It should be remembered that the devas we have been considering are the originators of impulse, and the manipulators of energy in their own degree, and on their own plane. In connection with them are to be found, therefore, the recipients of force, or the multitude of lives of an elemental nature which form the sumtotal of the matter of a plane. These are swept on waves of energy, through the impulse of the Breath, and as the result of [890] vibratory action, into all forms as we know them on the physical plane. Therefore, in connection with manifestation on the physical plane the devas may be divided into three groups:

1. The transmitters of the will of God, the originators of activity in deva substance. These are the greater builders in their various groups.
2. The manipulators of the initiated energy. These are the myriads of workers with force who transmit the impulse in their turn to the elemental essence. They are the builders of lesser degree, but are on the evolutionary arc as are the first group.
3. The recipients of force, the sumtotal of the living substance of a plane. These lives are passive in the hands of the builders of greater degree.

The Elementals of Densest Matter

These are the workers and builders which are concerned with the tangible and objective part of all manifestation. In their totality they literally form that which can be touched, seen, and contacted physically by man. In considering these matters we must never dissociate the various groups in our minds in a too literal sense, for they all interpenetrate and blend, in the same manner as man's physical body is compounded of dense, liquid, gaseous, and etheric matter. Diversity, producing a unity, is everywhere to be seen; this fact must constantly be borne [891] in mind by the occult student when studying the subhuman forms of existence. There is a distinct danger in all tabulations, for they tend to the forming of hard and fast divisions, whereas unity pervades all.

Among the manipulating devas of the lowest level of the dense physical plane are to be found certain subterranean forms of existence, of which hints are to be found in the ancient and occult books. There is to be found in the very bowels of the earth, an evolution of a peculiar nature, with a close resemblance to the human. They have bodies of a peculiarly gross kind, which might be regarded as distinctly physical as we understand the term. They dwell in settlements, or groups, under a form of government suited to their needs in the central caves several miles below the crust of the earth. Their work is closely connected with the mineral kingdom, and the "agnichaitans" of the central fires are under their control. Their bodies are constituted so as to stand much pressure, and they are not dependent upon as free a circulation of air as man is, nor do they resent the great heat to be found in the earth's interior. Little can here be communicated anent these existences, for they are connected with the lesser vital portions of the physical body of the planetary Logos, finding their microcosmic correspondence in the feet and legs of a man. They are one of the factors which make possible the revolutionary progressive activity of a planet.

Students must at this juncture remember that all dense physical forms, whether of a tree, an animal, a mineral, a drop of water, or a precious stone, are in themselves elemental lives constructed of living substance by the aid of living manipulators, acting under the direction of intelligent architects. It will immediately become apparent why it is not possible in any way to tabulate in connection with this particular lowest group. A beautiful diamond, a stately tree, or a fish in the water are but devas after all. It is the recognition of this essential livingness which constitutes the basic fact in all occult investigation, and is the secret of all beneficent magic. It is not my purpose, therefore, to deal more specifically with these lowest forms of divine life, except to impart two facts, and thus give indication of the solution of two problems which have oft disturbed the average student; these are, first, the problem as to the purpose of all reptilian life, and, secondly, the specific connection of the bird evolution with the deva kingdom.