Commentary on Rule II for Disciples and Initiates

9. Without the taint of self-centeredness or ‘group-self-centeredness’, there must be the remembrance of the intensifying requirements of the higher form of application which the group-as-a-whole is making. It is a great discipline. The Ashram comes first, and no ‘group satisfaction’ (the higher counterpart of retarding individual satisfactions) must be allowed to preoccupy the group—already magnetized by the Greater Ashram and by Shamballa.

10. The phrase, “you could not if you would” is arresting. It is not that the group has lost its will or its capacity for group-self-determination. It is just that the group, and all individual units within it, has “entered the stream”, and are being swept by a rapid spiritual current towards the ‘Ocean of Higher Light’.

11. Having made so many decisions correctly—each of these decisions aiding in the establishment of a forceful ‘spiritual momentum’—the individual or the group would have to exert a tremendous and unnatural ‘counterforce’ to ‘forget’ the requirements of the Ashram.

12. It is as if the personal will of each member is swallowed up, or overcome by the greater energy generated by the united and correctly directed spiritual will of all group members—taken collectively. This collective will is such a powerful and benevolent force that (aided and strengthened by the will-to-ashramic-fulfillment of the Ashram, itself), the little personal will is no match for it. So, as much as the little personal identity ‘may’ have moments of uncertainty about the great project to which is own soul-identity has committed it, it finds itself powerless to resist the benevolent current which is leading to consummation.

13. This is true, as well of the group. The spiritual status of the group usually lags a little behind the spiritual status of the majority of individuals within it. Thus, while it is not difficult to locate, let us say, second degree individuals, it is rarer to find second degree groups. But even so, the group in question here is a proven, serving group. The ordinary varieties of group selfishness will have been transcended (group egoism, group pride, group separativeness—any of the individual hydra-heads apply to the group, as well), and the group, too, will have “entered the stream”, and will be swept along by the great evolutionary/initiatory current. Thus, even the group (as a whole) cannot withdraw its application; it has not sufficient lower will to do so. Things have gone too far and the established good protects from the upsurgings of residual evil—which, after all, is residual until the passing of the fourth degree.

14. It is good to know that the Ashram protects. Is this protection an interference with the will of the protected one? The Masters, after all, do not compel. I would think not, but rather a strengthening of that which has already been established within the character of the applying individual or group. Let us say that the Ashram supplements the will of the willing one, if that will is directed towards that which the Ashram wills. Or, the Ashram creates the kind of environment in which the will of the disciple/discipleship group can find the fuller expression of its intention. In short, they reinforce the established good and help it become stronger. They also add their strength to the established strength, multiplying it, and thus deflecting the intrusion of retarding, inhibiting or destructive forces. But they certainly do not rob the disciple/discipleship-group of their independence, and the opportunity to confront obstacles; to do so, would be to weaken the very ones they wish to strengthen.

15. We are told that initiates of the second degree may (before passing the “Temptations in the Desert” deviate, and veer towards the left-hand path. Why did not the Ashram protect them and prevent them from doing so?

Firstly, there is free-will within limitations, and if a sufficient counterforce is willfully exerted by the individual, it is unlawful for the Ashram to overcome that force. Usually, however, the ashramic benevolence is sufficient to absorb periodic uprisings of the disciple’s lower nature.

Secondly, it may be questioned whether those who deviate have actually become members of an Ashram. It is possible to pass the second degree and not be incorporated in an Ashram. If the requirements have been fulfilled, the degree must be conferred, but the Masters are not foolish, and certainly see in such an initiate tendencies which could cause such deviation. It would be the course of wisdom not to bring such initiates too close until they have proven their trustworthiness.

DK is at pains to convey the idea that initiatory status is one thing, but close affiliation with a Master quite another.

In any case, those disciples and discipleship groups which are making application for recognition by Shamballa have passed beyond the temptations, and, as well, beyond the third degree.

16. Three “great demands” are to be added to the application.

17. As many of us have been largely conditioned in our spirituality by the Piscean Age, we habituated to supplicating rather than demanding. Supplication is an attitude related to the soft-line rays—especially the sixth ray, which has been the major ray of influence these past two thousand years. Those who are weak are forced to beg and supplicate—and of course compared to the Great Lives, we are weak, indeed.

18. But there is something about the attitude of supplication which is more fitting for the spiritually immature than for those who are beginning to recognize the meaning of spiritual will, and to awaken that spiritual will within themselves.

19. We are no longer spiritual children who have to ask our ‘Parents’’ permission for everything. We can no longer escape from individual and group responsibility in that manner.

20. We are slowly become ‘powers’ in our own right—for indeed, the Cosmos is within us, and that includes, in some small measure, the Universal Will—though extraordinarily attenuated.

21. And besides, it is “goal-fitting” to learn what might be called ‘the rights of the spirit’. Evolution has to move along, and thus, at a certain point, disciples and discipleship groups who are “coming of age” have to learn to demand.

22. What is a demand? Not a request. It is an insistence (based upon a selfless recognition of one’s position of responsibility) that certain compliances occur for the sake of the Plan.

23. One has no right to demand for the little personal self. But as an ‘agent of the greater whole’, ‘positioned’ for the execution of certain Plan-necessitated eventualities, one has the right to insist that the Good-Plan be realized through the emergence of the next necessary energic pattern.

24. Certain energies and energy-patterns must appear if the Plan is to move forward as required. If one were the Planetary Logos, and if one’s will were the Planetary Logoic Will, then one would have the right to insist that the lower energy patterns comply with the intended patterning of one’s Higher Will.

25. Well, in a way, one (whether that one is the individual disciple or discipleship group) is the Planetary Logos (or an extension of this great Being) and, in a way, one’s will is (by extension) the Will of the Planetary Logos—IF one, via the antahkarana, has succeeded in making the necessary identifications.

26. In all this, we see that it is not at all the little person who is demanding, but, in a way, an aspect of the Planetary Logos who is insisting that the intended Plan go forward.

27. One need not even reach so high; it is possible to demand on the basis of true alignment with ashramic will, or with triadal will. But essentially, these possible higher alignments all amount to the same thing—identification with and participation in the life of a higher being, of which one knows oneself to be a part. Then, it is not oneself, as an individuality, that is making the demand at all, but the greater Being via oneself as an instrument is making the demand. It is an entirely different psychology. The point is worth pondering.

28. There are “three great demands” and we will discuss them more fully below in relation to the paragraphs in which they appear.

29. These higher demands correspond to the three “calls” which appear in the Third Rule for Applicants.

30. There are three levels of the spiritual triad, and, in a sense the demands go forth in relation to these three aspects—and have their effects upon the three levels of the personality, and within the lower three worlds which correspond to those three personality levels.

31. The aspect of the triad which is correlated to a given aspect of the personality is to achieve a redemptive effect within that personality aspect.

32. The demands made are entirely selfless, and issue forth for the sole purpose of bringing constructive change, relief and redemption to one or other or all of the three levels of the three lower worlds.

33. The ‘demander’ then finds himself/herself working not only in alignment with the Will of God, but, within that Will.

34. On a higher turn of the spiral (that turn with which we are most concerned in this Rule) it is the group itself which is selflessly making the demand for the redemption of the lower worlds, and it is the group (like the individuals within it) which are readying themselves to “forward move”.

35. For initiates (and, really, those making such a demand are initiates) forward movement is dual. Initiate groups are moving simultaneously toward Shamballa and toward humanity.

36. We have before us a question of speed. Upon the will one moves with swiftness. The will severs unnecessary attachments which burden the one who would mover forward. Love, however, insists upon necessary attachments, and so endless patience develops, and the forward-moving one (who has a “crook to hold” and not just a “staff” {Rules of the Road, IV}) insists on taking many with him/her. The staff carries the individual or group forward toward Shamballa. The shepherd’s “crook” relates them, through patient, benevolent attention, to humanity

37. The forward movement is, increasingly, into the Divine Will, and into proven redemptive effectiveness. The spiritual will must be powerful even before the forward movement begins, for one cannot “demand” in the sense here meant unless animated by the spiritual will. That will is further empowered through the forward movement.

38. As well, this movement forward is a rapid movement into the impersonal life—really a movement into triadal life, and thus, towards a continually intensifying point of tension.

The Themes Included Under the Sentence 2

B. The inability to withdraw from the position taken is one of the first true results of hearing the Word spoken after the passing of the two tests (the test of the burning ground and the test of the clear cold light). There is an inevitability in living the life of the Spirit which is at once its horror and its joy. (cf. RI, p. 59)

All the time this struggle to attain something ever on ahead creates the instrument of attainment, gradually perfecting them until the threefold personality is ready for a vision of the soul. (cf. RI, p. 59)

Some understanding of this must slowly seep into the mind and consciousness of each disciple as that mind becomes irradiated by soul light in the earlier stages, and later responds to the impact of energy coming from the Spiritual Triad. Only when this is visioned, even if not understood, will the realisation come to the struggling disciple that the words:

2. Withdraw not now your application. You could not if you would; but add to it three great demands and forward move

are a living command conditioning him whether he will or not. The inability to withdraw from the position taken is one of the first true results of hearing the Word spoken after passing the two tests. There is an inevitability in living the life of the Spirit which is at once its horror and its joy. I mean just that. The symbol or first expression of this (for all in the three worlds is but the symbol of an inner reality) is the driving urge to betterment which is the outstanding characteristic of the human animal. From discontent to discontent he passes, driven by an inner something which constantly reveals to him an enticing vision of that which is more desirable than his present state and experience. At first this is interpreted by him in terms of material welfare; then this divine discontent drives him into a phase of the struggle which is emotional in nature; he craves emotional satisfaction and later intellectual pursuits. All the time this struggle to attain something ever on ahead creates the instruments of attainment, gradually perfecting them until the threefold personality is ready for a vision of the soul. From that point of tension the urge and the struggle become more [Page 60] acute, until Rule One for Applicants is understood by him and he steps upon the Path.

1. At the end of the last Commentary we left the discussion of the first sentence by focussing on the idea that Goodness, Beauty and Wisdom are not just qualities but the names of great Entities.

