Pitris

Pitris
The word Pitris means "Father." They are called our Fathers because they interact with the negative aspect of matter (Mother) in the physical, astral and mental to create form and consciousness.
 * Lunar and Solar Pitris**

The Lunar Pitris are the Fathers of life below the human state and the Solar Pitris are the Fathers of human consciousness and above. An individual's Solar Angel would be a Solar Pitris that interacting with refined substance to give birth to your consciousness.

The Lunar Pitris interact with matter to build the vehicles (bodies) of man animal and the entire body of the Planetary Logos.

The Solar Pitris interacts with higher substance to create the egoic, or casual body of man. As the energy of this refined body unfolds the consciousness expands and soul contact is achieved.

Definition by J J Dewey Over 4000 free articles at: @http://freeread.com/

Lunar of course means "belonging to the moon," while pitri is a Sanskrit word meaning "father."
 * Lunar Pitri (Lunar Pitris)**

It is a term used in theosophy to signify the seven or ten grades of evolving entities which at the end of the lunar manvantara pass into a nirvanic state, to leave it aeons later as the seven or tenfold hierarchy of beings which inform the planetary chain of earth. In a general sense lunar pitris means all entities which originally came from the moon-chain to the earth-chain; but in a more particular and restricted sense it refers to those elements of the human constitution beneath the evolutionary standing of the agnishvattas.

Another term for lunar pitris is lunar ancestors or barhishads. These lunar ancestors are usually given as of seven classes, three being arupa, incorporeal, and four being rupa or corporeal. There is a vast body of teaching connected with the lunar pitris, of which the best modern exposition thus far given is to be found in H. P. Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine. Briefly, the earth-chain including our own globe Terra was populated from the moon-chain, because all entities now on earth, whatever their grade in evolution, came from the chain of the moon. (See also Pitris, Agnishvattas) From: Theosophy Occultism Mysticism Dictionary

Lunar of course means "belonging to the moon," while pitri is a Sanskrit word meaning "father." It is a term used in theosophy to signify the seven or ten grades of evolving entities which at the end of the lunar manvantara pass into a nirvanic state, to leave it aeons later as the seven or tenfold hierarchy of beings which inform the planetary chain of earth. In a general sense lunar pitris means all entities which originally came from the moon-chain to the earth-chain; but in a more particular and restricted sense it refers to those elements of the human constitution beneath the evolutionary standing of the agnishvattas.
 * Lunar Pitri(s)**

Another term for lunar pitris is lunar ancestors or barhishads. These lunar ancestors are usually given as of seven classes, three being arupa, incorporeal, and four being rupa or corporeal. There is a vast body of teaching connected with the lunar pitris, of which the best modern exposition thus far given is to be found in H. P. Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine. Briefly, the earth-chain including our own globe Terra was populated from the moon-chain, because all entities now on earth, whatever their grade in evolution, came from the chain of the moon. (See also Pitris, Agnishvattas) The Occult Glossary by G. de Purucker

Solar Pitris Now, in past Universes a process of development has gone on similar to that which is going on in the present world to-day; in those past Universes minds were developed as we develop minds now, and their process of development will be clearer when you follow the process of development amongst ourselves. The minds that developed in those preceding Universes, that passed into Nirvana, that passed out of Nirvana again at the beginning of the present age, have many names both in The Secret Doctrine and in other books. Let us take the name of "Sons of Mind" because it describes their most salient characteristic. They are sometimes spoken of under the name of Kwanaras, which means "youths," sometimes they are called Solar Pitris; but I prefer to take the name most often used in The Secret Doctrine, where of course you get it in the Sanskrit form, Manasa Putra; we will take it in English, as "Sons of Mind." They have developed Intelligence. http://www.greatdre ams.com/besant9. htm

Quotes from Djwhal Khul Wherever he (the aspirant) goes the force which flows through him from the higher planes and his own inner God produces at times peculiar results upon his environment. It acts as a stimulator of both the good and the evil. The lunar Pitris, or little lives which form the bodies of his brother and his own body, are likewise stimulated, their activity is increased and their power greatly aggravated. Initiation Human & Solar, Page 79

