Commentary on Rule VI for Disciples and Initiates

Part IV of V

We might choose as theme for our meditation

a.        Either the third sentence of the Rule:

“Let then the group—merged in the fifth—be nourished by the sixth and seventh, and realise that all the lesser rules are rules in time and space and cannot hold the group. It onward moves in life.” (RI, p. 129-132)

b.       Or sub-themes, DK is referring to in His commentary to the Rule (RI, p. 129-132), such as:

i.                The third sentence can also be formulated as follows: "Then let the group—which is identified with the soul—find its sustenance and vitality by the inflow of the intuition and of the spiritual will, emanating from the Spiritual Triad." (cf. RI, p. 129)

ii.               The sixth kingdom is that of the "overshadowing Triads"—that aggregation of liberated Lives of which the higher initiates in the Hierarchy are a part; They are to that spiritual group what the New Group of World Servers is to Humanity. (cf. RI, p. 129-130)

iii.             The seventh kingdom in nature is that of the Lives Who participate in full capacity of understanding with the group of Beings Who are the nucleus of the Council at Shamballa. (cf. RI, p. 130)

iv.             The consciousness and state of being of members of the seventh kingdom is only dimly understood by the most advanced Members of the Hierarchy, and the relation of these Lives to the Lord of the World is similar, and yet fundamentally different, to the relation of the Members of the Hierarchy to the three Great Lords—the Christ, the Manu and the Mahachohan. (cf. RI, p. 130)

v.              Through the three Lords, the Christ, the Manu and the Mahachohan, pours the energy which streams from Shamballa, transmitting the purpose and motivating the plan of Sanat Kumara—His Life Plan. (cf. RI, p. 130)

vi.             The Plan is defined as the response of the Hierarchy to the inflaming purposeful will of the Lord of the World. (cf. RI, p. 130)

vii.           Through Sanat Kumara, the Ancient of Days, flows the unknown energy of which the three divine Aspects are the expression. (cf. RI, p. 130)

viii.          Sanat Kumara is the Custodian of the will of the Great White Lodge on Sirius, and the burden of this "cosmic intention" is shared by the Buddhas of Activity and those Members of the Great Council Who are of so elevated a consciousness and vibration that only once a year (through Their emissary, the Buddha) is it safe for Them to contact the Hierarchy. (cf. RI; p. 130)

ix.              By considering such a wider horizon than that usually registered by disciples our point of view expands. Thus our sense of synthesis, of purposeful planning and of planetary integrity is stimulated. (cf. RI, p. 130)

x.               This great spiritual structure of Being, of Life and of Direction is something that the disciples and initiates of the world need—at this time—in their effort to stand steady under the pressure of world events, and in their determination to cooperate unwaveringly with the moves and plans made by the world Directors, that "Society of illumined and organised " which is known under the name of the Hierarchy. (cf. RI, p. 130-131)

xi.              It is illumination and consequent organisation which is needed profoundly at this time. (cf. RI, p. 131)

xii.            Such is the significance of the teaching now being given out anent the building of the Antahkarana. (cf. RI, p. 131)

xiii.           It is only through the Antahkarana, that the disciple can mount on to that stage of the ladder of evolution which will lead him out of the three worlds, which will bring the personality into rapport with the Spiritual Triad, and which will finally lead the Members of the Hierarchy (when Their term of service is completed) on to the Path of the Higher Evolution. (cf. RI, p. 131)

xiv.          The planetary Antahkarana is built by aspirants and disciples and initiates of the seven ray types, and is therefore a sevenfold woven thread. (cf. RI, p. 131)

xv.            The building of the Antahkarana constitutes the first stage of the Path of the Higher Evolution. It is to that Path what experience in the mineral kingdom of the Life of God is to that same Life when it reaches the fourth or human kingdom. (cf. RI, p. 131)

xvi.          The Law of Analogy, which is part of the Science of Comparison, is the key which unlocks the understanding. (cf. RI, p. 131)

xvii.         Something of the quality and the revelatory power of the intuition is known by all disciples; it constitutes at times (from its very rarity) a major "spiritual excitement." (cf. RI, p. 131)

xviii.       The intuition produces effects and stimulation; it indicates future receptivity to dimly sensed truths and is allied—if you could but realise it—with the entire phenomena of prevision. (cf. RI, p. 131)

xix.           A registration of some aspect of intuitional understanding is an event of major importance in the life of the disciple who is beginning to tread the Path to the Hierarchy. It provides testimony, which he can recognise, of the existence of knowledges, wisdom and significances of which the intelligentsia of humanity are not yet aware; it guarantees to him the unfolding possibility of his own higher nature, a realisation of his divine connections and the possibility of his ultimate highest spiritual attainment. (cf. RI, p. 131)

xx.             The intuition steadily supersedes soul knowledge, and the energy pouring in to his consciousness from the Spiritual Triad—particularly the energy of the sixth and seventh spheres of activity—is the specific and particular energy which finally brings about the destruction of the causal body, the annihilation of the Temple of Solomon, and the liberation of the Life. (cf. RI, p. 131-132)

xxi.           Then, when the causal body has been destroyed, that which in time and space has been termed the soul can "onward move in life." Evolution as we now understand it ceases; yet evolutionary unfoldment proceeds along new lines which are based upon the past but which produce very different results to those sensed even by the advanced disciple in his highest moments. (cf. RI, p. 132)

xxii.          Then, when the causal body has been destroyed, a new life-expression appears which moves onward freed from all form yet subject still to limitations "within the circle of influence of the greater Life," but not limited by life within the many forms which progress, surrounded by that circle, that divine ring-pass-not. (cf. RI, p. 132)

xxiii.        Then, when the causal body has been destroyed, there is still the broad confining sweep of the purpose and the life-intent of the planetary Logos, but within that periphery and sphere of activity the Triads move with perfect freedom. (cf. RI, p. 132)

xxiv.        The Triads onward push towards the higher states of Being is carried out in conformity with the life urge of the One in Whom they live and move and have their being. (cf. RI, p. 132)

xxv.         Thus, after that stage when the causal body has been destroyed, one is dealing with life processes and not with form building or the experience in forms, as usually understood. (cf. RI, p. 132)

 

Rule VI (pp. 129—132)

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A.                 We now come to the most important part of this particular rule; it conveys the key to the immediate goal for those who have attained a certain measure of understanding.  The words of importance are:

3. Let then the group—merged in the fifth—be nourished by the sixth and seventh.

1.                  The group is not only soul-responsive but is, in every sense of the word, the soul-infused group.

2.                  The group is equivalent to the individual third degree initiate.

3.                  The “fifth” in this case, is the fifth kingdom of nature—the Kingdom of Souls.

4.                  But there is no question that those who are “merged in the fifth” kingdom are also deeply infused by that part of the Fifth Creative Hierarchy which has merged itself in man.

5.                  It must be understood that the entirety of the Solar Angel does not merge itself in the individual man which it has under aeonial supervision, nor does the entirety of the group Solar Angel merge itself in the group. “Having pervaded this entire universe with a fragment of myself, I remain.”

