THE new science declares confidently that we are akin to the stars, meaning thereby that, being composed of like elements though in vastly different states, we have through countless ages evolved therefrom. Yet it would cut us off entirely from that influence now ! And this is the great stumbling block of progress.
When science goes further and recognizes that mankind, as also every living creature and every visible, material thing, is ever in the making and has never been severed from that original kinship, humanity will gain an immense impetus in the up-ward ascent of the evolutionary spiral, towards the development of spiritual senses. The X-ray fore-shadows the powers humanity will thus gain.
Fortunately, recent discoveries are fast under-mining the walls between the visible and invisible that materialism has with such blind zeal endeavored to render impregnable. It is of vast significance to have discovered that ” The chemistry of all parts of space is the same.” The factor which they leave out of all their calculations and investigations is ” The Life-Movement of the Spirit through the Rhythm of Things.” This is the energy within energy behind all phenomena, the Soul of every atom, an energy of which we are a part, and of which we use whatever we will; that is, whatever we fit ourselves for through training of will and desire and thought.
Of stupendous import to the race is it to study present stellar influences, realizing that the most distant star that lights the midnight canopy has its not insignificant part to play in the Kosmic whole just as every atom and molecule in the physical body has its use and connection with that whole. All phenomena, atmospheric, terrene, physical, or mental, may be traced to Kosmic energies, a part of which we are.
Every point in the macrocosm is a center of action and reaction for the whole ocean of Prâna; and every one of these centers has its own atmosphere with its special limit. Râma Prasâd says they might be called ” solar atoms.” They are ” of various classes according to the prevalence of one or more of the constituent Tattvas.” And yet further, “Every atom has, therefore, for its constituents, all the four Tattvas, in varying proportions according to its position in respect of others. The different classes of these solar atoms appear on the terrestrial plane as the various elements of chemistry.” These points the most infinitesimal units of time as of spaceare called Trutis in Sanskrit, and lacking a word to so clearly identify the thing, I shall use it. To understand the ceaseless play of vibratory rays emanating from the celestial workshops, meeting and crossing or impinging upon one another on varying planes, imagine, if you can, the spectacle presented if seven or more particles of radium could be so placed and displayed in a darkened room that you could see the criss-crossing of their brilliant rays in a bewildering maze.
At every intersection of rays there would be a Truti receiving those rays, but no two Trutis could possibly receive precisely the same vibrations, for not only are there three kinds of rays to move at varying tangents but the Trutis would vary in plane and also in distance from the centers. Just such streams of influence are beating upon us all the time. In the zone of earth-life, every Truti of the ecliptical space is an individual organism whose life-phases change with the momentary variations of the Tattvic vibrations as the earth and her sisters planets whirl in their orbits.
Man is a microcosmic sphere of energy exactly duplicating or reflecting the macrocosmic sphere, of which he is as it were a single cell, made up of millions of atoms held together by vibratory law. Just as no two Trutis can be exactly alike, so no two human beings are, for the unceasing play of the Tattvas is a constant mingling and changing under the ebb and flow of the Great Breath, which holds all the planets and constellations in their assigned orbits. Thus the Tattvas are the forces that lie at the root of all manifestations. They are that which lies behind every natural phenomenon. But it is only when the Tattvas reach a certain state of density that they become visible. The sun, stars, and planets are the visible, materialized centers of invisible, spiritual and ethereal forces. To spiritual vision no matter is dense.
It should be remembered that no two planets move with the same velocity or in the same orbit, and that consequently their aspects one to another are incessantly changing. The varying forms of Tattvic force and influence cause this and it is the reaction from the planets which injects such variation in the Pranic currents flowing earthward; and, in consequence, into every species of earth organism these organisms being, as you will remember, manifestations on the gross (that is, visible!) plane of Tattvic activities.