The solar Pitris and devas find their force expression most adequately through man, with all that is included in that term. They are the source of his self-consciousness, and it is their action upon the negative aspect which produces the human Ego (on a large scale, viewing them in their totality as cosmic force); it is their action upon the negative or mother aspect which, on cosmic levels, produces that Self-conscious Unity, a solar Logos, functioning through His physical vehicle. From the Christian standpoint, the greater Builders are the Holy Spirit, or force overshadowing and fecundating matter, whilst the negative or lesser Builders correspond to the Virgin Mary.

The lunar Pitris, and lesser builders from the systemic point of view find their fullest expression in the animal kingdom. When they, as the initiatory impulse, had produced animal man they had performed their prime function, and just as (on a smaller scale and in connection with only one of the Heavenly Men) the moon is a dying and decadent world, so on a systemic scale and therefore covering a vast period of time, the work of the lunar Pitris is slowly coming to a conclusion as the power of the third kingdom, the animal, over the human is being superseded by spiritual power; the systemic correspondence to lunar pitric activity will occultly die out.

The lunar Pitris, the builders of man's lunar body and their correspondence in the other kingdoms of nature, are the sumtotal of the dense physical body of the Logos, or the substance of the mental, astral and physical planes (the gaseous, liquid and dense bodies which form a unity, His physical vehicle, viewing it apart from the etheric). They are the product of an earlier solar system; their activities date from there. That system stands to the present one as the lunar chain to ours. That is why the physical body is considered no principle (either for man or the solar Logos); that is why the lower nature is considered evil, and why man must "slay his lunar body."1 Evil is that which can be controlled and subdued but which is permitted to govern. The positive can always manipulate the negative. When the negative line is followed and the line of least resistance to that which is no principle, is pursued, then we have evil.

In the first solar system the negative substance aspect, the Mother aspect or matter, was perfected. The lower Pitris dominated. In this system force activity lies in the hands of the solar Pitris or greater devas. Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Pages 617-618

The lunar Pitris have to carry on their work in our scheme and system before the solar angels, thrilling with expectancy, take possession of the forms prepared through their endeavour, and stimulate them into self-conscious life and separated existence. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 686

Man has to learn to control, guide and use the deva substances (lunar pitris) of which his lower sheaths are made; this goal involves the development of full self-consciousness, which is brought about through the agency of the solar Angels (pitris) or builders and vitalisers of the egoic body; they are those through whom self-consciousness becomes a fact. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 688

The solar angels have begun their activity, and until their work has reached a very high stage, the Spirit aspect must become, in the causal body, an analogy to the Silent Watcher. As the solar Angels continue sounding out the mantram which is the basis of their work, the lunar Pitris respond to certain sounds in that mantram (not to all by any means at first) and gather out of those sounds the formula under which their work must proceed. So the Word is the basis of the mantram, and the mantram is the basis of the formula. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Pages 771-772

There are also in connection with our peculiar Earth scheme, those lunar Pitris who reached their present stage of activity in the moon chain. They are deva groups but (unlike the Agnishvattas) they have not passed through the human stage; Treatise on Cosmic Fire Pg 780

The three groups of Agnishvattas concerned with the evolution of man on the mental level have each a specific function, as we have already seen, and the lowest of the three deal primarily with the transmission of force or energy to the three permanent atoms. In the dual sounding of the egoic mantram by the lowest of the three groups changes are brought about and the lunar Pitris (who concern themselves with the lower three vehicles) enter upon their work, the key being given to them by the solar Angels. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Pg 779

The solar Angels are the Pitris, the builders of the body of the Ego, and the producers of individualisation or the realised consciousness, the Agnishvattas, the great devas of Mind. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Pg 689

