We start here upon a consideration of those groups of devas who are the substance of the astral plane, the Agnisuryans. They may be considered in the following manner, and by the employment of synonymous terms, some general idea of their function may be arrived at before we begin to differentiate them into groups and study their relation to:

1. The various entities who are the soul of the differing kingdoms, or groups, such as the animal kingdom, the human kingdom, and higher in the scale of consciousness than men - the planetary Logos.
2. Man himself.
3. The plane as a totality.

• First, as the substance of the astral plane in its seven grades.
• Second, as that aspect of logoic manifestation which corresponds to the liquid subplane in the systemic physical plane.
• Third, as the vehicle of the deva lord Varuna.
• Fourth, as the animating lives of that involutionary matter of the astral plane which we call the elemental essence, and as the vitality energizing the desire elementals of all that is sentient. Viewed in this aspect in connection especially with man, they are the correspondence on the astral plane to the "devas of the shadows," for the desire bodies of all human beings are composed of matter of the second, third and fourth subplanes of the astral plane. This is a point which should be closely considered, and the analogy between the etheric body, the vehicle of prana vitalizing the dense physical, and [659] man's astral body, and the method of its vitalization will be found illuminating.
• Fifth, from the standpoint of the physical plane, as the sumtotal of material activity (even though subjective) which produces that which is tangible and objective. Just as the solar system is a "Son of Necessity," or of desire, so the physical bodies of all that exist are the product of the desire of some greater or lesser entity within the system.

1. The planetary etheric body.
2. The mental plane, or the cosmic gaseous subplane.
3. The atmic plane, or the third cosmic ether.
4. The plane of adi, or the first cosmic ether.

1. The buddhic plane, the fourth cosmic ether.
2. The monadic plane, the second cosmic ether.
3. The cosmic astral plane, and thus to the Heart of all Being.

1. The atmic plane, the third cosmic ether.
2. The plane adi, the first cosmic ether.
3. The cosmic mental plane, beyond which it is unnecessary for us to go.

It will be noted by the careful student that these planes might be looked at in connection with the three worlds [660] as demonstrating two types of force - first, a force which tends to differentiation such as on the mental plane (the plane of inherent separation) and on the physical plane (the plane of actual separation); secondly, a force which tends to unity, such as on the astral plane, and on the plane of essential harmony, the buddhic plane. It must be remembered that we are considering force as it flows through, or permeates, deva substance. A hint as to the truth lies in the fact that at present the astral body of man is positive to the physical plane, negative to the mental, and positive to the buddhic plane. As evolution proceeds, the astral body should become positive to the mental, and thus prove incapable of being swayed by thought currents, and the separative processes of that plane, and negative to the buddhic plane, or receptive to the forces from that plane. When it has attained equilibrium, and the forces are evenly balanced, the astral body should become the transmitter from the buddhic plane, the fourth cosmic ether, via the gaseous, to the dense physical plane. This thought should be studied in connection with the burning of the etheric web of the planet, thus illumination may come. Literally, there is no such division on the astral plane as we find on the mental or on the physical planes. On both those planes, we have a division into two: the mental plane being divided into higher and lower, rupa and arupa, concrete and abstract, and the physical plane into the etheric levels and the dense subplanes.

There is, therefore, a correspondence between these two. The reason for this apparent division (considering the question apart from the states of consciousness of a human being) is due to the stage of development of the great devas who embody the plane, who ensoul it, and who manifest through it as a man manifests through his body, Varuna, the Lord of the astral plane, has achieved a more unified conscious control than His brothers of [661] the mental and physical planes. He comes into manifestation in connection with one of the Heavenly Men, Who is the Lord of a major Ray. The other two are linked up with the Lords of a minor Ray. There is a suggestive hint for students in this information. We may justly ask why, if this is so, it should apparently manifest so disastrously in connection with man? There are several reasons for this, one being that the force flowing through the vehicle of the great deva, the plane, is consequently stronger than in the other two cases, and this is owing to His more advanced stage of development and also to the fact that the Logos Himself is polarized in His astral body. Another reason is that he has a peculiar link with the Ruler of the animal kingdom, and as the human being has not yet dissociated himself from, nor learnt to control, his animal nature, he too comes under the influence of this tremendous force. There are other reasons hidden in the karma of our Heavenly Man, but the above reasons suffice.