Compilation Clear Cold Light

(RI 39)The "clear cold light" is the light of pure reason, of infallible intuitive perception and its unremitting, intensive and revealing light constitutes a major test in its effects. The initiate discovers the depths of evil, and at the same time is enticed forward by the heights of a growing sense of divinity. The clear cold light reveals two things:

(RI 60) In this Rule for accepted disciples and initiates …….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………

(RI 64) …….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………

(RI 139) When the disciple has striven to expand his consciousness, when he has learnt to stabilise his consciousness in the Spiritual Triad, then he becomes part of a great and constant hierarchical effort which strives upwards towards the "Place of Clear Electric Light," to which the clear cold light of the reason is the first key to the first door.

(RI 42) I would like for a moment to refer here to the door symbology as the initiate begins to grasp the inner meaning of those simple words. For long the teaching, given in the clear cold light, anent the door and the emphasis put upon the presentation of the door lying ahead of the aspirant has been made familiar, but that has been working with the lower aspects of the symbolism, even if aspirants did not realise it; they have been taught the fact of the light in the head, which is the personality correspondence to the clear cold light to which I refer. At the very centre of that light, as many aspirants know theoretically or factually by inconstant experience, is a centre or point of dark indigo blue—midnight blue. Note the significance of this in view of what I have been saying anent the "dark night," the midnight hour, the zero hour in the life of the soul. That centre is in reality an opening, a door leading somewhere, a way of escape, a place through which the soul imprisoned in the body can emerge and pass into higher states of consciousness, untrammelled by form limitations; it has also been called "the funnel or the channel for the sound"; it has been named the "trumpet through which the escaping A.U.M. can pass." The ability to use this door or channel is brought about by the practice of alignment; hence the emphasis laid upon this exercise in the attempt to train aspirants and disciples.

Again, this time in relation to the soul, comes the repetition of the discovery of the Door, its use and its appearance, finally, behind the initiate. This time the door must be found upon the mental plane, and not as earlier upon the etheric level; this is brought about by the aid of the soul and of the lower mind and through the revealing power of the clear cold light of the reason. When discovered, the "revelation of a terrible though beautiful experiment" faces the initiate. He finds that this time alignment is not his need, but the definite undertaking of a creative work—the building of a bridge between the door which lies behind and the door which lies ahead. This involves the construction of what is technically the antahkarana, the rainbow bridge. This is built by the disciple-in-training upon the basis of his past experience; it is anchored in the past and firmly grounded in the highest, rightly oriented aspect of the personality. As the disciple then creatively works, he finds that there is a reciprocal action on the part of the Presence, the Monad—the unity which stands behind the Door. He discovers that one span of the bridge (if I might so call it) is being built or pushed forward from the other side of the gulf separating him from experience in the life of the Spiritual Triad. This Spiritual Triad is essentially, to the initiate, what the threefold personality is to the man in physical incarnation.

(RI 47) In our study of Rule One on Initiation, we gained (or perhaps fixed more clearly in our minds) three major thoughts:

1. That the Path of Initiation is one on which we develop the Will aspect of divinity.

2. We learn also to use consciousness as a jumping off place for the recognition of a new state of realisation, which is not consciousness at all, as we understand that term.

3. We undergo, prior to each initiation, two major tests—that of the burning ground and that of the clear cold light.

(RI 49) We now, however, pass on to another expression and to the next development in the life of the initiate, which is learning to work from a "point of tension." Here lies the new emphasis, and I am bringing it to the attention of humanity as mankind nears the close, the terrible but liberating finale, of his great test in this modern burning-ground. Now men can pass on into the clear cold light, and from there begin to hold that point of tension which will be evocative of the needed "understanding will-to-move forward" along the line of human will-to-good—the first phase of the development of the will aspect. It is the higher sublimation of the aspirational stage which precedes the attainment of the "point of light" through contact with the soul.

