ignorance of the forces in form. These form the veils of illusion governed by the law of karma, cycles of rebirth and fivefold monadic evolution.

“//Since the conscious perception of one´s personality on earth is but an evanescent dream, that sense will be equally that of a dream in the Devachan – only a hundred fold intensified. So much, indeed, that the happy Ego is unable to see the veil, the evils, sorrows and woes to which those it loved on earth may be subjected ”// (The mahatma letters to Alfred. P. Sinnett, letter no. 68, pg. 191)

The veils of illusion made by Time and Space* makes Light //appear// separated from the Word and sound of the Logos, when it descends into the limited life in form. Out of the 7 principles<sup>9</sup>in man, it is not the form, outward shape or physical body that pollutes the lower principles, but the immaturity of the 5<sup>th</sup> principle

and its mental ignorance that hinders the sight of life. The 5<sup>th</sup> principle must be evolved within man himself to become fully responsible. Only through such responsibility will man be able to control the forces of the instrument and overcome illusion. Each principle thus governs a dimension of life, in and through which it has to be uplifted, purified and mastered.

***Time is the instrument of the Great illusion and Space its nature**.

Space is the only eternal thing in the universe which is independent of all other. It is neither quality, nor quantity nor form. In the cycles of time it corresponds to the 7<sup>th</sup> principle in which Life or spirit is indivisible. And therein signifies the space occupied, in the ocean of the spirit, the results or effects impressed thereon. The element of space interpenetrates every atom of cosmic matter and multiplies endlessly in new centers of activity without it affecting its original quality or quantity. It is therefore obviously not possible for the life of the atoms to die when the form dissolves.

<sup>9</sup>The principles are the fundamental differentiations, fundamental characteristics or forms of energy in creation. They underlie and constitute the characters of all forms.

Thus even though time and space are elements in the great illusion, they themselves are relatively unaffected. When the descended light unfold in form, its purpose will affect and transform the element of time and thus the subject of death.

Time seems of many kinds in the lower worlds, but when perceived in terms of consciousness it can be considered either Now or altering between individual and Universal consciousness. The individual consciousness constitutes a point on a line that symbolizes our relation to universal consciousness. The point indicates the limited perception of eternity in man´s successive relationship with the Self and Higher consciousness. The line is itself subject to relativity, not only in terms of individual duration but to Planetary, Universal and Eternal cyclic motion, matter and equilibrium as well.

//“…..A point she had reached where life must be in vain//

//or, in her unborn element awake,//

//Her will must cancel her body´s destiny.//

//For only the unborn spirits timeless power//

//can lift the yoke imposed by birth in time.//

//Only the Self that builds this figure of self//

//can erase the fixed interminable line//

//that joins these changing names, these numberless lives,//

//These new oblivious personalities//

//And keeps still lurking in our conscious acts//

//The trail of old forgotten thoughts and deeds,//

//Disown the legacy of our buried selves,//

//The burdensome heirship to our vanished forms//

//accepted blindly by the body and soul……”//

**Sri Aurobindo, Savritri, Book I: The book of Beginnings, Canto two, “The issue” pg. 12, 33-47**

Individual consciousness drifts, attached to the modifications, imaginations and memory in the mind, from past to future continuously divided by the passing moment. In a passing moment she might sense a glimpse of Life through a limited and often disturbed awareness, only registering a tiny fraction of true relationships. The limited awareness is mainly noticing materialistic and egocentric relationships based upon individual needs and comfort, and thus fail to recognize the infinite points and circumference of relationships in consciousness, not to mention the presence of Life itself.

In the presence of higher consciousness on the other hand, she recognize time as an illusion produced by the succession of states of consciousness as we travel through the cyclic reality of Nature.

Time is thus, from one perspective, the unfolding now conditioned by dynamic will. It is also the order of happenings and states of consciousness, registered in the brain. Time indicate a process of relative intelligent-sacrifice and inclusion of the personality, -individuality and -universality, in the synthesis and perfection of Life.

//**From man´s point of view**// time is governed by the Natures harsh economy of the soul´s past sufferings, karmic debts, service and sacrifice that symbolizes the unforgiving Law of universal pain.

//**From the consciousness´ point of view**// time is governed by the law of attraction and considered a relatively

true<sup>10</sup> embodiment of the rhythmic sound, cyclic life and thus heartbeat of our Solar Logos (Life as Love), - with Space Being his Breath and Creation his Voice (Activity).

//**From a higher point of view**// time is governed by the Law of synthesis expressed in the Life of the father, Will of the monad and Purpose of the spirit.

//“….A force of spare direct necessity//

//reduced the heavy framework of man´s days//

//and his overburdening mass of outward needs//

//to a first thin strip of animal wants,//

//……..,…….,……,………//

//…and a solemn weight of the slowly-passing months//

//had left in her deep room for thought and God.//

//There was her drama´s radiant prologue lived.//

//A spot for the eternal´s tread on earth//

//set in the cloistral yearning woods//

//and watched by the aspiration of the peaks//

//appeared through an aureate opening in Time,//

//where stillness listening felt the unspoken word//

//and the hours forgot to pass towards grief and change…..”//

**Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, CANTO II: The Issue, L.118, pg. 14**

CHAPTER 3

**Cycles in the continuity of consciousness**

In the previous chapter, time and space was outlined in a process and perspective of death (on one side) and advancement of life (on the other). These proceed in terms of cyclic activity, periodic manifestation, reincarnation and evolution. In this chapter we shall have a superficial look into the cycles of manifestation.

The Greater periods of manifestation are called **Manwantara<sup>11</sup>**- signifying a very long period of manifestation. Between each period of manifestation there are obscurations or periods of rest, called **Pralayas** – signifying the stay in-between two periods of manifestation.

