Prajapatis

The prajapatis are a high class of spiritual beings, and creators of a specific solar system, directly related to the Seven creative spirits and Logoi.

The term originates from the Book of Dzyan, where they are also describes as 'builders' (re Blavatsky).

There are 21 prajapati (for 3x7), categorized in three groups for a total of 10+6+5=21, and they act as state transition coordinators (see Schema FMC00.057) between the Three dimensions of evolution.

10 prajapatis of conscious awareness - at the level of Condition of Consciousness (CoC)
6 prajapati of Life
5 prajapati of Form

The 10 prajapati of CoC are at the Nirvana plane, the last being the Third Logos itself.

Aspects

taking three times seven 'creative spirits before the throne' makes for 21=10+6+5 prajapatis (see also the esoteric number 1065, re oa 1904-11-05-GA089 and 1909-03-14-GA266, Blavatsky and the Book of Dzyan)
hypothesis: the prajapati describes a 'builder' role in the cosmic fractal as part of the logoic principle where the spiritual hierarchies roll off in ever-changing roles depening on their evolutionary stage along the ladder of consciousness development (see Twelve conditions of consciousness). So the prajapatis embody the logoic principle, but the hierarchies that participate are ever-changing.
for an alternative visualization, see also Schema FMC00.566 and Schema FMC00.566A on Three dimensions of evolution

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.057: the three types of prajapatis are shown as green (10), grey (6) and red (5) spheres.

Schema FMC00.400B is, like FMC00.400A, another attempt or way to assemble into a meta-schema some other Schemas and capture one idea. That idea is that the Cosmic breath of Brahma is one of a 'Great Being' one can call God or the Logos (or The three logoi), which has given rise, due to its threefold nature, to a Cosmic Fractal, at the basis of which lie the 'seven spirits before the throne' and the spiritual hierarchies. The 3x7=21 spirits (in roles called Prajapatis) are underlying and maintain the Three dimensions of evolution .. they are an intertwined evolutionary dynamic of form, life and consciousness.

The result of this process is that all hierarchies are part of the logoic principle, they are like strands that are woven in a fractal manner. With every hierarchy an additional layer of complexity is added. With every breath and pralaya between planetary stages of evolution, one can imagine that a tooth gear jumps one step further, as the ladder of the Conditions of Consciousness is extended with the evolutionary development of 'all', of all other spiritual hierarchies that are part of this great interwoven dynamic.

The essential building block of this process we can call the logoic principle. Imagine a spiritual hierarchy of beings at any planetary stage of evolution. The logoic principle can be phrased as consisting of substance or soil (L3), being brought to life and becoming a seed (L2), which is then fructified to do a step change in consciousness (L1). The latter fructication is what is meant with the divine intervention.

Regarding how these steps link to other content and topic pages on this site:

The union of soil and seed (L3+L2) is studied under the Creation of solar system and Overview of solar system evolution
The fructification and divine intervention is the Christ Impulse and Mystery of Golgotha (MoG).
The process of exhaling and inhaling maps to the Golden Chain, which explains how it gives rises to the Four kingdoms of nature.
See also the IAO concept and topic page which depicts closure between Alpha and Omega, and infinity. A simple way to think about that is that all that gets exhaled, gets inhaled again. So whatever is created, gets sucked in again or flows back into the highest level of this creation, which is denoted by God, the Trinity, or the Three Logoi.

Lecture coverage and references

Main reference lectures are 1904-11-05-GA089 and 1904-11-10-GA089

Book of Dzyan

As referenced by Blavatsky and Steiner (see 1904-11-05-GA089 and 1909-03-14-GA266 below),

Stanza 4.3 reads

3. From the effulgency of light — the ray of the ever-darkness — sprang in space the re-awakened energies (Dhyāni-Chohans): the one from the egg [editor: meaning 10 CoC], the six, and the five.
Then the three, the one, the four, the one, the five — the twice seven the sum total. [editor: see Schema FMC00.551, this is elaborated by Steiner in 1906-09-21-GA091]
And these are the essences, the flames, the elements, the builders, the numbers, the arūpa (formless), the rūpa (with bodies), and the force of divine man — the sum total.
And from the divine man emanated the forms, the sparks, the sacred animals, and the messengers of the sacred fathers (the Pitṛs) within the holy four.

H.P. Blavatsky

also describes the Prajapati spirits in 'The Secret Doctrine Vol 1', and calls them 'the Builders'. She divides them into three chief groups, each group again divided in seven sub-groups.

The first build or rather rebuild every “System” after the “Night.” (night could be pralaya or maha-pralaya)
The second group of the Builders are the Architect of our planetary chain exclusively;
the third, the progenitor of our Humanity — the Macrocosmic prototype of the microcosm.

The “Builders” are the representatives of the first “Mind-Born” Entities (DL editor: the Logoi),
There are three chief groups of Builders (DL ‘editor: Prajapatis) and as many of the Planetary Spirits and the Lipika, each group being again divided into Seven sub-groups. The Planetary Spirits are the informing spirits of the Stars in general, and of the Planets especially.
The Lipika (a description of whom is given in the Commentary on Stanza IV. No. 6) are the Spirits of the Universe, whereas the Builders are only our own planetary deities. The former belong to the most occult portion of Cosmogenesis, which cannot be given here. Whether the Adepts (even the highest) know this angelic order in the completeness of its triple degrees, or only the lower one connected with the records of our world, is something which the writer is unprepared to say, and she would incline rather to the latter supposition. Of its highest grade one thing only is taught: the Lipika are connected with Karma — being its direct Recorders.