The point of tension is found when the dedicated will [Page 50] of the personality is brought into touch with the will of the Spiritual Triad. This takes place in three clearly defined stages:

1. The stage wherein the lower will aspect which is focussed in the mental body—the will-to-activity of the personality—is brought into contact with the higher abstract mind; this latter is the interpreting agent for the Monad and the lowest aspect of the Triad. Two things can be noted in this respect:

a. This contact becomes possible from the moment that the first thin strand of the antahkarana, the rainbow bridge, is completed between the mental unit and the manasic permanent atom.

b. This demonstrates in an absorbing devotion to the Plan and is an effort, at any cost, to serve that Plan as it is progressively understood and grasped.

This expresses itself in the cultivation of goodwill, as understood by the average intelligent human being and put into action as a way of life.

2. The stage wherein the love aspect of the soul is brought into touch with the corresponding aspect of the Triad, to which we give the inadequate name of the intuition. This is in reality divine insight and comprehension, as expressed through the formulation of ideas. Here you have an instance of the inadequacy of modern language; ideas are formless and are in effect points of energy, outward moving in order eventually to express some "intention" of the divine creating Logos. When the initiate grasps this and identifies himself with it, his goodwill expands into the will-to-good. Plan and quality give place to purpose and method. Plans are fallible and tentative and serve a temporary need. Purpose, as expressed by the initiate is permanent, farsighted, unalterable, and serves the Eternal Idea.

3. The stage wherein—after the fourth initiation—there is direct unbroken relation between the Monad, via the Triad, and the form which the Master is using to do His [Page 51] work among men. This form may be either His temporary personality, arrived at along the normal lines of incarnation, or the specially created form to which Theosophists give the technical but cumbersome word "mayavirupa." It is the "true mask, hiding the radiant light and the dynamic energy of a revealed Son of God." This is the esoteric definition which I offer you. This stage can be called the attainment of the will-to-be, not Being as an individual expression but Being as an expression of the Whole—all-inclusive, nonseparative, motivated by goodness, beauty and truth and intelligently expressed as pure love.

(RI 60) 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.

(RI 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.

(RI 69) 2. Let the cry of invocation issue forth from the deep centre of the group's clear cold light.

We are not here dealing with the light in the head or with soul light as it is perceived by the attuned and aligned personality. That too is left behind, and the initiate is aware of the light of the Ashram and the all-including light of the Hierarchy. These are two aspects of soul light which the individual light in the head has revealed. That soul light which the initiate has been aware of from the first moment of soul contact, and at rapidly decreasing intervals, is created by the fusion of the light of the soul with the light of substance itself, and is the inevitable and automatic consequence of the purification of the three vehicles and of creative meditation. We are told in the world Scriptures that "in that light shall we see Light"; and it is to this other Light that I now refer—a light which is only to be perceived when the door is shut behind the initiate. That light is itself composed of the light of buddhi and the light of atma, and these are (to interpret these Sanskrit terms esoterically) the light of the pure reason, which is the sublimation of the intellect, and the light of the spiritual will, which is the revelation of the enfolding purpose. The first [Page 74] is focussed in the Ashram, and the second in the Hierarchy as a whole, and both of them are the expression of the activity of the Spiritual Triad.

Let me make myself clearly understood, if possible. You have, therefore, three great lights, all of them focussed upon the mental plane, for beyond that plane the symbolism of light is not used; divinity is known as life, where the Monad and its expression, the Spiritual Triad, are concerned. All the lights are finally focussed upon the mental plane:

1. The blended light of soul and personality.

2. The light of the egoic group which, when forming a recognised group in the consciousness of the illumined initiate, is called an Ashram, embodying the light of buddhi or pure reason.

3. The light of the Hierarchy as a centre of radiance in the planetary body and embodying the light which understanding of the plan and cooperation with that plan produce, and which comes from identification—upon mental levels—with the spiritual will.

All these three aspects of light can be described as:

1. The light which is thrown upward. This is the lesser light, from the angle of the Monad.

2. The light which the Spiritual Triad reflects upon the mental plane.

3. The focussed light which is produced by the meeting of the two lights, the higher and the lower.

These are the higher correspondence of the blazing forth of the light in the head, when the light of the personality and the light of the soul make contact.