2. Perhaps every quality leads to the E/entity from which that quality emanated. If there is a distinct, noticeable coloration, there must be a source for that coloration. If a distinct note is sounding, on some plane of Cosmos dwells that Entity Who is the source of that note. These great Entities are not only the sources of such quality but They are the qualities themselves. The Good, the True, the Beautiful are three such E/entities from Whom are radiated or reflected what we customarily call goodness, truth and beauty. Here, the Tibetan gives us Goodness, Beauty and Wisdom; it would seem that Truth and Wisdom have much in common, but they are not identical. They are both, to a degree, related to the third ray, even as the Buddha, the “Lord of Wisdom” is related, essentially to the third ray, but deeply to the second ray as well. From another perspective, Truth and Wisdom can be reasonably related to the second ray—the Ray of Love-Wisdom. (See also EP I 203 concerning the second ray: “This is called the ray of wisdom from its characteristic desire for pure knowledge and for absolute truth—cold and selfish, if without love, and inactive without power.”

3. We are always led back to the conclusion that all things (i.e., all ‘presentations-in-consciousness’) are ensouled. I am saying that ‘things’ are, necessarily, ‘things-in-consciousness’ and only exist as ‘contents of consciousness’, and not independently of consciousness. If a thing exists, it is, necessary a content of some C/consciousness and it exists because it is a content of consciousness—some C/consciousness or other. Further, there is a conscious Presence, ‘behind’ or ‘within’ every perception-thing.

4. Such realizations (of higher qualities and the Entities from which such qualities emanate) begin to dawn when the mind becomes “irradiated by soul light”. What, actually, is this irradiation? It would be hard to define it in technical, vibratory terms, but such a change in the matter and content of the mind due to irradiation by soul light must, necessarily, occur: every change in consciousness is accompanied by a change in the vehicle of that consciousness—the exact modus operandi of such changes later to be revealed when we know more, scientifically, about the nature of mental matter and subtle light.

5. As a consequence of this irradiation, things are no longer seen in their obviousness, for themselves alone, but for what they mean, i.e., for their relation to a deeper, subtle Pattern. The mind irradiated by soul light reveals in all mental cognitions another dimension. The roots and relations of that which is perceived stand forth. A superficial mentality, thinking only in terms of the unrelated thing-itself, is transcended. (However, higher than the understanding of meaning, is the understanding of the “thing-in-itself”, which begins to dawn with the growing capacity occultly to identify. I am differentiating between the “thing-itself” and the “thing-in-itself”.

6. The mind, it is suggested, can also respond to energy (light) coming from the spiritual triad. In simple terms, I would say that what is then revealed is no longer ‘meaning for the microcosm’ (meaning for us), but ‘meaning for a relative macrocosm’ (perhaps we should call this higher type of meaning the true significance of things in the light of the consciousness of a greater “One in Whom we live and move and have our being”. We graduate from thinking, for instance, “What does that mean to me?” (even if the ‘me’ is the full transpersonal individual), to the question, “What does that really mean?”, “What is its real significance?”

7. When this stage comes, we are able to begin understanding something of Goodness, Beauty and Wisdom, which, after all, are not individual states at all, however much the individual may partake of them. One does not have goodness, beauty or wisdom; rather, one participates in Goodness, Beauty and Wisdom—becoming them more than having them.

8. When the spiritual triad is envisioned or “coming into sight” then there is hope of understanding the words of the sentence “Withdraw not now your application, You could not if you would; but add to it three great demands and forward move.”

9. This power to sustain the application (especially the group application) regardless of vicissitudes, comes from the spiritual triad, which is the level upon which the Ashram is focussed. We remember that the Ashram strengthens the disciple and discipleship group so that withdrawal is not possible, i.e., so that the triadal approach remains the primary and established approach.

10. But there is more than understanding involved. The sentence has become a “living command”, conditioning the disciple, “whether he will or not”. This is a very strong idea. It is as if the power of the spiritual triad has ‘taken over’. The will of the Ashram, once the disciple has invoked and submitted to that will, becomes, virtually, an irresistible will.

11. There are these ‘plateaus’. During the stage of attempting the climb to a plateau, ‘falling back’ is always possible. Once on the plateau, however, one is on the plateau. Though freewill always exists, one would have to work very hard against his own progress, deliberately taking himself back to the edge from which he gained the plateau, to make falling back a possibility.

12. We must realize that in this irresistibility of will, it is not another will which is gaining power over one’s own will, but rather a higher aspect of one’s own will, identical with ashramic will, which has taken over. A higher part of oneself has taken command of a lower, and thus, the sentence becomes a command—not only a “command” but a “living command”. The life aspect of divinity has been contacted via the spiritual triad. The Fiery World has been entered. There can be no doubt about the ‘inner authority’ which speaks the command.

13. Once the “Seal of Shamballa” rings out in the words, “Accepted as a group” (following the tests of the burning ground and the clear, cold light”) there is an “inability” to withdraw. Something about the will of the disciple or the discipleship group has changed. It is the lower will which is no longer able to dominate the higher will. Shamballa has so strengthened the higher will, that the lower will has been effectively neutralized. This is a victory, but holds its own horror.

14. The Tibetan says these amazing words:

“There is an inevitability in living the life of the Spirit which is at once its horror and its joy. I mean just that.”

He is speaking as One Who Knows. Notice, here—it is the life of the “Spirit” we are talking about—not the life of the affiliative soul. The spirit is the irresistible driving force, sweeping all phenomenal life towards its destiny despite the protestations of the lower vehicles who know/sense that their authority is doomed. The vehicles shrink back in horror; however, the living center within each—longing for liberation—exults in joy. One has to be able to contain both, and of course, they are going, as it were, ‘in opposite directions’.

DK is emphatic here. He wants to arrest our attention. We might pass over the apparent contradiction and give it no more than ordinary thought, but He rivets our attention with the words, “I mean just that”.

15. I suppose the question will then arise in our minds: “Do ‘I’ want to live the “life of the Spirit?” It is a bit like the spirit asking itself, “Do I want to live?” Since we already are the spirit/monad, we will inevitably find ourselves coming to a point in the spirit’s pilgrimage when, at last, it has so conditioned and vitalized the form that it/we can begin to live again—thoroughly, unstifled, unsmothered. Such living will, however, require a sacrifice of the form which inevitably experiences a horror at the implications of spirit-destiny.

16. Then, DK takes us back in time with a realization that, all along, the spirit has been driving the process forward—that there has always been something inevitable about the full fruition of this process. We have to remember that spirit is an energy which impulses a motion called “driving forward through space”.

17. The story of “divine discontent” (however unconscious in the early days) is then told. Spirit is behind desire for betterment, and the exhaustion of one state of temporary satisfaction after another. Spirit, in its essence, may be at rest, but it certainly allows no rest for its form which is unconsciously seeking (and if made to be) to be an ever-more-adequate vehicle for spirit throughout the aeons.

18. “Material welfare”, “emotional satisfaction”, the joy of “intellectual pursuits”—he desires these, sequentially as hundreds of life cycles elapse.

19. And what is our next enticement? What looms before us as eminently desirable and not yet accomplished? We should ask ourselves, I think. Our desires and aspirations are preparing the future, so why not become more aware of that which we are preparing with every thought, feeling, word and deed?

20. Here is an important statement:

“All the time this struggle to attain something ever on ahead creates the instruments of attainment, gradually perfecting them until the threefold personality is ready for a vision of the soul.”

This is such a fundamental principle: basically, consciousness creates form. Instruments of attainment will be created according to that which is envisioned. Perhaps, we should not forget to dream (i.e., visualize consciously and creatively), as the sustained dream starts a process which will create the instrument to fulfill the dream.

21. When is the threefold personality instrument ready for a vision of the soul? Consciousness is ready for an appreciation of the next field of registration when it has brought harmony to the field with which it has been preoccupied. It is as if every inharmony and lack of integration demands the engagement of consciousness which is, as a result of this engagement, prevented from focussing fully on developing contact with new horizons. This is a very simple idea: finish the old karma, and then be free to move ahead.

22. Then the final sentence:

“From that point of tension the urge and the struggle become more acute, until Rule One for Applicants is understood by him and he steps upon the Path.”

A vision of the soul is not a rest-inducing experience, but leads to greater struggle and more insistent, acute urge to move forward. We see, therefore, what a strenuous struggle has preceded even the very first stage with which we began our studies: “Let the disciple search within the heart’s deep cave…”

23. We see that the dynamics of desire are such that they lead, eventually, to liberation, because no fulfillment of ordinary desire can satisfy the spirit—ever discontent—discontent, that is, until if first finds itself and then ‘re-becomes’ itself.

24. Each of us is the ‘Story of Desire’. One day we will see the ‘movie’, and later perhaps, ‘buy the video’ for closer study. When I was a young student I was amazed at the thought of what the Buddha ‘saw’ when He reviewed his hundreds of lives (were there 555?—symbolically) sequentially and with understanding. (For a beautiful description of this, read the Light of Asia—an epic poem by Sir Edwin Arnold.) We remember that the Buddha was a highly developed moon chain monad, so the number of lives lived on this planetary chain would have been fewer than for many.

Anyway, what amazing realizations must come from that review. One can also imagine the spiritual objectivity which must be in place before one can be allowed to see that x^x -rated ‘movie’. The average person would turn to stone at the sight of such a Medusa.

25. Interestingly, it was the Buddha Whose major mission was to help us understand Desire—the main imprisoning (but also—when reoriented—eventually releasing) factor.

C. Once a man is an accepted disciple and has definitely undertaken the work in preparation for initiation, there is for him no turning back. He could not if he would, and the Ashram protects him. (cf. RI, p. 60)

The initiate stands alone in isolated unity, aware of his mysterious oneness with all that is. He can now voice the three great demands consciously and by the use of the dynamic will instead of making application in triple form as was the case before. (cf. RI, p. 60)

Once he is an accepted disciple and has definitely undertaken the work in preparation for initiation, there is for him no turning back. He could not if he would, and the Ashram protects him.

In this Rule for accepted disciples and initiates we are faced with a similar condition on a higher turn of the spiral, but with this difference (one which you can hardly grasp unless at the point where the Word goes forth to you): that the initiate stands alone in "isolated unity," aware of his mysterious oneness with all that is. The urge which distinguished his progress in arriving at personality-soul fusion is transmuted into fixity of intention, ability to move forward into the clear cold light of the undimmed reason, free from all glamour and illusion and having now the power to voice the three demands. This he can now do consciously and by the use of the dynamic will instead of making "application in triple form" as was the case before. This distinction is vital and significant of tremendous growth and development.

1. We are shown how important is the stage of “accepted discipleship” both for the individual and the group. Accepted discipleship means that one has definitely undertaken preparation for initiation. It also means that there is a definite connection with the Ashram. The Ashram is a protecting agent. Astrologically, one has only to think of the relationship of the fourth house of the astrological chart to the Ashram. The fourth house is Cancer’s house—and Cancer is a major sign of protection. It is also a sign of holding. Once accepted discipleship is reached, the disciple or discipleship group is held from turning back—though freewill ever prevails, and the possibility of failure ever remains.

