The three upper are the three higher planes of consciousness, revealed and explained in both schools only to the Initiates, the lower ones represent the four lower planes — the lowest being our plane, or the visible Universe.
These seven planes correspond to the seven states of consciousness in man. It remains with him to attune the three higher states in himself to the three higher planes in Kosmos. But before he can attempt to attune, he must awaken the three "seats" to life and activity. — The Secret Doctrine, I, 199Most people are inclined to look upon the seven planes or worlds in any universe as lying one on top of another like a pile of books on a table, or like the steps of a stair. This is, of course, an erroneous concept and has arisen because of the attempt to portray these cosmic planes in the form of a diagram, and thus as one on top of the other. However, this is but a means of helping us to realize that the higher the plane the more ethereal it is, and finally the more spiritual; and that the lower the plane the grosser it is, and finally the more material.
Actually, the cosmic planes interpenetrate each other, inwards especially, as well as outwards; and the truth of this should be clear when we remember the teaching concerning the auric egg, for instance, of a man. Let us take the 'layers' of such an auric egg as being the exact correspondences of the planes in the cosmos. We immediately realize that these layers are not one on top of another and rising above man's head until they reach infinity, but are groups of life-atoms, all together composing the auric egg, and differing only in degree of spirituality or materiality. Indeed, the analogy is extremely exact; for what the auric egg is in man, with its many layers of atoms vibrating at different rates of intensity, just that in the cosmos is the aggregate of the cosmic planes interpenetrating each other — one plane being different from another because of immense variations in vibrational rates, making one plane material, another ethereal, and so forth to the highest plane.
Now from the very fact that the life-atoms are as units individuals, each with its own highest or atmic, and its own lowest or material (or it may be ethereal) vehicle, we see that a layer or plane is made by these life-atoms themselves; so that collectively, even the lowest of any such aggregate of life-atoms has likewise its atmic or inmost fundamental being. Thus it is that the topmost layers of any cosmic plane are spiritual or divine; even the topmost subplane of the lowest cosmic plane, and this does not mean that it is spiritual-divine only when compared with all its own lower subplanes. In other words, the uppermost layers of any cosmic plane are spiritual per se; and as the succeeding layers unfold downwards, they thicken or grossen proportionally faster, the lower the cosmic plane is.
Despite all that has been stated, some may still picture the seven cosmic planes, or the seven principles of man, or again the different layers of the auric egg, as piled one on top of the other. Of course, in one sense, there is some truth in this, for one plane is emanationally unfolded in time and space from its superior plane. It is really the time-illusion which causes us to look upon each cosmic plane as being below the one which gave it birth.
The highest subplane of any cosmic plane is as high, in its essence, as the highest subplane of any other cosmic plane. Yet the lower the cosmic plane, the more rapidly concretion takes place as the hierarchy of that plane unfolds itself 'downwards.' Thus, with the lowest or seventh cosmic plane, its spiritual essence is as high as that of the first, second, or any other cosmic plane.
Here is the reason why we speak of the heart of the sun, of globe D of the solar chain, for instance, as being a particle of mother-substance in the sixth or even seventh state of this mother-substance, a subject we shall take up in more detail later. This means that all the different planes, instead of being actually one on top of another, are interblended and interacting, and hence there is a progression of life-atoms or monads not only from top to bottom and up again, but horizontally, as it were, on each plane.
The first or highest cosmic plane is the first or highest layer of the auric egg of the cosmos, or what we may call the cosmic atman, the Paramatman. The second or next lower cosmic plane is in its highest in essence equal to the second atmic subplane of the first cosmic plane or great atmic plane. The third cosmic plane is in its highest in essence equal to the third atmic subplane of the first cosmic plane; and so forth down the scale. Thus the atmic subplane of the seventh or lowest cosmic plane is in its essence the same as the seventh or lowest subplane of the highest or atmic hierarchy of the cosmos. It is, as it were, a reflection of the lowest sub-atmic plane of the first cosmic plane. This is why every little life-atom, even on this physical plane, is a sevenfold entity, because possessing at its heart the essence of the first cosmic plane or highest atman of the cosmos, plus the essences of all the intermediate five cosmic planes.