//“The night of the solar system, the pralaya of the Hindus, the Maha bar do or great night of the Tibetans, involves the disintegration of all form and return of the portion of the universe occupied by that system, to its passive unmanifested condition, space pervaded by atoms in motion. Everything else passes away for the time, but matter……….. is eternal and indestructible, and motion is the imperishable life of matter.”// (TML, LBS-Appendix II, Pg. 515)

<sup>10</sup> In such high perspective, truth indicates the way anything //presents// itself to the Logos. And if so, the ego will have to advance, transform, respond to and master that essential will, continuous tension and ether governing life in form, before it radiates the central life.

<sup>11</sup> Manu: “one who oversees long period of race evolution”

Antara: “between”

During pralaya the polarity movement ceases and the inherent unconscious but ever active life-giver alone remain – all creative forces are paralyzed, and everything rests in the night of mind. (TML, Pg. 511)

**There are three kinds of pralaya and manwantara:**

No. 1. The universal or Maha pralaya and manwantara

No. 2. The solar pralaya and manwantara

No. 3. The minor pralaya and manwantara

When pralaya no. 1 is finished the universal manwantara begins.

Then the whole universe must be re-evoluted.

When the pralaya of a solar system comes (no. 2) it affects that solar system only. The minor pralays (no. 3) concern the little string of globes, man bearing or not, to which also our earth belongs. (TML, pg. 184)

1 solar pralaya = 7 minor pralayas

In one solar period occurs seven minor periods in an ascending scale of progressive development. In the minor pralayas there is no starting point only resumption of arrested activity.

The minor manwantara…………7 rounds……….. 49 rings………..……7 obscurations.

1 round………..7 planetary rings in each of the 7 kingdoms………..1 obscuration of each planet.

Each period is signified by its task of harmonizing and assimilating 7 principles in the microcosmic as well as the macrocosmic Whole.

//“…Out the timeless barrier she must break//

//penetrate her thinking depths the Void´s monstrous hush,//

//Look into the lonely eyes of immortal Death//

//And with her nude spirit measure the Infinite´s night…”//

//**Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, CANTO II: The Issue, L. 75, pg. 13**//

**Each manifested life has its three great cycles of:** (TCF pg. 41)

(Physical) Birth……………………………..Life………………………….Death

(Etheric) Appearance………………….Growth……………........Disappearance

(Astral) Involution…………………….Evolution<sup>12</sup>………….……..Obscuration

(Mental) Inertia………………………….Activity……………………..Rhythmic movement

(Causal) Tamasic life….………………Rajasic life……..………….Sattvic life

Just as the etheric instrument (mirror of the buddhic vehicle, -instrument of the monad) vitalize and penetrates the physical body, so is the astral just a “dreamy” part of the mental and therefore not a principle.

We thus find the three cycles of the personality, ego and monad mirrored in the five of which the first two is represented by duality and the third singularity.

In coordination of the monadic, atmic and buddhic instrument, synthesis takes place on the atomic subplane (TCF pg. 142) at which the 6 lower principles merge and become the 7<sup>th.</sup> In this solar system, we thus find the plane of synthesis excluded from the planes of evolution in the 5 lower worlds, and therefore <sup>12</sup> Evolution means unfolding of the evolute from the involute, a process of gradual growth. MHL pg. 516

primarily a concern of spiritual progress on the buddhic, atmic and monadic planes or pralaya according to purpose.

**The cycles follow the evolutionary progress in terms of:**

a. differentiation

b. balance – karmic equalization

c. synthesis – spiritual return of the many in the One

d. obscuration – liberation of the spirit from matter, end of the evolutionary process

The evolution of worlds cannot be considered apart from evolution of everything created or having being in these worlds. Both planets and man are states for a given time; their appearance is transitory and a condition corresponding to the stage of evolution at which they have arrived. (TML, pg. 118)

**The three-fold cycles of a solar logos is the representative of time in a greater perspective:** 1. 100 Brahmas<sup>13</sup>-years……1 mahakalpa..................................311.040.000.000.000 earthly years 2. One Brahmas-years……..360 B-day and nights……………………3.110.400.000.000 earthly years 3. One Brahmas day……..….1 kalpa………1000 mahayugas………4.320.000.000 earthly years

1 Brahmas hour………………concern chain-relationships

1 Brahmas minute………….concern the planetary centers and egoic groups

1 Brahmas moment……….concern one egoic group and it relation to the whole (TCF, pg. 734) **The three-fold cycles of a Planetary logos correspond to:**

1. the duration of one planetary system…….

2. the duration of one planetary chain………..7 rounds in one planetary system………1 Brahmas week 3. the duration of one planetary round

Within these greater cycles, 7 logoi (of which only one is the incarnating being, TCF pg. 217) impact the lesser cycles manifesting as:

a. one globe……………………one plane…………………………..one round

b. one world period……….one root-race<sup>14</sup>…………………… one sub-race

c. one branch-race………… one group…………………………..one human-unity

**Relationships between schemes, rounds and chains:** (TCF pg. 88)

7 branch races make ……………………………………………………one subrace

7 subraces make……………………………………….……….……....one root race

7 races make……………………………………….………..…….………one world period

7 world periods make………………………………………............one round

7 rounds make …………………………..………………….…………….one chain period

7 chain periods make………………………..………….……………..one planetary scheme

10 planetary schemes make………………..……….………………one solar system

A planetary scheme is thus made up by 7 chain periods, a chain has 7 globes and each globe is engaged with manifestation during 7 rounds of Logoic life.

