Seven Rays
General description
H. P. Blavatsky quotes a "verse from the Esoteric volumes":
“Space and Time are one. Space and Time are nameless, for they are the incognizable THAT, which can be sensed only through its seven rays—which are the Seven Creations, the Seven Worlds, the Seven Laws,” etc., etc., etc.
Mme. Blavatsky identifies the "first seven rays" with the Primordial Seven, Dhyāni-Buddha or Ah-hi:[1]
The Ah-hi are the primordial seven rays, or Logoi, emanated from the first Logos, triple, yet one in its essence.[2]
Further, from this manifested Logos will proceed the Seven Rays, which in the Zohar are called the lower Sephiroth and in Eastern occultism the primordial seven rays. Thence will proceed the innumerable series of Hierarchies.[3]
They [the “luminous sons of manvantaric dawn”] are the primordial seven rays from which will emanate in their turn all the other luminous and non-luminous lives, whether Archangels, Devils, men or apes. Some have been and some will only now become human beings. It is only after the differentiation of the seven rays and after the seven forces of nature have taken them in hand and worked upon them, that they become cornerstones, or rejected pieces of clay. Everything, therefore, is in these seven rays. . .[4]
Further, each of the Primordial Seven, the first Seven Rays forming the Manifested Logos, is again sevenfold. Thus, as the seven colors of the solar spectrum correspond to the seven Rays, or Hierarchies, so each of these latter has again its seven divisions corresponding to the same series of colors. But in this case one color, viz: that which characterizes the particular Hierarchy as a whole, is predominant and more intense than the others.ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. XII (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1980), 567.</ref>
These seven rays are the origin of everything, including "the seven Principles in Nature".[5] Accordingly, humanity can be divided as belonging to one of these seven rays:
There are seven chief groups of such Dhyan Chohans, which groups will be found and recognised in every religion, for they are the primeval SEVEN Rays. Humanity, occultism teaches us, is divided into seven distinct groups and their sub-divisions, mental, spiritual, and physical.[6]
The “triads” [Monads] born under the same Parent-planet, or rather the radiations of one and the same Planetary Spirit (Dhyani Buddha) are, in all their after lives and rebirths, sister, or “twin-souls,” on this Earth. This was known to every high Initiate in every age and in every country: “I and my Father are one,” said Jesus (John x. 30).‡ When He is made to say, elsewhere (xx. 17): “I ascend to my Father and your Father,” it meant that which has just been stated. It was simply to show that the group of his disciples and followers attracted to Him belonged to the same Dhyani Buddha, “Star,” or “Father,” again of the same planetary realm and division as He did.[7]
Seven Solar Rays
The names of the Seven Rays—which are, Sushumna, Harikesa, Viswakarman, Viswatryarchas, Sannaddha, Sarvavasu and Swaraj—are all mystical, and each has its distinct application in a distinct state of consciousness, for occult purposes. The Sushumna, which, as said in the Nirukta (11, 6), is only to light up the moon, is the ray nevertheless cherished by the initiated Yogis. The totality of the Seven Rays spread through the Solar system constitute, so to say, the physical Upadhi (basis) of the Ether of Science; in which Upadhi, light, heat, electricity, etc., etc.,—the forces of orthodox science—correlate to produce their terrestrial effects. As psychic and spiritual effects, they emanate from, and have their origin in, the supra-solar Upadhi, in the ether of the Occultist—or Akâsa.
Syarâj (Sk.). The last or seventh (synthetical) ray of the seven solar rays; the same as Brahmâ. These seven rays are the entire gamut of the seven occult forces (or gods) of nature, as their respective names well prove. These are: Sushumnâ (the ray which transmits sunlight to the moon); Harikesha, Visvakarman, Visvatryarchas, Sannadhas, Sarvâvasu, and Svarâj. As each stands for one of the creative gods or Forces, it is easy to see how important were the functions of the sun in the eyes of antiquity, and why it was deified by the profane.
Sushumnâ, (Sk.). The solar ray--the first of the seven rays. Also the name of a spinal nerve which connects the heart with the Brahma-randra, and plays a most important part in Yoga practices.
According to T. Subba Row
According to Geoffrey Hodson
Notes
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. X (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1988), 323.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. X (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1988), 317.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. X (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1988), 352.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. X (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1988), 347-348.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 262.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 573.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 573.
Further reading
- Seven Rays at Theosopedia