In the book "The Heart of Things," and in the chapter "The Coming Avatar," was given, as far as permissible, the esoteric reason for the descent of an Avatar; so let us say briefly that a major Avatar is the vehicle of the principal called Buddhi, the knower of the essential nature of man's every act both in the present life and in former births. Because of the inner unity of all beings, these good or evil acts are, on inner planes, done to oneself. Impressing this fact upon the outward life of every incarnate being, Buddhi becomes the vehicle of karmic Law.

In the presence of Buddhi, falsehood unmasks and truth asserts itself. Thus the enmity of the Pharisees toward the Master was open; nor could it be concealed. Judas the hypocrite must reveal himself as the betrayer of his Lord. The faithful disciples must renounce worldly goods and follow the Christ. The hosannas of Palm Sunday soon sounded their true meaning in the cry: "Crucify Him!" The saying of Jesus: " I came not to bring peace, but a sword," contained nothing of hostility, but rather the truth that, in the light of his presence, secret enmity would become open warfare.

Into the conflicts which, during certain cycles like the present one, occur between the white and the dark hosts of the invisible world, weapons corresponding with the crude ones of human warfare never enter. Merely by their principle of Buddhi, and its emanations, the white brotherhoods would disconcert the black. These in turn seek some vulnerable part in the lower principles of their opponents, and, because with the white perfection is by no means universal, the battle often fluctuates even as recently it did. Never since Atlantean times when victory hung long in the balance, but finally turned to the White Brotherhood, never since then have the black multitudes been conquerors. Moreover, never before has such warfare been as general as recently it was, and never as then were the white forces so able to cope with their adversaries.

Ever a dispenser of karmic Justice, the Buddhic Wave - that emanation from the heart of Being - is largely a trinity of Atma, Buddhi and Manas; in other words a trinity of spiritual will, pure love, and high intelligence. High intelligence guides the operation of pure love which spiritual will causes to persist. As the revealer of actual conditions, the Buddhic Wave, now preceding the descent of the great Avatar, threw to the surface, as the war of nations, the fact that these nations have long been at secret enmity.

In forward and retrograde passage through the twelve signs, the Sun is chief agent of Buddhi in its aspect as Karma to this world. Without the Sun's passage through the signs, Karma would be inoperative here; consequently all evolutionary progress would have been stayed at the outset.

Always the Buddhic Wave descends directly from the Sun to Earth, and, for that matter, to all planets of our system; but for Earth that wave differs in quality and degree according to the signs and the position of the Sun therein as seen by us. As the Sun approaches a sign, the Buddhic Wave begins to take on the characteristics of that sign, and to lose those of the sign in which it already is. During the Sun's forward movement, these rapid changes but little affect the lower principles of mankind as a whole; so the resulting Karma is to the individual, and the family, and possibly the community; but, in the retrograde two-thousand-year passage from sign to sign, ample time is allowed for world-wide influence.

Exoteric Astrology assumes that to the human race the influences of the Moon and the planets can at times be as malign as at other times they are helpful; but some little explanation will show the fallacy of this view.

The Buddhic Wave from the Sun to our Earth is seven-fold, or, more strictly, ten-fold; also it is wholly pure. Moreover, a wave of pure energy reaches Earth from each of the planets in the following order: Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars, the secret violet planet, Neptune, Uranus, and the outmost or undiscovered planet. Sooner or later the wave from every planet unites with that from the Sun, but, by the repulsion of the sun wave, any impurity emanating from any planet is thrown back upon its birthplace.

The planetary waves are by no means direct; thus the wave from Jupiter, one of pure spiritual will, is drawn to, and unites with the sun wave quite near the Sun itself. The wave from Mercury, one of spiritual will and pure love, unites with the sun wave a little below. The wave from Venus is three-fold, high intelligence being the new factor. Its junction with the sun wave occurs at a point somewhat lower. The wave from Saturn is four-fold, purified lower Manas being the new component. Its junction with the sun wave is lower still. The wave from Mars is five-fold, purified Kama being the new component. Its junction is below that of Saturn. The wave from the Violet planet is six-fold, the astral element of purified personal will being the new component. Its junction with the sun wave is the lowest yet. The wave from Neptune is eight-fold; from Uranus nine-fold, and from the outmost planet ten-fold.

As stated in "Special Teachings from the Arcane Science," the eighth, ninth, and tenth planets are not in that system of evolution of which our earth is the base. Having as yet no planetary hierarchies, these slowly progressing planets are in the direct care of the great eighth, ninth, and tenth hierarchies of the Logos. The Buddhic Wave from each of these planets to Earth is really the over-plus of its sun wave; hence the importance of Neptune and Uranus as factors in the molding of human affairs.

H.