<sup>13</sup> Brahma is derived from the root “brih”, Sanskrit for “to expand, grow or to fructify”, Brahma being but the vivifying expansive force of nature in its eternal evolution. (TML, pg. 118)

<sup>14</sup> The sum of human- and deva-units make up the vital body, (and therefore soul) of a planetary logos, while the sum of lesser lives or matter in all kingdoms, make up the dense body. (TCF pg. 304-310)

Every globe has to pass through a formation period before it reaches its adult period. The formation period is esoterically taught to form as a center or nebulous matter of condensate solar dust, disseminated through space and followed by a series of three invisible successive evolutions of elementals or nature forces. (Also known by the names; gnomes, salamanders and undines). When these three evolutions are completed, the physical globe begins to form.

The mineral kingdom is thus the 4<sup>th</sup> in the whole series, but the 1<sup>st</sup> stage of the physical evolution. In its sevenfold ring of evolution, the mineral kingdom reaches condensation and concrete matter in its 7<sup>th</sup> ring. When the 7<sup>th</sup> ring is completed it projects its essence to the second of 7 globes, which is already passing through the three preliminary stages of formation.

Evolution of the vegetable kingdom then commences on the first globe. At the time when the mineral essence moves on to the third globe, the germs of the animal kingdom enter the first globe.

When the animal kingdom has completed 7 rings on the first globe its life principle moves on to the 2<sup>nd</sup> globe, and the essence of the mineral and vegetable kingdoms move on to the 3<sup>rd</sup> and 4<sup>th</sup>.

As man enters the arena as the 4<sup>th</sup> stage of physical evolution, he develops one of the principles fully in each round. Man has the germ of all 7 principles included in him, but none are developed in the first man. At every stage and every round his development keeps pace with the globe or planetary center of consciousness in which he lives.

Each scheme, each chain and each round thus have 7 principles to develop and perfect through the creative principle, which disappears when pralaya comes. (The mahatma letters to Alfred.P. Sinnett, ML – 15, Letter no. 67)

**From the rotation of the greater life to the three-fold cycles of man:**

1. The monadic cycle in man correspond to 100 Brahmas years and to one planetary system 2. The egoic cycle, includes all the lesser cycles in the three worlds and correspond to 1 round for a planetary logos.

3. The cycle of the personality

**Each incarnation of common humans fulfill three functions:** (TCF pg. 304-310)

1. She/he develops consciousness and recognition

2. She/he builds a variety of permanent characteristic

3. She/he creates karma or produce causes

Later, man develops and advances consciously through:

**1. The path of evolution and probation**

He/she unfold the intellect and sensory perception, integrate the personality, becomes reactive to the planetary center of intelligence. Mindfulness rule and govern the preliminary entry to the world of the soul.

**2. The path of discipleship**

man´s gradual unfoldment of the subjective nature, and illumination complete the building of the causal body, after which he/she begins to eliminate and kill out all limitations including the causal vehicle. He/ she unfold reaction to the center of planetary love and unity. Intuition rule and govern the meditative processes.

**3. The path of initiation**

Man on the path of initiation, is primarily focused on the inner planes, serve to end his/her karma in the

three worlds and seek the way of active will, synthesis and reaction to the center of planetary will. Absorption – the active principle behind the manifestation of devachan<sup>15</sup>- identification and unification of the Ego and the Monad.

The three processes, of which the third is successive abstraction, travel hand in hand with knowledge, love and sacrifice or elimination of illusion, death of negativity and dissolution of individuality - only neutralized in its creator, the untouchable Will of Life.

//“In her own self she found her high recourse;//

//she matched with the iron law her sovereign right://

//Her single will opposed the cosmic rule.//

//To stay the wheels of Doom this greatness rose.//

//At the Unseen´s knock upon her hidden gates//

//her strength made greater by the lightening´s touch//

//Awoke from slumber in her heart´s recess”//

Sri Aurobindo

**Chapter 4**

Death and the seven rays

Whereas the impact of the seven rays relate to the group and subjective being, death relate to the form and consciousness´ mastery and detachment in the objective world.

In terms of group-initiation, death has no true meaning or relevance. The group //is// a coherent unit in the subjective worlds of being and the initiatory progress is thus not concerned with the matter of death, or vice versa for the sake being.

A common perspective in occultism aligns the center of existence with cosmic Will, embodying the conditional aspect of life unmanifest, made manifest (cosmic desire) by an act of cosmic thought.

“Behind and above” experiences of time and death, the causal agent of manifestation, Will, engages as the initiator of change and expansions in the consciousness of man, of nations and races. Will govern and express through intelligence and accomplish purpose through the qualities of power embodied by the seven rays. The rays stimulate impersonal transformation, and transmit and embody the capacity to motivate inherent powers and faculties, whether of a Solar logos, Planetary logos, Monad and/ a human being.

Time (death and immortality) is thus relatively engaged in the dynamics of divine ideation, the principles expressing the 7 rays, and the law of periodicity in control of manifestation.

//Note: It may prove interesting for the reader to inquire the equal numeric value of time and death (20) and note its correspondence to our solar system. Whereas death (45128) seems to differentiate, for the evolution and initiation of will, to assimilate the higher in the lower, - time (2945) seems centered on the perfection of consciousness and will to harmonize intelligently.//

<sup>15</sup> Devachan is the state of consciousness on the mental plane, that the soul proceed to when he astral vehicle is gone and the soul is still active or limited by its mental vehicle.

From cosmic purpose emanates the plan of equilibrium, return and rays of evolutions, that, in time, illustrates the seed, expose the inherent idea, reveal the central life and eliminate limitations crystalized in the form. Such evolutionary and spiritual progress slowly creates an intelligent rhythm and triumph of the principals involved, of which the 7<sup>th</sup> is the symbol of the synthesis of the cosmic physical plane, so they may return in their outmost beauty and glory to their source of existence.