6.                  When there is a merging in the fifth, it is a merging in that which has grown out of the pervasive fragment (the emanated ‘fragmentary’ presence of the Solar Angel in the soul consciousness of man). The Solar Angel, per se, is much greater than the higher consciousness that a man or group of human beings can achieve before the time comes for the Solar Angel to wing its way back to the subjective aspects of the Solar Logos.

7.                  One cannot be merged in the fifth kingdom without having undergone the most intense cultivation by the Solar Angels—the members of the Fifth Creative Hierarchy.

8.                  By the time the group is merged in the fifth, the communion with what we might call the ‘group Solar Angel’, the composite of all attentive, supervisory Solar Angels associated with the individuals in the group, is intense.

9.                  To be nourished by the sixth and seventh, relates also to the kingdoms of nature.

10.              The sixth kingdom of Planetary Lives has close association with both the third and second Creative Hierarchies—the Lesser Builders and the Divine Builders respectively (cf. EA 35.

11.              However, the members of the sixth kingdom of nature (the Chohans of the sixth and perhaps, seventh initiation) are not members of the second and third Creative Hierarchies. The lives in those Hierarchies are much older and higher than the Planetary Lives and were unfolded in much earlier cycles.

12.              The seventh kingdom (the Kingdom of Solar Lives) consist of certain of the Lives within Shamballa.

13.              These Lives have a strong correlation with the First Manifested Creative Hierarchy (the Divine Flames). Note, we are not here talking about the unmanifested Creative Hierarchies focusing (or in one case just about to focus) on the cosmic astral plane.

14.              Again, the Divine Flames are older and greater than can be the Lives who are the ‘residents’ of Shamballa (as exalted as the Shamballic Lives may be from our perspective).

15.              It is, however, not each to compare the spiritual status of such great Lives as our ‘cyclic measuring stick’ is insufficiently calibrated.

16.              If the members of the Fifth (unmanifested) Creative Hierarchy are “returning Nirvanis from a previous Mahamanvantara”, and are members of the Council of the Solar Logos, we can only imagine the exalted rank of the members of the First (unmanifested) Creative Hierarchy (the Divine Flames). Such Lives would have reached Solar Angelic status many cycles ago, and are now much higher.

17.              So little, relatively, is said of the Lives of the higher Creative Hierarchies that many gaps in knowledge necessarily remain. Therefore, it is not possible for us to fathom the nature of these great Lives Who express through the higher manifested Creative Hierarchies (namely those of the Fifth, Third, Second and First Creative Hierarchies) We can only gather some sense of their relationship to each other and to man (who belongs to the Fourth Creative Hierarchy).

18.              If this is true of the higher manifested Creative Hierarchies it is even truer of the unmanifested Creative Hierarchies. Once we know something more definite of the great Science of Cycles and how it applies to the developmental process of such Lives within our solar system, we will be able to understand the status and development these Lives in a reasonable proportion.

19.              We note that the Fifth Creative Hierarchy is, in a way, considered higher than the Fourth Creative Hierarchy—the human though its number is ‘lower’—the number six, for instance, is developmentally lower than the number five, and five is ‘lower’ than four. This, in itself, is a mystery based upon the principle of sacrifice.

20.              In an area of study so abstruse, and of which so little of a definite nature is known by those at our stage of development, and so little of the context of the subject is understood, the practical approach is the best approach for now.

In other words:  "Then let the group—which is identified with the soul—find its sustenance and vitality by the inflow of the intuition and of the spiritual will, emanating from the Spiritual Triad."

21.              DK offers a fairly understandable interpretation of the third sentence in Rule VI.

a.                   The group that is “merged in the fifth” is identified with and as soul—the soul-infused group. Solar fire pervades the members of such a group and the group as a whole.

b.                  The “sixth” in this case relates to the buddhic level of the spiritual triad, for buddhi is what is called the “sixth principle” of the seven principles of man.

c.                   The “seventh”, in this case, relates to the atmic level of the spiritual triad, for atma (not the Atman) is the seventh principle. In one enumeration of principles, we call this principle “spiritual will”.

d.                  The “Atman” is pure spirit (the essence of the monad) and is, in essence, infinitely higher than the principle of atma.

e.                   There is often a confusion between atma and the “Atman”, and in some references they seem almost interchangeable, but philosophically they are not. Atma is a faculty of the “Atman”, as are all the other principles.

22.              How is one “nourished” by these higher kingdoms and the principles which relate to them?

23.              Nourishment is a form of sustainment which promotes the integrity of patterns found on the different levels of man’s constitution. A pattern which is not nourished disintegrates. So nourishment (to any system) is a sustaining, reinforcing and growth-promoting inflow of energy

24.              What happens when one is nourished by the intuition?

a.                   One increasingly knows the truth

b.                  One increasingly understands what is essential and what is peripheral

c.                   One stands in deep understanding and appreciation of Divine Harmony—a principle quality of the buddhic plane.

d.                  One senses archetypes, and especially the archetypes meant to precipitate as Plan during any particular ‘time in space’ or ‘space in time’.

e.                   One senses the necessarily impending future.

f.                    Etc.—every student can determine for himself/herself what could transpire when nourished by the intuition.

25.              What happens when one is nourished by the seventh kingdom and its vehicle of expression—spiritual will?

a.                   One is beginning to understand the Plan and can somewhat apprehend the Planetary Purpose.

b.                  One’s will is increasingly blended with the Divine Will

c.                   One is asking nothing for the personal self because the level of identification has changed entirely.

d.                  In fact, one has lost any sense of identification with the personality, is rapidly losing identification as an individual-in-form, and is beginning to identify with the Planetary Whole. Depending upon the type of will beginning to make its impact, the levels of identification will be ever greater.

e.                   One is beginning to be a representative of the monad and of the “Life” aspect of divinity.

26.              Everything that is predicated of the individual can be predicated of the group. Individuals who are merged in the fifth and nourished by the sixth and seventh are today more frequently to be found, however, than are groups which fulfill these requirements.

27.              A group which is merged in the fifth and nourished by the sixth and seventh is very much a part of the Spiritual Hierarchy of the Planet. The members of such a group know themselves to be living souls, and the group personality is dominated by its soul nature. A group that is merged in the fourth, is still a self-centered group, and, of course, the same is true of the individual human being.

28.              Such a group (because its members have {mostly} taken the first solar initiation—the third planetary initiation) is a tiny but significant factor in the life (not only of the Planetary Logos) but of the Solar Logos.

29.              The Plans and Purposes to which such a group can begin to respond are not only planetary but pertain to the life of the Solar Logos. Have we realized that our spiritual development is essentially solar in nature?

30.              Because the monad is something more than a word, Shamballa (which is both a planetary and solar center) is making its presence felt in such a group (through the seventh Kingdom). There is, therefore, some degree of attenuated responsiveness to the Kingdom of Solar Lives.

31.              Hierarchy and the Christ impact the group through the “sixth” and Shamballa and its Lives through the “seventh”.

  There are, of course, other meanings, but this is the most practical for disciples.

32.              Some other and possibly higher meanings are suggested in this commentary, but our principal interest is in the microcosm (individual man) and its amalgamation into hierarchically inspired groups. From another perspective, the group can be considered as a microcosm of the Greater Group, the planetary whole.