2. Really, in the vast majority of cases, the energy of turning back is no match for the power and beauty of the ashramic energy. The Ashram has simply to be itself in relation to the disciple, and the job will be done. Nothing in the disciple or discipleship group (‘d-group’—let’s call it that for short), has as much appeal as the growing note of the Ashram.

3. We have to realize that the Ashram would not be allowed to violate the free will of the disciple or d-group. That would be again spiritual law. But the energy of the Ashram is allowed to be so clearly and continuously ‘presented’ that only a complete fool, or worse, would turn back.

4. One thinks of those who have turned back and are now members of or applicants to the Black Lodge—seeking acceptance through impermissible deeds. Although some of these may have passed the second degree (and, almost unthinkably, met the Christ twice, in the initiation process), yet, perhaps they never actually became “accepted disciples”, as surely a Master could see the danger of the seeds of evil sprouting in such personalities, and would hesitate to “take them in” before they had proven themselves against temptation (between the second and third initiation).One cannot know for certain, but accepted discipleship seems to mean—no turning back. Each case is, of course, individual, but trends and probabilities do exist; almost without exception, the energy of Hierarchy proves successful in promoting the disciple’s mastery of the self-defeating forces inherent within his lunar nature.

5. From its own end, the Ashram works—powerfully, through radiation. As well, the beleaguered disciple or d-group is warranted to call deliberately upon the energy of the Ashram if the backward drag becomes excessive. One appeals to the Ashram to strengthen the quality of service. At the very least, as an accepted disciple, one lives in the awareness of the benevolent, strengthening presence of the Ashram, and in gratitude for the protectiveness of this presence.

6. In all developmental sequences, there come times when one need no longer expend energy upon tasks which have already been accomplished. With respect to those tasks, one “rests back” and relies upon habit (in this case, good, spiritual habit).

7. From one perspective, moments of acceptance, recognition and even of initiation, are moments of sealing from the past. A protective field is conferred, which can allow a disciple or d-group to, as it were, ‘relax with respect to the past’, and heighten tension with respect to the future. All this is part of the Law of Economy. None of us, unless ill, is worrying too much about whether we can put one foot in front of the other. We learned that long ago.

8. In this Rule, and in discussing these points, we are definitely dealing with initiate consciousness. DK talks mostly in terms of the individual, even though these Rules are for the group. Elsewhere, He has told us that it is necessary for us to interpret the Rules in several ways—one of which relates to the group. Since group-consciousness and group-living are so important in our studies of discipleship, we should, I think, always have the group dimension in our minds, even as the individual disciple/initiate, as an individual, is being discussed.

9. DK speaks of what we can understand once the Word has gone forth to us, as individuals. We have discussed the ways in which various Words go forth from an ‘accepting center’ to an aggregation which is being accepted. He draws our attention to a consideration of slightly lower (though highly significant) correspondence to the words, “Accepted as a group”. Each of us will one day experience the ‘Word of Acceptance’ which applies to accepted discipleship. That Word however, goes forth from the Master and His Ashram. Then, there is a higher form of acceptance for the individual, and it would relate to his acceptance (as a soul-infused personality) by the correspondence to Shamballa within himself—let us call it the monad/triad. He as a soul-infused personality is accepted by Sanat Kumara. The third initiation is rather like accepted discipleship to Sanat Kumara and, in a way, to the Lodge on Sirius. We are here talking about a kind of acceptance by that which represents the spirit aspect in man.

10. When this higher form of individual acceptance comes (higher than ordinary accepted discipleship), the initiate is standing alone in a state of “isolated unity” and “aware of his mysterious oneness with all that is”. This is an excellent description of the normal consciousness of a third degree initiate—the fundamental purpose of whom is to reveal Oneness.

11. We are clear then, are we not, that in Rule II we are not simply talking about “accepted discipleship” as usually considered. That is a “happening of the past”. Accepted discipleship pertains to developments which occur before the third initiation. The normal accepted disciple is not living in a state of isolated unity, and is not mysteriously aware, on any continuing basis, of his oneness with all that is.

12. The kind of acceptance which comes to the disciple or d-group (as this advanced Rule discusses it) comes only to the one standing in “isolated unity”. This is, then, an advanced state of consciousness, and it is conditioned by the monad/triad. A synthesis in consciousness has been achieved, and despite the constant presentation of diversity, the ‘Oneness won’t go away’.

13. The initiate being accepted in this higher way, has now achieved “fixity of intention” and the ability to move forward into the clear, cold light of undimmed reason”. He is clearly become a stable point of light. He is both willing and ‘willed’—as from above. We understand from this section that glamor and illusions are as obscurations upon reason, which, when relieved of them, becomes “undimmed”. It is a beautiful concept.

14. Of course, if we are used to working in the half-light, we do not recognize that our usual reasonings and perceptions are dimmed. Only the shock of contrast will reveal it. Fortunately, the spirit drives us into ever new vibrational domains from which that shock will surely come.

15. The remainder of the paragraph begins the discussion of the contrast between applying and demanding—request and insistence. The suggestion is made that if one stands at the point where one or one’s group can demand, there has been a great growth from the earlier stage when one could only request.

16. How stands the initiate? In isolated unity, with undimmed reason, in fixity of intention and ready to exercise dynamic will. A major clarification, simplification and empowerment have occurred. He stands with his foot upon the lower worlds, breathing the clear pure fire of triadic ‘air’, and, through the exercise of dynamic spiritual will, is able to voice the three “demands”.

17. We can see that much of liberation has been accomplished before this is possible.

18. Let us ask ourselves where we stand and how we stand. It is assumed of those studying these rules in earnest that they can, at least, stand or stand for something.

D. Occult obedience gives place to the enlightened will. (cf. RI, p. 60)

The initiate has heard the Word which came forth to him when he was irrevocably committed to hierarchical purpose. He has heard the Voice from Shamballa just as he earlier heard the Voice of the Silence and the voice of his Master. Occult obedience gives place to enlightened will. He can now be trusted to walk and work alone because he is unalterably one with his group, with the Hierarchy, and finally with Shamballa.

1. The Tibetan catalogues the various “Words” or “Voices” which the initiate has heard along his developmental path.

2. First came the Voice of the Silence, which sounds forth (quietly) when the aspirant commits himself to the life of the soul.

3. Next comes the voice of the Master, accepting the disciple into the Ashram. The disciple is now, for the most, part ruled by a will and intention higher than his personal will/intention.

4. Finally, the Voice of Shamballa sounds forth when there is irrevocable commitment to hierarchical purpose. This is something more than being merely a disciple (though the term can continue to be used on every rung of the Ladder of Evolution). The Voice of Shamballa is accorded only to initiates and initiate groups. A sense of Shamballa or a touch of Shamballa—those are another matter, and can come earlier. But an accepting Voice—this is a later development and comes to proven individuals and groups.

5. We do not necessarily expect to hear words, per se. We expect with each of these “Words” a kind of ‘energic acknowledgement’ which could be translated into a number of descriptive words. In the case of the Christ the Word did sound forth recognizably, “This is my beloved Son”. For other initiates, the Word may be of such a nature that—though it may not sound with exactitude of form—it, as it were, translates into the same acknowledgement: the initiate both feels and knows that he has been acknowledged as a “beloved Son”.

6. Maybe we have ‘heard’ one or other of these “Words”. Perhaps we should review our lives and see the manner in which they have or may have sounded forth.

7. “Occult obedience gives way to enlightened will”. We obey what we do not fully understand, and our obedience leads to fuller understanding. If we do not “know”, we follow instructions, until we do.

8. In the state of “enlightened will”, however, we see what we did not see before, and are empowered to act in such a way that the destination of our act is seen. We become a seeing, willing participant in Divine Plan and eventually, a knower of the Divine Purpose.

9. Having proven our obedience (when we did not see fully) we can now be trusted “to walk and work alone” because we are unalterably one with our group, with Hierarchy and eventually with Shamballa.

10. The analogy is clear. A worker on probation is supervised. An eye greater than his own oversees his work. But once he has proven his ability to understand the will of the supervisor, he is left more on his own. He, himself, has become his own supervisor. And so it is with the initiate—now no longer merely the obedient disciple.

11. But this aloneness is not normal isolation. Oneness has been established with the group and with Hierarchy, and increasingly with Shamballa. It is the disciple who is more psychologically alone than the initiate, who, though he works apparently alone, is inseparably unified with greater wholes. Unification and oneness have been incorporated within him—so though apparently alone, but never alone at all. He is increasingly, as it were, ‘al-one’.

12. We should study the words “unalterably one”. It means “unchangeably one”. Such an individual, though working apparently alone, is really working as an expression of the greater whole with which he is unified. At a later stage, he works as that greater whole, itself. Thus could Christ say, “I am the Light of the World”. This was not personality inflation, but a realization arising through identification.

13. Let’s give it some thought. Can an individual person work as a group? We certainly use the opposite example of a group working as one—as a single individual. While the answer is obviously, “Yes”, we must come to some real understanding of it. It is all a question of the state of identification, is it not? At the initiate stage one works alone, yet in indissoluble concert with his ‘other selves’ in the Ashram. Thus, when he/she acts, it is the Ashram that acts, or at least acts through him/her.

14. If I am simply acting as an individual, I have only myself in mind and feel no identification with my larger, incorporative spiritual group. If I, the individual, act as the Ashram, this Ashram is always ‘there’ when I am acting. The capacity thus to act depends on being ‘welded’ with the Ashram. One would think that the work of Vulcan—the planet, at once of spiritual will and of the forging process—is involved.

E. The key to this whole Rule lies in the injunction to the initiate that he add to his application three demands, and only after they have been voiced and correctly expressed an motivated by the dynamic will, does the further injunction come that he move forward. (cf. RI, p. 60)

Hitherto the note of the disciple’s expanding consciousness has been vision, effort, attainment and again vision. He has therefore been occupied with becoming aware of the field – an ever increasing and expanding area – of the divine revelation. In terms of practical occultism, he is recognizing an ever widening sphere wherein he can serve with purpose and forward the Plan, once he has succeeded in identifying with that revelation. (cf. RI, p. 60-61)

Identification is realization, plus esoteric experience, plus again an absorption into the Whole. (cf. RI, p. 61)

The key to this whole Rule lies in the injunction to the initiate that he add to his application three demands, and only after they have been voiced and correctly expressed and motivated by the dynamic will, does the further injunction come that he move forward. What are these three demands, and by what right does the initiate make them? Hitherto the note of his expanding consciousness has been vision, effort, attainment and again vision. He has therefore been occupied with becoming aware of the field—an ever-increasing [Page 61] and expanding area—of the divine revelation. In terms of practical occultism, he is recognising an ever widening sphere wherein he can serve with purpose and forward the Plan, once he has succeeded in identifying himself with that revelation. Until this revelation is an integral part of his life it is not possible for the initiate to comprehend the significance of these simple words. Identification is realisation, plus esoteric experience, plus again an absorption into the Whole, and for all of this (as I have earlier pointed out) we have no terminology. Now a master of that which has been seen and appropriated, and being conscious of and sensing that which lies ahead, the disciple "stands on his occult rights and makes his clear demands."

