SELECTED COMPILATION ON “SACRIFICE”
Esoteric Astrology - The
Zodiac and the Rays - The Great Wheel and Spiritual Unfoldment Tabulation V The Unorthodox Astrological Relationship
Constellations
and Planetary Rulers in connection with Disciples and Initiates
Note:
In charts connected with the Path, progress is from
Aries to Pisces through Taurus, etc. Constellation
Ruler Ray Related to 1. Aries Mercury 4th Virgo Same ray 2. Taurus Vulcan 1st
Pisces Same ray 3. Gemini Venus 5th none 4. Cancer Neptune 6th Scorpio Same ray
5. Leo The Sun 2nd Aquarius Same
ray 6. Virgo The Moon 4th Aries
Same ray 7. Libra Uranus 7th none 8. Scorpio Mars
6th Cancer Same ray 9. Sagittarius The Earth
3rd Capricorn Same ray 10. Capricorn Saturn 3rd Sagittarius Same ray 11.
Aquarius Jupiter 2nd Leo Same ray 12. Pisces Pluto
1st Taurus Same ray Note: In connection with disciples and the zodiacal signs, Gemini and Libra are two constellations which -
through their rulers - express 5th and 7th ray energy. For some occult reason,
they remain unrelated to any other of the signs. [67]
The relation between
the other constellations through the planets, as expressing the rays, is as
follows:
I would call attention
to the fact that in Tabulation IV, the relationship is between the planets
which rule, and in Tabulation V the emphasis is laid upon the conditioning ray.
[68]
Esoteric Astrology - The
Nature of Esoteric Astrology - Spiritual Effects of the Zodiacal Constellations These planetary influences are distinctive of the Sons of Mind, of Venusian origin; they are
characteristic of the Lords of Sacrifice
and Will functioning in time and space as the fourth Creative
Hierarchy. The form life is ruled by the Moon, veiling a hidden planet; these
Sons of Mind live on the Earth and thus within the body of the planetary Logos,
and are of a definitely intelligent nature, making them Lords of Knowledge, achieving their goal through
the light of the mind and through the method of conflict, for they are also Lords of Ceaseless and Persevering Devotion. All the above names
which are related to the planets governing Sagittarius will be remembered by
students of The Secret Doctrine. They are the
"quality names" of the Divine
Manasaputras, the Agnishvattas who are ourselves.
A consideration of the
above paragraph will indicate to you the importance of the sign Sagittarius in
the life of the incarnating Sons of God.
I would point out also
that, through Jupiter and its influences, Sagittarius is related to three other
great constellations:
Both the Earth and
Saturn (one a non-sacred and one a sacred planet) are exponents or expressions
of the third Ray of Active Intelligence, and this ray relationship serves to
bring the influences of Capricorn into relationship with Sagittarius, thus
providing a field of energy wherein the one-pointed disciple can finally become
the initiate. This is the set goal of the subject born in Sagittarius - whether
it is the set goal of initiation into some form of sensuous experience or of
spiritual undertaking and consciousness. The result of all experience in any
sign of the zodiac should definitely work out as an expansion of consciousness
and, no matter what form this experience may take, it consummates in an
initiation of some kind or another. Students would do well to regard initiation
as a determining process in life, and should endeavor that every life
experience or cycle of life experiences should work out as an initiation into a
wider field of awareness, of expression and of resultant contact.
There is little more
that I need say and little else upon which I need at this stage of study to
comment. The man who is nearing the path of discipleship or who is already a
disciple - pledged or under observation - will profit much from a deep and
systematic study of this sign. I would suggest that the student bear in mind
the position of this sign. Scorpio stands midway between two signs of balance or
of equilibrium - Sagittarius and Libra. Libra marks an interlude or a notable
point of balance before the strenuous testing and trial of Scorpio. Sagittarius
marks another point of balance which follows after that testing, for the [190]
Archer has to acquire and hold a steady eye, hand and stance prior to firing
the arrow which, when rightly directed and correctly followed, will carry him
through the portal of initiation.
In studying
Sagittarius, it becomes obvious that one of the major underlying themes is that
of Direction. The Archer is
guiding his horse towards some one specific objective; he is sending or
directing his arrow towards a desired point; he is aiming at some specific
goal. This sense of direction or guidance is characteristic of the enlightened
man, of the aspirant and disciple, and this is a growing recognition; when this
faculty of sensitive direction is rightly developed it becomes, in the early
stages, an effort to identify all soul and personality activity with God's
Plan, and this is, in the last analysis, the ordered direction of God's
thought. There is no true direction apart from thought, and I would have you
remember that thought is power. This
is a statement upon which all disciples should ponder, for they can achieve no
real comprehension of the direction of God's Plan unless they work with a phase
in their own lives which is subject to their own mental direction. Then and
only then, can they understand. Upon the ordinary wheel of life, the man who is
born in this sign or with this sign in the ascendant will be influenced by what
the ancient Hindu Scriptures call kama-manas, which is inadequately translated
by the words, desire-mind. This dual force controls and influences the life; in
the early stages of unfoldment its focus is upon desire and the satisfaction of
that desire and, in the later stages of purely personality development, the
focus is upon the control of desire by the mind; the major objective is, at
this time, the intelligent use of all powers to bring about adequate satisfaction
of desire, which is, in this case, very frequently simply ambition to [191]
achieve some goal or attain some objective. This process of personality
satisfaction takes place upon the ordinary wheel. Upon the reversed wheel, the
goal is the expression of love-wisdom and this is ever selflessly developed and
always consecrated to the good of the whole and not to the satisfaction of the
individual.
Esoteric Astrology - The
Nature of Esoteric Astrology - Spiritual Effects of the Zodiacal Constellations You may ask what is the reason for this
mode of procedure? I can give you one among many which, with a little intuitive
reflection, should be convincing to you. The understanding and the reasoning
powers of the soul are complete and developed. But souls - oriented towards
incarnation and the will-to-sacrifice -
have not, as yet, the necessary forms in the three worlds which are adequate
for the expression of the knowledge which the soul has on its own plane and
level of awareness. If the inner meanings of the outer symbolic forms of
existence were registered by an unprepared form (the response apparatus of the
soul in the three worlds and, in the case of man, involving an unprepared and
undeveloped nervous system, glandular system and brain) the destruction of the
form by soul energy would naturally supervene and a shattering of the lower
expression would take place. It is here that the significance and purpose of time can be noted and intelligently
employed, but this involves a most definite development of the esoteric sense.
There are other reasons, but this one will suffice. In the evolutionary process
there is, therefore, first the form, gradually prepared, adjusted, aligned and
oriented during many aeons of time; behind this active form, as it steadily
improves and becomes more responsive to environment and [292] contact, stands
the slowly awakening consciousness. This is the thinking, intuiting, loving
soul, which tightens its hold over its response apparatus, avails itself upon
every possible occasion of every advance made by the form, and employs every
influence for the perfecting of the great work which it undertook under the Law
of Sacrifice.
Esoteric Astrology - The
Nature of Esoteric Astrology - Spiritual Effects of the Zodiacal Constellations Because of its position upon the Fixed Cross, Leo comes under the
influence, direct or indirect, of six planets: The Sun;
The
squares or quaternaries relate to material appearance or form expression; the stars concern the states of
consciousness, and the triangles are
related to spirit and to synthesis. In the archives of the esoteric astrologers
connected with the Hierarchy, charts are kept of those members of the human
family who have achieved adeptship and upwards. They are composed of
superimposed squares, stars and triangles, contained within the zodiacal wheel
and mounted upon the symbol of the Cardinal Cross. The squares, having each of
their four angles and points in one or other of four zodiacal constellations,
are depicted in black; the five-pointed star is depicted yellow or golden color
and its five points are in contact with five of the constellations on the great
wheel; the triangles are in blue and have, above each point of the triangle, an
esoteric symbol, standing for the constellations of the Great Bear, Sirius and
the Pleiades. These symbols may not here be revealed but indicate the point of
spiritual consciousness achieved and the responsiveness of the initiate to
these major cosmic influences. A glance at these geometrical charts will
indicate in a moment the status of the initiate, and also the point towards
which he is striving. These charts are fourth dimensional in nature and not
flat surfaces as are our charts. This is an interesting piece of information
but of no value, except in so far that it indicates synthesis, the fusion of
spirit, soul and body, and the point of development. [306] It proves also
the fact that "God geometrizes" where the soul is concerned. These
charts are most interesting.
The relation of Leo to
Cancer, through
The peculiar
significance of Leo in the general evolution of consciousness, particularly in
the human family, is determined by the control of those two mysterious planets,
Uranus and Neptune; in the man who is ready for initiation you have, therefore,
a dual control, i.e., the Sun itself and also the Sun as it veils the
influences of these two planets, or rather, as it focuses and transmits them
with intensity. This produces the
following developments:
You have, therefore,
the conscious, integrated Self, functioning with full occult knowledge and also
with mystical perception when the influences of Leo, focused through the Sun,
Uranus and
This sign has
frequently been described as the "battlefield of the Forces of Materialism
and the Forces of Light." It is occultly regarded as one of the most
material signs, inasmuch as selfish desire for possession of material objectives
can be peculiarly present and the display of the possessive spirit can
violently control; yet, at the same time, the advanced Leo person can function
as the "inspired spiritual Sacrifice."
He is then sensitive to world conditions and freed from personal desires.
Before individual man
can achieve initiation, he must be fully self-conscious, mystically oriented
and occultly developed. He must be aware of himself as he essentially is - a
soul involved in form which is itself developed and unfolded through soul
activity; he must be a developed mystic, capable of pure vision, motivated by
spiritual intent and able to perceive the uses of inherent sensitivity; he must
also be a trained occultist, mentally polarized and profoundly aware of the
realities, forces and energies of existence and, therefore, free from the
ordinary glamors and illusions which color the reactions and life of the
average man. He is then governed by the physical Sun, motivated by the energies
pouring from "the heart of the Sun" (via [308]
Esoteric Astrology - The
Nature of Esoteric Astrology - Spiritual Effects of the Zodiacal Constellations I would suggest to investigators that the entire theme of "cyclic
impulse" be approached from
the angle of the group, forgetting, as this is done, the glamor of the personality [327]
impress. The sweep of known history will aid in this, indicating - as it does -
the possibility of clarification and the usefulness of classifying and
isolating group activity and character down the ages. When the major
reincarnating groups are thus distinguished and their work for the fourth
kingdom along many lines is more clearly seen then the whole subject will be
better understood, evoking the play of the intuition. This demonstrates a
second fact of importance, namely that, as yet, it will only be possible to
trace the progress of advanced souls in incarnation and not trace, at this
time, the cyclic appearing of the unevolved. They are the "material
units" which have to be saved by the more advanced. The theme of service
and sacrifice runs, unrecognized,
through history. The key to the understanding of these reincarnating, saving
factors lies in a coming intuitive ability to recognize the reincarnating
groups, as groups and not individuals, through their ray qualities, and it was
for this purpose that I gave in Destiny of
the Nations a statement as to the rays governing certain nations.
Groups are governed by the astrological signs and by the rays just as
individuals are, and these rays affect them, via the ruling planets. I have
here opened up to you a very wide field of research and I have indicated a most
interesting new form of historical investigation and record. The history of the
future will be the history of the evolving plans of God as they work out
through the serving groups of egos who will come into physical incarnation
under the influence of "divine duality" to carry forward the
development of the lives which constitute the form through which divinity is
seeking full expression. The relation of the fourth ray to the fourth kingdom
in nature (which is the fourth Creative Hierarchy) is a predetermining
influence in all world conflict up to date and is the cause which has produced
the history [328] of war and conflict down the ages. The theme of that ray is
"Harmony through Conflict" and it is the lower aspect of the ray
energy, producing conflict which has hitherto controlled, this climaxing now
through the impetus of the new incoming Shamballa force. As it exhausts itself
(and this is rapidly coming about) there will be a shift of direction and force
to that major ray, the second Ray of Love-Wisdom, of which the fourth ray is an
aspect. This second ray energy is very potently focused through the
constellation Gemini via the planet, Jupiter. We shall then have the
inauguration of a long cycle of beneficent development in which the conflict
essential to the interplay between the dualities will be stabilized upon the
mental plane and - under the influence of the salvaging, serving egos of the
fifth kingdom - entirely change world civilization.
It is valuable also to
remember that in the studying of the ray forces and their effects in Cancer, we
must do so from the angle of the mass mind and the mass reaction and not from
that of the individual. This is one of the signs of synthesis and of a relative
fusion, but it is a fusion on the lower level of the spiral and connotes the
fusion of the physical body and the soul but only in the embryonic stage and
with the psychic stage still unindividualised. It is the stage of mass reaction
to the incoming of the Sons of Light.
The entire theme of
the zodiac can be approached from the angle of light and its unfolding and
increasing radiance and of the gradual demonstration in what I have called
elsewhere, "the glory of the One." The mode of the development of
this inner light and of its externalization must remain - from the standpoint
of its cosmic effects - one of the secrets of initiation and this for a long
time to come. It will, however, not be out of place if I were to give
symbolically certain phrases and sentences which will indicate [329] (for each
sign ) this "growth of light in light," as it is esoterically called,
bearing in mind that we are attempting to express conditions connected with the
soul whose essential nature is light. This soul-light affects the form as
evolution proceeds and produces sequentially the revelation of that form, and
of the nature of space-time as well as of the goal.
A study of the above
thoughts will reveal the symbolic story of the irradiation of matter, of the
growth of the light body within the macrocosm and the microcosm, and finally
make clear the purpose of the Logos.
Esoteric Astrology - The
Rays, Constellations and Planets - Cosmic Energies and Transformation
Perhaps I can
best sum up the keynote of the first Ray of Will or Power, as it seeks
expression as dynamic purpose on Earth and in relation to the human being, by
quoting or paraphrasing the Old Commentary.
"The
Transcendent One, the Life, the Whole,
the All entered into communion with Itself
and by this act became a vital point of life and
focused power.
I am and I am
not. Greater than This is That;
smaller than That is This.
But That must shew to This the nature of the whole,
and showing prove itself unto Itself.
I, the
beginning am. I am the outward and the inward Way
and back into the point of concentration
and from the point I turn again unto Myself,
carrying within my heart of love that which I,
the One, have served and that for which I sacrifice
Myself."
In
the process of sacrifice, that which is
the sustaining Whole, the inner core of all life and the principle of
integration, realizes within Itself the following stages in consciousness:
When the disciple or
the initiate can stand also at the center as the transforming will, he can then
bring about the needed changes in the form nature without identifying himself
with it or being himself affected by the changes. This may serve to make my meaning clear.
Students would do well
to shift their eyes off the goal of transfiguration (achieved at the third
initiation and increasingly present at each previous initiation) and pay more
attention to the recognition of that in them which "having pervaded their
little universe with a fragment of itself remains."
They will then have anchored their consciousness in the center of
transcending power and guaranteed the flow of the will-to-achieve. From that
To return to our theme
of the greater Whole, leaving behind us for a minute the efforts of the
microcosm to comprehend the Macrocosm, let us consider the relation of the
three constellations in the task of expressing Ray One:
1. Aries is the constellation through which
initiating conditions will stream into our solar system. It embodies the
will-to-create that which will express the will-to-good. It is the monadic ray
of our planetary Logos, Whose Soul ray is the second and the personality ray
the third. You can note here, therefore, how the transmitting ray of our
planetary Logos is the first; and hence the place which the will plays in our
human evolutionary process; His transforming ray is the second and that
eventually brings transfiguration through the medium of the third and in this
combination you have the reason why, in the evolution of the will aspect, you
have the influence of Mars and Mercury - the one bringing conflict and the
death of the form and the other bringing illumination and the development of
the intuition as a result of that conflict and death. New cycles of Being and
of consciousness are initiated by conflict. Such seems as yet to be the law of
life and the governing factor in evolution. If, however, the result of this
initiating, energizing will is to produce such beneficent effects of intuitive
understanding and the activity of Mercury as the messenger of the Gods, it can
be seen how truly through conflict the will-to-good can be wrought out.
2. Leo This is the
constellation through which the will-to-fulfilment or to achievement pours into
humanity and on to the planet. It is essentially the spirit of self-determination.
[620] It is at first the determination of the little self, the personality, the
self-conscious individual. It is next the determination of the Self, the soul,
the group conscious individual, aware of the greater Whole and of itself as the
part, integrated and basically at-one.
This will-to-good
(achieved through fulfilment) works out in relation to the human being through
the medium of three climaxes:
It is useful to see
these relationships. It will also be obvious why the Sun rules Leo, both
exoterically and esoterically. The Sun reveals or "lights up" the two
stages of the hidden will: the physical sun, lighting up the personality upon
the physical plane and the Heart of the Sun revealing the nature of the soul.
3. Capricorn This is the
constellation by means of which comes the conquering will which releases from
form life and initiates the man into the kingdom wherein the will aspect (not
the soul aspect) of divinity expresses itself. You will remember that there is
a close connection between [621] the Earth and Capricorn. The reason for this
is that the Earth provides ideal conditions for this particular type of achievement
because it is in process of transforming from the stage of a "non-sacred
planet" into that of a "sacred planet." This is why Saturn is so
powerful a ruler and transmitter to the Earth of the dynamic quality of the
first ray of power. This inpouring of first ray energy will be greatly
accelerated from now on. These energies and their inflow must be carefully
studied in connection with the diagrams given earlier in this treatise,
remembering that visualization is always a
directing energy, employed to bring about a specific desired effect.
Aries, the Initiator,
Leo, the Self, and Capricorn, the transfiguring Agent - such are some of the
implications in relation to the first ray and humanity.
......
Esoteric Astrology -
Appendix - Suggestions for Students The Planet Neptune
References
in The Secret Doctrine and A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
Esoteric Astrology -
Appendix - Suggestions for Students The Planet Vulcan
References
in The Secret Doctrine and A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
…………….
The Consciousness of the
Atom - The Field of Evolution
Attraction and
repulsion in the solar system is but the discriminating faculty of the atom or
of man demonstrating in the planets and the sun. It will be found in atoms of
all kinds; we can call it adaptation, if we so choose, or the power to grow and
to adapt the unit to its environment through the rejection of certain factors
and the acceptance of others. It shows itself in man as free will, or the power
to choose, and in the spiritual man it can be seen as the tendency to sacrifice, for a man then chooses a particular
line of action in order to benefit the group to which he belongs, and rejects
that which is purely selfish.
We might finally
define evolution as ordered change and constant mutation. It demonstrates in
the ceaseless activity of the unit or the atom, the interaction between groups,
and the endless play of one force or type of energy upon another.
....
The Consciousness of the
Atom - The Field of Evolution We have seen that
evolution, whether it is of matter, of intelligence, of consciousness, or of
spirit, consists in an ever-increasing power to [24] respond to vibration, that
it progresses through constant change, by the practice of a selective policy or
the use of the discriminative faculty, and by the method of cyclic development
or repetition. The stages which distinguish the evolutionary process might be
broadly divided into three, corresponding to the stages in the life of a human
being: childhood, adolescence, and maturity. Where man is concerned these
stages can be traced in the human unit or in the race, and as the civilizations
pass on and increase, it should surely become possible to trace the same
threefold idea in the human family as a whole, and thus ascertain the divine
objective through the study of His image, or reflection, MAN. We might express
these three stages in more scientific terms, and link them with the three
schools of thought earlier referred to, studying them as
Let me see if I can
make my meaning clear. The stage of atomic energy is largely that which
concerns the material side of life, and corresponds to the childhood period in
the life of a man or a race. It is the time of realism, of intense activity, of
development by action above all else, or pure self-centeredness and
self-interest. It produces the [25] materialistic point of view, and leads inevitably
to selfishness. It involves the recognition of the atom as being entirely
self-contained, and similarly of the human units as having a separate life
apart from all other units, and with no relationship to others. Such a stage
can be seen in the little evolved races of the world, in small children, and in
those who are little developed. They are normally self-centered; their energies
are concerned with their own life; they are occupied with the objective and
with that which is tangible; they are characterized by a necessary and
protective selfishness. It is a most necessary stage in the development and
perpetuation of the race.
Out of this selfish
atomic period grows another stage, that of group coherency. This involves the
building up of forms and species until you have something coherent and
individualized in itself as a whole, yet which is composed of many lesser
individualities and forms. In connection with the human being it corresponds to
his awakening realization of responsibility, and to his recognition of his
place within the group. It necessitates an ability on his part to recognize a
life greater than himself, whether that life is called God, or whether it is
simply regarded as the life of the group to which a man, as a unit, belongs,
that great Identity of which we are each a part. This corresponds to the school
of thought which we [26] called the supernatural, and it must be succeeded in
time by a truer and a wider concept. As we have already seen, the first or
atomic stage developed by means of selfishness, or the self-centered life of
the atom (whether the atom of substance or the human atom); the second stage
grows to perfection by the sacrifice of
the unit to the good of the many, and of the atom to the group in which it has
place. This stage is something which we, as yet, know practically little about,
and is what we often vision and hope for.
The third stage lies a
long way ahead, and may be considered by many a vain chimera. But some of us
have a vision, which, even if unattainable at present, is logically possible if
our premises are correct, and our foundation is rightly laid. It is that of
unified existence. Not only will there be the separate units of consciousness,
not only the differentiated atoms within the form, not only will there be the
group made up of a multiplicity of identities, but we shall have the aggregate
of all forms, of all groups, and of all states of consciousness blended,
unified, and synthesized into a perfected whole. This whole you may call the
solar system, you may call it nature, or you may call it God. Names matter not.
It corresponds to the adult stage in the human being; it is analogous to the
period of maturity, and to that stage wherein a man is supposed to have a
definite purpose [27] and life work, and a clear-cut plan in view, which he is
working out by the aid of his intelligence. In these talks I should like if I
can, to show that something like this is going on in the solar system, in the
planet, in the human family, and in the atom. I trust that we can prove that
there is an intelligence underlying all; and that from separation will come
union, produced through blending and merging into group formation, and that
eventually from the many groups will be seen emerging the one perfect, fully
conscious whole, composed of myriads of separate identities animated by one
purpose and one will. If this is so, what is the next practical step ahead for
those who come to this realization? How can we make practical application of
this ideal to our own lives, and ascertain our immediate duty so that we may
participate in, and consciously further the plan? In the cosmic process we have
our tiny share, and each day of activity should see us playing our part with
intelligent understanding.
Our first aim should
surely be self-realization through the practice of discrimination; we must
learn to think clearly for ourselves, to formulate our own thoughts and to
manipulate our own mental processes; we must learn to know what we think and
why we think it, to find out the meaning of group consciousness through the
study of the law of sacrifice. Not only
must we find [28] ourselves through the primary childhood stage of selfishness
(and surely that should lie behind us), not only should we learn to distinguish
between the real and the unreal, through the practice of discrimination, but we
should endeavor to pass on from that to something very much better. For us the
immediate goal should be to find the group to which we may belong. We do not
belong to all groups, nor, can we consciously realize our place in the one
great Body, but we can find some group in which we have our place, some body of
people with whom we can cooperate and work, some brother or brothers whom we
can succor and assist. It really involves the conscious contacting of the ideal
of brotherhood, and - until we have evolved to the stage where our concept is
universal - it means finding the particular set of brothers whom we can love
and help by means of the law of sacrifice
and by the transmutation of selfishness into loving service. Thus we can
cooperate in the general purpose, and participate in the mission of the group. [31]
....
Man then
reaches the recognition which will lead him to sacrifice
his identity in the service of the group, and to merge his consciousness in
that of the group. Of such a conscious union we know practically nothing as
yet. This is succeeded by the still greater stage, when I AM THAT I AM will be
for us not an impossible ideal, and a visionary concept, but a fundamental
reality, when man in the aggregate will recognize himself as an expression of
the universal life, [90] and the group consciousness itself will be merged in
that of the Aggregate of all groups.
....
Autobiography of Alice A.
Bailey - Chapter IV
There
is a law of sacrifice governing all the
evolutionary process. The vegetable kingdom draws its sustenance out of the
mineral kingdom, for its roots are in the mineral kingdom. The animal kingdom,
on a very large scale, draws its sustenance out of the vegetable kingdom and it
lives by the life of that kingdom. Some of the higher animals are carnivorous
and, under the law of evolution, prey upon each other, but they are not incited
thereto by man's thought, as some fanatics claim. Sequentially, then, the human
kingdom might well be regarded as drawing its sustenance out of the animal
kingdom and, because man is the macrocosm for all the three lower kingdoms, he
might be supposed, [154] normally, to draw his life from all the three, and he
does. In the ancient scriptures of the East, it is pointed out that the human
kingdom is "the food of the gods" and in that statement the great
"chain of sacrifice" is
complete. My second point has reference to the law of cause and effect, or of
Karma, as the Theosophists call it. In the early days of primitive man, men
were the victims of the animal kingdom and they were quite defenseless. The
wild animals of the past preyed upon human beings. In all kingdoms the Law of
Retribution works. It is possible that it is this law which is one of the
factors inclining humanity towards meat eating. I worked this out in my own
consciousness in due course of time but not rapidly.
...
From
It
is through supreme service and sacrifice
that we become followers of Christ and earn the right to enter into His
kingdom, because we do not enter alone. This is the subjective element in all
religious aspiration, and this all the sons of God have grasped and taught. Man triumphs through death and sacrifice.
…
Discipleship in the New Age
I - Talks to Disciples - Part VIII When a group can think
unanimously along these lines and work in unison, then the first step will have
been taken towards group initiation which is the goal of the new discipleship. Group initiation involves:
...
Discipleship in the New Age
I - Personal Instructions to Disciples - J.W.K-P.
The following three
sentences may aid you in handling your problem and help your progress as a
worker:
...
Discipleship in the New Age
I - Personal Instructions to Disciples - J.W.K-P. January 1938
Three words I gave to
you, my friend and brother, in my last communication. They were:
Responsibility, Sacrifice and
Comradeship. I urged on you the task of awakening the aspirants by whom you are
surrounded to an understanding of their significance. You comprehend them
yourself, but they must be exemplified, explained and nurtured in all whom you
draw into the circle of group influence as collaborators and cooperators with
the Plan. Responsibility you can shoulder and have always shouldered. Sacrifice you have always rendered and
understood. Your values are sound on this and you want nothing for the
separated self. Comradeship, you are learning and it is not an easy lesson at
any time for first ray souls to master and express. The littleness of the
personalities and the pettiness of individual points of view are irksome to the
server of the Plan who stands, serene and detached, upon a first ray pinnacle
of vision and resultant comprehension.
...
Discipleship in the New Age
I - Personal Instructions to Disciples - I.B.S.
I
would remind you also that the Law of Sacrifice
is ever followed by the Law of Re-Appropriation in the spiritual sense. Upon this fact I would ask you to ponder….
The
cultivation of a divine indifference as to where you are and what you are doing
would be of peculiar value to you and you would profit much if each night you
meditated for five minutes upon your capacity to demonstrate this needed
spiritual detachment.
...
Discipleship in the New Age
I - Personal Instructions to Disciples - S.C.P.
Your
mental body is on the second ray. This, as you will
note, is not usual. It makes illumination the line of least resistance. It
facilitates contact with the soul and provides your dominant problem. That
problem is the demanding of love and of appreciation where your personality is
concerned. Think this out. It means that you can always be depended upon to sacrifice everything in order that the
desires, the will and the purpose of the soul - once they are made clear to you
- may be truly worked out. Nothing will be permitted by you to arrest your
spiritual achievement once the way appears open to you. But it means also, from
the lower angle, that you will sacrifice
much in order to be loved by people. This matters not at all in the case of the
average person for in due time and inevitably a proper sense of proportion will
emerge. But it does matter in the case of those who are on the Path of
Discipleship and who face at some not so distant time preparation for
initiation. Watch this with care and discover for yourself the situation. One
clue to understanding would be that you study whether or not, in moments of
personality emergency, you sacrifice
your sense of truth or your friends.
..
Discipleship in the New Age
I - Personal Instructions to Disciples - R.S.U. January 1936
The only thing which I
seek to do for you at this time, my brother, is to give you a meditation which
I will ask you to carry forward until further notice. I will give you also six
seed thoughts for meditation. Otherwise my earlier injunctions to you hold good
and your future usefulness in the coming spiritual expansion is dependent upon
your careful attention to self-forgetfulness, the right use of love (enabling
you to love more easily. Please study my last communication to you on this
subject) and attention to practical, loving, efficient, regular service.
Your progress in the
outer expression of your inner knowledge has been needlessly slow. Given a
right and more focused attitude, you could leap forward into clearer light and
more efficient living. This oft I have told you. Your keynote for the future is
discipline and again discipline. The reduction of the physical
body to your will through the imposition of a pronounced ordered rhythm is your
way out into liberation. It is, therefore, a question whether you care enough
for the results possible to make the needed adjustments and impose the required
disciplinary measures. What these are, you also know. Are they not simply the
enforcing of certain rules of daily living which are so simple that they fail
to evoke your will? It is the evocation of a dynamic will which I wish to bring
about by the following suggested meditation.
O. M.
a. Sound this as the
soul, in its own world, using the creative imagination as you do so.
b. Sound the O. M. again
as the soul, imposing its purpose upon the mind
c. Sound the O. M. as the
soul, controlling the desire body.
d. Sound the O. M. as the
soul, energizing by its will force the etheric body.
e. Sound the O. M. again
but this time with the cooperation of the personality, galvanizing the physical
[365] body into right action. Do all this very slowly and thoroughly with a
full, consecrated thought upon each of the five stages.
...
Discipleship in the New Age
I - Personal Instructions to Disciples - S.R.D.
...
Discipleship in the New Age
I - Personal Instructions to Disciples - L.T.S-K.
Therefore,
for the present most appropriate name for that part of the Path of Disciples
that you are treading is the Way of Sacrifice
- the sacrifice of your own thoughts, of
your own wishes, aims and dreams. It means for you the treading of the rocky
way of duty, of dharma and of clear decision.
...
Discipleship in the New Age
I - Personal Instructions to Disciples - L.T.S-K. August 1936
My BROTHER:
In my last instruction
I gave you certain suggestions. Perhaps the way I can best help you at this
time is to list them for you clearly and concisely, and ask you - in the
silence of your heart and the light of your soul - to answer them. I told you:
...
Discipleship in the New Age
I - The Six Stages of Discipleship - Part III
As you ponder on this,
I would ask you to realize that an Ashram is not a group of people, working
under the tutelage of some Master. This is an important point to remember. I is
- as said earlier - a magnetic point of tension, a fusion of [703] energies,
directed towards a common center and involving two magnetic factors:
.....
Discipleship in the New Age
I - The Six Stages of Discipleship - Part VIII The Master's aura (which determines the aura of the entire Ashram) has
three outstanding radiations as far as the responsiveness of the disciple is
concerned:
This is all of it
necessarily relative but the moment that the disciple has established this line
of approach to the Spiritual Triad (even in a small measure) he makes his first
response to the aura of the Master. The distinction between the aura of the
Master and the aura of the Ashram is that the Master's aura is dynamic and the group aura is influential, yet the two together
constitute the group aura. When this initial response is made it results
eventually in the disciple becoming the chela within the aura.
You will note from a
study of the above how abstruse and difficult it is to put into words the
nature of the vibratory activity of the Master. All I can do - in default of
your intuitive understanding - is to put into technical and academic terms
(thereby crystallizing the truth and somewhat distorting it) that which cannot
be expressed.
This threefold
radiation of the Master, as it expresses his planned activity and sphere of
"influential emanation" is that which draws the disciple into his
aura - not in this instance [757] the aura of the Ashram but of that which
makes the ashramic aura possible - the Life of
the Master.
One interesting fact
might here be given. The moment when an initiate-chela has intensified his
vibration so that it is identical with that of the Master and can hold that
rate of vibration as his normal radiatory quality, then he himself becomes a
Master. In every Ashram, there is always at a given moment some one disciple
who is being trained to take the Master's place eventually, thereby releasing
him for higher and more important work. As you know, I was the senior disciple
of the Master K. H. and when I became a Master, I released him for higher work and
my place in his group was taken by another disciple on the second ray; two
disciples are needed to bring about the complete liberation of a Master from
all ashramic work and I was the first of the two chosen to do this. The other
has not yet made the grade. When this process of identification takes place, a
moving forward of every member in the entire Ashram becomes possible, e'en
though it seldom happens. Symbolically speaking, it might be described as a
potent expanding impulse which widens the circle of the Ashram so that higher
levels can be touched and lower spheres of influence can be included.
Some day, it will be
all "realized Hierarchy" for the Hierarchy is but a state of
consciousness with the life aspect, Shamballa, at the center, and the circle of
humanity constituting the emanating factor, the radiatory influence or the
aura, whereby the other kingdoms in nature are evoked into responsive activity.
...
Discipleship in the New Age
I - The Six Stages of Discipleship - Part VIII
A Master and, to a far higher extent, the
Christ, suffers far more from those in his Own household than from those in the
outer world; his work is more impeded by the advanced aspirants than by the
intelligent thinkers. Bear this in mind at this time. It was not the cruelty of
the outer world of men which [761] caused the depths of sorrow to the Christ
when on earth; it was his Own disciples, plus the massed sorrow - spread over
the entire cycle of life, past, present and future - of humanity.
Disciples gravitate
into world groups and many of them are doing far more efficient work than those
gathered together into esoteric groups. The advanced accepted disciple has
always his own group which he gathers around him for active and creative work.
I would remind you of this. The gauge of a disciple's capacity lies in his
influence - through pen, word of mouth, and personal influence - upon other
people.
Under the Law of
Correspondence, there is ever a numerical relation with established numerical
entities. The six stages of discipleship are naturally related to the six
schools of Indian philosophy which were in reality the six "seed
schools" for all philosophical surmise and work. There are not six types
of Ashrams corresponding to the six stages of discipleship because there are seven
Ashrams (one for each ray type) and all the six stages of discipleship are
related to all the Ashrams and all the seven ray types express (at some stage
of their unfoldment upon the Path of Discipleship) these six steps towards the
center.
The centers, as used
by the disciple in his unfolding progress, are dependent upon the ray type to a
great extent but it is not my intention to take up this subject of the centers
in this series of instructions. I shall be dealing with the subject at some
length in the final part of A Treatise on
the Seven Rays.
I would like, however,
to make clear at this point that the Master never uses a disciple's centers as
distributing agencies for force. In the last analysis, the centers are (when
functioning correctly) reservoirs of force and distributors of energy, colored
by specific quality and of a certain note, vibration, and strength. On the
final stages of the Path of Discipleship, they are entirely controlled by the
soul, via the head center, but it should be borne in mind that after the fourth
initiation and the disappearance of the causal body, there is no form aspect or vehicle which can hold
the disciple a prisoner or any way limited. After the third initiation, the
lower centers have no control whatsoever over the outer mechanism of response;
from [762] the standpoint of the highest occult training and when the disciple
is in the Ashram itself, the centers are viewed as simply channels for energy.
Until the time of the third initiation, they assume temporary importance in the
training process because it is through them that the disciple learns the nature
of energy, its distinction from force and the methods of distribution - the
latter being one of the last stages in the training process.
The constitution of
the ego, or Soul, is the factor of paramount importance to the Master in the
task of training the disciple for hierarchical work. This necessarily
involves the three higher centers (head, heart and throat). It is with the
so-called egoic lotus that he is concerned and this is a point which the
disciple is very apt to forget. The soul is preoccupied with its own life; the
details of the personality life (its inadequate expression or shadow in the
three worlds) simply make no impact whatsoever upon the soul consciousness. As
the violence of the personality life grows, the soul which has been
increasingly the recipient of the best the aspiring personality has to offer
and which has been slowly turning its attention towards the mind of the
personality, becomes also aware of an opposing factor to true soul expression
upon the outer periphery of life. Then the battle of the higher pairs of
opposites begins - the battle between soul and personality, consciously waged on both sides. That is
the point to have in mind. This conflict culminates, prior to each of the first
three initiations in the confronting of the two opponents; the Dweller on the
Threshold (of initiation, my brother) and the Angel of the Presence stand face
to face. But with that battle, we are not here concerned. We are occupied with
the theme of the response to hierarchical energy as embodied in the Master's
aura and from thence transmitted to the disciple. The channel or channels of
direction (there are three of them) might be expressed thus:
This is the broad and
general process, reaching from the universal (as far as the individual disciple
is concerned), to the particular, i.e., the disciple in a physical body.
The
detail of the descent of energy or of the process of spiritual inspiration
(both these phrases pictorially present the concept of response to the Master's
aura) might be put as follows:
This
process going on in the egoic vehicle and registered by the disciple upon the
physical plane, produces eventually what could be called a "potent center
of invocation." This [764] invoking center evokes response from the
Spiritual Triad so that eventually you have:
These details, brother
of mine, are of technical interest, are purely academic and constitute simply word symbols of an inevitable evolutionary
process. They describe the divine inspiration to which all human beings are
subjected as an integral part of the life of God Himself and one which is
consciously registered when a man reaches the stages of discipleship and
initiation. They demonstrate, when rightly understood, the nature of the
Science of the Breath. That Breath is all and in the method of invocation and
evocation which underlies the entire process, you have a hint as to the
structure and activity of the Heart of the Sun, the organ of this second ray
solar system, and the diastole and systole system of evolution which is found
in the universal life process.
...
Discipleship in the New Age
II - Talks to Disciples - Group Instruction The third point grows out of the above. You are all pledged disciples,
and as such your immediate personal problem (in which I may not and therefore
cannot help you) is to overcome and destroy the hold which the Dweller on the
Threshold may have upon you. We are back, therefore, to our starting point, and
a question now arises in your minds: "How can I overcome this Dweller and
yet at the same time refuse to concentrate upon myself and my problems? This I
am told by you not to do, and yet the Dweller is the sumtotal of all
personality holds and defects, all potencies - emotional, mental and physical -
which limit my expression as a soul. What can I therefore do?"
