12
The Four Lower Vehicles
Beloved Hilarion
May 27, 1970
It has been said that "God needs a body" and for this purpose were the four lower bodies of man created - emotional, mental, etheric and physical forms.
Chelas on the Path have come to an intellectual knowledge that they are not the physical body - that there is a God Presence within the physical garment which is the Eternal Identity. They have to some degree understood that the physical body is a living, breathing organism, with intelligence and appetites of its own and that, like a high-bred animal, the physical body will seek the satisfaction of these desires through the avenue of the five senses. They are, therefore, alert to identify themselves with the Higher God Principle, and are learning to govern the garment of flesh with some degree of success.
However, there are three other living, breathing, intelligent identities belonging to each lifestream... the etheric, mental and emotional vehicles. They have intelligence within them and have desires and appetites of their own.
It is need that the chela consciously look over the four vehicles provided by God that God might express in physical manifestation. These four vehicles are not "dead" matter, but living, breathing, pulsating organisms containing intelligence within them, as afore stated.
The lower bodies of the average man have governed the self-conscious life for centuries, acting independently of the Spiritual Spark that should be the Governing Intelligence acting through all.
For example, let us take the mental body in which is stored knowledge and accretion of fact and fancy, orthodox principles and concrete ideas that may or may not be true. The mental body lives on accretion of knowledge... the more it is fed, the larger it gets and the more it demands the energy of the Divine Spark. In satisfying its demands the mental body becomes a heavy, cumbersome, unwieldy vehicle and TYRANT. When the mental body is overgrown, the real Teacher, the Three-Fold Flame within the heart is allowed no opportunity to expand, because the mental accretion becomes a constantly shrieking accumulation of energy filling the consciousness and drowning out the Voice of the Silence. The mental body should be merely a store-room for certain Truths which the Divine Spark may draw on to expand the knowledge of Truth in the world of form, much as a lecturer refers to certain notes that elucidate his point. Most "mental giants" are therefore practically barricaded against spiritual awakening.
The etheric body was also created as a storehouse through which the individual's own experiences might be recorded. It differs from the mental body in that the records here are entirely personal and are the experiences derived through the use of God's Energy, whereas the mental body may profit by experiences derived by other parts of life as well.
The etheric body, however, has become an accretion of experiences that would make the most ribald tabloid look extremely "innocent." The etheric body lives by drawing the conscious energy of the Heart Center into reviewing and re-experiencing these debaucheries of the past. When the attention is firmly enough anchored in the feeling of these past fiascoes, the etheric body may perpetuate and repeat these performances which cause it to vibrate with joy as the life energy is flooded into it, and instead of being a record of the God Powers drawn forth through the lifestream it becomes a "skeleton in the closet." It is extremely dangerous in that it lives like a vampire in "sucking" the God Energy from the Presence.
Now, the emotional body - here is the prize of them all. Eighty percent of mankind's energy (more correctly God's Energy) is encased in the putrid confines of the emotional body.
The emotional world of man was provided by the God Identity through which the energy might flow into the physical world to raise and transmute the forces of the elements through love, harmony, peace and so on, but instead it has become a tremendous accumulation of passion and emotion. This body draws constantly on the Flaming Source of Life within the heart and uses tons of God's Energy to satisfy its insatiable appetites which are legion. The emotional body is happy only when it is in a constant state of flux. It lives on excitement which may be generated in innumerable ways.
Permit me to give you a few examples: Possessiveness - a tremendous feeling form that draws the God Energy and smothers the object of its affection.
Gossip - which is almost the most insidious, because through poison sent out, it starts wheels of emotion in the lifestreams of many and soon you have an inner conflagration.
Criticism, condemnation and judgment are closely related. The silent criticism of seeing discrepancies and faults in others disturbs the feelings of one's own emotional body and sets up causes of discord which react in physical disturbances, but the spoken criticism sets the emotional bodies of others into the same vibratory action and its effects are without any limit.
The really vicious emotions are evident and do not so much affect the aspiring lifestream, such as jealousy, hate, anger and malice. Lust is considered sister to these vicious emotions, but until one has attained the glorious body of Eternal Light lust is very evident in the most advanced chela - mental rejection of this statement to the contrary.
This is but a surface discussion which might be amplified without limit. Suffice to say the average person is no more aware of these living entities which are vampires on the God Life than he or she is aware that their existence in the universe is a constant cause of habit of the individual. Were it not for the grace and constant intercession of the Illumined Expressions of God, the universe would be destroyed in a very short time.
We in the Realms of Perfection are ceaselessly serving to assist the mankind of this Earth and our gratitude is boundless to the dedicated chelas who are willing to release the energy flowing through them in the purification of the Earth and her evolutions.
I have given you the above short summary of the activities of the lower vehicles of mankind for the express purpose that you will keep on, keeping on in your Calls for the Purification of the lower vehicles of all mankind.
The Father-Mother God created the four lower vehicles to express a Divine Plan and when the individual will return the government to the God Self within, he will find that this constant battle and turmoil will cease and instead of each individual being an arena with these lower vehicles seeking to grasp one's attention and energy, the individual's consciousness will become an outpouring of God's Will.
As a closing admonition - let no chela feel that he is "holier than thou" for he knows not what is stored up in his lower vehicles.
Beloved Hilarion