(RI 77) I wonder if I could make the problem of invocation clearer to you if I were to suggest that the words, "issue forth from the deep centre of the group's clear cold light," have a meaning both for the individual initiate and for all groups of disciples and all Ashrams? The use of the words, "clear cold light," is deeply symbolical. The clarity of that light indicates the function of the soul, as its great light enables the initiate to see light. The coldness of that light refers to the light of substance, which cannot be warmed into a glow by desire or by the heat of passion, but is now and at last only responsive to the light of the soul. It is therefore cold to all that limits and hinders, and this state of personality consciousness has to be realised at the very centre of man's being; there the clear light of the soul and the cold light of the personality are united in the deepest conscious point of the disciple's nature, at the extreme point of withdrawal (for which all concentration exercises and meditation processes have been a scientific preparation). Then, through the produced tension, the invocative cry can go forth with power and effectiveness. The same is true of the disciple's group or of any group of true and selfless aspirants. There can come a moment in the life of the group when the blended cold light of the contributing personalities and the clear light of their souls can so function that united invocative cry will evoke a response. That cry will ever be concerned with the selfless service of the group—a service which, under the Plan, they are seeking to render to humanity.

(RI 175) It is a tension and a point of attainment that is only possible in group formation. Even in the earlier initiations, and when the initiate has proved his right to be initiated, the process is still a group proceeding; it is undergone in the protective presence of initiates of the same standing and unfoldment. It is their united focus that enables the candidate for initiation to see the point of clear cold light and their united will that "brings him upright, [Page 175] standing, unafraid, with open eye before the One Who from the very first has conferred on him the gifts of life and light, and Who now—with lifted rod, surrounded by the fire, reveals to him the significance of life and the purpose of the light." It is that of which the minds of men know naught, and which even the highest intellect is unable to grasp or even sense.

(RI 539) "The light is seen, a tiny point of piercing light. This light is warm and red. It nearer draws as it reveals the things that are, the things which may be. It pierces the third centre and removes all glamour and desire.

"A light is seen through the medium of the lower light—a light of warmth and heat. It pierces to the heart and in that light all forms are seen pervaded by a glowing light. The world of lighted forms is now perceived, linked each to each by light. This light is blue, and flaming is its nature. Between the warm and reddish light and this clear light there burns a glow of flame—a flame which must be entered, ere the light of blue is entered and is used.

"Another light is then perceived, the clear cold light which is not light but darkness in its purest purity—the Light of God Himself. It renders dark all else beside Itself; all forms fade out and yet the whole of life is there. It is not light as we know light. It is that pure essential essence of that Light which reveals Itself through light."

Out into radiant life and light! The cave is left behind; the cross is overturned; the way stands clear. The word sounds clear within the head and not within the heart. "Enter again the playground of the Lord and this time lead the games." The way upon the second [Page 470] tier of stairs stands barred, this by the soul's own act. No longer red desire governs all the life, but now the clear blue flame burns strong. Upon the bottom step of the barred Way he turns back and passes down the stairs on to the playground, meeting dead shells built in an earlier stage, stepping upon forms discarded and destroyed, and holding forth the hands of helpfulness. Upon his shoulder sits the bird of peace; upon his feet the sandals of the messenger.

Not yet the utter glory of the radiant life! Not yet the entering into everlasting peace! But still the work, and still the lifting of the little ones.

(RI 39) Before proceeding to study the final phrases of Rule [Page 39] One, I would call your attention to the fact that the initiate has faced two major tests, symbolically described as "the burning ground" and the "clear cold light." Only after he has successfully passed these can he—or the group, when considering group initiation—move forward and outward into the wider reaches of the divine consciousness. These tests are applied when the soul grips the personality and the fire of divine love destroys the loves and desires of the integrated personality. Two factors tend to bring this about: the slow moving forward of the innate conscience into greater control, and the steady development of the "fiery aspiration" to which Patanjali* makes reference. These two factors, when brought into living activity, bring the disciple into the centre of the burning ground which separates the Angel of the Presence from the Dweller on the Threshold. The burning ground is found upon the threshold of every new advance, until the third initiation has been taken.