1. The three demands have to be “voiced”, “correctly expressed and motivated by dynamic will”. Preceding this voicing and correct expression must come the formulation of the demands. This requires great clarity of thought from within the clear, cold light of pure reason. One must know what one is demanding. One must see what must be demanded.

2. One will know and see if one is motivated properly, and this requires that one’s individual will be absorbed into the dynamic spiritual will. Identification with the greater will is, therefore, revelatory.

3. Must the voicing be done externally, with the vocal cords. I would think not, though the possibility cannot excluded (if for nothing but the sake of emphasis).

4. The “inner voicing” would count most. A thoughtform of demand must be created based upon an adequately enlightened consciousness, itself based upon standing within the clear, cold light.

5. Is the thoughtform of demand correctly expressed? Does it really accurately reflect that which the higher will intends? Probably some experimentation is required before correct expression is achieved, and this will be signalled by a resonance of the expression with the pattern which the higher will wills.

6. We do, see, however, that the throat center is definitely involved. The word, “voiced” gives us the signal that this is the case. Also, thoughtform building is the province of the throat center.

7. But the ajna center, too, is involved, for there must be “undimmed reason”, and it is the ajna center which, at a quite developed point in evolution, begins to see with the ‘eyes of the triad’.

8. The dynamic will relates to the expression of the highest head center.

9. Thus, the three higher centers are involved in the execution of the three demands.

10. When the demands are properly made, the initiate can more forward in the process of their fulfilment. It may be, however, that the period of proper formulation, and subsequent correct, voiced expression, lasts awhile.

11. The Tibetan then begins to speak in the language of vision and revelation. This has been the method of progress for the disciple before he has become a true initiate. Always he sought to see a greater vision. When once that vision was achieved, he sought to see a vision greater still. It is the Sagittarian mode of progress: “I see the goal. I reach that goal, then see another”.

12. The mode of progress has been one of expansion, and the exoteric ruler of Sagittarius, Jupiter, which rules the expansion of consciousness, has been the planet which determines the process. When DK speaks of the recognition of “an ever-widening sphere”, He is speaking Jupiterian language.

13. It is not enough to see, not enough to experience revelation. The revelation has to become integral to his life. There can be no separation between what he sees/experiences, and what he does. He must begin to live the revelation. Then “these simple words” can be understood.

14. What does DK mean by “these simple words”? Probably, in this instance, the simple words of the Rule, and more specifically, of the second sentence of the Rule: “Withdraw not now your application. You could not if you would, but add to it three great demands and forward move”.

15. Until vision has been attained and the resulting revelation is sufficient and integral to the life, the initiate will not know how to formulate the three great demands, no how to make these demands. They can only be made within a quite advanced state of revelation.

16. So the advice to us is: ‘live what we see’. Though not entirely possible, the effort to incorporate our present highest revelation into the substance of our lives is necessary. At least we must not live in deliberate inconsistency with the highest we ‘know’.

17. A big part of incorporating one’s revelation, of making it integral to one’s life, is to serve according to the nature of that revelation and in alignment with the Purpose it reveals. By so doing, we can ‘climb’ to a sufficient ‘altitude’ from which to formulate and make our demands.

18. We see, then, that before an initiate makes his demands, he is a well-established server within the field of revelation he has attained.

19. Then follows one of those excellent definitions of “identification”:

“Identification is realisation, plus esoteric experience, plus again an absorption into the Whole, and for all of this (as I have earlier pointed out) we have no terminology.”

The identified one sees, realizes, knows with spiritual certainty, “straight knowledge”, intuition—whatever we want to call this type of immediate, unmediated infallible apprehension. There must also be the experience of applying this realization in fields other/lower than the one in which it occurs. This is called “esoteric experience”. Through application, we come into even more intimate terms with that with which we are identified. Then, there is “absorption into the whole”. These may be a realization, or an encompassing, energetically ‘felt’ experience. One sees; one can act in congruence with what one sees; and one experiences oneself as the whole—while one acts and sees. There is no terminology for this, as we are told, but we can attempt to create our own, as the experience of identification becomes real to us.

20. This paragraph has been given to establishing where the disciple/initiate stands when he rightfully makes demands.

“Now a master of that which has been seen and appropriated, and being conscious of and sensing that which lies ahead, the disciple ‘stands on his occult rights and makes his clear demands’.”

The word, “master” (lower case “m”) is used, but the demanding disciple/initiate is not yet, a Master. Yet there is that which he has mastered—the “ancient authority” of the personality and its worlds—at least. It is, let us repeat, not the personality which demands. A higher state of identification has supervened, and the initiate demands as a part of the whole—realized within the spiritual triad. His demands are an aspect of what the spiritual will wills. His demands are part of the planetary program. He demands because the Plan must be manifested. In a way, it is the Plan, itself, which is doing the demanding.

F. The initiate has ever been. The divine Son of God has ever known himself for what he is. An initiate is not the result of the evolutionary process. He is the cause of the evolutionary process, and by the means of it he perfects his vehicles of expression until he becomes initiate in the three worlds of consciousness and the three worlds of identification. (cf. RI, p. 61)

What these demands are can be ascertained by remembering that all that the initiate undergoes and all that he enacts is the higher and esoteric correspondence of the triple manifestation of spirit-energy which distinguished the first and earliest phase of his unfoldment. That is the personality. I would like to call attention to the word "unfoldment," for it is perhaps the most explicit and correct word to use anent the evolutionary process. There is no better in your language. The initiate has ever been. The divine Son of God has ever known himself for what he is. An initiate is not the result of the evolutionary process. He is the cause of the evolutionary process, and by means of it he perfects his vehicles of expression until he becomes initiate in the three worlds of consciousness and the three worlds of identification.

1. The demands, we see, are directly related to the three lower worlds, the worlds with which each of the personality vehicles correlate.

2. It is interesting and important to see the personality defined as “the triple manifestation of spirit energy”. Personality, we know, is related to spirit. Ultimately, it becomes a reflection of the threefold monad—Will, Wisdom and Activity.

3. The spiritual triad is the “higher and esoteric correspondence” of the personality. There is a one-to-one correspondence of the triad in the personality. The triad is, in a way, both reflected in the personality and stands in a one-to-one correspondence with it—a kind of superimposition.

4. When considering the triad and the personality, atma correlates to the lower mind, buddhi to the astral vehicle and manas to the etheric/physical vehicle. But atma has its effect in the etheric/physical vehicle and manas, of course, in the mind. So one can superimpose the triad on the personality, but one can also consider the personality a reflection (inverted image) of the triad.

5. The same is true for the soul (really the egoic lotus). When considering the soul and the personality, the sacrifice petals can correlate to the etheric vehicle, the love petals to the astral vehicle, and the knowledge petals to the mind. Sacrifice, however, has to be worked out on the physical plane. As well, the sacrifice petals can correlate to the lower mental vehicle, the love petals to the astral vehicle, and the knowledge petals to the etheric/physical plane. This would be a super-imposition rather than a reflection.

6. The Tibetan then discusses the aptness of the word, “unfoldment”, to characterize the evolutionary process. We can see how well this word can be related to the opening of a flower—and, hence, to the symbolism of the egoic lotus. That which comes gradually into manifestation is simply an unfoldment of that which is inherent; the unfoldment occurs in time. With this idea comes the thought that, under normal circumstances, evolutionary growth is something natural and should not be forced. To do so would be a violation of natural processes.

7. And yet, we are in an historical period when a ‘spiritual forcing process’ is underway. Obviously there are dangers implicit in this. One of them is the premature exposure of an unready instrument to energies it is not yet equipped to handle. A ten year old can go to the university; the mind may be ready in a way, but other parts of him are not. Nevertheless, the need pf humanity is great and the risk is taken.

8. Then follow some most interesting thoughts:

“The initiate has ever been. The divine Son of God has ever known himself for what he is. An initiate is not the result of the evolutionary process. He is the cause of the evolutionary process, and by means of it he perfects his vehicles of expression until he becomes initiate in the three worlds of consciousness and the three worlds of identification”.

Who is the initiate? There are many people today who think they are initiate long before their personality is even integrated—such is the lack of co-measurement. But here DK is using the term, “initiate” in a thought-provoking way.

In a way, the initiate is the monad, with its vast stores of knowledge (we are told in contradistinction to the way HPB seems to view the monad), manifesting through the egoic lotus, and in ‘consultation’ with the Solar Angel.

9. We are not here speaking of the initiated personality, but of the inner initiate, who was initiate before the personality was even formed.

10. Within every human being on the higher planes there pre-exists an initiate state of consciousness. The Solar Angel is an initiate of all degrees, and there is a part of the human monad which is united to that solar angelic consciousness. Further, the monad has vast pre-human experience. This is a part of the Teaching which is only hinted, but it stands to reason, and is stated obliquely.

“When atmic consciousness is developing by means of the intuition, the Initiate can contact the stores of knowledge inherent in the Monad, and thus learn the Words of Power.” (LOM 263-264)

The word “inherent” is important. This knowledge was not harvested from the lower worlds; it inheres within the monad. Thus, that which pre-exists ‘above’ must be worked out below.

11. It is clear that the initiate (as here discussed) is not the ego within the causal body, because this mechanism undergoes change, growth, unfoldment. A new egoic lotus is very different from the egoic lotus of the initiate. The initiate, we remember, has ever been.

12. Even the spiritual triad unfolds (as the buddhic vehicle, we learn in the Teaching, has to be “coordinated”) so, it would seem that the initiate is also not the consciousness within the spiritual triad.

13. We are left with the every interesting and exalted thought that the true initiate is the monad on its own plane, which, with the mediatory help of the Solar Angel, both reflects and transposes itself into the world of the personality, developing that personality into an initiate in the three worlds—a mechanism capable of bearing or carrying the presence of the pre-existing inner initiate—the monad, itself.

