A Theosophical definition of Agnishvatta (Agnishvattas) :

Agnishvatta (Agnishvattas)

(Sanskrit) A compound of two words: agni, "fire"; shvatta, "tasted" or "sweetened," from svad, verb-root meaning "to taste" or "to sweeten." Therefore, literally one who has been delighted or sweetened by fire. A class of pitris: our solar ancestors as contrasted with the barhishads, our lunar ancestors.

The kumaras, agnishvattas, and manasaputras are three groups or aspects of the same beings: the kumaras represent the aspect of original spiritual purity untouched by gross elements of matter. The agnishvattas represent the aspect of their connection with the sun or solar spiritual fire. Having tasted or been "sweetened" by the spiritual fire  - the fire of intellectuality and spirituality  - they have been purified thereby. The manasaputras represent the aspect of intellectuality  - the functions of higher intellect.

The agnishvattas and manasaputras are two names for the same class or host of beings, and set forth or signify or represent two different aspects or activities of this one class of beings. Thus, for instance, a man may be said to be a kumara in his spiritual parts, an agnishvatta in his buddhic-manasic parts, and a manasaputra in his purely manasic aspect. Other beings could be called kumaras in their highest aspects, as for instance the beasts, but they are not imbodied agnishvattas or manasaputras.

The agnishvattas are the solar spiritual-intellectual parts of us, and therefore are our inner teachers. In preceding manvantaras, they had completed their evolution in the realms of physical matter, and when the evolution of lower beings had brought these latter to the proper state, the agnishvattas came to the rescue of these who had only the physical "creative fire," thus inspiring and enlightening these lower lunar pitris with spiritual and intellectual energies or "fires."

When this earth's planetary chain shall have reached the end of its seventh round, we, as then having completed the evolutionary course for this planetary chain, will leave this planetary chain as dhyan-chohans, agnishvattas; but the others now trailing along behind us  - the present beasts  - will be the lunar pitris of the next planetary chain to come.

While it is correct to say that these three names appertain to the same class of beings, nevertheless each name has its own significance in the occult teaching, which is why the three names are used with three distinct meanings. Imagine an unconscious god-spark beginning its evolution in any one solar or maha-manvantara. We may call it a kumara, a being of original spiritual purity, but with a destiny through karmic evolution connected with the realms of matter.

At the other end of the line, at the consummation of the evolution in this maha-manvantara, when the evolving entity has become a fully self-conscious god or divinity, its proper appellation then is agnishvatta, for it has been "sweetened" or purified by means of the working through it of the spiritual fires inherent in itself.

Now then, when such an agnishvatta assumes the role of a bringer of mind or of intellectual light to a lunar pitri which it overshadows and in which a ray from it incarnates, it then, although in its own realm an agnishvatta, functions as a manasaputra or child of mind or mahat. A brief analysis of the compound elements of these three names may be useful.

Kumara is from ku meaning "with difficulty" and mara meaning "mortal." The significance of the word therefore can be paraphrased as "mortal with difficulty," and the meaning usually given to it by Sanskrit scholars as "easily dying" is wholly exoteric and amusing, and doubtless arose from the fact that kumara is a word frequently used for child or boy, everybody knowing that young children "die easily." The idea therefore is that purely spiritual beings, although ultimately destined by evolution to pass through the realms of matter, become mortal, i.e., material, only with difficulty.

Agnishvatta has the meaning stated above, "delighted" or "pleased" or "sweetened," i.e., "purified" by fire  - which we may render in two ways: either as the fire of suffering and pain in material existence producing great fiber and strength of character, i.e., spirituality; or, perhaps still better from the standpoint of occultism, as signifying an entity or entities who have become one in essence through evolution with the aethery fire of spirit.

Manasaputra is a compound of two words: manasa, "mental" or "intellectual," from the word manas, "mind," and putra, "son" or "child," therefore a child of the cosmic mind  - a "mind-born son" as H. P. Blavatsky phrases it. (See also Pitris, Lunar Pitris)

See also: Agnishvatta (Agnishvattas, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Agnishvatta agnisvatta (Sanskrit) (from agni fire + the verbal root svad to sweeten, taste)

Tasted or sweetened by fire; one of the higher of the seven classes of pitris or progenitors spoken of in the Puranas as those "devoid of fire." They are thus popularly represented as grihasthas or householders who in previous births failed to keep up their domestic fires and to offer burnt sacrifices, etc. In contrast, the pitris "possessed" of fire are the barhishads, those who kept up their household fires (cf VP 1:10).

Mystically the agnishvattas are far higher beings than are the barhishads because they are devoid of the fire of creative passion. Being too divine and pure for this, they are devoid (i.e., freed) of the grosser creative fire, and thus unable to form physical man. They are, on the other hand, possessed of spiritual-intellectual fire and are the endowers of the human conscious, spiritually immortal ego or selfhood. Hence the agnishvatta-pitris are those who are "purified by fire" -- which may be interpreted as either 1) the fire of suffering and pain in material existence producing great fiber and strength of character or spirituality; or 2) from the esoteric standpoint as signifying those entities who have through evolution become one in essence with the aethery fire of spirit.