The highest atmic plane of the cosmos therefore contains infolded within itself all the other lower atmic degrees of the unfolded cosmos. For the highest unrolls itself into seven (or twelve), and out of these roll all the other atmic essences of the lower cosmic planes. The atmic subplane of the second cosmic plane we can call a derivative from the buddhi-atman of the first cosmic plane; the atman of the third cosmic plane would be a manas-atman derivative of the first cosmic plane; and so on down the line of the unfolded cosmic hierarchy.
It may be of interest here to mention that the ancient Buddhist initiates divided the cosmic worlds and planes of any structural unit into three generalized groups or dhatus: the arupa-dhatu, the rupa-dhatu, and the kama-dhatu.
Suppose we take our planetary chain and try to divide the seven cosmic planes on which its twelve globes are distributed into the threefold division of the dhatus. Then the lowest of the dhatus, the kama-dhatu, can be looked upon as being the seven manifest globes, and the rupa-dhatu as corresponding with the five higher globes of the twelve of our chain. The arupa-dhatu or formless worlds would correspond to the three highest planes above the seven on which these twelve globes are, thus making the full number of the ten planes of the solar system. As a matter of fact, however, this allocation of the dhatus is somewhat arbitrary, because different distributions could be given with equal logic. All such divisions of the universe should be considered somewhat like diagrams: they are suggestive and are strictly accordant with nature's structure, but they are not hard and fast. H.P.B. herself gives another manner of allocating the globes by comparison with the seven globes of the Qabbala. (Cf. The Secret Doctrine, I, 200.)
The kama-dhatu or desire-world refers to the planes and globes which are the worlds of more or less concreted materialization; the rupa-dhatu or form-world refers to those planes of the solar system or of the chain and the globes on them, which are more ethereal; again the arupa-dhatu or formless world comprises the planes which to us are not concreted matter, whether coarse or ethereal, but are purely spiritual and therefore to us formless. All these dhatus refer as much to the states of consciousness of the beings therein as they do to the planes and globes themselves.
Viewed from another angle, these three groups of cosmic planes may be described briefly as follows: the highest is the 'imageless' system or group; the intermediate is the 'image' system; and the third and lowest is the 'desire' system — the last meaning those planes or worlds where entities live in relatively material or grossly material vehicles with appropriate sense organs, brought about by as yet nonextinct desire or hunger for existence in spheres of matter.
Thus the kama-dhatu system comprises our own physical cosmic plane with three others invisible to us, rising along an ethereal scale, and all together forming an aggregate of four planes of the cosmos on which we may place the seven globes of the planetary chain. Then follows upwards the next system of worlds or planes which comprises the rupa-dhatu, a group system likewise seven in number, and graduating in ethereality and spirituality until the highest of this intermediate scale blends with the lowest of the arupa-dhatu, which again is a group system of seven worlds or planes.
These three dhatus, ascending in steadily more ethereal ranges, form all the cosmic planes in any universal solar system; yet above them, there are other planes still more spiritual reaching into the divine, and in these last ranges of being are found those entities who have attained the nirvana. On the cosmic scale, the higher principles of a universal solar system reach these spiritual-divine ranges of being at the end of the Maha-Saurya manvantara, and thus enter their paranirvana.
Now the outbreathings of Brahma are from these paranirvanic spiritual-divine ranges of the galaxy, these outbreathings slowly descending through all intermediate planes until our physical world appears in the beginning of its manvantara as, first, a cosmic comet evolving to become a nebula, and ending as a universal solar system. When the Maha-Saurya pralaya approaches, the reverse process of infolding or inbreathing begins to take place. The beings and energies and substances, commencing with the lowest cosmic plane, all gradually disappear within, like an infolding scroll as the general life force of the universal solar system retreats ever higher and more inwards through all the planes of the trailokya (7), ingathering each such plane and all beings on and in it, and thus finally attaining the imageless or paranirvanic realms of the divine principles of the galaxy.
What is nirvana or paranirvana for one class of entities may not necessarily be such for another class superior to it. In other words, the Ring-pass-not is not one particular plane or sphere, but varies with different classes of entities. As H.P.B. says with reference to the seven globes of our planetary chain as existing on the four lowest cosmic planes:
These are the four lower planes of Cosmic Consciousness, the three higher planes being inaccessible to human intellect as developed at present. The seven states of human consciousness pertain to quite another question. — The Secret Doctrine, I, 200When H.P.B. states that the human intellect cannot ascend higher than the fourth macrocosmic plane — on which are the first and seventh globes of the planetary chain — this does not mean that we derive our origin from that plane, but merely that the higher part of our present constitution as a conscious entity cannot now ascend beyond it. Each one of us is Infinitude in the core of the core of the god within. Yet as a human entity, even with the loftiest and most sublimely developed human understanding, we cannot rise in thought and comprehension above the fourth macrocosmic plane. When we shall have passed out of ordinary humanhood into quasi-godhood, then we shall be able to reach in self-conscious thought and spiritual penetration even beyond this fourth plane.