My answer would be:
You must first of all accept the fact of the Dweller, and then relegate that
Dweller to its rightful place as part of the Great Illusion, the great
phantasmagoria of existence and as an integral part of the life of the three
worlds. You must then proceed upon your planned life service (What definite
plan or plans have you, my brother?) and act as if the Dweller existed not,
thus freeing yourself from all personality influence in due time and leaving
your mind free for the task in hand. I could perhaps word it another way. When
your interest in hierarchical work and the program of the Ashram with which you
are [48] connected is adequately strong, it will then dominate all your
actions, and all your thoughts (waking or sleeping); you will then find that
the grip of the Dweller will be broken, that its life has been destroyed by the force of attrition and its form destroyed in the fires of sacrifice. Such, briefly, is the story; I
waste no time with elaborations,
...
Discipleship in the New Age
II - Teachings on Initiation - Part I The Formulas
There are six ancient
formulas or symbolic forms which are to be found in the archives for disciples.
They concern the six fundamental prerequisites for initiation. They are used
prior to all the major initiations, and have therefore five significances or
meanings which will become apparent only as each of these initiations is
undergone. They are in the form sometimes of symbols and sometimes of words,
and are amongst the oldest formulas in the world. They have been used down the
ages by all disciples and initiates of the Great White Lodge. They concern what
are called "the six [247] relations." Each of these relations must
find expression in attitude, in service, and in some deeper expansion of
consciousness, to which I may not refer but which must be self-ascertained. It
is essential that the would-be initiate discover for himself the esoteric,
inner and subjective value of the formula under his consideration. Just one
hint however in this latter connection I may give.
The disciple, when he becomes
an accepted disciple (and this through the Lodge's recognition of his pledge to
his own soul), arrives at a definite and factual recognition of the Hierarchy.
His suppositions, his desires, his aspirational wish-life, his theories, or
whatever you may choose to call his reaching out and up towards divinity, give
place to clear knowledge of the liberated group of souls. This happens not
through the occurrence of convincing phenomena, but through an inflow of the
intuition. He undergoes, therefore, an expansion of consciousness which may or
may not be registered in the brain. Every step of the way from that point of
recognition onward has to be consciously achieved and must involve a conscious
recognition of a series of expansions. These expansions are not initiation.
Have that clearly in your mind. The initiation lying immediately ahead is
simply the effect of the recognition. They might be called "stabilizing
points of crisis," in which the "occasional becomes the constant and
the intended becomes the intentional." Ponder on these words. The
Hierarchy is now a fact in your life and your awareness. What is the next fact
or point of integration or consciously achieved inclusiveness? A study of the
formulas and their correct use will reveal this to you. I have laid the
emphasis upon visualization and given you some hints connected both with
initiation and the creative work of the imagination, because these teachings
and the development of these faculties will require calling into play your
understanding, if the formulas connected with initiation are to be given. These
six formulas are therefore formulas of integration, and one or two hints may
here be imparted.
Formula
One concerns,
as I have told you, integration into a Master's group, and it has two uses - if
I might so [248] express it from your particular point of view. One produces a
group inclusiveness, which integrates you with your group brothers into my
group and brings a revelation of the hidden side of a chela's life. When I say
this I refer to his new astral conditioning.
This is given the name of the Revelation
of Group Feeling. This subject is vaster in its implications than
you might surmise, for it concerns united group sensitivity or response,
outwards to the world of men, inwards to the Hierarchy, and upwards to the
Monad. It does not concern the sumtotal of the petty moods and feelings of the
personalities of the group members. Its second use is to bring about contact
with the Master of your group - in this case myself, the Master D.K. This is a
process which I have already done my best to help you to achieve through my
instructions re the Full Moon contact - something you have most inadequately
understood and attempted. Perhaps now you will work harder at the production of
"contact relationship" as it is esoterically called. It is with
Formula One that you must now work.
Formula
Two deals
with alignment; not alignment as it is understood in the very necessary
preparatory work of the
Formula
Three is related to certain changes in the egoic
lotus. These changes might be inadequately expressed in the terms of the Old Commentary:
"There is that
which transmutes knowledge into wisdom within a flash of time;
there is that which changes sensitivity into love within an area of space;
there is [249] that which alters sacrifice
into bliss where neither time nor space exists."
Formula
Four has
a specific effect upon the "jewel in the lotus," awakening it to
life; this it does (through effects produced) upon the three planes of the
three worlds, this bringing about changes in the seven wheels (centers) so that
the "dynamic point at the center of each wheel obliterates the lesser
points of force, and thus the wheel begins to turn upon itself."
Formula
Five awakens
the Will, but any
interpretation of this awakening would prove meaningless to you until the
previous four formulas have established an effect upon you and the needed
interior changes have taken place.
Formula
Six is sometimes called "the word of
death." It negates the destructive effect of the death process which is going
on all the time within the mechanism of the disciple or initiate. The death
proceeds with its needed work, but it is not
destructive in effect. This formula has never been given out before
to disciples, but can now be known because the Piscean Age is one in which at
last the power of physical death is definitely broken and the signature of the
Resurrection is revealed. In this esoteric negation of death are the deeply
hidden and impressive causes of
the two stages of the world war (1914-1945), and in this formula lies the
significance lying behind the "fight for freedom" of the peoples of
the world. It is sometimes called
"the formula of liberation."
...
Discipleship in the New Age
II - Teachings on Initiation - Part III
These
expressions of the evolutionary development of humanity are related to the
first manifesting qualities of the Will aspect. When I say this I give you a
hint, reminding you that the candidate for initiation grows by the recognition
and the interpretation of hints, and by extracting from a hint its true
significance. The will is not, as so many believe, a forceful expression of
intention; it is not a fixed determination to do thus and so or to make certain
things to be. It is fundamentally an expression of the Law of Sacrifice; under this law, the unit recognizes
responsibility, identifies itself with [270] the whole, and learns the esoteric
significance of the words: "Having nothing (sacrifice)
and yet possessing all things (universality)." I would ask you to reflect
upon these words of the great initiate,
This makes possible,
therefore, the next great human unfoldment which grows out of the Christ
consciousness and "brings to light" (I know no other way in which to
express this concept) the will of God, and points also to the basic distinction
between goodwill and the will-to-good. Again I would ask you to reflect upon
this distinction, for it connotes the difference between a life ruled and
conditioned by the soul and one which is ruled and conditioned by the Spiritual
Triad. This distinction is very real, for one quality grows out of love, and
the other out of the recognition of the universality of life; one is an
expression of the Christ consciousness and life, and the other is a
responsiveness to monadic inflow, and yet the two are one. More anent this will
be indicated as you study the teaching upon the antahkarana.
One of the tasks which
I have undertaken is to awaken the aspirants and the disciples of the world to
the new possibilities and to the new incoming potencies which can become available
for use, if they will pass on to a fuller grasp of the developments since 1425
A.D. Much that I am giving and [271] shall in the future give anent initiation,
its methods, processes and application will appear entirely new. The New Age
will bring in eventually a civilization and a culture which will be utterly
different to anything hitherto known. I would remind you here that all
civilizations and cultures are externalizations - modified, qualified and
adapted to racial and national needs - of the potent, vibrating and planned
activity of the world initiates and disciples who constitute the Hierarchy of
the time. Their plans, their thinking and their living potency pour out
ceaselessly and affect the consciousness of their disciples; these latter step down
the inflowing energies so that the thinkers and idealists can grasp these new
emerging truths more accurately. Eventually the truths thus grasped change the
consciousness of humanity as a whole and raise it - if you like that phrase;
thus modes of daily living, civilized methods of conduct and cultural
developments eventuate. All this is traceable to the group of initiates upon
the inner side who thus serve their fellowmen and carry forward, consciously
and with intent, the Law of Evolution. Whilst doing this, they themselves are
preparing to tread the "Way of the Higher Evolution." What that Way
is I cannot tell you, for you would be unable to grasp its meaning; it is
related to the spiritual condition and purpose of the Monad whose goal is not expansion of consciousness, but of that
which such expansions of consciousness will reveal - a very different matter
and one which is as yet entirely meaningless to anyone who has not taken the
third initiation. Forget not, the Christ and his great Brothers, and all of an
even higher initiate-rank than they possess, have a definite goal, but it is
one which will only define itself clearly in the third solar system, the system
in which the Will of God is the dominant idea, as the Love of God conditions
this system in which we now function. But this is not consciousness or
awareness; it is a stage of Being which is connected with the Law of Sacrifice - the law which governs those states
of being which grow out of the establishment of right human relations.
Purpose can only be
revealed and understood when such right relations are the firmly fixed habits
of all "points of [272] divine expression." You can see, therefore,
why it is not possible for those in process of grasping the need for right
human relations to understand more than that a great possibility lies ahead. Of
the nature of this possibility only the higher ranks of initiates are aware,
and towards it they strive.
...
Discipleship in the New Age
II - Teachings on Initiation - Part IV Points of Revelation
In the earlier part of
your last instruction, I pointed out two most necessary requirements which the
disciple in training for initiation must grasp. As they are closely connected
with this third point (referring to the revelations which the [286] initiate can
expect), I would like to touch upon them here. The first statement I made was
to the effect that the will is fundamentally an expression of the Law of Sacrifice; the second was an attempt to
emphasize the necessity for grasping and accepting two initial premises:
Why, I would ask you,
is the will an aspect or an expression of the Law of Sacrifice? Because the will, as considered and understood by the
initiate, is essentially that monadic essence, qualified by "fixed
determination," which is identified with the Will or Purpose of the
planetary Logos. It is the highest divine aspect which the initiate finally
manifests, prior to entering upon the Way of the Higher Evolution. In this
connection it is useful to remember that one of the appellations of Sanat
Kumara is that of "the Great Sacrifice,"
and also to attempt to recognize some of the factors which have earned him that
name. These might be stated to be as follows, among others which you could not
grasp if there was the language available to express them:
a. The basic sacrifice which the planetary Logos made was
when he decided to incarnate or enter into the form of this planet. This was
from pure choice, motivated by his "fixed determination" to function
as the Savior of the planet, in the same sense as the world Saviors come forth
for the salvaging of humanity. Sanat Kumara is the prototype of all world
saviors.
The initiate, on his
tiny scale, must learn to function also as a savior, and thus express the Law
of Sacrifice through the medium of the
developed, pure, reasoning will, and not simply from that of impulsive love and
its activity. Here lies a basic distinction. Sacrifice
must not be regarded as a "giving-up," but rather as a
"taking-over." It has a mysterious relation to the Law of Karma, but
on [287] such high levels that only the advanced initiate can grasp it.
b. This sacrifice was imperative in the fullest sense,
owing to the ability of the planetary Logos to identify himself in full
consciousness with the soul in all forms of life, latent within the planetary
substance. When he "took over" this task, he, esoterically, had no
choice, because the decision was inherent in his own nature. Because of this
identification, he could not refuse the invocative appeal of the "seeds of
life, striving within the substance of the form, and seeking added life and
light," as the Old Commentary puts it. This striving and
reaching forth evoked his response and the going out of his divinity, as
expressed in will, activated by "fixed determination" to meet the
deeply hidden divinity within these seeds. What he initiated then still
persists and - under the Law of Sacrifice
- he will complete the task, no matter how many aeons it may take.
The initiate, on his
tiny scale, has to learn to work as a nourisher and savior of the seeds of life
within all forms with which he may achieve a measure of identification. His
will must go out in response to the invocative demand of humanity, and his
"fixed determination" must motivate his ensuing activity.
c. Under this Law of Sacrifice, Sanat Kumara (to express the idea
in occult terms) "must turn his back upon the Central Spiritual Sun, and
with the light of his Countenance irradiate the path of the prisoners of the
planet." He sentences himself to stay for as long as may be needed,
"acting as the Sun and light of the planet until the Day be with us and
the night of pralaya descends upon his finished task." Thus and only thus
can the light of the Central Spiritual Sun begin to penetrate the dark places
of the Earth; when this happens all "shadows disappear" - an occult
reference to the all-embracing radiance of the Monad as it absorbs both its
reflection, the soul, and its shadow, the personality.
The initiate, on his
tiny scale, achieves a paralleling [288] expression of the Law of Sacrifice; he eventually turns his back upon
the courts of Shamballa and upon the Way of the Higher Evolution as he retains
his contact with the Earth and works as a Member of the Hierarchy for the
extension of the will-to-good among men, and therefore among all the lesser
evolutions.
d. Under the Law of Sacrifice, the Lord of the World remains ever
behind the scenes, unknown and unrealized by all the "seeds" he came
to save, until such time as they have reached the stage of flowering forth as
perfect men and, in their turn, become the saviors of humanity. Then they know
him to exist. From the standpoint of the forms of life in the four kingdoms of
nature, Sanat Kumara is non-existent. In developed humanity, prior to moving on
to the Probationary Path, he is sensed and dimly sought under the vague word
"God." Later, as the life which the "seeds" have manifested
reaches the higher layers or brackets in the human hierarchy, there emerges in
the consciousness of the disciple, the assurance that behind the phenomenal
world is a world of "saving Lives" of which he may eventually form a
part; he begins to sense that behind these Lives there stand great Beings of
power, wisdom and love who, in their turn, are under the supremacy of Sanat
Kumara, the Eternal Youth, the Creator, the Lord of the World.
The initiate, on his
tiny scale, likewise has to learn to work behind the scenes, unknown and
unrecognized and unclaimed; he must sacrifice
his identity in the identity of the Ashram and its workers, and later in the
identity of his working disciples out in the world of daily life. He institutes
the needed activities and brings about the required changes, but he receives no
reward, save the reward of souls salvaged, lives rebuilt and humanity led
onward upon the Path of Return.
These few thoughts
upon the significance of sacrifice or
upon the "taking over," through identification, of the task of
salvage, of revitalizing and of presenting opportunity, are important to all
disciples, as a goal and a vision. [289]
The
second point made, based upon the occult platitude that "energy follows
thought," should carry inspiring implications to the earnest disciple, if
he truly considers the statements made and regards them of practical
application.
Two things, I told
you, are the result of thought, and though these may be mentally grasped by the
intelligent disciple, they are very seldom understood. They are:
These two paragraphs
are of importance to the disciple and warrant careful attention. As these
developments take place, the spiritual will steadily grows into the directing
agent, using the right eye as the distributing agent for the energy of love,
animated with will. This is why the right eye has been called, in the esoteric
teaching, "the eye of buddhi." This directing agent uses the left eye
as the instrument for the distribution of the mental energy of the personality
- now illumined and sublimated.
Having these thoughts
in mind, I would call your attention to the entire theme of vision, which
necessarily underlies our consideration of the points of revelation. It is
simple to recognize that in the head of the developing aspirant there is a
mechanism of great potency, capable of controlling the life of the personality.
There is:
It is the conscious
use of these energies and the intelligent utilization of this triple mechanism
which is the goal of the initiate up to the third initiation. He learns
consciously to direct force in the correct manner through the needed organ,
doing so as the soul working in full consciousness on its own level, but so
fully identified with the personality that the [291] mechanism (now developed
within the personality) can be used in the work of the Hierarchy.
Let me now expand the
concept further, reminding you of the phrase so oft employed, "the
All-seeing Eye." This refers to the power of the planetary Logos to see
into all parts, aspects and phases (in time and space) of his planetary
vehicle, which is his physical body and to identify himself with all the
reactions and sensitivities of his created world and to participate with full
knowledge in all events and happenings. Through what medium does he, on his own
high levels, do this? Through what mechanism does he thus "see"? What
is his organ of vision? What is the nature of the sight whereby he contacts the
seven planes of his manifested universe? What is the organ, employed by him,
which corresponds to the third eye in man? The answer is as follows: the Monad
is to the planetary Logos what the third eye is to man; this will become
clearer to you if you will bear in mind that our seven planes are only the
seven subplanes of the cosmic physical
plane. The monadic world - so-called - is his organ of vision; it is
also his directing agent for the life and light which must be poured into the
phenomenal world. In the same way, the Monad is to the personality in the three
worlds, also the source of its life and light.
There are, therefore,
three organs of revelation, as far as the spiritual man is concerned:
1. The human eye,
giving "in-sight" into the phenomenal world, letting in the light,
and bringing revelation of the environment.
2. The eye of the
soul, bringing revelation of the nature of the interior worlds, of the
3. The center within
the One Life which we call by the unmeaning word "Monad," the spark
within the one Flame. In the final stages of initiation, the Monad becomes the
revealer of the purpose of God, of the will of the planetary Logos and of the
door which opens on to the Way of the Higher Evolution. This Way leads a man off the cosmic physical plane on to the
cosmic [292] astral plane, and therefore into the world of divine sentiency, of
which we can have no possible understanding, but for which the development of
consciousness has given us the initial steps.
…
Discipleship in the New Age
II - Teachings on Initiation - Part V I have indicated to
you in my past instructions three of these revelations. They are, if you will remember:
Later on, as the years
slip away and as students come and go, a clearer grasp of the techniques of
comprehension - these emerging Points of Revelation - will form themes for
prolonged meditation and doors of entrance to the new occultism. The
foundations for this new occultism are well and soundly laid; the
superstructure can be erected now, slowly and with due care, in conformity with
the divine blueprints and in response to a sensitive reaction to spiritual
impression. I have also told you that, in connection with these Points of Revelation,
there are three stages of activity which, when properly carried forward, will
make that which is revealed of service to the disciple in his contribution to
the salvaging of humanity. These three are Penetration, Polarization and
Precipitation. Let us now consider these three for a short reflective period.
You should realize
that all phases of training - those that are associated with life itself and
that specialized training which is given to initiates - are interlocking and
interdependent. It is training, brother
of mine, not strictly education. Educational processes, concerning knowledge as
they do, may be specialized, and teaching can be taken in such isolated fields
as conchology, biology or history. But in initiate [311] training, where the
objective is wisdom and (above all else) the development of spiritual
sensitivity, every phase of approach to the divine unfoldment, and all
expansions of consciousness, develop so that divinity is embraced, and every
unfoldment of the understanding reveals to the initiate one major Reality - the
fact of Being. Therefore, this
consideration of our Points of Revelation is closely related to another of our
themes: Training in Telepathy or the Science of Impression. Certain aspects of
these two activities are the same, particularly the three points which we are
considering here. The difficulty consists in this, that in relation to the
Points of Revelation the initiate is presumed to work from a more advanced
standpoint of comprehension than does the man who is taking the training which
makes him sensitive to Impression. He knows the technique of Penetration,
comprehends the process of Polarization at the point penetrated, and - after
due acceptance - understands how to utilize it and precipitate it into the
human field of service; he consciously employs that which he has learnt,
grasped and appropriated. It matters not, in this case, what word you use.
It should therefore be
borne in mind that in this connection we are considering the point of
experience where light pours in, bringing revelation, conveying information,
evoking the intuition and drawing into the waiting consciousness of the
initiate those spiritual laws, those rules of the creative process, those ray
conditions and those new energies and forces for which the humanity of any
particular period waits, and which are fundamentally needed if the race of men
is to move forward into greater spiritual culture and out of the relative
darkness in which it at present moves.
Discipleship in the New Age
II - Teachings on Initiation - Part VII Points
of Revelation
It must not be
forgotten that all that is here communicated is strictly in relation to
initiation. The revelations accorded (of which three have already been
indicated) concern the initiate and his work as it is impulsed from the moment
[346] that an initiation has been passed. Life for all men everywhere is full
of revelation, recognized or unrecognized; it might be said that there is
little else, though the majority of them are of small importance except in
their combined sequence. They
might rather be regarded as creating or constituting a "field of
revelation" or an area of consciousness wherein five major points of
revelation will some day be seen, grasped and understood; they are the
substance which has within it that living something which is invocative of
light: it is that material substratum which is capable of evoking that
"lighted response" which the initiate demonstrates when he himself
has learnt to generate the five points of revelation. These five points (which
I shall indicate) must not be confused with the five initiations. They are
indeed related to them, but the right order in itself constitutes a revelation,
and none of them can be specifically applied by you to any particular
initiation. In fact, it might be said that all five of them apply to each
initiation, giving - as the initiate can receive and bear it - five aspects of
divine activity; these are in the nature of five modes or techniques of the
future work to be done by the initiate between initiations. The quotation from
the Old Commentary as given on page 308 can be
regarded as a key to the entire technique.
It is, however, a
technique which is formulated by the initiate himself and is not one imposed
upon him within an Ashram or by the watching Master. All these points of
revelation also concern the techniques of creation, and indicate to the Master
what will be the nature of the creative work with which he - under law,
according to ray, and in relation to one of the seven Paths - will eventually
work.
The entire theme is
too complex for anything more than hinted concepts at this time. The general
theme has been covered by me to date under four groups of thoughts or four
groups of presented ideas. Even though I realize that I am repeating what has
been earlier given, I must - for the sake of clarity - call your attention to
them anew:
You can see,
therefore, how definitely all the above processes involve a planned creative
activity. These ideas are not those, however, which can be used by the
uninitiated aspirant. The use, through understanding, of these techniques is
confined entirely to creative work, carried on in accordance with the Purpose
of Shamballa and not in accordance with the hierarchical Plan. The above
various stages of the fourfold process mark eventually the recognition by the
Master of divine Purpose; it is also shown how that purpose is revealed in five
stages, requiring in addition two final revelations of major importance.
One of the lines of
thinking which it is most necessary to impress on advancing and advanced
disciples is that of "initiated thinking." This means thought carried
forward on purely abstract levels, and embodying, therefore, thought which is
free from soul conditioning or from the crystallizations [348] of the lower
mind. It is essentially triadal thinking and is only registered by the brain when
the antahkarana is somewhat constructed and there is some direct communication
from the Spiritual Triad to the brain of the personality.
I am emphasizing this
point here because the fourth point of
revelation concerns the sudden recognition by the initiate of the
potency of Purpose, as it is expressed in creation, plus a paralleling
recognition that creativity is - for the Master - the expression of all for
which he has been trained; it is at the same time the lowest of the three
possible recognitions anent divine Purpose. The others have nothing to do with
creation within the planetary ring-pass-not, but concern the implementing
factors of the divine thinking. I know not how else to express these deep and
abstruse realities - abstruse because the adequate mechanism for their
comprehension has not yet been created by the disciple. We might therefore word
this fourth point of revelation as follows: Purpose itself is but an energy,
released within the confines of the Council Chamber; there it must take shape.
Behind it looms that which has brought it into being.
I would ask you to
ponder deeply upon this section which we have called the Points of Revelation;
they are aspects of the training given to the initiate. They are also - on a
higher turn of the spiral - the esoteric correspondence or higher meaning of
the words: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." In the case of
the initiate however, the heart is only one of the conditioning points of
contact through which the "advancing point of light" can come.
It is perhaps a
somewhat new thought to you as aspiring occult students that there is a major
revelation - something entirely new and unforeseen - which is inherent in the
situation when a candidate for initiation stands before the Initiator.
A consideration of the
three points of revelation already given may show you how deep may be the
present mystery where each of these points is concerned. The mystery of the eye
and its relation to light (esoterically understood) is very great, and as yet
no student, no matter how diligent, knows anything about it. For instance,
brother of mine, when the [349] third eye, the inner eye, and the Monad are
brought into direct alignment with "the Eye of God Himself," so that
what the planetary Logos sees can be partially (at least) revealed to the
initiate, who can tell what that revelation will bring of results and
enlightenment? When the true nature of the will is comprehended and the
self-will of the personality (of a very high order, necessarily), the will of
the soul (as demonstrated by the activity of the highest tier or circle of the
egoic petals), atma, expressing itself as the spiritual will, and Sanat Kumara
are also brought, through initiation, into direct alignment, who, again, can
predict what the revelation will be? When, again (as hinted on page 313), the
myriad thought-forms of the concrete or lower mind are seen as illusion, and
the lower mind, the knowledge petals of the egoic lotus, the abstract mind and
buddhi or pure reason are all brought into alignment with the Lords of Karma in
a direct relationship and as signifying the ending of karma in the three
worlds, who can foretell the nature of the ensuing revelation? It is alignment
that holds the clue or the key to all these deeply spiritual events.
It is these ideas
which must arise as the true occult student faces up to the recognition of
opportunity and prepares definitely and consciously for revelation. It will be
apparent to you that the revelations with which I am dealing take place as a
result or a consequence of standing before the One Initiator, and only when the
initiate is presented by the Christ. The earlier initiations may have their
corresponding revelations, under the great Law of Analogy, but they are
themselves of a very high type of illusion; they have the quality of illusion
and require the recognition (by the initiate) that they simply veil an ultimate
possibility for which he must work and wait.
...
Discipleship in the New Age
II - Teachings on Initiation - Part VIII As we consider these revelations, I would like to take them up with you
from a somewhat new angle; I would ask you to remember that the concept of
Light must always be established by you mentally,
alongside that of the revelation itself. I would ask you also to
remember that I am dealing with revelations which are no longer true
revelations, because they have been formulated by the initiates of today and
made visible in words. Revelation is therefore, as far as you are concerned, of
two kinds:
Let me express for you
here - in their briefest form - the four points of Revelation already indicated,
and then "in the Light" let us consider them as suggested earlier.
There follows next the
fifth revelation, which is as follows:
You will see
therefore, brother of mine, how very abstruse these apparently simple
statements anent revelation can be. As I have formulated them above, they
indicate the revelation in its primary and initiatory individual recognition;
the meaning is, however, far greater than appears, and is in reality related to
the unfolding purpose of the planetary Logos, involving the planetary Council.
All that I have here given you in connection with the seven centers (if brought
into relation with all that I have given you in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire will afford you some general idea of the
various planetary significances. This I have personally no time to do, even if
it were desirable, but it will be obvious that what I have indicated along the
line of correspondences must be true, for the
ancient truism "as above, so below" holds eternally good, and it is
the task of the Hierarchy to demonstrate this. The relation of the microcosm to
the macrocosm can never be broken, and that relationship is deeply involved in
these five points of revelation. [371]
It has been occultly
stated that:
"The five points
of the five-pointed star are pyramids of ascension and, at the summit of each
point - hidden within the emanating rays - lies a point of revelation,
offsetting the radiation but preserving the deeply seated magnetism. Thus is
there symbolized the going forth, the coming back and the point of peace,
surrounded by activity."
I will endeavor (as we
consider these points of revelation) to express as far as may be this
relationship of the smaller to the great, of the part to the whole, and of the
five points of spiritual contact upon the physical plane (outlets for the energy
generated in the planetary centers) with the sumtotal of the means of
expression. These centers are brought into expression - as far as the points of
revelation are concerned - at their respective initiations:
I say not that these
five exits for planetary energy are the planetary centers, for they are not; I
say that they are the points through which the energy of a planetary center is
directed in the service of humanity at this particular time. The centers of the
planetary Logos are necessarily directed in their inflow and outflow from
Shamballa, they are expressions of the Purpose underlying the creative
evolutionary process. The five corresponding exits are those which, in this
cycle, disperse the energy - generated by the Hierarchy, under the inspiration
of the divine Purpose and directed towards the carrying out of the Plan.
It is wise to remember
that the Plan is as much of the divine Purpose as can be brought into
expression upon the planet - under the Law of Evolution and the tension of this
[372] planetary crisis through which we are passing at this time - or at any
one time or particular epoch in time and space. Let us now consider these
points of revelation so as to gain from them some real understanding:
...
Discipleship in the New Age
II - Teachings on Initiation - Part VIII The
Second Point of Revelation:
The Will is an expression
of the Law of Sacrifice.
The second Point of
Revelation is of peculiar interest. It concerns the first contact of the
initiated disciple with the energy emanating from Shamballa and transmitted to
him via the Master of the Ashram with which he is at this time associated. He
has not yet reached the stage wherein direct contact is permitted, but still
needs the ashramic protection which the Master provides. At the indicated
second initiation he receives a quality of stimulation which enables him to
"see" the astral plane as it
essentially is; with this revelation comes also the recognition of
the basic human necessity to "make it holy" or to "render
whole" that which provides the most disturbing element in the existence of
mankind. [377]
I cannot here deal
with psychic construction, with astral impulses or glamorous, nor can I spend
time referring to the usual astral conditions - so well known and so carefully
followed by the mass of men. Each human being has eventually to make his own
definite decision anent the astral plane and his release from its control, and
has then to follow (for several lives) a policy of non-association with its
phenomena. But the initiate-disciple receives an unique revelation and an
applied conditioning which enable him to recognize it as a man-created whole or
world or state of consciousness (whichever term you may care to employ) and
therefore as something which must be transformed. Two things consequently emerge in his consciousness:
You can see,
therefore, how different is the revelation which comes to the initiate than are
those which the average aspirant and disciple regard as astounding revelations.
Their sense of values is in error. There is a group service quality to the
revelation with which we are dealing, and also about these five stages of
revelation, which is unknown until the antahkarana has been created, thus
linking the Spiritual Triad and the Personality. The energy then to be used is
entirely related to the Will aspect of divinity. This does not demonstrate as
it does with average advanced humanity, as applied goodwill, but it expresses
itself as a dynamic destructive spiritual Will; it adds its quota of destroying
energy to the task of destruction with which the Hierarchy is confronted in
connection with the astral plane.
This Point of
Revelation brings with it certain revelations of an unexpected nature and
imparts to the initiate certain new and significant results which register as
truths to the initiate-consciousness. He discovers that he must learn the
divine nature of the destroying aspect of the Will; he learns that it is not
related, when demonstrating as this particular aspect, to determination or fixed
intention, but is a fluid energy which can be directed toward the plane of
desire wherever and whenever contacted; he finds out also that, in order to
combat this vast and vibrant astral world, an aspect of light must be employed,
and that therefore he is being given his first opportunity to work with Light
under the inspiration of the Will - as do all the Members of the Hierarchy; he
realizes, consequently, that he must employ this aspect of light under the
action - definitely directed - of the Will, in order to bring about the
disappearance of that world as a sentient conscious entity; he knows that he
must primarily destroy the astral phenomena for which he is creatively
responsible, and that (having done this) he must demonstrate his complete freedom
from the phenomenal contact of the astral plane at the second, the third and
the fourth initiations. [379]
This he must do
through the "advancing light" of lower mental substance, and the
activity of the buddhic level of activity; then to this he adds the destroying
power of the atmic level of activity. He has to take note, in this process, of
a certain level of responsibility. Thus he can finally destroy (with the means
of the advancing light of the atmic plane) a certain proportion of astral
substance for which he is not individually responsible but which is
nevertheless related to the group or to the nation with which he is by birth or
inclination affiliated. It is the united and synthetic use of the three triadal
expressions of energy which makes the work of the world servers effective.
You can see from this
short resumé which I have given you about the results of the second point of
revelation, how widely comprehensive is the entire theme of revelation as it
implements, impulses and motivates hierarchical activity. Through those
revelations the initiate-disciple becomes aware of the task which he must
fulfil and the next immediate step which humanity must take - through one or
other of its grouped masses. These revelations concern the use of the Will in
implementing the evolutionary aspect of the divine purpose. In all these points
of revelation the Spiritual Triad is involved, and every one of the revelations
is - in a steady crescendo of illumination - the result of initiation.
All the five points of
revelation are conveyed or make their impression at each initiation, but differ
greatly according to the initiation taken. The use of the Will aspect in
"making holy" or in "setting apart," is active not only at
the second initiation, but in all of them and - in a peculiar sense - at the
sixth Initiation of Decision; of this initiation the six-pointed star is the
symbol. The decision there involved tests the initiate as to how free he is
from all desire - a factor which impregnates the entire creative world. Freedom
from that control indicates the recognition of the Will as an expression of the
Law of Sacrifice.
The Christian
interpretation of the Will of God and of the significance of sacrifice is based, in reality, on human
revolt and on human refusal to see anything in the spiritual life but all
unintelligent acceptance of the inscrutable divine [380] Will; it posits also
the need for pain and the suffering of sacrifice
in the sense of complete abnegation of all that might be regarded as good and
useful, as desirable and joyful. This revolt has colored the entire
presentation of what Christian theologians regard as God's Will; this
presentation involves the unavoidable imposition of the will of a
transcendental Deity, and leads inevitably (though totally inconclusively) to
the dreadful and symbolic death of the Christ upon the Cross and to the painful
and sacrificial life of the spiritual man. There is much teaching given out by
the church upon the necessity of the submission of the human will to the divine
Will; however, little or no teaching is given of the joyous use of the Will of
Christ, immanent in every form, and peculiarly active in the form of humanity,
and therefore capable of joyous and understanding use. The idea that sacrifice signifies happiness and a joyful
process of making desire "holy" is absent: theologians refuse to
recognize that the releasing of the energy confined and imprisoned upon the
astral plane, into "enlightened" service upon other planes, is
neither comprehended nor in any way understood.
The concept of substance runs through all that is here
given; the atrophying of the substance of the astral plane, the merging of
"lightened" substance with that of other planes, the use of the
substance of light as a medium of spiritual destruction, and the bringing in of
the three types and qualities of the substance of the Spiritual Triad (in order
to liberate humanity) is never noted. Nevertheless, these three types of
substance (mental, buddhic and atmic) are all symbolized for us upon the Mount
of Crucifixion. There are also far deeper meanings to the well-known Gospel
symbolism than those which have been recognized or studied.
I have here, however,
thrown some light upon this second point of revelation, and much upon which you
could well ponder and reflect.
...
Discipleship in the New Age
II - Teachings on Initiation - Part IX Points of Revelation
We have already dealt
with two of the points of revelation and have therefore considered the two
which have reference to the first two initiations; these are taken upon the
physical and the astral planes respectively. At the second initiation, the
initiate begins for the first time (though in the most elementary form) to
employ the will aspect and - in the revelation accorded - he takes a major step
toward the third Initiation of the Transfiguration. This connotes the
transfiguration of the personality and its liberation from the alluring
imprisonment of the three worlds. Now he faces that great transitional
initiation and is confronted with the revelation which has been expressed for
its in the following words:
The
Monad is to the planetary Logos what the third eye is to man.
These are mysterious
words and can only be understood if brought into relation with the previous
revelation, involving the Will and the Law of Sacrifice.
It should be remembered that the Law of Sacrifice
(in its destroying aspect) is dominant during the second, the third and the
fourth initiations.
The significance of
these "destructive episodes which produce the freeing of the prisoner of
the planet" (i.e., the divine, spiritual man) lies in the fact that, after
the fourth initiation, the light of purpose is the sole controlling factor in
the career of the initiate; he enters then upon a stage wherein he steadily
approaches closer to the "center where the will of God is known." It
is an elementary revelation of the divine Purpose which is given at the third
initiation; only the first stage of that mysterious all-embracing Purpose is at
that time revealed; the remaining six initiations progressively reveal (to the
Master) the all-enfolding Purpose.
Earlier I told you
that three words should be considered in relation to the Points of Revelation:
Procedure, Location, Objective. All three of them are of use here in
considering the nature of the impending revelation.
The recognition of
these Points of Revelation falls automatically into two main procedures or
planned processes:
You can see from the
above how abstruse all this advanced teaching must necessarily remain - veiled
and protected in order to protect and guard the initiate. This dual procedure
in relation to the crucial moment in each of the initiations is always most
scrupulously guarded. The moment "wherein the initiate, standing upon the
point within the triangle and not upon the square," sees (in a flash of
time) the great aligning procedure which will carry him from the immediate point
of revelation on to the final glory, must and will be forever protected.
The location of this particular point of revelation is
on the mental plane; through the alignment of the concrete, lower mind, the Son
of Mind and the abstract mind, a direct channel for vision is created. The
medium of revelation at this initiation is the antahkarana, which is rapidly
being constructed and can thus prove the connecting link and the esoteric mode
of vision. The instrument of reception is the third eye which - for a moment -
is temporarily suspended from its task of directing energy upon the physical
plane and then becomes a stationary, receptive organ, turned inward toward the
higher light. The head center is therefore involved, and a secondary alignment
takes place between the ajna center, the head center and the soul body. All
this takes place at a high point during the third initiation; for the first
time in his personal history the initiate is completely [400] aligned and can
function straight through from the head center to the highest point of the
Spiritual Triad. You have, therefore, the reason for the sudden inflow of
transfiguring glory.
This is the objective of the initiation, and the
triangle of procedure, location and objective is created, flashes into being,
and then - at the close of the initiatory process - fades out, leaving however
a permanent, new, spiritual and instinctual trend towards monadic perception
and livingness.
...
Discipleship in the New Age
II - Teachings on Initiation - Part IX You will note,
therefore, how this information - by pointing out the attitude of the third eye
during this initiatory process and its new function in relation to the Monad -
throws fresh light upon the work of the Monad. This third eye is now receptive
to light from the highest source, is arresting in its outward-going activity
and functions like a lens for the reflection of light and for the attaining of
the highest possible inner vision for the particular point in evolution
reached. All this embodies an activity which (except in the case of the highest
initiates) remains very mysterious. However, a study of the use of the third
eye at the third initiation will bring illumination of the teaching that the
Monad is to the planetary Logos what the third eye (in its initiatory function)
is to the disciple of the third degree of initiation.
The Monad is the
source of light, not only to the human family, but it is the receiver of light from the threefold Sun; it is
the lens through which the light of the solar Logos can flow to the planetary
Logos, preserving and holding steady in that light the vision, the purpose, the
will and the creative intention of the planetary Logos.
More along this line I
may not convey to you. I can only give veiled suggestions and formulate for you
certain phrases or seed thoughts which (if duly considered and reflected upon)
will begin to train your perception and develop the third eye, enabling it to
reorient itself and change its function when the right time and the correct
emergency come.