Behind the quality of our solar system, the teachings expose three united transcendental cosmic energies, which have been transmitted from the cosmic planes and qualified by 3 constellations; Ursa Mayor composed by 7 stars (the 7 Rishis and conditioning beings), the Pleiades composed by 7 stars (the 7 sisters and qualifying wives of the Rishis) and the sun Sirius. They together manifest the purpose of a solar systemic personality.

**The energies embodied by the 7 stars of Ursa Mayor emanates as 7 Rays.**

- The rays merge with and transform through the 12 constellations of life and light (duality) on the greater zodiacal wheel.

- They are absorbed by our Solar Logos and radiated in streams of universal energy (akasha), electricity and prana. Prana being the soul and vital life of manifestation, - electricity the soul of cosmic consciousness and akasha the soul of cosmic purpose.

- They are then reproduced and embodied by the 7 sacred planets on the 4<sup>th</sup> etheric plane of the cosmic physical plane.

- they are synthetically represented on earth by the 7 spirits before the throne

- transformed by the three great planetary centers – Shamballa, the Hierarchy and Humanity - distributed into the greater and lesser etheric centers of the nations, races and units of humanity via the will and reflection of the monad in the rays of the soul, and from the centers into the physical being via the intelligent lives, cerebro-spinal fluid, nerve system and hormones.

Whereas the rays in relation to the soul evoke including changes and expansions of consciousness, they transmit the pure expression of a spiritual personality in relation to the monad.

The will aspect of the rays may therefore be the conveyer of death and immortality correspondingly. When the rays impact man on the lower or higher spiral of evolution, the will-aspect works destructively when concentrated through an exoteric planet and constructively when it works through an esoteric planet.(EA pg. 538) (One may assume that the love-aspect of the rays works coherently and expandingly.…)

**In the lower being, the fundamental principles of the seven rays reveal the seven great beings in:** 1. Enterprises….2. fusion….3. Evolution….4. Harmonization….5. Action….6. Cause.…7. expression

**When these impact the consciousness of the disciple, in order to bring forth the will aspect, they evoke:** 1. Initiation…2. Vision….3. Education….4. Intuition….5. Liberation….6. Idealism….7. Organization (EA pg. 543)

**Will the Will aspect of the Rays<sup>16</sup> reveal further perspectives on Death?**

**1<sup>st</sup> Ray** – the energy of divine will, of new beginnings, of destruction of all mental hindrances, of elimination of form for the benefit of spiritual power and maturity and thus the will to enterprises. //(Highest expression in relation to humanity: initiation)//

<sup>16</sup> They may be expressions of the 7 sublevels of the 3th cosmic mental plane?

**2<sup>nd</sup> Ray** – the energy of love-wisdom, the fundamental seed of synthesis, of impersonal relationships and thus the will to create unity

//(Highest expression in relation to humanity: Mystical vision)//

**3<sup>rd</sup> Ray** – the energy of active intelligence, the conditioned will and Plan unfolding by the power of its purpose, thus the will to unfold.

//(Highest expression in relation to humanity: education, progressive development through experience)//

**4<sup>th</sup> Ray** – the energy of harmony through conflict, the fundamental will to eliminate limitations which are intimately related to the spark of the monad in man. If one truly understands the cause of manifestation, quality of the three gunas<sup>17</sup> and seed of appearance, one will see why this energy is the ray of death, and how death is an act of intuition transmitted by the soul to the personality who fulfills the individual will in rapport with the monad (EA pg. 540). **Death //ever// releases the individual to the group.**

//(Highest expression in relation to humanity: intuition, as to its function through group activity)//

**5<sup>th</sup> Ray** – the energy of science, it is the primordial intelligence and seed of life in matter and consciousness, the living “transparency” of past evolution and the will to act. From a point of involution it evokes manifestation and at the same time it is the point of equal standing and balance of spirit and matter. //(Highest expression in relation to humanity: **liberation through death or initiation**)//

**6<sup>th</sup> ray** – the energy of devotion and idealism, it is the embodiment of the Divine idea, and thus the will to cause, to motivate, to dominate and to fulfill the purposes of creation emanating from the cosmic astral plane.

//(Highest expression in relation to humanity: idealism, the urge and cause of human activity)//

**7<sup>th</sup> Ray** – the energy of ceremonial order, it is the will, rhythm and necessity to express in manifestation, the embodiment and synthesis of the periphery and the focal point. It is the motive power gradually expressed through life in form, as radiant being. It is the will to express. (EA pg. 542)

The above inquiry of the will aspect of the 7 rays, reveal that three rays are particularly related to death – the 1<sup>st</sup>, 4<sup>th</sup> and the 5<sup>th</sup> ray. The entire mystery of death may thus find its origin in the relation of the mind consciousness and Soul or Knowledge consciousness, (internally penetrated by the will of the Universal consciousness), and in man thus especially concerned with the quality of the mental vehicle and state of the vital forces serving the mind (mind nature).

The numeric relevance links the three rays to the signs Aries, Cancer and Leo, which represent the 1<sup>st</sup>, 4<sup>th</sup> and 5<sup>th</sup> sign in the zodiac. On a planetary level the triangular constellation of Aries, Leo and Capricorn transmit ray 1, Taurus, Scorpio and Sagittarius transmit ray 4, whereas Leo, Sagittarius and Aquarius transmit ray 5.