The agnishvattas signify our ancestral solar selves in contradistinction to the barhishads, our lunar ancestors. The agnishvattas are variously spoken of in The Secret Doctrine as the fashioners of the inner man, manasa-dhyanis (lords of mind), solar devas, sons of the flame of wisdom, givers of human intelligence and consciousness, and fire-dhyanis. In ancient Greece they were collectively personified by the epic figure of Prometheus, and in China by the Fiery Dragons of Wisdom.

The agnishvattas, our solar spiritual-intellectual parts, are those who in preceding manvantaras completed their evolution in the realms of matter; and when evolution had brought the nascent human stock to the state where they had only the physical creative fire, the agnishvattas came to their rescue by inspiring and enlightening these lower lunar pitris with spiritual and intellectual energies or fires (OG 14-15; SD 2:91-2).

In the Puranas, the agnishvattas are identified with the seasons, and are spoken of as one of the classes of deities presiding over the cyclic divisions of the year.

(See also: Agnishvatta, agnisvatta, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Vairaja-loka (Sanskrit) [from vairaja a class of celestial beings (agnishvattas) + loka sphere, realm, place]

The realm of the vairajas or agnishvattas.

(See also: Vairaja-loka, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Solar Devas.

See AGNISHVATTA; MANASAPUTRAS; PITRI(S)

(See also: Solar Devas, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Sambhuti (Sanskrit) Combination, conjunction, co-union; one of the daughters of Daksha, and consort of Marichi (light, light-monad), the father of the agnishvattas.

(See also: Sambhuti, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

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.

(See also: Lunar Pitris, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Rajasas (Sanskrit) Shining ones; one name of the agnishvattas, especially the older or early ones called the kumaras, for this group of monads are the fire-pitris, fire often standing for intellectual light or life. This group of monads endowed mankind with the fire of mind and of intellect.

(See also: Rajasas, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Manasvin (Sanskrit) [from manas mind]

Of the nature of intelligence; those essentially intellectual and even spiritual dhyanis or solar pitris who endowed man with intellectually spiritual and mental powers of understanding and self-consciousness. A variant of manasas, kumaras, vairajas, manasaputras, and agnishvattas; hence the manasvin are identified with the human egos.

(See also: Manasvin, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Manasa, Manasas (Sanskrit) [from manasa intelligent from manas mind]

Adjective of manas; in theosophical literature, title for the Sons of Wisdom or manasaputras, those intellectual beings, spiritual pitris or dhyanis, who endowed humanity with manas or intelligence; hence, the immortal egos in man.

See also AGNISHVATTAS; MANASAPUTRAS

(See also: Manasa, Manasas, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Sura, Suras (Sanskrit) Used in the Vedas for gods in general, equivalent to devas; originally solar deities, as is shown by the name surya (sun), and correspond in many instances to the manasaputras and agnishvattas of theosophy. Later by the Indian exotericists the suras arbitrarily became asuras (not suras), yet "the 'Ancestors' breathed out the first man, as Brahma is explained to have breathed out the Suras (Gods), when they became 'Asuras' (from Asu, breath)" (SD 2:86).

See also ASURA; MAHASURA

(See also: Sura, Suras, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Manasa-dhyanis (Sanskrit) [from manasa mental, intelligent from manas mind + dhyanis class of pitris from dhyani meditation]

The agnishvatta pitris, the givers of manas (mind) and intellectual consciousness to man; those solar and lunar pitris or dhyanis who incarnated by irradiation from themselves in the mentally senseless forms of semi-ethereal flesh of third root-race mankind. In the Puranas, considered the highest of the pitris (fathers of mankind).

The agnishvattas or manasa-dhyanis are intimately connected evolutionally and in occult cosmology with the sun, and are hence often called the solar ancestors of mankind. They are, in fact, one of the several classes of monads springing directly from mahat who provided man with his intellect, mind, and sense of individual moral responsibility.

(See also: Manasa-dhyanis, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Manasa-pitris (Sanskrit) [from manasa mental from manas mind + pitri father]

Fathers of mind; those spiritual beings who endowed mankind with intelligence. "The monad of the animal is as immortal as that of man, yet the brute knows nothing of this; it lives an animal life of sensation just as the first human would have lived, when attaining physical development in the Third Race, had it not been for the Agnishwatta and the Manasa Pitris" (SD 2:525n).

See also AGNISHVATTAS; MANASA-DHYANIS; MANASAPUTRAS

(See also: Manasa-pitris, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Jnana-devas (Sanskrit) (from jnana knowledge, wisdom + deva god)

Gods of knowledge or wisdom; the higher classes of gods or devas including the manasaputras, agnishvattas, and kumaras. In one sense these jnana-devas are our reincarnating egos; in another, the term is applied to high sages such as the mahatmas, with the implication that they have been successful in attaining, or are in training for attaining, self-conscious union with the god within.

