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A Treatise on Cosmic Fire - Section One - Division A - The Internal Fires of the Sheaths
II. Fire Elementals and Devas

We might now briefly consider the subject of the fire elementals and devas, and then deal with the relation of the Personality Ray to this internal fire of the system in its threefold manifestation.

Certain facts are known in connection with the fire spirits (if so they may be termed). The fundamental fact that should here be emphasized is that AGNI, the Lord of Fire, rules over all the fire elementals and devas on the three planes of human evolution, the physical, the astral, and the mental, and rules over them not only on this planet, called the Earth, but on the three planes in all parts of the system. He is one of the seven Brothers (to use an expression familiar to students of the Secret Doctrine) Who each embody one of the seven principles, or Who are in Themselves the seven centers in the body of the cosmic Lord of Fire, called by H. P. B. "Fohat." He is that active fiery Intelligence, Who is the basis of the internal fires of the solar system. On each plane one of these Brothers holds sway, and the three elder Brothers (for always the three will be seen, and later the seven, who eventually merge into the primary three) rule on the first, third and the fifth planes, or on the plane of adi, of atma 22 and of manas. It is urgent that we here remember that They are fire viewed [66] in its third aspect, the fire of matter. In Their totality these seven Lords form the essence of the cosmic Lord, called in the occult books, Fohat. 23

This is so in the same sense as the seven Chohans, 24 with Their affiliated groups of pupils, form the essence or centers in the body of one of the Heavenly Men, one of the planetary Logoi. These seven again in Their turn form the essence of the Logos.

Each of the seven Lords of Fire 25 are differentiated into numerous groups of fire entities, from the Deva-Lords of a plane down to the little salamanders of the internal furnaces. We are not dealing with the fiery essences of the higher planes at this stage in our discussion. We will only enumerate somewhat briefly some of the better known groups, as contacted in the three worlds.

1. Physical Plane

Salamanders, those little fire elementals who can be seen dancing in every flame, tending the fires of the hearth and the home, and of the factory. They are of the same group as the fire spirits who can be contacted deep in the fiery bowels of the planet.

Fire spirits, latent in all focal points of heat, who are themselves the essence of warmth, and can be contacted [67] in the heat of the bodily frame, whether human or animal, and who are likewise the warmth terrestrial.

The Agnichaitans, a higher grade of fire spirit, who form a vortex of fire when viewed on a large scale, such as in volcanoes and large destructive burnings. They are closely allied to a still more important group of devas, who form the fiery envelope of the sun.

The pranic elementals, those minute fiery essences who have the ability to permeate the texture of the human body, of a tree, or of all that may be found in the human, vegetable and animal kingdoms, and who blend with the fires of the microcosmic systems.

Certain of the deva kingdom who may be described as ensouling certain of the great light rays, and Who are in Themselves the essence of those rays. Other forms of such elemental lives and of deva groups might be enumerated, but the above tabulation will suffice for our present purpose.

2. The Astral Plane

The fiery essences of this plane are more difficult for us to comprehend, having not, as yet, the seeing eye upon that plane. They are in themselves the warmth and heat of the emotional body, and of the body of feeling. They are of a low order when upon the path of desire, and of a high order when upon the path of aspiration, for the elemental is then transmuted into the deva.

Their grades and ranks are many, but their names matter not save in one instance. It may be of interest to know the appellation applied to the devas of fire whose part it is to tend the fires that will later destroy the causal body. We need to remember that it is the upspringing of the latent fire of matter and its merging with two other fires that causes destruction. These elementals and devas are called the Agnisuryans, and in [68] their totality are the fiery essences of buddhi, hence their lowest manifestation is on the sixth plane, the astral.

Further information concerning these deva lives will be found further on in the Treatise, where they are dealt with at some length. [69]

23 Atma means as you all know the self or the ego or an individualized center of consciousness around which all worldly experiences in their dual aspect of subjective and objective cluster and arrange themselves. It is as it were one of the foci from which emerge rays of light to illumine the cosmic waters and in which also converge the rays sent back by those waters. In Theosophical writings, it is called the self-conscious individuality or the Higher Manas. From this point of view, you will see that the Higher Manas is the most important principle or the central pivot of the human constitution or the true soul. It is the thread which ought to be caught hold of by one who wants to know the truth and lift himself out of this conditioned existence. To this it may be objected that Atma represents the seventh principle of the theosophical septenary and that the Manas is far lower in the scale. But the plain answer is that the seventh principle is the ultimate state attainable by the self after crossing the ocean of conditioned existence or samsara."
- Some Thoughts on the Gita, p. 26.

23 Fohat, or electricity, is an Entity.

  • He is the primordial electric Entity S. D., 1, 105.
  • He is Will S. D., 1, 136.
  • He is Love-Wisdom S. D, 1, 100, 144, 155.
  • He is Active Intelligence S. D., 1, 136.
  • Therefore He is God S. D., 1, 167.
  • He is the sumtotal of the energy of the seven Spirits, Who are the sumtotal of the Logos. S. D., 1, 169.

24 Chohan (Tibetan). A Lord or Master. A high Adept. An initiate who has taken more Initiations than the five major Initiations which make man a "Master of the Wisdom."

25 The seven Brothers. See S. D., 1, 105. These seven are the seven differentiations of primordial electric energy.

Plane. As used in occultism, the term denotes the range or extent of some state of consciousness or of the perceptive power of a particular set of senses or the action of a particular force, or the state of matter corresponding to any of the above.
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