Many people are very

passive or negative in the face of circumstances. A study of their condition shows

that they are interested only in the pursuit of bodily pleasure or in the avoidance of
possible bodily pain. This may be called the elementary or child stage of a human
being, whatever the actual age of his body.
The next group are interested in some sort of mental or emotional enjoyment—
the pursuit of knowledge or of some object of affection, or of power of some kind,
expressed in the field of politics, commerce, art, religion, etc. In such persons there is
initiative. It is when there is some such human initiative that the type or ray can be
seen with least confusion.

The Seven Beings in the Sun are the Seven Holy Ones, self-born from the inherent
power
in the Matrix of Mother-Substance. It is they who send the seven principal Forces,
called
Rays, which, at the beginning of Pralaya, will centre into seven new Suns for the next
Manvantara. The energy from which they spring into conscious existence in every Sun
is
what some people call Vishnu, which is the Breath of the Absoluteness.

In Hindu and Theosophical books the terms ichchhā, jnāna and kriyā are
employed to indicate the three essential constituents of consciousness. Those words
are usually and quite accurately translated as will, wisdom and activity, but the
significance of the English words in this connection will not be understood unless it
is clearly realized that they refer to states of consciousness and nothing else.

The three states of consciousness link the being who has them to the three great
worlds— ichchhā or will to the self, jnāna or wisdom to the world of consciousness
itself, and kriyā or activity to the world of things or being. Therefore jnāna is the very
essence of consciousness.
When we see the great scope of these three states we may realize the inadequacy
of their English names, which in fact draw attention principally to the positive or
outward-working aspect of each of them. Consciousness is always twofold—as being
receptive or aware, and as being active and influential, or, in other words, as possessing
faculties and powers. Each of its three states is both a faculty and a power.
Ichchhā is our consciousness of self, and also the power that is will. Jnāna is our
consciousness of others, and also the power that is love. And kriyā is our consciousness
of things, and also the power that is thought.
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