A hint as to the constitution of these solar Pitris and Manasadevas may come to the student who ponders upon the place of the egoic unit in the body of the planetary Logos, and in the particular centre of which it forms a component part. These Manasadevas and Dhyan Chohans who produce self-consciousness in man are indeed the energy and substance of the cosmic Heavenly Man. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Pg 732

In solar fire, these solar Pitris in their ninefold formation represent and make possible the unfolding of the consciousness of the Monad through the medium of the Ego in the three worlds of human evolution. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 819

The solar Angels are the Pitris, the builders of the body of the Ego, and the producers of individualisation or the realised consciousness, the Agnishvattas, the great devas of Mind. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 689

Activity of the Pitris. The joint activity of the solar and the lunar Pitris53 in the process pursued by the reincarnating Ego is our next subject of consideration. The Ego, driven by desire for physical experience, has made the initial move and a vibration, emanating from the centre of the lotus bud, has reached the lotus petals, and has consequently vibrated in deva substance, or in matter vitalised by the Agnishvattas. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 774

The three groups of Agnishvattas concerned with the evolution of man on the mental level have each a specific function, as we have already seen, and the lowest of the three deal primarily with the transmission of force or energy to the three permanent atoms. In the dual sounding of the egoic mantram by the lowest of the three groups changes are brought about and the lunar Pitris (who concern themselves with the lower three vehicles) enter upon their work, the key being given to them by the solar Angels.

These lunar Pitris embody the substance of man's lower bodies, just as the solar Pitris sacrifice themselves to give him his egoic body, and his consciousness. 55,56,57 They are substance in its dual aspect, and the Lunar Pitris in their higher grades are the positive energy of atomic substance, and in their lower are the negative aspect of the same substance. They might be considered, in connection with man, as triple in their ranks: Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 780

The lunar Pitris on every scheme, and throughout the system, are literally the active agents in the building of the dense physical body of the Logos; they energise the substance of the three planes in the three worlds, the mental, the astral and the dense physical planes of the system. This needs much pondering upon. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 784

It might be interesting also to point out that the interaction of the energy of the solar Pitris and of the lunar Pitris produces a very definite effect upon the lower group of lunar Pitris, and is one of the means whereby they will eventually reach the stage at which the solar Pitris are. This (if fully realised by man) will bring him to a very careful control of his sheaths, and to a close attention to the direction in which his force or energy is turned. He is responsible for the work of aiding in the evolution of substance, being himself a manasaputra. Treatise on Cosmic Fire

The lunar Pitris on every scheme, and throughout the system, are literally the active agents in the building of the dense physical body of the Logos; they energise the substance of the three planes in the three worlds, the mental, the astral and the dense physical planes of the system. This needs much pondering upon. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 784

We have studied somewhat the constitution of the Triangles, or Pitris, Who, through self-sacrifice, endow man with self-consciousness, building his egoic vehicle out of Their own essence. We have touched briefly upon the lunar Pitris, who endow man with his lower sheaths and principles through which the energy of the solar Lords may make itself felt, and we shall now proceed to study three things:

First, the effect of the higher energy upon the lower bodies, as it gradually makes itself felt during the evolutionary process, and thus simultaneously "redeems" man in an occult sense, and also "elevates" the lunar Pitris. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 808

In solar fire, these solar Pitris in their ninefold formation represent and make possible the unfolding of the consciousness of the Monad through the medium of the Ego in the three worlds of human evolution.

In fire by friction, the lunar Pitris are represented and constitute the lower self, the personality, or those vehicles by means of which the Ego in turn is to acquire experience on the lower planes. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 819

The goal for the devas (below the rank of solar Pitris) is individualisation, and their objective is to become men in some future cycle. The goal for a man is initiation, or to become a conscious Dhyan Chohan, and in some distant cycle to do for the humanity of that age what the solar Pitris have done for him, and make their self-conscious expression a possibility. The goal for a solar Pitri is, as said earlier, to become a logoic Ray.66 Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 836