33.              Before we can speak with any first hand knowledge of the Hierarchy and of Shamballa, we must have direct experience of the levels of the spiritual triad via the antahkarana. First things first.

  A larger but similar concept lies in the realisation that the human family, the fourth kingdom in nature, is absorbed by the fifth or by the kingdom of God and (when this is the case) can become increasingly en rapport with the sixth and seventh kingdoms.

34.              A method of interpreting the principal sentenced in Rule VI in terms of some of the higher kingdoms of nature is suggested above.

35.              What is true of man the microcosm, will one day be true of Humanity (which stands as a macrocosm to the individual—though, of course, not the only macrocosm). Every whole greater than a particular unit (be that unit an individual or a group) is as a macrocosm to that particular unit.

36.              Humanity, per se, knows little of the sixth and seventh kingdoms of nature. It is only now (in its upper strata) beginning to understand something of the fifth kingdom, and this through its foremost teachers as they are recognized by the human race—such individuals as the Christ, the Buddha, Jesus, Confucius, Plato, Pythagoras, Akbar, etc.—all of them now standing at the rank of Master of the Wisdom or beyond.

37.              The great thing happening on our planet at the present time is that many human beings are preparing to enter the fifth kingdom of nature. This will mean that humanity as a whole will be undergoing the first initiation (the Birth in Bethlehem), which does not mean that all human beings will individually be undergoing this initiation.

38.              There are higher and lower initiations. We are familiar with existence of the great “manasic initiations”—the Birth, the Baptism, the Transfiguration, etc.—but there are lower correspondences to these, and as a certain proportion of human beings pass through the manasic initiations, humanity as a whole will pass through the lower correspondences to these initiations. For humanity, this is a significant achievement.

39.              The following fascinating quotation from A Treatise on Cosmic Fire hints at these lesser initiations which are reflections of the greater and which may be significant for Humanity as a whole at this time of its first initiation:

Lesser Initiations:  At the stage which we are considering (that of the organisation and unfoldment of the first tier of petals), the egoic influence felt at the beginning is but small, but when the three petals become sufficiently active and alive through the energy accumulated and stored up in the ego during the activities of the personal life, a form of initiation then takes place which is a reflection (on a lower plane) of the great manasic initiations.  The energy in the outer circle of petals causes it to spring apart from the next circle, and to unfold.  This threefold energy becomes interactive and a very definite stage is thus reached.  This series of initiations is seldom recognised within the physical brain consciousness owing to the relatively inchoate stage of the bodies, and the unresponsiveness of the brain matter.  Yet they are nevertheless initiations of a definite though less important character, and they involve primarily the display (within the personal life of the man) of an intelligent recognition of his group relationships on earth.  This recognition is frequently selfish in character, as, for instance, that which the union worker displays, but it is indicative of group interplay.

A similar process takes place when the second circle of petals is organised and ready for unfoldment.  This time the World Teacher, the Master and the Ego concerned are co-operating, for these smaller initiations deal with the love nature, with astral or emotional organisation, and with the recognition (by the man in his personal life) of some form of unselfish love, and of a love for some object, person or ideal which leads to altruistic endeavor.
(TCF 869-870, bolding and underlining MDR)

40.              If humanity is to come en rapport with the fifth (as a prelude to a much later merging in the fifth) both love and wisdom must be released in its consciousness and active life. We know from a study of history and also of contemporary society, how difficult this is to achieve. Yet the Christ is coming and, with Him, the ‘Day of Achievement’ (the cycle known as the Aquarian Age).

  To these kingdoms no names have as yet been given, because the possibility of their existence is only now just beginning faintly to penetrate into the consciousness of the disciple and the initiate.

41.              It is difficult to understand why the Master says that no names have been given to these kingdoms, when in a much earlier book (Esoteric Psychology I) He, Himself, gave such names: Planetary Lives for the sixth kingdom and Solar Lives for the Seventh Kingdom. (EP I 215)

42.              Probably there are many more names associated with the fifth kingdom and its membership, because the fifth kingdom is much closer to humanity than the succeeding two kingdoms.

43.              The day will come when these higher kingdoms and their members will also be familiar, but this is hardly yet the case.

44.              The existence of such Lives is hinted in the esoteric literature of the world, but we are indebted to Master DK for a really cogent expression of Their nature and place within the greater scheme (even though the information released by Him—both through His works with AAB and HPB—would be considered by Him completely rudimentary).

45.              We should ask ourselves what these higher kingdoms may mean to us, when most of us hardly know ‘our’ Master or the senior initiates of His Ashram—one of whom probably is or recently has been, to us, a supervising chela on the inner planes.

46.              Our knowledge of sixth and seventh degree Chohans, therefore, is minimal at best.

47.              The rightly trained and developed group, however, can approach the “distant Ashrams” where dwell the “Chohans of the race of men”. In a way, all approach to these great Lives is group approach.

  The sixth kingdom is that of the "overshadowing Triads"—that aggregation of liberated Lives of which the higher initiates in the Hierarchy [Page 130] are a part; They are to that spiritual group what the New Group of World Servers is to Humanity.  I know not how else to express this truth to you.

48.              DK does say something here about the members of the sixth kingdom. They are the Chohans of the race of men—the “higher initiates of the Hierarchy”.

49.              He is not speaking here of the Masters of the Wisdom, per se (i.e., fifth degree initiates). Masters are still members of the fifth kingdom—the Kingdom of Souls.

50.              It is very interesting to hear these Chohans called “overshadowing Triads”. One thinks, immediately of the Nirmanakayas (of the sixth initiation, at least) Who overshadow the Hierarchy in the exercise of Their capacity as “divine contemplatives”.

51.              The higher initiates of Hierarchy (Chohans) are called by the name “overshadowing Triads” because their consciousness is completely triadal, if not monadic. The sixth and seventh initiations have some association with the atmic plane, just as the fourth and fifth are associated with the buddhic plane. The various initiations are also, however, significantly associated with the plane which correlates numerically with the initiation. For instance, the seventh initiation also with the seventh plane (or first) the logoic. (cf. TCF 121 and 697 for contrasting views)

52.              They are not however the “Triadal Lives” called the “Triple Flowers”—members of the Third Creative Hierarchy.

53.              A very useful analogy is here proposed. The New Group of World Servers are to Humanity as the “overshadowing Triads” (or chohanic Lives) are to the Spiritual Hierarchy.

54.              In this respect, the sense of sight is very important. Just as the NGWS (ruled by Taurus—the “Mother of Illumination” and related to the “single eye”) helps Humanity see, so the Divine Contemplatives and Chohans of the sixth and seventh initiations receive impression from Shamballic Sources and, thus, help Hierarchy see and understand the Divine Purpose, as that Purpose is conceived in Shamballa (and more remotely in the consciousness of the Solar Logos). There are many strata of divine contemplatives.

55.              The NGWS serves a second aspect function to Humanity, which fulfills the role of the third aspect in this relationship.