I have told you that
these points of revelation are the germ or seed of a certain invocative
potency; this is especially true and correct where the teaching anent the third
eye is concerned. Initiation is not an abstract, mystical process to [401]
which the disciple is subjected upon some one or other of the subtler planes,
the knowledge of which must gradually seep through into his consciousness. This
may be partially true of the first two initiations (the Sirian initiations of
the threshold), but all the remaining initiations involve the whole man and
"three periodical vehicles," producing a steady fusion of these
three, an increasing reaction to the Light of the World, and an ability to
register in the physical brain (if the initiate is functioning through karma,
decision or service in the physical body) that which is undergone; in this
registration process the third eye is acutely involved. From the time of the
third initiation this third eye is subjected to training and begins to function
in the two following ways:
You will note,
therefore, the fresh significance that these ideas give to the three stages
which accompany the points of revelation: the Stage of Penetration, the Stage
of Polarization, and the Stage of Precipitation. The inferences to be drawn I
shall leave you to work out for yourselves after due study of the teaching.
Passing on to the
fourth Point of Revelation, we find it covered in the following words:
"Purpose
itself is only an energy, released within the Council Chamber at Shamballa.
There it must take shape."
This point of
revelation carries the initiate to one of the highest points of contemplation;
we are here concerned with his sudden apprehension - at the fourth Initiation
of Renunciation - of another phase of the divine, conditioning Will. He has
begun to recognize and to interpret - even though in [402] an elementary
fashion compared to what he will recognize at the ninth initiation - the
destroying aspect of the Will as it expresses itself through the Law of Sacrifice. Now, for the first time (as a
result of destruction), he can begin to grasp the essential building aspect of
this same Will and to appreciate his future function as a creative Builder. The
building here to be carried forward, I would remind you, is not the building
which is distinctive of the second divine aspect - that of Love-Wisdom. It is
strictly connected with that of the first aspect of Purpose, Power or Will; it
deals with the processes which precede the actual creative building, the
drawing up of the blueprints (if I may use such a term) "within the
confines of Shamballa," where high spiritual Beings must lay their plans.
This is a different process to the creative building process, and is related to
a mysterious undertaking which is carried forward under the "Law of
Assembly."
The energy which is
employed and with which the initiate at this time makes his first and very
temporary contact is that which the planetary Logos employs as he gathers into
his ring-pass-not that extra-planetary substance which must progressively be
used, as the world of being and of forms makes progress under the Law of
Evolution. It must be remembered, for instance, that the planetary forms are
now composed of a much higher substance than in primeval days. It must also be
remembered that a great process of elimination is forever going on, accompanied
by a paralleling process of
substitution. That which is rejected and which is occultly thrown out as no longer
serving the purpose of the planetary Logos is replaced by that which "will
measure up to the purpose of the Father." It is this concept which has
been travestied and distorted by the Christian teaching anent the
"vicarious at-one-ment." This grew out of a basic confusion between
the Law of Sacrifice and the Law of
Assembly, and took place when any understanding of the nature of the Father remained
a supreme mystery; the whole process was then interpreted in terms of the first
and highest Aspect of the essential Trinity, of which man knew nothing, instead
of in terms of the second Aspect, the building, magnetic [403] aspect of Love.
We are - if it could be but realized - in process of reinterpreting and
rearranging what can be called "the doctrinal structure underlying the
relation between knowledge and wisdom." This involves the destruction of
old concepts such as the trinity of manifestation, and the assembly of those
new and more correct ideas which must inevitably be substituted for the old, as
the unfoldment of the first aspect is presented to the initiate upon the Path.
This, through certain later activities, will gradually seep downwards into the
consciousness of humanity, and the new world religion will be founded upon a
deeper spiritual perception of the Father or Life Aspect, in place of the
rapidly crystallizing vision of the Son or consciousness aspect.
...
Discipleship in the New Age II
- Teachings on Initiation - Part X Points of Revelation
You will have noted
from the previous instructions that these points of revelation are essentially
planetary in nature, even if they may have - at first reading and consideration
- an [424] individual connotation. These points of revelation concern the
Hierarchy and its intelligent appreciation of the second or love aspect; they
embody the fundamental realizations which the united group of Masters of the
Wisdom bring definitely and consciously into the radius of their awareness. As
this phase of their great work is carried forward, it frequently coincides with
the initiatory processes which are being applied to initiates and disciples;
they then become - if they are capable of the necessary understanding -
participators in this great hierarchical activity. You will also note that each
of these points of revelation can be phrased in such a manner that awareness of
basic and fundamental law is conveyed to the student.
We have, therefore, in
these five points of revelation, the expression of five hierarchical laws; it
is interesting to realize that only the first point of revelation has been
formulated into a law capable of ordinary human comprehension; this is the law
that "energy follows thought" and that "the eye directs that
energy." Mankind has reached the stage where comprehension of this first
point of revelation is becoming possible and two factors have made this
possible:
Again, if you pause to
think, you can see the processes of invocation and evocation in action.
The second, third and
fourth points of revelation are (symbolically speaking) still retained within
the Halls of Initiation, and their expression upon the physical plane - as an
understandable law - still lies ahead and is subject to future elucidation. The
second point will soon be capable of expression in the three worlds, because
men are slowly coming to the realization of the nature of the will and the
right place [425] and proper reality of sacrifice
in the divine scheme of revelation.
The fifth point of
revelation is worded as follows:
"When
the light of the seven Rays is blended with that of the seventh Ray, then light
supernal can be known."
The implications
attendant upon this fifth point are amazing at the first glance, and they
demand an immediate recognition of the two factors of time and space.
The significances which are implicit in this point may be clearer if
I paraphrase the statement and thus give you a sense of significance which will
give you understanding. When the energy of the light of all the rays can
express themselves through the medium of the seventh ray, then the highest
aspect of the divine light can penetrate down into the physical plane. This
must be obviously a most difficult statement for you to grasp, but it is also a
statement of fundamental truth.
In an earlier
instruction I pointed out that three ideas were involved in grasping the
significance of these points of revelation and - once you have grasped them -
they are beautifully clear and simple. The Procedure
required for the manifestation of "light supernal" takes
place when a transitory point of synthesis is reached and the seven energies
are blended into one great energetic Light. These seven energies have ever, untidely,
created the "light supernal" upon the highest levels of divine
expression, but that revealing light only finds Location when the seventh Ray of Ceremonial Order is active
and in process of manifestation in the three worlds, and necessarily, therefore,
upon the seventh plane, the physical plane. Such a manifestation inevitably
takes place in moments of planetary crisis, when the seventh ray is active and
when the Sun is in Aquarius. Such a combination of relationships is being
established now, for the seventh ray is rapidly coming into manifestation and
the Sun is in Aquarius, for the Aquarian Age is just beginning. The Objective of this combination (which has
occurred six times during [426] the period of the fifth root-race) is to bring
about illumination and the establishment of order upon the Earth. The first
indication of the possibility of the effectiveness of these divine proposals
was the giving out of the New Invocation; its potency was so great that right
conditions had to be considered
before its enunciation was possible. That was the first step in the planned
precipitation of the "light supernal"; the second step will be the
reappearance of the Great Lord, who will act as the lens through which the
light can be focused and adapted to human need. Conditions are rapidly being
brought about whereby this great event of light distribution will be possible.
The Christ can and does function now upon
the atmic plane and embodies within himself the great Point of Revelation which
has been expressed by me in the words: "The Will is an expression of the
Law of Sacrifice." The invocation
now mounting from humanity to that high Place where dwells the Christ is, at
this time, focused in or originates upon the plane of the emotions; because of
this, we find the words in the Scriptures that at the end of the age "the Desire of all Nations" will come
forth. The movement to bring him - from the angle of the masses - emanates,
therefore, from the astral plane. The plans for his coming are being laid in
the higher correspondence of that plane, the buddhic plane, or the plane of
pure reason.
...
Discipleship in the New Age
II - Personal Instructions to Disciples - R.A.J. August 1942
...
Discipleship in the New Age
II - Personal Instructions to Disciples - R.S.U. November 1944
MY BROTHER:
The past year has seen
much change in your life, and for this I earlier sought to prepare you; it is
change which is largely in the nature of release and of a freeing for
more effective service. In reviewing what I said to you last year (and this I
have carefully done in order to help you more effectively in the process of
adjustment which faces you) I am impressed with the nature and scope of the
information which I saw fit to impart to you. I wonder if the implications of
what I said made due impression upon your mind? The following information was given you:
These are four of the
more important facts which I earlier gave you and I recall them to your
attention, owing to their major significances in providing vision of
possibility and of necessity.
The future holds much
of true service and opportunity for you, and in the place where your heart
lies. When you have successfully and rightly freed yourself from other claims,
I would urge you to look forward with joyful anticipation to a fuller and a
richer life. A great Law of Compensation comes into play in a peculiar manner
and along special lines where accepted disciples are concerned. The emphasis
laid upon discipline, upon purification, upon hard demanding work and upon
relinquishing that which the personality holds dear, is a needed phase of
occult development. This is generally and often sadly recognized. But -
paralleling the period of pain and difficulty - is a compensatory activity of
the soul which brings all life and circumstance into true perspective and
changes attitudes so completely that the recognition of adequate reward
supersedes the realization of pain. The Law of Sacrifice
and the Law of Compensation are closely allied, but the first to become active
in the life and to become a recognized factor in daily living is sacrifice. Compensation comes later into recognition.
You have, my beloved
brother, lived a full and rich life; you have been brought into contact with
thousands of [613] people of all degrees, religions and points of view;
you have known a family life, oft of great pressures but also of frequent
happiness; you have fulfiled your duties and adhered to your obligations. Along
with all the many impacts upon your life and the many demands upon you, you
have successfully endeavored to live the dual life of the disciple, to serve me
and participate, as far as you could see it, in the work of my Ashram. There
have been failures, and of these I have not hesitated to tell you oft.
There still remains
the conscious refining of the physical vehicle in order to enable you, in your
next incarnation, to step into the ring-pass-not of the Ashram of the Chohan
K.H. No one can do this for you. In your present circumstances it should be
easy for you to apply that desired and recognized discipline - a discipline of
such a practical nature that you need not that I should outline it for you. It
is one that can and should be gradually applied; this method is more likely to
be successful than a rigidly outlined and forcefully demanded procedure and
life of physical sacrifice, which might
succeed but which might, however, land you in another "field of
failure."
Your place in relation
to my work in the world is well recognized by you and I would have you remember
that your major spiritual responsibility is essentially work that is close to
my heart. Each soul you touch in the carrying out of these duties is placed in
a particular and peculiar relation to you. Why, my brother? Because, as a
member of my Ashram and as one who is approaching the more important Ashram of
K.H., you can and do, by the fact of your relation to these aspirants and
students, bring them en rapport with hierarchical force. This you should
remember, and also bear in mind that the effects of implementing this
relationship will be both good and bad. Contact with any disciple acts as a
precipitating agency, evoking that which is good and bringing to the surface
that which is undesirable and which needs revealing, in order to bring about
its rejection. This force and responsibility you need to handle with more
conscious understanding. Shrink not from the results, but see to it that
reaction to contact with you and with your band of associates, [614] does have definite results. To handle
these reactions was something which A.A.B. had to learn both to understand and
use; you must learn also, brother of mine.
I will be in touch
with you increasingly as you bring the physical vehicle into a greater degree
of purity and refinement. You are, in any case, sensitive to my impression.
Move onward into light and find me ever there.
...
Education in the New Age -
Chapter II - The Process of Unfoldment The Process of Unfoldment
I would like to add to
the preceding analogy one more, which will serve to clarify the process of
unfoldment in your minds and make the entire theme (from the racial angle)
still more clear and definite:
General
racial development Civilization Path of Purification Training of the
Intelligentsia Culture Path of Discipleship Production of the
Illuminati Illumination Path of Initiation It will be apparent to
you, therefore, that the whole goal of the future and of the present effort, is
to bring humanity to the point where it - occultly speaking - "enters into
light." The entire trend of the present urge forward, which can be noted
so distinctly in the race, is to enable the race to acquire knowledge, to
transmute it into wisdom by the aid of the understanding, and thus to become
"fully enlightened." Enlightenment
is the major goal of education.
It is precisely in
this region of thought and of recognition that the distinction is found between
the work of the Buddha and the work of the Christ. The Buddha achieved
"Enlightenment" and was the first of our humanity to do so. Lesser
grades of enlightenment have been frequently achieved by many previously
incarnating Sons of God. Christ, because of the attainment of the Buddha and
because of His own point in evolution, was enabled to inaugurate a new era and
institute a new goal, wherein another divine principle was enabled to come into
manifestation and to achieve [53] general recognition. He inaugurated the
"age of love" and gave to the people an expression of a new divine
aspect, that of love. The Buddha culminated the "age of knowledge."
The Christ began the "age of love." Both ages embody and express two
major divine principles. Thus the new education has been made possible by the
work of the Buddha. This will indicate to you how slowly evolution moves. The
new religion has been made possible by the work and the life of the Christ.
Speaking esoterically, the knowledge petals of the human egoic lotus have
unfolded, and the Buddha accelerated the rapid action of this happening. Now
the love petals of the egoic lotus of the human family are also unfolding the
rapidity of this occurrence being the result of Christ's action. Can you
understand the significance of what I am attempting to tell you, and can you
grasp the meaning of what I am going to say?
The points that I am
seeking to make are as follows:
Because the three
knowledge petals of the human egoic lotus are now racially unfolded (and when I
use the word "racial" I mean the human family and not the Aryan
race), it is now possible for the love petals to unfold. The energy flowing
from the outer tier of petals has had a triple effect:
The first of these
three knowledge petals opened in Lemurian times and brought a measure of light
to the physical plane consciousness of humanity. The second opened in Atlantean
times and brought light to the astral plane. And in our race, the Aryan, the
third petal opened and brought the light of mental knowledge to man. Thus was
completed (in the three races) the arduous task of vitalizing the threefold
manifested world (physical, astral, mental), and the energy of intelligence
became a powerful, ruling factor. Now the task of vitalizing man with the
energy of love is proceeding and making much progress, and the effects (because
they emanate from the second aspect of divinity) will be produced with great
facility, and in the realm of conscious awareness. I say this for your encouragement.
Through the activity
of the energy of knowledge you have:
Civilization - Culture - Illumination
and in the second case
you will have:
Cooperation - Loving Understanding - Group Love.
There are higher
correspondences for which we have as yet no adequate words.
Cooperative
goodwill is all that can, at this time, be expected from the masses, and this is
the sublimation of the forces released through civilization. Loving understanding should be the
hallmark of the cultured, wiser group, plus an ability to correlate the world
of meaning with the world of outer effects. Ponder on this sentence. Group love is, and must be, the
outstanding characteristic of the Illuminati of the world, and it is at this
time the motivating power of the Masters of the Wisdom, until such time that
enough disciples are expressive of this particular force. [55]
...
The Externalization of the
Hierarchy - Section I - Introductory Remarks
Responding
to my appeal will involve sacrifice, but
all who grasp the Plan are today spending themselves in the effort to lift
humanity up to another rung of the ladder and into greater light. Their hands
need strengthening, their work needs helping, and there is not one of you who
cannot do more than you are doing, through the aid of meditation, money and
thought, to salvage the world, to educate public opinion and so bring in the
New Day.
...
The Externalization of the
Hierarchy - Section II - The General World Picture-P.126
The
lines of cleavage have grown steadily until now they can be expressed in terms
of a humanity which is oriented towards the higher spiritual and altruistic
values and whose keynotes are sacrifice,
group good and world understanding, and those whose focus is predominantly
material and whose aims are selfish, animated by ambition and the spirit of
acquisition.
...
The Externalization of the
Hierarchy - Section II - The General World Picture We come now to the last two phrases which summarize the effects -
synthetic and eternal (and consequently lasting) which the establishment of
direct relationship with Shamballa will produce in the two other planetary
centers, the Hierarchy and Humanity. I refer to effects which will express
themselves as a group activity, motivated by the essential values of
selflessness and persistent effort (which is sustained concentration, in the
last analysis) and thereby producing conditions for which the Lord of the
World, the Ancient of Days, has long waited. The patience and sustaining love of Shamballa is infinite.
The fourth phrase
runs: May forgiveness on the
part of all men be the keynote at this time. As you know, the word
"forgiveness" is a curious and unusual one and signifies (according
to the best derivative sources) simply "to give for." Forgiveness is not therefore, a synonym for pardon though
the word has been distorted in theological circles to mean this, so little has
the Church understood the basic, motivating power behind divine expression in
our solar system. Theologians ever think in terms of the human mind and not in
terms of the divine mind. Forgiveness is sacrifice,
and is the giving up of one's self, even of one's very life,
for the sake of others and for the good of the whole group. This spirit of sacrifice is ever found when the Shamballa
force is rightly contacted, even in the smallest degree, and the underlying
impulse behind the loving will of God is sensed and understood, accompanied as
this always is with the desire to participate in that will and its spirit of
divine sacrifice. Manifestation is
itself the Great Forgiveness. The [166] stupendous Lives - outside manifested
existence - entered into manifestation in order to give Themselves for the
lesser lives and forms of existence in order that these lesser lives might be
enabled to proceed onward towards a goal which is known to Deity alone, and
thus eventually reach high places of spiritual expression. Achievement is ever
followed by sacrifice and the giving of
the greater for the lesser. This is an aspect of the Law of Evolution. Such is
the note and theme of the entire creative process and is the basic meaning of
the phrase, "God is Love," for love signifies giving and sacrifice, at least in this solar system.
It is for this reason
that the esoteric teaching emphasizes the fact that the soul of man is a Lord
of Sacrifice and of loving persistent
Devotion - the two outstanding qualities of the Shamballa Lives, sustaining
life and giving. This is lasting devotion to the good of the whole or the
expression of the spirit of synthesis and sacrifice
in order again that all lesser lives (such as those embodied in the personality
of man) may rise to the "resurrection which is in Christ," through
the crucifixion or sacrifice of the soul
upon the Cross of Matter.
It is this thought
again which gives significance to the life of Christ on earth for He re-enacted
for us an eternal process, externalizing it in such a way that it became the
symbol of the motive of the entire manifested universe and the impulse which
should direct each of us - crucifixion and death, resurrection and life, and the
consequent salvation of the whole.
It is this thought
which is embodied in the challenge of this fourth phrase of the Great
Invocation, and means literally, "May all men everywhere respond to the
keynote of the universe and give themselves for others."
...
The Externalization of the
Hierarchy - Section II - The General World Picture And, is not this in a faint and dim manner, the present keynote of human
effort? In spite of a real inability to think truly, effectively and
intuitively, the mass of men in all lands are responding clearly and definitely
to this note of sacrifice. Leaders of
the great nations everywhere are using this note and call to sacrifice in their appeals at this time to
[167] their peoples. Men in Germany were called to battle by their leaders with
the challenge of sacrifice and told that
they must give their lives in order that Germany may live. A study of the
speeches by the German leaders will be found to contain this note. The other
group, whom you call the Allies (because they stand more specifically for the
good of the whole and not for the good of the separated nation or unit) are
also calling the masses of their people to fight for the good of civilization
and for the preservation of those values which are next upon the evolutionary
scale and essential to the general good. The wording of these calls and the
objectives expressed may differ in formulation but the theme is the same and
the effect is to call forth the spirit of sacrifice
in the nations. Though the motives behind such a call may be mixed and the
leaders guided as much by expediency and selfish, national interests as by the
general good, yet they know that the note which will evoke an immediate
response from the unit and the individual is fundamentally the good of the larger
unit (the nation or the group of nations). Therefore, forgiveness or sacrifice in order to save others is
increasingly the recognized needed keynote at this time and in this recognition
lies much to justify the sorry story of past evolutionary processes and
methods. When it is recognized that the "giving-for" involves right living upon the physical plane and
not (as is so often thought) the dying of
the physical body then we shall see a revitalized world. It is the living
Christ (the living world Savior)
Who saves humanity. It is the sacrifice,
day by day, in the process of daily living which can save the world of men -
the sacrifice of selfish personal
interests for the good of the whole and the giving up of one's practical life
to the salvage of the world. It is living in order that others too may live
which is the theme of the New Testament. When, therefore, the mode of sacrifice enters into the realm of the subtler
and subjective values and the true meaning of forgiveness is intellectually,
practically and spiritually comprehended, the New Age will be abundantly
realized with its truly human civilization and a culture which will embody
[168] the realities of the esoteric teaching, as well as the best of the
externalized past. Then and only then will the new esotericism be revealed to a
race of men who have made aspiration a fact in their outer experience. The
attitude of the masses in the present conflict is the guarantee of this and the
proof also of the success of Christ's mission.
The result of what is
happening today must, sooner or later, produce an at-one-ment between all
nations and peoples. At-one-ment is ever (under evolutionary law) the
consequence of sacrifice. Of this,
Christ's sacrifice was the symbol and
the guarantee, impulsed as His life and activities were by the Spirit of Peace.
As He made "of twain, one new man, so making peace" (Ephesians 2:15)
so today out of the duality of soul and body, humanity is achieving the same
ends and the result of this final stage of the Piscean Age will be the fusion in consciousness of soul and body.
The Aquarian Age will demonstrate an increasing expression of this at-one-ment,
wrought out in the crucifixion of humanity at the present time. The difference
between this coming stage and that of the past is that, in the past, the soul
has sought this development and at-one-ment and (from the angle of evolution)
it has been slowly and gradually attained, but in the future, it will be
consciously sought, achieved and recognized by man upon the physical plane as a
result of the present period of "giving-for" the whole, of the best
which the individual can give.
...
The Externalization of the
Hierarchy - Section III - Forces behind the Evolutionary Process The first great Approach of the divine to man caused the appearance of
the human soul and the adding of another kingdom in nature to the three
(mineral, vegetable and animal) already existing. The kingdom of man appeared
on Earth.
Aeons passed away
whilst primitive man continued to evolve, and then the second great Approach
took place and the Spiritual Hierarchy of our planet drew nearer to humanity;
the spiritual Way to God was opened for those who consciously can move forward,
who can definitely demonstrate the Christ spirit, and who earnestly seek
enlightenment and liberation. The true appeal of Christ's words: "Ye shall
know the truth and the truth shall make you free" urges them to move
forward into the light, through the gate of initiation and on to that path
which [410] "shineth ever more and more until the perfect day." At
the time of the second great Approach, the fact of the existence of the
Spiritual Hierarchy, of the open door to initiation and of the Way of Sacrifice first dawned on the human
consciousness; from that moment men have found the Way and have moved out of
the human kingdom into the spiritual; they have transformed their human
consciousness into divine awareness. The kingdom of man and the kingdom of God
were brought into relationship. Religion became a factor in the development of
the human spirit and God drew nearer to His Own. God Transcendent first
conditioned man's concept of Deity. Then God as the national controller took
possession of man's mind, and the Jehovah concept (as depicted in the Jewish
dispensation) appeared; next God was seen as the perfected human being, and the
divine God-man walked the Earth in the person of the Christ. Today, we have a
rapidly growing emphasis on God Immanent in every human being. Such have been
the results of the second great Approach and such have been the results of the
work of the world Saviors and Teachers down the ages, culminating in the work
of Christ, Who summed up in Himself the unfoldments of the past and the hope of
the future.
A third great Approach
is now possible and will take place once the world war is over and man -
purified by fire and suffering - has set his house in order and is ready,
therefore, for a new revelation. For this coming revelation the work of the
Buddha and of the Christ has been preparatory. They embodied in Themselves two
lesser Approaches, and through Their united effort, humanity throughout the
world has been prepared to play its part in this third Approach.
The Buddha came
embodying in Himself a great divine principle or quality. He was the Conveyor
of Enlightenment to the world; He was the Lord of Light. As is always the case,
He re-enacted in Himself, for the instruction of His disciples, the processes
of illumination and became the "Illumined One." We are told in the
scriptures of India that He achieved illumination under the tree, just as Christ achieved the liberation of
the human spirit upon the tree [411]
set up on Golgotha. Light, wisdom, reason, as divine yet human attributes, were
focused in the Buddha. He proved the possibility of all men achieving this
illumination and of walking in the light. He challenged the people to tread the
Path of Illumination, of which wisdom, mental perception and intuition are the
aspects.
Then came the next
great Teacher, the Christ. He embodied in Himself a still greater divine principle
or aspect, that of Love, whilst at the same time embracing within Himself all
that the Buddha had of Light. Christ
was the expression of both Light and Love.
Through Their work,
therefore, there is now possible a deeper reaction to, and a broader comprehension
of the work and influence of those great Lives Who are waiting today to help
humanity. The work of these two Sons of God produced among many results the
following:
...
The Externalization of the
Hierarchy - Section IV - Stages in the Externalization
This
is an intensely practical message and calls for your renewed pledge to serve
humanity and to find your way into an Ashram where that service may be
directed. It calls for sacrifice until
it hurts, and where it touches you the most; it calls for a joyous sense of
unity with that station of power and light which we call the Hierarchy and
which stands ready - as never before - to share with humanity that power and
that light to the limit of human capacity to use it.
...
The Externalization of the
Hierarchy - Section IV - Stages in the Externalization 1.
The Inertia of the Average Spiritually-Minded Man
The average aspirant,
man of goodwill, or disciple, is constantly aware of the challenge of the times
and the opportunity which spiritual events may offer. The desire to do good and
to accomplish spiritual ends is ceaselessly gnawing away within his
consciousness. No one who loves his fellowmen, who has a dream of seeing the
Kingdom of [620] God materialize on earth, or who is conscious of the awakening
of the masses - slow though it may be - to the higher spiritual values, but is
thoroughly dissatisfied. He realizes that what he contributes of help to these
desirable objectives is little indeed. He knows that his spiritual life is a
side issue; it is something which he keeps carefully to himself and which he is
frequently afraid to mention to his nearest and his dearest; he tries to
dovetail his spiritual efforts into his ordinary outer life, struggling to find
time and opportunity for it in a gentle, futile and innocuous manner. He finds
himself helpless before the task of organizing and rearranging his affairs so
that the spiritual way of living may dominate; he searches for alibis for himself
and eventually rationalizes himself so successfully that he ends by deciding
that he is doing the best he can in the given circumstances. The truth is that
he is doing so little that probably one hour out of the twenty-four (or perhaps
two) would cover the time given to the Master's work; he hides behind the alibi
that his home obligations prevent his doing more, and he does not realize that
- given tact and loving understanding - his home environment can and must be
the field in which he triumphs; he forgets that there exist no circumstances in which the spirit of man can be defeated
or in which the aspirant cannot meditate, think, talk and prepare
the way for the coming of the Christ, provided he cares enough and knows the
meaning of sacrifice and silence. Circumstances and environment offer no true obstacle
to the spiritual life.
Perhaps he hides
behind the alibi of poor health, and frequently behind that of imaginary ills.
He gives so much time to the care of himself that the hours which could be
given to the Master's work are directly and seriously curtailed; he is so
preoccupied with feeling tired, or tending a cold, or with fancied heart
difficulties, that his "body consciousness" steadily develops until
it eventually dominates his life; it is then too late to do anything. This is
particularly the case with people who have reached their fiftieth year or over;
the trouble then is predominantly with women. It is [621] an alibi which it is
hard not to use, for many feel tired and ailing and this, as the years go by,
is apt to get worse. The only cure for the creeping inertia is to ignore the
body and take your joy in the livingness of service. This leads to a longer
life. I speak here not of definite disease or of serious physical liabilities;
to these right care and attention must be duly given; I speak to the thousands
of ailing men and women who are preoccupied with taking care of themselves, and
so waste hours of the time which could be given to the service of humanity. I
ask those who are seeking to tread the Path of Discipleship to release those
many hours spent in needless self-care into the service of the Hierarchy.
Still another alibi
leading to inertia is the fear people
have of speaking about the things of the Kingdom of God to others; they are afraid
of being rebuffed, or of being thought peculiar, or of intruding. They
therefore preserve silence, lose opportunity, and never discover how ready
people are for the discussion of realities, for the comfort and hope which the
thought of Christ's return can bring, or for the sharing of spiritual light.
This is essentially a form of spiritual cowardice, but it is so widespread that
it is responsible for the loss of millions of hours of world service.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Introductory Postulates II. There is a basic law called the Law of Periodicity.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Introductory Questions
16 In the Secret Doctrine we are told that there are seven branches of knowledge mentioned in the
Puranas. - S. D., I, 192.
Correspondences can
here be worked out in connection with:
The Gnosis, the hidden Knowledge, is the seventh
Principle, the six schools of Indian philosophy are the six principles - S. D., I, 299.
These six schools are:
The Gnosis or hidden
knowledge is the same as Atma vidya, or Theosophy, and includes the other six.
...
48 ...it is He, again,
who holds spiritual sway over the initiated Adepts throughout the whole world.
He is, as said, the "Nameless One" who has so many names, and yet
whose names and whose very nature are unknown. He is the 'Initiator,' called
the 'Great Sacrifice.' For, sitting at
the Threshold of Light, he looks into it from within the Circle of Darkness,
which he will not cross; nor will he quit his post till the last Day of this
Life-Cycle. Why does the Solitary Watcher remain at his self-chosen post? Why
does he sit by the Fountain of Primeval Wisdom, of which he drinks no longer,
for he has naught to learn which he does not know - aye, neither on this Earth,
nor in its Heaven? Because the lonely, sorefooted Pilgrims, on their journey
back to their Home, are never sure, to the last moment, of not losing their
way, in this limitless desert of Illusion and Matter called Earth-Life. Because
he would fain show the way to that region of freedom and light, from which he
is a voluntary exile himself, to every prisoner who has succeeded in liberating
himself from the bonds of flesh and illusion. Because, in short, he has sacrificed himself for the sake of Mankind,
though but a few elect may profit by the Great Sacrifice."
- S. D., I, 229.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division C - The Egoic Ray and Solar Fire 2. The
Twelve-Petalled Egoic Lotus
Solar Fire is dual. It
is the fire of matter or substance and the fire of mind blended. This makes man
the six-pointed Star of Light, for each of these fires is triple. The fire of
mind is also in essence dual, bringing in another triplicity, thus making the
nine. When a man has awakened the nine fires, and has unfolded the nine petals,
and when he has received the stimulus which is imparted at initiation, through
being brought into conscious contact with the
electric spark of his own particular Heavenly Man, they all blend and merge.
The [539] inner three which complete the twelve, and which are concerned with
the final, and essentially spiritual stages, of his evolution, are really
related more intimately to the evolution of the Heavenly Man, and are connected
with the stimulus which He receives Himself in contacting the logoic electric
spark, or the pure Spirit aspect of the Logos.
It should here be
noted that this ninefold development is hinted at in the Secret Doctrine in the various places
where H. P. B. deals with the Kumaras (S. D., II, 257.) or the Heavenly Men, of
Whom the microcosm is a reflection. She calls Them the Lords of Knowledge, the
Lords of Love and the Lords of Sacrifice.
Each of Them is a nine-petalled Lotus in the logoic body. They are the flaming
Wheels, and in Their various names, as found in the Secret Doctrine, may be discovered the clue to the mystery.
Let us realize this clearly, nevertheless, as regards the microcosm, and later
extend the idea to the Heavenly Men. Let us picture the nine-petalled egoic
lotus, the heart center in the monadic consciousness, unfolding each of its
petals in groups of three upon the three subplanes of the higher mental. Their
unfoldment is worked out through the evolutionary process, undergone on the three
planes in the three worlds, or within the three Halls of Ignorance, of
Learning, and of Wisdom.
a. First Group of Petals - Knowledge Petals:
b. Second Group of Petals - Love Petals:
c. Third Group of Petals - Sacrifice Petals:
The
causal body is then (expressed in terms of fire) a blazing center of heat,
radiating to its group warmth and vitality. Within the periphery of the egoic
wheel can be seen the nine spokes rotating with intense rapidity and - after
the third Initiation - becoming fourth dimensional, or the wheels "turn
upon" themselves. (Bible. Ezekiel, 1:15:21.) In the midst forming a
certain geometrical triangle (differing according to the ray of the Monad) can
be seen three points of fire, or the permanent atoms and the mental unit, in
all their glory; at the center can be seen a central blaze of glory growing in
intensity as the three inner petals respond to the stimulation. When the fire of matter, or "fire by
friction," becomes sufficiently intense; when the fire of mind, or solar
fire (which vitalizes the nine petals) becomes equally fierce, and when the
electric spark at the innermost center blazes out and can be seen, the [543]
entire causal body becomes radioactive. Then
the fires of substance (the vitality of the permanent atoms) escape from the
atomic spheres, and add their quota to the great sphere in which they are
contained; the fire of mind blends with its emanating source, and the central
life escapes. This is the great liberation. The man, in terms of human
endeavor, has achieved his goal. He has passed through the three Halls and in
each has transferred that which he gained therein to the content of his
consciousness; he has in ordered sequence developed and opened the petals of
the lotus - first opening the lower three, which involves a process covering a
vast period of time. Then the second series of petals are opened, during a
period of time covering his participation intelligently in world affairs until
he enters the spiritual kingdom at the first Initiation; and a final and
briefer period wherein the three higher or inner ring of petals are developed
and opened.
In closing what may be
said on this subject of the egoic Ray and fire of mind, I would request the
student to bear the following points in mind:
More on this is not
now possible, but enough has here been indicated to open up various lines of
study. These, if followed, will lead the student to much of practical value and
application.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals b.
Seven Systemic Laws
Subsidiary to the
three major laws, we find the seven laws of our solar system. Again we find the
law of analogy elucidating, and the three becoming the seven as elsewhere in
the logoic scheme. In each of these seven laws we find an interesting
correlation with the seven planes. They
are:
The Intermediate Law of Karma. - There is also an
intermediate law, which is the synthetic law of the system [570] of Sirius.
This law is called by the generic term, the Law of Karma, and really predicates
the effect the Sirian system has on our solar system. Each of the two systems,
as regards its internal economy, is independent in time and space, or (in other
words), in manifestation. We have practically no effect on our parent system,
the reflex action is so slight as to be negligible, but very definite effects
are felt in our system through causes arising in Sirius. These causes, when
experienced as effects, are called by us the Law of Karma, and at the beginning
they started systemic Karma which, once in effect, constitutes that which is
called Karma in our occult and oriental
literature.
The Lipika Lords of
our system, the systemic Lords of Karma, are under the rule of a greater
corresponding Lord on Sirius.
We have therefore:
As we have been told,
our seven major vibrations are the vibrations of the lowest cosmic plane; there
is our habitat. Our Logos Himself, the heart of His system, is on the cosmic
astral plane; he is polarized there. Just as the units of the fourth Creative
Hierarchy, the human, are evolving through the use of physical bodies, but are
polarized at this time in their astral vehicles, so we have seen that the
objective solar system forms the physical body of the Logos, though His polarity
is in His astral body. It is significant that in this greater manvantara, the
Logos is to take the fourth cosmic Initiation. A hint which may enlighten lies
in the correspondence which exists between this statement and the [571] fourth
root-race development, and this, the fourth or astral round. 81
The system of the
Sirian Logos is on the cosmic mental plane, and in a subtle way,
incomprehensible to us, our Logos, with His system, forms a part of a still
greater Logos. This does not involve loss of identity, though the matter is too
abstruse to express more adequately. It is in this analogy that the basic idea
can be found of all teaching given out about the Grand Heavenly Man. The whole
conception of these laws is bound up in this idea. We have the three laws of
the cosmic higher planes, holding in a synthesis of beauty the greater and the
lesser system. Next we have the great law of Sirius, the Law of Karma, on the
third subplane of the cosmic mental plane, which law really controls our Logos,
and His actions, in the same way as the ego - in due course of evolution -
controls the human personality.
We need to remember
that, under the Law of Correspondences, we shall have a relationship in the
Cosmos, similar to that existing in the microcosm between the ego and the
personality. The suggestion holds much that we might consider with benefit. We
must not, however, carry the analogy too far; as we have not yet evolved to
where we have planetary consciousness, still less systemic, how can we really
expect even to conceive of the A B C of cosmic truth? Just broad hints, wide
conceptions, and generalities, are as yet possible. Of one thing we can be
sure, and that is that identity ever
remains.
Let me explain by
illustration:
Each one of us, in due
process of evolution, forms part of one of the Heavenly Men, Who Themselves
form the [572] seven centers in that greater Heavenly Man, the Logos. Yet,
though we are merged with the whole, we do not lose our identity, but forever
remain separated units of consciousness, though one with all that lives or is.
In like manner our Logos loses not His identity, even though He forms part of
the Consciousness of the Logos of Sirius. In His turn, the Sirian Logos forms
one of the seven Grand Heavenly Men, who are the centers in the body of ONE OF
WHOM NOUGHT MAY BE SAID.
81 The present Round, which is the fourth, is the one
in which desire, or response to contact and sensation is being brought to its
fullest expression. In the next round, the fifth, the fifth principle of mind,
or manas, will reach fruition.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals 3.
The Law of Disintegration
This is the law that
governs the destruction of the form in order that the indwelling life may shine
forth in fullness. It is another aspect of the Law of Cohesion - the reverse
side (if one might so express it), and is just as much a part of the divine
plan as that of attraction. It is one of the laws that ends with the solar
system, for the great laws of attraction, cohesion and love last on into that
which is to come. The Law of Disintegration has its correspondence in cosmic
law, but it is almost incomprehensible to us. The Law of Economy holds the key
to this law. When the Monad has circled through all disintegrating forms, and
has achieved the sixth Initiation, it is resolved into its primal monadic
source, and the five lesser sheaths are destroyed. Later on the Monads
themselves are synthesized, not disintegrated. This law controls only from the
third plane, and ceases action in this particular fashion when the third plane
is transcended.
