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A Treatise on Cosmic Fire - Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals
(d.) The Future Coming of the Avatar

THE COMING AVATAR

"From the zenith to the nadir, from dawn to fall of night, from the emergence into being of all that is or may be to the passing into peace of all that hath achieved, gleameth the orb of blue and the inner radiant fire.

From the gates of gold down to the pit of earth, out from the flaming fire down to the circle of gloom, rideth the secret Avatar, bearing the sword that pierceth.

Naught can arrest His approach, and none may say Him nay. To the darkness of our sphere He rideth alone, and on His approach is seen the uttermost disaster, and the chaos of that which seeketh to withstand. [748]

The Asuras veil their faces, and the pit of maya reeleth to the foundation. The stars of the eternal Lhas vibrate to that sound, - the WORD uttered with sevenfold intensity.

Greater the chaos becometh; the major center with all the seven circulating spheres rock with the echoes of disintegration. The fumes of utter blackness mount upwards in dissipation. The noise discordant of the warring elements greets the oncoming One, and deters Him not. The strife and cries of the fourth great Hierarchy, blending with the softer note of the Builders of the fifth and sixth, meet His approach. Yet He passeth on His way, sweeping the circle of the spheres, and sounding forth the WORD.

* * *

From the nadir to the zenith, from eve unto the Day be with us, from the circle of manifestation to the center of pralayic peace, is seen the enveloping blue, lost in the flame of achievement.

Up from the pit of maya back to the portals of gold, forth from the gloom and darkness back to the splendor of day, rideth the Manifested One, the Avatar, bearing the shattered Cross.

Naught can arrest His return, none can impede His Path, for He passeth along the upper way, bearing His people with Him. Cometh the dissolution of pain, cometh the end of strife, cometh the merging of the spheres and the blending of the hierarchies. All then is reabsorbed within the orb, the circle of manifestation. The forms that exist in maya, and the flame that devoureth all, are garnered by the One Who rideth the Heavens and entereth into the timeless Aeon."

(From the Archives of the Lodge.)

We have touched upon the subject of Avatars and the various classes into which they might be divided. We might now enlarge somewhat more upon the methods. The methods whereby certain cosmic Existences and certain highly evolved Entities appear among men to do a specific work might be very inadequately, and cursorily summarized, as follows:

  • The method of over-shadowing.
  • The method of embodying some principle. [749]
  • The method seen in the mystery of the Bodhisattva, or the Christ.
  • The method of direct incarnation.

The handicap of words is great, and the above phrases but convey a hint as to the true meaning. Therein lies safety for the student, for the real significance would be incomprehensible to him, and would but mislead him and guide him along the path of misunderstanding. Until a man is a pledged initiate, he cannot comprehend the matter. Of these, the most ordinary method is the first. All these methods of manifestation will perhaps be better understood by the student if he interprets them always in terms of force and energy, and if he notes that dim reflections of the same processes, and faint analogies can be traced among the reincarnating jivas. When a man has reached a certain development and can be of service to the world, cases occur when he is over-shadowed by a great adept, or - as in the case of H. P. B.- by One greater than an adept. A chela can be a center through which his master can pour His energy and force for the helping of the world, and in certain important crises men have been over-shadowed by more than one of the Great Ones. 50 [750]

50 Discipleship or Chelaship ...The ancient mysteries were but a school of spiritual training and perfection in true wisdom; that the preliminary qualification was the purification of the heart from all sensual passions and false preconceptions; that, while the hand of the Master might lead the neophyte through the dangers of the stage where, like the infant, he could not walk alone, he was obliged, in the higher paths, to learn to guide and guard himself, as the adult man has to do in ordinary life; that the ultimate goal was the expansion of the self into infinite existence and potentialities; and, lastly, that, however the initial forms and ceremonies may have differed in appearance, an identical aim was in view.
- The Theosophist, Vol. IX, p. 246.

The pure heart and clean mind alone permit one to attain salvation. This was his doctrine. So, likewise, is it taught in the Aryan Mahabharata (Sec. CXCIX. Vana Parva) which says:

"Those high souled persons that do not commit sins in word, deed, heart and soul, are said to undergo ascetic austerities, and not that they suffer their bodies to be wasted by fasts and penances. He that hath no feeling of kindness for relatives cannot be free from sin, even if his body be pure. That hard-heartedness of his is the enemy of his asceticism. Asceticism, again, is not mere abstinence from the pleasures of the world. He that is always pure and decked with virtues, he that practices kindness all his life, is a Muni, even though he lead a domestic life."
- The Theosophist, Vol. XIII, p. 259.
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