56.              The same is true when comparing the “overshadowing Triads”, the chohanic Lives, to the Hierarchy per se. In this case, Hierarchy, in this relationship, serves a third aspect function.

 

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B.                 The seventh kingdom in nature is that of the Lives Who participate in full capacity of understanding with the group of Beings Who are the nucleus of the Council at Shamballa.

50.              We must read carefully here to see how specific nature of the Tibetan’s remarks.

51.              There are a number of beings Who are junior members of Shamballa and Who are, yet, members of the sixth kingdom—such are the Manu, the Mahachohan, and, from a certain perspective, even the Christ.

52.              Only those Lives Who participate in Shamballa “in full capacity of understanding with the Lives Who are the nucleus of the Council at Shamballa” are members of the seventh kingdom.

53.              We might reasonably say that seventh degree initiates participate such with such “full capacity of understanding” far more than can sixth degree initiates.

54.              Of the Humanity with which we are somewhat familiar, only the Christ and the Buddha are ranked as seventh degree initiates, and even They (may it reverently be said) are not fully so. They have yet to complete this initiation, we are told.

55.              They come the closest (of those Masters Whose names have been given to us) to being members of this kingdom—the Kingdom of Solar Lives. Yet, even to the highest members of our Spiritual Hierarchy, the deeper purposes of the members of the nucleus of Shamballa, are not fully revealed. Even the Christ the Manu and the Chohans do not have full understanding of the purposes of that group of Beings Who are the nucleus of the Council at Shamballa. Though the Christ, the Manu and the Mahachohan certainly have the fullest understanding of these Purposes of any members of our Spiritual Hierarchy.

56.              There are many Lives in Shamballa, and most of them remain unnamed (at least with respect to the consciousness of man). Such as these may be members of the seventh kingdom of nature, a kingdom, it would seem, more related to the Solar Logos than to the Planetary Logos (though holding very high office within the structure of the Planetary Logos)

57.              One implication that might be gathered from the section above is that the members “nucleus of the Council at Shamballa” are beyond the seventh kingdom of nature. Yet from other perspectives, They seem necessarily to be members of this kingdom.

58.              We might think of the Christ, the Manu and Mahachohan as training to become members of this seventh kingdom—standing, as it were, upon the periphery of this highest of kingdoms on our planet.

59.              It is not unreasonable to consider the seventh kingdom the “Kingdom of Solar Lives” (EP I 215) as the first kingdom.

60.              When we read the section, we have to decide whether DK means that only those Lives who can cooperate in “full understanding” with the Shamballic Nucleus, are members of the seventh kingdom, or whether such Lives and the Shamballic Lives constitute the seventh kingdom.

61.     (blank)   

  Around the Lord of the World this group pivots;

62.              When one thinks of the word “pivot”, one may associate it with the brightest star in the Great Bear—Dubhe, the “Leo” star, knows as “Heaven’s Pivot”. It is the pointer visually closest to Polaris.

63.              Indeed, the Lord of the World in Shamballa is the Leonian “King” of Shamballa.

 Their consciousness and state of being is only dimly understood by the most advanced Members of the Hierarchy, and the relation of these Lives to the Lord of the World is similar, and yet fundamentally different, to the relation of the Members of the Hierarchy to the three Great Lords—the Christ, the Manu and the Mahachohan.

64.              There is a great gap between the members of Sanat Kumara’s “Nucleus”, and even the most advanced Members of the Hierarchy, such as the “Three Great Lords”—the Christ, the Manu and the Mahachohan.

65.              Certainly the Christ is the most advanced member of the Hierarchy, and also, as an incipient initiate of the seventh degree, very reasonably at least a peripheral member of the seventh kingdom.

66.              If (for argument’s sake) the Christ were considered a full member of the seventh kingdom, and given that the ‘developmental distance’ between the Christ and the ‘nucleic’ Lives of Shamballa is so great, it would be hard to think of these exalted Lives as members of the seventh kingdom. Yet when one considers this kingdom as the Kingdom of Solar Lives, it seems necessary to include Them, and to conclude that the Christ cannot be a full member of the Kingdom of Solar Lives.

67.              Another analogy is given in order to induce a sense of proportion. The group around the Lord of the World is considered related to the Lord of the World in a manner analogous to the relationship between the Hierarchy and the Three Great Lords Who guide that Hierarchy.

68.              One can see immediately that this is only a suggestive analogy; even the numbers do not easily correspond.

69.              We might say that just Sanat Kumara gives guidance to the three Buddhas of Activity and other nucleic Shamballic Lives, so the Three Great Lords offer guidance to the Spiritual Hierarchy as a Whole.

70.              We might also conclude that the spiritual status of the members of Hierarchy is, at least, relatively close to that the Manu, the Christ and the Mahachohan (initiates of the sixth and seventh degrees—in the case of the Christ). Hierarchy is composed of fourth and fifth degree initiates (and even third degree initiates could be included).

71.              Similarly, the spiritual status of Sanat Kumara and the Three Buddhas of Activity is relatively close, though Sanat Kumara has now surpassed them because of His “Great Sacrifice”. They appear to have a karmic relationship dating from an earlier solar system.

72.              What we should understand is that even the highest members of the Spiritual Hierarchy (such as the Three Great Lords) have only a dim idea of the nature of Sanat Kumara, the Three Buddhas and other Shamballic Lives. The Three Great Lords are not about to become, by straightforward progression, what the nucleus of Shamballic Lives are now. That nucleus consists of those Who have recently been Planetary Logoi (in an earlier solar system). The Three Great Lords are nowhere near that possibility. Many Masters, it would seem, have yet to become Solar Angels (through training on Sirius), and many Solar Angels have yet to become Planetary Logoi (presumably through many graded levels of progression). So the Masters are far indeed from the status of such exalted lives as the Three Buddhas of Activity and Sanat Kumara.

73.              Perhaps these comparisons help us understand that, though we may glibly speak of the Hierarchy and Shamballa, a great gulf separates the Lives Who represent these two planetary centers. Even the highest members of our Spiritual Hierarchy are the most lowly members of Shamballa (lowly when compared to Lives such as the Buddhas of Activity) Who in an earlier cycle have been Planetary Gods.

74.              As for Sanat Kumara, He is higher still. Perhaps even a speculative understanding of these inferences will correct certain patterns of thought and speech which arise out of a lack of co-measurement.

 Through these three Lords pours the energy which streams from Shamballa, transmitting the purpose and motivating the plan of Sanat Kumara—His Life Plan. 

75.              We are given here, one of the functions of the Buddhas of Activity.

76.              They are, in a sense, the personality expression of Sanat Kumara, and are to Him what the spiritual triad is to the monad of man.

77.              It is obvious that the Plan and Purpose of Sanat Kumara can be expressed in three modes.

78.              We are given (beginning R&I 240) seven purposes of Sanat Kumara. These seven purposes flow through the Buddhas of Activity and the Seven Planetary Ray Lords.

79.              The concept of “Plan” is associated with the number three, for the third method of inducing soul control is the “Urge to Formulate a Plan” (EP II 241).