14. The implications of this line of reasoning are profound.

15. We see clearly how it the human being’s greatest duty to externalize himself.

G. The relation between the threefold personality and the Spiritual Triad, linked and brought together by the Antahkarana. Each of these lower aspects has its own note and it is these notes which produce the sounding forth of the three demands which evoke response from the Spiritual Triad and thus reach the Monad in its high place of waiting in Shamballa. (cf. RI, p. 61)

According to ray type this unfoldment proceeds, and each triple stage of the lower unfoldment makes possible later (in time and space) the higher unfoldment in the world of the Spiritual Triad. What I am doing in these instructions is to indicate the relation between the threefold personality and the Spiritual Triad, linked and brought together by the antahkarana. Each of these three lower aspects has its own note and it is these notes which produce the sounding forth of the three demands which evoke response from the Spiritual Triad and thus reach the Monad in its high place of waiting in Shamballa.

1. The higher unfoldments are build upon the lower. The unfoldments within the world of the spiritual triad are made possible, later, by unfoldments within the world of personality.

2. We are being shown that not only is the lower dependent upon the higher, but the reverse is also the case.

3. DK is showing us two triplicities linked by the antahkarana.

4. The remainder of the paragraph carries very occult hints about sound. The lower aspects have actual notes. These may be keyed to the ray note of the vehicle. Perhaps the three great demands can be sounded forth on these lower notes in such a way that a there is a resonant response within the spiritual triad to this sounding, and eventually a response within the monad. Ever E/entity and every part of every entity has its key or pitch.

5. The three personality vehicles are not inconsequential effects. Their quality is keyed or vibratorily related to the quality of the higher structures. If the true notes of the lower vehicles are known, and the sounding of these notes occurs in the proper invocatory manner, the connection with the spiritual triad will be established.

6. This suggests that one has to know one’s personality quality very well in order to make the three demands correctly. Probably there is a way of formulating these demands in a way which relates properly to the potentials of one’s personality instrument to assist with the manifestation of the response which comes from the triad once the demands are made.

7. From the highest to the lowest, and from the lowest to the highest, the energy most flow. Nothing in the whole sequence of related principles, vehicles, faculties and chakras is insignificant. In the right use of that which is lowest lies the key to the right response of that which is highest. The human being must be studied through and through to know how best to proceed in each individual case.

8. Note the important point that the monad has its “high place of waiting in Shamballa”. This is quite clear: the monad is already in Shamballa. This thought could be profitably pondered.

9. It would seem that even before development in the lower worlds occurs as a result of the Divine Pilgrimage, the monad is a rather impressive unit of life. It seems to have a distinctness all its own, though its vast connectedness with the Life Principle prevents it from being called an “individuality” in the same sense that its projected ego is.

10. Yet the monad is an “Ego” (with a capital “E”). On several occasions the Tibetan refers to it in this way. (cf. TCF 177)

11. Perhaps the main point here is that, in order for there to be real spiritual progress into the realm of the triad and beyond, the human energy system must be thoroughly known and assessed—even in its lowest triad (that of the personality).

H. “As time progresses, and later with the aid of the Master, harmony of colour and tone is produced (a synonymous matter) until eventually you will have the basic note of matter, the major third of the aligned personality, the dominant fifth of the ego, followed by the full chord of the Monad or Spirit. It is the dominant we seek at adeptship, and earlier the perfected third of the personality. During our various incarnations we strike and ring the changes on all the intervening notes, and sometimes our lives are major and sometimes minor, but always they tend to flexibility and greater beauty. In due time each note fits into its chord, the chord of the Spirit; each chord forms part of a phrase, the phrase or group to which the chord belongs; and the phrase goes to the completion of one seventh of the whole. The entire seven sections, then complete the sonata of this solar system – a part of the threefold masterpiece of the Logos or God, the Master-Musician.” (cf. RI, p. 62)

In 1922, in my book Letters on Occult Meditation I laid the foundation in my first chapter for the more advanced teaching which I am now giving. There I was dealing with the alignment of the ego with the personality, and this was the first time that the entire theme of alignment was brought definitely into focus, for alignment is the first step towards fusion, and later towards the mysteries of identification. Let me quote:

"As time progresses, and later with the aid of the Master, harmony of colour and tone is produced (a synonymous matter) until eventually you will have the basic note of matter, the major third of the aligned personality, the dominant fifth of the ego, followed by the full chord of the Monad or Spirit. It is the dominant we seek at adeptship, and earlier the perfected third of the personality. During our various incarnations we strike and ring the changes on all the intervening notes, and sometimes our lives are major and sometimes minor, but always they tend to flexibility and greater beauty. In due time each note fits into its chord, the chord of the Spirit; each chord forms part of a phrase, the phrase or group to which the chord belongs; and the phrase goes to the completion of one seventh of the whole. The entire seven sections, then, complete the sonata of this solar system—a part of the threefold masterpiece of the Logos or God, the Master-Musician." (Page 4).

1. The Tibetan reemphasizes the importance of alignment—really a matter of attunement and resonance. An erect posture, conducive to the realization of alignment is but a tangible symbol of a higher mathematical process.

2. Why should alignment be a first step towards fusion? Probably because it allows for what we might call ‘the passage of substances’. Unless the channel is clear and aligned, the vibratory states characteristic of that which is above cannot, as it were, ‘transfer themselves’ to that which is below. So alignment provides freedom of transfer. This freedom of transfer allows for the fusion of substances. Fusion is again, I would think, a mathematical process. It means that vibratory rates precisely resonant to those above are created with the substance of that which is below. It is not logical to think that the same frequencies exist below as those which are above. Alignment is a matter of harmony and resonance and not of identical vibration.

3. Probably the whole question of soul-infusion and, later, of monadic infusion of the soul-infused personality, can be explained numerically and in terms of adjusted frequency rates within each vibratory domain. Each vehicle of man is a vibratory domain.

4. Here music and occultism merge and blend. Certain of the notes of the diatonic scale are associated with certain of the aspects of the constitution of the human being.

The tonic note, DO, is called the fundamental, and it is associated with the base note of matter. Its color is often given as red—in our system, and has an association with Mars. There is more to it that this, but there is a Martian correlation with DO and with the color, red.

The personality is resonant with the major third, the note MI, and its color is yellow, correlating with Mercury, and with the fourth ray. We must also take notice that the color yellow is given to the third ray in the book Esoteric Psychology, Vol.I. The third ray has an archetypal correlation with the personality and so the correspondence fits. In a way, the fourth ray corresponds to the quality of the personality of humanity in future years, when its soul ray will be the second.

The soul is resonant with the dominant, the fifth, as it is called. This is the note SOL (reminding one, in the English language, of “soul” and “sole”) and its color, blue (of some shade or other) is correlated with the planet Jupiter and with the second ray. What humanity must become is symbolized musically by the union of the third and the fifth of the diatonic scale. When the note of matter is added, one has the chord known as a major triad (DO-MI-SOL), and soul infusion is complete.

Finally, we reach the full chord of the monad by returning to the higher octave of the fundamental, also sounding on the red note, but presumably a much more refined red. Red, we will recognize, has an association with the first ray, just as has the monad—archetypally.

5. The Tibetan’s musical analogy is superb. We should not forget that He is an old Pythagorean, as Pythagoras, then His teacher, is now His Master, KH. In the book, The Lives of Alcyone, by Leadbeater and Besant, DK shows up as an authoritative figure in the Pythagorean School at Krotona.

6. We are to ring all the changes on the triad C-E-G, DO-MI-SOL. Sometimes our lives are major and sometimes minor. Much will depend upon whether, in music, we use a major third (bright and cheerful) or a minor third (darker and more mournful). Of course, we have done both, repeatedly.

7. There are a number of notes between the fundamental DO and the dominant (of Masterhood) the note SOL. By the combinations of these notes together, and the melodies they can make when sounded in sequence, the qualities of our various lives are determined.

8. I have a paper on some of these musical ideas in which some of you might be interested.

9. The music we “make”—rather, the music we “are”, becomes increasingly flexible and beautiful as life cycles pass. We know what heavy, crude music sounds like—we hear it all the time. We know also the delicacy (and yet the power) of that master colorist, Chopin—to point to the opposite extreme.

10. There is much that one can do with the eight notes (of the diatonic scale) found from DO to SOL—really, chromatically, there are twelve notes, and some systems divide the octave into twenty-eight notes).

11. But the musical analogy continues, and there is progressive movement towards the full chord of the monad, completing the chord of the triad by adding the tonic again an octave higher than the fundamental. Such a chord has four notes, whereas the first triad ending with the dominant has only three.

12. On the way to the full chord of the monad there are many other possible combinations. Evolutionary development becomes more complex.

13. Then the Tibetan completes His idea:

“In due time each note fits into its chord, the chord of the Spirit; each chord forms part of a phrase, the phrase or group to which the chord belongs; and the phrase goes to the completion of one seventh of the whole. The entire seven sections, then, complete the sonata of this solar system—a part of the threefold masterpiece of the Logos or God, the Master-Musician.”

We are given a vision of wholeness, and presented with the idea of a musical composition into which our little notes and their chord fit. The various notes of our different vehicles and principles comprise a chord. The chord is one of a number of chords which, in sequence, produce a phrase. One wonders how many other people/chords we must relate to in order to produce one such phrase, or sequence of chords. The phrase, by some process not described, moves towards the completion of one seventh of the whole composition. Probably each sacred planet represents a seventh of the composition, and the little phrase of which we are a part, is one of an untold number of little phrases which, masterfully combined, make one seventh of the whole.

When the seven sevenths (contributed by the sacred planets and their non-sacred affiliates) are combined, they form the sonata of our solar system. But the sonata is in three “movements”, since there was a previous solar system, the present one and one to come. Thus, emerges the threefold masterpiece of our solar logos. We are working on one of those movements right now, and it is about half created.

14. The Universe is music and so is everything in it. The musical analogy reveals much about the way of our progress, and is a truly occult representation of the truth. We can learn much about dissonance, harmony, unity, fusion and synthesis by following this analogy in detail. Pythagoras demanded music and mathematics from those who would enter his Mystery School. I think we can see why.

