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Letters on Occult Meditation - Letter V - Dangers to be avoided in Meditation
Some Thoughts on Fire July 28, 1920 Just prior to beginning the consideration of the matter on hand, I would like to point out to you a certain rather interesting fact. Most of the psychological phenomena of the earth are - as you will realize, if you think clearly, - under the control of the Deva Lord Agni, the great primary Lord of Fire, the Ruler of the mental plane. Cosmic fire forms the background of our evolution; the fire of the mental plane, its inner control and dominance and its purifying asset coupled to its refining effects, is the aim of the evolution of our threefold life. When the inner fire of the mental plane and the fire latent in the lower vehicles merge with the sacred fire of the Triad, the work is completed, and the man stands adept. The at-one-ment has been made and the work of aeons is completed. All this is brought about through the cooperation of the Lord Agni, and the high devas of the mental plane working with the Ruler of that plane, and with the Raja-Lord of the second plane. Macrocosmic evolution proceeds in like manner to the microcosmic. The internal fires of the terrestrial globe, deep in the heart of our earth sphere, will merge with the sacred fire of the sun at the end of the greater cycle, and the solar system will then have reached its apotheosis. Little by little as the aeons slip away and the lesser cycles run their course, fire will permeate the ethers and will be daily more recognizable and controlled till [101] eventually cosmic and terrestrial fire will be at-one (the bodies of all material forms adapting themselves to the changing conditions) and the correspondence will be demonstrated. When this is realized the phenomena of the earth - such as, for instance, seismic disturbance - can be studied with greater interest. Later, when more is comprehended, the effects of such disturbances will be understood and likewise their reactions on the sons of men. During the summer months - as that great cycle comes around in different quarters of the earth - the fire devas, the fire elementals and those obscure entities the "agnichaitans" of the internal furnaces, come into greater activity, relapsing as the sun moves further away, into a less active condition. You have here a correspondence between the fiery aspects of the earth economy in their relationship to the sun similar to the watery aspects and their connection with the moon. I give you quite an occult hint here. I would like also to give you here a very brief though occult fragment that.. may now be made public. If pondered on, it carries the student to a high plane and stimulates vibration. "The secret of the Fire lies hid in the second letter of the Sacred Word. The mystery of life is concealed within the heart. When that lower point vibrates, when the Sacred Triangle glows, when the point, the middle center, and the apex likewise burn, then the two triangles - the greater and the lesser - merge into one flame which burneth up the whole." It is our task now to deal briefly with the dangers that attend the practice of meditation as they manifest in the physical body. These dangers - like so much else in the Logoic scheme - assume a threefold nature, attacking [102] three departments of the physical body. They show themselves: In the brain. In the nervous system. In the sex organs. It is needless to point out now the reason why I dealt first with the dangers of the mental and emotional bodies. It was necessary so to do, for many of the perils besetting the dense vehicle find their commencement on the subtler planes, and are only the outer manifestations of inner evils. Each human being enters into life equipped with a physical and etheric body of certain constituents, those constituents being the product of a previous incarnation; they are virtually the body, reproduced exactly, that the man finally left behind him when death severed him from physical plane existence. The task ahead of everybody is to take that body, realize its defects and requirements, and then deliberately set in and build a new body that may prove more adequate to the need of the inner spirit. This is a task of large dimensions and involves time, stern discipline, self-denial and judgment. The man who undertakes the practice of occult meditation literally "plays with fire." I wish you to emphasize this statement for it embodies a truth little realized. "Playing with fire" is an old truth that has lost its significance through flippant repetition, yet it is absolutely and entirely correct, and is not a symbolic teaching but a plain statement of fact. Fire forms the basis of all - the Self is fire, the intellect is a phase of fire, and latent in the microcosmic physical vehicles lies hid a veritable fire that can either be a destructive force, burning the tissue of the body and stimulating centers of an undesirable character, or be a vivifying factor, acting as a [103] stimulating and awakening agent. When directed along certain prepared channels, this fire may act as a purifier and the great connector between the lower and the Higher Self. In meditation the student seeks to contact the divine flame that is his Higher Self, and to put himself likewise en rapport with the fire of the mental plane. When meditation is forced, or is pursued too violently, before the alignment between the higher and lower bodies via the emotional is completed, this fire may act on the fire latent at the base of the spine (that fire called kundalini) and may cause it to circulate too early. This will produce disruption and destruction instead of vivification and stimulation of the higher centers. There is a proper geometrical spiraling which this fire should follow, dependent upon the ray of the student and the key of the vibration of his higher centers. This fire should only be permitted to circulate under the direct instruction of the Master and consciously distributed by the student himself, following the specific oral instructions of the teacher. Sometimes the fire may be aroused and spiral with correctness without the student knowing what is occurring on the physical plane; but on the inner planes he knows and has but failed to bring the knowledge through to the physical plane consciousness. Let us take up for a moment the three dangers that principally beset the physical vehicles. I would like to point out that I deal with the trouble in its extreme, and that there are many intermediate stages of risk and trouble that attack the unwary student.
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