This law is one of the
most difficult for the race to understand. Some of its workings (those on the
path of evolution), can be seen and somewhat comprehended, but on the path of
involution, or of construction, the working out of the law is not so apparent
to the superficial observer.
On the path of
involution it controls the process of the [581] breaking up of group souls; it
governs the periods when the permanent triads are transferred from one form to
another; it works through the great world cataclysms, and we need to remember
that it governs, not only the physical plane catastrophes (as we erroneously
term them), but the corresponding cataclysms on the astral plane, and the lower
levels of the mental plane. It governs physical plane disruptions, especially
those affecting the mineral world; it controls the disintegration, on the
astral plane, of thought-forms; it dissolves the astral vehicle when left
behind, and the mental likewise. The dissipation of the etheric double is the
result of its working.
Again we can correlate
this law with that of Attraction, for the two interact upon each other. This
law breaks up the forms, and the Law of Attraction draws back to primal sources
the material of those forms, prior to rebuilding them anew.
On the path of
evolution the effects of this law are well known, not only in the destruction
of the discarded vehicles touched upon above, but in the breaking up of the
forms in which great ideals are embodied, - the forms of political control, the
forms in which nature itself evolves, apart from those in which individual
consciousness manifests, the great religious thought-forms, the philanthropic
concepts and all the forms which science, art, and religion take at any one
particular time. All eventually break
under the working of this law.
Its workings are more
apparent to the average human mind in its manifestations at this time on the
physical plane. We can trace the connection between the atmic and the physical
plane (demonstrating on the lower plane as the law of sacrifice and death), but its effect can be seen on all the five
planes as well. It is the law that destroys the final sheath that separates the
perfected Jiva. It has not yet been fully brought out [582] (for the law of
correspondences has been little studied, nor is it readily apparent) that on
the third subplane of each plane this law works in a special manner, causing a
very definite breaking-up of something that is tending to separation. Like all
that works in the system, the process is slow; the work of disintegration
begins on the third subplane, and is finished on the second, when the Law of
Disintegration comes under the influence of the Law of Cohesion, the disintegration
having effected that which makes cohesion possible. We can see an illustration
of this on the mental plane. The causal body of the average man is on the third
subplane, and as a man becomes fit for the merging into the Triad, that causal
body has to be discarded and done away with. Under the Law of Sacrifice and Death, the disintegration is
begun on the third level and is consummated on the second, when the man merges
with the Triad, preparatory to the final merging with the Monad.
Another illustration
of the same thing can be found on the physical plane. When a man has reached
the point where he can sense and see the fourth ether, he is ready for the
burning away of the etheric web, which has its location midway between the
third and second subplane matter which composes his physical body. When this
disintegration is effected, the man merges with his astral vehicle,
establishing a consequent continuity of consciousness. This correspondence, and
this disintegration, can be traced on each plane, till finally on the atmic
level on its third subplane comes the final disintegration, which results in a
merging with the monadic consciousness.
The third Ray, that of
adaptability or activity, has a close connection with this law. It is through
activity (or the adaptation of matter to need), that the form comes into being;
through activity it is employed, and through that very adaptation it becomes a
perfect form, [583] and at the moment of perfection loses its usefulness; it
crystallizes, breaks, and the evolving life escapes to find for itself new
forms of greater capacity and adequacy. It is so in the life of the
reincarnating Ego; it is so in the rounds and races of humanity; it is so in
the solar system; it is so in all cosmic processes.
In the third chain,
the moon chain, we have an interesting related fact. On the moon chain the
point of attainment for the individual was the arhat or fourth Initiation, -
the initiation which marks the final breaking with the three worlds, and the
disintegration of the egoic body.
At the end of the
third root-race came the first of the great cataclysms that broke the race
form, and inaugurated a new one, for it was the first definitely human race as
we now know it. The analogy will be found to hold good no matter from what
angle the subject may be studied. In the third subrace a correspondence can be
traced, though it is not yet apparent to the circumscribed vision which
characterizes most of us. Close proximity to an
effect often veils a cause.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals The
Laws in the Three Worlds
We will now take up
and briefly study the three most important laws affecting the evolving human
being, as he lives his life in the three worlds. These laws are:
These laws are all
dominated and controlled eventually by the three higher laws in the system -
the Laws of Magnetic Control, of Disintegration, and of Cohesion. There is a
direct connection between these seven laws and the seven Rays or Vibrations,
and if we study the correspondence we shall recognize the fact that the first
law, that of Vibration, is the controlling law of the six, demonstrating
through the second law, that of Cohesion, just as the solar Logos is at this
time manifesting Himself through His second aspect in this the second solar
system.
The first Ray of Will
or Power is the first aspect of the All-self, and in the third outpouring, 83
came [587] down to the fifth plane, along with the other monads. A subtle
correspondence exists between the monads of Will on the fifth plane, the fifth
law, and the fifth Ray.
The second Ray or the
Love-Wisdom aspect wields a control on the fourth and sixth planes, and
dominates the Laws of Cohesion and Magnetic Control, and the astral Law of
Love. There is a direct interlinking between the abstract Rays and the laws of
the planes where they specially control.
The third Ray which is
the Activity aspect, controls the Laws of Disintegration and of Death, on the
third and seventh planes.
Therefore, it will be
apparent to the careful student of the wisdom that:
It is logical for the
first Ray only to have control, as yet, on two planes, for the Power Aspect
waits for another system in order to demonstrate in full development. Ray two,
the synthetic Ray for our system, [588] controls on three planes; it has the
preponderance, for paramountly we are the Monads of Love, and Love is our
synthesis. Ray three, the dominant Ray of the system which is past, its
synthetic Ray, controls on two planes, and on one that is little understood,
for, just as the physical body is not considered a principle, so there is a
sphere of activity that is not included in our enumeration, it is past and
gone. Some explanation of this lies hid in the occult words, "The Eighth
Sphere."
In regard to the four
minor Rays of Harmony, Concrete Science, Devotion and Ceremonial Order, their
control exists in degrees on all the planes, but they have their particular
emphasis in the evolution of the reincarnating ego in the three worlds at this
time. These four Rays control, in a subtle and peculiar manner, the four
kingdoms of nature - mineral, vegetable, animal and human - and at their
merging into the three Rays of Aspect (the Activity Ray of the Mahachohan being
the synthesizer of the lower four in our planetary scheme) have a
correspondence with the merging of man (the product of the three kingdoms and
the fourth) into the superman kingdom, the spiritual. The fourth Ray and the
fourth Kingdom form a point of harmony for the lower three, and all four then
pass into the major or upper three. This is worthy of our serious thought, and
the analogy of the fourth plane will also be apparent. For this system, the
buddhic plane, the human kingdom, and the fourth Ray of Harmony or Beauty or
Synthesis, have a point of correspondence, just as the fourth root-race is the
one in which the synthesis is first observed - the door into the fifth kingdom
of Spirit being then opened; the fourth root-race also developed the astral
capacity that made contact with the fourth or buddhic level possible.
In a subtle way too (I
use the word subtle for lack of a better, meaning a statement of actuality that
seems an [589] illusion), the three minor Rays, Concrete Science, Devotion and
Ceremonial Law, have each a connection with the three kingdoms of nature below
the human, and with the three laws of the three lower worlds.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals 7.
The Law of Sacrifice and Death
This law links itself
to the third law, that of Disintegration following the connection that always
exists between the atmic and the physical plane. The Law of Disintegration
controls the fivefold destruction of forms in the five lower worlds, and the
Law of Death controls similarly in the three worlds. It is subsidiary to the
third law. The Law of Sacrifice is the
Law of Death in the subtle bodies, whilst what we call death is the analogous
thing in the physical body. This law governs the gradual disintegration of
concrete forms and their sacrifice to
the evolving life, and is closely linked in its manifestation with the seventh
Ray. This Ray is the one that largely controls, that manipulates, that
geometrizes and that holds sway over the form side, governing the elemental
forces of nature. The physical plane is the most concrete exemplification of
the form side; it holds the divine
life imprisoned or [597] enmeshed at its densest point, and it works at this
time in line with the seventh law. In a mysterious way this law is the reverse
side of the first, or the Law of Vibration. It is Vulcan and Neptune in
opposition, which is as yet an almost incomprehensible thing for us. The
densest form of expression on the physical plane is after all but a form of
synthesis; just as the rarest form of expression on the highest plane is but
unity or synthesis of a finer kind. One is the synthesis of matter, and the
other the synthesis of life.
This law governs the
seventh chain in each scheme; each chain having achieved the fullest expression
possible in the scheme, comes under the Law of Death, and obscuration and
disintegration supervenes. In a cosmic sense and analogy, it is the law that
governs the coming in of pralaya at the end of a system. It is the law that
shatters the cross of the cosmic Christ, and places the form of the Christ
within the tomb for a period of time.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals b. On
Individualization
(a.) The Work of the Solar Angels
Let us briefly
consider the general construction of the body of the Ego enumerating its
component parts and bearing in mind that the form is ever prepared prior to
occupancy. From the study of this body, we can get some idea of, and some light
upon macrocosmic Individualization.
The causal body,
called sometimes (though inaccurately) the "karana sarira," has its place
on the third subplane of the mental plane, the lowest abstract plane, and the
one whereon the Ray of the third Logos provides the necessary "light for
construction." (This is because each subplane comes specially under the
influence of its Number, Name, or Lord.) When the hour [708] strikes and the
vehicles for buddhi are to be coordinated certain great Beings, Lords of the
Flame, or Manasadevas, through driving external force, come in conjunction with
the material of that subplane, and vitalize it with Their Own energy. They form
a new and positive impulse which coordinates the material of the plane and
produces a temporary balancing of forces. Hence the meaning of the
"white," or transparent condition of the new causal body. It remains
with the newborn ego first to upset the equilibrium, and then to regain it, at
the close of the process, producing a radiant form, full of primal colors.
At the coming in of
the Manasadevas to produce self-consciousness and to bring about the
incarnation of the divine Egos, four things occur on that plane. If the student
adds to these four those which have been already imparted in various occult
books anent the effect of individualization on animal man and his appearance as
a self-conscious identity on the physical plane, a working hypothesis is
provided whereby man can scientifically undertake his own unfoldment. These
four are given in the order of their appearance in time and space:
First. There appear upon the third subplane of
the mental plane certain vibratory impulses - nine in number - corresponding to
the fivefold vibration of these Manasadevas in conjunction with the fourfold
vibration set up from below and inherent in the matter of this subplane, the
fifth from the lower standpoint. This produces "the ninefold egoic
lotus," which is at this stage tightly closed, the nine petals folded one
upon the other. They are vibrant, and scintillating "light" but not
of excessive brightness. These "lotus buds" are in groups, according
to the influence of the particular ones of the fivefold Dhyanis Who are acting
upon it and Who form it out of Their own substance, coloring it faintly with
the "fire of manas." [709]
Second. There appears a triangle on the mental
plane, produced by manasic activity, and this triangle of fire begins slowly to
circulate between the manasic permanent atom, and a point at the center of the
egoic lotus, and thence to the mental unit, which has appeared upon the fourth
subplane through innate instinct approximating mentality. This triangle of
fire, which is formed of pure electrical manasic force, waxes ever brighter
until it produces an answering vibration from both the lower and the higher.
This triangle is the nucleus of the antahkarana. The work of the highly evolved
man is to reduce this triangle to a unity, and by means of high aspiration
(which is simply transmuted desire affecting mental matter) turn it into the
Path and thus reproduce in a higher synthetic form the earlier "path"
along which the descending Spirit came to take possession of its vehicle, the
causal body, and from thence again work through the lower personal self.
Third. At a certain stage of vibratory
activity, the work of the Lords of the Flame having produced a body or form and
a vibration calling for response, there occurs a practically simultaneous
happening.
A downflow of buddhi
takes place along the line of the manasic triangle until it reaches a point at
the very center of the lotus. There, by the power of its own vibration, it
causes a change in the appearance of the lotus. At the very heart of the lotus,
three more petals appear which close in on the central flame, covering it
closely, and remaining closed until the time comes for the revelation of the
"jewel in the Lotus." The egoic lotus is now composed of twelve
petals, nine of these appear at this stage in bud form and three are completely
hidden and mysterious.
At the same time, the
three permanent atoms are enclosed within the lotus, and are seen by the
clairvoyant as three points of light in the lower part of the bud, [710]
beneath the central portion. They form at this stage a dimly burning triangle.
The causal body, though only in an embryonic condition, is now ready for full
activity as the aeons slip away, and is complete in all its threefold nature. The matter aspect, which concerns the
material form of the man in the three worlds, or his active intelligent
personal self can be developed and controlled through the medium of the mental
unit, the astral permanent atom and the physical permanent atom. The Spirit aspect lies concealed at the
heart of the lotus, in due course of time to stand revealed when the
manasadevas have done their work. The will that persists forever is there. The consciousness aspect embodying the
love-wisdom of the divine Ego as it reveals itself by the means of mind is
predominantly there, and in the nine petals and their vibratory capacity lies
hid all opportunity, all innate capacity to progress, and all the ability to
function as a self-conscious unit, that entity we call Man. 37
Mahadeva sits at the heart, Surya or Vishnu reveals Him in His essence as the
Wisdom of Love and the Love of Wisdom, and Brahma, the Creative Logos makes
that revelation possible. The Father in [711] Heaven is to be revealed through
the Christ, the Son, by the method of incarnation made possible through the
work of the Holy Spirit. All this has been brought about by the sacrifice and instrumentality of certain
cosmic entities who "offer Themselves" up in order that Man may be.
From their very essence, they give out that which is needed to produce the
individualizing principle, and that which we call
"self-consciousness," and thus enable the divine Spirit to enter into
fuller life by means of limitation by form, by means of the lessons garnered
through a long pilgrimage, and through the "assimilation of manifold
existences."
37 The Solar Lord, the Divine Ego. Of the two courses
of soul development referred to by H. P. B. in her "Voice of the
Silence" as the path of "Dhyana" and "Dharma" or the
"Paramitas," Ramayana is based upon the latter. The "Seven
Portals," referred to in the book of the same name, correspond very
probably to the seven cantos of this sacred poem. But I have read only the
first canto, and I shall give you the analysis of it, so far as I know.
Excluding the preface to the poem, the first thing, in the first canto, is a
description of the peculiar circumstances that attended Rama's birth in
Dasaratha's family. Dasaratha is, as you all know, a descendant of solar kings,
who began to rule over this earth from the time of Manu the Vyvaswatha. As his
name implies, he is a king whose car can travel in ten directions, or taking
the occult microcosmic sense, he is king of the human body, which has ten
senses of action and perception that connect it with the ten directions. You
are thoroughly familiar with the idea that our ancient philosophers used to
describe the body as a town with nine gates. The nine gates are, as you know,
the nine orifices of the human body. If you add to the nine one more for the
orifice known as the Brahma-rundra or the door of Brahma, you get ten gates
corresponding to the ten directions. The word "Dasaratha" indicates
the consciousness connected with our senses, which consciousness is inferior to
the consciousness which we call mind.
- The Theosophist, Vol. XIII, p. 340.
...
38 The Sacrificer or Yajamana. The yajamana is
the person who has sacrificed himself
for the good of the world and who has undertaken to mould the affairs of it, in
obedience to the law. If the human body be taken as the sacrificial ground, the
manas in him is the yajamana. All the doings of man in all his life from birth
to death, form one grand yagnic process that is conducted by the true human
entity called the Manas. He, who is willing to sacrifice
his body, speech, and thought to the good of all the world, is a real yagnika
and all the higher lokas are reserved for him. The central keynote of yagnika's
life is to do good unto all, irrespective of caste and creed even as the sun
shines for all.
- Some Thoughts on the Gita, page
90.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals 4. Planetary Avatars. These emanate from
the central [728] planetary Logos of a scheme and embody His will and purpose.
They are of two different kinds. The first type is a manifestation on etheric
physical levels of the planetary Logos Himself for a specific length of time.
It involves the definite taking of a physical body by one of the Kumaras. Such
an avatar is to be seen in Sanat Kumara, Who, with the three other Kumaras,
embodies the four planetary quaternic principles. In a very real sense, Sanat
Kumara is the incarnation of the Lord of the Ray Himself; He is the Silent
Watcher, the great Sacrifice for
humanity. 42
…
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals (5)
The Great Pralaya
This interval comes at
the close of every one hundred years of Brahma, and sweeps into dissolution
forms of every kind - subtle and dense - throughout the entire system. It is a
period analogous to that dealt with when we considered the abstraction of man
from his etheric vehicle, and his ability then to function on the astral plane,
dissociated from his dual physical form. Within the system a process similar to
that undergone when man withdraws the etheric body out of the dense physical
vehicle, will be seen towards the close of the mahamanvantara. It will cover
the period wherein the lesser four Rays merge and blend, seeking duality, and
their polar opposites. Eventually the four become two, the two become one, and
all are then synthesized into the third major Ray. The time is not yet, but
lies countless aeons ahead. It is the first appearance of the destroyer aspect
in connection with the planetary schemes, and marks the beginning of the [741]
time when the "Heavens will melt with fervent heat," and the Sun
becomes seven suns. (See S. D., II, 746, 747.)
The microcosmic
correspondence can be seen in the following process. The physical permanent
atom absorbs the entire life force of the physical body, and its inherent heat
and light is thereby increased until at the fourth initiation the seven
spirillae are fully vitalized, and vibrant. The internal heat of the atom, plus
the external heat of the egoic body wherein it has its place, produces then
that which destroys the permanent atom. Temporarily, and just prior to
destruction, it becomes a tiny sevenfold sun owing to the radiation and
activity of the spirillae. So with the physical sun of the system; it will in a
similar manner become seven suns, when it has absorbed the life essence of the
fully evolved planes, and of the planetary schemes thereon. The ensuing
conflagration is the final work of the Destroyer aspect. It marks the moment of
the highest development of deva substance in the system, the consummation of
the work of Agni and his fire angels, and the initiation of Brahma. Atomic
substance will then individualize (which,
as we know, is the goal for the atom) and after the great pralaya the next
solar system will start with the threefold Spirit manifesting through substance
which is essentially distinguished by active intelligent love. This is
necessarily incomprehensible to our fourth round minds.
We have thus
considered the various types of pralaya, in so far as they affect the human
unit; each unit finds its ways eventually into one of the cosmic astral centers
of the particular cosmic Entity Who is the Lord of his Ray, and therefore at
the great pralaya those human units who have achieved, and who have not passed
to other distant cosmic centers, will find their place there.
Before we take up
planetary and cosmic pralaya, we might here consider the relationship of the
Agnishvattas [742] (who caused the individualization of animal man on this
planet), to other and previous cycles of evolution, and why we have only dealt
with them from the point of view of a mahamanvantara, and of a kalpa. The
reason we have not considered specifically the group of Agnishvattas, Kumaras
and Rudras connected with the Earth has been because we have handled the entire
subject from the planetary standpoint, and not from that of the human family.
The student who seeks detailed information as to the Agnishvattas of the Earth
chain has but to study the Secret Doctrine. We
have attempted to carry the thought of the student beyond his own tiny sphere
to the consideration of the work of the Manasadevas in the solar system. In
every scheme They have Their place, but in some - as in the Jupiter scheme -
They are just beginning Their work, and in others - as in the Vulcan and Venus
schemes - Their work is nearly completed. Venus is in her last round, and has
nearly developed her fourth kingdom to perfection, or as much as it is possible
in the system. In the Earth scheme, They are in full tide of work, and only in
the next round will They demonstrate the height of Their activity. They pass
cyclically through the schemes and under Law - the Law of Karma for the
planetary Logos, for They are essentially concerned with His Life as it
actuates His centers. They come into a scheme on a wave of manasic energy from
the head center of the Logos, and in the process of passing through his Heart
center three things occur:
These entities who sacrifice Themselves for the human Hierarchy
(and we must note here the accuracy of the fact that They emanate from the
logoic head center, or from the will aspect), are the true Saviors who give
Their lives for the good of the race. They
stand in relation to the totality of the schemes as the Occult Hierarchy of any
particular planet stands to men upon that planet. During pralaya
They are withdrawn (as all else), from manifestation, and return to a cosmic
center of which the logoic head center is but a dim reflection; they return the
richer for experience.
The old Commentary
says:
"The deva shineth
with added light when the virtue of the will hath entered. He garnereth color
as the reaper garners wheat, and storeth it up for the feeding of the
multitude. Over all this deva host the mystic Goat presideth. Makara is, and is
not, yet the link persisteth."
Rounds come and go but
(except from the standpoint of a particular planet), the Manasadevas are
forever present, but their influence is not forever felt.
In considering
planetary pralaya, we might briefly enumerate the following periods of
quiescence:
Certain lesser periods
of pralaya do not concern man at all, but concern the atom of matter as it is released
from form of any kind in the subhuman kingdoms. Pralaya is the result of
radioactivity carried to a conclusion.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals What occurs on lower planes is but a reflection of higher processes, and
in this thought may lie illumination. A man is a force center, either for his
Ego, when sufficiently evolved, or, via his Ego, of his group force; when very
highly developed he can consciously be over-shadowed by an exponent of a different
type of force, which blends with his group, or Ray, force, and produces
significant results in his life on earth.
Again when an Ego is
highly evolved he may choose during any particular incarnation to work
paramountly through any one principle among the lower four; when this is the
case the man's life on earth is significantly that of an embodied principle. He seems to strike one note and
to sound out one tone. His work is clearly to be seen along one line. He is a
fanatic of high degree, but accomplishes big things for his subrace, even
though the physical brain may not be consciously aware of the egoic impulse.
This process has a curious relation to the obscuration, or fading out, of the
personality, for the particular principle embodied works through a
corresponding permanent atom, and its spirillae become over-rapidly developed,
and hence their term of service wears to a close. This is a fact which is
nevertheless taken advantage of when a superman, or great adept, becomes the
embodiment (during a root-race) of a principle; the vestures or sheaths of
which the permanent atom is the nucleus (through the innate strength of the
developed spirillae) are preserved by the aid of mantric formulas. The
vibration is perpetuated for a specific length of time, and for as long as the
vesture or sheath may be required. A hint is here conveyed which may be of
service.
Again, when a man has
become a disciple he may, if he so wish, remain upon the astral plane and work
there, and - at his pleasure, and under the adjustment of karma by [751] his
Guru - he may take immediate physical birth. A hint as to the mystery of the Bodhisattva may be found in
these two thoughts, provided the student transfers the whole concept to the
etheric levels of the cosmic physical plane, and remembers that on these levels
the adept works altogether as a part of a group, and not as a separated
Identity, as does the ego in the three worlds.
Therefore, the energy
pouring through Him may be:
When these types of
force are centralized in any particular adept, and He is expressing simply that
extraneous force and nothing else, the effect is shown on the physical plane in
the appearance of an avatar. An
avatar is, but an adept is made, but
frequently the force, energy, purpose or will of a cosmic Entity, will utilize
the vehicles of an adept in order to contact the physical planes. This method
whereby cosmic Existences make Their power felt can be seen working out on all
the planes of the cosmic physical plane. A striking instance of this can be
seen in the case of the Kumaras, Who, under certain planetary forces, and
through the formation of a systemic triangle, gave the impulse to the third
kingdom which produced the fourth by bringing it into conjunction with the
fifth. These Kumaras, Sanat Kumara and [752] His three pupils, having achieved
the highest initiation possible in the last great cycle, but having as yet
(from Their standpoint) another step to take, offered Themselves to the
planetary Logos of Their Ray as "focal points" for His force, so that
thereby He might hasten and perfect His plans on Earth within the cycle of
manifestation. They have demonstrated three out of the four methods. They are over-shadowed by the planetary Logos, and
He works directly as the Initiator (in relation to man) through Sanat Kumara,
and with the three kingdoms in nature through the three Buddhas of Activity, -
Sanat Kumara, being thus concerned directly with the ego on the mental plane,
and His three Pupils being concerned with the other three types of
consciousness, of which man is the summation. At the moment of initiation
(after the second Initiation) Sanat Kumara becomes the direct mouthpiece and
agent of the Planetary Logos. That great Entity speaks through Him and for one
brief second (if one can use such a term in connection with a plane whereon
time, as we understand it, is not) the planetary Logos of a man's Ray
consciously - via His etheric brain - turns His thought upon the Initiate, and
"calls him by His Name."
Again the Kumaras are embodied principles, but in this
connection we must remember that this means that the force and energy of one of
the principles of the Logos are pouring through Them via that which - to Them -
corresponds to the Monad. Through Them, during Their period of incarnation and
voluntary sacrifice, the great Prototype
of the planetary Logos begins to make His Presence felt, and force from the
constellation of the, Great Bear faintly vibrates on earth. At initiation, man,
becomes aware consciously of the Presence of the planetary Logos through
self-induced contact with his own divine Spirit. At the fifth Initiation he
becomes aware of the full extent of this planetary group influence, and [753]
of his part in the great whole. At the sixth and seventh Initiations the influence
of the planetary Prototype is sensed, reaching him via the planetary Logos
working through the Initiator.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals When the hour has come (and already a few cases are to be found), many
cases of over-shadowing will be
seen and will demonstrate in a threefold manner. In all countries, in the
orient and the occident, prepared disciples and highly evolved men and women,
will be found who will be doing the work along the lines intended, and who will
be occupying places of prominence which will make them available for the
reaching of the many; their bodies also will be sufficiently pure to permit of
the over-shadowing. It will only be possible in the case of those who have been
consecrated since childhood, who have been servers of the race all their lives,
or who, in previous lives, have acquired the right by karma. This threefold over-shadowing will manifest as:
These methods of
over-shadowing will be largely the ones used by the Great Lord and His Masters
at the end of the century, and for this reason They are sending into incarnation,
in every country, disciples who have the opportunity offered them to respond to
the need of humanity. Hence the need of training men and women to recognize the
higher psychism, and the true inspiration and mediumship, and to do this
scientifically. In fifty years time, the need for true psychics and conscious
mediums (such as H. P. B., for instance) will be very great [758] if the
Master's plans are to be carried to fruition, and the movement must be set on
foot in preparation for the coming of Him for Whom all nations wait. In this
work many have their share, provided they demonstrate the necessary endurance.
Naturally, the first
group will be the largest, for it does not necessitate so much knowledge, but
more risk is entailed with them than with the others - the risk of a perversion
of the plans, and of disaster to the unit involved. The second group will be
less numerous, and the last group will involve only a handful, or two or three
in certain countries. In this case, it will be verily true that, through sacrifice, the Son of Man will again tread the
highways of men, and His physical incarnation be a fact. Very few will be thus
available for His use, as the force He carries requires a peculiarly resilient
instrument, but due preparation is being made.
Again the method of direct incarnation will be employed by
certain of the Masters and initiates through the process of:
The second, or middle,
method will be the one most frequently employed. Six of the Masters, as yet
quite unknown to the average occult student by name, have already sought
physical incarnation - one in India, another in England, two in northern
America, and one in central Europe, whilst another has made a great sacrifice, and taken a Russian body in the
desire to act as a peace center in that distracted land. Certain initiates of
the third Initiation have taken feminine bodies, - one in India will in due
time do much toward the emancipation of the women of India, whilst another has
a peculiar work to do in connection with the animal kingdom which likewise is
awaiting the day of His appearing. [759]
The Master Jesus will
take a physical vehicle, and with certain of His chelas effect a
respiritualization of the Catholic churches, breaking down the barrier
separating the Episcopal and Greek churches from the Roman. This may be looked
for, should plans progress as hoped, about the year 1980. The Master Hilarion
will also come forth, and become a focal point of buddhic energy in the vast
spiritualistic movement, whilst another Master is working with the Christian
Science endeavor in an effort to swing it on to sounder lines. It is
interesting to note that those movements which have laid the emphasis so
strongly on the heart or love aspect, may respond more rapidly to the inflow of
force at the Coming than other movements which consider themselves very
advanced. The "mind may slay" the recognition of the Real, and hatred
between brothers swing the tide of love-force away. The three Masters so
closely allied with the theosophical movement are already making Their
preparations, and will also move among men, recognized by Their Own and by
those who have eyes to see. To those of Their chelas on earth who undergo the
necessary discipline, opportunity will be offered to work on the astral plane
and, should they so choose, an immediate incarnation, provided they have
achieved continuity of consciousness. He Who is known as D. K. is planning to
restore - via His students - some of the old and occult methods of healing and
to demonstrate:
It is not permissible
to say more in connection with the plans of the Great Ones. Their appearing
will not be simultaneous in time, for the people could not stand the
tremendously increased inflow of force, and recognition of Them and of Their
methods will depend upon the intuition, [760] and the training of the inner
senses. They come with no herald, and only Their works will proclaim Them.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals Much confusion in connection with Egos exists in the minds of our
students on account of their failure to realize that (as H. P. B. has pointed
out - S. D., I, 41, 83.) the Secret Doctrine
is primarily concerned with the planetary scheme of our Earth, and has little
to impart anent the other schemes, and their methods of evolving self-consciousness.
The general procedure on the mental levels is the same, but as each scheme
embodies one particular type of force, the peculiarity of that force will color
all its evolution, and the work of the Agnishvattas will correspond. It is not
possible to state what is the peculiar coloring of the Ray which is embodied in
our scheme, as it is one of the most secret of the mysteries revealed at
initiation, but students must bear in mind that in the fundamentals laid down
here we are not dealing specifically with our scheme.
A great deal has been
said in modern occult literature anent the process followed in the perfecting
of those Egos who choose to remain with the Hierarchy of our planet, and their
methods of development (through chelaship to adeptship). But nothing
practically has been imparted anent the many egos who reach a certain high
stage of evolution in our scheme and who are then transferred to one of the
three synthesizing schemes, passing first to the scheme which is the polar
opposite to ours, and from thence to the synthesizing scheme. They are numerically more than those who remain
within the Earth scheme. Whichever may be the synthesizing scheme to
which they are attracted, it marks and indicates their start upon one of the
three cosmic paths. The work of the Manasadevas is carried on throughout the
entire system, and a constant circulation transpires, and a constant
transmission of energy, and of force units embodying that energy, goes on
throughout the entire system. This transmission becomes possible in any scheme
when the [779] fourth or human kingdom becomes radioactive; it really marks the
setting in of the period of obscuration. Venus is a case in point.
Metaphysically stated, it marks the point when the Logoi begin to dissociate Themselves
from Their dense physical bodies, or from the three worlds of human endeavor.
The three groups of
Agnishvattas concerned with the evolution of man on the mental level have each
a specific function, as we have already seen, and the lowest of the three deal
primarily with the transmission of force or energy to the three permanent
atoms. In the dual sounding of the egoic mantram by the lowest of the three
groups changes are brought about and the lunar Pitris (who concern themselves
with the lower three vehicles) enter upon their work, the key being given to
them by the solar Angels.
These lunar Pitris
embody the substance of man's lower bodies, just as the solar Pitris sacrifice themselves to give him his egoic
body, and his consciousness. 55, 56 They are substance in its dual
aspect, and the Lunar Pitris in their higher grades are the positive energy of
atomic substance, and in their lower are the negative [780] aspect of the same
substance. They might be considered, in
connection with man, as triple in their ranks:
In connection with the
solar system they embody the Brahma aspect, being the product of earlier cycles
wherein conscious activity was achieved, but self-consciousness was only
arrived at by certain cosmic entities who passed through conscious substance,
and gave to it that potentiality which will enable atomic substance - after
many kalpas - to develop self-consciousness. In connection with a planet, they
are called by a mysterious name which may not be revealed, as it conceals the
mystery of the scheme which preceded ours, and of which ours is a reproduction.
There are Pitris who work in connection with a planet, and with a solar system
as well as those working in connection with the human kingdom. They embody the
energy of substance as demonstrated in a system, a scheme and a human cycle.
There are also in
connection with our peculiar Earth scheme, those lunar Pitris. who reached
their present stage of activity in the moon chain. They are deva groups but
(unlike the Agnishvattas) they have not passed through the human stage; for
them it has yet to be achieved, and their present experience in connection with
the human Hierarchy has that end in view. It should be remembered that it is a
fundamental law in occult development that any life can only give out that
[781] which it has possessed, and possession of the varying attributes of
consciousness from that of the atom up to the consciousness of a solar Logos,
is the result of long cycles of acquirement. The solar Pitris, therefore, could
give to man his consciousness; the lunar Pitris could give to him the
instinctual consciousness of his vehicles. In their aggregate in all the
kingdoms of nature, on this planet and elsewhere, they give to the planetary
Logos and to the solar Logos the sumtotal of the form
consciousness of Their respective bodies. This is the
case in every scheme in the system, but in the Earth chain a peculiar condition
of affairs was brought about through the planetary failure coincident with the
moon chain; this is the cause of the present balancing of forces on this chain.
The fourth chain in every scheme sees the work of the solar Pitris in
connection with man begun. It sees also the Pitris of his sheaths in activity
through the impulse given by the solar Angels. The matter of those sheaths has
passed through three chains and three rounds and is vibrant to a note which is
tuned to the... To word it otherwise, the third can be clearly sounded, and is
followed naturally by the fifth, or the dominant. The simultaneous sounding of
the third and the fifth, basing it upon the planetary keynote, produces the
effect of a threefold chord, or a fourth tone, a complex sound. I am here
dealing with the chord of the human hierarchy as a whole. Within the hierarchy
there is again diversity, based upon the hierarchical chord, and this produces
the many egoic chords and notes; these produce in their turn objective
manifestation.
55 The Ego is described
thus in the Secret Doctrine: Each
is a pillar of Light. Having chosen its vehicle, it expanded, surrounding with
an akashic aura the human animal, with the Divine Principle settled within the
human form. - S. D., III, 494.
They are the Fire
Dhyanis, and emanate from the Heart of the Sun." - S. D., II, 96.
Read the words of the Commentary on S. D., II, 96.
They are the Sons of
Fire and fashion inner man. - S. D., II, 114
56 The solar Angels (Sons
of Wisdom) are entities seeking fuller consciousness.
- S. D., II, 176, 177; II, 643.
57 "Nirmanakaya"
is a name made up of two words which signify "having no body," and
has no reference whatever to moral qualities. It is a state of consciousness.
The great Teachers of Nirvanic spheres are called by this name.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals In connection with this building of man's sheaths certain interesting
points of manifestation occur which might be dealt with now, leaving the
student to work out the correspondences in relation to the system and the
planet, and giving only general indications which may be of use to him in his
conclusions. [787]
In all the work of
form-building, certain very vital occasions occur which concern the Ego even
more than the sheaths themselves, though the reflex action between the lower
personal self and the higher is so close as to be well nigh inseparable.
The moment wherein the Ego appropriates the sheath. This takes place
only after the fourth spirilla is beginning to vibrate, and the period differs
according to the power of the ego over the lower self. In connection with the
dense physical vehicle, an analogy can be seen when the Ego ceases from his
work of over-shadowing, and at some period between the fourth and seventh year
makes his contact with the physical brain of the child. A similar occurrence
takes place in connection with the etheric vehicle, the astral, and the mental.
The moment wherein the energy of the Ego is
transmitted from one sheath to a lower one. It is often overlooked that the
path of incarnation is not a quick one, but that the Ego descends very slowly
and takes possession gradually of his vehicles; the less evolved the man, the
slower is the process. We are dealing here with the period of time which
transpires after the Ego has made the first move towards descent, and not with
the time which elapses between two incarnations. This work of passing on to a
plane for purposes of incarnation marks a definite crisis, and is characterized
by the exertion of the will in sacrifice,
the appropriation of the substance in love, and its energizing into activity.
The moment wherein the particular type of force with
which any particular sheath is energized is appropriated. This brings the sheath concerned:
These three events
have a very interesting analogy in connection with the work of the Logos in the
construction of His physical body, the solar system, and also in certain
correspondences which can be seen embodied in facts dealt with at the first
three Initiations.
From the standpoint of
the lower self, the two most vital moments in the work of the reincarnating
Ego, are those in which the mental unit is re-energized into cyclic activity,
and in which the etheric body is vitalized. It concerns that which links the
center at the base of the spine with a certain point within the physical brain
via the spleen. This is dealing purely
with the physiological key.
We might now touch
upon a very interesting point concerning the dense physical body, dealing
therefore with that which is not considered a principle either in the macrocosm
or the microcosm. As we know, man is essentially mental man, and astral man; then
the two take to themselves an etheric sheath for purposes of objective work.
That is the true lower man, these two in the
etheric body. But later - in order to know even on the lowest plane
of all - man takes to himself a coat of skin, as the Bible expresses it, and
puts on (over his etheric body) that outer illusory form we know so well. It is
his lowest point of objectivity and his direct "imprisoning." This
appropriation of a dense sheath by the Ego is subject to a very peculiar piece
of karma connected with the four Kumaras, or Heavenly Men, Who form the logoic
Quaternary. In the schemes which concern the logoic Triad (or those of the
three major Rays or Heavenly Men) dense physical incarnation is not the
appointed [789] lot, and man functions in his lowest manifestation in etheric
matter.