The gods can ascend to the first or highest of the seven macrocosmic planes. But even they in their present state of godhood cannot go beyond the Ring-pass-not, which means the utmost limit of their consciousness and understanding. The wings of their spirit can carry them no higher, no farther, no deeper, into the essence of Being. These expressions, high, deep, far, apply only to our physical universe, and are used because we have no proper words to express the spiritual fact of an ever-increasing penetration into the arcana of nature's heart.
When reading of the Ring-pass-not, we should remember that this Ring refers to the state or evolution of any individual entity. The Ring-pass-not of a god would mean that utmost extension of consciousness and vital activity which it in its divine power can attain; similarly, the Ring-pass-not of a buddha would be the buddha's utmost capacity to be conscious on and to act in his own farthest spiritual-vital sphere. In exactly identical fashion the Ring-pass-not of a man is that limit or frontier beyond which he, in his present evolutionary unfoldment, cannot go in consciousness or self-conscious action. Thus the Ring-pass-not does not mean so much any particular cosmic plane, but rather the entity's ability, beyond which it cannot as yet pass. For example, the beasts on earth today have merely direct consciousness and the merest unfoldings of self-consciousness as their Ring-pass-not; but humans have passed this Ring, because they have attained self-consciousness.
As H.P.B. writes in The Secret Doctrine (I, 131):
The chemist goes to the laya or zero point of the plane of matter with which he deals, and then stops short. The physicist or the astronomer counts by billions of miles beyond the nebulae, and then they also stop short; the semi-initiated Occultist will represent this laya-point to himself as existing on some plane which, if not physical, is still conceivable to the human intellect. But the full Initiate knows that the ring "Pass-Not" is neither a locality nor can it be measured by distance, but that it exists in the absoluteness of infinity. In this "Infinity" of the full Initiate there is neither height, breadth nor thickness, but all is fathomless profundity, reaching down from the physical to the "para-para-metaphysical." In using the word "down," essential depth — "nowhere and everywhere" — is meant, not depth of physical matter.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Cf. Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy, where I have given the following table of cosmic essences equated with the Brahmanic tattwas and the mystic Greek parallels, etc. Any such table, however, is more or less arbitrary, as others could be drawn up with equal accuracy from different standpoints:
[[chart]]
2. The following extract from the Vishnu Purana (I, ii, 27-40) is here appended:
In the same manner as fragrance affects the mind from its proximity merely, and not from any immediate operation upon mind itself, so the Supreme influenced the elements of creation. Purushottama is both the agitator and the thing to be agitated; being present in the essence of matter, both when it is contracted and expanded. . . .
Then from that equilibrium of the qualities (Pradhana), presided over by soul, proceeds the unequal development of those qualities (constituting the principle Mahat or Intellect) at the time of creation. The Chief principle then invests that Great principle, Intellect; and it becomes threefold, as affected by the quality of goodness, foulness, or darkness, and invested by the Chief principle (matter), as seed is by its skin. From the great principle (Mahat) Intellect, threefold Egotism, (Ahamkara), denominated Vaikarika, 'pure'; Taijasa, 'passionate'; and Bhutadi, 'rudimental,' is produced; the origin of the (subtile) elements, and of the organs of sense; invested, in consequence of its three qualities, by Intellect, as Intellect is by the Chief principle. Elementary Egotism, then becoming productive, as the rudiment of sound, produced from it Ether, of which sound is the characteristic, investing it with its rudiment of sound. Ether, becoming productive, engendered the rudiment of touch; whence originated strong wind, the property of which is touch; and Ether, with the rudiment of sound, enveloped the rudiment of touch. Then wind, becoming productive, produced the rudiment of form (colour); whence light (or fire) proceeded, of which, form (colour) is the attribute; and the rudiment of touch enveloped the wind with the rudiment of colour. Light, becoming productive, produced the rudiment of taste; whence proceed all juices in which flavour resides; and the rudiment of colour invested the juices with the rudiment of taste. The waters, becoming productive, engendered the rudiment of smell; whence an aggregate (earth) originates, of which smell is the property. In each several element resides its peculiar rudiment; thence the property of tanmatrata (type or rudiment) is ascribed to these elements. . . .
