We might now, prior to continuing with our subject, name the different chains of the Earth scheme. We must bear carefully in mind the fact that these are simply names, affixed to the chains and globes for the sake of clarity. As this subject is more widely studied it will inevitably be found advisable to call the chains by their numbers, and to drop the names as at present used:

1. Neptune.
2. Venus.
3. Saturn.
4. Earth.
5. Mercury.
6. Mars.
7. Jupiter.

They depict only one cycle in logoic evolution, and cover only the present greater period in the working out of which we are engaged. They might be roughly described as embracing that period in the system which began for us in the middle of the third root-race of this round and continues until the period called "the Judgment" [390] in the coming fifth round. When that time comes our planetary Logos will have attained the initiation which is His present goal; the fifth round of the Venusian scheme will be closing, and the Venus scheme will begin to pass into obscuration, preparatory to transferring her life to the synthesizing planet with which she is connected; Mercury will be reaching the apotheosis of achievement, and with Mars and the Earth, will form a systemic triangle. We are speaking here of schemes, and not of chains.

1. A systemic triangle will be formed.
2. Logoic kundalini will circulate freely between these three points.
3. A certain great logoic center will be vitalized and the attention of logoic kundalini will pass from the present triangle in process of forming (the Earth, Venus, and a scheme whose name it is advisable to withhold) to the other.
4. An entirely new group of human beings will sweep into incarnation in our Earth scheme. Three fifths of the present humanity, being on the Probationary Path, or the Path of Initiation, at that time, will have their center of consciousness definitely on the mental plane, [391] whilst two fifths will remain focused on the astral. There two fifths will pass into temporary pralaya, preparatory to their transference to another scheme, as the Earth scheme will no longer provide for them an adequate place of nurture.
5. Entities will come in from Mars to the Earth scheme, and will there find their necessary field of endeavor.
6. Mercurian life will begin to synthesize, and to be transferred to its synthesizing planet. In the case of Mercury this synthesizing planet is not Saturn, but one of the other two higher major centers.
7. The "Judgment Day" in the fifth round, or the point of attainment of our Heavenly Man, will see a period of planetary strife on mental levels which will cause the present world unrest to seem as nothing. As pointed out earlier, this present struggle has been to test the ability of the entities within the present human forms to appreciate their mental forces, and through the power of MIND to transcend feeling, or pain. The struggle in the fifth round will be between higher and lower mind, and the battle ground will be the causal body. ³⁸ [392] The struggle now being waged on the planet is between a few Egos (or the leaders of the many races who are necessarily in place and position owing to their egoic polarization) and many personalities, who are swept into the vortex through group association; it is necessarily terrific, and forces the destruction of the form. The struggle in the fifth round, being on mental levels, will be between Egos and egoic groups, each working consciously, and with intellectual application, to bring about certain group results. It will result in the triumph (the ultimate triumph) of Spirit over matter, in the driving out of certain groups as yet unable to shake themselves free from the trammels of matter, and who prefer captivity to the life of the Spirit; it will mark the beginning of the obscuration of our scheme, and the gradual passing into pralaya, during the remaining two and a half rounds of our entire seven chains. It is an interesting occult fact that our Earth should now be in her fifth round, and paralleling the Venusian scheme, but the moon chain of our scheme saw a period of temporary retardation of the evolutionary process of our Heavenly Man; it resulted in a temporary slowing down of His activities, and caused "lost time," if such an expression might reverently be permitted. The Lords of the Dark Face, or the inherent forces of matter for a time achieved success, and only the fifth round of our chain will see their ultimate defeat. The Venusian scheme also had its battleground, but the planetary Logos of that scheme overcame the antagonistic forces, triumphed over material forms, and was consequently in a position - when the right time came - to apply the needed stimulation or an [393] increased fiery vibration to our Earth scheme. The fact that outside aid was called in during the third root-race of this chain, and that the evolution of manas brought about the individualization, in physical form, of the Avatar, needs to be pondered on. The Divine Manasaputra, the Lord of the World, took form Himself through the driving impulse of manas, inherent in His nature, and in some mysterious way this was aided by another Heavenly Man of another scheme. His cooperation was required.

38 The Causal Body. "This influence or force, or result, or whatever it may be called, of the antecedent actions of man, forms as it were a seed, from which germinates the plant, yielding good or bad fruit, to be eaten by him during his subsequent existence. (Vishnu Purana I. XIX, 5). This seed is technically called the Karana Sarira, the causal body (Paingala Upanishad II), as it is the cause of man's enjoyment or suffering. This Karana Sarira is composed of the fifth Kosa (Anandamaya) of man and adheres to the soul so long as the soul remains enveloped in the gross or subtle body (Sthula or Sukshma Sarira); and vanishes entirely when the soul extricates itself from the trammels of the said two bodies; for then, the soul attains its primeval purity, and burns up as it were every trace of its combination with the body, including this causal body (Karana Sarira). This happens when the soul is prepared for final emancipation, Moksha. Till then, of course, the Karana Sarira, the seed, the result of prior actions, remains effective, and asserts a strong controlling influence over man's actions."
- The Theosophist, Vol. VII, III, p. 59.

"By the rarest fire of True Wisdom the body of avidya (i.e. the causal body) will be reduced to ashes."
- Kaivalyanavanita, Part I, 98. Copied from The Theosophist, Vol. VIII.