Eastern Cosmology @ 105
of Nature, is described as the creation of the five lower planes of exis-
tence-atmic, buddhic, mental, astral, and physical. As the basis for
these "material" aspects, Brahma uses what the Tibetans call fohat and
what Helena Blavatsky called cosmic electricity, an energy she relates
to magnetism and gravity, qualified as the occult potency of sound, im-
bued with thought. It is this soniferous, creative, propellant force that is
defined as the Logos or word. All changes of a material nature, even in
the human body, are considered to be dependent upon and be brought
about by this cosmic electricity or fohat and its related forces.
The Second Logos,Vishnu the Preserver, concerned with the "life"
aspect and the evolution of vehicles, is described as using prana, a vital
force derived from the sun, part superphysical, part physical, responsi-
ble for and underlying all life processes-much like Steiner's world-
ether. On the physical plane, prana builds up all minerals and is the
controlling agent in the chemico-physiological changes in protoplasm
that lead to differentiation and the building of the various tissues of the
bodies of plants, animals, and humans; it makes of the physical body a
living organism in contradistinction to an insentient aggregate of mat-
ter and force. Without prana the body would be nothing more than a
collection of independent cells.The blending of astral prana with phys-
ical prana creates nerve matter, which gives the power to feel pleasure
and pain. Pranic centers are the glandular and nerve centers in the
physical body and the chakras in the etheric and astral bodies. Flowing
pranas act as the link between body and soul. Controlling prana by
thought, yogis succeed in controlling their bodies.
As the material instrument of the Second Logos, orvishnu, prana is
posited as enabling the raw material of kundalini, created by the Third
Logos, Brahma, to be worked up into "living" vehicles with the inher-
ent capacity for growth and for acting as instruments of mind in vari-
ous degrees of deve1opment.A~ Brahma, the Creator, evolves more and
more complex atoms and molecules for the different planes,Vishnu,
the Preserver, takes these atoms and molecules and organizes them into
living bodies, which can serve as vehicles for mind and consciousness.
Meanwhile the First Logos, Mahesha, concerned with the unfold-
ment of consciousness, uses kundalini, which, as explained by Hodson,