This appropriation of
the lowest body is distinguished in several ways from the approach to the other
sheaths. For one thing, there is no permanent atom to be vitalized. The
physical plane is a complete reflection of the mental; the lowest three
subplanes reflect the abstract subplanes and the four etheric subplanes reflect
the four mental concrete planes. The manifestation of the Ego on the mental
plane (or the causal body) is not the result of energy emanating from the
permanent atoms as a nucleus of force but is the result of different forces,
and primarily of group force. It is predominantly marked by an act of an
exterior force, and is lost in the mysteries of planetary karma. This is
equally true of man's lowest manifestations. It is the result of reflex action,
and is based on the force of the group of etheric centers through which man (as
an aggregate of lives) is functioning. The activity of these centers sets up an
answering vibration in the three lowest subplanes of the physical plane, and
the interaction between the two causes an adherence to, or aggregation around,
the etheric body of particles of what we erroneously term "dense
substance." This type of energized substance is swept up in the vortex of
force currents issuing from the centers and cannot escape. These units of
force, therefore, pile up according to the energy direction around and within
the etheric sheath till it is hidden and concealed, yet interpenetrating. An
inexorable law, the law of matter itself, brings this about, and only those can
escape the effect of the vitality of their own centers who are definitely
"Lords of Yoga" and can - through the conscious will of their own
being - escape the compelling force of the Law of Attraction working on the
lowest cosmic physical subplane.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals (b)
The Evolution of the Petals
The building of the
causal body is the result of dual energy, that of the lower self with its
reflex action upon the higher unit, and that of the natural energy of the self
as it makes its direct impress upon the substance of the egoic lotus. It should
here be remembered that, subtle though the material may be, the egoic lotus is
as truly substance of a particular vibration as is the physical body, only
(owing to its rarity) physical plane man regards it practically as
non-substantial. It is in fact, as earlier pointed out, the result of the dual
vibration of the fivefold Dhyanis or Gods in conjunction with the fourfold
Quaternary, or the Pitris of the lower vehicles. Through a conscious effort of
the planetary Logoi, these Dhyanis and lower Pitris are brought into a close
relationship. This produces (upon the third subplane of the mental plane) a
ninefold vibration or whorl in the gaseous matter of the plane - for this is
the cosmic gaseous subplane - which, after a certain period of persistence,
assumes the form of a nine-petalled lotus. This lotus is folded over in bud
shape upon the central point, or heart of the lotus - that spark of electric
fire which by its action or innate vitality working upon the substance of the
lotus, attracts to itself sufficient of that substance to form three inner
petals, which closely shield the central spark; these are nevertheless of the
same substance or essence as the nine other petals. The student must be careful
not to materialize his concept too much and it might therefore be wise for him
to view [818] this manifestation from other angles and employ other terms to
express the same idea. For instance, the body of the Ego may be viewed in the
following four ways:
For all purposes, the
second definition will be the one of the most use to us in our attempt to
picture the constitution, nature, method of development and true evolution of
the Ego, functioning in the causal body.
In terms of fire, the
same truths may be expressed as follows, and this should be carefully pondered
upon by the student of this Treatise:
Yet these three are
one in manifestation within the egoic auric egg, and the interchange of energy
and vitality proceeds steadily. Spirit uses the Soul, or the Ego, as a vehicle
of enlightenment, and the Ego uses the lower Quaternary as its medium of
expression. The evolution of Spirit can really therefore be divided into three
stages:
In terms of the old
Commentary, the truth is thus stated:
"The Lord of Life
Himself sits at the heart and watches. The Lords of solar fire pursue their
task and sacrifice themselves to the
lunar Lords of all the lower planes. They die, but resurrect. They pass
without, and come again. Yet the Lord of Life sits still.
The lunar Lords begin
to die; their power begins to wane with each successive cycle. The solar Lords
shine forth in triumph and consign the fourfold ones to fire, - the fire which
burns and dissipates the form.
Many times the work
repeats itself; the cycles wax and wane, until the day triumphant when the
solar Lord acclaims himself and knows himself the ruler.
The Lord of Life then
turns Himself, and arises in His might. He consumes the solar Lords, and they
perish as did the lunar Lords. He speaks a Word; the fire descends. The blaze
bursts forth. Gone is the lower fire through the flame of solar burning, gone
is the middle fire through the intensity of fire from Heaven.
Naught remaineth save
a threefold flame of violet, indigo and yellow. THAT disappears. Then darkness
reigns. Yet the Lord of Life persists, though invisible."
....
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals As we know, the egoic lotus consists of three circles, - each circle
being composed of three petals, and all shielding the inner bud where hides the
jewel. It is with the evolution of these petals that we are concerned, with
their formation, their vitalization, their nurturing, and eventual unfoldment.
It will be useful for the student at this stage to remember that we are
primarily dealing with the development of the second aspect in man, the
love-wisdom aspect, and are only secondarily considering the third aspect, that
of activity which finds its energizing centers in the three permanent atoms.
[821]
These three circles of
petals are called in the esoteric terminology:
The first is the
summation of experience and developed consciousness; the second is the
application of that knowledge in love and service, or the expression of the
Self and the Not-Self in reciprocal vibration; and the third is the full
expression of knowledge and love turned toward the conscious sacrifice of all to the furthering of the
plans of the planetary Logos, and to the carrying out of His purposes in group
work. Each of these three groups of petals come under the definite guidance of
three groups of Agnishvattas, who form them out of their own substance and who
in essence are the threefold Ego
during its manifestation. Through them flows the force and coherent energy of
those mysterious Entities whom (when considering the human family as a whole)
we call:
Through these three
groups flows that threefold energy which, on the mental plane, finds its medium
of expression in connection with the human kingdom, in the three groups of
Agnishvattas or solar Pitris above referred to. These groups form the substance
of the three circles of petals, and each group has also a special influence
upon the particular petal belonging to their especial scale of vibrations. For
the sake of clarity, we might tabulate the various petals so that the student
may [822] get a clearer comprehension of the conformation of his own causal
vehicle, and some idea of the various triangular relationships:
I. The outer "knowledge" triad:
These three petals are
organized and vitalized in the Hall of
Ignorance, but remain unopened and only begin to unfold as the
second circle is organized.
II. The middle "love" triad:
These three petals
preserve the fundamental orange but add the color rose in every petal, so that
four colors are now seen. These petals are organized and vitalized in the Hall of Learning, but remain unopened. The
outer tier of petals simultaneously unfolds till it is open entirely, revealing
the second circle; the third remains shielded.
The inner "sacrificial" triad:
In the mystery of these
subsidiary colors and of the gradual shining forth within the lotus of five
colors in any one petal at one time, is veiled the mystery of the five Kumaras.
(S. D., I, 483.) The student who seeks the significance of the preponderance of
orange and of rose is approaching the secret of the two Kumaras Who fell. More
it is not possible to say, but the colors hold the esoteric key to this great
occurrence. This inner circle of petals is organized and vitalized in the Hall of Wisdom, and simultaneously the middle
circle unfolds, so that two rows of petals are duly opened, and only the third
remains to be unclosed. This final opening is effected during the period of
treading the stages of the Path of Initiation, and in this round it is hastened
by the rites of initiation and by the strenuous and abnormal efforts of the man
himself, aided by the electrical work of the Initiator, wielding the Rod of
Power.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals By the time the third Initiation is taken, the inner circle of petals is
opened and the full-blown lotus in all its beauty can be seen. At the fourth
Initiation the inner bud bursts open through the effect of the electrical force
of the Rod, which brings in the power of the synthetic ray of the solar system
itself; the inner jewel is thus revealed. The work has been accomplished; the
energy resident in the permanent atoms, has vitalized all the spirillae whilst
the perfected force of the lotus, and the dynamic will of the central spark are
brought into full and united activity. This brings about a threefold display of
vital force which causes the disintegration of the form and the following
results:
We have endeavored
above to convey a general idea of the evolutionary process in connection with
the Ego and its progression under karmic and cyclic law. If the student ponders
upon these two laws it will become apparent to him that both might be summed up
under the generic term of the Law of Rhythm.
All manifestation is the result of active energy producing certain
results, and expenditure of energy in any one direction will necessitate an
equal expenditure in an opposite. This in terms of the Ego and its life
experience brings about three stages:
It is necessary to
emphasize this procedure because it is important that all occultists should
learn to interpret and to think in terms of energy and of force, in
contradistinction to the sheaths or instruments employed. The mystic has
recognized this "force" factor, but has only worked with the positive force aspect. The occultist must
recognize and work with three types of force, or energy, and therein lies the
distinction between his work and that of the mystic. He recognizes:
These three aspects of
energy have been called, as has been often said:
Each of these two last
aspects demonstrates within itself in a dual manner, but the effect is a
unified whole as regards the great Unity in which they are demonstrating.
The problem of the
devas may be somewhat better understood if it is remembered that they in
themselves embody the two types of energy. For instance, the solar Pitris are
the substance of the egoic bodies and groups, and the medium of expression for
the Spirit aspect, for Spirit manifests by means of soul. The lunar Pitris, who
form the personal lower self, being the aggregate of the lower sheaths, are
energized and used by the solar Lords. These solar Angels again are in many
groups and express within their own ranks a dual energy, both positive and
negative. There is the positive life of the egoic lotus which coordinates,
preserves, and actuates the petals, and there is also the energy of the petal
substance itself, or the negative aspect which is swept by the positive force
of the greater solar Lords into living whorls or wheels which we symbolically
call "petals." There is a close analogy in connection with the
planetary Logos, and the solar Logos between prana,
the life force which animates the etheric body of man, and by means
of that [834] force coheres the dense physical body, and that synthesizing life
force of the Logos which animates every atom on every plane of the system. If
this is meditated upon, and the fact of all our planes being the etheric and
dense manifestation of the solar Logos is realized, then the place played by
the solar Angels may become somewhat elucidated, and their relation to the
planetary Logos and to the solar Logos may become also clearer.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals Purificatory
Fire
"The fire burned
low. A dull red glow slumbered within the Heart of Mother. Its warmth was
scarcely felt. The first and second of the inner lines throbbed with the
burning, but the rest were cold.
The Sons of God looked
down from the innermost center. They looked, then turned away Their gaze and
thoughts to other spheres. Their hour had not yet come. The elemental fires had
not prepared the altar for the Lords. The sacrificial fire waited in its high
place and the steady glow beneath increased.
The fire burned
clearer, and the first and second slowly lighted up. Their glow became a line
of brilliant fire yet the five remained untouched. The Sons of God again looked
down. For one brief second They thought upon the Mother, and as They thought
the third caught fire. Swiftly They looked away for the form as yet relayed to
Them no call. The heat was latent and no outer warmth ascended to Their place.
The aeons passed. The
glow increased. The Spheres took form, but dissipated rapidly, lacking coherent
force. They passed. They came again. Action incessant, noise and fire and
smoldering heat characterized Their cycles. But the Lhas in Their high heaven
spurned this elemental work and gazed within Themselves. They meditated.
*
* *
The glow became a
steady burning and tiny flames were seen. The first, the second, and the third
became three lines of fire and one triangle was consummated. Yet the four are
seen quiescent [839] and respond not to the heat. Thus do the cycles and the
elemental lives pass and repass, and their work continues.
The forms are set, yet
brief their span. They move not, yet they pass. The hour has come for the great
awakening. They pass no longer down but mount.
This is the interlude
for which the Lhas in Their high place have waited. They may not enter yet the
forms prepared, but feel Their hour approaching. They meditate anew, and for a
minute gaze upon the myriad threefold fires until the fourth responds.
The sixty seconds
passed in dynamic concentration produce forms of triple kind, three sets of
forms, and myriads in the three. The Heart of Mother contracts, and expands
with these sixty fiery breaths. The lines become allied, and cubes are formed,
shielding the inner fire. The altar is prepared, and four square stands. The
altar glows, red at the center and warm without.
*
* *
The altar flames. Its
heat mounts up, yet it burns not, nor is consumed. Its heat, which has no
flame, reaches a higher sphere; the Sons of God for a brief period warm
Themselves, yet approach not nearer to it until the passing of another cycle.
They await the hour, the hour of sacrifice.
The solar Lords,
taking the Word as sounded by the Sons of God, arise in the fierceness of their
solar life and approach the altar. The four lines glow and burn. The sun
applies a ray; the solar Lords pass it through Their substance and again
approach the altar. The fifth line awakens and becomes a glowing point, and
then a dull red line, measuring the distance 'twixt the altar and the One Who
watches.
The fivefold fire
dynamic begins to flicker and to burn. It lights not yet without; it simply
glows. The aeons pass away,
the cycles come and go.
Steadily the solar
Lords sacrifice Themselves; They are the
fire upon the altar. The fourth provides the fuel.
*
* *
The Sons of God still
watch. The work nears its final consummation. The Eternal Lhas in Their high
place call each to each, and four take up the cry: "The fire is burning. Does
the heat suffice?" [840]
Two answer to each
other: " 'The fire is burning; the altar is well-nigh destroyed. What
happens next?' " "Add to the fire with fuel from Heaven. Breathe on
the blazing fire and fan its flame to utter fierceness."
Thus the command goes
out from One Who watches, silent hitherto, through countless aeons. They send
forth breath. Something prevents the passage of the breath. They call for aid.
One makes His appearance Who has not yet been seen.
He lifts His hand. The
one, the two, the three, the four and five merge into one and mingle with the
sixth. The flame mounts up, responding to the breath. The final disappearance
of the cube is needed and then the work stands forth."
From the archives of The Lodge.
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals (e.)
Initiation and the Petals
In considering the
connection of the petals and their unfoldment through initiation, there is
little which it is permissible to give out at this time for the information of
the general public. All that is possible is to give certain statements,
containing:
Students must remember
that the aim of all truly occult teachers is not to give information but to
train their pupils in the use of thought energy. It will therefore be apparent
why this method of instruction is the one invariably used. It is the method
which involves the dropping of a hint on the part of the Teacher, and the
correlation perhaps of certain correspondences, coupled with a suggestion as to
the sources of light. It involves, on the part of the pupil, the following
recognitions:
Let us now continue
with our consideration of the petals and Initiation.
Each of the three
circles of lotus petals is closely connected with one of the three Halls. This
has been earlier referred to. Much of the work connected with the first tier of petals is part of the experience in the
Hall of Ignorance. The act of organizing and preparing for unfoldment is the
most important stage, and that with which man is the most concerned. The act of
petal opening is of briefer duration, and is produced by the pouring in of
solar heat or fire, and thus bringing about a fresh access of energy. This is
produced in our earth scheme through the cooperation of the Mahachohan, of the
Chohan of a man's egoic group, and the particular Ego concerned.
The following
tabulation may be found helpful:
At the stage which we
are considering (that of the organization and unfoldment of the first tier of
petals), the egoic influence felt at the beginning is but small, but when the
three petals become sufficiently active and alive through the energy
accumulated and stored up in the [870] ego during the activities of the
personal life, a form of initiation then takes place which is a reflection (on
a lower plane) of the great manasic initiations. The energy in the outer circle
of petals causes it to spring apart from the next circle, and to unfold. This
threefold energy becomes interactive and a very definite stage is thus reached.
This series of initiations is seldom recognized within the physical brain
consciousness owing to the relatively inchoate stage of the bodies, and the
unresponsiveness of the brain matter. Yet they are nevertheless initiations of
a definite though less important character, and they involve primarily the
display (within the personal life of the man) of an intelligent recognition of
his group relationships on earth. This recognition is frequently selfish in
character, as, for instance, that which the union worker displays, but it is
indicative of group interplay.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals When we reach the mystery of Fire, we
are concerned with that mysterious extra-systemic energy which is the basis of
both the activity of Mother and the Life of the Son. The Son in very deed
"becomes His Mother's husband," as say the ancient Scriptures. This
is but an enigmatical phrase unless interpreted in terms of the combination of
energy. Only when the Son has reached maturity and knows Himself as essentially
the same as the Father can He consciously perform His Father's function, and
produce and perpetuate that which is needed for the sustaining of cosmic
generation.
The electricity of
substance, the electricity of form, and the electricity of Life itself must
blend and meet before the true Man (whether Logos, or human being) realizes
himself as creator. Man at this stage knows somewhat of the electricity of
substance, and is coming to the belief as to the electricity of form (even
though as yet he calls it magnetism) but as yet he knows nought of the
electrical reality of life itself. Only when the "jewel in the Lotus"
is about to be revealed, or the third circle of petals is about to open up,
does the initiate begin to have a realization of the true meaning of the word
"life" or spirit. The consciousness has to be fully awakened before
he can ever understand that great energizing something of which the other types
of energy are but expressions. [877]
There are only two
more points to be considered in connection with the petals and initiation.
First, it should be
noted that the words "knowledge, love and sacrifice"
mean much more occultly than the apparent significance of the terms. Each
circle of petals stands for one of these three ideas, and each circle again
embodies these three aspects of existence in a greater or lesser degree. These
three concepts are the modes of expression of the three great qualities which
(from the standpoint of the Past, the Present and the Future) characterize the
natures of all the manifesting entities - Gods, men and devas. From the
standpoint of the central factor in manifestation, man, it should be realized
that knowledge was inherent in
the previous solar system, and is the faculty of which he has to avail himself.
It is there available for his use. It is the hidden energy of the planetary
Logos which he has to learn to focus through his physical brain, and thus
apply.
Love is the faculty inherent in the present.
It is the hidden energy of the planetary Logos of which he must avail himself
and focus in his heart center and thus apply.
Sacrifice is the faculty which will be his in the
future, which he will intelligently focus through the highest head center and
thus apply. It is dependent upon his development of consciousness, and
therefore upon his recognition of the esoteric purpose of his group, and of the
planetary existences. As it involves what is termed "a solar and lunar act
of abnegation" it involves, therefore, a due comprehension of solar and of
lunar energy, and a bringing of both these two groups to a stage of cooperative
activity. It concerns, therefore, the nature of the Jewel in the lotus, and it
is only when the three sacrifice petals
in the three tiers are unfolded that this particular type of energy is
released. The lunar Lords of the three bodies have been controlled, and their
vibration synchronized, so that the great act of sacrifice
finds them ready [878] for the final process of renunciation. The solar Lords,
in their three major groups, are equally ready for the final sacrifice, which involves the "rupture
between the sun and the moon" as it is called. This results in the
breaking of the magnetic link between the true man, and the vibratory sensitive
substance of which his three world bodies are made. The need for incarnation is
no longer felt, the chains of karma are broken, and the man is liberated. The
"lunar Lords return to their own place" or - as the Christian
expresses it - "Satan is bound for a thousand years," (Bible. Rev.
XX, 2.) this meaning only that pralayic peace is the lot of these entities
until the return of manvantaric opportunity.
The final sacrifice involves also the disappearance of
the lower triangle, or the severing of the connection between the three
permanent atoms in the lower part of the causal body or egoic lotus, and the central
unit of energy. The energy of these atoms is set loose through the intense heat
produced by the union of the three fires and is reabsorbed into the general
reservoir in interplanetary space. The fiery triangle is lost sight of in the
general blaze, and the deva essences who temporarily formed it cease their
activity.
Again, the solar
Angels complete their initial sacrifice
by a final one, and offer themselves upon the fiery altar. The causal body is
completely destroyed. The four lower groups of solar Pitris return to the heart
of the subjective sun, or to that inmost center of the system from whence they
came, whilst the three higher groups are carried (by the force and energy
generated in the fiery furnace and blaze, and through the stimulation produced
by the blazing forth of the central jewel) straight to the central spiritual
sun, there to abide until another kalpa calls them forth to sacrifice Themselves, this time as planetary
Logoi. The student must bear in mind that [879] in thinking of the Pitris, he
must ever think in group terms. The Pitris who formed the egoic body of a human
being do not - alone and isolated - form planetary Logoi. The forty-nine groups
of solar fires concerned in the great work are those spoken of, and they become
the forty-nine planetary Logoi in connection with seven solar systems. In them
is hid the mystery of the three who become the sixteen - united or synthesized
by the seventeenth - a correspondence upon cosmic levels of the seven with the
eighth sphere. This must remain practically an insoluble mystery to man at
present.
The four groups who
found their way to the Heart of the system will reappear as the four planetary
Logoi who are the twenty-eight and who thus produce the possibility of the ten
of perfection in another series of manifesting systems.
The seven types of
solar energy find the "path of return" to their central emanating
source; by the disruption of the tie between them and the lunar lords (who are
esoterically spoken of as "dead or dying on the field of battle") the
great sacrifice is consummated, and they
are free to return in triumph.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals The occult significance of these words in connection with the energy standing
behind and working through all appearance might be expressed as follows:
Knowledge 79 is the right apprehension
of the laws of energy, of the conservation of force, of the sources of [880]
energy, of its qualities, its types and its vibrations. It involves an apprehension of:
All this the man has
been learning in the various Halls through practical experience, involving
pleasure and pain; these, in the final initiations, bring him to a realization
not only of the existence of these forces but of how to wield and manipulate
them. This is knowledge: to rightly direct force currents, first in the three
worlds of human endeavor, and then in the solar system.
Love is the right apprehension of the uses and
purposes of form, and of the energies involved in form-building, the
utilization of form, and the eventual dissipation of the superseded form. It
involves a realization of the Laws of Attraction and Repulsion, of the magnetic
interplay between all forms, great and small, of group relationships, of the
galvanizing power of the unifying life, and the attractive power of one unit
upon another, be it atom, man, or solar system. It involves an understanding of
all forms, form purposes, and form relationships; it concerns the building
processes in man himself, and in the solar system; and it necessitates the
development of those powers within man which will make him a conscious Builder,
a solar Pitri of a coming cycle. This [882] is one of the great revelations at
initiation: the unveiling to the initiate of the particular cosmic center
whence emanates the type of force or energy which he, the initiate, will be
concerned with when he becomes in due course of time a solar Pitri, or divine
manasaputra to a coming humanity. Hence he must have, not only knowledge, but
the energy of love likewise to enable him to perform the function of linking
the higher three and the lower four of a future race of men at some distant
period, thus permitting of their individualizing through the sacrifice
of his own fully conscious middle principle.
79
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals Sacrifice involves even more
than what has been already pointed out. It
involves the following factors:
When all these and
other factors are considered, it is evident that the energy set loose in sacrifice to these plans and intentions
involves such a vast field of comprehending wisdom that it is not possible for
the average man ever to sense it. It deals with the purposes and plans of the
Silent Watchers over the three planes - the five, and the seven; it deals with
the dynamic force of the great Destroying Angels on all the planes, who will
eventually - through the manipulation of the three forms of energy - bring to
an end all that is. These angels are a mysterious group of fohatic Lives Who
sound forth the [883] trumpets of destruction, and by means of the notes
sounded produce that shattering which will set loose the energy of forms.
The second point is
very briefly given. It concerns the innermost circle of petals, or that set of
three petals, or those three streams of whirling energy, which immediately
surround the "jewel in the lotus." Each of these three petals is
related to one of the three circles, and is organized as each of the three
circles is unfolded. They form, therefore, a synthesis of knowledge, love or sacrifice, and are closely connected through
the type of force flowing through them with one of the three higher centers of
the planetary Logos of a man's particular ray. This central unit of threefold
force is dealt with in a specific manner at initiation.
At the first, the
second, and the third Initiations, one of the three petals opens up, permitting
an ever freer display of the central electric point. At the fourth Initiation,
the jewel (being completely revealed) through its blazing light, its intense
radiatory heat, and its terrific outflow of force, produces the disintegration
of the surrounding form, the shattering of the causal body, the destruction of
the Temple of Solomon, and the dissolution of the lotus flower. The work of the
Initiator in this connection is very interesting. Through the medium of the Rod
of Initiation and of certain Words of Power, He brings about results of a
coordinating, transmuting and liberating nature.
Through the action of
the Rod as wielded at the first two Initiations, the two outer circles unfold,
the energy of the two is set free and the two sets of force as embodied in the
six petals are coordinated and become interactive. This stage of petal
adjustment succeeds upon that called earlier "unfoldment" and has to
do with the simultaneous action of the two tiers of petals. The interplay
between the two circles is completed, and the [884] circulation of the force
currents perfected. According to a man's ray and subray, so is the Rod applied
to what might be termed the "key" petal. This of course differs
according to the unit of force involved. It is of interest to note here that,
as the petal substance is deva substance and as the energy of the petals is the
energy of certain manasadevas (one of the three higher orders of Agnishvattas)
the initiate is over-shadowed (the word is not entirely satisfactory in
explaining the type of deva service here necessitated, but it must suffice) by
a great deva who represents the equilibrium of substantial vibration which is
brought about by the efforts of the initiate, aided by the adepts who present
him, and who each represent one of the two polarities of force. This is
temporarily stabilized by the Initiator. These three factors,
form, for a brief
second, a triangle of force with the initiate at the center. Through them
circulates the terrific power, the "fire from Heaven," which is
brought down from the higher triad through the agency of the electrical rod.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals The greater building devas on the
second plane of the solar system, the monadic plane or the second cosmic ether,
direct the energies of the manipulating devas of the fourth cosmic ether, the
buddhic plane.
The manipulating devas of the fourth cosmic
ether will, in due course of evolution, work out the plan in objective
perfection through the medium of the living substance of the lesser devas of
the liquid or astral plane. When they have done this two results will be seen:
first, the astral plane will perfectly reflect the buddhic plane and, secondly,
the result of that will be that the physical plane will produce the exact
vehicle needed for microcosmic or macrocosmic expression through the force of
water, or desire.
All this is revealed
to esotericists in the symbology of the circulatory system in man. As the blood
system, with its two types of channels (arteries and veins) and its two types
of builders (the red and the white corpuscles), is studied from the occult standpoint,
much will be ascertained of a revolutionary nature. The laws of the path of
outgoing, and of the path of return, with the two groups of deva lives therein
concerned, will be apprehended by man. A further hint may here be given. In the
physical body of man in connection with the circulatory system, we find, in the
three factors - the heart, the arteries, and the veins - the clue to the three
types [902] of devas, and also to the systemic triangle which they represent,
and further, to the three modes of divine expression. There is a planetary as
well as a systemic circulation, and it is carried on through the medium of deva
substance everywhere, macrocosmically as well as microcosmically.
The devas of the sixth
physical subplane can be divided into three groups, and these again into seven
and into forty-nine, thus corresponding with all groups in the solar system.
These groups (in their essential nature) respond to that "which lies above
more than that which lies below," which is only an occult way of
expressing a relationship of an intimate nature between the devas of fire and
the devas of water, and a negation of a close connection between the water
devas and the earth. Occultly expressed, through the action of the fire devas,
the water devas find liberation.
The devas of water
find for themselves the path of service in their great work of nourishing all
the vegetable and animal life upon the planet; the goal for them is to enter
into that higher group of devas which we call the gaseous or fire devas. These,
through the action of their fire upon the waters, produce that sequence of
evaporation, condensation, and eventual precipitation which - through its
constant activity - nourishes all life upon the earth. Thus again can the
psychic laws of love be seen at work in the deva kingdom as in the human;
first, the withdrawal or segregation of the unit from the group (called
individualization in man, and evaporation in the water realm). Next,
condensation, or the amalgamation of the unit with a newer or higher group,
this we call condensation for the devas of the waters, and initiation in man;
finally, the sacrifice of the group of
human or deva atoms to the good of the whole. So does the law of service and sacrifice govern all the second aspect divine
in all its departments great [903] or small. Such is the law. But in the human
kingdom, though love is the fulfiling of the law, it is arrived at along the
path of pain and sorrow, and every true lover and server of humanity is
stretched upon the cross until for them the sixth principle dominates, and the
sixth type of matter in their bodies is completely subjected to the higher
energy. 82 In the case of the devas, love is the fulfiling of the
law without pain or sorrow. It is for them the line of least resistance, for
they are the mother aspect, the feminine side of manifestation, and the easy
path for them is to give, to nourish, and to tend. Therefore, the devas of the
waters pour themselves out in service to the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and
in the transmutative fires all that holds them on the sixth subplane will
eventually be overcome, and through occult "distillation and
evaporation" these devas will eventually form part of the gaseous fiery
group and become those fires which are the basis of the divine alchemy.
Speaking generally, it
must be remembered that the earth devas of densest matter become, in the course
of evolution, the devas of the waters, and find their way eventually on to the
astral plane, the cosmic liquid; the devas of the waters of the physical plane
find their way, through service, on to the gaseous subplane, and then to the
cosmic gaseous, becoming the devas of the mental plane. This literally and
occultly constitutes the transmutation of desire into thought.
The gaseous devas
become eventually the devas of the fourth ether, and from thence in long aeons,
find their way to the cosmic fourth ether, the buddhic plane. These three groups are therefore cosmically connected with: [904]
Thus can the whole
process be worked out, if man carefully studies his own nature, and the law of
analogy.
82 "Measure thy
life by loss instead of gain,
Not by the wine drunk but by the wine poured forth;
For Love's strength standeth in Love's sacrifice;
And he who suffers most has most to give."
- The Disciples, by Mrs. Hamilton King.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division D - Thought Elementals and Fire Elementals The
Devas of the Etheric Double
The subject that we
are to deal with now concerns those devas who are etheric doubles of all that
is. It is full of profit therefore to the wise student, for it reveals the
method whereby all forms materialize upon the physical plane.
It is not the purpose
of this treatise to trace the materialization of a form as it originates upon
the archetypal planes, through the agency of divine thought, and from thence
(through directed streams of intelligent energy) acquires substance as it is
reproduced upon each plane, until eventually (upon the physical plane) the form
stands revealed at its densest point of manifestation. No form is as yet
perfect, and it is this fact which necessitates cyclic evolution, and the
continual production of forms until they approximate reality in fact and in
deed. The method of form production may be tabulated as follows: [926]
FORM PRODUCTION
An interlude or period
of pause is to be found at this stage of development; in it the processes of
coordination and of stabilization are carried on; the energy or the vibration
is increased until it becomes possible, by a simultaneous effort, emanating
from all the three aspects, to bring into objectivity that which is as yet
subjective. This is paralleled by man on the physical plane in the applied
effort he has to make to bring through and materialize, that which he has
conceived and desired. The reason so many people fail in materializing their
concepts, and hence come to be reckoned as failures, is owing to the fact of
their inability to make a coordinated applied effort, and thus set in motion
substance of the three lower subplanes of the physical plane. They [928]
succeed in bringing their concept through from the mental plane (as does the
Logos on cosmic levels) as far as the fourth etheric level of the physical, and
there their energy becomes exhausted owing to three things:
85 Mantric Sounds. A mantram is a combination of
sounds, of words and of phrases that, through virtue of certain rhythmic
effects, achieve results that would not be possible apart from them. The most
sacred of all the Eastern mantrams given out as yet to the public is the one
embodied in the words: "Om mani padme hum." Every syllable of this
phrase has a secret potency, and its totality has seven meanings and can bring
about seven different results.
There are various
mantric forms, based upon this formula and upon the Sacred Word, which, sounded
rhythmically and in different keys, accomplish certain desired ends, such as
the invoking of protective angels or devas, and definite work, either
constructive or destructive upon the planes.
The potency of a
mantram depends upon the point in evolution of the man who employs it. Uttered
by an ordinary man it serves to stimulate the good within his bodies, to
protect him, and it will also prove of beneficent influence upon his
environment. Uttered by an adept or initiate its possibilities for good are
infinite and far-reaching.
Mantrams are of many
kinds, and generally speaking might be enumerated as follows:
All these mantrams
depend for their potency upon the sound and rhythm and upon the syllabic
emphasis imparted to them when enunciating and intoning. They depend too upon
the capacity of the man who uses them to visualize and to will the desired effect.
Men, when occupied in
creation of any kind, and in the process of producing forms on earth which
embody an idea, work along similar lines. The analogy is perfect.
In connection with
those human beings who create nothing, but who are only swept into activity
under the urge of circumstance - and they are the bulk of the human race - it
should be pointed out that they are a part of the creative activity of some
greater, and more advanced, entity. As self-conscious evolution proceeds, more
and more of the human family will become creators and intelligent workers in
connection with deva substance. In the initial stages, therefore, of their
dissociation from a passive attitude, there will be found a revolt against law
and order, a refusal to be governed, and an ability evidenced to follow out an
individual concept at the expense of the group, great or small. This apparent
defect, evolution itself and experience will remedy, and as the consciousness
becomes alive to higher vibrations the man will become aware of the purpose and
plan of the Intelligence of his group. He will awaken to the beauty of that
plan and will begin to submerge his own interests in the greater, and to
cooperate intelligently. The creative power which had before been of a
separative nature will be offered as a willing sacrifice
to the greater energy, and his small plans and ideas will be merged in the
greater ones. He will no longer, however, be a passive unit, swept hither and
thither by the energy of his group, but will become a positive, active potent
force, self-immolated through intelligent recognition of the greater plan.
He will become alive
to the fact that there are living [930] forces in nature. As the greater energy
thrills through him, his own latent powers are awakened. He sees and knows the
deva forces and can consequently work with them intelligently. Some he will
control and manipulate, with others he will cooperate, and others still he will
obey.
It is in the
realization of these facts anent deva substance, the power of sound, the law of
vibration, and the ability to produce forms in conformity with law, that the
true magician can be seen. Herein too lies one of the distinctions to be found
between magicians of the Good Law, and those of the Left-hand Path. A white
magician can control and manipulate deva substance, and he proceeds to do it
through an intelligent cooperation with the greater builders. Owing to the
purity and holiness of his life, and the height of his own vibration, he can
contact them in some one or other of their grades. The magician of the shadows
controls and manipulates deva substance on the astral and physical plane and on
the lower levels of the mental plane through the force of his own vibration and
knowledge, but not through cooperation with the directing builders. He cannot
contact them, as his character is impure through selfishness, and his vibration
is too low; his power therefore is limited and destructive, yet immense within certain
restrictions.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division E - Motion on the Plane of Mind There are other streams of energetic force which have an effect upon the
Pilgrim everywhere, but the above enumeration will serve to show the complexity
of the subject and the vastness of the scheme of evolution. All these vibratory
emanations pass through the sphere cyclically; they come and go, and according
to their presence or their non presence and according to the stage of evolution
of the emanating Existence will depend the phenomenal character of all life,
will depend the nature of any specific period, and the quality of the
manifesting Monads. It is the appearance or the disappearance of these waves of
life-force (planetary, interplanetary, systemic, cosmic and inter-cosmic) which
sweeps into incarnation the divine pilgrims, and which brings about the cyclic
manifestation of such great Lives as the "Silent Watcher" and the
"Great Sacrifice"; it is this
which causes also the dissolution of a scheme, and its reappearance, and is
responsible for the transportation of the life seeds from one scheme to
another, or from one solar system to another.
In this great tide of
forces, the Monads are swept along; their aggregate is termed the "force
of evolution," and the life and persistence of the initiatory Being sets
the term for their duration. Man is but the plaything of the forces which
gather him up and carry him on, just as the atom, in the human frame is but the
obedient servant of the man's imposing direction; yet within limits man is the
controller of his destiny; within [1054] limits he wields forces and energies,
he manipulates lesser lives and controls lesser centers of energy, and as time
slips away his radius of control becomes ever more extensive.
The atom controls its
own central life; man can control the sets of lives who form his three bodies;
the initiate and the adept are controlling energies of many kinds in the three
worlds, as the Chohan does on the five planes of evolution. Thus the plan is
carried forward until the Army of the Voice become themselves the Sounder of
the Words, and the Sounders of the Words become the Word itself.
It will, therefore, be
apparent, that the "Law of Monadic Return" which we have just been
considering, is the sumtotal of those influences which have a direct bearing
upon the monadic atoms, which affect its progress cyclically, and which
stimulate it, or retard its activity according to the strength of the
initiating life. It is only after initiation that the human atom reaches a
stage in its development where forces and influences begin to be comprehended.
When the methods are understood whereby adjustment is consciously made to
extraneous force currents, resistance to retarding forces is initiated consciously and with scientific accuracy, and the man
consciously puts himself into line with forces which will swing him along on
the path of return. There is in this thought no undue complexity or cause for
discouragement, for ever the potent force of electrical energy will offset the
more lethargic vibration of solar fire, and solar fire itself in due time will
negate the effects of fire by friction."
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division E - Motion on the Plane of Mind The
Sacrifice Petals
The energies or forces
flowing through, and thus producing activity in the inner tier of petals, the Sacrifice
Petals, are again similar in nature to those already enumerated,
plus a definite stimulation of power in two directions.
One stimulating
influence comes from the Will Aspect of the Monad, and thus (through
transmission) from the first Aspect of the planetary Logos, and the other
emanates from the "Sacred Bud which veils the Jewel." This is a
particularly strong vibration because, when the inner circle is unfolded, the
jewel is revealed, and the three "veils" or "sacred petals"
open successively when the three tiers unfold.
It is thus apparent
what numerous energizing agencies are responsible for the "motion,"
occultly understood, of the egoic lotus. There is the inherent life of the
atomic units forming each petal, and the circulatory life of the petal itself,
regarding it as an individual unit. There is likewise the life of the circle of
three petals and to this we must add the unified activity of the outer three
circles, or the blending of knowledge forces
absorbed from the personal self, of love
forces which are the natural energies of the solar Angel, and of sacrifice forces pouring
in from the Monad. Thus we have a marvelous aggregate of streams of energies,
all representing interior and still greater (because cosmic) energies.
Finally, we have the
dynamic force of the "Jewel" at the Heart, which is itself the focal
point for the life of the planetary Logos, and through the planetary Logos of
all the other Logoi.
Thus the
potentialities latent in the incarnating jiva are stupendous, and he can become
as God, provided he submits to the evolutionary process, and does not [1117]
"refrain from being stretched upon the wheel." Thus the expansions of
consciousness, which will admit an individual point of spiritual life into the
councils, and the Wisdom of the Deity, are no idle promise but are guaranteed
by the very constitution of the vehicle employed, and the place in the scheme
of the "developing Point," as the Ego is sometimes called. Naught in
time and space can hinder, for every form being simply an expression of
energized life, tends to serve every other form. Stimulation of some kind, the
tendency to increase the vibration of contacting streams of energy, the
accentuation of the activity of each centralized point as it contacts other
points in the general heightening of the vibration through the interplay of
those forces, all this sweeps the entire system on to its consummation, and to
the revelation of the "glory which shall some day be revealed."