I. The initiate or disciple has reached a point in his evolution in which triplicity gives place to duality, prior to attainment of complete unity. Only two factors are of concern to him as he stands at the midway point, and these are Spirit and Matter. Their complete identification within his consciousness becomes his major goal, but only in reference to the whole creative process and not now in reference to the separated self. It is this thought which motivates the service of the initiate, and it is this concept of wholeness gradually creeping into the world of consciousness which is indicating that humanity is on the verge of initiation. … It is this thought which underlies the initiate’s three demands. (cf. RI, p. 62-63)

We now arrive at a point which it is difficult for disciples to grasp. The initiate or disciple has reached a point in his evolution in which triplicity gives place to duality, prior to the attainment of complete unity. Only two factors are of concern to him as he "stands at the midway point," and these are Spirit and Matter. Their complete identification within his consciousness becomes his major goal, but only in reference to the whole creative process and not now in reference to the separated self. It is this thought which motivates the service of the initiate, and it is this concept of wholeness gradually creeping into the world consciousness [Page 63] which is indicating that humanity is on the verge of initiation. Therefore, it is the material aspect, "the perfected third of the Personality," which makes possible the activity of the initiate as he sounds out his three demands. The "dominant fifth of the ego" makes itself heard at the third initiation, marking the attainment of at-one-ment, and this fades out at the fourth initiation. At that time the egoic vehicle, the causal body, disappears. Then only two divine aspects remain; the perfected, radiant, organised and active substance through which the initiate can work in full control, the matter aspect, and the dynamic life principle, the spirit aspect, with which that "substantial divine Reality" still awaits identification. It is this thought which underlies the initiate's three demands which (according to the Rule earlier given to aspirants and disciples) must sound forth "across the desert, over all the seas and through the fires."

1. Ever the sequence in occult development is 3-2-1. The Technique of Fusion (which involves the soul, the disciple (a point of consciousness, midway) and the personality. The disciple as a type of consciousness is not the personality, nor is he, yet, the soul. Triplicity is here found.

2. Following upon the Technique of Fusion, is the Technique of Duality. The duality involved is the monad/triad linked by the antahkarana to the soul/personality (the soul-infused personality). The first represents spirit, the second, matter.

3. The initiate stands at the midway point, but the midway point is in process of disappearing—in a sense.

4. The initiate seeks to be identified as both spirit and matter. This is not a task which relates to his subtly separative individuality, which is in process of being sacrificed at the fourth initiation. Rather, he will come to know himself as integral to the whole creative process, a factor in the Plan, a representative of Purpose. He is beginning an impersonal life beyond the limitations of his previously well-cultivated individuality. Of course, his “individuality” persists, but the limitations placed upon that individuality are gradually lifted with each successive initiation.

5. The initiate is motivated by the concept of wholeness. He is in process of merging with the whole, and his service is the service of the whole (for him, the next greater whole) and not the of part which he has been.

6. Initiation, in a profound sense, concerns wholeness. The increasing awareness of wholeness in the consciousness of humanity indicates its readiness for initiation.

7. Again, as in paragraphs above, DK indicates the importance of the material aspect:

“Therefore, it is the material aspect, ‘the perfected third of the Personality,’ which makes possible the activity of the initiate as he sounds out his three demands.”

One needs a kind of ‘platform’ from which to sound out the demands. The personality must be perfected as the “perfected third” before the sounding is possible. Without an at least relative perfection below, there can be no expectation of a resonant response above. The techniques for building the antahkarana are part of the preparation to sound the three demands. In this technique we learn about how the higher responds to the lower when the lower is well prepared and at a sufficient point of tension.

8. When a musician hears the dominant fifth added to the perfect third, there is a great moment of auditory satisfaction. Thus it is when the dominant of the soul is added to the major third of the perfected personality at the time of the third initiation. The fifth creates the impression of ‘at-one-ment’, which is why major triad is one of the most satisfying of all chords.

“The ‘dominant fifth of the ego’ makes itself heard at the third initiation, marking the attainment of at-one-ment, and this fades out at the fourth initiation. At that time the egoic vehicle, the causal body, disappears.”

It becomes clear that the sounding of the three demands is tied to the kinds of sounds emanating from our three lower vehicles. In fact, we sound forth the demands upon pre-established sounds or notes. In other words, we use our pre-established personality qualities to resonate to and express higher patterns and intentions.

9. Finally, we are left with the following condition:

“Then only two divine aspects remain; the perfected, radiant, organised and active substance through which the initiate can work in full control, the matter aspect, and the dynamic life principle, the spirit aspect, with which that ‘substantial divine Reality’ still awaits identification.”

We see that duality has at last supervened after many changes. The entire personality which has absorbed, as it were, the soul, is considered the note of matter; the monad/triad is considered the life principle and spirit aspect.

10. The full chord of the monad sounds forth, but one wonders if a further stage exists in which one hears only the sound of the octave, and, later still, a perfect unison, involving only the highest, monadic, note, which somehow includes all the notes which have been used in the process of unfoldment.

11. The “substantial divine Reality” in this case is, very reasonably, the monad seeking full union with its opposite—matter.

12. The antahkarana is completed and the monad/personality are intimately related. The Sun Sign and the point opposite the Sun are in full relation.

13. The sounding occurs “across the desert, over all the seas, and through the fires”. These three elemental states are initially related to the etheric/physical plane, the astral plane and the lower mental plane.

14. We have been following the ‘Way of Simplification’. The Technique of Duality, relating monad to perfected soul-infused personality, now gives way to the One—which is the all-inclusive monad becoming/being all that through which it has previously sought to express. This would be Synthesis, and its musical analogy would be the unison—not an monotonous unison (mono-ton{e}-ous), but a one (note) which is the many (notes).

J. The first demand must be sounded forth across the desert. This is made possible because the desert life is passed; … yet to the initiate consciousness it remains clear that the desert land must be made anew to flourish like a rose… (cf. RI, p. 63)

It is not possible for me explicitly to give an understanding of the nature of these demands. I can only give you certain symbolic phrases which, intuitively interpreted, will give you a clue.

The first demand is made possible because "the desert life is passed; it flourished and it flowered, and then the drought arrived and man removed himself. That which had nourished and contained his life became an arid waste and naught was left but bones and dust and a deep thirst which naught in sight could satisfy." Yet to the initiate consciousness it remains clear that the desert land must be made anew to flourish like a rose and that his task is the restoration (by the distribution of the waters of life) of its pristine beauty, and not the beauty of its false flowering. He demands, therefore, upon the note of the lower aspect of the personality (I am talking in symbols), that this flowering forth should take place according to the Plan. This involves upon his part a vision of that plan, identification with the underlying purpose, and the ability—through the medium of the higher mind, which is the lowest aspect of the Spiritual Triad—to work in the world of ideas and to create those forms of thought which will aid in the materialising of the [Page 64] Plan in conformity with the Purpose. This is the creative work of thoughtform building and that is why, we are told, that the first great demand "sounds forth within the world of God's ideas and towards the desert, a long time left behind. Upon that great demand the initiate who has pledged himself to serve the world returns into that desert, bringing with him the seed and water for which the desert cries."

1. We are alerted to the idea that if there is to be clarity about what the demands really are, it will require much meditation and intuitive reasoning on our parts.

2. Why is the first demand possible?: because

“the desert life is passed; it flourished and it flowered, and then the drought arrived and man removed himself. That which had nourished and contained his life became an arid waste and naught was left but bones and dust and a deep thirst which naught in sight could satisfy.”

We see that the human being has moved on in the evolutionary process. The life which concentrated on the physical plane is gone. The “drought” is the inability of that kind of life to satisfy his/her “thirst” or desire nature—becoming ever more refined and sophisticated. The removal means that the human being no longer concentrates on satisfactions which relate exclusively to the physical plane—and even to the entire lower three worlds because, in a higher sense, these worlds can be considered the “desert” also.

3. The following language is very meaningful and beautiful:

“Yet to the initiate consciousness it remains clear that the desert land must be made anew to flourish like a rose and that his task is the restoration (by the distribution of the waters of life) of its pristine beauty, and not the beauty of its false flowering.”

The first flowering was selfish, and occurred under the motivation of selfish desire. The second flowering must be selfless, and nourished by the Aquarian “waters of life”—symbolic in this case of the higher energy patterns which must transform the lowest plane (and, in the sense of this Rule) the lower three systemic planes.

Rule II for Applicants focusses on the etheric-physical plane, per se. Rule II for Disciples and Initiates focusses on the three lower worlds, the worlds of personality, as the desert.

The phrase “flourish like a rose” suggests that heart qualities (symbolically, those of the “rose”) must now be part of the flowering. The “pristine beauty” suggests a purity of patterns in the lower worlds which are pristine because they reflect the Plan-intended Archetypes.

4. The following selection for the Law of Repulse as it applies to those upon the first Ray of Will and Power holds an important analogy. There are two gardens in this selection, just as there are two flowerings in the Rule we are considering.

“The Direction of Ray I.

‘The garden stands revealed. In ordered beauty live its flowers and trees. The murmur of the bees and insects on their winged flight is heard on every side. The air is rich with perfume. The colours riot to the blue of heaven....

The wind of God, His breath divine, sweeps through the garden....Low lie the flowers. Bending, the trees are devastated by the wind. Destruction of all beauty is followed by the rain. The sky is black. Ruin is seen. Then death....

Later, another garden! but the time seems far away. Call for a gardener. The gardener, the soul, responds. Call for the rain, the wind, the scorching sun. Call for the gardener. Then let the work go on. Ever destruction goes before the rule of beauty. Ruin precedes the real. The garden and the gardener must awake! The work proceeds.” (EP II 166-167)

The first garden, like the first flowering, is personal and the second impersonal. The first arises under the motivation of desire, the second under love and soul impulse.

5. We then read a very interesting sentence:

“He demands, therefore, upon the note of the lower aspect of the personality (I am talking in symbols), that this flowering forth should take place according to the Plan.”

We are dealing here with technical occultism. The lower aspect of the personality is the etheric-physical nature. By sounding upon that note he/she affirms the relation of his/her entire soul-infused etheric-physical nature to the etheric-physical plane which must be transformed. The demanding disciple focusses all resources of the lowest aspect of his/her personality and seeks to make it a fit instrument for the impending transformation of the lowest dimension of human living.

We may find that the ray of the etheric-physical vehicle (and its “note”—perhaps, even a musical note of a particular pitch) is involved in this demand. The demand would be a meditative demand and performed through will in connection with the etheric centers. The throat center, symbolic of the lowest aspect of man (if we confine ourselves to the major centers) would be involved, and certainly in any sounding. The meditative demand could, of course, be reinforced by the physical activation of the throat center and the creation of physical-plane sound.