What does the clear cold light reveal?

A. The omnipresence of God throughout nature, and therefore throughout the entire personality life of the initiate or of the initiate group. The scales fall from the eyes, bringing about—paradoxically—the "dark night of the soul" and the sense of being alone and bereft of all help. This led (in the case of the Christ, for instance) to that appalling moment in the Garden of Gethsemane, and which was consummated on the Cross, when the will of personality-soul clashed with the divine will of the Monad. The revelation to the initiate of the ages of severance from the Central Reality, and of all its attendant implications, descends upon the one who is attempting to stand "in isolated Unity," as Patanjali (to quote him a second time) calls the experience.**

The omnipresence of divinity within all forms pours in upon the consciousness of the initiate, and the mystery of time, space and electricity stands revealed. The major effect of this revelation (prior to the third initiation) is to bring to the disciple a realisation of the "great heresy of separateness," as it focusses in him, the separated fully conscious individual—aware of his past, conscious now of his ray and its conditioning power, focussed in his own aspiration, and yet part of the great whole of nature. From that moment onward he knows that divinity is all there is, and this he learns through the revelation of the inherent separativeness of the form life, through the processes of "the dark night of the soul" and its culminating lesson of the significance of isolation and the freeing process which brings about the merging into unity through the emission of the sound, the cry, the invocation, such as the cry of the Christ upon the Cross symbolised. His exact words have not been transmitted to us. They vary for each ray, but all bring about the recognition of divine merging, in which all separating veils are "rent from the top to the bottom" (as The New Testament expresses it).

B. The omniscience of the divine Whole is also brought home to the initiate through the medium of the clear cold light, and the phases of "isolated experience," as it is sometimes occultly called, is forever ended. I would have you realise what this can mean in so far as possible to your present consciousness. Up till the present, the initiate-disciple has been functioning as a duality and as a fusion of soul-energy and personality-force. Now these forms of life stand exposed to him for what they essentially are, and he knows that—as directing agencies and as transitory gods—they no longer have any hold over him. He is being gradually translated into another divine aspect, taking with him all that he has received during the ages of close relation and identification with the third aspect, form, and the second aspect, consciousness. A sense of being bereft, deserted and alone descends upon him as he realises that the control of form and soul must also disappear. Here lies the agony [Page 41] of isolation and the overpowering sense of loneliness. But the truths revealed by the clear cold light of the divine reason leave him no choice. He must relinquish all that holds him away from the Central Reality; he must gain life and "life more abundantly." This constitutes the supreme test in the life cycle of the incarnating Monad; and "when the very heart of this experience enters into the heart of the initiate, then he moves outward through that heart into full life expression." Such is the way that the Old Commentary expresses this. I know no other way in which to bring the idea before you. The experience undergone is not related to form, nor is it connected with consciousness or with even the higher psychic sensitivity. It consists of pure identification with divine purpose. This is made possible because the self-will of the personality and the enlightened will of the soul have both equally been relinquished.

For Applicants: Let the disciple search within the heart's deep cave. If there the fire burns bright, warming his brother yet heating not himself, the hour has come for making application to stand before the door.

For Disciples and Initiates: Within the fire of mind, focussed within the head's clear light, let the group stand. The burning ground has done its work. The clear cold light shines forth and cold it is and yet the heat—evoked by the group love—permits the warmth of energetic moving out. Behind the group there stands the Door. Before them opens out the Way. Together let the band of brothers onward move—out of the fire, into the cold, and toward a newer tension.

For Applicants: Triple the call must be and long it takes to sound it forth. Let the disciple sound the call across the desert, over all the seas and through the fires which separate him from the veiled and hidden door.

