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THE USE OF VISUALIZATION AND IMAGINATION

IN BUILDING THE ANTAHKARANA

Maria Mikhailas

DHY 2019

Introductory Statement

The purpose of this paper is to gather together a comprehensible access for building the link-connection-Antahkarana with my Solar Angel, and facilitate the higher opening of the Egoic Lotus. This is the primary reason for my incarnation that I am gifted this time around. By doing this study for myself, I am hoping to also help others.

My method is to use visualization and the imagination to construct the higher aspects of the Antahkarana and gain a greater familiarity with the Egoic Lotus. I am very grateful for these visionary tools as they are the path of least resistance for me.

First, I will lay out the reasons for making this effort to connect with the Ego, or as I prefer, the Solar Angel. And what or who is this entity called The Solar Angel and what relationship this entity has with the Solar/Sun, the Antahkarana, as well as with me as the human being.

Second, I will be collecting statements, visualization exercises and actual images to build the Antahkarana from other traditions as well, with my emphasis on Master Djwhal Khul’s (known as DK or The Tibetan) instructions most heavily.

Thirdly, I will bring it all together with a culminating statement of my study and my path connecting with the Solar Angel going forward.

Building the Antahkarana

'Before a man can tread the Path, he must become the Path himself'

“The Antahkarana is the Path and the vision of the Path symbolically. This is one of the paradoxes of the esoteric science. Step by step and stage by stage, we construct that Path just as the spider spins its thread. It is this 'way back' which we evolve out of ourselves; it is the Way which we also find and tread.” ¹⁾

The Tibetan, Master Djwhal Khul in Education in the New Age, says that the Antahkarana is the path of life; the direct immutable stream of energy known as the sutratma, that constructs the consciousness thread (Antahkarana). “The sutratma is the direct stream of life, unbroken and immutable, which can be regarded symbolically as a direct stream of living energy flowing from the center to the periphery, and from the source to the outer expression or the phenomenal appearance. It is the life. It produces the individual process and the evolutionary unfoldment of all forms. It is, therefore, the path of life, which reaches from the monad to the personality, via the soul. This is the thread soul and it is one and indivisible.” ²⁾

The Antahkarana is firstly woven from our experiences in the world as we begin our lives as human beings unconsciously, and then as disciples walking our path of life consciously. The sutratma weaves from the outside-in, or from the exoteric world we live in and walk in-into our inner world of subjective realities. We weave through our physical life, our emotional life, and our mental life all the while constructing the thread of connection with our spiritual essence through our many, many lives on the Path of Return. This thread is constructed of energy colored by conscious sentient response and is later colored by the discriminating consciousness of the mind. It is the interstitial webbing of our spiritual life.

With great excitement I found these two illustrations, that I refer to below, in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, referred to in our weekly group led by Francis Donald as we read Esoteric Psychology II. Both charts show the placement relating to the physical plane and then the etheric. Of course, one has to get out one's magnifying glass to read the fine print! The image of the Egoic Lotus is so beautiful. I wish to convey its beauty in this treatise as much as I can (which of course will be far short of its true beauty) in my own personal search 'From Chaos to Beauty' ³⁾

The Egoic Lotus and the Centers Cosmic Physical Plane ⁴⁾

Conscious Building of the Antahkarana

Meditation is the science used to consciously build the Antahkarana. Meditation builds the part of the Antahkarana that connects the personality and the soul by building sensitivity to higher mental impressions that guide one towards the soul. Meditation is essentially a science of light substance and in building the second part of the Antahkarana, that which bridges the gap between soul and the higher spiritual triad (the Buddhic, Atmic and Anupadaka/Monadic planes of consciousness), thusly meditation becomes the science of vision. The first part of the Antahkarana is built through the use of mental substance and the second part is built by light substance. The building and threading of the Antahkarana is always a process of subordination of the lower to the higher, from the physical by the emotional by the mental on up to the spiritual triad, until the full opening of the petals of the Egoic Lotus.

Divinity Lotus ~Agnes Pelton (1929)

The Egoic Lotus and the Antahkarana

All the while the Great Weaver is weaving its triple gossamer threads into the single Antahkarana consciousness, it is becoming a beautiful three-tiered lotus of 9 petals! The petals are closed in the beginning of the weaving, but gradually, very gradually through thousands of lifetimes, the levels of petals open and then the great masterpiece is fully completed for this human expression.

As the weaving proceeds from the purely etheric/physical level, the bud of the lotus is tightly closed. To open the first tier of petals, one must go through the Hall of Learning in order to master the Antahkarana building process at the first level of the lotus bud; the Knowledge Petals. Then come the Love Petals to open, and finally the third tier of three petals; the flowering of the Will-Sacrifice Petals. The jewel in the heart of the lotus, the monad, are the last three petals to open, making up the 12 petals of the lotus.