The student must bear in mind that in thinking of the Pitris, he must ever think in group terms. The Pitris who formed the egoic body of a human being do not-alone and isolated-form planetary Logoi. The forty-nine groups of solar fires concerned in the great work are those spoken of, and they become the forty-nine planetary Logoi in connexion with seven solar systems. In them is hid the mystery of the three who become the sixteen-united or synthesised by the seventeenth- a correspondence upon cosmic levels of the seven with the eighth sphere. This must remain practically an insoluble mystery to man at present. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 879

The lunar pitris are to the planetary entity what the three major centres are to man or to the Logoi. The lunar Pitris who contribute the human form are (to the planetary entity) the correspondence to the head centre. Those who are the fathers of the vegetable forms correspond to his heart centre, whilst the Pitris of the mineral kingdom are analogous to the throat centre. This is all very obscure but hints of much value lie here. Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 1139

Quotes from various sources: //Pitris//. "What I called spirituo-ideal constitution is what is known as swarga in our Sanskrit works and the entities that are functioning there are called the Pitris, which of course means fathers. These Pitris are often heard of in a sort of antithetical way to the Devas in our puranas and this has led some of our Hindus, many theosophists included, to think that the Pitris and Devas are in two distinct spheres of life. Now Pitris and Devas always exist together, the Devas giving the consciousness and the Pitris forming the body. The two are relative terms. If the Pitris be water the Devas are the fire in the water. If the Pitris be fire, the Devas are the flame in that fire. If the Pitris be the flame, the Devas are the conscious principle that actuates the flame and gives to the flame the power of illumining the world and making it exist as a factor of our consciousness. From the highest to the lowest plane of life, the Pitris furnish the objective aspect and the Devas the subjective aspect and life itself is a stream that forms the middle line... When instead of three lokas the cosmos is divided more accurately into seven lokas, you may assort the three higher lokas to the Devas, the three lower to the Pitris and the middle to the life stream which may be conceived as the point in which the Deva essence is changed into Pitric essence or the no loka is made fit to appear as a loka down below or the unmanifested becomes the manifested." //- Some Thoughts on the Gita,// p. 56

I have divided the groups of devas and elementals into evolutionary and involutionary Builders - those who are in themselves positive force, and those which are negative force, the conscious and the blind workers. It is absolutely essential that students bear in mind here that we are studying the mystery of electricity and therefore must remember the following facts:
 * 2. The Fire Devas - The Greater Builders**
 * a. Introductory Remarks**

The Mystery of Electricity. The greater Builders are the positive aspect of substance or of electrical phenomena whilst the lesser Builders are the negative aspect. Two types of force are represented in the activities of these two groups and it is their interaction and interplay which produces Light, or the manifested solar system. Their sumtotal is substance in its totality, the intelligent active form, built for the purpose of providing a habitation for a central subjective life. They are also the sumtotal of the Pitris, 91 or Fathers of mankind, viewing mankind as the race itself, the fourth kingdom in nature, the Heavenly Men //in physical manifestation.// This is a most important point to emphasize. These deva activities in relation to Self-Consciousness (which is the distinctive characteristic of humanity) can best be studied in the large, or through [613] the consideration of groups, of races, and of the life of the scheme, the manifestation of one of the Heavenly Men. When the student brings his study of deva work down to the terms of his own individual life he is apt to become confused through too close a juxtaposition. The greater Builders are the solar Pitris, whilst the lesser Builders are the lunar ancestors. I would here explain the occult meaning of the word "ancestor," as used in esotericism. It means literally initiatory life impulse. It is that subjective activity which produces objectivity, and concerns those emanatory impulses which come from any positive center of force, and which sweep the negative aspect into the line of that force, and thus produce a form of some kind. The word "ancestor" is used in connection with both aspects.