For Disciples and Initiates: Dual the moving forward. The Door is left behind. That is a happening of the past. Let the cry of invocation issue forth from the deep centre of the group's clear cold light. Let it evoke response from the bright centre, lying far ahead. When the demand and the response are lost in one great SOUND, move outward from the desert, leave the seas behind and know that God is Fire.

For Applicants: Let the disciple merge himself within the circle of the other selves. Let but one colour blend them and their unity appear. Only when the group is known and sensed can energy be wisely emanated.

For Disciples and Initiates: Let the group know there are no other selves. Let the group know there is no colour, only light; and then let darkness take the place of light, hiding all difference, blotting out all form. Then—at the place of tension, and at that darkest point—let the group see a point of clear cold fire, and in the fire (right at its very heart) let the One Initiator appear Whose star shone forth when the Door first was passed.

(RI 27) Within the fire of mind, focussed within the head's clear light, let the group stand. The burning ground has done its work. The clear cold light shines forth and cold it is and yet the heat—evoked by the group love—permits the warmth of energetic moving out. Behind the group there stands the Door. Before them opens out the Way. Together let the band of brothers onward move—out of the fire, into the cold, and toward a newer tension.

It will be profitable if we take this Rule I sentence by sentence and try to wrest from each its group significance.

1. Within the fire of the mind, focussed within the head's clear light, let the group stand.

(Mercury as reveiler of the Triad)

In this sentence, you have the idea of intellectual perception and of focussed unity. Intellectual perception is not mental understanding, but is in reality the clear cold reason, the buddhic principle in action and the focussed attitude of the Spiritual Triad in relation to the personality. I would call your attention to the following analogies:

Head Monad Atma Purpose

Heart Soul Buddhi Pure reason

Base of spine Personality Manas Spiritual activity

In these words you have, therefore, the position of the personality indicated as it stands at the penetrating point of the antahkarana as it contacts the manas or lower mind and is thus the agent of the purpose of the Monad, working through the Spiritual Triad which is—as you know—related to the personality by the antahkarana.

The heart as an aspect of pure reason requires careful consideration. It is usually considered the organ of pure love [Page 28] but—from the angle of the esoteric sciences—love and reason are synonymous terms, and I would have you reflect upon why this should be. Love is essentially a word for the underlying motive of creation. Motive, however, presupposes purpose leading to action, and hence in the group-life task of the incarnating Monad there comes a time when motive (heart and soul) becomes spiritually obsolete because purpose has reached a point of fulfillment and the activity set in motion is such that purpose cannot be arrested or stopped. The disciple cannot then be deterred, and no hindrance or difficulty is hard enough to prevent his moving forward. Then we have eventual destruction of what Theosophists call the causal body and the establishing of a direct relation between the Monad and its tangible expression upon the physical plane. The head centre and the centre at the base of the spine will be in direct unimpeded relation; monadic will and personality will likewise will be in a similar unimpeded relation, via the antahkarana. I would have you remember that the will aspect is the final dominating principle.

(RI 20) What, therefore, is the group will in any ashram or Master's group? Is it present in any form vital enough to condition the group relations and to unite its members into a band of brothers—moving forward into the light? Is the spiritual will of the individual personalities of such strength that it negates the personality relation and leads to spiritual recognition, spiritual interplay and spiritual relation? It is only in consideration of these fundamental effects of standing as a group in "the head's clear light" that it is permissible for disciples to bring into the picture personal sensitivities and thought, and this only because of a group temporary limitation.

(RI 32) 3. The clear cold light shines forth and cold it is and yet the heat—evoked by the group love—permits the warmth of energetic moving out.

In these words you have the key to group initiation. The light of the higher initiations can stream in when it is evoked by the group love. That light is clear and cold, but produces the needed "heat," which is a symbolic word used in many of the world Scriptures to express living, spiritual energy. I said "spiritual energy" and not soul force, and herein lies a distinction which you will some day have to grasp.