1904-11-05-GA089

has an explanation of the three types of prajapatis

quote A

In reality these seven CoF states are not seven different CoL but just one cycle or orb; this goes through seven successive states. Each state needs to be transformed into the next. To do this calls for a spirit which represents a specific sum of energy and takes the orb from one level to the next. Such a spirit is called prajapati. These sublime spirits, with their tremendous powers, were given that ability in earlier evolutions. They have a long learning stage behind them. This has made them into energies able to transform one orb into the next in the new universe.

quote B (still with original theosophical terminology, not adapted for this site)

The arupa and archetypal states differ markedly from the other five levels. The form state really begins on the rupa plane.
There is as yet no form on the arupa plane, only the potential for it, and on the archetypal plane form gives itself its own form; it is all life there. Because of this the first and seventh states of form are really states of life, with the seventh always in the nascent (beginning to evolve) state of the first which is to follow, or where the seventh (archetypal) has become what was in the nascent state at the first. The archetypal state of form is such that form has become life; on the arupic level form is still life. We therefore really have only 5 prajapati of form, for 2 of the 7 already belong to the higher prajapati of conscious awareness.
We might say that

stages of life and states of form are merely condensed states of conscious awareness,

or perhaps the passive side of active awareness,

or perhaps the actual negative aspect of the world view, with conscious awareness the positive aspect.

The first and last of the prajapati of form states thus belong to the higher hierarchy of the prajapati of conscious awareness.
Every spirit also goes through the worlds of life. This brings us to the prajapati of the rounds, each of them controlling one world of life. Seven states of life are transformed one into the other by seven spirits. Each time we have completed the seventh round we are at a state corresponding to that of the first round, but at a higher level. The human being entered into Earth evolution with an awakening clear daytime conscious awareness; he is now developing this, and by the end of the seventh round the human being will have brought to full development the potential which he had in the first round, at the beginning.
These seven rounds are the seven days of creation in Genesis. We are now in the fourth day. In the second chapter of Genesis we have a specific description of the fourth round—the creation of the human being, the time when this happened being the middle of the Lemurian age. It will only be on the seventh day that the human being will truly have developed in the image of God with regard to his physical, astral, mental and arupa bodies. Principles that were content by the end of Moon evolution, had become potential by the beginning of Earth evolution.
We can really only call six rounds `rounds of life', for the seventh is a round of the next higher state of conscious awareness. As there are thus only six states of life there are also only six prajapati of life.
We add one of the prajapati of life to the seven prajapati of conscious awareness, and then there are also two prajapati of form. We thus really have ten prajapati of conscious awareness, including the one which arranges the transition to the six prajapati of life, and two which arrange the transition to the prajapati of form. This gives us

10 prajapati of conscious awareness

6 prajapati of life

5 prajapati of form

or 10 + 6 + 5 = a total of 21 prajapati.
Stanza 4 of Dzyan in H. P. Blavatsky' s Secret Doctrine refers to this: " Ten is called 'The One from the Egg' = 0.
From the egg (0), the 10 prajapati of conscious awareness, came first of all the first prajapati of life, followed by six other prajapati of life and five prajapati of form = 1065 or 21 (10 + 6 + 5, value of Jehovah).

1904-11-10-GA089

These seven creative powers give rise to what we call the prajapatis. As each is able to repeat this exactly at subordinate levels of conscious awareness, life and form, we always have three: three times a, three times b, three times c, three times ab, three times ac, three times bc, three times abc, making together three times seven = 21 prajapatis. Each of them acts like an original Logos. This gives us the 21 creators of a specific solar system.
...
When we have arrived on the nirvana plane, the entity will have reached the point where its atman is completely on the outside. We are then dealing with the kind of Logos which we have called 'the seven'. These are the Seven creative spirits, which is also why we have seven different root races with seven sub races or cultural ages in each.
The seven different spirits belong to the nirvana plane. Going through the para nirvana plane and the manapara nirvana plane then, we come to the first and second Logos itself. The second arises on the para nirvana plane, the first on the mahapara nirvana plane.

On the nirvana plane the cosmic system is brought to completion by the 7 times 3 = 21 prajapatis. The last of these is abc, the third Logos itself.

1909-03-14-GA266

Foreign beings can't press into a being that's enclosed by a skin. So Man's astral body was a zero, a nothing for other beings.
Through the fact that the astral body had separated from the whole astral matter and had surrounded itself with a skin it had become a one, and people described this by putting a one in front of the zero: 10
Then they added the six and five that refer to the Future Venus and Future Jupiter stages of evolution that gives rise to the mystical number 1065 that is mentioned in Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine (Vol. 1, Dzyan iv).

Discussion

Notes

In 1904-07-03-GA089 it is said that there is a guiding spirit per planetary stage. It would not be impossible that the prajapati of CoC is meant hereby (see green dots in schema). However to try and map the Prajapatis to the Twelve guiding spirits as per zodiac can only be guessing.

Note: lecture states (checked typoscript 11) – 10 prajapatis at Nirvana plane, the last being Third Logos itself (abc)

The Blavatsky quote can be compared with the functional scope of the Seraphim and Cherubim that also makes the distinction between planetary solar system or beyond.