80.              Therefore it is fitting that the three Buddhas of Activity pour forth an energy which motivates the Plan of Sanat Kumara. In a way, They must be in charge of the time-space expression of His Purpose, manifesting as the ‘Plan-in-Time’. They can be considered (at least with respect to our planet) “Lord(s) of Space” and “Dispenser(s) of Time”, and would therefore be related to the third Ray Lord, two of Whose names have just been given. (EP I 68).

What you call "the Plan" is the response of the Hierarchy to the inflaming purposeful will of the Lord of the World.

81.              This is a brilliant and arresting sentence.

82.              It is again obvious that what we call the Plan is not the Plan at all.

83.              How shall we describe the will of the Lord of the World? It is “inflaming purposeful will”. May we say that it inflames the consciousness of those groups it touches with an aspect of the ‘solarly’-flaming will of the Solar Logos”.

84.              The Will of Sanat Kumara is fiery—but the fire must necessarily be a blend of planetary “electric fire” and solar “solar fire”. The electric fire of Sanat Kumara is an aspect of a greater solar fire—the fire of the Solar Logos (of Whom Sanat Kumara is a direct Disciple).

Through Sanat Kumara, the Ancient of Days (as He is called in the Bible), flows the unknown energy of which the three divine Aspects are the expression.

85.              There are three Cosmic Laws (of Synthesis, Attraction and Economy), and one synthesizing Law of Karma, emanating (for purposes of our Solar Logos and His solar system) from Sirius (or from the Sirian System, of which the star Sirius is hypothesize to be one part).

86.              There is always a point at the center of an esoteric triangle, and Sanat Kumara (in relation to the triangle of Buddhas of Activity) represents that point just as the Sirian Law of Karma represents the point within the Triangle consisting of the three cosmic laws.

 He is the Custodian of the will of the Great White Lodge on Sirius, and the burden of this "cosmic intention" is shared by the Buddhas of Activity and those Members of the Great Council Who are of so elevated a consciousness and vibration that only once a year (through Their emissary, the Buddha) is it safe for Them to contact the Hierarchy.

87.              We are told that “Sanat Kumara is not on the Sirian line” (R&I 415) which probably refers to the line of development He is now pursuing—probably the Path of the Solar Logoi—but the Great Kumara of our planet has a close enough relation to Sirius to be the “Custodian of the will of the Great White Lodge on Sirius”.

88.              This may mean that Sanat Kumara was once on the Sirian line, and underwent the development necessary to be such a Custodian.

89.              Sirius is considered a “cosmic” source and the Logos of Sirius (or of the Sirian System) a “cosmic Logos”.

90.              Sanat Kumara is of sufficiently exalted rank to be under the impress of the “cosmic intention” from Sirius. The Buddhas of Activity share a responsiveness to the same cosmic intention, as do certain other unnamed Lives in Shamballa.

91.              We note with interest that the “cosmic intention” is a “burden”. On our own small level, when we respond to a will greater than our own individual will (especially when that will is much greater) we experience the impress of such a will as a burden. The analogy holds good even for beings as exalted as Sanat Kumara and the Three Buddhas.

92.              What that “cosmic intention” may be, we certainly have no idea. If the members of the nucleus of Shamballa are burdened by it, we must realize that it is beyond the understanding of even the higher members of the Spiritual Hierarchy. Sufficiently unfathomable for us are the Seven Purposes of Sanat Kumara.

93.              There is a One ‘above’ the Three and a One ‘below’ the Three.

94.              Sanat Kumara is in the midst of the Buddhas of Activity, and, in a way, stands ‘above’ them.

95.              The One we know as the Buddha stands ‘below’ the three, and is, in a sense aligned with Sanat Kumara, conveying in a yearly rhythm as much of His threefold/sevenfold Purpose as the Hierarchy can bear.

96.              It puts things into proportion to realize that the Lives within Shamballa are of so exalted a rank that it is unsafe for the members of Hierarchy to contact them except once a year, and then, indirectly, through Their emissary, the Buddha.

97.              We are understanding something important about the Buddha’s communicative function, and Who it is that He represents.

98.              The Buddha represents a higher Quaternary (consisting essentially of Sanat Kumara and the Three Buddhas), and the Christ, a lower quaternary—Humanity.

99.              If more frequent, unprotected contact with Shamballa were possible to the Hierarchy, would the members of the Hierarchy become ‘overstimulated’? There must be an analogy to the danger of overstimulation experienced by the disciple, although it is hard for us to conceive how it might work out practically.

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C.                 I am seeking only to point to a wider horizon than that usually registered by disciples and I use these broad analogies to expand your point of view.

99.              The Tibetan is certainly widening our horizon. How could we even think in such terms unless we were able to ‘stand on His shoulders’?

100.          Some people think it impractical to consider such high subjects about which we can know so little at first hand. Apparently the Tibetan does not think it useless. It is part of the process by which consciousness expands.

101.          A synthetic grasp of the nature of things (even if necessarily vague) will help us act with greater intelligence and appropriateness with respect to the specific circumstances closer to our lives.

By so doing I can convey to the enlightened person a sense of synthesis, of purposeful planning and of planetary integrity.

102.          DK gives the reason for His presentation to us of a “wider horizon”. If we are to benefit from what He is saying we must be, at least, somewhat enlightened. Otherwise His discussion of these abstruse matters will have no meaning to us at all.

103.          If we study carefully and think under the impress of “pure reason”, we will emerge with a sense of synthesis. From a practical perspective, our planning will become more purposeful and our sense of the integrity of this planet, and where we fit within that integrated system, will become clearer.

104.          Without a correct sense of proportion we will never develop humility, and without humility we will not be able to co-measure our actions; without co-measured actions we are of little use within the progressive planetary process—in fact, we would be part of the problem rather than an agent of service.

  This great spiritual structure of Being, of Life and of Direction is something that the disciples and initiates of the world need—at this time—in their effort to stand steady under the pressure of world events, and in their determination to cooperate unwaveringly with the moves and plans made by the world Directors, that "Society of illumined and organised [Page 131] Minds" which is known under the name of the Hierarchy.  It is illumination and consequent organisation which is needed profoundly at this time.

105.          DK’s motives for presenting us with the very big picture (at least the planetary big picture) is given most clearly.

106.          A sense of the “great spiritual structure” is our very great need at this time. Humanity needs this sense, in increasing measure, but those who would be conscious disciples certainly do.

107.          Being has a structure; Life has a structure; Direction is structured.

108.          The practical benefit is that this kind of knowledge (even if inferential and appealing largely to the reasoning mind), helps us “stand steady under the pressure of world events”.

109.          When we know of these things (even though not knowing them directly) we become highly motivated to “cooperate unwaveringly with the moves and plans made by the world Directors”.

110.          To be motivated to stand with Hierarchy, we must know something of the greatness of Hierarchy, and the still greater nature of the group which stands to Hierarchy as They stand to us.

111.          The bottom line is that comprehensive knowledge promotes spiritual stability and reliability. This is most practical, is it not?

112.          One of the most arresting names for the Spiritual Hierarchy is given here: the “Society of illumined and organised Minds”. Here, it is the Hierarchy of Light that is emphasized and not so much the Hierarchy of Love (which it surely is as well, and really, predominately so).