//The solar Logos is// the initiatory impulse or Father of the Son in His physical incarnation, a solar system. He is the sumtotal of the Pitris, in the process of providing //form.// The union of Father (positive force) and Mother (negative force) produces that central blaze which we call the form, the body of manifestation of the Son. //A Heavenly Man// holds an analogous position in relation to a planetary scheme. He is the central germ of positive life or force, which, in due course of time, demonstrates as a planetary scheme, or an incarnation of the planetary Logos. A //man// similarly is the positive life or energy which, through action on negative force, creates bodies of manifestation through which he can shine or radiate. 92, 93, 94

91 //The Lunar Pitris.// "The great Chohans called the Lords of the Moon, of the airy bodies: Bring forth Men," they were told, "men of your nature. Give them their forms within. She (Mother Earth) will build coverings without (for external bodies). Males - females will they be. Lords of the Flame also... They went each on his allotted lands: Seven of them each on his lot. The Lords of the Flame remained behind. They would not go. They would not create." - //Stanza// III, 12, 13, S. D., II, 79, 81.  92 The Lunar Pitris created the physical man. - S. D., I, 114, 197.  They exist in three great classes.
 * 1) The most developed.
 * They form, in Round one, the sumtotal of the three kingdoms, and achieve a human form. - S. D., I, 203.
 * In Rounds two and three they are the sumtotal of that which will eventually be human.
 * In Round four at the beginning they form the etheric bodies of our Earth humanity.
 * 1) Those whose bodies are taken by the Solar Angels - S. D., I, 203.
 * 2) The sum total of the three kingdoms at present known.

93 The Earth gives man his body; the Gods give him his five inner principles... Spirit is one. - S. D., I, 248. - S. D., I, 248.
 * 1) The Earth gives the dense physical.
 * 2) The Lunar Gods give him three lower principles:
 * 3) Etheric body
 * 4) Prana
 * 5) Kama - manas
 * 6) The Solar Gods give him two principles:
 * 7) Lower mind
 * 8) Higher mind
 * 9) The Monad is the unified two highest principles:
 * 10) Buddhi
 * 11) Atma

94 The totality of form. God is "One, notwithstanding the innumerable forms which are in Him," so is man, on earth the microcosm of the macrocosm. - S. D., II, 197; II, 303; III, 584.
 * Everything is comprised in man.
 * He unites in himself all forms.
 * The mystery of the earthly man is the mystery of the Heavenly Man.
 * The potentiality of every organ useful to animal life is locked up in man, the Microcosm of the Macrocosm. - S. D., II, 723.

Dan: Looks like pretty much every word that derives from pitri involves the idea of "father". I think "progenitor" might be the best PC definition for it.

"Pitri - Pitri(s) pitr (Sanskrit) Fathers; referring to the merely human deceased father and grandparents; also to the progenitors of the human race. The pitris (progenitors) are of seven classes: three classes of arupa-pitris or higher dhyanis, which in our own solar system we call the solar pitris or agnishvattas; and the four lower classes known as barhishads or lunar pitris. The lunar pitris came from the moon-chain, while the solar pitris are those dhyan-chohans which have all the spiritual-intellect ual fires, although they are too spiritual to have the physical creative fire. In preceding manvantaras they had finished their physical and astral evolution, but by cyclic necessity, enlightened the lunar pitris which had only the physical creative fire.

The pitris "are called 'Fathers' because they are more particularly the actual progenitors of our lower principles; whereas the Dhyani-Chohans are actually, in one most important sense, our own selves. We were born from them; we were the monads, we were the atoms, the souls, projected, sent forth, emanated, by the Dhyanis.

". . . the Lunar Pitris may briefly be said to be those consciousness- centers in the human constitution which feel humanly, which feel instinctually, and which possess the brain-mind mentality. The Agnishwatta- Pitris are those monadic centers of the human constitution which are of a purely spiritual type" (OG 125-6). These pitris were not forefathers of present humanity, but of our distantly remote ancestors named formerly by some writers the Adamic races.

The evolution of the first root-race of mankind from the astral bodies of the pitris took place on seven distinctly separated regions of the earth existing then at the arctic pole (cf SD 2:329). Of the succession of the root-races the Stanzas of Dzyan say: "First come the SELF-EXISTENT on this Earth. They are the 'Spiritual Lives' projected by the absolute WILL and LAW, at the dawn of every rebirth of the worlds. These LIVES are the divine 'Sishta,' (the seed-Manus, or the Prajapati and the Pitris)" (SD 2:164). As progenitors of the various human root-races, pitris refer pointedly to the life-waves, manus, prajapatis, and sishtas.