(Bible. I. Peter, 5:1.) All these forces form the aggregate of what is called
"fohatic life." As the system, or the body of the Logos, is carried
forward through the energy in all its parts, so is each infinitesimal part
speeded on to its similar individual glorification. The many which form the
All, and the units which constitute the One, cannot be differentiated as the
consummation is achieved. They are merged, and lost in the general
"beatific light," as it is sometimes called. We can then extend the
concept somewhat further, and realize the cosmic interplay which is likewise
being carried forward. We can picture the cosmic stimulation and
intensification which proceeds as constellations form the units in the Whole
instead of planets or human atoms. Whole suns with their allied systems in
their immensity play the part of atoms. Thus some idea may be gained of the
unified purpose underlying the turning of the great Wheel of the cosmic Heaven,
and the working through of the life purposes of those stupendous Existences Who
[1118] hold a position in the cosmic Hierarchy similar to that of the "ONE
ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID."
It is not possible to
give students an adequate idea of the beauty of the egoic lotus when it has
reached the stage of complete unfoldment. The radiance of its color is not here
referred to, but the brilliancy of the fires, and the rapid scintillation of
the ceaselessly moving streams and points of energy. Each petal pulsates with
quivering fire "points," and each tier of petals vibrates with life,
whilst at the center glows the Jewel, raying forth streams of energy from the
center to the periphery of the outermost circle.
The fires of living
energy circulate around each individual petal and the method of interweaving
and the circulation of the fires is (as may be well realized) sevenfold in
nature according to the sevenfold nature of the Logos involved. Each circle of
petals becomes, as evolution proceeds, likewise active, and revolves around the
central Jewel, so that we have, not only the activity of the petals, not only
the activity of the living points or the deva lives within the petal
circumference, but likewise the unified activity of each tier of the threefold
lotus. At a specific stage in evolution, prior to the opening of the central
veiling bud, the three tiers of petals, considered as a unit, begin to revolve,
so that the entire lotus appears to be in motion. At the final stages the
central circle of petals opens, revealing that which is hid, and revolves
around the Jewel, only in a contrary direction to the rapidly circulating outer
lotus. The reason may not here be revealed for it is hid in the nature of the
electric Fire of Spirit itself.
The
Jewel itself remains occultly static, and does not circulate. It is a point of
peace; it pulsates rhythmically as does the heart of man, and from it ray forth
eight streams of living fire which extend to the tips of the four love petals
and the four sacrifice petals. This
eightfold [1119] energy is atma-buddhi. It is this final raying forth which
produces the eventual disintegration of the body of the Ego. The knowledge
petals, not being the subject of the attention of this central fire in due time
cease to be active; knowledge is superseded by divine wisdom and the love
petals have their forces equally absorbed. Naught is eventually left but the
desire to "sacrifice," and as
the vibratory impulse is akin to the nature of the living Jewel, it is
synthesized in the central living unit and only the Jewel of fire remains. When
all the petals have merged their forces elsewhere, the process of revelation is
completed. The lower fires die out; the central fire is absorbed, and only the
radiant point of electric fire persists. Then a curious phenomenon is to be
seen at the final Initiation. The Jewel of fire blazes forth as seven jewels
within the one, or as the sevenfold electric spark, and in the intensity of the
blaze thus created is reabsorbed into the Monad or the One. This process is
paralleled at the final consummation of solar evolution when the seven Suns
blaze forth before the great Pralaya.
All these modes of
expression are but pictures which serve to convey some small idea of the
beauty, and the intricacy of the divine process as it is carried on in the
microcosm, and in the macrocosm. They all serve to limit and circumscribe the
reality, but to the man who has the divine eye in process of opening, and to
him who has the faculty of the higher intuition awakened, such pictures serve
as a clue or key to the higher interpretation. They reveal to the student
certain ideas as to the nature of fire.
In concluding what is
to be said anent motion in the causal body, I would like to point out that it
too - on its own plane - has the three characteristics of inertia, mobility and
rhythm.
Inertia characterizes the stage prior to the
revolution of the different tiers of petals, and this revolution only [1120]
begins to be felt when the petals are becoming active. It might be stated that
the passing of the Pilgrim through the Hall of Ignorance corresponds to the
period of "egoic inertia." During this period, the permanent atoms
are the most noticeable points of light in the lotus; they constitute the
"energy feeders" of the petal. Later, as the Pilgrim on the physical
plane becomes more active and the egoic lotus is consequently unfolding with
greater rapidity, the stage of mobility supervenes,
and the circles commence their revolution. Finally, when the man treads the
Path and his purpose is intensified, the central bud unfolds, the revolution is
unified, and through the raying forth of the fires of the Jewel, a specific
rhythm is imposed upon the lotus, and its energies are stabilized. This rhythm
is diverse according to the type of Monad concerned, or the nature of the
planetary Logos of a man's ray, his divine Prototype.
By the use of certain
terms, information is conveyed to the Workers of the planet, the Brotherhood of
Light, as to the nature of Ego
concerned, the quality of his
Ray, the number of his vibration, and the point of evolution attained. It will
be apparent therefore, why it is not permitted here to make public the names of
the seven rhythmic groups.
One of the effects
produced in the lower man via the centers, through the unified activity of the
causal body, is the coordination of the lower energies of the human being.
These lower energies, as we know, demonstrate through the medium of:
We are not here
referring to the work of those centers as it is self-initiated because inherent
in their very nature, [1121] but to the effects to be seen in them as the three
tiers of petals function with increasing coherence, and the force latent in the
Jewel makes its presence felt. It might specifically be said that these effects
show themselves in a threefold manner:
It may be helpful if
the student bears in mind the fact that every center may be considered as an
evidence of solar energy or fire, manifesting as a medium of lower energy or
fire by friction. Where these centers exist the solar Angel is enabled
gradually to impose his rhythm and vibration upon that which vibrates to what
is regarded as a lower rhythm. Thus He gradually swings the entire lower
form-substance into His control.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division E - Motion on the Plane of Mind The great Existences Who are the principle of Mahat in its cosmic sense
are connected with the lesser existences who express systemic evil. They are
the sum total of the separative instrument, and where separation in any form exists, there is to be found ignorance,
and therefore evil. Separation negates comprehension, or knowledge of that
which is to be found outside the separated consciousness, for separative
knowledge entails identification with that which is expressing itself through
the medium of a form. Therefore, the Brothers of the Shadow can, and do, reach
high levels along one aspect of consciousness, and touch certain specific
heights of [1125] spiritual evil, going a great way along the line of Mahat, or
knowledge, the principle of Universal Mind. They can reach, in their later
stages, expansions of consciousness and of power that will take them far beyond
the confines of our solar system, and give them attributes and capacities which
prove a menace to the unfolding of the second Aspect.
The first group of
alignments, when not balanced by the second group, is the line of the black
magician; it will lead him eventually out of the stream of fivefold energy we
call manasic on to the cosmic path
of fohatic energy, the strictly mahatic. When on that Path two directions are
possible to him; one will keep him in touch with the natural substance aspect
concerned with the cosmic incarnations of our solar Logos; the
other will sweep him on to that center in the universe which is the emanating
source of the mahatic principle; it is the focal point where is generated that
type of energy which makes possible the dense
physical manifestation of Gods and men.
In making this
statement, it is necessary to bear in mind that the dense physical sheath is
never considered a principle. It is ever deemed occultly evil. The matter
might be more simply expressed by stating that the black adept is frankly
concerned with what is termed "the residue of that which earlier
was." He responds to the vibration of the solar system of an earlier
greater cycle in which the knowledge, or the manasic principle, was the goal of
achievement. He does not respond to the impulse of this solar system, but this
lack of response is hid in the karma of the earlier manifestation. As we know,
the Sons of Mind or the incarnating jivas are the returning nirvanis of a
previous logoic incarnation. They have achieved mind, and need love. Some few,
through a mysterious cycle of events inexplainable to man in this solar system,
repudiated opportunity and linked themselves with that great deva existence
which is the impulse [1126] of the dense physical, and they cannot loose
themselves. Their destination, as well as his, is hidden in the plans of the
ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID, and in this solar system there is no hope
for them. Fortunately, they are little likely to make themselves known to
average man; it is the Adepts of the Good Law Who meet them the most often.
The subject is most
intricate, but some light may come, if we remember that manas on the mental
plane is found in two expressions: - the mental unit on the form levels and the
manasic permanent atom on the formless planes. These two types of manas may be
regarded as embodying the qualities of the two kinds, white and black. The
mental unit or the mind aspect of a man, for instance, is after all but the
sixth sense, and has to be transcended by the higher mind and the intuition.
The black brother carries the evolution of the senses on to a stage
inconceivable to man now and this sixth mahatic sense is of vaster extent and
service to them than it ever is to the white Adept. Therefore, it will be
apparent that for a long cycle of time, the black magician can persist and
develop his powers because one-third of the force of the egoic lotus is his and
he knows well how to utilize it to the best advantage. He builds also an
antahkarana, but of quality and objective different to that of the student of
the white magic. It is called "the path of manasic evil," and bridges
a gap between the mental unit of the magician concerned, and certain
correspondences on mental levels in the vehicles of the devas of that plane.
Through this medium, and through identification
with the devas, he can escape from the three worlds to spheres of
evil incomprehensible to us. The point to be remembered here is that the black
magician remains ever a prisoner; he cannot escape from substance and from
form.
There is no need to
enlarge further on this subject. I would like to enumerate the lines of
alignment of the [1127] third group which eventually transcends the other two,
and effects the final illumination and liberation of the man.
Group III.
These three groups of
forces in man, when synthesized, produce eventually that perfect coordination
and adaptation to all conditions, forms and circumstances which eventuate in
the escape of the liberated vital spark. This is technically accomplished when
the "bud" opens, and it becomes possible for the Hierophant at
initiation to liberate the energy of the Monad, and to direct that energy
(through the agency of the Rod) so that eventually it circulates free and
untrammeled through every part of the lower threefold manifestation. As it
circulates, it destroys by burning, for it arouses the kundalini aspect
perfectly by the time the fifth Initiation is taken. The destroyer aspect
becomes dominated, and the form is "burnt upon the altar."
These ideas can also
be studied in their larger aspect; a clue to the mystery of cosmic evil may be
found in the difference existing between the sacred and non-sacred planets, and
in the purpose and place, hitherto unrecognized, of the lives of the informing existences
of the many planets and planetoids in the solar system. Some are purely mahatic
or of the third Aspect, dominated by the devas. Others (of which the sacred
planets are examples) are controlled by the second Aspect, and that second
aspect will work through unconquerably into manifestation. [1128] A few, like
our Earth planet, are battlegrounds, and the two Aspects are in collision, with
the indication of the eventual triumph of the "white" magic.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division F - The Law of Attraction Hierarchy
III.
The third Creative Hierarchy (or the eighth) is a peculiarly interesting one. They
are called "the Triads" for they hold in themselves the potencies
[1199] of triple evolution, mental, psychical, and spiritual. These Triads of
Life are inherently the three Persons and the flower of the earlier system from
a certain angle. From another angle, when studied as the "flower of the
earlier Eight," They are the eightfold points awaiting opportunity to
flame forth. They are the devas who are ready for service, which is to give to
another hierarchy certain qualities which are lacking. This Hierarchy is
regarded as the great donors of immortality whilst themselves "standing
aloof from incarnation." Lords of Sacrifice
and Love are They, but They cannot pass out of the logoic etheric body into the
dense physical vehicle.
This third Hierarchy
wields the third aspect of electric force of the first type of cosmic energy.
They stand for a recurrent cycle of that first type symbolized by the number 8.
The formulae for these electrical energies are too complicated to be given
here, but the student should bear in mind that these hierarchies express:
Each hierarchy
manifests a triple energy or an aspect of each of the above, and that
necessitates a ninefold differentiation, for the two first are triple as is the
third. It is the rejection of the Triadal Lives by units in the fourth Hierarchy,
that of the human Monads, which precipitates a man eventually into the eighth
sphere. He refuses to become a Christ, a Savior and remains self-centered.
We have dealt with the
first three hierarchies which are regarded as ever "seeing the Face of the
Ruler of the Deep," or as being so pure and holy that Their forces are in
realized contact with Their emanating source.
We now take up for
brief consideration two hierarchies [1200] which closely concern ourselves, the
human self-conscious entities. These two groups are literally three, as the
fifth Hierarchy is a dual one and it is this which has led to some confusion
and is the occult significance behind the ill-omened number thirteen. They are
the "Seekers of satisfaction" and the cause of the second fall into
generation, the fact behind the taking of a lower nature by the Ego. The fourth
and the fifth Hierarchies are the ninth and tenth, or the "Initiates"
and the "Perfect Ones." All human beings, or "Imperishable
Jivas," are those who evolve through a graded series of initiations either
self-induced or brought about on our planet with extraneous aid. This they
achieve through a "marriage" with the order next to them, the fifth.
They are then completed or perfected, and it is owing to this occult fact that
the fourth Hierarchy is regarded as masculine and the fifth as feminine.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division F - The Law of Attraction 1. Three Atomic Relations
It might be noted here
that the immediate objective of the human kingdom is consciously to establish systemic [1216] relations,
and be actively, and consciously, part of group work. The individual
consciousness of relationship is somewhat established owing to there being
self-consciousness. The work for the subhuman kingdoms is the establishment of
conscious self-realization, or the bringing about of a distinct individualism
in every form of atomic life, whilst the object for the superhuman lives is the
establishment of a universal consciousness which will enable every planet and
solar life to be consciously and intelligently part of a cosmic whole.
2. The Seven Laws of Group Work
These can only be
expressed largely through the medium of mystical terms, and it is left to the
intuition of the student to apply them to the more material forms of life.
Law 1. The Law of Sacrifice. This involves the
immolation and sacrifice of that which
has been realized. This is crucifixion, the basic law of all group work, the
governing principle which results in each human unit eventually becoming a
Savior.
Law 2. The Law of Magnetic Impulse. The law governing
the primary realizations by any atom of its environing contacts, and the going
out, or feeling after, by that atom so that eventually a relation between that
which is realized as part of the group and the unit is established. This is not
the same thing as making sense contacts, as the relation established is between
the Self in all, and not between aspects of the Not-Self. This law is sometimes
called "The first step towards marriage," for it results in an
eventual union between the man or atom and the group which produces harmonious
group relations.
Law 3. The Law of Service. This law, for want
of a better name, concerns the identification of an atom with the group
interest, and the steady negation of the atom's own material interests; it
really deals with the process or [1217] method whereby an atom (positive in its
own centralized life) gradually becomes responsive and receptive to the
positive life of the group.
Law 4. The Law of Repulsion. This law concerns
itself with the ability of an atom to throw off, or refuse to contact, any
energy deemed inimical to group activity. It is literally a law of service, but
only comes consciously into play when the atom has established certain basic
discriminations, and guides its activities through a knowledge of the laws of
its own being. This law is not the same as the Law of Repulsion which is used
in connection with the Law of Attraction between forms which have relation to
the material. The laws we are now considering have relation to the psyche, or
to the Vishnu aspect. One group of laws concern energies emanating from the
physical sun; the ones we are now considering emanate from the heart of the
Sun. The "repulsion" here dealt with has the effect (when consciously
applied through the developed heart energy of a human atom, for instance) of
furthering the interests of the repulsed unit and of driving this unit closer
to its own center. Perhaps some idea of the great beauty of this law as it
works out can be gathered from an occult phrase in a certain old book:
"This repulsive
force drives in seven directions, and forces all that it contacts back to the
bosom of the seven spiritual fathers."
Through repulsion, the
units are driven home and the straying unconscious ones are forced towards
their own center. The Law of Repulsion, or the stream of energy for which it is
but a name, can work from any center, but as dealt with here, it must emanate from the heart if it is to
bring about the necessary group work.
Law 5. The Law of Group Progress. This is sometimes
called "the Law of Elevation" for it concerns the mysteries of group
realization, and expansions of [1218] consciousness and the part each unit
plays in the general progress of a group. In relation to the human family, for
instance, the truth must ever be borne in mind that no human atom arrives at
"fullness of life" without adding much to the general nature of his
own group. The elevation of a unit results in the raising of the group; the
realization of the unit brings about eventually group recognition; the initiation
of the unit leads finally to planetary initiation, and the attainment of the
goal by the human atom and his achievement of his objective brings about
steadily and ceaselessly group achievement. No man liveth to himself, and the
crucifixion of the units throughout the aeons, and their realization of their
essential nature, only in order to offer up the best they have and realize to
the interests of the group, are but the methods whereby the work of liberation
is carried forward.
Sacrifice, Service, Magnetism ("I, if I be lifted up, will draw"), Group
Progress, Divine Repulsion, these are but the inadequate terms whereby we seek
to express the divine truth that the whole life and expression of the solar
Logos will only be possible, and His purpose only be revealed, when He has
brought each atomic unit to the stage of self-realization. Then He will lead
them on to the point of sacrificing that realized self so that divine purpose
and will may be consummated, and the divine life and glory shine forth in
perfect radiance.
This might be
expressed in more material terms by saying that through the dominance of these
laws of the Soul, the logoic physical body will become an active expression of
His self-realized purpose.
The final two laws
concerning group activity can only be very briefly treated as their true
significance is only apparent to pledged disciples. They concern primarily the
astral and the mental planes, and, therefore the corresponding vehicles of the
group units. A group, it [1219] should be remembered, which is functioning on
the physical plane is also found in a still larger form on the astral and the
mental. Just as the astral body of a man is larger than his physical body, and,
therefore, has built into its structure a larger number of atomic units, so a
group contains (astrally considered) more units than on the physical plane. The
laws we are touching upon concern the relation of the physical plane units to
those units who form a part of the group, and yet are functioning without the
physical plane sheaths or vehicles. The same idea must be applied to the units
devoid of a physical vehicle who form a component part of the mental body of
the group.
These two laws are
termed:
These laws only become
operative in units on the physical plane which are becoming responsive
consciously to those group workers who are discarnate.
All these laws, from
the point of view of a disciple, need only be considered as operative in the
three worlds, though it is needless to point out that parallels will be found
on all planes. These seven laws are those which are ascertained and consciously
studied in all groups working under the Masters.
...
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire -
Section Two - Division F - The Law of Attraction For each of these Laws, there is a definite formula and symbol. At this
stage of teaching or through this Treatise, it is not possible to reveal or
impart the formulas. The symbol may be described, and if the student will
carefully ponder upon the nomenclature of the Law, its occult name and its
symbol, much may be gathered anent group interrelations. It is these laws which
the coming cycle of regeneration will enunciate, and which the Great Lord will
demonstrate upon His appearing, and it is these laws which will gradually be
applied to the working [1220] methods of all organizations, brotherhoods,
fraternities and masonic circles.
The Laws and Symbols
No. Exoteric Name
Esoteric Name Symbol Ray Energy
1. Law of
Sacrifice.
The Law of Those Who A Rosy Cross with Golden Birds. Outpouring
Choose to Die. 4th Ray.
At-one-ing factor 2. Law of Magnetic
Impulse. The Law of the Two fiery balls and triangle Radiatory energy
Polar Union.. 2nd
Ray.
Manifesting
factor.
3. Law of Service. The Law of
Water and A Pitcher on the head of
a man. Outgoing energy
of Fishes. 6th
Ray.
Vivifying factor.
4.
Law of Repulse. The Law of all Destroying An Angel with a Rejecting energy
Angels.
flaming sword. 1st Ray.
Dispersing
factor.
5. Law of Group Progress. The Law of Elevation. The Mountain and the Goat.
Progressive energy
7th
Ray. Evolving factor.
6. Law of Expansive Response. (Name not given) Flaming
Rosy Sun. Expansive energy
3rd Ray.
Adapting
factor.
7.
Law of the Lower Four. The Law of
EthericUnion. A Male and Female Form, Fiery
energy
placed
back to back. 5th Ray.
Vitalizing factor.
The symbols are as follows:
These seven laws can
be worked out along the line of correspondences. It will be found that the
energy of any particular center and that of any one law can be brought into
line with each other.
...
Glamor - A World Problem -
The Causes of Glamor
RAY II
...
Esoteric Healing - Chapter
IV - The Basic Requirements for Healing A Treatise on Cosmic
Fire:
The Law of Sacrifice and Death is the controlling factor
on the physical plane. The destruction of the form, in order that the evolving
life may progress, is one of the fundamental methods in evolution.
- Page 569
a. The Law of
Disintegration is an aspect of the Law of Death. This is the law that governs
the destruction of the form in order that the indwelling life may shine forth
in fullness...This law breaks up the forms and the Law of Attraction draws back
to primal sources the material of those forms.
- Page 580. [414]
b. The Law of Death
controls in the three worlds.
- Page 596.
c. The Law of Sacrifice is the Law of Death in the subtle
bodies, whilst what we call death is the analogous thing in the physical body.
- Page 595.
d. The Law of Death
and Sacrifice governs the gradual
disintegration of concrete forms and their sacrifice
to the evolving life...
- Page 596.
e. When all the units
or cells in the body of the planetary Logos have achieved, He too is set free
from dense manifestation and physically dies.
- Page 509.
The process of Death is occultly as follows:
a. The first stage is the withdrawal of the
life force in the etheric vehicle from the dense physical body and the
consequent "falling into corruption" and becoming "scattered to
the elements." Objective man fades out and is no more seen by the physical
eye, though still in his etheric body. When etheric vision is developed, the
thought of death will assume very different proportions. When a man can be seen
functioning in his etheric physical body by a majority of the race, the dropping
of the dense body will be considered just as a release.
- Page 735.
b. The second stage is
the withdrawal of the life force from the etheric body, and its
devitalization...
- Page 735.
c. The third stage is
the withdrawal of the life force from the astral or emotional form so that it
disintegrates in a similar manner and the life is centralized elsewhere. It has
gained an increase of vitality [415] through physical plane existence and added
color through emotional experience.
- Page 735-736.
d. The final stage for
the human being is its withdrawal from the mental vehicle. The life forces
after this fourfold abstraction are centralized entirely in the soul...
- Pages 735-736.
The Law of Attraction
breaks up the forms and draws back to primal sources the material of those
forms, prior to rebuilding them anew. On the path of evolution the effects of
this law are well-known, not only in the destruction of discarded vehicles, but
in the breaking up of the forms in which great ideals are embodied...All eventually
break under the working of this law.
- Page 581.
Its workings are more
apparent to the average human mind in its manifestations at this time on the
physical plane. We can trace the connection between the atmic (spiritual) and
the physical plane - demonstrating on the lower plane as the Law of Sacrifice
and Death - but its effect can be seen on all five planes as well. It is the
law which destroys the final sheath that separates the perfected soul.
- Page 581.
When the "will to
live" vanishes, then the "Sons of Necessity" cease from
objective manifestation...When the Thinker on his own plane withdraws his
attention from his little system within the three worlds and gathers within
himself all his forces, then physical plane existence comes to an end and all
returns within the causal consciousness...This demonstrates on the physical
plane in the withdrawing from out of the top of the head of the radiant etheric
body and the consequent disintegration of the [416] physical. The framework goes and the
dense physical form falls apart.
- Page 85.
a. The etheric body is in reality a network
of fine channels which are the component parts of one interlacing fine cord -
one portion of this cord being the magnetic link which unites the physical and
the astral bodies and which is snapped or broken after the withdrawal of the
etheric body from the dense physical body at the time of death. (See Ecc:
XII.6.)
- Page 98.
b. Later
"definite methods of demonstrating the fact that life persists after the
death of the physical body will be followed and the etheric web will be
recognized as a factor in the case."
- Page 429.
A
Treatise on the Seven Rays, Vol. I:
Death is
"initiation, or the entering into a state of liberation."
- Page 197.
...
Esoteric Healing - Chapter
VIII - The Laws and Rules Enumerated and Applied What shall I say concerning harmlessness? It is not easy for me to show
or prove to you the effectiveness of the higher aspect, spiral or phase of
harmlessness as employed by the Hierarchy, under the direction of the Perfect
One, the Christ. The harmlessness with which I have earlier dealt has relation
to the imperfections with which humanity is wrestling, and is difficult for you
to apply in and under all circumstances, as well you know. The harmlessness to
which I refer in connection with you is not negative, or sweet or kindly
activity, as so many believe; it is a state
of mind and one which in no way negates firm or even drastic action;
it concerns motive and involves the determination that the motive behind all activity
is goodwill. That motive might lead to positive and sometimes disagreeable
action or speech, but as harmlessness and goodwill condition the mental
approach, nothing can eventuate but good.
On a higher turn of
the spiral, the Hierarchy also employs harmlessness, but it is related to the
will-to-good and involves the use of dynamic, electric energy under intuitive
direction; this type of energy is never brought into activity by man; it is
energy which he cannot yet handle. This type of harmlessness is based on
complete self-sacrifice, wherein the
will-to-sacrifice, the will-to-good and
the will-to-power (three phases of the will aspect, as expressed through the
[671] Spiritual Triad) are all fused into one dynamic energy of a deeply
spiritual nature. This energy is the epitome of complete or perfect
harmlessness, where humanity and the subsidiary kingdoms in nature are
concerned, but it is expulsive in its effect and dynamic in its annihilating
impact, where the Forces of Evil are concerned.
A close but esoteric
study of the three temptations of the Christ will reveal three major occasions
when the Perfect One, expressing this higher harmlessness, forced the exponent
of evil to retreat. This triple episode is symbolically related, but is factual
in nature. Little thought has ever been given to what would have been the
worldwide effect down the centuries if the Christ had not reacted as He did;
speculation is of little use, but it might be stated that the entire course of
history and of the evolutionary progress of humanity would have been altered,
and in a dire and awful manner. But the dynamic harmlessness, the expression of
the will-to-good and the demonstration of the will-to-power (forcing evil to
leave Him) marked a most important crisis in the life of the Christ.
The Gospel story (with
its resume of the five initiations) concerns the progress and triumph of the
Master Jesus; the story of the three temptations indicated the taking of a
still higher initiation, the sixth, by the Christ; this conferred on Him
complete mastery over evil, and not mastery over imperfection; it was because
He was the "Perfect One" that He could take this initiation.
I have given you much
for mature consideration and thrown some light upon an initiation of which
little, naturally, can be known. I would call your attention also to the three
fundamental requirements for a successful approach to this initiation: perfect
poise, a completed point of view, and divine understanding. You would find it
of interest to see how these three qualities work out in relation to the [672]
three temptations; in so doing much light would be thrown on the life, nature
and character of the Christ.
Under the Law of
Perfection we are given the key to the civilization and cycle of evolution
which He inaugurated - the ideal of which is not lost, though the application
of the teaching He gave has been neglected by the churches and by mankind. You
will note also that one temptation takes place on the summit of a high
mountain; from that elevation both time and space are totally negated, for the
vision of Christ ranged from the past, through the present and on into the
future. This state of awareness (I cannot call it consciousness, and awareness
is almost as inaccurate a word) is only possible after the fifth initiation,
reaching a high point of expression at the sixth initiation.
...
Esoteric Healing - Chapter
VIII - The Laws and Rules Enumerated and Applied
Both
soul and form together must renounce the principle of life, and thus permit the
Monad to stand free. The soul responds. The form then shatters the connection. [691]
You can see here why I
emphasized the fact that the initiate is the recipient of the essential quality
or qualities which form has revealed and developed, and which the soul has
absorbed. At this particular crisis, the initiate within the Ashram or "on
His way of glory to the Place where dwells the Lord" (Shamballa)
summarizes or contains within himself all the essential good which was stored
in the soul prior to its destruction at the fourth initiation. He epitomizes in
himself the knowledge and the wisdom of aeons of struggle and of patient
endurance. Nothing further is to be gained by adhering either to the soul or to
the form. He has taken all they had to give which throws light on the spiritual
Law of Sacrifice. It is interesting to
note how the soul becomes at this point simply the intermediary between the
personality and the initiate of high degree. But now there is nothing more to
relate, to report or to transmit, and - as the Sound reverberates - the soul
disappears, as testimony of response. It is now but an empty shell, but its
substance is of so high an order that it becomes an integral part of the
buddhic level, and its function there is etheric. The principle of life is renounced
and returns to the reservoir of universal life.
I would have you take
notice of the importance of form activity. It is the Form which shatters the connection (the usually despised,
belittled, frustrated form is that which performs the final act), bringing
complete liberation. The "Lunar Lord" of the personality has achieved
his goal, and those elements which have composed his three vehicles (physical,
astral, mental), together with the life principle, will constitute the atomic
substance of the first body of manifestation of some soul seeking incarnation
for the first time. This is closely related to the abstruse subject of the
permanent atoms. It marks a moment of high initiation for this Lunar Lord when
he shatters the connection [692] and severs all relation with the hitherto
informing soul. He is no longer just a shadow, but has now those qualities
which make him "substantial" (in the esoteric sense) and a new factor
in time and space.
The remaining words of
this law need no explanation and mark a fitting finish for this section of our
studies:
Life
is now liberated, owning the qualities of conscious knowledge and the fruit of
all experience. These are the gifts of soul and form combined. [693]
...
The Labors of Hercules -
Labor V The Field of the Labor
The sign Leo is one of
the four arms of the fixed cross in the heavens, the cross on which the Cosmic
Christ and the individual Christ are ever crucified. Perhaps the word
"crucified" would have a true significance if we substituted for it
the word "sacrificed", for in
the unfoldment of the Christ consciousness in the form, stage by stage, various
aspects of the divine nature are seen as being sacrificed.
In Taurus, the symbol
of creative force expressing itself through desire, we see the lower aspect of the
divine creative force, sexual desire, transmuted into, or sacrificed to, its higher aspect. It had to be
raised up into heaven.[104]
In Leo, we see cosmic
mind working out in the individual as the lower reasoning mind, and this lower
aspect has likewise to be sacrificed and
the little mind of man must be subordinated to the universal mind. In Scorpio,
which is the third arm of the fixed cross, we find cosmic love or cosmic
attraction. There it is shown in its lower aspect, and this we call the great
Illusion; and in Scorpio we see the aspirant upon the cross, sacrificing
illusion to reality. In Aquarius, we have the light of the universal
consciousness irradiating the human being and bringing about the sacrifice of the individual life and its
merging in the universal whole. This is the true crucifixion: the sacrifice of the reflection to the reality, of
the lower aspect to the higher, and of the individual unit to the great sum
total. It was these characteristics that the Christ so marvellously demonstrated.
He showed himself as the Creator. He showed himself as functioning under the
influence of the illuminated mind; he personified in himself the love of God,
and he announced himself as the Light of the World. The problem before
Hercules, therefore, was the problem of the sign; the crucifixion of the lower
self and the conquering of individual self-assertion.
Originally the zodiac
consisted only of ten constellations and, at some date practically unknown, the
two constellations, Leo and Virgo, were one symbol. Perhaps the mystery of the
sphinx is connected with this, for in the sphinx we have the lion with a
woman's head, Leo with Virgo, the symbol of the lion or kingly soul, and its
relation to the matter or Mother aspect. It may, therefore, signify the two
polarities, masculine and feminine, positive and negative.
In this constellation
is the exceedingly bright star, which is one of the four royal stars of the
heavens. It is called Regulus the
Ruler, the Lawgiver, holding in its significance the thought that man can now
be a law unto himself, for he has that within him which is the king or the
ruler. Hidden in the constellation is also a vivid group of stars, called
"the sickle". To the ancient initiates, who saw all the external
constellations as personifications [105] of forces and as symbols of an
unfolding drama vaster than even they could understand, the constellation
conveyed three major thoughts: first, that man was the ruler, the king, God
incarnate, an individual son of God; second, the man was governed by law, the
law of nature, the law that he makes for himself, and the spiritual law to
which he will eventually subordinate himself; third, that the work of an
individual is to apply the sickle and to cut out, or cut down, that which
hinders the application of the spiritual law and so hinders the flowering forth
of the soul.
The constellation Leo
has in it ninety-five stars, two of them of the first magnitude. Its Egyptian
name, we are told, meant "a pouring out", the Nile giving its fullest
irrigation at that season. This has also an interesting esoteric significance
for, according to the teaching of the Ageless Wisdom, the human family came
into existence through what is technically called "the third
outpouring", which was the term given to the coming-in of a great tide of
souls into the animal bodies and, therefore, the formation of the human family
composed of individual units. Another technical term for this third outpouring
is "individualization", becoming an individual with self-awareness,
thus linking it up with the great happenings in the sign, Leo.
The ninety-five stars in this constellation also have numerical significance
for we have there 9 x 10 + 5. Nine is the number of initiation, ten is the
number of human perfection, five is the number of man, and thus in this
grouping of stars we have the story of man, of the personality, the initiate
and his ultimate spiritual achievement.
The
Three Symbolic Constellations
There is an immense
constellation called Hydra, the
serpent, associated with the sign Leo. We find also Crater, the cup, and Corvus,
the raven. All three sum up in their significance the problem of the man who is
seeking initiation. They picture to him distinctly and clearly the work that he
has to do. As Leo, [106] the king, the soul, starts upon his work, he realizes
that he has the cup of suffering and of experience to drink, the serpent of
illusion to overcome, and the bird of prey to eliminate Hydra, the serpent, in the ancient
pictures is portrayed as a female serpent. It covers more than a hundred
degrees and lies beneath the three constellations, Cancer, Leo and Virgo.
In Scorpio, this serpent
of matter or of illusion, with which the soul has identified itself for so
long, is finally overcome. It y has in it sixty stars, and again we come in
touch with a significant number, for six is the number of mind, of the creative
work of the universal Mind, and of the six days of creation. In the sixth sign,
Virgo, we have the completed form. We are told in the Book of Revelations that
the mark of the Beast is 666, and Hydra, the
serpent, lies under three constellations and its number 6 is, therefore, three
times potent. Ten is the number of completion. Six expresses, therefore, the
limitations of the body nature working through form and the utilization of the
personality; it symbolizes God in nature, whether cosmically or individually. Hydra the serpent, represents the matter
aspect, as it veils and hides the soul.
The Crater, or the cup, has in it thirteen
stars of ordinary magnitude and about ninety small stars, though some books of
astronomy say three brilliant stars and ninety small. So we have again the
number of matter, or of form-taking, and the number of what is called
"apostasy" , and of "the turning of the back", as Judas
Iscariot did, upon the soul or Christ aspect. This cup forms really part of the
body of the Hydra, for the stars
at the foot of the cup form part of the body of the Serpent , and both constellations claim them. It is the cup
that every human being has to drink, full of that which he has distilled out of
his experience in matter. It is the cup of obligation certain of the ancient
Masonic rituals, and symbolizes the drinking of that which we have ourselves
brewed. In other words, the same truth can be expressed in the words of
Christian Bible, "As a man soweth, so shall he also reap." [107]
Then we have, thirdly, Corvus, the raven, that stands upon Hydra, the serpent, and pecks at it. It
has nine stars, again the number of initiation. The Old Testament started with
a raven, the New Testament starts with a dove. Experience starts with the bird
of matter and ends with the bird of spirit. It is interesting to note that in
Aquarius, the consummating sign to Leo, we find Cygnus, the swan, the symbol of the bird of spirit. In The Voice of the Silence we read:
"And then thou canst repose between the wings of the great bird. Aye,
sweet to rest between the wings of that which is not born, nor dies, but is the
Aum throughout eternal ages". And in a footnote H.P.B., referring to the
bird or swan, quotes: "Says the Rig-Veda
... The syllable A is
considered to be the bird Hamsa's right wing, U
its left, and M its tail..."
(The Chakras by C. W. Leadbeater)
In the zodiac of
Denderah, Leo and the three attendant constellations are pictured as forming
one great sign, for the lion is seen treading on the serpent. Corvus, the raven, is perched upon the
lion's shoulder, while below is a plumed female figure (again, the symbol of
matter) holding out two cups, for there is ever the cup which symbolizes the
cup of experience, the cup of penalty. The cup is the cup which is offered to
the initiate, to which Christ referred in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he
pleaded that the cup be taken away from him, but which he ended by drinking.
So Hercules, the
aspirant, expressing himself in Leo, visions the great battle that lies ahead
of him, knows that his past must work out to fulfilment in the future, knows
that before he can climb the mountain in Capricorn he must slay the Hydra, and knows that he must no longer be
the raven, but must manifest as Aquila,
the eagle of Scorpio, and as Cygnus, the
swan, in Aquarius. This he must begin to do in Leo, by demonstrating the power
to dare, by facing the terrific struggle that lies ahead of him in the next
three signs and by the slaying of the lion of [108] his own nature (king of
beasts) alone and unaided, and so earn. the power to overcome the Hydra, in Scorpio.
...
The Labors of Hercules -
Labor XI Hallmarks of the Initiate
Hercules being the
initiate is pledged to do three things, which can be summed up as the
outstanding characteristics of all true initiates. If they are not present in
some measure the man is not an initiate.
1. Unselfish service. This is not the service that we
render because we are told that service is a way to liberation, but service
rendered because our consciousness is no longer self centered. We are no longer
interested in ourselves but our consciousness being universal there is nothing
for us to do but to assimilate the troubles of our fellowmen and help them. It
is no effort for the true Aquarian master to do so.
2. Group work. This is something that we know little
about as yet. The world is full of organizations and societies, brotherhoods
that are happy training grounds for ambitious people. I do not mean to be
unkind, but my experience with the average group is that it is a hotbed of
jealousies, people trying to impress the others with the amount of their
knowledge and the wonder of their self-sacrificing lives. This is not group work.
[186]
Group work is standing
alone spiritually in the handling of one's own affairs with complete forgetting
of one's own self and affairs in the welfare of the particular section of
humanity with which we are associated. It negates ambition; it negates the
progress upward in any lodge or organization; it negates all assuming of
official prerogatives. I do not think the new groups will have any officials
but will work automatically because of the intuitional spiritual interplay
between the minds of the units in the groups. We do not know anything about it
yet.
Can you think of a
group so united on spiritual levels that letters, pamphlets, books, etc., can
be done away with; that the inter-communication between the minds of the
members of the group is perfect? That is the Aquarian group and it is not with
us yet.