This group love is based upon the egoic aspect of the will to which we give the name "sacrificial love." This does not connote happy relationships between individual members of the group. It might, presumably, lead to unhappy outer, superficial interplay, but basically it leads to an unalterably staunch loyalty, underlying the surface of the outer life. The Master's influence, as He seeks to aid His disciple, always produces transitory turmoil—transitory from the angle of the soul, but frequently appalling from the angle of the personality. Similarly, the projection of the life and influence of any senior disciple into the periphery or aura of the aspirant or lesser disciple is—in its degree—likewise disturbing and upsetting; this is a point which should be carefully borne in mind, both as regards the disciple's own reactions and training, and as regards any effect which he may call forth in the life of a probationary disciple or lesser disciple in his own sphere of influence. These intrusive influences and their consequent effects which are produced upon an individual or a group by a Master or a senior disciple are usually interpreted in personality terms, and are very little understood. They are nevertheless aspects of the higher will in some higher disciple and are beating upon the personality will and evoking the sacrificial will of the Ego, and hence lead to a period of temporary discomfort. This the aspirant and the inexperienced disciple resent and blame the evoking sources for their discomfort, instead of learning the needed lesson of receiving and handling force.

(EOH 388) Let me extend this concept a little further by pointing out that the invocative cry of humanity and of the Hierarchy, jointly sounded at the time of the Full Moons of May and June and particularly at the Wesak Festival, will be effective if the "cold light" of the aspirants and disciples of the world and of all selfless servers, no matter who or where they may be found, is united with the "clear light" of the initiates and of those who can function freely as souls—the Members of the Hierarchy and, to a lesser degree, all accepted disciples. This combination is the one that is desired and required. These people are relatively few in number, when compared with the world's population, but because they are to be found focussed at "the deep centre" and are distinguished by the quality of fusion and at-one-ment, they can be enormously potent. I would, therefore, ask all of you (during the weeks prior to the Full Moon of May and that of June and for five days thereafter) to seek to "dwell ever at the centre," to endeavour to blend the cold light of your personalities with the clear light of your soul, so as to work effectively for the five weeks of the desired period.

(EH 405) Therefore the use of the term "immortality" infers timelessness and teaches that this timelessness exists for that which is not perishable or conditioned by time. This is a statement requiring careful consideration. Man reincarnates under no time urge. He incarnates under the demands of karmic liability, under the pull of that which he, as a soul, has initiated, and because of a sensed need to fulfill instituted obligations; he incarnates also from a sense of responsibility and to meet requirements which an earlier breaking of the laws governing right human relations have [Page 405] imposed upon him. When these requirements, soul necessities, experiences and responsibilities have all been met, he enters permanently "into the clear cold light of love and life" and no longer needs (as far as he himself is concerned the nursery stage of soul experience on earth. He is free from karmic impositions in the three worlds, but is still under the impulse of karmic necessity which exacts from him the last possible ounces of service that he is in a position to render to those still under the Law of Karmic Liability. You have, therefore, three aspects of the Law of Karma, as it affects the principle of rebirth:

1. The Law of Karmic Liability, governing life in the three worlds of human evolution, and which is ended altogether at the fourth initiation.

2. The Law of Karmic Necessity. This governs the life of the advanced disciple and the initiate from the time of the second initiation until a certain initiation higher than the fourth; these initiations enable him to pass on to the Way of the Higher Evolution.

3. The Law of Karmic Transformation, a mysterious phrase governing the processes undergone upon the Higher Way. These fit the initiate to pass off the cosmic physical plane altogether, and to function upon the cosmic mental plane. It is concerned with the release of those like Sanat Kumara, and His Associates in the Council Chamber at Shamballa, from the imposition of cosmic desire which demonstrates upon our cosmic physical plane as spiritual will. This should be to you an arresting thought. It will be obvious, however, that there is little that I can say upon this subject. The knowledge involved is not yet mine.

(BTC 126) But the doubt in the world today will be solved only when men bring to bear upon the problems of humanity, of God and of the soul, not only the clear cool light of the intellect, illumined by the intuition, but also the potency of past experience.