Astronomers have recognized that the mutual interaction between the planets is a never-ending source of perturbations and disturbances, now checking and diverting, now restraining and now accelerating each and every one in its orbit, so that their paths through the congeries of stars which form the constellations, though never diverging far from the ecliptic, are most devious, being marked by eccentric loops and kinks recoiling upon their celestial pathways. Size and weight or velocity of motion, and especially their position in relation to the sun have been the factors supposed to account for the influences and antagonisms driving these stellar lords to so erratic conduct.
That the antagonism was in substance, a question of chemical affinity or repulsion shall we not say of electrical condition? seems never to have occurred to investigators. But when we apply the Tattvic Law to the problem there is the most logical basis to believe that it solves the enigma, accounting for all vagaries and idiosyncrasies and for the known influences of one planet upon another.
Let us begin with Saturn. By our law of corres pondencies, it seems a simple matter to recognize that this most masterful and significant of the major planets is the center of Akâshic influence, and derives from the predominance of this Tattva all the malefic influences which the astrologer attributes to the ” great infortune.” The rays of light thus thrown upon the subject dissipate a cloud of mystery and make clear hitherto unexplainable phenomena, as also many a legend and story of old. Both Saturn and Jupiter are said to present ” only a surface of clouds, and may not have anything solid about them; ” but it is suspected that they have a high temperature. Some states of Akâsha are known to be marked by an extraordinarily high temperature, and ” a surface of cloud ” is what we should naturally expect.
Even to the naked eye Saturn gleams with a cold blue light. Seen through a five-inch telescope, the planet appears of a cool silver-white color, with delicate greyish shadings, blending one with an-other as they stretch from the bright equatorial belt to the deep blue poles. These polar caps are sometimes described as of a dark greenish hue, but the great dissimilarity in human optics would ac-count for this discrepancy, as also would changing Tattvic conditions. An interesting feature is that the planet is banded by vari-colored belts, red, orange, and sometimes delicate rose-color; they are, however, less brilliant than Jupiter’s belts and not recognized as so variable.
But the greatest distinction of Saturn the phenomenon that puzzles the scientists the most is its remarkable system of rings, separate from the planet and surrounding its equatorial belt. There are two broad, bright bands, separated from each other by ” a black line (indigo?), which ” line ” marks a 1,600-mile gap; and a third dusky inner ring which is only faintly luminous and so transparent that the edge of the planet can be seen through its mass. The space between them has been measured and it is estimated to be from nine to ten thousand miles broad. The inner and outer rings are over 10,000 miles in width, and the middle one is more than a third broader, being 16,500 miles wide.
To the knower of the Tattvas, the only possible hypothesis is that these rings are Tattvic emanations from the mother bowl of Akasha, and their peculiarities so far as known perfectly agree with their natural identification. Thus, the “gauzy,” ” crepy” inner ring is Vayu (air), whence emerges the brightest and broadest ring, Tejas. The expansive nature of this Tattva explains its greater width, and the qualities of light and heat and its characteristic color, its superior brilliancy. The outer ring appears to be Prithivi. Color and volume corroborate this suggestion, while in the midnight-gap that separates it from Tejas, Akasha must hold Apas (water) in a latent state. This order of visibility corresponds perfectly with the planetary sequence, and also with the changes of the Tattvas in the currents of Prâna within our bodies, as described in Chapter XIII, where your attention was attracted to the peculiarity that the order of evolution (see Chapter V ) was violated. I am satisfied that we find in the planetary sequence the explanation for this, and the famous rings of Saturn corroborate the belief. No other planets have rings. Only from Akasha could they emanate.
Saturn’s rings are the girdle with which Satan alone among the gods is girt about; for Satan is the Soul and spiritual ruler of Saturn. His kingdom is the house of matter. ” Evil is the result of limitation, and Satan is the Lord of Limit ” (see ” Perfect Way,” page 369). Remember that through Akâsha spirit descended into matter.
