AM-216 CHAINS ROUNDS & GLOBES (17)

We have taken a comprehensive look at the role of the Manu and realised that we are not just talking about a single individual but a series of advanced monads who all perform the same basic role, but at different levels of an active scheme. What is unique to all manus is that they are functioning on the 1st Ray. This is the ray most closely associated with motion, energy and willpower. 

This can make the Manus, at any level, seem like autocratic monarchs. They are concerned with the evolution of the different races of Humanity. They represent the ruling department, which guides all natural evolution, changes the face of the surface of the globe, builds and destroys continents, raises fresh races, controls the destinies of nations, shapes the fate of civilisations and balances up from time to time the great accounts between the races and the nations. We call this process war! If we had to describe in one sentence what a manu does it would be to rule the outer destinies of Humanity.

Another great department is that of religion and education. This department functions on the 2nd Ray of Love-Wisdom. It is from this department that all the greatest teachers evolve. They guide all the religions that have been sent forth. The Official at the head of this department, with a rank two grades above that of Master or Asekha Adept (45), is variously known as the Bodhisattva, the Jagat Gurû, the World Teacher, or the Christ. He watches over the spiritual destinies of Humanity. He either comes Himself or sends one of His pupils to found a new religion when He decides that one is needed. His benediction flows over the whole of the living religions of the time; and may be regarded as a kind of steady pressure, so that the power employed will flow, as though automatically, into every channel anywhere and of any sort, which is open to its passage. So much for the exclusivity of Christ to Christianity. The World Teacher thus works simultaneously through every religion, utilising all that is good in the way of devotion and self-sacrifice in each. In addition, He appoints one Master or another as the special guide and protector of an individual religion.

For each Root Race, there is a Manu, a 43-self and a Bodhisattva, also another 43-self. These are respectively the brain and the heart of the Heavenly Man who emerges as the result of the evolution of each Root Race. In the Heavenly Man, as in Humanity on earth, there are seven centres, and each of these centres is represented by an official of the Hierarchy. The Heavenly Men so formed are the true inhabitants of the solar system, the mind-born sons of the Planetary Logoi, destined themselves to be the Planetary Logoi of the future. We are living conscious parts of this greater body. Each Heavenly Man, nevertheless has the fullest flexibility and the highest possible scope of activity. If you can accept this concept, it is yet another nail in the coffin of monotheism. God is a collective, even if there is one monad that provides the envelope for the other monads to dwell within.

In addition to the Manu and the Bodhisattva of a Root Race, there is also another Official, who stands at the same 43-self level, known as the Mahâchohan. He is the monad who directs the minds of Humanity so that the different forms of culture and civilisation are unfolded according to the cyclic plan. The Manu is spoken of as the Head, the Bodhisattva as the Heart, and the Mahâchohan as the Hand or the five Fingers. All three are active in the world; moulding the Race into one organic being, the Heavenly Man, as it has been called.

As already stated, the Manu follows the line of the First Ray, the Bodhisattva that of the Second Ray, whilst the Mahâchohan stands at the head of the remaining five Rays. The Bodhisattva who presided over the religions of the Fifth Root Race, we know today as the Lord Buddha. Before he became a Buddha, he was the sponsor of all the previous religions. Whilst He was the World Teacher, He came to the first sub-race of the Fifth Root Race as Vyâsa and founded Hinduism, the religion of the Sun. This was not within what we would consider to be our current knowledge of history. This event happened over 50,000 years ago. He then reappeared as Thoth in Egypt. This character was called Hermes by the Greeks. Here he founded the religion of Light. He then bounced into Persia as Zoroaster some 31,000 years ago, proclaiming the religion of Fire. Lastly, He came as Orpheus to Greece, teaching by Music and Sound, and founding the Orphic Mysteries. With such a glittering resume there was only one way to go and that was up. He came forth for the last time in what is now Northern India. This incarnation was partially a teaching mission but was also a requirement for all monads who wished to take the (i8). Hindu philosophy may regard all that is material as being an illusion, but for some reason, if you want to escape this illusion, you have to enter back into it and from there launch yourself to “Infinity and Beyond”. So Siddhartha Gautama reached the Illumination of the Buddha, and with Buddhism closed the ancient cycle, leaving to His Successor the continuance of the work of the World Teacher. Enter stage left the Lord Maitreya. 