(BTC 243) The Tibetans speak of the process of death as that of "entering into the clear cold light."7 It is possible that death can be best regarded as the experience which frees us from the illusion of form; and this brings clearly to our minds the realisation that when we speak of death we are referring to a process which concerns the material nature, the body, with its psychical faculties and its mental processes.

(GAWP 262) That breathing exercises may eventually find a place in the training of the disciple is true and possible, but they will be self-initiated as a result of rhythmic living and a constant right use of the Sacred Word, the OM. When, for instance, a disciple in meditation sounds the OM seven times, it is the equivalent of a breathing exercise; when he can send the energy thus generated on the wings of conscious planned thought to one or other of the centres, he is bringing about changes and readjustments within the mechanism which handles force, and when this can be carried out with ease and with the mind held at a point of "thought-full tension," then the disciple is well on the way to shifting his entire focus of attention away from the world of illusion, glamour and maya and into the realm of the soul, in the world of the "clear cold light" and into the kingdom of God.

(EA 422) Once man is impersonal and free from the reactions of the lower self, and his consciousness is illumined by the clear light of the intuition, then his "window of vision" becomes clarified and his sight into reality is unimpeded. Obstructions (always erected by humanity itself) are removed and he sees all life and form in their true relation and can comprehend, and even occultly "see," the "passage of the energies."

(EH 365) It is physical plane life that is the purgatory, and life experience that is the school of drastic discipline. Let us not fear death, or that which lies beyond it. The wise disciple labours in the field of service but looks forward steadily to the dawn of the "clear, cold light" into which he will some day enter, and so close the chapter for a while upon the fever and the friction and the pain of earth existence. But there are other phases of life experience wherein the sense of futility and frustration meets the server in the world today.

(DINAI 524) Forgive me for my plain speaking, my brother, but I seek to see you free before the time of passing over into the "clear cold light" comes to you. I know whereof you are capable.

(DINAII 7) It is only in consideration of these fundamental [Page 7] effects of standing as a group in the "head's clear light" that it is permissible for a disciple to bring into the picture personal sensitivities of thought, and this only because of a group temporary limitation.

(DINAII 28) Of the original twenty-four members of the new (reorganised) seed group only eighteen now remain working on the physical plane. Two of them have passed into what we in Tibet

call "the clear cold light"; they have gone over to the other side of the veil but are still actively cooperating with the group, and receiving the same instructions from me. I can, however, approach them more directly, as the limitations imposed by the physical brain no longer exist. P.D.W., though the latest to pass over, was held by the handicap of the astral body for an exceedingly brief time; he is now focussed and working in connection with my Ashram, upon the mental plane. C.D.P. is now in process of freeing herself from astral limitations, and by the time the sun moves northward she too will be working entirely mentally. They are both of them of real service to me at this time of world need, one owing to her understanding heart and utter selflessness, the other because of his outstanding wisdom.

(DINAII 166) A new type of mystic is coming to be recognised; he differs from the mystics of the past (except in a few outstanding instances) by his practical interest in current world affairs and not in religious and church matters only; he is distinguished by his lack of interest in his own personal development, by his ability to see God immanent in all faiths and not just in his own particular brand of religious belief, and also by his capacity to live his life in the light of the divine Presence. All mystics have been able to do this to a greater or less degree, but he differs from those in the past in that he is able clearly to indicate to others the techniques of the Path; he combines both head and heart, intelligence and feeling, plus an intuitive perception, hitherto lacking. The clear cold light of the Spiritual Triad now illumines the way of the modern mystic, and not simply the light of the soul, and this will be increasingly the case.

(DINAII 258) The revelation which is accorded at initiation is given to the soul, recorded by the "mind held steady in the light" and then later—with greater or less rapidity—transferred to the brain. You can see, therefore, the true intention of the system of Raja Yoga as it trains the mind to be receptive eventually to the Spiritual Triad. You can also see why for centuries the emphasis of the Teachers of the Ageless Wisdom has been upon the necessity for discrimination, particularly where the probationary disciple is concerned.