113.          Master DK does nothing without useful purposes. He is not speaking casually of the sixth and seventh kingdoms. Discussing them in relation to the fifth and fourth kingdoms, gives what we might call an ‘illumined stability of consciousness’ and this leads to the capacity to organize one’s life so that it definitely serves the purposes of Hierarchy as Hierarchy attempts to serve Humanity.

114.          We cannot allow ourselves to be faulted for studying these deep and abstruse matters. The result is intended to be of the greatest value.

115.          Illumination and organization (qualities of the second and fifth, and third and seventh rays) are a very great need. Why? Hierarchy needs understanding cooperators. Such cooperators will not be assembled unless they understand much more of the ‘big picture’ than humanity presently does.

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D.                 You will see, therefore, the significance of the teaching now being given out anent the building of the antahkarana.  It is only through this bridge, this thread, that the disciple can mount on to that stage of the ladder of evolution which will lead him out of the three worlds, which will bring the personality into rapport with the Spiritual Triad, and which will finally lead the Members of the Hierarchy (when Their term of service is completed) on to the Path of the Higher Evolution.

115.          Students of Master DK do much work with the antahkarana. DK stresses the importance of this inner building work in various ways.

116.          The present (but even more) the eventual purposes of the antahkarana are here suggested.

a.                   It brings the personality en rapport with the spiritual triad

b.                  It provides a bridge of escape for the members of the Hierarchy also, for it allows them to place foot upon the Path of the Higher Evolution.

c.                   Monadic destiny is found along the antahkarana. In building the “rainbow bridge”, we (as personalities) are building for a future we cannot conceive.

d.                  In one respect the antahkarana ends at the fifth initiation, when Mercury (the antahkarana) and the Sun become one.

e.                   However, every integration is followed by the need for a further extension towards a still higher and more inclusive center. The way to that center (whatever it may be) is via an antahkarana of some kind.

f.                    The way back to the Universal Point from which all emanated and with which all are essentially identified is via an antahkarana.

g.                   Sutratma underlies antahkarana. Life is always present and thus the “life thread” is an integral part of the ‘thread of returning consciousness’ which the antahkarana represents.

h.                   All the way ‘up’ the ‘Universal Ladder’, Mercury and the Sun will have their higher correspondences. Mercury represents the two, and the deva kingdom (for Mercury has ‘wings’). The Sun, represents the One and the higher correspondences to the human kingdom (of which the Heavenly Men and the Grand Heavenly Men are examples).

The antahkarana is built by aspirants and disciples and initiates of the seven ray types, and is therefore a sevenfold woven thread; it constitutes the first stage of the Path of the Higher Evolution.

116.          The sevenfold nature of the antahkarana is here emphasized.

117.          All antahkaranas are sevenfold, but one or two of the seven threads are principal in any ‘bridge of return’.

118.          We can only imagine the meaning of the woven nature of the thread. It must have something to do with the ‘patterning of quality in space’. The antahkarana has its own occult geometry yet to be revealed to man.

119.          The ‘bridge of return’ for each initiate is distinct, and one must discover the energic nature of the bridge one (as a consciousness) is intended to ‘cross’.

120.          Seven Words of Power are given by DK to assist with the ‘crossing’ of the bridge. It may be that these Words of Power have continuing utility upon the farther reaches of the antahkarana. They are certainly capable of seemingly endless extension and application to higher vibratory domains.

121.          It would be interesting to relate the seven Words of Power to the Seven Cosmic Paths. There is not a one-to-one relationship, as monads on all rays go to the various Paths (probably not equally so, however).

122.          The correlation is very thought-provoking and potentially fruitful

a.                   The seventh Path or Path of Absolute Sonship with “I Assert the Fact”

b.                  The sixth Path or Path of the Solar Logoi with “I See the Greatest Light”

c.                   The fifth Path or Ray Path with “Purpose Itself am I”

d.                  The fourth Path or Path to Sirius with “Two Merge with One”

e.                   The third path or Path of the Planetary Logoi with “Three Minds Unite”

f.                    The second path or “Path of Magnetic Work” with “The Highest Light Controls”

g.                   The first Path or Path of Earth Service with “The Higher and the Lowest Meet”

123.          And there are certainly other significant correlations as well.

124.          Occasionally Master DK asks us to make such correlations, as, for instance, between the Eight Means to Yoga, the Noble Eightfold Paths, the Beatitudes, the Ten Commandments, etc. (cf. EP II 164)

125.          Through such exercises of the mind, much light can come.

  It is to that Path what experience in the mineral kingdom of the Life of God is to that same Life when it reaches the fourth or human kingdom.

126.          This is a fascinating analogy: the antahkarana is to the Path of Higher Evolution what the life of the mineral kingdom is to the life of the human kingdom (both types of life being one life in different phases of expression).i

127.          The number four is very important in this analogy for the following reasons:

a.                   The mineral kingdom is the fourth ‘below’ from the human. Four is, numerologically and foundationally, a number of manifestation, and the mineral kingdom is the foundation of manifestation.

b.                  The antahkarana is related to Mercury, the principal ray of which is the fourth.

c.                   The human kingdom is the fourth kingdom.

d.                  The Path to Sirius is like an antahkarana connecting our planet with that distant Source, and that Path is the fourth of the seven Paths (though there are now two others, we are told).

128.          The human kingdom is, in a way, four times more elevated than the mineral kingdom, or, is separated by four kingdoms from the mineral kingdom (if both the mineral kingdom and the human kingdom are counted).

129.          The phase of unfoldment which we call the utilization of the ‘human’ antahkarana, is, perhaps, four times less elevated than the dimensions comprised in treading the Path of the Higher Evolution.

130.          One thinks particularly of the Fourth Path—to Sirius—and the three Paths which are numerologically ‘lower’ than the Sirian Path: the Path of Earth Service (the first Path), the Path of Magnetic Work (the second Path), the Path of the Planetary Logoi (the third Path. When using such an analogy, the stage of building and utilizing the human antahkarana can be related to Earth Service—the mineral stage. The vegetable stage would be related to Magnetic Work (which makes sense when thinking of Venus, the vegetable kingdom and magnetism). The animal stage would be related to the Path of the Planetary Logoi (which again makes sense when considering, animation, locomotion and the third ray). The Logoi (just as are the zodiacal Constellational Logoi of the zodiac) are ‘Divine Animals’.

131.          Continuing the correlation, we would find a correlation between the Life of Sirius and the Life of Humanity.

132.          Of course, there are many ways to interpret this analogy. Suffice it to say that the stage of building and utilizing the human antahkarana is, relatively, still very material stage, analogous to the life of God entrapped in mineral form.

133.          Just a the development of the mineral kingdom tends towards humanity, whose true place of expression is the buddhic plane (the fourth), so the higher antahkarana upon the Way of Higher Evolution, leads to a number of cosmic planes, the highest of which is the cosmic buddhic plane (the fourth cosmic plane).

134.          The ideas presented above are meant to be suggestive only. Upon pondering, the reader will develop his or her own ideas.