Then, ether, air, light, water, and earth, severally united with the properties of sound and the rest, existed as distinguishable according to their qualities, as soothing, terrific, or stupefying; but, possessing various energies and being unconnected, they could not, without combination, create living beings, not having blended with each other. Having combined, therefore, with one another, they assumed, through their mutual association, the character of one mass of entire unity; and, from the direction of spirit, with the acquiescence of the indiscrete Principle, Intellect and the rest, to the gross elements inclusive, formed an egg, which gradually expanded like a bubble of water. . . . In that egg, O Brahman, were the continents and seas and mountains, the planets and divisions of the universe, the gods, the demons, and mankind. And this egg was externally invested by seven natural envelopes; or by water, air, fire, ether, and Ahamkara, the origin of the elements, each tenfold the extent of that which it invested; next came the principle of Intelligence; and, finally, the whole was surrounded by the indiscrete Principle: resembling, thus, the cocoa-nut, filled interiorly with pulp, and exteriorly covered by husk and rind.3. The sylphs or the nature spirits of the atmosphere, the vayu-elementals, are popularly said to be the most dangerous to man, because they are on a plane which has close and intimate correspondences with the kama range of the astral world. The gnomes, or prithivi-elementals, are less dangerous, because too heavy. The undines, or elemental beings of apas-tattwa, are also less dangerous, because they are not as evolved as the sylphs. The fire elementals or salamanders, the beings born from the taijasa-tattwa, are likewise not as harmful because, though more evolved than the sylphs or vayu-elementals, they are more intimately connected with the manasic ranges of the astral world.
4. Cf. The Secret Doctrine, I, 294, footnote:
". . . as man is composed of all the Great Elements: Fire, Air, Water, Earth and Ether — the ELEMENTALS which belong respectively to these Elements feel attracted to man by reason of their co-essence. That element which predominates in a certain constitution will be the ruling element throughout life. For instance, if man has a preponderance of the Earthly, gnomic element, the gnomes will lead him towards assimilating metals — money and wealth, and so on."5. The kind of manvantara referred to is the solar manvantara which, however, is an ambiguous term. As pointed out elsewhere, the term solar manvantara has two applications: first, to the entire life cycle of our sun and therefore of the entire solar system — usually called a mahamanvantara; and second, to the life cycle of a single planetary chain, which is likewise called a solar manvantara, for the reason that each such life cycle, when beginning its course, enters upon a new cosmic subplane, and consequently a new sun, as it were, dawns for each such planetary chain-manvantara.
6. In the table in footnote , I was referring to the taijasa-subtattwa, that part of the cosmic vayu which we may call the vayu-taijasa; and, in similar fashion, to the vayu-subtattwa, that part of the cosmic taijasa which we may call the taijasa-vayu. For example, a man may belong by karmic characteristic to the taijasa-tattwa, yet be passing through its vayu phase, the taijasa-vayu, and we could speak of him as being for the time a vayu individual. In this table we were considering the tattwas in the serial order of their cosmic unfolding from the less to the more material, and therefore taijasa preceded vayu, because fire, even on earth, is more ethereal than air. But there are other ways of looking at the unrolling of the universe out of its inner substance.
7. A Sanskrit word meaning three worlds, often used for the three dhatus. The correspondences between the trailokya and the similar parts of man's constitution are shown by the trikaya, or three vehicles, to wit, counting downwards, the dharmakaya, the sambhogakaya, and the nirmanakaya. The arupa- or dharma-dhatu corresponds generally with the dharmakaya in man; the rupa-dhatu with the sambhogakaya; and the kama-dhatu with the nirmanakaya (and the physical body) of the human being. All three of these kayas or vehicles are integral parts of the constitution of a man, and through initiation one may learn how to live self-consciously in any one of the three, both during life and after death. It should be noted, however, that the highest aspect of the dharmakaya is nirvanic, and thus it is often said that the nirvani lives in the dharmakaya.
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