3. Self-sacrifice. The meaning of self-sacrifice is making the self holy. That deals
with the self of the group and the self of the individual; that is the work of
the initiate.
From the top of the mountain
in Capricorn, Hercules has to come down literally into material filth and clean
the Augean stables. I want to give you an idea of his psychology. He had
climbed up to the top of the mountain. He had passed all the great tests,
passed from Capricorn into the spiritual kingdom and knew somewhat the
significance of mystical ecstasy, and in that highly spiritual state he
received word to go down and clean the stables. What an anti-climax. No great
world work, but to clean stables.
The object of the test
can be summed up in this way: Hercules had to aid in the cleansing of the world
by the right direction of the forces of life through it. You appreciate that we
are entering into the Aquarian age where materialism, as we know it, will have
completely died out at the close and when the whole life will be interpreted in
terms of energies. We are dealing entirely with forces. We shall probably have
a new language, the symbolic language of energy itself. We shall all be
practical occultists, the occultist who lives and works in a [187] world of
forces and who begins with the forces within himself. You will get a little
understanding of what is meant by the wielding of forces if you watch your
speech. Why do you raise your voice when emoting? Because the energy sweeping
through you has an effect upon your vocal apparatus. You are dealing with
energies and you are misusing energies. Watch yourself and begin to work in the
world of forces within yourself.
This sign inaugurates
the school of world saviors. It is almost a "John the Baptist" sign,
a sign of preparation for what the next Piscean age is going to bring in.
Aquarius is depicted
as a man holding an inverted vase. The man inverts the vase and out of it come
two streams of water, the river of life and the river of love, and those two
words, life and love, are the two words that embody the technique of the
Aquarian age; not form, not mind, but life and love. Two words we use
constantly but which, back of them, do not bear any adequate concept.
...
Initiation, Human and Solar
- Chapter III - The Work of the Hierarchy To
set an Example to Humanity
The fourth thing that
men need to know and to realize as a basic fact is that this Hierarchy is
composed of those who have triumphed over matter, and who have achieved the
goal by the very selfsame steps that individuals tread today. These spiritual
personalities, these adepts and Masters, have wrestled and fought for victory
and mastery upon the physical plane, and struggled with the miasmas, the fogs,
the dangers, the troubles, the sorrows and pains of everyday living. They have
trodden every step of the path of suffering, have undergone every experience,
have surmounted every difficulty, and have won out. These elder brothers of the
race have one and all undergone the crucifixion of the personal self, and know
that utter renunciation of all which is the lot of every aspirant at this time.
There is no phase of agony, no rending sacrifice,
no Via Dolorosa that they have not in their time trodden, and herein lies their
right to serve, and the strength of the method of their appeal. Knowing the
quintessence of pain, knowing the depth of sin and of suffering, their methods
can be exquisitely measured to the individual need; yet at the same time their
realization of the liberation to be achieved through pain, penalty, and
suffering, and their apprehension of the freedom that comes through the sacrifice of the form by the medium of the
purificatory fires, suffices to give them a firm hand, an ability to persist
even when the form may seem to have undergone a sufficiency of suffering, and a
love that triumphs over all [25] setbacks, for it is founded on patience and
experience. These elder brothers of humanity are characterized by a love which endures, and which acts ever
for the good of the group; by a knowledge which
has been gained through a millennia of lives, in which they have worked their
way from the bottom of life and of evolution well nigh to the top; by an experience which is based on time itself
and a multiplicity of personality reactions and interactions; by a courage which is the result of that
experience, and which, having itself been produced by ages of endeavor,
failure, and renewed endeavor, and having in the long run led to triumph, can
now be placed at the service of the race; by a purpose
which is enlightened and intelligent, and which is cooperative,
adjusting itself to the group and hierarchical plan and thus fitting in with
the purpose of the Planetary Logos; and finally they are distinguished by a
knowledge of the power of sound. This
final fact is the basis of that aphorism which states that all true occultists
are distinguished by the characteristics of knowledge, dynamic will, Courage,
and silence. "To know, to will, to dare, and to be silent." Knowing
the plan so well, and having clear, illuminated vision, they can bend their
will unflinchingly and unswervingly to the great work of creation by the power
of sound. This leads to their silence where the average man would speak, and
their speaking where the average man is silent.
When men have grasped
the four facts here enumerated, and they are established as acknowledged truths
in the consciousness of the race, then may we look for a return of that cycle
of peace and rest and righteousness which is foretold in all the Scriptures of
the world. The Sun of Righteousness will then arise with healing in his wings,
and the peace which passeth understanding will reign in the hearts of men.[26]
In dealing with this
matter of the work of the occult Hierarchy, in a book for the general public,
much must be left unsaid. The average man is interested and his curiosity is
aroused by reference to these Personalities, but men are not yet ready for more
than the most general information. For those who, from curiosity, pass on to
desire and seek to know the truth as it is, more will be forthcoming, when they
themselves have done the necessary work and study. Investigation is desired,
and the attitude of mind which it is hoped this book will arouse might be
summed up in the following words: - These statements sound interesting and
perchance they are true. The religions of all nations, the Christian included,
give indications that seem to substantiate these ideas. Let us therefore accept
these ideas as a working hypothesis as to the consummation of the evolutionary
process in man and his work upon the attainment of perfection. Let us therefore
seek for the truth as a fact in our own consciousness. Every religious faith
holds out the promise that those who seek with earnestness shall find that
which they are seeking; let us, therefore, seek. If by our search we find that
all these statements are but visionary dreams, and profit not at all, leading
us only into darkness, time will nevertheless not have been lost, for we shall
have ascertained where not to look. If by our search, on the other hand,
corroboration comes little by little, and the light shines ever more clearly,
let us persist until that day dawns when the light which shineth in darkness
will have illuminated the heart and brain, and the seeker will awaken to the
realization that the whole trend of evolution has been to bring him this
expansion of consciousness and this illumination, and that the attainment of
the initiatory process, and the entrance into the fifth kingdom is no wild
chimera or phantasm, but an established fact in the consciousness. This each
man must ascertain for himself. Those [27] who know may state a fact to be thus
and so, but the dictum of another person and the enunciation of a theory do not
aid beyond giving to the seeker confirmatory indication. Each soul has to
ascertain for himself, and must find out within himself, remembering ever that
the kingdom of God is within, and that only those facts which are realized
within the individual consciousness as truths are of any real value. In the
meantime, that which many know, and have ascertained within themselves to be
truths of an incontrovertible nature for them, may here be stated; to the
intelligent reader will then arise the opportunity and the responsibility of
ascertaining for himself their falsity or truth. [28]
...
Initiation, Human and Solar
- Chapter VII - The Probationary Path Masters and Disciples
Disciples and advanced
Egos on the Probationary Path receive instruction at this particular time for two
special purposes:
This sentence is for
serious consideration, for it covers the work that a number of the newer
generation have come to do. In this linking up of the two planes people are
required who are polarized in their mental bodies (or, if not polarized there,
are nevertheless well, rounded out and balanced) and can therefore work safely
and with intelligence in this type of work. It necessitates primarily people in
whose vehicles can be found a certain proportion of atomic subplane matter, so
that direct communication can be effected between the higher and the lower via
the atomic cross-section of the causal body. This is not easy to explain
clearly, but a consideration of the diagram in "A Study in
Consciousness," by Mrs. Besant, page 27, may be helpful in explaining some
matters that are apt to puzzle.
We must recognize two
things in pondering the subject of the Masters and their disciples.
First, that in the
Hierarchy nothing is lost through failure to recognize the law of economy.
Every expenditure of force on the part of a Master or Teacher is subjected to
wise foresight and discrimination. Just as we do not put university professors
to teach the beginners, so the Masters themselves work not individually with
men until they have attained a certain stage of evolution and are ready to
profit by their instruction. [68]
Secondly, we must
remember that each of us is recognized by the brilliance of his light. This is
an occult fact. The finer the grade of matter built into our bodies, the more
brilliantly will shine forth the indwelling light. Light is vibration, and
through the measurement of vibration is fixed the grading of the scholars.
Hence nothing can prevent a man's progress forward if he but attends to the
purification of his vehicles. The light within will shine forth with ever
greatest clarity, as the refining process goes on, until - when atomic matter
predominates - great will be the glory of that inner man. We are all graded,
therefore, if it may be so expressed, according to the magnitude of the light,
according to the rate of vibration, according to the purity of the tone and the
clarity of the color. Who our Teacher is depends therefore upon our grading.
Similarity of vibration holds the secret. We are frequently told that when the
demand is forceful enough the Teacher will appear. When we build in the right
vibrations and attune ourselves to the right key, nothing can prevent our
finding the Master.
Groups of Egos are
formed:
They are also grouped
for purposes of classification:
All are graded and
charted. The Masters have their Halls of Records, with a system of tabulation
incomprehensible to us owing to its magnitude and its necessary intricacies,
wherein these charts are kept. They are under [69] the care of a Chohan of a
Ray, each ray having its own collection of charts. These charts, being in many
sections (dealing with incarnate, discarnate, and perfected Egos), are again
all under the care of subordinate guardians. The Lipika Lords, with their vast
band of helpers are the most frequent users of these charts. Many discarnate
egos awaiting incarnation or having just left the earth, sacrifice their time in heaven to assist in
this work. These Halls of Records are mostly on the lowest levels of the mental
plane and the highest of the astral, as they can be there most fully utilized
and are most easily accessible.
...
Initiation, Human and Solar
- Chapter IX - The Path of Initiation THE PATH OF INITIATION
After a longer or
shorter period of time the disciple stands at the Portal of Initiation. We must
remember that as one approaches this portal and draws nearer to the Master it
is as says "Light on the Path," with the feet bathed in the blood of
the heart. Each step up is ever through the sacrifice
of all that the heart holds dear on one plane or another, and always must this sacrifice be voluntary. He who treads the
Probationary Path and the Path of Holiness is he who has counted the cost,
whose sense of values has been readjusted, and who therefore judges not as
judges the man of the world. He is the man who is attempting to take the
"kingdom by violence," and in the attempt is prepared for the
consequent suffering. He is the man who counts all things but loss if he may
but win the goal, and who, in the struggle for the mastery of the lower self by
the higher, is willing to sacrifice even
unto death.
The first two Initiations
At the first
initiation, the control of the Ego over the physical body must have reached a
high degree of attainment. "The sins of the flesh," as the Christian
phraseology has it, must be dominated; gluttony, drink, and licentiousness must
no longer hold sway. The physical elemental will no longer find its demand
obeyed; the control must be complete and the lure departed. A general attitude
of obedience to the Ego must have been achieved, and the [83] willingness to obey must be very strong.
The channel between the higher and the lower is widened, and the obedience of
the flesh practically automatic.
That all initiates
measure not up to this standard may be ascribed to several things, but the note
they sound should be on the side of righteousness; the recognition of their own
shortcomings which they will evidence will be sincere and public, and their struggle
to conform to the highest standard will be known, even though perfection may
not be achieved. Initiates may, and do, fall, and thereby incur the working of
the law in punishment. They may, and do, by this fall injure the group, and
thereby incur the karma of readjustment, having to expiate the injury through
later prolonged service, wherein the group members themselves, even though
unconsciously, apply the law; their progress will be seriously hindered, much
time being lost in which they must work out the karma with the injured units.
The very fact that a man is an initiate, and therefore the medium for force of
a greatly increased kind, makes his lapses from the straight path to have more
powerful effects than is the case with a less advanced man; his retribution and
punishment will be equally greater. Inevitably he must pay the price before he
is allowed to proceed further upon the Way. As for the group he injures, what
should their attitude be? A recognition of the gravity of the error, a wise acceptance
of the facts in the case, a refraining from unbrotherly criticism, and a
pouring out of love upon the sinning brother: all this, coupled with such
action as will make clear to the onlooking general public that such sins and
infringements of the law are not condoned. To this must be added an attitude of
mind within the group concerned which will lead them (whilst taking firm
action) to help the mistaken brother to see his error, to work out the
retributive karma, and then to reinstate him [84] in their regard and respect
when due amends have been made.
All people do not
develop exactly along the same or parallel lines, and therefore no hard or fast
rules can be laid down as to the exact procedure at each initiation, or as to
just what centers; are to be vivified, or what vision is to be accorded. So
much depends upon the ray of the disciple, or his development in any particular
direction (people do not usually develop evenly), upon his individual karma,
and also upon the exigencies of any special period. This much can be suggested,
however: At the first initiation, that of the birth of the Christ, the heart center is the one usually
vivified, with the aim in view of the more effective controlling of the astral
vehicle, and the rendering of greater service to humanity. After this
initiation the initiate is taught principally the facts of the astral plane; he
has to stabilize his emotional vehicle and learn to work on the astral plane
with the same facility and ease as he does on the physical plane; he is brought
in contact with the astral devas; he learns to control the astral elementals;
he must function with facility on the lower subplanes, and the value and
quality of his work on the physical plane becomes of increased worth. He
passes, at this initiation, out of the Hall of Learning into the Hall of
Wisdom. At this time, emphasis is consistently laid on his astral development,
although his mental equipment grows steadily.
Many lives may
intervene between the first initiation and the second. A long period of many
incarnations may elapse before the control of the astral body is perfected, and
the initiate is ready for the next step. The analogy is kept in an interesting
way in the New Testament in the life of the initiate Jesus. Many years elapsed
between the Birth and the Baptism, but the remaining three steps were taken in
three years. Once the second initiation is taken [85] the progress will be
rapid, the third and fourth following probably in the same life, or the
succeeding.
The second initiation
forms the crisis in the control of the astral body. Just as, at the first
initiation, the control of the dense physical has been demonstrated, so here
the control of the astral is similarly demonstrated. The sacrifice and death of desire has been the
goal of endeavor. Desire itself has been dominated by the Ego, and only that is
longed for which is for the good of the whole, and in the line of the will of
the Ego, and of the Master. The astral elemental is controlled, the emotional
body becomes pure and limpid, and the lower nature is rapidly dying. At this
time the Ego grips afresh the two lower vehicles and bends them to his will.
The aspiration and longing to serve, love, and progress become, so strong that
rapid development is usually to be seen. This accounts for the fact that this
initiation and the third, frequently (though not invariably) follow each other
in one single life. At this period of the world's history such stimulus has
been given to evolution that aspiring souls - sensing the dire and crying need
of humanity - are sacrificing all in order to meet that need.
Again, we must not
make the mistake of thinking that all this follows in the same invariable
consecutive steps and stages. Much is done in simultaneous unison, for the
labor to control is slow and hard, but in the interim between the first three
initiations some definite point in the evolution of each of the three lower
vehicles has to be attained and held, before the further expansion of the
channel can be safely permitted. Many of us are working on all the three bodies
now, as we tread the Probationary Path.
At this initiation,
should the ordinary course be followed, (which again is not at all certain) the throat center is vivified. This causes
a capacity to turn to account in the Master's service, and for the helping of
man, the attainments [86] of the lower mind. It imparts the ability to give
forth and utter that which is helpful, possibly in the spoken word, but surely in service of some kind. A vision
is accorded of the world's need, and a further portion of the plan shown. The
work, then, to be done prior to the taking of the third initiation, is the
complete submerging of the personal point of view in the need of the whole. It
entails the complete domination of the concrete mind by the Ego.
...
Initiation, Human and Solar
- Chapter X - The Universality of Initiation THE
UNIVERSALITY OF INITIATION
It has been emphasized
many times in the occult teachings that the process of initiation, as it is
usually understood, is an abnormal and not a normal one. All progression in the
realm of consciousness is naturally by a graded series of awakenings, but this
would proceed much more gradually and cover a longer period of time than is the
case under our present planetary conditions. This particular mode of developing
the consciousness of the human family was initiated by the Hierarchy during the
Atlantean root-race at the latter end of the fourth subrace, and will persist
until the middle of the next round. At that time the needed stimulus will have
been imparted, and as three fifths of the human family will then have
esoterically "set their feet upon the path," and a large percentage
of them will then be in process of becoming the Path itself, the more normal
routine will again be resumed.
Initiation on the various Planets
The process of
stimulation of the human Egos by means of graded instructions, and the
application of the dynamic electrical force of the Rod is employed on three of
the planets of our system at this time. It is instituted during every fourth
round, and its peculiar interest lies in the fact that the emphasis for the
fourth Creative Hierarchy in every fourth chain and globe during the fourth
round is laid upon the fourth initiation, that of the Crucifixion. The fourth
Creative Hierarchy is the great expression of the conscious [95] will and sacrifice of the Solar Logos, and the great
symbol of the intelligent union of spirit and matter. Hence the fourth
initiation, with its presentation of these cosmic truths, and its epitomizing
of the purpose of this fundamental sacrifice,
has a pre-eminent place.
The student needs to
remind himself that the other planetary schemes, though fundamentally the same
as our fourth scheme, yet have their profound differences in manifestation, due
to the varying characteristics and the individual karma of the incarnating
Planetary Logos or Ray. These differences
affect:
The three planetary
schemes wherein the great experiment of initiation is being tried are the
Earth, Venus, and one other. Venus was the first sphere of experiment, and the
success of the endeavor and the force generated was the cause of a similar
effort being made on our planet. No planet increases its store of force, and
consequently its sphere of influence, without incurring obligations and
affecting other schemes; the interchange of force and energy between these two
planets, Earth and Venus, is continuous. A similar process has but lately been
instituted on another planetary scheme, and when, in the next round, our Earth
attains a point in evolution analogous to that of the Venusian scheme at the
time its influence was felt by us, then we shall aid in the stimulation of
still another group of planetary Egos; we shall assist in the institution of a
similar procedure among the sons of men in another scheme.
In the three great
planetary schemes, Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn, the method of initiation will
not be employed. They will be the recipients of those who are esoterically
"saved" from among the other schemes. That is to say that all those
who, in any scheme, achieve the needed expansions of consciousness (such as
will be achieved by the majority of the human family prior to the middle of the
next great cycle, or round), will be considered "saved," whilst the remainder
will be held to be failures, and will be held over for further development
during later periods, or will be transferred to those planetary schemes which
from the point of view of time are not so far advanced as our Earth scheme.
These three major schemes are the absorbers and synthesizers of the energy of
the others.
...
Initiation, Human and Solar
- Chapter XVI - The Imparting of the Secrets These seven secrets are simply short formulas, not of mantric value,
such as in the case of the Sacred Word, but of a mathematical nature, precisely
worded so as to convey the exact intent of the speaker. To the uninitiated they
would look and sound like algebraically formulas, except that each is composed
(when seen clairvoyantly) of an oval of a specific hue, according to the secret
imparted, containing five peculiar hieroglyphics or symbols. One symbol
contains the formula of the law concerned, another gives the planetary key and
tone, a third deals with vibration, whilst the fourth shows the number and department
under which the ray concerned falls. The last hieroglyph gives one of the seven
hierarchical keys by means of which the members of our planetary hierarchy can
link up with the solar. This is evidently very vague and ambiguous information,
but it will serve to show that, as in the case of the Words, apprehension had
to involve two senses, so in the cognition of the secrets the two senses again
come into play, and the secret is both heard and appears symbolically to the
inner eye.
It will now be apparent
why so much stress is laid upon the study of symbols, and why students are
urged to ponder and meditate upon the cosmic and systemic signs. It prepares
them for the grasp and inner retention of the symbols and formulas which embody
the knowledge whereby they can eventually work. These formulas are based upon
nine symbols which are now recognized: -
All these symbols
allied, interwoven, or taken in part, are combined to express one or other of
the seven Secrets. The initiate has to recognize them by sight as well as to
hear them, and by an effort of the will to imprint them irrevocably upon his
memory. This he is aided to do in three ways: First, by a long prior
training in observation; this can be begun here and now by all aspirants, and
as they learn to imprint details accurately upon their memory they are laying
the foundation for that acute instantaneous apprehension of that which is shown
them by the Hierophant; secondly, by
having cultivated within themselves the power to visualize again that which has
once been seen. It will be apparent here why the emphasis has been laid by all
wise teachers of meditation upon the faculty of the careful building of mental
pictures. The aim has been
two-fold:
Finally,
by
the strongly applied will of the other four Personalities who are holding the
Rod at the same time as the [167] initiate. Their trained intense mental
concentration greatly facilitates his apprehension.
In the case of human
evolution certain types of force are generated, dealt with, assimilated, and
used, at first unconsciously, and finally with full intelligence.
a. In the Hall of Ignorance the force or energy of
Brahma (the activity and intelligence of substance) is that mostly dealt with,
and the man has to learn the meaning of activity based on:
b. In the Hall of Learning he becomes aware of, and
uses the energy of the second aspect in form building, in social relations, and
in family affiliations. He comes to the recognition of sex and its relations,
but as yet views this force as something to be controlled, but not consciously
and constructively utilized.
c. In the Hall of Wisdom he comes to the knowledge
of the first aspect of energy, the dynamic use of will in sacrifice, and to him is then committed the
key to the threefold mystery of energy. This energy in its threefold aspect he
became aware of, in the other two Halls. At the third initiation, and at the
fourth and fifth, the three keys to the three mysteries are given to him.
The key to the mystery
sensed in the first Hall, the mystery of Brahma, is handed to him, and he can
then unlock the hidden energies of atomic substance. [168]
The key to the mystery
of sex, or of the pairs of opposites, is thrust into his hand, and he can then
unlock the hidden forces of the will aspect. The dynamo of the solar system is
shown to him, - if it might be so expressed - and the intricacies of the
mechanism revealed.
...
A Treatise on White Magic -
Rule Four - The Creative Work of Sound Present day troubles
are largely due to the lack of intuitive perception in the past and this fault
lies primarily among the mystics of the world and not so much among the lower
aspirants. The trouble has not lain in lack of idealism or even in a lack of
intelligence and sincerity, it consists in the failure to sacrifice the personality at all times in
order to make the intuitive realization demonstrate its realities. Compromise
has been permitted and in the occult world compromise is forbidden. When
indulged in, it leads to disaster and sweeps away eventually, [137] in ruin and
in storm, the personalities of those who so stoop. People have sought to adjust
the truth to the hour instead of adjusting the hour to the truth, and in
diplomacy they have endeavored to bring about as much of the reality as they
deem wise. The Masters are looking out for those with clear vision, uncompromising
adherence to the truth as sensed, and capacity to drive steadily forward toward
the ideal. This entails the
following factors:
The fourth result to
be brought about by the present opportunity to work is the bringing in the new
cycle and the new group of participants. Workers in the new era will be drawn
from all groups and the test of their choice depends largely upon the measure
of impersonality with which they work and the strength of their [138] inner
contact with the soul. It is not easy for any of you, therefore, submerged as
you are in the smoke and roar of battle, to judge results with accuracy or to
judge people with perfect propriety. These things have to be dealt with on the
inner planes and are noted by the watching guides of the race. I would like
here briefly to point out a few of the things for which the Great Ones look.
They look to see
whether the inner flame - the result of effort wisely to work and think and do
- burns with increased brilliance; they note whether it remains hidden and dim
through the whirl of astral currents and by thought forms of personal
antagonism, ambition and envy. As a result of world work some will be drawn
into closer connection with the work of the Hierarchy, and others will be
temporarily set back. Capacity to dominate the astral and to work from mental
levels will largely count.
They look to see who
can struggle and contend for principle with personalities, and yet keep the
link of love intact. This counts perhaps more than men realize and a man who
can stand for principle and yet love all human beings - refusing compromise and
yet refusing hate - has something rare to offer in these days and the Great
Ones can use him. See to it, therefore, all of you who work, that with clear
vision, upright purpose and firm undeviating action you forge ahead. See to it
that you deal with patience and forbearance with those of your brothers who
choose the lesser principle and the lesser right, who sacrifice the good of the group for their own personal ends or
who use unworthy methods. Give to them love and care and a ready helping hand,
for they will stumble on the way and sound the depth of the law. Stand ready
then to lift them up and to offer to them opportunities for service, knowing
that service is the great healer and teacher. [139]
...
A Treatise on White Magic -
Rule Seven - The Battleground of the Astral Plane Secondly, the astral plane is the plane of illusion, of glamor, and of a
distorted presentation of reality. The reason for this is that every individual
in the world is busy working in astral matter, and the potency of human desire
and of world desire produces that constant "outpicturing" and form
building which leads to the most concrete effects of astral matter. Individual
desire, national desire, racial desire, the desire of humanity as a whole, plus
the instinctual desire of all subhuman lives causes a constant changing and
shifting of the substance of the plane; there is a building of the temporary
forms, some of rare beauty, some of no beauty, and a vitalizing by the astral
energy of its creator. Add to these forms that persistent and steadily growing
scenario we call the "akashic records" which concern the emotional
history of the past, add the activities of the discarnate lives which are
passing through the astral plane, either out of or towards incarnation, add the
potent desire, purified and intelligent, of all superhuman Lives, including
those of the occult planetary Hierarchy, and the sum total of forces present is
stupendous. All play upon, around and through every human being, and according
to the caliber of his physical body, and the condition of his centers [223]
will be his response. Through this illusory panorama, the aspirant has to make
his way, finding the clue or thread which will lead him out of the maze, and
holding fast to each tiny fragment of reality as it presents itself to him,
learning to distinguish truth from glamor, the permanent from the impermanent
and the certainty from the unreal. As the Old
Commentary puts it:
"Let the disciple
seize hold of the tail of the serpent of wisdom, and having with firmness
grasped it, let him follow it into the deepest center of the Hall of Wisdom.
Let him not be betrayed into the trap set for him by the serpent of illusion,
but let him shut his eyes to the colorful tracery upon its back, and his ears
to the melody of its voice. Let him discern the jewel, set in the forehead of
the serpent whose tail he holds, and by its radiance traverse the miry halls of
maya."
No glamor, no illusion
can long hold the man who has set himself the task of treading the razor-edged
Path which leads through the wilderness, through the thickset forest, through
the deep waters of sorrow and distress, through the valley of sacrifice and over the mountains of vision to
the gate of Deliverance. He may travel sometimes in the dark (and the illusion
of darkness is very real); he may travel sometimes in a light so dazzling and
bewildering that he can scarcely see the way ahead; he may know what it is to
falter on the Path, and to drop under the fatigue of service and of strife; he
may be temporarily sidetracked and wander down the bypaths of ambition, of
self-interest and of material enchantment, but the lapse will be but brief.
Nothing in heaven or hell, on earth or elsewhere can prevent the progress of
the man who has awakened to the illusion, who has glimpsed the reality beyond
the glamor of the astral plane, and who has heard, even if only once, the
clarion call of his own soul.
...
A Treatise on White Magic -
Rule Ten - The Founding of the Hierarchy These three - idealism, group service and sacrifice
- are characteristics of those personalities who are becoming increasingly
sensitive to the soul aspect, the qualities of that soul being knowledge, love
and sacrifice.
This is why the
emphasis in all schools of true esotericism is laid on motive. People who are strongly individual and
are developing a group consciousness inevitably, in some life, find their way into
esoteric schools and have to be guided in such a manner that the soul nature
enfolds, overpowers and uses the personality.
The outstanding
characteristics of those personalities who are not as yet soul-centered or
controlled, are dominance, ambition, pride and a lack of love to the whole,
though they frequently possess love for those who are necessary to them or to
their comfort.
You have therefore in
the sequential development of humanity the following stages:
This latter stage puts
a man upon the path of discipleship, which includes, needless to say, that of
the earlier phase, probation or testing.
The problem consists
in ascertaining upon which step of the ladder and in which phase one finds
oneself at any particular time. Behind each human being stretches a long series
of lives and some are now headed towards the stage of dominant selfish
personality expression and are making themselves individuals in full conscious
awareness. This is, for them, as much a step forward as is discipleship for all
of you. Others are already personalities and are beginning to experiment with
the energy flowing through them and to gather around themselves those people
who vibrate to their note and for whom they definitely have a message. Hence
the myriads of small groups all over the world, working in every known field of
human expression. Others have passed beyond that stage and are becoming
decentralized from the personality expression in the three worlds of human life
and are motivated by an energy which is the higher aspect of the personality
energy. No longer do they work and plan and struggle to express their
personalities and to make their individual impact upon the world or to gather
magnetically around themselves a group of people who look up to them and thus
feed the springs of their pride and ambition and who make them both influential
and important. They are beginning to see things in a newer and truer
perspective. In the light of the Whole, the light of the little self fades out,
just as the light that is inherent in every atom of the body is gathered
together and obliterated in the light of the soul when that blazes forth in all
its glory.
When this stage of
selflessness, of service, of subordination [398] to the One Self, and of sacrifice to the group becomes the objective,
a man has reached the point where he can be received into that group of world
mystics and knowers and group workers which is the physical plane reflection of
the planetary Hierarchy.
...
A Treatise on White Magic -
Rule Twelve - The Prisoners of the Planet The "prisoners of the planet" fall into two categories:
1. Those lives which
act under the influence of a conscious purpose, and who "limit the life
that is in them" for a time. They consciously take form, knowing the end
from the beginning. These Beings in their turn fall into three main groups. [531]
2. Those lives who are
limited in form because they are not self-conscious but are unconscious
constituent parts of a greater form. They have not yet evolved to the point
where they are self-conscious entities.
It might be said that
this second category includes all existences, but the line of demarcation
between self-produced limitation and unrealized form-taking lies entirely in
the realm of consciousness. Some lives are prisoners and know it. Others are
prisoners and know it not. The clue to suffering lies right here in the realm
of mind. Pain and agony, rebellion and the conscious urge towards betterment
and the changing of conditions are only found where what we call individuality
is present, where the "I" complex is controlling, and where a
self-conscious entity is functioning. There is of course [532] the equivalent to
pain in kingdoms below the human, but it enters into another differentiation.
It is not self-related. Subhuman forms of life suffer and undergo discomfort
and are subject to the throes of death but they lack memory and prevision, and
possess not that mental apprehension which will enable them to relate past and
present and anticipate the future. They are exempt from the agony of
foreboding. Their entire reaction to what are called evil conditions is so
different to that of humanity that it is difficult for us to grasp it. The Old Commentary describes these two
groups in the following terms:
"The Sons of God,
who know and see and hear (and knowing, know they know) suffer the pain of
conscious limitation. Deep in the inmost depths of conscious being, their lost
estate of liberty eats like a canker. Pain, sickness, poverty and loss are seen
as such, and from them every son of God revolts. He knows that in himself, as
once he was before he entered prisoner into form, he knew not pain. Sickness
and death, corruption and disease, they touched him not. The riches of the
universe were his, and naught he knew of loss."
"The lives that
enter into form along, with lives self-conscious, the deva lives which build
the forms indwelt by all the Sons of God, they know not pain or loss or
poverty. The form decays, the other forms retire, and that which is required to
nourish and keep strong the outer, lacks. But lacking also will and planned
intent, they feel no aggravation and know no clear revolt."
...
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
- Book 1 - The Problem of Union 15. Non-attachment is freedom from longing for all objects
of desire, either earthly or traditional, either here or hereafter.
Non-attachment can
also be described as thirstlessness. This is the most correct occult term to
use as it involves the dual idea of water, the symbol of material existence,
and desire, the quality of the astral plane, whose symbol is also water. The
idea of man being the "fish" is curiously complete here. This symbol
(as is the case with all symbols) has seven meanings; two are of use in this
place:
Where there is no
longing for any object whatsoever, and where there is no desire for rebirth
(ever the outcome of longing for "form-expression" or material
manifestation) then the true thirstlessness is attained, and the liberated man
turns his back upon all the forms in the lower three worlds and becomes a true
savior.
In the Bhagavad Gita the following illuminating
words are found:
"For the
possessors of wisdom, united in soul-vision, giving up the fruit of works,
freed from the bondage of rebirth, reach the home where no sorrow dwells.
"When thy soul
shall pass beyond the forest of delusion, thou shalt no more regard what shall
be taught or what has been taught.
"When withdrawn
from traditional teaching, thy soul shall stand steadfast, firm in soul-vision,
then shalt thou gain union with the Soul." (Gita II, 51, 52 and 53.)
J. H. Woods makes this
clear in his translation of the comment by Veda Vyasa which is here appended:
"Passionless is
the consciousness of being Master on the part of one who has rid himself of
thirst for either seen or revealed objects."
"The mind stuff
(chitta) - if it be rid of thirst for objects that are seen, such as women, or
food or drink or power, if it be rid of thirst for the object revealed (in the
Vedas) such as the attainment of Heaven or of the discarnate state or of
resolution into primary matter - if even when in contact with objects either
supernormal or not, it be, by virtue of elevation, aware of the inadequateness
of objects - will have a consciousness of being Master..." [30]
The word
"traditional" carries the student's thought away from that which is
usually regarded as the object of sensuous perception into the world of thought
forms, into that "forest of delusion" which is constructed of men's
ideas about God, heaven or hell. The sublimation of all this and its highest
expression in the three worlds is that "devachan" which is the goal
of the majority of the sons of men. Devachanic experience must, however, be
transformed eventually into nirvanic realization. It may be of value to the
student to remember that heaven, the object of aspirational desire, which is
the outcome of traditional teaching, and of all formulations of doctrinal
faiths has several meanings to the occultist. For the purpose of a clearer
understanding the following may be found to be of use:
a. Taken certain
initiations,
b. Freed himself from the three worlds,
c. Organized his Christ body.
Strictly speaking
those adepts who have achieved non-attachment but who have chosen to sacrifice themselves and abide with the sons
of men in order to serve and help them are not technically Nirvanis. They are
Lords of Compassion pledged to "suffer" with, and to be governed by,
certain conditions analogous to (though not identical with) the conditions governing
men who are still attached to the world of form.
...
Esoteric Psychology I -
Section Two - II. The Rays and the Kingdoms in Nature
The
animal kingdom, in turn, draws its sustenance primarily from the sun, the water
and the vegetable kingdom. The mineral content required for the skeleton
structure is therefore offered in a more advanced and sublimated form, being
gathered out of the offering of the vegetable kingdom instead of out of that of
the mineral kingdom. Each kingdom offers sacrifice
to the next succeeding kingdom in the evolutionary sequence. The Law of Sacrifice determines the nature of each
kingdom. Therefore each kingdom may be regarded as a [220] laboratory wherein
are prepared those forms of nutriment which are needed for the building of ever
more refined structures. The human kingdom follows the same procedure, and
draws its life (from the form angle) out of the animal kingdom as well as from
the sun, water and the vegetable world. In the early stages of human
unfoldment, animal food was, therefore, both karmically and in essence, the
correct food for man; and for unevolved men, and from the standpoint of the
animal form, such food is still right and proper. This brings up the whole
question of vegetarianism, and I shall deal with it when we come to consider
the fourth kingdom. The situation is not at all what is often thought, or as
presented by the thinkers of today, and meat eating - at a certain stage of
human unfoldment - incurs no evil doing.
...
Esoteric Psychology II -
Chapter I - The Egoic Ray - The Seven Laws of Soul or Group Life
1. The Law of Sacrifice
The section upon which
we now enter in our studies will be difficult and controversial. The thread
which will guide us out of the bewildering maze of thought into which we must
perforce enter, is the golden one of group love,
group understanding, group relations and group conduct.
Exoteric Name Esoteric
Name Symbol
Ray Energy
1. The Law of
sacrifice
The Law of those who choose to die A rosy Cross with Outpouring
a golden bird fourth ray,
at-one-ing
energy
This law of sacrifice,
which is the first of the laws to be grasped by the human intelligence, and is
therefore the easiest for man to understand (because he is already governed by
it [88] and, therefore, aware of it) came to its first major expression during this
slowly disappearing age, the present age, the Piscean age. This law has always
been functioning and active in the world, for it is one of the first of the
inner subjective laws to express itself consciously, and as an active ideal, in
human life. The theme of all the world religions has been divine sacrifice, the immolation of the cosmic Deity,
through the process of universal creation, and of the world Saviors, by Their
death and sacrifice as a means of
salvation and eventual release and liberation. Such is the blindness and such
is the contaminating influence of the lower separative man, that this divine
law of sacrifice is wielded with the
selfish intent of personal and individual salvation. But the travestied truth
remains the unsullied truth on its own plane, and this dominant world law
governs the appearing and the disappearing of universes, of solar systems, of
races and of nations, of world leaders and world rulers, of incarnating human
beings and of revealing Sons of God.
Let us see if we can
interpret or define the true significance of this law, which is in reality the
expression of a divine impulse, leading to a defined activity, with its
consequent and subsequent results and effects. It was this aspect of sacrifice which led to the creation of the
worlds and to the manifestation of the divine Creator.
It might help to a
better understanding of the Law of Sacrifice
if it were expressed through synonymous words and terms.
...
Esoteric Psychology II -
Chapter I - The Egoic Ray - The Seven Laws of Soul or Group Life A study of those expressed objectives
will convey to the
earnest student a meagre understanding of the lowest aspects of the divine
purpose. The wonder of the idea staggers human imagination. If this is a
statement of fact, and if these ideas are but the expression of still deeper
and more beautiful cosmic purposes, may not the goal be realized as being far
beyond human computation, when its lowest
expression embraces the highest intuitive and abstract concepts of
which the most elevated human consciousness is capable? I commend this thought
to your deep consideration.
It will be apparent,
therefore, why it is the energy of the fourth ray which is related to this Law
of Sacrifice, and why in this fourth
planetary scheme and in our fourth globe, (the Earth globe) so much emphasis is
laid upon this Law of Sacrifice,
"the Law of those who choose to die." The fourth ray [92] of conflict
(conflict with a view to eventual harmony) is at present not one of the
manifesting rays, yet - in the light of the larger cycle - this ray is a major
controlling factor in our earth evolution and in the evolution of our solar
system, which is one of the fourth order. The realization of this may indicate
why our little planet, the Earth, is of such apparent importance in the solar
system. It is not simply because we choose to think so and thus feed our own
arrogance, but it is so primarily because the fourth ray of conflict and this
first law are - in time and space - dominating factors in the fourth kingdom in
nature, the human kingdom. Our planet, the fourth in the series of divine
expression with which we are associated, has a peculiar relation to the
position of our solar system in the series of solar systems which constitute
the body of expression for The One About Whom Naught May Be Said.