  You can see, therefore, how significant is the coming Science of Comparison; not yet has this science of comparative analysis been turned into a definitely recognised line of approach to truth.  The Law of Analogy is the key which unlocks the understanding.

135.          DK speaks of a new and coming science—the “Science of Comparison”.

136.          Throughout this instruction He has been giving us a picture of life which invites us to compare the various strata of expressing lives, and ourselves within that hierarchy.

137.          We may often think that we are to arrive at truth  strictly through observation and investigation, or through the powers of reason. These are fifth ray and third ray methods and both are useful. Every ray has its method of arriving at truth.

138.          But DK is right—we have not yet fully developed the “science of comparative analysis” as a means of ascertaining truth. Those who can access the buddhic faculty, related as it is to the second and fourth ray, will have facility in this science. Again, all the rays (in their own ways) can contribute to the development of this science.

139.          Have we thought that if we develop a real facility with analogical thought, we are well on our way to revelation?

140.          Real understanding comes from (or at least begins from) the buddhic plane, and analogy is the golden key to that plane. Both the Law of Analogy and the buddhic plane resonate to the number four.

141.          Analogies are sometimes considered interesting and sometimes amusing. However their value in revealing truth is seldom understood. Shall we learn to think in this way?

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E.                  Something of the quality and the revelatory power of the intuition is known by all disciples; it constitutes at times (from its very rarity) a major "spiritual excitement."  It produces effects and stimulation; it indicates future receptivity to dimly sensed truths and is allied—if you could but realise it—with the entire phenomena of prevision.

142.          A true intuition is a rare occurrence. In the first few pages of Glamour: A World Problem, DK describes the real nature of intuition, including all the things that it is not. This is definitely worth pondering. If take the hint, we will use the word “intuition” far less frequently than we do.

Intuition is the synthetic understanding which is the prerogative of the soul and it only becomes possible when the soul, on its own level, is reaching in two directions: towards the Monad, and towards the integrated and, perhaps (even if only temporarily) coordinated and at-oned personality. It is the first indication of a deeply subjective unification which will find its consummation at the third initiation.

Intuition is a comprehensive grip of the principle of universality, and when it is functioning there is, momentarily at least, a complete loss of the sense of separateness. At its highest point, it is known as that Universal Love which has no relation to sentiment or to the affectional reaction but is, predominantly, in the nature of an identification with all beings. Then is true compassion known; then does criticism become impossible; then, only, is the divine germ seen as latent in all forms.

Intuition is light itself, and when it is functioning, the world is seen as light and the light bodies of all forms become gradually apparent. This brings with it the ability to contact the light centre in all forms, and thus again an essential relationship is established and the sense of superiority and separateness recedes into the background.”
(GWP 2-3)

143.          Real or true intuition is a “major spiritual excitement”. It is so, because a real intuitive impact is rare. The shock it carries comes from the World of Ideas (the buddhic plane—which is the really the lowest of the Worlds of Ideas). The monadic plane is a higher World of Ideas.

144.          Probably, the lives of many of us are largely unstirred by very high spiritual currents. The life of the soul is high indeed compared to the ordinary state of personality consciousness, and even the soul fails to ‘get through’ continuously in the lives of many of us. (This is not the fault of the Solar Angel—obviously!) Thus, when the life of the spiritual triad intrudes itself into the relatively soul-infused personal consciousness, this beneficent intrusion represents a spiritual happening of unusual proportion.

145.          When intuition does strike, the following occurs, we are told:

a.                   It produces effects of stimulation

b.                  It indicates future receptivity to dimly sensed truths

c.                   It represents an alliance  with the “entire phenomenon of prevision”

146.          The intuition is both the key to the future and to an apprehension of the wholeness of the Whole.

147.          It must be clear that to pursue the Science of Analogy or the Science of Comparison is to cultivate the intuition.

148.          That which is ‘descending’, is that which exists archetypally and is “meant to be” is “on its way”. The intuition can apprehend the invisible and yet descending patterns.

149.          We remember that the Eternal Now is perceived through buddhi, and the buddhic faculty entails the intuition. That which will be and that which has been is perceived by the intuition within the Now. Words will fail to describe this state of apprehension as words are based upon space/time concepts. Only a growing experience with the intuition will reveal the truth or falsity of such statements.

150.          We want to know how to cultivate this intuition, because it represents the next spiritual step forward for many disciples. The true initiate is already initiated into a domain where the intuition prevails.

A registration of some aspect of intuitional understanding is an event of major importance in the life of the disciple who is beginning to tread the Path to the Hierarchy.

151.          The intuition leads, as well, into Hierarchy, the major state of consciousness of which is buddhic.

152.          What is it that confirms that we are treading the correct path? Books alone will not offer confirmation. Neither will reasoning and mere belief.

153.          True intuition speaks with certainty. There is no arguing with a true intuition. The usual mind is darkened by comparison, and reason, per se, a slow and relatively ineffective tool.

 It provides testimony, which he can recognise, of the existence of knowledges, wisdom and significances of which the intelligentsia of humanity are not yet aware;

154.          The “intelligentsia” depend upon the use of the mind—both concrete and relatively abstract. The true intuition is still largely sealed from them

155.          Humanity in the Aryan race is developing the intelligence.

156.          Those who are cultivating the intuition are doing now what the next root race will do as a matter of course. True intuitives are ahead of their time.

157.          The intelligence per se does not suspect certain “knowledges, wisdom and significances”. The intuition is revelatory and reveals the unsuspected.

it guarantees to him the unfolding possibility of his own higher nature, a realisation of his divine connections and the possibility of his ultimate highest spiritual attainment;

158.          We can see how heartening will be a true stroke of the intuition! Man can lose faith along the ‘way’; but faith can summon the intuition and confirm the reality of that which was almost blindly followed.

159.          We can see that the intuition is a linking function, ‘touching’ as it were the higher connections and the higher dimensions.

160.          Intuition is proof, far more than marshaled reasons and arguments, which must always remain tentative though, perhaps, convincing. That which the intuition reveals is truly known. Doubt cannot assail a true intuition. Master M. calls this “straight knowledge”.

 it steadily supersedes soul knowledge, and the energy pouring in to his consciousness [Page 132] from the Spiritual Triad—particularly the energy of the sixth and seventh spheres of activity—is the specific and particular energy which finally brings about the destruction of the causal body, the annihilation of the Temple of Solomon, and the liberation of the Life.

161.          Soul knowledge is contrasted with the intuition.

162.          One type of soul knowledge is that which emanates from the causal body and is the sumtotal of ‘personal wisdom’ gathered through many lives. Such knowledge, though transpersonal, is still personally derived.

163.          The spiritual triad consists of the fifth, sixth and seventh spheres of activity. We have been talking particularly of the sixth and seventh spheres, related to the sixth and seventh kingdoms.

164.          The energy of these spheres is planetary, and impersonal. This is not the case with “soul knowledge”(considering such knowledge as emanating from man-as-soul).

165.          Of course the knowledge conveyed by the Solar Angel is not strictly speaking the knowledge of the causal body. It carries the energy of the spiritual triad and beyond. So we must discriminate carefully. The energy of the Fifth Creative Hierarchy comprises all that man can possibly be at this time, and is certainly not limited to the sphere of expression we call the higher mental plane. The Solar Angel is a transcendent being endowed with all those energies and states of consciousness that man will find in the highest dimensions of his own nature.