(See also: Jnana-devas, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Chhandaja chandaja (Sanskrit) (from chhanda will + the verbal root jan to be born)

Will-born, self-produced. The kumaras and other divine beings such as the agnishvattas and manasaputras, are often spoken of in Hindu literature as being chhandajas.

The word can also be translated as pleasure-born, because chhanda often means joy or pleasure, since will and innate desire are different phases of the same fundamental fact.

(See also: Chhandaja chandaja, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Angiras (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root ang to go, move tortuously (cf agni))

One of the Saptarshis (seven rishis) or manasaputras (mind-born sons of Brahma) of the first manvantara; a secondary projection of Brahma's mind and will because his first "mind-engendered progeny . . . did not multiply themselves (VP 1:7; SD 2:78). Hence Angiras is one of the prajapatis or progenitors whose sons and daughters people the earth in succeeding manvantaras, mankind included in their progeny.

These progenitors are divided into two main classes: those which are incorporeal, such as the agnishvattas, and those which are corporeal, such as the angirasas, the descendants of Angiras (VP 3:14). Theosophically, angirasas are a class of manasaputras, the emanated offspring of the incorporeal agnishvattas or kumaras. In the seventh manvantara (our present one) Angiras is given as the son of Agni, though originally Agni was born from Angiras. In astronomy Angiras is both the father or regent of Brihaspati (the planet Jupiter) and the planet itself; also a star in Ursa Major, inasmuch as Angiras is one of the seven great rishis. As such the name of Angiras is linked with the bringing of light and associated with luminous bodies.

A number of hymns in the Rig-Veda are attributed to Angiras, and in one of his births he is famed for his supreme virtue and as an expounder of brahma-vidya (divine or transcendental wisdom). In the Vayu-Purana and elsewhere in Puranic literature some of the descendants of Angiras were said to be Kshattriya by birth and Brahmins by calling (VP 4:8n p.39).

(See also: Angiras, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Lunar Pitri (Lunar Pitris) :

Lunar Pitri (Lunar Pitris)

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.

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)

See also: Lunar Pitri (Lunar Pitris, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Taparloka (Sanskrit) [from tapas devotion + loka world, place]

Also tapoloka. Devotion world, contemplation world, because of the intellectual entities popularly considered to be sunken profoundly in contemplative devotion; the second, counting downward, of the seven lokas, the corresponding tala being vitala.

Taparloka is often called in Hindu literature the mansion of the blest because considered the abode of vairaja-deities, agnishvattas, Sons of Brahma, the highest classes of manasaputras and kumaras who are often spoken of as spiritual nirmanakayas because connected with the hosts of beings who descended and informed man when the manvantaric period to do so arrived. These kumaric nirmanakayas are connected with but not identical with those highly evolved human beings also called nirmanakayas.

(See also: Taparloka, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Solar Lhas [from solar + Tibetan lha a celestial being]

Used in the Stanzas of Dzyan to indicate the higher beings derivative from the spiritual side of our sun who endowed the human monads of our planetary chain with the spirit of life. The solar Lhas warm and invigorate the protohuman shadows (SD 2:109), although they do not quicken their mind principle -- except insofar as the life-energy reaches the manasic element in the constitution. These solar lhas refer particularly to the pranic activity in the individual human being; the solar lhas of a far higher class are equivalent to the agnishvattas, manasaputras, and kumaras who awaken the human mind.

See also LHA

(See also: Solar Lhas, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Marut-jivas (Sanskrit) [from marut a class of divine beings + jiva monad]

Those monads which have been, are, or will be during long ages passing through the evolutionary stage called agnishvattas or kumaras, a direct hint of the real significance of the term marut itself. All maruts are jivas, the latter explaining characteristics and functions of the maruts.

In a more specific and limited sense, marut-jivas are the monads of adepts who have attained liberation, nirvana, or are very close to attaining it, but who wish to be reborn on earth for the sake of helping humanity. It is apparent that the nirmanakayas, as well as a large part of the sambhogakayas, therefore fall within the category of the marut-jivas.

(See also: Marut-jivas, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Pitri (Pitris) :

Pitri (Pitris)

(Sanskrit) A word meaning "father." There are seven (or ten) classes of pitris. They 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 pitris, for easy understanding, may be divided into two great groups, the solar and lunar. The lunar pitris or barhishads, as the name implies, came from the moon-chain; while the solar pitris whom we may group under the expressive name agnishvatta-pitris are those dhyan-chohans which have not the physical "creative fire," because they belong to a much superior sphere of being, but they have all the fires of the spiritual-intellectual realms active or latent within them as the case may be. In preceding manvantaras they had finished their evolution so far as the realms of astral and physical matter were concerned, and when the proper time came in the cycling ages, the agnishvatta-pitris came to the rescue of those who had only the physical creative fire, or barhishad-pitris, the lunar pitris, inspiring and enlightening these lower pitris with the spiritual and intellectual energies or "fires."

In other words, 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 agnishvatta-pitris are those monadic centers of the human constitution which are of a purely spiritual type. (See also Agnishvatas, Lunar Pitris)

See also: Pitri (Pitris, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)