The three triangular constellations distribute energies into the planetary lives associated with them:

__RAY 1 – Fire and Earth__

**Aries (1<sup>st</sup> sign)** direct the 1<sup>st</sup> ray energies into Mars (ray 6, form), Mercury (ray 4, nature) and Uranus (ray 7, mind)

**Leo (5<sup>th</sup> sign)** directs the 1<sup>st</sup> ray energy into the Sun (Jupiter, ray 2, form ), Sun (Neptune, ray 6, nature), Sun (Uranus, ray 7, mind)

**Capricorn (10<sup>th</sup> sign)** directs the 1<sup>st</sup> ray energy into Saturn (ray 3, form), Saturn (ray 3, nature), Venus (ray 5, <sup>17</sup> Sattva, Rajas, tamas (Could they be embodied reflections the 1<sup>st</sup>, 4<sup>th</sup> and 7<sup>th</sup> ray unmanifest?)

mind)

All the 7 rays are thus incorporated in the archetypical triangle of the 1<sup>st</sup> ray.

__RAY 4 (intuition) – Earth, Water and Fire__

**Taurus (2<sup>nd</sup> sign)** direct the energies of the 4<sup>th</sup> ray into Venus (ray 5, form), Vulcan (ray 1, nature), Vulcan (ray 1, mind)

**Scorpio (8<sup>th</sup> sign)** direct the 4<sup>th</sup> ray energy into Mars/Pluto (non-sacred, ray 6 and 1, form), Mars/Pluto (non-sacred, nature), Mercury (ray 4, mind)

**Sagittarius (9<sup>th</sup> sign)** direct the 4<sup>th</sup> ray energy into Jupiter (ray 2, form), Earth (non-sacred, ray 3, nature), Mars (non-sacred, 6<sup>th</sup> ray, mind)

__RAY 5 (intellect) – Fire and Air__

**Leo (5<sup>th</sup> sign)** directs 5<sup>th</sup> ray energy into Sun (Jupiter, 2<sup>nd</sup> ray, form), Sun (Neptune, 6<sup>th</sup> ray, nature), Sun (Uranus, 7<sup>th</sup> ray, mind)

**Sagittarius (9<sup>th</sup> sign)** directs the 5<sup>th</sup> ray energy into Jupiter (ray 2, form), Earth (ray 3, nature), Mars (ray 6, mind)

**Aquarius (11<sup>th</sup> sign)** directs the 5<sup>th</sup> ray energy into Uranus (ray 7, form), Jupiter (ray 2, nature), Moon (ray 4 veiling Uranus ray 7, mind)

The destructive power of the 1<sup>st</sup> ray concentrated in Pluto evokes changes, darkness and death (EA pg. 175) in relation to the personality. The 1<sup>st</sup> ray concentrated through Vulcan eliminates death itself in its representation of negativity (the great illusion). The first ray transmitted through Vulcan and Pluto in the signs of Taurus and Pisces thus transmute desire into sacrifice (Ibid. pg. 66-68) and the individual will into the divine will.

The Moon (non-sacred) and Mercury (sacred) transmit ray 4, the illumined will and basis of buddhi and intuition. The moon is the ruler of form in Cancer, //the ruler of nature in Virgo// and ruler of mind in Aquarius. Mercury is the ruler of form in Gemini and Virgo, //the ruler of nature in Aries// and the ruler of mind in Aquarius.

Since the primarily concern of ray 4 is equilibrium of the emotional life and nature of the vital forces, Aries and Virgo through Mercury and the Moon, harmonize “the cosmos and the individual through conflict, producing unity and beauty”. (Cycles of opportunity pg. 87)

Venus (sacred) transmit ray 5 and rules the form in Taurus and Libra, the nature in Gemini, and the mind in Capricorn. Since the primarily concern of the 5<sup>th</sup> ray is that of the mind and power to know, it provides the cosmic seed of liberation, synthesis, accomplishment and fivefold initiation in Capricorn (ray 1-4-5). Thereafter the liberated Ones climb the ladder of evolution and merges with eternal Life (ray 1-4-7).

**Chapter 5**

Return of the principles to the reservoir of life

(the death process)

//The body of man remains forever within the body of the planet in which he lives.//

//The individual life-principle returns after death to its source – Fohat.//

//The astral vehicle is drawn into Akasha//

//The mental vehicle will remerge with the universal Shakti, Will-force/Universal energy The physical Ego, animal soul borrowed from breath of the universal mind, will return to the Dhyan Chohans The 6<sup>th</sup> principle – whether drawn into or ejected from the matrix of the great passive principle must remain in its own sphere, either as part of the crude material or as an individualized entity to be reborn in a higher world of causes.//

//The 7<sup>th</sup> will carry the soul from devachan and follow the new Ego to its place of rebirth.// (TML, pg. 119)

**From a human perspective, the process of death is the soul´s withdrawal:**

1. From the physical and etheric world

2. From the force of the astral world

3. From the lower mental plane

Even though these stages seem differentiated they exist as states in one consciousness and interact at all times. Death in the lower world is a sign of the soul´s active return to its higher source and a method for life to control the vibration of substance and matter.

Death on each of the lower planes correspond to the states of consciousness in which the soul must cognize the experiences of life, consider the opportunities for growth and withdraw from the longings and forces of man´s desires, in the successive lives of one continuous whole.

**From the soul’s perspective** the illusionary processes of death precede either in the physical body, thus indicating initiation and expansion of consciousness, or by the three-fold withdrawal from the lower vehicles and dissolution of form as described in the following: (EH pg. 357-481)

∙ //**Restoration**// (1<sup>st</sup> death - return to the illusion of Heaven)

- indicate a dual process in which the form (soul) withdraws from the physical- (planetary matter) and etheric vehicle, and return to the fundamental reservoir of substance - either on the egoic- or monadic plane according to the stage of evolution.