166.          Yet, when it comes to the Solar Angel’s supervision of the human being, the emphasis is definitely upon Love-Wisdom (for these solar beings are “Hearts of Fiery Love” regardless of the ray upon which they express).

167.          DK tells us that the energy of buddhi and of atma ultimately bring about the destruction of the causal body. In other words, nourishment by the “sixth” and “seventh” contribute to the release of consciousness from the shroud of the soul, and the liberation of human consciousness into the spiritual triad.

168.          We might say that the love aspect of the divine will is particularly related to the destruction of the causal body. Perhaps the destruction of the petals of the egoic lotus is closely related to the energy of buddhi, and the destruction of the jewel in the lotus to atma. The correspondences would be fitting.

169.          The effect then, of the entry of the sixth and seventh “spheres” into activity and consciousness of the human being is the “liberation of Life”. The kingdoms corresponding to these spheres (the sixth and seventh) are kingdoms which promote to the final liberation of man-as-man.

170.          In this connection, let us think about how pure love and pure will (as pure as unliberated humanity can experience) can contribute to the destruction of the Temple of Solomon.

171.          We have only to think of the power of the Greater Love (the Intended Pattern of Pure Reason) to magnetically re-arrange the life of the individual. The pattern built over the ages is magnetically disassembled so that the Pattern in the Heavens (buddhic) may be.

172.          As for spiritual will, we have only to think of the power to be wrought in the individual and group life by the mantram, “Not my will, Father, but thine be done”. If we followed this directive, our lives as we know them would dis-integrate and then reintegrate according to a pattern based on Divine Purpose.

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E.                  Then that which in time and space has been termed the soul can "onward move in life."  Evolution as we now understand it ceases; yet evolutionary unfoldment proceeds along new lines which are based upon the past but which produce very different results to those sensed even by the advanced disciple in his highest moments. 

170.          The Tibetan is careful about defining the soul. He implies that that which we think of when we think of soul, is not soul as it really is, but is limited by our time-space conceptions.

171.          Limited as we are by the brain and circumstance, we cannot entirely grasp the nature of the higher planes whereon the soul lives the life unshrouded.

172.          The unshrouded soul is triadal life—really an extension of the monad, unhampered by causal conditions—i.e., the conditions of the causal body.

173.          When there occurs the destruction of the “Temple of Solomon” the unshrouded soul is ready to move onward “in life”. This means that the soul moves by means of intensification through identification. The soul (the relatively freed consciousness) intensifies its livingness through identifications with ever deeper levels of reality.

174.          Even the “advanced disciple” cannot conceive this new type of progress, so different from the process of ordinary evolution—not even in his every highest moments.

175.          Who is the “advanced disciple”? Probably, in this case, the initiate of the second degree, not yet consciously in touch with the monad. Conscious monadic contact would confer the ability to sense the meaning of onward moving in life, for the monad is, essentially, life.

A new life-expression appears which moves onward freed from all form yet subject still to limitations "within the circle of influence of the greater Life," but not limited by life within the many forms which progress, surrounded by that circle, that divine ring-pass-not. 

176.          The form of the causal body is not the only kind of limitation. Philosophically considered, the Universe, itself, is limitation. So while there is existence, limitation will never be transcended.

177.          To the liberated, unshrouded soul, “a new life-expression appears”. That (i.e., the new expression) moves freely forward (relatively freely, at least). It is a freedom from all form, yet there are subtler forms, also, which we do not usually call form.

178.          A limitation still sensed by the liberated soul is the limitation of “the circle of influence of the greater Life”. In this case that “greater Life” is the Planetary Logos, for the initiate of the fourth degree cannot yet transcend the planetary sphere.

179.          The great ring-pass-not of the Planetary Logos is still a limitation, but the many lives which express through gross form, i.e., through the forms within the three worlds of evolution which so limit the average human being, do not pose a limitation to the newly liberated soul.

180.          So the movement onward in life occurs through the process of intensification rather than strictly through expansion. However, if intensification of livingness occurs, it automatically comprises expansion.

There is still the broad confining sweep of the purpose and the life-intent of the planetary Logos, but within that periphery and sphere of activity the Triads move with perfect freedom.

181.          We note that the Tibetan calls liberated fourth degree initiates by the name, “Triads”.

182.          The fourth degree initiate is a member of the fifth kingdom, the Kingdom of Souls.

183.          Although such a being is a “Triad” (because focussed predominately upon the levels of the spiritual triad), it is not yet an “overshadowing Triad”—the name given to the members of the sixth kingdom of nature (Planetary Lives).

184.          The point to all this is that the destruction of the Temple of Solomon represents liberation from the strictly human kingdom, the fourth, and full entry into the fifth kingdom (and eventually the sixth and seventh). This destruction does not represent liberation from the Fourth Creative Hierarchy. This is an important distinction.

Their onward push towards the higher states of Being is carried out in conformity with the life urge of the One in Whom they live and move and have their being.

185.          That which “onward moves in life” is engaged in an “onward push towards the higher states of Being”. It is not a random and undirected push. It is still subject to the Will of the One in Whom the initiate lives and moves and has his being—the Planetary Logos.

186.          Even the Master of the Wisdom must conform to Planetary Purpose, though the initiates of the sixth degree and beyond, may orient themselves towards still greater purposes.

You will note, therefore, that these words in reality cover or deal with life processes and not with form building or the experience in forms, as usually understood.

187.          “Life processes” are distinguished from “form building” and “experiences in form”. We are dealing here with the abstract worlds of the spiritual triad with which most of us have very little experience if any.

188.          DK labors to have us understand the difference between life and form, between will and love, between the first ray and the second, between freedom and magnetic bondage.

189.          Throughout our human experience, we have been very much creatures of form. Even if liberated from the physical body, we have not necessarily been liberated from the worlds of form—astral and mental.

190.          The reach of this great book, The Rays and the Initiations, however, takes us far beyond the customary, and into realms which the will reveals.

A consideration of these at present inaccessible truths may serve to inspire your minds, evoke your intuition and give you vision and increased spiritual perception.

191.          DK writes with purpose.

192.          The truths presented are presently inaccessible to us, but will not always be so. The sooner we become inspired and act on that inspiration, the sooner will come the revelation of truth, and the formerly inaccessible will become the presently accessible.

193.          His purpose has been to

a.                   Inspire our minds

b.                  To evoke our intuition

c.                   To give us vision and increased spiritual perception

194.          Reading His words (and through participation in the energy of His thought), we may think of ourselves as, temporarily, merged in the fifth and nourished by the sixth and seventh which He either expresses or represents.

195.          We are ever reaching beyond ourselves—not in some vain spiritual quest, but to bring the future into being.

196.          With inadequate equipment we reach into the unknown, knowing that our adequacy will increase and the truth will be ours if we but persist.

197.          If the Master should succeed in inspiring us, He has done much.

 

With Love and Many Blessings to all,

Michael (and Stefan)