The Element Earth

Wisdom Teachings
The 5 Elements

The planets which astronomy explores are the physical bodies of the planetary regents in our solar system. They are great, conscious entities which are different from the planetary bodies, though they reside in the planetary globes and exercise their influence from there. On the soul level they are one life which appears as the different planets and which forms on them the many atoms of the related matter. We cannot identify them without their physical body. This is also true for us. The very existence of a man is known by us only through the symbol of the physical body. Without this symbol he is only a set of intelligences whom we call Devas or angels, but which we cannot see with our eyes. The physical body is necessary; the matter gives form and stability for it. The spirit of the earth preserves the atomic structure of all forms including that of our body. Its influence maintains the structure of the earth since millions of years.

The earth gives the forms for the beings living on her and takes them back again; we know this as the incarnation and dis-incarnation of the souls. Thus, at the incarnation our physical body forms around us from out of the matter of the earth. The substance of the 5 elements used for it is temporarily isolated from the earth. After a while it gathers again the elements. It is not correct to say that we are made from earth and will return to earth. The body consists of the 5 elements of the earth. We as souls come from the stars and have our origin in the spirit. The spirit in us is the centre of consciousness; it represents the spiritual sun which is always invisible. The visible sun is just a focal point for the impact of the spiritual sun. Our mind plays the role of the moon and personifies the lunar (reflective) principle. It receives the immanent spiritual spark and reflects it as thought, word and deed into the world of matter. The substance of our body represents the earth. So the solar, lunar and material principles live in our three-fold existence, symbolised by the sun, moon and earth.

The earth itself is evolving as are we human beings. The evolutionary karma of the earthly body also determines our expression of life. The earth is not yet a pure planet. Its elements still contain many imperfections and diseases which also lead to disharmony, weaknesses and ultimately to disease in us. We further contribute to the deterioration by our exploiting the substance of the earth and by spoiling it with all kinds of chemicals. This returns to us in form of environmental disasters or chemically contaminated food. We reap what we sowed.

We borrow the food we give to the body from the earth. The quality of our food influences the quality of the body tissues. Heavy and excessive food brings inertia to the body and can lead to health complications. Heavy matter condenses all elements of the body and pulls us down; it becomes increasingly difficult for us to receive the Light. The muladhara or base centre regulates the matter of our body. It constructs the form of our material existence from out of the original matter called Mula Prakriti in the East. The 5 elements of nature are only differences of state of the one primordial matter. The 5 states – space/ether, gas, fire, liquid and solid – are forms of expression of 5 cosmic Devas through the work of which the creation can descend into objectivity. According to the law of correspondences we can understand the formation of matter when we observe the growth of the body of the soul in the womb of the mother. Here we see the formation of matter in all its gradations, from the most subtle to the grossest plane. The grossest tissues formed in our body are the bones and the subtlest tissues the eyes. They are transparent and can transmit light. The more a person is evolved the more radiant and magnetic they are. The eyes therefore represent the sun. The bones are solid and give stability; they correspond to the Saturn principle. The earth, too, has matter of most diverse levels of density. We know from the Scriptures that in earlier ages the creation and the living beings were transparent. The transparent Garden of Eden solidified to everything we see now, and the human beings slowly developed “coats of skin”, the dense physical form.

Now we are again on the way up from the dense-physical; the matter becomes increasingly lighter and more etheric – not only through electronics and new materials. The substance of our body is also liberated from its heaviness and inertia by the energy of Uranus. The ones returning to the higher circles are called Anuras in the East. Anuras signifies beings without legs which can fly. This means that their energies are no longer directed downwards but flow upwards. In the Aquarian age we will develop increasingly lighter and more transparent bodies and learn to counteract the gravitational pull of the earth and thereby to fly. People of earlier ages have already demonstrated this and it will become a reality of the future.

To make our body more subtle we have to develop a right way to handle its substance and the substance of the earth, for the physical body comes from the elements of the earth. We have received the basis of our life and we are benefited by it. We therefore have an obligation and should develop an attitude of gratefulness and veneration. Most people don’t know that they have obligations towards the Devas of light, of minerals, plants and animals, of the 5 elements and the senses, because they help us incessantly. We fulfil our obligations by treating them respectfully and by keeping the earth pure. We must not throw things carelessly away everywhere but have to take care of the elements of Mother Nature. Without this mindfulness we get more and more indebted to nature and bind us still further to matter.

A pure life does not accumulate impurity around us. Impurity has a bad smell. The smell and the organ of olfaction, the nose, are related to the element of earth and the dense physical matter. Without matter there is no smell. In each one of the earlier root races a sense has been developed. The sense of smell was gained in the 5th root race, the present age.

A dog can intensely smell a person and also an individual with a good nose can do it. Our food influences the body odour; it is better to avoid food products with a pungent or stale smell if we want to develop a subtle perception. Many people smell bad, not only physically, but also through the smell of their thoughts and emotions which express through the body odour. As long as we are in our ‘dirt’ and there is no purity in our life, no good radiance can come about, even if we engage with spiritual concepts. We also say of some people that we cannot stand their smell.

Inner purity develops a subtler perception; thus, we can contemplate pure and holy things. Through purity the soul develops a fragrance called Gandha in the East. Gandha means sandal. The seers realised that pure sandalwood brings about a very pleasant development of the soul and keeps the atmosphere pure. Therefore they applied sandal to the body and used sandal for every activity which has to do with the divine – for rituals and especially for meditation. Sandal is only used to become pure. It should not be used as a perfume.

Through their research people have found out the effect of perfumes on humans. They have discovered scents with which men and women attract each other. Such perfumes are busily used to intensify sensuality. We can see by observation which is the effect of a perfume on our thoughts.

When we carry sandalwood with us, a protective layer is formed in the subtle, so that negative forces cannot attack us so easily. Ladies are more receptive for such attacks than men. Therefore it is good to carry sandalwood powder or incense on you.

The fragrance of sandal is a manifestation of the divine in the dense physical. It says that there is a smell of sandal in the etheric layers and that we can perceive it when a being from the subtle worlds visits us. Sandal helps to open the doors.

Sources: K.P. Kumar: Occult Meditations / Saraswathi – The Word / notes from seminars. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India.