Celestial beings who are the recorders of karmic actions, hence often called the “Lords of Karma.” The word comes from the Sanskrit root lip meaning “write, anoint, smear, etc.”

The Secret Doctrine describes them thus:

Mystically, these Divine Beings are connected with Karma, the Law of Retribution, for they are the Recorders or Annalists who impress on the (to us) invisible tablets of the Astral Light “the great picture-gallery of eternity” — a faithful record of every act, and even thought, of man, of all that was, is, or ever will be, in the phenomenal Universe. As said in “Isis,” (I:343), this divine and unseen canvas is the BOOK OF LIFE. . . . The Lipika . . . project into objectivity from the passive Universal Mind the ideal plan of the universe, upon which the “Builders” reconstruct the Kosmos after every Pralaya. . . . (SD I:104)

Thus the Lipikas are spoken of as Spirits of the universe, whereas the so-called “Builders” are Planetary Spirits. They are divided into three chief groups and each has seven sub-groups.

They are identical to the four Recording Angels of the KABBALAH, the four Mah€r€jas and Chitra-Gupta in Hinduism, and the four “Immortals” in Atharva Veda who are guardians of the four quarters. In the New Testament, they are identified with the “Book of Life” in Revelation. This recording process of the Lipikas must not be understood to be judgmental in any sense, but more as photographic records of all actions.

The Secret Doctrine states that the Lipikas also separate the plane of pure spirit and matter by placing an impassable barrier between the personal ego and the impersonal Self. This is the circle of the “Ring Pass-Not” which cannot be crossed by human beings until the end of the manvantara or on the day “Be-With-Us,” unless they have qualifed themselves to “return into their primal Element” (SD I:130).

P.S.H./V.H.C.

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