White Fire ~Agnes Pelton (1930)

There is a great deal on building the Antahkarana in The Rays and the Initiations⁵⁾; the importance of it presently, the building process, and the immediate task ahead in this work. I found so much of great interest in this and a great deal of clarity. I will attempt to relate what affected me the most in DK's thought here around the process of building the Antahkarana.

Firstly, DK's remarks on our essential understanding of this process, that it has to do with both energy and with the creative imagination. He speaks of the process being 'one of establishing constructive relations between negative and positive energies and the subsequent production of magnetic force. This is the creative process.'⁶⁾ In effect, managing and using energies in a creative and constructive way. In the conscious construction of the Antahkarana one prepares through the building the connection with the soul, the direct relationship between the monad and matter. One can't really begin the building of this connection until one is preparing for the 2nd Initiation.

The Egoic Lotus The Cosmic Gaseous Subplane⁷⁾

Visualizations to develop the higher Antahkarana and unfold the Egoic Lotus

This preliminary visualization I have developed and used after studying the first volume of Esoteric Psychology. I quiet the three lower vehicles: body, emotions, and mind. Then residing in the higher mind - as refined a place as I can stay in. Here I reach out for the Solar Angel. I imagine that the very toes of the Angel are touching my aura above my head… those sacred lotus feet! And then the essence of the Angel is able to drop and flow into me so that we become one. I say an adaptation of the Leo full moon mantra 'I am that Solar Angel, That Solar Angel am I'. I then can join with the group soul that is composed of the Solar Angels of my spiritual group, doing the DK work as well as the Path of Love work of my guru Herman. My spiritual group intermingles with these groups as well as the Kagyu Tibetan Buddhist group here. At this point, I can do the Solar Angel meditation on up to the gathering with all the Solar Angels, the White Brotherhood with Sanat Kumara for His blessing. Or I can do the Master in the Heart meditation, or the Full Moon meditation if the period is the 5-day full moon observance.

A lovely quote from John Nash from The Beacon that most clearly states the beauty of the visualized Egoic Lotus; “Our stage of development is reflected in the form of the causal body. The causal body resembles a chalice or lotus blossom and, for that reason, is often referred to as the Egoic Lotus. The Tibetan tells us that it is ‘a thing of rare beauty, pulsating with life and radiant with all the colours of the rainbow.’ It has twelve petals, arranged in four concentric tiers of three. The outer tier is referred to as the ‘knowledge petals,’ the next tier, the ‘love petals,’ and the third tier, the ‘sacrifice,’ or ‘will petals.’ The ‘central set of three closely folded petals’ hold the ‘Jewel in the Lotus,’ the gateway, as it were, to the consciousness of the Solar Angel. Initially the lotus petals are all closed, as in a bud. But, as the entity develops, petals open, gradually revealing the life, beauty, and brilliance of the Jewel. The Tibetan explains that the opening of the second tier is particularly significant in terms of the manifestation of the Solar Angel. Another stream of energy emanates in time from the second tier of petals when in activity; this second tier is peculiarly instinctive with the life and quality of the Manasaputra in manifestation. The second tier of petals in any egoic lotus is the one that gives us the key to the nature of the solar Angel, just as the outer tier is—to the inner vision of the Adept—a clue to the point in evolution of the personality.”⁸⁾

Like the lotus blooming in the video link below, the Egoic Lotus is at first fully closed. So, I visual the closed lotus in my sacral center. As I meditate on contacting my Solar Angel with DK's Solar Angel meditation, I visualize that light pouring down into my three centers: first the etheric-physical and the three outer petals of the lotus open, then the astral vehicle and the heart center open. The Egoic Lotus is now raised up and the three petals are opening in my heart center as my heart radiates with the glorious love of the Soul. Then rapidly the mental vehicle receives the down-pouring from the Solar Angel and the Egoic Lotus is found in the middle of the head as its three petals are opening. Still hidden within are the inner three petals folded around the Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus. Then the whole 12 petaled lotus opens to reveal the Soul of the Egoic Lotus with the opening of the last three secret petals on the top of my head in the place of the thousand petaled lotus.

In my visualization, my Egoic Lotus opens slowly at first and then more quickly as the heart and mind unite with the down-pouring from the Solar Angel as my whole being lines up with the beautiful quality I am contacting.

As building the Antahkarana is a many lives-time job and a great challenge to the evolving human being, I have to offer a caution here as The Tibetan states; “In building the Antahkarana the disciple has to work also on mental levels, and that which he there constructs will be of so fine a substance that it may not and cannot appear on physical levels. Because of his fixed orientations, that which he builds will 'move upwards toward the center of life and not downwards toward the center of consciousness or toward light appearance'. Herein lies the difficulty for the beginner. He has, so to speak, to work in the dark, and is not in a position to verify the existence of that which he is attempting to construct. His physical brain is unable to register his creation as an accomplished fact.”⁹⁾

With this above note from DK, my work here in constructing the Antahkarana using the imagination and visualization will go only as far as it can, and cannot be positively verified as doing anything constructive at all!