∙ //**Elimination**// (2<sup>nd</sup> death - Devachan, the 4<sup>th</sup> initiation and elimination of the causal body) - indicate the activities of the human soul after the physical death, through which the illusionary astral control and mental activities of the lower human beings, is eliminated and the soul reorients its focus as a point of radiant light, on the mental plane.

∙ //**Integration**// (3<sup>rd</sup> death - Nirvana and the souls return to the monad)

- The process in which the human soul is liberated and purified from identification with matter through the power of the spiritual soul . The soul comes to cognize itself as the angel of presence and thus reabsorbs in the atmic-buddhic unity and manasic reflection of higher will.

//Even though the (illusionary) death-process has been outlined in its three-fold stages, it should rightfully cover all four stages of appearance and thus include elimination of the quality on the buddhic plane, by the monad.//

Later, under the law of karmic obligation or necessity, the soul prepare itself for descend and reappearance in form (EH pg. 381). As progress take place the soul lives through man on the physical plane,- with continuity of awareness, - throughout all the vehicles of consciousness, - and by will and conscious effort it masters the processes of abstraction, sacrifice of the individuality, and final return to the Monad.

**The soul dies to be born through:**

1. fusion and transcendence of the apparent separateness of life and form, spirit and matter 2. Unity and transmission of purpose according to the evolutionary plan

3. Integration of the many in the One and thus willful transformation of the form-nature 4. Dissolution, transfiguration and synthesis of the will to invoke and evoke.

Removal of the power of death correspond to a state of synthesized being, initiated at will through the activities of life and purpose, as a result dual magnetism. It is the energy of Shamballa that liberates life, brought forth (evoked) according to the law of attraction (invocation). Later, when the goal and purpose of evolution has been perfected (TCF pg. 148) and the nature harmonized, the cycle of vibratory evolution approaches its end.

**Unification of the personality, soul and monad** is a task of

∙ Elimination of all limitations of the character by right action and thinking in the lower worlds. ∙ Transcendence of the physical body, control and negation of the elements, -the atoms and cells. ∙ Killing out of ambition; -of desire for life; and for comfort.

∙ Transmission of individual desire to intelligent love, group-will and purpose as it is perceived in the progress of time.

∙ The Ego´s elimination and transformation of the lower being, and control of the form kills out all sense of separateness, -desire of sensation and hunger for growth on the path.

∙ The soul´s renewal of focus only upon that which is within, beyond and unattainable. ∙ Sacrifice and transfiguration of the Individuality, identification with-, response to-, and vision of the Monad<sup>18</sup>.

Man thus passes from desire to aspiration, to an ideal, then through his individual will into becoming and illustrating the Will of the monad.

Spirit and matter are thus identical, though in polar degrees of being. One is unmanifest and unchangeable, the other manifest and absorbable. When the two //appear// they are witnessed in the light of their synthetic nature.

Since Matter is characterized by the qualities of the three gunas, their quality dominate nature (form), when matter (fire by friction, 3<sup>rd</sup> aspect) attracts the spirit (electric fire, 1<sup>st</sup> aspect) and the two merge in Light (solar fire, 2<sup>nd</sup> aspect) and consciousness of life (9-fold unity of goal, function and activity).

The awareness of continuity and radiation of consciousness in time and space, thus depend on an adaption of form to the inherent life of the spirit. Such is the task of a spiritual human being.

<sup>18</sup> The Monad can do nothing by itself; all its development must come by contact with outside forces, and through the vehicles – it cannot grow without them. The spirit is thus senseless on the lower planes. (T.O. LOP, Vol. III, pg. 215)

**The fundamental process of appearance** is qualified by the three gunas (“building blocks of creation”) and fall in 4 categories and combinations of; untouchable-, hidden-, subtle- and dense matter.

Due to the dominance of; a. circulating activity of the 3<sup>rd</sup> aspect, b. spiralcyclic periodic movement of the 2<sup>nd</sup> aspect and c. energetic enterprise of the 1<sup>st</sup> aspect - all seeds of life are positive, and in manifestation subject to a spiral-cyclic movement and attraction of corresponding essential elements to its center of vibration.

Within a causal sphere of existence, rotation leads to separation, characterized by the three gunas qualifying their purpose, function and activity; and categorization in; units, functionality or movement, friction or vitality, and capacity or absorption.

It is thus the dynamic and organized reversal of the above process that leads to dissolution of form; - liberation of the essence in the form

- separation of spirit and matter

- end of the cycle

- obscuration and end of manifestation

- return of the essence and re-fusion of differentiated matter and prima-materia

- unity of the three fires and their return in sea of fire

- synthesis of the three forms of movement (TCF pg. 174)

Further perspective is given in the following sutra:

**Patanjali´s yoga sutra no. II:13 [Sati mule tad-vipako jaty-ayur-bhogah]**

There being the root (of) it (Karmasaya) fruition; ripening class (span of) life (and) experiences //“As long as the root is there it must ripen and result in lives of different class, length and experience”//

In the above sutra the law is made clear and simple; as long as the 5 klesas are operating in the life of an individual, the vehicles of Karmas will be continually nourished by the addition of new causal impressions. And in such condition it is not possible for the series of lives to come to an end. The individual will therefore again and again pass through the **stations on the three-fold path of death:**

∙ **Heaven**

- the state of consciousness on the astral plane based on human desire and “forms of happiness”. It is a dream-world of the aspirant´s concretized desire and longing after rest, peace and happiness, and a state of sensual egoistic pleasure created by each human being.

It is a state and reality of enjoyment to the lower being after leaving the physical body, to which the soul must create a distance.

The astral principle is herein returned to its source and recognized before the soul´s entrance to the mental plane.