Ancient myths represent Saturn as devouring his children, which symbolizes exactly what the A kashic Tattva does with every other Tattva. Ages before Christ, all the lesser celestial bodies were regarded as Saturn’s children. The Hebrews had several names for Saturn, but as Sater, or Seater, the attributes conferred upon him will be recognized as symbolizing perfectly the qualities or powers of Akâsha. He was called the ” god of secrecy,” ” parent of successive being,’ and author of generation.” It was believed that Sater consumed all things and again repaired them. Men were in closer touch in those days with matters celestial to have felt the mysterious influences of all these things which it is our privilege to understand rationally as inherent in the power of one of the centers from which the life we live is flowing constantly to us.
Saturn’s influence tends to fix more deeply that of other planets. He rules the East wind which, moving contrary to the earth’s motion, conduces greatly to dampness and depletes the electricity in the atmosphere. This is one reason why the East wind ” gets onto ” people’s nerves. They are failing to receive the normal supply, but the remedy is to generate it within. Fear has always been recognized as the active expression of the Saturn principle, and certainly nothing more is needed to identify the Akâsha influence.
Now the soul and life of the whole Solar System is the solar orb, and the human ” soul is as a spiritual sun, corresponding in all things with the solar orb.” If it permits evil to exist in its sphere the microcosm that evil will attract corresponding astral influences from the macrocosm. Disturbing influences can thus, of course, enter the body as the Tattvas change in their normal course; but thought has the power either to subdue them when they appear or to repel them before they find entrance, through holding tenaciously thoughts of serene confidence. Imagination is the architect, and thought the builder. We must have a perfect plan and use good materials if we would protect our bodies from the external disturbing thought-influences to which every organ is more or less sensitive. Its receptivity depends upon us.
Excessive indulgence in the gratification of any special sense-pleasure tends to exaggerate the Tattva ruling that sense to an unwholesome degree. Thus the intensifying of one color may be the extinction of others, and at least casts an evil shade upon them; and this, of course, affects the whole current of Prôna, disturbing the Tattvic balance. Many diseases, petty and grave, result from no other cause.
The fact must never be lost sight of that spiritual energy differs from physical energy almost as much as does light from darkness. It is not dependent upon these celestial currents of ether which carry the renewing elements of physical matter, but is itself one with that even more subtle force that permits them to manifest on the gross, visible plane. It is the only unchangeable Principle within us, the real substance which never disintegrates.
The power to control the physical self and make of it the perfect vehicle it is intended to be for the growth and development of this spiritual self, is gained more rapidly by persistent and regular practice of the Alternate and Held-breath exercises, and by thoughtful attention from time to time to deep rhythmic breathing, than by any other system of discipline and study or therapeutic régime that I know of. I have already advocated this so earnestly and so repeatedly that further word or explanation seems superfluous.
Exhaustion is due entirely to the disordered state of the human battery, and in this condition all organic functions are lowered in tone and quickly reflect that disorder. Neither lungs, skin, nor kidneys have sufficient energy to eliminate the rap-idly accumulating wastes; hence vital centers be-come clogged, and serious disease sets in wherever the physical structure is weakest. The first need at such times is to renew the battery and restore the balance of the disordered currents of vital force; and the media for doing this breathing exercises is so simple, so easy to apply, that the most helpless invalid, if the mind be sane and capable of directing, can employ it for regenerating the whole being. Both nerve and blood circulation and thereby all functions are stimulated more by this method than by any possible physical culture exercises.
And here a caution is timely : There is a vast difference in attempting to exercise “healing” power from without, as when denying disease and pain, and working from within outward in affirmation of the desired condition. The resulting atomic vibrations and the potencies involved are very different. The one is a species of constraint, the other is free, upward guidance.
We must strive for poise and tranquillity, for repose and confidence; which, manifesting themselves in good colors favorable Tattvas draw good and pure colors, and help to build purer and stronger the life thus aiming for the highest and the best.