Vasishta

Wisdom Teachings
Sublime Beings
The Rishis

In Vedic and Puranic tradition, there is an allegorical story about the origin of the faculty of mind and the emergence of Masters in all levels of creation: When the five mind-born sons of Brahma refused to create the denser worlds for fear of being held up in matter, the Creator cursed them to be buried in the matter of the whole creation.

This allegory explains how the mind originated and Masters emerged at all planes of creation. It is with the help of the subtle work of these five cosmic Masters, the development of matter and mind is hastened and made conscious to the human mind. It is a silent spell that these Masters express in the form of hints or recommendations, stimulating the intuition of human beings to work as Masters of their intelligence. This cosmic process is called Yoga. There are a large number of cosmic Masters, and the five sons of Brahma are the foremost among them. Many of them are considered Rishis. In reality, they are not personalities, but the working principles of Yoga in the cosmos. Each principle is given a name so that it can be recognised and understood. A solar system governed by a particular principle is named after that specific Rishi or cosmic master. Thus, each of the seven suns in the constellation of the Great Bear (Sanskrit: Sapta Rishi Mandala) is named after a Rishi such as Vasishta, Vishvamitra, Pulastya, Pulaha, etc.

Not all suns are born at the same time and are therefore not at the same stage of development. Depending on their degree of spiritual evolution, the suns are divided into sacred and non-sacred suns (see ‘Esoteric Astrology’ by Alice A. Bailey). These Rishis dwell in each sun. Each sun serves as a vehicle for a main characteristic that belongs to one of the Rishis. Based on this main characteristic, millions of suns exist in groups of seven. These are suns that have evolved to the state of the seven Rishis. In suns that are still young and have not reached this state, these principles of the Seven Sages are not yet expressed. Such suns form a group of five and connect with a group of seven elevated suns, the Sapta Rishi Mandalas.

The sun of our solar system is one of five young suns in a group of twelve suns. It is influenced by the intelligences of the seven Rishis and thus helps to spread their teachings and wisdom. Seven types of spiritual rays are poured onto our sun from the seven suns. It receives them and shares them with all its planets, including our Earth. Accordingly, the humanity of this Earth exists in seven groups, based on their soul characteristics. In humans, too, seven intelligences of the Buddhic plane work on five stages of matter that belong to the physical body.

The Seven Seers, who are represented as the seven rays, knew the golden middle path of yoga even before this creation. We have the expression of each Rishi on the cosmic, solar, planetary and human planes. Thus, each of the seven Rishi principles incarnates at regular intervals on Earth to uplift humanity and guide the group of people who belong to the respective main characteristics. It is thanks to such Rishis that wisdom is explained and written down in different languages, in different places and at different times.

The Rishi principles are embodied in certain people on Earth who are named after the above-mentioned Rishis. On the human plane, the regional name of this person may be quite different. However, the Vedas refer to them only by the name of the Rishi. For this reason, the characters of the Rishis, such as Vasishta, appear with the same names in stories that take place over centuries.

The Great Bear is cosmically the Father of our system, the Pleiades are our Mother and Sirius is our Teacher. Vasishta is embodied in one of the seven stars of the Great Bear. In the constellation of the Great Bear, there are three stars that form the tail of the bear. The middle of these three stars is called Vasishta. For our solar system, Vasishta plays the role of the Father. Vasishta is one of the great cosmic principles of the seven Rishis. Of the Seven Seers, Vasishta is considered the fourth, the middle one, just as the Yoga path is the golden middle path. From Vasishta comes the Hierarchy of Yogis from the supracosmic plane through the cosmic plane, the solar plane and the planetary plane to us. Vasishta is responsible for the Hierarchy on our planet. According to the scriptures, the Hierarchy of our Earth originates from the great sage Vasishta. His presence manifests as a principle or an intuitive ideal.

On the supracosmic plane, there is the twin principle of the Asvins, who are called Mitra and Varuna. They represent the inseparable unity of existence and awareness of existence, or of spirit and matter as the first emergence from pure existence. The Asvins descend as Vasishta and Agastya, as Neptune and Uranus, as the Hierarchy in the Himalayas and the Hierarchy in the Blue Mountains of southern India.

Vasishta works with the energies of love and understanding. The Hierarchy of Vasishta carries out activities on the planet that are related to the unfolding of consciousness and the evolution of beings. This takes long periods of time. The Hierarchy of Agastya works to create forms for new creations so that the spirit can descend or materialise in new ways. Agastya corrects existing forms or rebuilds them so that the spirit/consciousness can descend and be experienced more easily. His task at all levels is to correct structures where necessary and develop better models.

Vasishta's main ashram is located in the Himalayas, with etheric ashrams around the planet. The leading ashram of Agastya, also known as Master Jupiter, is located in the Nilagiris, the Blue Mountains. Master CVV emerged from this ashram. Agastya's ashrams are also located in other mountain ranges in the southern hemisphere of the planet. Within us, the energy of Agastya is located in the base centre; it stimulates the Kundalini energy when necessary. We can feel the energy of Vasishta especially in the heart centre, the middle centre. The Hierarchy works especially to invoke and distribute the energies of Light, Love and Will from the higher centres.

In India, there is a scripture called Yoga Vasishta. It contains the teachings given by the great seer Vasishta to Rama. The scripture contains the sum and essence of yoga or theosophy. It enables us to connect with the Divine, to experience the Divine and to live righteously in the world. In this scripture, Vasishta says that the three Logoi Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva were normal human beings in the previous creation. They worked so hard on their improvement that they evolved. They followed the path of evolution and were thus able to take up their offices in the current cosmic system.

Similarly, “World Teacher” is a position held today by Lord Maitreya. Before Maitreya was appointed World Teacher by Lord Krishna, he was well prepared by his teacher named Parasara. Parasara was the former World Teacher. Parasara's teacher was Sakti, and Sakti's teacher was Vasishta. Vasishta is therefore the teacher of the teacher of Lord Maitreya's teacher.

The World Teacher Trust derives its name from the World Teacher, who always descends from the ashram of Vasishta. The name Vasishta means “the ease of being”, a very stable and pleasant state of being. When our awareness is stable and in a pleasant state, it is not disturbed and consciousness works unhindered through us.

Vasishta permeates everything and remains at the centre, the heart, as a pulsating principle. When we connect with this principle, we remain so neutral that everything can happen through us and we can experience the best in everything. It is therefore said that Vasishta was given the task of managing the wealth of the universe. Vasishta gained this stability through deep contemplation.

Vasishta has two wives. His first wife, or nature, is Urja, “the strength of the ease of being-ness”. This strength of Vasishta also enables us to attain stability and ease of being-ness. The door to stability is in the heart. When we dwell in the heart lotus, we are led from there to the heart of every being – everything is connected by the thread of cordiality, and this thread exists within us.

Vasishta's second companion is Arundhati. This means “the light without boundaries”. The light of Vasishta knows no boundaries. It is the light of the heart that knows no boundaries. The heart is the place where we can remain calm and peaceful, and where we are to go when we have no work to do on the outside.

Arundhati was not yet Vasishta's wife at the beginning of creation. She was originally his servant and wanted to marry him, but he told her that she had to undergo a profound transformation, otherwise he could not touch her. She had a very strong will. She underwent eight lives of intensive training before becoming Vasishta's wife. Next to the star Vasishta in the Great Bear, there is a smaller star, and that is Arundhati.

Sources used: K.P. Kumar: Saraswathi - The Word; Dhanishta. Suparna Suktam; Kulapathi Book Trust, Visakhapatnam, India (www.aquariusbookhouse.com)