∙ **Devachan**

- the state of consciousness on the mental plane into which the soul enter, after its withdrawal from the astral principle, when it’s active or limited by the mental principle/vehicle. It belongs to the lower worlds of appearance and keeps the soul in limitation until inner distance to mental matter, its waves and identification with movement, is cognized and mastered.

∙ **Nirvana**

- the state of consciousness which the adept<sup>19</sup> enters when the three lower worlds is no longer able to relate, through karma or affection, to the center of consciousness. He/she have thus assimilated the light of the soul in the lower principles, associated the monad with the ego and liberated his center of awareness from the lower worlds.

The liberated soul may turn the back upon the greater light and return into the conditions of the lower worlds in order to uplift and serve Humanity. (LOS pg. 45)

**CHAPTER 6**

**Meditation, Death and sleep**

Man´s focus on that which is not the form, and therefore the abstract or transcendent world, is of central relevance for a true understanding of Death and the essential nature of Unity.

I think Patanjali expose a most valuable principle and perfectly outline the method and state of meditation (and therefore death of form) is in its most natural position, in the following sutra:

**Yoga Sutra no. I:2 [Yogas Citta-vrtti-nihrodhah]**

“//Yoga is the inhibition of the modifications of the mind”//

Existence appears from the vrttis<sup>20</sup> in the mind, the medium through which consciousness functions on all planes of the manifested Universe. Life in form is both clouded by and closely related to the modifications (Vrtti) of the mind (citta), whereas thinking fundamentally is a reflection of the will aspect able to lead to the conquering (EA pg. 556) of death.

**In the pure state of meditation** there are no modifications of the mind, but clear awareness and focused tension to suppress all vibrations in the lower mental body while in the waking state. In the waking state the brain is connected with the lower mind and by controlling the activity of the mind, in the brain, it is possible to control its own activity.

**Death and deep sleep** both corresponds to the psychic passing of life from the physical- to the higher/ lower astral-mental- and eventually buddhic plane, according to evolution.

The passing of consciousness in sleep and “death” can be mastered via special training and meditation, by the practical occultist, and as explained in Patanjali´s Yoga sutra no. I:38 - the knowledge derived (and brought back into the brain) from the passing of consciousness through the subtler vehicles is reliable and useful for bringing the mind into a higher one-pointed position at will:

[Svapna-nidra-jnanalambanam va]

//“Also (the mind) depending upon the knowledge derived from dreamless sleep (will acquire steadiness)”//

<sup>19</sup> He who have unified the Monad with the ego.

<sup>20</sup> Vrtti is derived from the root //Vrt// which means to exist. Vrtti is thus a way of existing within or without form.

It is thus not the “blank” state of dreamless sleep from which knowledge is derived, but from the __passage__ __of consciousness__ into the subtler worlds.

The sutra thus reveals that the soul is partially withdrawn from the physical form in dreamless sleep and therein able to turn its mental focus elsewhere, utilizing the energy normally anchored in the brain. And that man, in control of his mind will acquire steadiness as a preconditioning capacity for conscious abstraction. In sleep, the soul leaves the form in an unconscious state and is anchored to the life in form through the electrical energy of the heart.

**Valuable information concerning sleep and the modifications of the mind** is further provided in Yoga sutra no. I:10 [Abhava-pratyayalambana vrtti nidra]

//“That modification of the mind which is based on the absence of any content in it is sleep”//

We are thus told that modification of the mind based on the //absence// of content (sleep), differs remarkably from the result of inhibition of the modifications (meditation). Even though they objectively may seem alike one result in darkness (sleep, void) the other in light (meditation).

In the state of deep sleep the mental activity does not stop, the brain is just disconnected from the mind and cannot therefore record any of the activities going on in the mind or at the level of the soul.

//“The self-conscious and self-expressive being and life principle is seated in the heart and objectively symbolized by the head and brain. Its life and energy create and desires the form, symbolized objectively by the heart and blood. Its activity indicates existence, integration and response to universal activity, symbolized by the stomach, liver and pancreas”.// (EH pg. 422)

**Death, from the perspective of consciousness** is therefore the actual withdrawal of the soul energy from the head //and// the heart, leading to human unconsciousness and dissolution of form, but to which the meditative stage is basically unaffected.

It is only the form and electromagnetic field that dissolves into the reservoir of involutionary elementals, whereas the subtle substantial nature still exists in the “hall of justice” or astral-, and mental plane, before it eventually reincarnate or re-absorbs in the higher individuality, just as a wave dissolves in the ocean.

At the time when the central vibration is neutralized and the soul withdraw from the physical and etheric vehicle; its organism is no longer limited by the brain and physical organs, but now constituted by;

- the spark of divine spirit that provides the seed of all existence

- the spiritual nature, constituted by the spiritual faculties

- the abstract mind and powers of thought

- the concrete thought powers and lower mind

- the emotional nature and its reactive forces

Due to the absence of the senses, the consciousness no longer perceives the earthly dimension, but is fully conscious on the astral and mental plane, including its continuing emotional and mental relationships with relatives and friends living on the physical plane.

With the soul´s renewed awareness in its subjective state of consciousness and being, it drift into a state of deep meditation and gradually realize the true meaning of its past incarnations; gradually transform its personal emotional desires and reactions; before it reach its intellectual constitution, overshadowed by its spiritual nature. The soul then reach a state of impersonal being in which it seeks understanding freed from emotion. Dependent on the capacity of intellectual unfoldment, the soul may reach an objective

consciousness or continue in a subconscious state, as in sleep, before all memory of past incarnations dissolve and the personality, constituted by the three lower principles, dies.

The objective consciousness successively withdraws and the essence of the lower life and experiences absorbs in the immortal, never born, never dying individuality.