6. We further read of the connection of this demand with the abstract mind:

“This involves upon his part a vision of that plan, identification with the underlying purpose, and the ability—through the medium of the higher mind, which is the lowest aspect of the Spiritual Triad—to work in the world of ideas and to create those forms of thought which will aid in the materialising of the Plan in conformity with the Purpose. This is the creative work of thoughtform building and that is why, we are told, that the first great demand ‘sounds forth within the world of God's ideas and towards the desert, a long time left behind’.”

We see clearly that the act of demanding is no mere etheric-physical technique, but requires an alignment with the lowest aspect of the spiritual triad, the abstract mind, and thus necessitates the use of the antahkarana which, obviously, must have been sufficiently built to make this possible.

The ideas for the transformation of the lower worlds (and especially, in this instance, of the etheric-physical plane) emanate from the “world of God’s ideas”. Here, it is reasonable to consider this world, not the buddhic plane which is, within the spiritual triad a major source of intuitive ideas, but, rather, within the abstract mind, where these ideas have taken some more materialized, patterned form.

7. Let us try to get this clear. The “demand” is made upon the note of the lower aspect of the personality, but the demand “sounds forth” within the abstract mind, and this triadal sounding or reverberation moves “towards” the area which it must regenerate—the lowest of the three lower worlds.

8. There is a kind of loop. The initiate ‘stands’ upon the lowest planes, but aligned via the antahkarana with the manasic world. He demands and his demand sounds forth, reverberating with the abstract mind which provides the necessary thoughts for redemption. These thoughts are carried by the continuous sounding towards the lower plane which they must redeem.

9. Finally,

“‘Upon that great demand the initiate who has pledged himself to serve the world returns into that desert, bringing with him the seed and water for which the desert cries’.”

the initiate returns to the desert, which he had left behind (left, that is, in terms of his motivation), for he no longer desired anything of the desert—except, later, to help.

The seeds the initiate brings are the formulated ideas which will change for the better the patterns of the lowest world. The water can be seen as loving motivation which can nourish the projects which he intends to undertake in service of humanity.

10. Even though this sounding occurs principally in relation to the abstract mind, we can see that Plan and Purpose are also involved (atma) and loving motivation as well (buddhi). There is fluidity here, and all aspects of the spiritual triad are involved even in this first sounding in response to the first demand.

11. Similarly, although the demand occurs on the note of the lower aspect of the personality, it is impossible that, to a degree, the emotional nature and lower mind would not also be involved.

12. It is just that the principal area of regeneration concerned is that of the etheric-physical plane.

K. The second demand must be sounded forth over the seas. Though the initiate knows that for himself he has mastered the astral plane and the world of glamour, he also knows that he must return to the seas and there aid humanity in dissipating the glamour. (cf. RI, p. 64)

The second demand is related to the earlier cry of the disciple, which was sounded forth "over the seas." It refers to the world of glamour in which humanity struggles, and to the emotional world in which mankind is sunk as if drowning in the ocean. We are told in the Bible, and the thought is based on information to be found in the Archives of the Masters, that "there shall be no more sea"; I told you that a time comes when the initiate knows that the astral plane no longer exists. For ever it has vanished and has gone. But when the initiate has freed himself from the realm of delusion, of fog, of mist and of glamour, and stands in the "clear cold light" of the buddhic or intuitional plane (the second or middle aspect of the Spiritual Triad), he arrives at a great and basic realisation. He knows that he must return (if such a foolish word can suffice) to the "seas" which he has left behind, and there dissipate the glamour. But he works now from "the air above and in the full light of day." No longer does he struggle in the waves or sink immersed in the deep waters. Above the sea he hovers within the ocean of light, and pours that light into the depths. He carries thus the waters to the desert and the light divine into the world of fog.

1. We should notice that the Tibetan is referring very much to Rule III for Applicants, and not so much to Rule II as we might expect in this discussion. But in a way, the entirety of the Fourteen Rules for Applicants have been studied and applied even before the first the greater Rules is attempted, so He is not really out of sequence.

2. When in Rule III for Applicants the disciple sounds a “call” over “all the seas”, he is intent upon reaching the Door of Initiation. In this calling he is un-phased by the phenomena of the astral plane and proceeds upon his way.

3. The approach is different here, however, as the entire motive is selfless service and not the ‘reaching’, as it were, of the Door of Initiation.

4. What does it mean that humanity is as if “drowning” in the ocean of glamor? Well, the drowning person floats helplessly beneath the waves and cannot breathe the higher life-giving air nor see the Sun. The metaphysically drowning one is entirely engulfed, overcome, and dies for want of the higher principles. After the phase of gasping for air is over, there is reconciliation to one’s submerged fate; the struggles stops; it is as if there is no higher life. Death (to the soul-spirit) follows.

5. Glamor is like this; humanity is drowning in it. They say it is a pleasant death, and that drowning people even forget they are drowning. Various psychological phenomena begin to occur and they become preoccupied with such, just as humanity, dying for lack of air from above, is preoccupied with glamorous phantasms.

6. The returning initiate, however, is free of the world of glamor. For him/her there is no more sea, and the ‘return’ holds no danger of drowning. It is an entirely redemptive return.

7. The initiate is polarized within the “clear cold light”, essentially untouched by the fogs, mists, glamors, waves, swells of the astral plane. He knows it does not really exist. Yet, it seems to exist, and this is enough to delude the millions drowning within it.

8. The motive of higher buddhic love compels him to return in service, bearing the light from above.

9. These important words describe the process: “He knows that he must return (if such a foolish word can suffice) to the ‘seas’ which he has left behind, and there dissipate the glamour. But he works now from ‘the air above and in the full light of day.’ No longer does he struggle in the waves or sink immersed in the deep waters. Above the sea he hovers within the ocean of light, and pours that light into the depths. He carries thus the waters to the desert and the light divine into the world of fog.” He works “from the air above and in the full light of day”, even though he returns.

To return means to concern himself with the forces of the astral plane and their dissipation. Yet, he is untouched by these forces, applying to them, by techniques he understands, the energy of higher light. Rather than become the victim of deluded feelings, he sees things as they are. He is able to ‘see through’ any delusional seeming to the actual relations between things. He understands real values and is able to demonstrate that normal human desire leads to naught. In a way, he works ‘above’ the roiling waves, yet surrounded by the glamor by which the many are engulfed. This is a serene perspective in the midst of emotional delusion and turmoil. He is serene because he sees the truth, and is able to impart what he sees to others . Thus he carries “light divine into the world of fog”, thus increasing the vibratory speed, surety and effectiveness of all that is undertaken in the lower worlds.

10. Note the cumulative statement involving the results of the first two demands.

“He carries thus the waters to the desert and the light divine into the world of fog.”

Water and light are the two means of salvation.

11. While it does not say so in the text, it follows that the second demand is made upon the note of the second aspect of the personality nature—the astral body. The initiate uses his developed sentiency and sensitivity to place himself en rapport with the entire astral plane, all the while focused on the buddhic plane. He demands within the purified, love filled astral nature, sounds upon the buddhic, and that sound, expanding, moves again towards the astral plane to redeem through the pervasion of the astral plane with buddhic light.

12. We should, each of us, not allow these processes to remain un-interpreted in terms of our own lives. If we have ever to a degree accomplished such demands and soundings, we should clearly see how we have done it, even if we have not done so with full deliberation or full attainment. Or, if we know we have not worked in this way, we should imagine how we might work. Naturally, we can do nothing real of this nature until the ‘antahkaranic rapport’ is sufficiently established.

L. Yet the initiate never leaves the place of identification and all he does upon the desert and over the seas is undertaken through the power of thought, which directs the needed energy so that the Plan may go forward according to divine purpose through the power of the dynamic spiritual will. The initiate of high degree works with monadic energy and not soul force. (cf. RI, p. 64-65)

Yet he never leaves the place of identification, and all that he now does is carried forward from the levels attained at any particular initiation. All that he does "upon the desert, and over the seas" is undertaken through the power of thought, which directs the needed energy and certain destined and chosen forces so that the Plan (let me repeat myself) may go forward according to divine purpose through the power of the dynamic spiritual will. When you can [Page 65] appreciate that the initiate of high degree works with monadic energy and not soul force, you can understand why he finds it necessary ever to work behind the scenes. He works with the soul aspect and through the power of monadic energy, using the antahkarana as a distributing agency. The disciples and initiates of the first two degrees work with soul force and through the medium of the centres. The personality works with forces.

1. The initiate never leaves the place of identification—this is important. He or she may be surrounded by the forces to be transformed, repatterned, redeemed, but the initiate is positive to these forces, not susceptible and negative.

2. We see that the demand performed within the lower worlds (even when made upon the etheric-physical or emotional plane) always are accomplished through the power of thought. So the highest aspect of the personality—the concrete mind—is always involved.

3. For purposes of study, we can separate the various steps in these processes, but in fact, there is much that is occurring simultaneously, and involving to some degree all aspects of the personality and triad.

4. We are told that the power of thought is directing the needed energy and “certain destined and chosen forces”. Immediately we see the involvement of the ajna center, which is a directing center. This center will be involved in all the three redemptive processes. In the second process aimed a the dissipation of glamor of the astral plane, the ajna center is particularly potent for focusing beams of dissipative light where needed.

5. The thought with which the initiate works is, however, not alone the practical thought of the concrete mind, but the Plan-centered thought of the abstract mind, which has merged with the soul-infused lower mind. The initiate, therefore, when executing these processes, works with “three minds” which have been united. (“Three Minds Unite”—the Word of Power of the fifth ray.)

6. In all these labors, it is the “dynamic spiritual will” of the initiate which is bringing the Plan into existence on the plane towards which the initiate is focussed. Without access to triadal energy, the processes of which we are speaking cannot be accomplished. Transpersonal power stored within the causal body is not enough. The initiate must be empowered by his contact with the Planetary Logos, which he now can be, as he has passed the third initiation and ‘met’ Sanat Kumara, mediated through the symbol of the “star of initiation”.

7. We are told that the initiate works with “monadic energy” and must, therefore, work from behind the scenes. This type of work intensifies after the third initiation. A third degree initiate is, in a way, a beginner in apprehending and wielding monadic energy. A Master has become expert.

8. The Tibetan is suggesting that this very powerful energy must be cautiously applied and, as if, from a certain ‘altitude’ and behind the scenes. It is not an energy to be let loose casually in the ordinary exchanges of daily life.

9. The Masters have withheld themselves from physical presence with us, not just to save themselves the inevitable unpleasantness, but to keep from damaging our fragile vehicles of expression by exposure to the intensity of Their energy fields—pervaded by monadic power.