Brahma occasionally, as the generalized Progenitor, stands in Hindu literature for the pitris collectively, and is thus called Father." - http://dictionary. babylon.com/ Pitri

See also: http://books. google.com/ books?id= dLUKaou4KcMC& pg=PA627& lpg=PA627& dq=Pitri+ and+sanskrit

See also: http://books. google.com/ books?id= MDEOAAAAIAAJ& pg=PT568& lpg=PT568& dq=Pitri+ and+sanskrit

Dan writes: I think the text I quoted was kyped from the Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary here: http://www.theosoci ety.org/pasadena /etgloss/ etg-hp.htm

It also contains these related entries:

"Pitri-devatas pitr-devatas (Sanskrit) [from pitri father + devatas spiritual beings] The paternal spiritual beings; a class of divine beings who were the progenitors of mankind -- generalized under the term pitris. More particularly, the lunar ancestors of mankind, in all their various classes.

Pitri-pati pitr-pati (Sanskrit) Lord of the pitris or fathers; a title of Yama, the Hindu god of death and the judge of mortals -- functions corresponding to those of Rhadamanthas of the Greeks. From the standpoint of occult history, Pitri-pati or Yama is the personification of the third root-race." - http://www.theosoci ety.org/pasadena /etgloss/ per-pi.htm

"Lunar Pitris [from Sanskrit pitri father, ancestor] Lunar fathers, also called barhishad-pitris and lunar ancestors; used in distinction from the solar pitris or agnishvattas. Lunar pitris are the actual progenitors of our lower principles, as distinguished from the dhyani-chohans who are, in an important sense, our own selves. Lunar pitris, in the wider sense, come from the moon-chain to inform the earth-chain, forming a sevenfold or tenfold hierarchy. In a more restricted sense, they are those elements in our constitution which are below the evolutionary standard of the agnishvattas, informing our lower principles; whereas the solar pitris originating not in the moon-chain but in a higher sphere, give to man the higher parts of his constitution. There is a subdivision of the seven classes of lunar pitris into arupa (formless) and rupa (form). The lunar pitris built a psychophysical vehicle fit for the informing intellectual spirit which the agnishvattas communicated.

Lunar Gods If moon stands for the feminine side of nature, it is Isis, the Great Mother ; and thus a lunar god may be a very august being, and even with some nations regarded as superior to and prior to the masculine side. On the other hand, moon may stand for the nether pole of manifestation and thus lunar gods may stand in contrast with solar gods, as pertaining to an inferior, exoteric, or materialistic cultus. The moon is said to be threefold, e.g., Diana-Hecate- Luna, ruling over the superior, inferior, and middle worlds. Lunar gods may also apply to the lunar pitris.

"Called in India the Fathers, 'Pitris' or the lunar ancestors. They are subdivided, like the rest, into seven classes or Hierarchies. In Egypt although the moon received less worship than in Chaldea or India, still Isis stands as the representative of Luna-Lunus, 'the celestial Hermaphrodite. ' Strange enough while the modern connect the moon only with lunacy and generation, the ancient nations, who knew better, have, individually and collectively, connected their 'wisdom gods' with it. Thus in Egypt the lunar gods are Thoth-Hermes and Chons; in India it is Budha, the Son of Soma, the moon; in Chaldea Nebo is the lunar god of Secret Wisdom, etc., etc. The wife of Thoth, Sifix, the lunar goddess, holds a pole with five rays of the five-points star, symbol of man, the Microcosm, in distinction from the Septenary Macrocosm. As in all theogonies a goddess precedes a god, on the principle most likely that the chick can hardly precede its egg, in Chaldea the moon was held as older and more venerable than the Sun, because, as they said, darkness precedes light at every periodical rebirth (or 'creation') of the universe. Osiris although connected with the Sun and a Solar god is, nevertheless, born on Mount Sinai, because Sin is the Chaldeo-Assyrian word for the moon; so was Dio-Nysos, god of Nyssi or Nisi, which latter appellation was that of Sinai in Egypt, where it was called Mount Nissa" (TG 192-3).

