| The devas of the etheric doubles fall into two groups. They
are those who are the lesser builders, and who, under direction from the greater builders,
form the etheric doubles of all that can be seen and all that is tangible on the dense
physical plane. They exist in vast hosts and are omnipresent; they gather and build the
material needed to form the etheric double of everything, and they do this under certain
laws and work under certain restrictions. They are called in occult phraseology "the
listening devas," for they are the ones who pick up that particular note and tone
from the transmitters of [931] the physical plane sound which is needed to gather the
substance for any intended material form Again, they are spoken of as "having ears
but seeing not." They work in close cooperation with the elementals of the dense
physical body. This second group are spoken of as the "seeing elementals,"
for they exist in matter of the three lower subplanes and can therefore see on the
objective plane in the occult sense which always implies an analogy between sight and
knowledge. The "listening builders" gather the material; the "seeing
elementals" take that gathered material, and build it into any specific form. They
exist in many groups according to their point in he evolution, and some of them might be
tabulated as follows:
1. The
builders of the human vehicle.
This
is the highest group of lesser builders, who are highly specialized. These will be dealt
with somewhat in detail later.
2.
The builders of the forms in the three kingdoms of nature in their two divisions.
- First. The builders of the mineral kingdom. These are the workers occultly
called "the elemental alchemists." They are in many groups connected with the
differing elements, metals, chemicals, and minerals, and with what are called active and
radioactive substances. They are the custodians of two secrets, that of the immetalisation
of the Monad, and the secret of the transmutation of metals.
- Second. The builders of the vegetable kingdom. They exist in many
groups and are termed "the surface alchemists" and "the bridging
units." They build the doubles of every form of vegetable life, and just as the
"alchemists" of the mineral kingdom are mostly concerned with the action of
fire, these other alchemical workers are concerned with the liquid action of divine [932]
manifestation. They work, therefore, in cooperation with the devas of the waters, or
liquid substance, whilst the earlier mentioned group work with the gaseous devas. A hint
is here conveyed, but greater expansion of the statement is not possible, owing to the
danger of the knowledge to be reached. With them is hidden three secrets: One is concerned
with the earlier solar system, or the green solar system; another deals with the
laws of bridging, or the interaction between the kingdoms of nature, and the third is
connected with the history of the second round; this secret when revealed will make clear
why man (under the law) should be a vegetarian and not carnivorous. Scientists are
learning already certain things connected with the second secret, and they may hope, as
the knowledge of the significance of color is extended, to glean hints as to the first.
The third secret will not be indicated more clearly till the sixth race is living upon
earth.
Third.
The builders of all animal etheric forms. These are a group closely allied with those
who build the human form. They came in force from a reservoir of energy which was kept in
a quiescent condition until the physical condition of any particular scheme warranted
their activity. With them came in much that accounts for the present sad condition, for
much of the fear, hatred, and destructive condition to be found among the animals is
caused by their bodies being built, and the work of evolution carried on by the
"imperfect gods" (as H. P. B. expresses it) working in imperfect matter as yet
imperfectly manipulated. The secret of fear is hidden in the etheric body, and the
particular type of substance out of which it may be built.
3. The
builders of the planetary etheric web.
Their work is exceedingly obscure and exists in three divisions: [933]
- The materialization of the web. This is only perfected by the fourth round, and
was purposely hurried in connection with our planet owing to karmic conditions, and under
the law of spiritual necessity. A correspondence to this can be seen in the case of man
himself. The etheric web was very loosely coordinated in man at the beginning of the
fourth root-race. Spiritual necessity forced its rapid consolidation, and it is now so
constituted that it forms a barrier between the physical and the astral plane.
The
preservation of the planetary web. This will be continued until the sixth round.
During this period spiritual evolution proceeds with a certain degree of planetary safety,
for the web protects from certain solar influences, and acts largely as a sifter and a
distributor of solar forces.
The
destruction of the web. This takes place towards the end of planetary evolution, thus
permitting the escape of the imprisoned planetary life and the absorption of the life
essence into its synthesizer. The process of destruction can only be described in the
words perforation and disintegration.
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