I proceed with faith, as the Tibetan also instructs us to do, and with that faith I know this mental construction and this relative interpretation I do on the physical level with image and creative visualization will do some good. The Tibetan says the true feed-back from this work will appear in subtle forms: a 'flash of spiritual intuition and understanding' or a 'sudden realization of a will-to-good in a dynamic and group form', in effect, in areas that the brain has no ability to control, manipulate or fabricate.

Star Gazer ~Agnes Pelton (1929)

One of DK's visualizations in building the Antahkarana would be of use here as it outlines the qualities needed to build it and energize the Egoic Lotus.

To increase the flow of energy to the 12 petaled Egoic Lotus

1. Visualization exercise

a. Achieve alignment as rapidly as possible

b. Hold in the mind, imaginatively, the straight line of the spinal column, the head center, the sutratma and the antahkarana -thus linking the centers in the body with the soul.

c. Then carry the line which your imagination has constructed, from the center at the base of the spine to the closed lotus bud in the center of the twelve petalled egoic lotus.

2. Having done this, recognize your identity with all souls who constitute -in their entirety -the One Soul.

3. Then sound the OM as a soul, as far as in you lies, breathing it out from soul levels with no fixed subjective in your mind. Do this six times.

4. Then sound the OM again after a pause (thus making seven in all) sending it out into the ajna center and from there carry it down to the heart center and hold it there for later use. Do this as a soul whose nature is love.

5. Then, bearing in mind that the heart center is the repository of twelve forces or energies, seek to develop them by pondering upon the twelve virtues through which these energies express themselves, taking one each month for a year.

a. Group love, embracing individuals

b. Humility, signifying your personality attitude

c. Service, indicating your soul's preoccupation

d. Patience, signifying the embryonic immortality and persistence which is a soul characteristic

e. Life, or expressed activity which is the manifestation of love because it is essential dualism

f. Tolerance, which is the first expression of buddhic understanding

g. Identification with others, which is embryonic fusion, carried eventually to synthesis when the head center is developed.

h. Compassion, which is essentially the right use of the pairs of opposites.

i. Sympathy, which is the consequence of knowledge and of the unfoldment of the knowledge petals. Such energy then is in touch with the heart center.

j. Wisdom, which is the fruit of love and indicates the awakening of the love petals of the egoic lotus.

k. Sacrifice, which is the giving of the heart's blood or life for others.

6. After a quiet meditation on one of these qualities of soul expression as they manifest upon the physical plane, sound the OM three times.¹⁰⁾

Video of Time-Lapse Unfolding of a Lotus

Photography by Sudhir Dass

Music Devi Suktham by Sita Farley

In Conclusion

In all my research to gather visualizations and to use my imagination to make the antahkarana more visual and concrete to my psyche, I am left with the realization stated by DK himself, as he says in this statement: “The symbology of the antahkarana tends badly to complicate the grasp of its real nature. May I remind you that just as the soul is not a twelve petalled lotus floating around in mental substance, but is in reality a vortex of force or twelve energies held together by the will of the spiritual entity (the Monad on its own plane), so the antahkarana is not a series of energy threads, slowly woven by the soul infused personality, and met by corresponding threads projected by the Spiritual Triad, but is in reality a state of awareness. These symbols are true and living forms, created through the power of thought by the disciple, but -in time and space -they have no true existence.”¹¹⁾

My take on DK's reminder, is that my work here of gathering tools to imagine the antahkarana is like using specific fuel tanks attached to a rocket launched from earth pointed towards a goal in outer space. The fuel tanks are essential to the initial success of the rocket, but at a certain point the stratosphere is reached where the effort to leave the pull of gravity is no longer an issue and the tanks are ejected. If the rocket's fuel tanks were to continue to be attached to the rocket, the mission would be stalled. Once released from the tanks the rocket can move freely towards its destination unimpeded by what was essential in the past.

♍.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Alice A Bailey, Education in the New Age, 1954, page 7
2. Alice A Bailey, Education in the New Age, 1954, pages 26-27
3. The Gayatri mantra, VEDAS- Asatoma Ma Sadgamaya (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad-I.iii.28)
4. Alice A Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 1925, page 817
5. Alice A Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, 1960, pages 482-513
6. Alice A Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, 1960, page 482
7. Alice A Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 1925, page 823
8. John Nash, The Beacon, 2001, pages 40-41
9. Alice A Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, 1960, page 485
10. Alice A Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, Volume II, 1955, page 660-661
11. Alice A Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, Volume I, 1955, page 193