10. One thinks about how much the Christ may have had to modulate His love nature to keep from completely overcoming all those He contacted directly. Yes, even love, the most desirable energy, must be modulated or there will be unexpected destruction. Of this the Tibetan warns.

11. When we are told that the “initiate of high degree” works with the soul aspect and through the power of monadic energy, we have again to realize that the soul is, essentially, the spiritual triad. The initiate of high degree no longer has a causal body, thus he is expressing himself as monad-triad, and even the sublimated personal factor (within the causal body) has vanished.

12. The contrast is given between how the initiate words and how the average disciple works. The analogy, extended, includes three levels of being. The initiate works with monad/soul; the disciple who is an initiate of the first two degrees works with soul force and through the centers; the personality, per se, works through forces. The personality in this case is not the initiated personality.

13. Always the process tends towards greater abstraction but greater power.

M. The third great demand must be sounded forth through the fires. From the highest plane of the spiritual will, what is technically called the atmic plan, the demand goes forth and the result of that demand will work out on mental levels. (cf. RI, p. 65)

All the efforts of the Hierarchy or of the ‘conditioning Lives’ of Shamballa are dedicated to the furthering of the evolutionary plan which will finally embody divine purpose. (cf. RI, p. 65)

The third great demand has in it a different implication, and sounds forth, we are told, "through the fires." In this solar system there is no evading the fire. It is found at all levels of divine expression as we well know from our study of the three fires—fire by friction, solar fire and electric fire, with their differentiations, the forty-nine fires—of the seven planes. Always, therefore, whether it is the cry of the disciple or the demand of the initiate, the sound goes forth "through the fire, to the fire, and from the fire." Of this technique, underlying the potent demand, there is little that I may say. From the highest plane of the spiritual will, what is technically called "the atmic plane," the demand goes forth and the result of that demand will work out on mental levels, just as the earlier two demands worked out on the physical and astral levels. I would interject here that even though there is no astral plane, from the standpoint of the Master, yet thousands of millions recognise it and labour in its delusive sphere and are there aided by the initiated disciple working from the higher corresponding levels. This is true of all the planetary work, whether accomplished by initiates and Masters, working directly in the three worlds, or from higher levels, as work the Nirmanakayas (the creative Contemplatives of the planet), or from Shamballa from the Council Chamber of the Lord of the World. All the efforts of the Hierarchy or of the "conditioning Lives" (as They are sometimes called) of Shamballa are dedicated to the furthering of the evolutionary plan which will finally embody divine purpose. I keep emphasising this distinction between plan and purpose with deliberation, [Page 66] because it indicates the next phase of the working of the intelligent will in the consciousness of humanity.

1. The third great demand involves fire and sounds forth “through the fires”, just as did the “call” in Rule III for Applicants.

2. The Tibetan seems to shift His emphasis, emphasizing the high level of the atmic plane as the source of the demand.

3. I think, however, that we must realize that in this process of demanding, the aspect of the personality particularly concerned is connected, via the antahkarana, with the aspect within the triad from which a particular redemptive energy emanates. All is going on simultaneously. The demand is being made through both personality and triad, and the sounding is reverberating through both the personality and the triad.

4. The Tibetan speaks of the three major fires and of the forty-nine fires related to them. Really there are three times forty-nine fires, forty-nine subsidiary fires being related to each of the major three—though the higher two sets of forty-nine might be called “rays” (and their subdivisions) and “Spirits of darkness” (and their subdivisions). (cf. TCF 628-629)

5. Usually, the forty–nine fires refer to the “Seven Sons of Fohat” and their septenary subdivisions, and, thus with the forty-nine differentiations of planar matter/substance.

6. We must interpret the following:

“Always, therefore, whether it is the cry of the disciple or the demand of the initiate, the sound goes forth ‘through the fire, to the fire, and from the fire’.”

The process is moving in two directions. The disciple calls or “cries) from below towards that which is above. There is still an astral/emotional content. The initiate demands (not only from below, as has been suggested in the Tibetan’s previous analysis) but, it is clear from the present text, also from above, and this demand reaches, through the power of the spiritual will, that area within the lower worlds from which the disciple’s original “cry” arose.

7. We can interpret the text according to these two directions. The most important interpretation, in regard to this Rule, is the one for initiates, and the direction is from ‘above’ to ‘below’. “To the fire” means toward that area of the three lower worlds defined by a particular quality of “fire by friction”. “Through the fire”, means that there is a passage through an area of solar fire as electric fire seeks to reach the area of fire by friction where redemption must occur. “From the fire” indicates that the source of the fire is really monadic/triadal energy—with differing degrees of emphasis of one or another depending upon the degree of the initiate.

8. For the highest initiate, the source is the monad, the area of fire passed through is triadal, and the area of application (“to the fire”) is the personality unit, or even, eventually, a mayavirupa (a will-created vehicle using matter of the lower three worlds).

9. We consider the demand as the Tibetan describes it in relation to the third phase of this process of demanding and sounding.”

“From the highest plane of the spiritual will, what is technically called ‘the atmic plane,’ the demand goes forth and the result of that demand will work out on mental levels, just as the earlier two demands worked out on the physical and astral levels.”

The area of redemption is the lower mental plane. The lower mind must be ruled by “God’s Law”, and the mind must become an instrument of “God’s Will”, rather than the “slayer of the real”.

The task of the initiate is not, per se, the reconstruction of the lowest plane (the etheric-physical), or the dissipation of world glamor, but, rather, the dispelling of world illusion. His own illusions have been dispelled to a great extent or he would not have been able to enter the triadal worlds. Now he works with the great delusive thoughtforms which fragment the understanding of man and prevent him from seeing the Oneness that Is.

10. Again, the demand is made, really, from both levels of the initiate’s energy system—lower mind and atmic vehicle, and the sounding is reverberating through both.

11. As well, to keep up the parallelism in interpretation, part of the process of this third phase of demand must be made upon the note of the highest aspect of the lower man—the note of the concrete lower mind (by this time, entirely soul-infused).

12. This whole process can be studied musically in terms of the identification of the notes involved; a sounding upon those notes; and a harmonization and synchronization of the two notes from two levels of the man’s being—one of them within the personality and one within the triad.

13. Eventually, two chords will be sounding forth—a personality chord (augmented by the infusion of a soul chord), and a triadal chord (consisting of three notes: 1) a note expressive of primary triadal focus on Atma, Buddhi or Manas; 2) a note expressive of a secondary triadal focus on Atma, Buddhi or Manas; and 3) a note expressive of the soul ray (the ray which qualifies the three triadal permanent atoms). (cf. TCF 176-177 and my new E-book On the Monad for an elaboration of this process.) Behind it all will be the note (which is also a threefold chord—Will, Wisdom and Activity) of the monad. It all seems complex, but at last, after many musical changes, will become a simplified and harmonious sounding.

14. The Tibetan says there is little He can tell us about the third phase of the technique. Even what He said about the first two phases requires the utilization of the intuition for fuller understanding.

15. Thus far, “atma” is, to most of us, just a word, but through the power imparted by these higher teachings, it can become an increasingly experiential fact. The entire curriculum of developing the will aspect of the human being—moving from personal will, to sacrificial will, to spiritual (or atmic) will, and eventually to divine or monadic will, prepares him for participation in this third demand.

16. Although each of the three major ray types may have greater resonance with one or other of the three demands, they are to a degree sequential, and it is only after having learned to make and work with the first demand and second demands, somewhat in sequence, that the initiate is in any position to make and work with the third.

17. Overall, we are learning how high initiates work. They focus above and willfully “demand” (as aspects of the Planetary Logos) to be of specific service below.

18. The Tibetan lists several orders of higher lives, but all work in essentially the same way and for the same purpose—the fulfillment of the Divine Plan in order to bring about the embodiment of the Divine Purpose.

19. We can see that this entire book is teaching us how to become workers with the Plan from that level of the human energy system where the real Plan can be understood—namely, the level of the spiritual triad.

20. From a practical perspective, if we wish to heighten the potency of our work, we need to move from being those who “call” and “cry” to becoming those who are entitled to “demand”.

21. Further, we need to learn how to preserve personality consciousness and soul consciousness simultaneously, (which is a bit like learning to work with the throat and heart centers functioning simultaneously). Then we need to learn to work with soul-infused personality consciousness and triadal awareness simultaneously. We hold several levels simultaneously, not only “in mind”, but in “being”. The head center completes the triangle.

22. Although the process may seem abstract and difficult, if we can think of sustaining a vibrant triangle between the throat, heart and head centers, with the ajna center use to direct energy—and can visualize/experience these centers and their vibrancy simultaneously—we are well on our way to experience the simultaneous functioning of the higher aspects of ourselves. Thus, we are learning to ‘position’ ourselves, so that we can begin to “demand”.

23. For certain, no one who is personality-centered (and ridden by personality demands) can demand in this higher sense.

N. These three demands refer not only to the evolution of humanity, but to all forms of life within the consciousness of the planetary Logos. (cf. RI, p. 66)

More anent these three demands I may not imply. I have told you much, had you the awakened intuition to read the significance of some of my comments. These demands refer not only to the evolution of humanity, but to all forms of life within the consciousness of the planetary Logos. The directing mind of the initiate indicates within the three worlds the goal of attainment.

1. DK has been implying much, if we have eyes to see. He is not being terribly explicit about this whole process, and there is necessarily much that we must piece together for ourselves.

2. Again the call goes forth for us to awaken our intuition. This is done to a great extent by trying earnestly to deeply understand just what He is talking about! The mind alone will not reveal the true substance of the discourse.

3. He closes by expanding the consideration, moving it away from the microcosm and towards the planetary macrocosm. We human beings are rather self-centered, and even if we have passed beyond the phase of thinking that the “world revolves around us”, we are likely to fall into the trap of thinking that it revolves around humanity. The Masters, however, are concerned with the welfare of the entire planet, and so the demands voiced by the initiate, are not for the welfare of humanity alone, but promotive of the evolution of all kingdom in nature.

4. The true initiate is distinguished from the average disciple in that the initiate truly sees the goal, and knows what he is doing and why.

5. We are involved here with a growing consciousness of the planetary process. Right now, our vision is necessarily limited, being somewhat personal though increasingly transpersonal. Even this, however, is not enough to make a true worker with the Plan. What does God, the Planetary Logos, intend? That is the real question, and we will only succeed in answering it in small measure, and as it applies to us and our immediate group, if we have successfully built the antahkarana, and have, as it were, ‘planetarized’ our consciousness.