The ideal reality and perspective, that man must gradually aspire and experience, concerning death; sleep and meditation, is thus the One Life in which a variety of successive stages of life and states of consciousness exists.

//“…..A cosmic mind Looked out on all from formidable eyes//

//contemning all with its unbearable gaze//

//And with immortal lids and vast brow//

//It saw in its immense destroying thought//

//All things and beings as a pitiful dream,//

//rejecting with calm disdain Nature´s delight,//

//the wordless meaning of its deep regard//

//Voicing the unreality of things//

//And life that would be forever but never was//

//And its brief and vain recurrence without cease,//

//As if from Silence without form and name//

//The shadow of a remote uncaring god//

//Doomed to his Nought the illusory universe,//

//Cancelling its show of idea and act in Time//

//and its imitation of eternity……..”//

**Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Book VIII, The book of Death, pg. 565, L. 160-175**

**CHAPTER 7**

**Death and Service of humanity**

The individuality transmutes, transform and transfigure through the life of form, nature and mind. As such it progress through the crises of personal experience, egoic consciousness and monadic impulse.

Each step of progress is subject to the laws of nature and vibrations of the rays.

The esoteric teachings relate these to;

a. the law of fixation

b. the law love

c. the law of sacrifice and death in the three worlds of form

The three laws are governed by;

a) the Life and Power of the 1<sup>st</sup> Ray, the 1<sup>st</sup> and 5<sup>th</sup> plane

b) the magnetic Life, coherence and Love of the 2<sup>nd</sup> Ray system, the 2<sup>nd</sup>, 4<sup>th</sup>, 6<sup>th</sup> plane c) the active group-Life of the 3<sup>rd</sup> Ray, the 3<sup>rd</sup> and 7<sup>th</sup> plane.

Death and sacrifice thus underlies the 3<sup>rd</sup> and 7<sup>th</sup> plane and relates to dissolution of form in the 5 lower worlds of monadic evolution. Death is closely connected to the synthetic control of the 7<sup>th</sup> ray in manifestation and whereas death concerns the physical form, sacrifice concerns the forces of nature and subtle vehicles.

(Note: One may herein ponder upon the influence and relationship of religion and death, science and sacrifice….and Pisces and Aquarius…)

From a perspective of active Service; death – could indicate realization (I assert the fact), sacrifice - liberation (Two merges with one) and Love - atmic actualization (Three minds unite).

Active Service may thus be understood as a “synthetic organism” of Love, characterized by intelligence, expressed through wisdom*; in which the nature of service continuously changes to serve the need of evolution, spiritual progress and return to the Source. The process of change is herein a representation of death.

*Wisdom indicates the faculty of consciousness that penetrates the life behind the form, through discrimination and judgment, whereas knowledge in such relationship would indicate translated wisdom, not a faculty.

For the incarnated personality, to reach such high alignment in Service, several expansions of the ordinary consciousness, and death of the lower, are necessary. These are preconditioned by a gradual clarity and ability to discriminate<sup>21</sup> between reality, the immortal Life and Truth, and its opposition in the worlds of duality and trigularity.

As man reaches a stage of conscious self-recognition, the gates of initiated will creates his further progress, aligned with the present need of Humanity, Planetary will and the solar Systemic plan. The individuality thus works its way through the lesser, the higher and the greater initiations in consciousness. The primary concern of the incarnated human race is the five-fold monadic evolution and sacrifice of the 5<sup>th</sup> principle to the 6<sup>th</sup>, through the cycles of man.

The above perspective gently seeks to expose the difference between the personality that form the incarnating unity and the individuality that is the evolving unity and thus summarize the concept of death.

<sup>21</sup> Discrimination indicates a mental faculty, activated through the experiences of conscience, sensitive response to vibration and separateness, and gradual re-cognition of that which is.

**Bibliography & sources of inspiration**

**Alice A. Bailey**: Esoteric psychology (EP), Light of the soul (LOS), Esoteric Astrology (EA), Rays and Initiation (RI), A Treatise on Cosmic fire (TCF), Reincarnation.

**The Mahatma letters to A.P Sinnett (TML)**; transcribed and compiled by A.T. Barker The theosophical publishing house, Adyar, Chennai, 600 020, India. Wheaton, IL, USA

**Sri Aurobindo: Savitri**, Sri Aurobindo Ashram trust 1950, 4<sup>th</sup> revised edition 1993 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram publication department, Pondicherry 605 002

**Sri Aurobindo: The Upanishads – II**, Kena and other Upanishads, 1<sup>st</sup> edition 2001 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram publication department, Pondicherry 605 002

**Annie Besant & C.W. Leadbeater:** Talks on the path of occultism (TO), vol. 1-3, Light on the path (LOP)., Voice of silence (VOS.), At the feet of the Master.

The Theospohical Publishing house, 1926, Vasanta Press, The Theosophical Society, Adyar, Chennai 600 020, India

**Arthur E. Powell:** The causal body and the Ego

The theosophical publishing house, Adyar, Chennai, 600 020, India. Wheaton, IL, USA

**Dion Fortune**: Through the gates of death

Society of inner Light 1987, London NW3 4RG, London.

Translation by Jørgen og Helene Stoltenberg, Visdomsbøgerne, Sankt Angars Forlag, København 1994 ISBN 87-89452-27-5

**HPB teaches** – an anthology compiled by Michael Gomes, 1992

The theosophical publishing house, Adyar, Chennai, 600 020, India. Wheaton, IL, USA

**Carol Beckham:** Cycles of opportunity, copyright, 1998

Source publications, P.O. Box 1160, Mariposa, California 95338

In synthesis,

Catherine Daverne

Copenhagen 2013