It must never be
forgotten that this fourth ray of conflict is the ray whose energies, rightly
applied and understood, bring about harmony and at-one-ment. The result of this
harmonizing activity is beauty, but it is a beauty that is achieved through
struggle. This produces a livingness through death, a harmony through strife, a
Union through diversity and adversity.
The sacrifice of the solar angels brought the fourth
kingdom in nature into being. The "returning nirvanis" (as they are
called in esoteric literature), with deliberation and full understanding, took
human bodies in order to raise those lower forms of life nearer to the goal. These
were and are ourselves. The "Lords of Knowledge and Compassion and of
ceaseless persevering Devotion" (who are ourselves) chose to die in order
that lesser lives might live, and this sacrifice
has made possible the evolution of the indwelling consciousness of Deity. This
consciousness, having worked its way through [93] the subhuman kingdoms in
nature, needed the activity of the solar angels to make further progress
possible. Herein lies
All this involves the
death and sacrifice of a Son of God, a
solar angel, for, from the angle of Deity, descent into matter, manifestation
through form, the taking of a body, extension of consciousness through the
process of incarnation, are all occultly considered to be death. But the angels
"chose to die, and in dying, lived." Through their sacrifice, matter is lifted up into Heaven. It
is this theme which fills the pages of The
Secret Doctrine, and which is discussed in greater elaboration in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. The sacrifice of the angels, the death of the Sons
of God, the immolation of the mystic Christ, the crucifixion in time and space
of all living entities, called souls - this is the theme of those books. This
is the mystery hinted at in the world of Scriptures, and this is the secret of
the ages, which is only discovered by the souls of men as each of them enters
individually into conscious relation with his own soul and discovers that which
he has joyously done in the past, and so arrives at the realization of that
supreme sacrifice which he made with
deliberation in the early dawn of time itself and which, at some point in his
career as a soul on earth, he consciously and symbolically re-enacts for the
benefit of other souls, in order to hasten their progress towards their goal.
Then comes a life wherein, in some form or another, he portrays or works out
within himself, but also before the watching world, that great symbolic drama
which we call
The Sacrifice of a World
Savior. This is the theme of the [94] historical
romance of all those great Sons of God who down the ages, have arrived at an
understanding of the significance of the divine purpose of God, of the Word incarnated through a planet, of those
solar angels who are themselves, the Word incarnate through a human form.
Whether they enact this drama, as did the Christ, so as to present to man the
symbolism of death and sacrifice, or
whether they enact this drama, as did the Buddha, so as to demonstrate to man
the sacrifice and death of personal
desire (to mention only two of the manifested Sons of God, the Christ and the
Buddha), the theme remains the same, - the death of that which is lower in
order to release that which is higher, or - on a larger scale - the death of
that which is higher in the order and scale of being, in order to release that
which is lower.
But the lesson needs
to be learned (and it is the lesson which man is now engaged in learning) that
death as the human consciousness understands it, pain and sorrow, loss and
disaster, joy and distress, are only such because man, as yet, identifies
himself with the life of the form and not with the life and consciousness of the
soul, the solar angel, whose awareness is potentially that of the planetary
Deity, Whose greater awareness (in His turn) is potentially that of the solar
Deity. The moment a man identifies himself with his soul and not with his form,
then he understands the meaning of the Law of Sacrifice;
he is spontaneously governed by it; and he is one who will with deliberate
intent choose to die. But there
is no pain, no sorrow, and no real death involved.
This is the mystery of
illusion and glamor. From these two imprisoning factors all World Saviors are
free. They are not deceived. It is well, in passing, to point out here that in
the New Age, we shall enlarge our concept of this term World Savior. At present we apply it
predominantly to those souls who emerge upon the teaching ray, the second or
[95] Christ ray. They enact the drama of salvation. But this is an error, due
to the overpowering emotional glamor of the Piscean Age. This astral influence
has its roots in the past Atlantean civilization, which preceded ours. In that
age, the astral body was the subject of attention. Much that happens today, and
which may develop, has its roots in that aspect of energy. Seeds sown at that
time are now brought to flower. This is very good and necessary, even if
distressing in experience.
But the World Saviors
must be recognized as coming forth to serve the race, with sacrifice of some kind along many lines and in
many forms. They may be great rulers, or dictators, politicians, statesmen,
scientists and artists. Their work is the work of salvage, of restitution, or
renovation and revelation, and, through the sacrifice
of themselves, they accomplish it. As such, they must be recognized for what
they are. Now they are misunderstood, misinterpreted, and judged by their
mistakes more than by their aims. But they are dedicated souls. They rescue;
they lift; they integrate; they illumine; and the net result of their work,
from the angle of ultimate history, is good.
This Law of Sacrifice and the impulse to give can also be
traced throughout every kingdom in nature. It is typified for us in the basic sacrifices which take place between the
various kingdoms. The essential qualities of the minerals and chemicals of the
earth are an instance in point. They are needed by other forms of life and are
donated to man through the medium of the vegetable kingdom and through the
water which he drinks, and thus, even in the first and densest kingdom in
nature (whose consciousness is so far removed from ours) does this process of giving hold good. But the tracing of
this Law of Sacrifice in the subhuman
kingdoms is not possible [96] here, and we must confine our attention to the
world of human living and consciousness.
Esoteric Psychology II -
Chapter I - The Egoic Ray - The Seven Laws of Soul or Group Life b.
The Work of Salvage or Salvation
The Law of Sacrifice means also salvage and underlies all
the evolutionary processes and particularly does this emerge into clear
significance in the human family. The instinct to betterment, the urge to
progress (physical, emotional and intellectual), the effort to ameliorate
conditions, the tendency to philanthropy which is so rapidly taking hold of the
world, and the sense of responsibility which does make men realize that they
are their brother's keeper, are all expressions of this sacrificial instinct.
This factor, though not unrecognized by modern psychology, is of far wider
significance than has yet been realized. This instinctual tendency is the one
that itself governs the Law of Rebirth. It is the expression of a still greater
factor in the creative process. It is the major determining impulse which
impelled the Soul of God Himself to enter into form life; which impels life,
upon the involutionary arc, to progress down into matter, producing thus the
immanence of God. It is that also which drives humanity forward into its wild
struggle for material well-being. It is that too which urges man eventually to
turn his back upon the "world, the flesh and the devil," as the New
Testament puts it, and orient himself to the things of spiritual import. The
prodigal son sacrificed the Father's
home when he chose to wander forth into the far country. He wasted and sacrificed his substance through the use he
made of the experience of life on earth, until he had exhausted all his
resources and there was naught left but the eventual sacrifice of what he held so dear, but had discovered to be so
unsatisfying. For these things of lesser values, he had sacrificed the higher values, and had to return again whence he
came. Such is the life story of all the [97] sons of God who came into
incarnation, as given to us under the symbolism of the Bible. But the theme in
all the world Bibles is the same.
This urge to sacrifice, to relinquish this for that, to
choose one way or line of conduct and thus sacrifice
another way, to lose in order eventually to gain, - such is the underlying
story of evolution. This needs psychological understanding. It is a governing
principle of life itself, and runs like a golden pattern of beauty through the
dark materials of which human history is constructed. When this urge to sacrifice in order to win, gain or salvage
that which is deemed desirable is understood, then the whole clue to man's
unfoldment will stand revealed. This tendency or urge is something different to
desire, as desire is academically understood and studied today. What it really
connotes is the emergence of that which is most divine in man. It is an aspect
of desire, but it is the dynamic, active side and not the feeling, sensuous
side. It is the predominant characteristic of Deity.
It is of interest,
however, for students of esotericism to note that this urge to salvage and to sacrifice in order to redeem works out in
different ways in the different planetary schemes. Each Ray Lord of a scheme,
manifesting through a planet, expresses this urge in varying ways, and each
expression is so different from the others that it is hard for a human being to
do more than sense that method which exists on our own particular planet.
Initiates know that the varying psychological characteristics of the ray Lives
condition most peculiarly the method of expressing sacrifice, during the course of manifestation. The great stream
of living energy which is manifesting itself in our Earth scheme of evolution
is conditioned by a temperament, an attitude and an orientation that is that of
a "Divine Rebel." It is only rebellion that produces pain and sorrow,
but this rebellion is inherent and [98] innate in the Deity of our planet
Himself, the "One in Whom we live and move and have our being." It
is, therefore, a tendency greater than the individual unit. It is only possible
to express this amazing truth about the planetary Life under a veil of
symbology and in terms of human thought. In this there is ever a risk, for men
interpret all they read and hear and experience in terms of themselves.
The Old Commentary says:
"He entered into
life and knew it to be death.
"He took a form and grieved to find it dark.
"He drove Himself forth from the secret place
and sought the place of light,
and light revealed all that he sought the least.
"He craved
permission to return.
"He sought the Throne on high and Him who sat thereon.
He said 'I sought not this.
I looked for peace, for light, for scope to serve,
to prove my love and to reveal my power.
Light there is none. Peace is not found. Let me return.'
But He Who sat upon
the Throne turned not his head.
He seemed not e'en to listen nor to hear.
But from the lower sphere of darkness and of pain
a voice came forth and cried:
'We suffer here. We seek the light.
We need the glory of an entering God.
[I can find no other words except these last two
to express the ancient symbol from which I am translating.]
Lift us to Heaven. Enter, O Lord, the tomb.
Raise us into the light and make the sacrifice.
Break down for us the prison wall and enter into Pain.'
The Lord of Life
returned.
He liked it not, and hence the pain."
The same conditions
which blend the Law of Sacrifice with
pain and sorrow and difficulty are found also on the planet Mars and on the
planet Saturn. They are not found on the other planets. Those who have read The Secret Doctrine and A Treatise on Cosmic Fire with
understanding know that our Earth is not a sacred planet. However, Saturn, Mars
and our Earth constitute, in a curious esoteric manner, the [99] personality of
a stupendous ray Life, Whose energy is that of the third Ray. There are, as has
been stated elsewhere, seven sacred planets but ten planetary schemes, and in
three cases, (those of the three major rays) three planets constitute the
personality of each ray Life. Some esoteric thinkers believe that there are
twelve planets to be considered in our solar system, and there is a basis for
their conclusion. The personality of this third ray Life functions through the following
planets:
The potency of this
Life is such that He requires three complete schemes - all three closely allied
and interdependent - through which to express Himself. Uranus, Jupiter and
Venus are similarly allied in order to manifest or express a great Life.
These facts constitute
a tremendous mystery, and in no way negate the truth that Venus has a peculiar
and intimate relation to the Earth. The point here being stressed is difficult
to express, but of great importance. Let me be more explicit, by means of the
following statements:
This instinct towards
betterment through sacrifice is itself
diverse.
There is, first of
all, the instinct towards individual betterment, which leads to selfishness, to
a grasping, and to an orientation of the materially-minded towards material
possessions.
There is, secondly,
the instinct towards an ameliorating of the conditions of other people, first
from a selfish motive (the avoiding of personal distress at the sight of
suffering), and secondly, through pure, disinterested service, which is a
quality of the soul.
There is, finally, the
active application and the complete sacrifice
of the lower separated self through the power to "stand in spiritual
being" which necessarily infers that one has reached that state of
consciousness which transcends what may be called, symbolically the
"Earth, Saturn and Mars" state of consciousness.
Let
it not, however, be forgotten that the contribution to these three great
planetary Lives, as They embody pre-eminently [101] the Law of Sacrifice, through pain and rebellion, is a
major contribution to the whole, and greatly enriches the sum total. The units
of divine life and the atoms of electrical energy who pass through these three
planetary schemes are subject to them in order to acquire that psychic
sensitivity which would otherwise be impossible. Only those units of life who
are colored predominantly by the third ray of activity pass for any length of
time through these three schemes. A hint is here conveyed as to the prevalence
of third ray Monads among the sons of men. The ray of active intelligence,
expressing itself through the seven ray types, is above everything else the ray
upon which the majority of human monads will, particularly, at this time, be
found. We shall, therefore, find the following psychological types coloring the
bulk of our humanity, and the ray of active intelligence expressing itself
through
Therefore,
psychologically speaking, and when greater knowledge has been gained of the
energies determining the type of a man, a person, for instance, whose Monad is
presumably upon the third ray, his ego being on the fourth ray, and his
personality on the seventh ray, will be described as a Three, IV.7. Within this
simple formula there will be lesser differentiations and a seventh ray
personality may have a first ray mental body, a fifth ray astral body, and a
third ray [102] physical body. The formula which would describe him would be
Three, IV. 7. (1-5-3)
This, when
interpreted, means
Monad - third ray.
Ego - fourth ray.
Personality - seventh ray.
Mental body - first ray.
Astral body - fifth ray.
Physical body - third ray.
Students may find it
of value to study themselves and others in conformity with the above, and to
establish their personal formulae. This should be done in conjunction with a
consultation of their horoscopes. This will be discussed more at length after
we have considered the astrological implications of the rays, in the succeeding
volume.
The Law of Sacrifice, therefore, can never be eliminated
in our Earth scheme, as far as the human and subhuman reactions to sorrow and
pain are concerned, nor can it be eliminated on the planets Saturn and Mars. It
is relatively unknown in the other schemes. Bliss and Sacrifice are synonymous terms as far as our solar Logos is
concerned, and also for the majority of the planetary Logoi. This must be
remembered. A touch of this freedom from the limitations of pain and sorrow can
be found among the more advanced sons of men on Earth, who know the ecstasy of
the mystic, the exaltation of the initiate, and the exquisite agony of sacrifice or of any feeling which is carried
forward to the point of sublimation. When this point has been reached, the
mechanism of suffering and the ability to register sensuous perception is
transcended, and momentarily the man escapes on to the plane of unity. [103]
Here there is no pain, no sorrow, no rebellion and no suffering. When the
living, vibrating antahkarana or bridge is built, this "way of
escape" becomes the normal path of life. Escape from pain is then
automatic, for the center of consciousness is elsewhere. In the cases mentioned
above, and where the antahkarana is not a consummated, established fact, the
tiny thread of the partially constructed "way of escape", under
tremendous pressure and excitation, shoots forward like a quivering band of
light, and momentarily touches the light that is the Self. Hence ecstasy and
exaltation. But it does not last, and cannot be consciously recovered until the
third initiation has been taken. After that the "way of escape"
becomes the "way of daily livingness" (to translate inadequately the
occult and ancient phrase). Then pain is steadily transcended, and the pairs of
opposites - pleasure and pain - have no longer any hold over the disciple.
All this constitutes
the theme of esoteric psychology and, when rightly understood, will explain
The Law of Sacrifice means also
c. The Relinquishing of
Gain
This is the basic theme
of The Bhagavad Gita. In that
treatise on the soul and its unfoldment, we are taught to "perform action
without attachment," and thereby lay the foundation for later
relinquishing which can be effected without [104] pain and the sense of loss,
because we have acquired the power, latent ever within ourselves, to detach
ourselves from achieved possessions.
This law works out in
many ways, and it is not possible to do more than indicate a few of those
general significances which embody the major lessons of every disciple.
First, the soul must
relinquish the personality. For ages, the soul has identified itself with the
lower personal self, and through the agency of that lower self has gained
experience and acquired much knowledge. The time has to come when that agency
is "no longer dear" to the soul, and their respective positions are
reversed. No longer is the soul identified with the personality but the
personality becomes identified with the soul and loses its separate quality and
position. All that has been acquired through agelong struggle and strife,
through pain and pleasure, through disaster and satisfied desire, and all that
the wheel of life, which has turned ceaselessly, has brought into the
possession of the soul - All has to be
relinquished. Life, for the disciple, becomes then a series of detaching
processes, until he has learnt the lesson of renunciation.
The sequence is, first
dispassion, then discrimination, and finally detachment. On these three words must all
disciples meditate, if they are ever to reap the fruits of sacrifice.
"Having pervaded
the worlds with a fraction of Myself, I remain." Such is the theme of the
soul's endeavor, and such is the spirit which must underlie all creative work.
In this thought lies the clue to the symbol of the Law of Sacrifice - a rosy cross with a bird flying
over it. This is the loved cross (rose being the color of affection), with the
bird (symbol of the soul) flying free in time and space.
Secondly, the soul has
also to relinquish not only its tie and its gain through contact with the
personal self, but it has [105] most definitely to relinquish its tie with
other personal selves. It must learn to know and to meet other people only on
the plane of the soul. In this lies for many a disciple a hard lesson. They may
care little for themselves and may have learnt much personal detachment. Little
may they cherish the gain of contact with the lower personal self. They are
learning to transcend all that, and may have transcended to a great degree, but
their love for their children, their family, their friends and intimates is for
them of supreme importance and that love holds them prisoners in the lower
worlds. They do not stop to recognize that their love is primarily love for the
personalities, and only secondarily for the souls. Upon this rock, many
disciples are for lives broken, until the time comes when, through pain and
suffering and the constant losing of that which they so much cherish, their
love enters into a newer, a higher and a truer phase. They rise above the
personal, and find again - after felt loss and suffering - those whom now they
love as souls. Then they realize that there has been gain and not loss, and
that only that which was illusory, ephemeral and untrue has disappeared. The
real Man has been gained and can never be lost again.
This is most
frequently the problem of parents who are upon the Path of Discipleship, and it
is through their children that the lesson is learnt which can release them for
initiation. They hold their children to them, and this, being counter to the
law of nature, works out disastrously. It is the height of selfishness. And
yet, did they but know and see aright, they would realize that to hold, one
must detach, and to keep, one must release. Such is the law.
The soul has also to
learn to relinquish the fruits or gains of service and learn to serve without
attachment to results, to means, to persons or to praise. This I will deal with
later. [106]
In the fourth place,
the soul has to relinquish also the sense of responsibility for that which
other disciples may do. So many earnest servers hold on to their fellow
workers, and do not relinquish their hold upon them or upon their activities
upon the outer plane. This is a subtle error, for it masks itself behind a
sense of righteous responsibility, an adherence to principles as they appear to
the individual, and the accumulated experience of the disciple, - which is
necessarily incomplete experience. The relation between disciples is egoic and
not personal. The link is of the soul and not of the mind. Each personality
pursues its own course, must shoulder its own responsibilities, work out its
own dharma, and fulfil its own karma, and so answer for itself to its Lord and
Master, the Soul. And answer there will be. Does this itself sound of the
nature of separation and aloneness? It does, as far as outer activities are
concerned. Only as servers cooperate from the standpoint of an inner subjective
linking can a united work be carried forward.
At
this time in the history of the world and its periodical salvaging from
conditions which are wrecking the current civilization, it is necessary that
aspirants grasp the fact that that salvaging process must be carried on under
the Law of Sacrifice, and that only a
relative outer unity can be at this time achieved. Not as yet is the vision
seen with a sufficient clarity by the many servers, to make them work with
perfect unanimity of purpose and objective, of technique and method, or
complete understanding and oneness of approach. That fluid, perfect cooperation
lies as yet in the future. The establishing of an inner contact and
relationship, based on a realized oneness of purpose and soul love, is
magnificently possible, and for this all disciples must struggle and strive. On
the outer plane, owing to the separative mind during this age and time, a
complete accord on detail, on method, and [107] on interpretation of principles
is not possible. But - the inner relationships and cooperation Must be established and developed, in spite of
the outer divergences of opinion. When the inner link is held in love, and when
disciples relinquish the sense of authority over each other and of
responsibility for each other's activities, and at the same time stand shoulder
to shoulder in the One Work, then the differences, the divergences, and the
points of disagreement will automatically be overcome. There are three rules
which are important to disciples at this time.
These are hard sayings,
but they are the rules by which the Teachers on the inner side, guide Their
actions and Their thoughts, when working with each other and with Their
disciples. The inner integrity is necessarily a proven fact to Them. To the
disciple it is not. But to the inner Teachers, the outer differences are
abhorrent. They leave each other free to serve the Plan. They train Their
disciples (no matter what their degree) to serve that Plan with freedom, for in
freedom and in the sense of joy and in the strength of inner cooperative love
is the best work done. It is sincerity for which They look. The willingness to sacrifice the lesser [109] when the greater is
sensed is that for which They search. The spontaneous relinquishing of
long-held ideals when a greater and more inclusive presents itself is Their
guide. The sacrifice of pride and the sacrifice of personality when the vastness of
the work and the urgency of the need are realized, sway Them to cooperation. It
is essential that the disciples shall learn to sacrifice
the non-essential in order that the work may go forward. Little as one may
realize it, the many techniques and methods and ways are secondary to the major
world need. There are many ways and many points of view, and many experiments
and many efforts - abortive or successful, and all of them come and go. But
humanity remains. All of them are in evidence of the multiplicity of minds, and
of experiences, but the goal remains. Difference is ever of the personality.
When this Law of Sacrifice governs the
mind, it will inevitably lead all disciples to relinquish the personal in favor
of the universal and of the soul, that knows no separation, no difference. Then
no pride, nor a short and myopic perspective, nor love of interference (so dear
to many people), nor misunderstanding of motive will hinder their cooperation
with each other as disciples, nor their service to the world.
...
Esoteric Psychology II -
Chapter I - The Egoic Ray - The Seven Laws of Soul or Group Life What
is the Field of this Science, and why do we call it a Science?
The next point to
consider is the field of this service, and its nature as a science. The field
of service, first of all, demonstrates as the life of the Spirit, working
within the region of a man's own nature. The first thing the soul has to do
when contact has been made and the man knows it in his brain consciousness and
owing to the active impression of the mind, is to make the man aware that he is
a living principle of divinity, and then to prepare the lower threefold nature
so that it can automatically submit to the Law of Sacrifice.
Then it will offer no impediment to the life which must and will pour through
it. This is the first and hardest task, and with this task the aspirants of the
world are at this time engaged. This indicates, does it not, the point of
evolution reached by the majority? When the rhythm of this law has been imposed
and the natural impetus of the man in incarnation is to be an expression of the
soul, and when this rhythm can be established as a natural daily expression,
the man begins to "stand in spiritual being" and the life which pours
through him, gently and naturally, will then have an effect upon his
environment and his associates. This effect can then be called a "life of
service."
Too much emphasis has
been laid upon the process whereby the lower
nature is to be subjugated to the higher Law of Service, and the idea of sacrifice, in its worst implications, has been
developed. This idea emphasizes the necessary and inevitable clashing between
the lower nature, working under its own laws, and the higher aspects as they
work under the spiritual laws. Then the sacrifice
of the lower to the higher assumes great proportions, and the word becomes
quite suitable. There is sacrifice.
There is suffering. There is a painful [128] process of detachment. There is a
long effort to let the life flow through, whilst steadily the personality
throws up one barrier and obstruction after another. This stage and attitude we
can view with sympathy and understanding, for there are those who have so much
theory about service and its expression that they fail to serve and also fail
to comprehend with understanding the period of pain which ever precedes
enlarged service. Their theories block the way to true expression and shut the
door on real comprehension. The mind element is too active.
When the personal
lower self is subordinated to the higher rhythms and obedient to the new Law of
Service, then the life of the soul will begin to flow through the man to
others, and the effect in a man's immediate family and group will be to
demonstrate a real understanding and a true helpfulness. As the flow of life
becomes stronger through use, the effect will spread out from the small
surrounding family group to the neighborhood. A wider range of contacts becomes
possible, until eventually (if several lives have been thus spent under the
influence of the Law of Service) the effect of the outpouring life may become
nationwide and worldwide. But it will not be planned, nor will it be fought
for, as an end in itself. It will be a natural expression of the soul's life,
taking form and direction according to a man's ray and past life expression; it
will be colored and ordered by environing conditions, - by time, by period, by
race and age. It will be a living flow, and a spontaneous giving forth, and the life,
power and love demonstrated, being sent forth from soul levels, will have a
potent, attractive force upon the group units with which the disciple may come
in contact in the three worlds of soul expression. There are no other worlds
wherein the soul may at this time thus express itself. Nothing can stop or
arrest the potency of this life of natural, loving [129] service, except in
those cases wherein the personality gets in the way. Then service, as the
Teachers on the inner side of life understand it, gets distorted and altered
into busy-ness. It becomes changed into ambition, into an effort to make others
serve as we think service should be rendered, and into a love of power which
hinders true service instead of into love of our fellow men. There is a point
of danger in every life when the theory of service is grasped, and the higher
law is recognized; then the imitative quality of the personality, its monkey
nature, and the eagerness of a high grade aspiration can easily mistake theory
for reality, and the outer gestures of a life of service for the natural,
spontaneous flow of soul life through its mechanism of expression.
The need for an
increasing subtlety of discrimination is constant, and all dedicated students
are urged to take stock of themselves at this time. They face a new cycle of
service and must avail themselves of a new day of opportunity. There is a great
need to stand in spiritual being; where there is this poised standing, there
will be no need for others to incite one to service. Let the "Forces of
Light" flow through, and the ranks of the world servers will be rapidly
filled. Let the "Spirit of Peace" use the lower nature as an
instrument, and there will be peace and harmony within the personal field of
service. Let the "Spirit of Good Will" dominate our minds and there
will be no room for the spirit of criticism and the spreading of destructive
discussion. It is for this reason and in order to develop a group of servers
who can work along true and spiritual lines, that there must be increasing
emphasis upon the need for Harmlessness. Harmlessness
prepares the way for the inflow of life; harmlessness dissipates the
obstructions to the free outpouring of love; harmlessness is the key to the
release of the lower nature from the grip of the world illusion and from the
power of phenomenal existence. [130]
We have expressed our
belief that one of the major sciences of the coming age will be built up around
the active rendering of service. We have used the word "Science"
because service, as a spiritual quality, will rapidly be recognized as the
phenomenal expression of an inner reality, and along the line of a right
understanding of service will come much revelation as to the nature of the
soul. Service is a method of producing phenomenal outer and tangible results
upon the physical plane; I call your attention to this as an evidence of its
creative quality. By right of this creative quality, service will eventually be
regarded as a world science. It is a creative urge, a creative impulse, a
creative momentous energy. This creativity of service has already been vaguely
recognized in the world of human affairs under varying names, such as the
science of vocational training. Recognition of the impetus coming from a right
understanding of social relations and their study is not lacking. Much is also
being studied along this same line in connection with criminology and the right
handling of the youth of any nation and national group.
Service is, par
excellence, the technique of correct group relations, whether it be the right
guidance of an anti-social child in a family, the wise assimilation of a
trouble-maker in a group, the handling of anti-social groups in our big cities,
the correct technique to be employed in child guidance in our educational
centers or the relation between the religious and political parties, or between
nation and nation. All of this is part of the new and growing Science of
Service. The imposition of this soul law will eventually bring light into a
distracted world, and release human energies in right directions. It is not
here possible to do more than indicate this briefly. The theme is too large,
for it includes the awakening of the spiritual consciousness with its responsibilities,
and the welding of the individual into an awakened group; it [131] involves the
imposition also of a newer and a higher rhythm upon world affairs. This
constitutes, therefore, a definitely scientific endeavor and warrants the
attention of the best minds. It should also eventually call forth the
consecrated effort of the world disciples.
...
Esoteric Psychology II -
Chapter I - The Egoic Ray - The Seven Laws of Soul or Group Life
This fourth Law of
Repulse works through the first Law of Sacrifice
and carries to the aspirant the quality, influence and tendency of the Spiritual
Triad, the threefold expression of the Monad. Its full force is felt only after
the third initiation, in which the power of the Spirit is, for the first time,
consciously felt. Up to that time it has been the growing control of the soul
which was primarily registered. Therefore
we have:
These higher spiritual
laws reflect themselves in the three lower spiritual laws, finding their way
into the lower consciousness via the egoic lotus and the antahkarana. This
statement is the second basic postulate in connection with our study of this
Law of Repulse, the first postulate being the earlier statement that unless
there is a thread of light to act as a channel, that which this law conveys
will remain unknown and unrealized.
These six laws give us
the key to the entire psychological problem of every human being, and there is
no condition which is not produced by the conscious or unconscious reaction of
man, to these basic influences - the natural and spiritual laws. If
psychologists would accept the three basic laws of the universe, and the seven
laws through which they express their influence, they would arrive at an
understanding of the human being far more rapidly than is now the case. The
three major laws are, as has been stated elsewhere:
There are, then, the
seven minor Laws which produce the [152] evolutionary unfoldment of man, the
person, and man, the soul. These are:
(A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, page 569.)
These seven laws
concern the form side of life. To these ten laws must be added the seven laws
of the soul which we are here considering. These begin to play upon the man and
produce his more rapid spiritual unfoldment after he has been subjected to the
discipline of the Probationary Path, or the Path of Purification. He is then
ready to tread the final stages of the Path.
These seven laws are
the basis of all true psychological understanding and, when their influence is
better grasped, man will arrive at real self knowledge. He will then be ready
for the fourth initiation which releases him from all further need for rebirth.
This is the truth which underlies the Masonic teaching, which is given under
the symbolism of the first eighteen degrees. These can be divided into four groups of degrees:
four to seventeen, in
the Scottish Rite. These seventeen degrees prepare the man for the fourth [153]
or fundamental degree, taken by the man who is
a Master Mason. It can only be taken when the Master is in
possession of the true Lost Word. He has risen from the dead; he has been
entered, passed, and raised, and now can be perfected. Herein lies a great
mystery. These seventeen degrees, leading to the first great step, (taken by
the risen Master) are subjectively related to the seventeen laws which we have
been considering. There is a parallelism
worth noting between:
An understanding of
these symbolic relations will do much to clarify the way of the soul in a body,
and will constitute the basis of all true esoteric psychological study. [154]
a. The Law of Repulse and
Desire
The section with which
we have now to deal will concern itself specifically with the major problem of
humanity. We shall, however, touch upon it most briefly, and will deal particularly
with the aspect of it which shifts from the problem as it concerns the aspirant
to the problem of the disciple. Underlying the entire psychological problem of
humanity as a whole lies that major attitude towards existence which we
characterize as Desire. All lesser complexities are based upon,
subservient to, or are emergent from, this basic urge. Freud calls this urge
"sex," which is, nevertheless, only another name for the impetus of
attraction for the not-self. Other psychologists speak of this dominant
activity as the "wish-life" of humanity, and account for all allied
characteristic tendencies, all emotional reactions and the trend of the mental
life, in terms of the underlying wishes, longings and acquisitive aspirations
as "defence mechanisms," or "ways of escape" from the
inevitability of environing conditions. To these longings and wishes and the
labor incidental to their fulfilment, all men give their lives; and everything
done is in an effort to meet the realized need, to face the challenge of
existence with the demand for happiness, for heaven, and for the eventual
fulfilment of the hoped-for ideal state.
Everything is governed
by some form of urgency towards
satisfaction, and this is distinctive of man's search at every stage
of his development - whether it is the instinctual urge to self-preservation,
which can be seen in the savage's search for food or in the economic problems
of the modern civilized man; whether it is the urge to self-reproduction and
the satisfaction of that appetite which works out today in the complexity of
the sex life of the race; whether it is the urge to be popular, loved and
esteemed; whether it is the urge for [155] intellectual enjoyment and the
mental appropriation of truth, or the deep seated desire for heaven and rest
which characterizes the Christian, or the aspiration for illumination which is
the demand of the mystic, or the longing for identification with reality which
is the "wish" of the occultist. All
this is desire in some form or another, and by these urges humanity
is governed and controlled; I would say most definitely controlled, for this is
only a simple statement of the case.
It is this realization
of man's fundamental bias or controlling factor that lies behind the teaching
given by the Buddha, and which is embodied in the Four Noble Truths of the
Buddhist philosophy, which can be summarized as follows:
The Four Noble Truths
It was the realization
of the urgency of man's need to be delivered from his own desire-nature which
led Christ to emphasize the necessity to seek the good of one's neighbor in
contradistinction to one's own good, and to advise the life of service and
self-sacrifice, of self-forgetfulness
and love of all beings. Only in this way can man's mind and "the eye of
the heart" be turned away from one's own needs and satisfaction to the
deeper demands of the race itself.
Until a man stands
upon the Path of Perfection, he cannot really grasp the imperative demand of
his own soul for [156] release from the search for outer, material, tangible
satisfaction, and from desire. It has been this demand which indicated the
soul's need to incarnate and to function, for a needed period, under the Law of
Rebirth. As the work of purification proceeds upon the Path of Purification,
this demand for release becomes stronger and clearer, and when the man steps
out upon the Path of Discipleship, then the Law of Repulse can, for the first
time, begin to control his reactions. This takes place unconsciously at first,
but it becomes more potent and more consciously appreciated as the disciple
takes one initiation after another, with increasingly pointed understanding.
...
The Rays and the Initiations
- Part One - Fourteen Rules For Group Initiation The first major injunction in this Rule XIII reads as follows:
The Law of Synthesis,
as you know, is the law of spiritual existence, and one of the three major laws
of our solar system, as well as of our planet. It is a basic cosmic law,
applied from sources of which we know nothing, as are the Laws of Attraction
and of Economy. I dealt with these somewhat at length in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, and of these two
other laws I have given much and hinted more. Of the Law of Synthesis, I can
tell you but little. It is the law governing the activities of the Spiritual
Triad, and the conditioning law of monadic living. It works neither through the
use of the energy of love nor through the application of the principle of
economy. The fulfilment of these laws is necessary and preparatory to an
understanding of the Law of Synthesis, and under the Law of Synthesis the
worlds of illusion and glamor are mastered and the control of maya is negated;
under the Law of Attraction the nature of love is revealed, first of all
through desire for form life, and then through attraction to the soul and a
consequent resolution of the dualities of soul and personality. This brings
about a unity which - in due time - serves to reveal a greater potential
dualism - that of soul and spirit; this fundamental duality must also be
resolved, leaving the essential, universal planetary duality, spirit-matter,
present in time and space.
The Law of Synthesis
has reference to this relationship and to the factual nature of the tremendous
assertion of H. P. Blavatsky that "Matter is spirit at its lowest point of
manifestation and spirit is matter at its highest." It is of this
synthesis that the group must learn; it is this relation which they must begin
to comprehend, and the distinction (for there is a distinction) between
synthesis, unity and fusion must in due time be mastered. [265]
To you, it may seem
that these three words connote the same thing, but that is not so; fusion is
ever related to the conscious merging of soul and substance until a
point of equilibrium is achieved; at this point, unity becomes possible and the point of balance - through
the attainment of a point of tension - is disturbed. This takes place in three
definitely defined stages when the fusion of personality and soul is brought
about through the self-initiated effort of the disciple: first of all upon the
Probationary Path, then upon the Path of Discipleship, and finally at the third
initiation, upon the Path of Initiation. It is essential that you ever remember
that this third initiation, the Transfiguration, is the first major initiation
from the standpoint of the Hierarchy, though the third from the limited vision
of the aspirant. The initiate then goes on to learn the significance of unity
in its true sense; this is only possible when monadic influence can be
consciously registered and when the antahkarana is in process of conscious
construction. I emphasize the word "conscious" here; much of the work
of fusion and of attainment proceeds unconsciously under the fundamental Law of
Evolution, which is a Shamballic law, embodying as it does the working out of
the inscrutable will of Deity. The work now being, done on the three stages of
the Path has to be intentional and, therefore, consciously undertaken and
intelligently planned; it must be backed, first of all by determination, then
by the spiritual will, and finally as an implemented aspect of purpose.
Fusion might therefore
be regarded as the individual process of spiritual integration, relating - in
full waking consciousness - the three divine aspects in man. Unity might be
regarded as the conscious adaptation of the initiated disciple to the greater
whole, as his absorption into the group through his obedience to the laws of
the soul, and as governing his attitude to that in which he lives and moves and
has his being. This goes on until he sees no distinction, registers no
differences and is aware of no separate reaction, and all this because the
instinct to separation no longer exists in him. It refers to his oneness in the
world of [266] energies in which he moves, making him an unimpeded channel for
energy and, therefore, an integral and smoothly working part of his total
environment and, above all, of the group to which, automatically and under the
laws which govern his soul, he has been attracted. He has learnt all that he
can learn through the processes of differentiation to which he has been
subjected for aeons. The principle of intelligence controls him and the
principle of love motivates him, and he has consequently attained unity. But,
my brothers, it is the unity of his ray, of his Ashram and of the Plan; it is
the unity of the Hierarchy which exists for purposes of service and active work
in its seven major groups and its three main departments or divisions. It is
indeed attainment and liberation. But more must still be learnt if the Way of
the Higher Evolution is to be trodden and a choice between the seven cosmic
Paths made - a choice which curiously enough is not dependent upon ray, for all
rays are to be found on all these paths.
This can only be done
through synthesis. This Law of
Synthesis
"works through
the Seven which yet are One; which points to the seven ways and yet those upon
the seven ways are one; which initiates the universal into the many but
preserves its integrity; which originates the plan but preserves intact the
purpose; which sees the multiplicity needed under the Law of Sacrifice but subordinates that law unto the
Law of Synthesis; which breathes forth the many Breaths and yet is Life
Itself."
In this attempt to
paraphrase an ancient definition of the Law of Synthesis, I have said all that
I can upon the theme. Only as disciples build the antahkarana and function as
the Spiritual Triad within the monadic Life will inspiration come, just as they
learnt to make contact with the soul and to function as the threefold
personality within the soul, and then revelation ensued. Naught is gained by
further elucidation. Proceed with the work of building the antahkarana and
light will shine upon your way and revelation will attend your steps. [267]