Lunar Chain, Moon-Chain The planetary chain of the solar system which, although now dead and in decay, was the former imbodiment of our present earth-chain. When the life forces inherent in a globe of a planetary chain have completed seven rounds on that globe, these life forces progressively pass out into a laya-center which then becomes, after a time period determined by karma, the vital nucleus for the corresponding globe or the next imbodiment of that planetary chain. This took place on the lunar chain as the globes of this chain in the preceding chain-manvantara reached the end of their life-term in manifestation, and died in serial order from the first to the last globe. Thus each globe of the lunar chain as it died became a lunar globe-corpse still infilled with the molecular life of the globe, but deprived of all its higher, more ethereal and spiritual parts -- exactly as happens at the death and decay of a human physical body. Though globe D of the moon-chain, as an instance in point, thus passed into invisibility with the disintegration of its molecular components and with the passage of cosmic ages, yet we are able to discern its phantom, our moon, because our senses, correlated to the physical plane of matter of our chain, are also correlated to what on the lunar chain would be astral matter, and thus are able to perceive what is actually the kama-rupa or astral shell of globe D of the lunar chain (our moon). Hence the earth-chain is the child or reimbodiment of the lunar chain." - http://www.theosoci ety.org/pasadena /etgloss/ lo-lz.htm

Bryan writes: As I was doing some of my own research for additional sources/citations The Archives, I came across some interesting comments about Solar & Lunar Pitris:

The publication is/was:

AN INTRODUCTION TO ESOTERIC PRINCIPLES FOURTH EDITION, "A Study Course" by William Doss McDavid

Here are some of the comments I found interersting and which seem (from my dim comprehension of these things to at least compliment what is taught by AAB/DK/HPB/JJD

(begin quote) According to occult teachings, the monads evolving on the planetary chain afterpassing over from the old scene of evolution—the lunar chain—are divided into sevenclasses. 10 Of these seven, the first is that which we call the Lunar Pitris or Fathers. TheLunar Pitris lead the other monadic classes into incarnation. They do this by passingthemselves in the first round through the seven kingdoms of planetary life. In this way they actually build from within the forms of the various kingdoms before turning themover to the less progressed classes of monads.

They do this on each globe of the chainin the first round. A certain group of the Lunar Pitris remains in human form on each globe as a"seed" for new human life in the next round. In this capacity they are known as the Sishta or "remainders. "

They continue to act in this way in each round, remaining as aseed for new human life when the life-wave returns to a particular globe.

After the first round, these "Builders" (Lunar Pitris) need no longer traverse thelower kingdoms, the prototypes of the forms having already been built and needing only to develop and expand in future cycles.

The monads of the next three classes are those which reach the human stage during the first three and a half rounds, at the end of which time the "door into the human kingdom" is closed for the duration of the planetary manvantara. The monadic essence of the three other classes pursues its evolution in the animal, plant, and mineral worlds throughout the rest of this cycle.

In addition to the seven classes of "lunar monads" who moved over to the Earth chain when the Moon chain reached the end of its life cycle, there are higher DhyanChohans who are active in the evolution of our world. One of these classes is the Solar Pitris, otherwise called the Kumaras, Agnishvattas, Lords of the Flame, Manasaputras, Asuras, and "Sons of Wisdom." These are progressed entities of long-forgotten evolutions. They are the "fallen angels" who endow our humanity with the fire of real intelligence and self-consciousness. It is they who bring the light of self-conscious mindto our humanity. In a very special sense, they are our own Higher Egos, our "Holy Guardian Angels." (End Quote)

This publication can be accessed directly at: [|www.theosophical]. org/resources/ selfstudy/ EsotericPrinicip les.pdf