The deep reverence and the strong affection felt for the Lord Gautama Buddha all over the East are due to two facts. One of these is that He was the first of our humanity to attain the stupendous height of Buddhahood, and so He may truly be described as the “first fruits” and the leader of our race. All previous Buddhas had belonged to other humanities, aka Venusians, which had matured on different schemes and on earlier chains.

The second fact is that for the sake of hastening the progress of humanity, He took upon Himself certain additional labours of the most stupendous character, the nature of which we can’t comprehend.

The attainment of Buddhahood is not simply the gaining of enlightenment; it is also the taking of a great and definite Initiation. The monad who has taken that step cannot incarnate upon Earth again. Why? Because part of taking the (i8) involves the dissolution of all three triads. Without those envelopes, entry into the Cosmic Physical Kingdom is not possible. Once this degree was taken, The Lord Buddha handed over His work to His successor and moved into the Cosmic Emotional Plane. However, Lord Gautama remains to a certain extent within touch of the world. Once each year, at the festival of Wesak, at the first full moon in May, He still shows Himself to the Hierarchy of Adepts, and pours down His blessing upon them, to be passed through them to the world at large. He still may be reached in certain ways by those who know how.

The successor of the Lord Buddha, the present Bodhisattva, as stated, is the Lord Maitreya, known in the West as the Christ. He came first as Krishna in the Indian plains, and then to the fifth or Teutonic sub-race of our present Root Race as the Christ in Palestine. His main theme was one of the value of the individual and of self-sacrifice. He is, so far as we know, destined to appear again on earth and give religious teaching suited to the particular needs of the sixth and the seventh sub-races of the fifth Root- Race. I suspect this reappearance will be in etheric form. His last incarnation was an overshadowing of another monad’s physical vehicle, the 46-self, at the time, Jeshu. These head honchos don’t seem keen on passing out of a birth canal again. The Lord Maitreya will pass on and become the Buddha of the sixth Root Race or he may decide to float off to Sirius, which is apparently a favoured holiday destination for ex-World Teachers.

The Manu and the Bodhisattva of the sixth Root Race will be the present Chohans Morya and Koot Hoomi respectively. It just so happens that these two Chohans were closely linked with the foundation and the work of the Theosophical Society, though that link has now been broken with all the turmoil that subsequently occurred in that organisation. 

According to Leadbeater, here is a list, so far as it is known; of the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas of our evolution. On Globe F of the Moon Chain, the Buddha was Lord Dipankara, who came from the fourth chain of the Venus Scheme and was a member of the General Staff. We should be honoured to get such an august being to watch over us. The list of high officials for the Earth Chain, Fourth Round, Globe D (the Earth) is as follows: It should be noted that there is a logical progression here, where the ascending Buddha watches over the reigning Bodhisattva. However, esoteric folklore says that the Lord Gautama was supposed to float off to Sirius but decided to remain and work with Sanat Kumara to continue to guide us, as we are such basket cases and he feared we could flush ourselves down the toilet if he did not make one last effort. So this list is only hypothetical in my opinion.

For your reference, a Buddha is an Official who overseas much more than just humanity. He is the Teacher of Devas, as well as of Humanity, so the fact that a given humanity may be at a very low stage of evolution does not do away with the need for a Buddha overseeing their evolution. He takes charge of the special work of the Second Ray for the whole world, devoting Himself to that part of it which lies in the higher worlds, while He entrusts to His assistant and representative, the Bodhisattva, the office of world Teacher for the lower planes.

A monad who chooses to become a Buddha must, thousands of years beforehand, have made his vow to a living Buddha, and it is said that from that time onward the influence of the Buddha overshadows him, and that when, in due course, he attains Buddhahood, the great influence of the spiritual Buddha hovers over the incarnate Buddha.

Well, that takes care of the trio who run our Hierarchy. In the next presentation, we will look at their boss and his team.