Initiation, Human and Solar

Foreword THE LORD BUDDHA HAS SAID that we must not believe in a thing said merely because it is said; nor traditions because they have been handed down from antiquity; nor rumors, as such; nor writings by sages, because sages wrote them: nor fancies that we may suspect to have been inspired in us by a Deva (that is, in presumed spiritual inspiration); nor from inferences drawn from some haphazard assumption we may have made; nor because of what seems an analogical necessity; nor on the mere authority of our teachers or masters. But we are to believe when the writing, doctrine, or saying is corroborated by our own reason and consciousness.

Chart IMAGE_CH2-PG1-1 Chart THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN

I. The Monad, or pure Spirit, the Father in Heaven. This aspect reflects the three aspects of the Godhead: 1. Will or Power The Father. 2. Love-wisdom The Son. 3. Active Intelligence The Holy Spirit.

and is only contacted at the final initiations, when man is nearing the end of his journey and is perfected. The Monad reflects itself again in II. The Ego, Higher Self, or Individuality. This aspect is potentially 1. Spiritual Will Atma. 2. Intuition Buddhi, Love-wisdom, the Christ principle. 3. Higher or abstract Mind Higher Manas.

The Ego reflects itself in III. The Personality, or lower self, physical plane man.

This aspect is also threefold: 1. A mental body lower manas. 2. An emotional body astral body. 3. A physical body the dense physical and the etheric body.

“our solar system is builded out of matter already existing, out of matter already gifted with certain properties …” (page 48). This matter, therefore, we deduce, held latent certain faculties that were forced to demonstrate in a peculiar way, under the law of Cause and Effect, as does all else in the universe.

(b) All manifestation is of a septenary nature, and the Central Light which we call Deity, the one Ray of Divinity, manifests first as a Triplicity, and then as a Septenary. The One God shines forth as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and these three are again reflected through the Seven Spirits before the Throne, or the seven Planetary Logoi. The students of occultism of non-Christian origin may call these Beings the One Ray, demonstrating through the three major Rays and the four minor, making a divine Septenary. The Synthetic Ray which blends them all is the great Love-Wisdom Ray, for verily and indeed “God is Love.” This Ray is the indigo Ray, and is the blending Ray. It is the one which will, at the end of the greater cycle, absorb the others in the achievement of synthetic perfection.

(c) The seven planes of Divine Manifestation, or the seven major planes of our system, are but the seven subplanes of the lowest cosmic plane. The seven Rays of which we hear so much, and which hold so much of interest and of mystery, are likewise but the seven sub-rays of one cosmic Ray. The twelve creative Hierarchies are themselves but subsidiary branches of one cosmic Hierarchy. They form but one chord in the cosmic symphony. When that sevenfold cosmic chord, of which we form so humble a part, reverberates in synthetic perfection, then, and only then, will come comprehension of the words in the Book of Job: “The morning stars sang together.”

We can do no more than sense a fraction of some wonderful whole, utterly beyond the reach of our consciousness,—a whole that the highest Angel or Perfected Being is but beginning to realise. When we recognise the fact that the average man is as yet fully conscious only on the physical plane, nearly conscious on the emotional plane, and only developing the consciousness of the mental plane, it is obvious that his comprehension of cosmic data can be but rudimentary.

When we recognise the further fact, that to he conscious on a plane and to have control on that plane are two very different

conditions, it becomes apparent how remote is the possibility of our approximating more than the general trend of the cosmic scheme.

We must recognise also that danger lies in dogma and in the hide-bound facts of textbooks, and that safety lies in flexibility, and in a shifting angle of vision.

Master. To Him it may be but part of a greater fact, only a fraction of the whole. Since His vision is fourth and fifth dimensional, His realisation of the place of time in eternity must be more accurate than ours. He sees things from above downwards, and as one to whom time is not.

To human vision this interweaving of the system forms an unimaginable complexity, the key to which seems not to be forthcoming. Seen from the angle of a Master we know that all proceeds in ordered sequence. Seen from the angle of divine vision the whole will move in harmonious unison, producing a form geometrically accurate.

Much must remain esoteric and veiled. The risks of too much knowledge are far greater than the menace of too little. With knowledge comes responsibility and power,—two things for which the race is not yet ready.

It is the one thread by which we can find our way through the labyrinth, and the one ray of light that shines through the darkness of the surrounding ignorance. H. P. Blavatsky, in “The Secret Doctrine,” has told us so, but as yet very little has been done by students to avail themselves of that clue.

Thinker. It is the progressing from consciousness polarised in the personality, lower self, or body, to that polarised in the higher self, ego, or soul, thence to a polarisation in the Monad, or Spirit, till the consciousness eventually is Divine.

One thing before all else is apparent to the most superficial student, and that is, that the magnitude of the subject is such that in order to deal with it adequately one should be able to write from the viewpoint of an initiate; when this is not the case, anything that is said may be reasonable, logical, interesting, or suggestive, but not conclusive.

Wisdom is the science of the spirit, just as knowledge is the science of matter. Knowledge is separative and objective, whilst wisdom is synthetic and subjective. Knowledge divides; wisdom unites. Knowledge differentiates whilst wisdom blends. What, then, is meant by the understanding?

Each initiation marks the passing of the pupil in the Hall of Wisdom into a higher class, marks the clearer shining forth of the inner fire and the transition from one point of polarisation to another, entails the realisation of an increasing unity with all that lives and the essential oneness of the self with all selves. It results in a horizon that continuously enlarges until it includes the sphere of creation; it is a growing capacity to see and hear on all the planes. It is an increased consciousness of God’s plans for the world, and an increased ability to enter into those plans and to further them.

Initiation leads to the mount whence vision can be had, a vision of the eternal Now, wherein past, present, and future exist as one; a vision of the pageant of the races with the golden thread of pedigree carried through the many types; a vision of the golden sphere that holds in unison all the many evolutions of our system, deva, human, animal, vegetable, mineral, and elemental, and through which the 1 pulsating life can be clearly seen beating in regular rhythm; a vision of the Logoic thoughtform on the archetypal plane, a vision that grows from initiation to initiation until it embraces all the solar system.

Initiation leads to the stream that, once entered, sweeps a man onward until it carries him to the feet of the Lord of the World, to the feet of his Father in Heaven, to the feet of the three-fold Logos. Initiation leads to the cave within whose circumscribing walls the pairs of opposites are known, and the secret of good and evil is revealed. It leads to the Cross and to that utter sacrifice which must transpire before perfect liberation is attained, and the initiate stands free of all earth’s fetters, held by naught in the

three worlds. It leads through the Hall of Wisdom, and puts into a man’s hands the key to all information, systemic and cosmic, in graduated sequence.

This descent is brought about by the action of the Initiator, wielding the Rod of Power, and puts a man in touch with the centre in the Body of the Planetary Logos of which he is a part, and this consciously. The two initiations called the sixth and seventh take place on the buddhic and atmic planes; the five-pointed star “blazes forth from within Itself,” as the esoteric phrase has it, and becomes the seven-pointed star; it descends upon the man and he enters within the flame.

Again, the four initiations, prior to that of the adept, mark respectively the attainment of certain proportions of atomic matter in the bodies—for instance, at the first initiation one-fourth atomic matter, at the second one-half atomic matter, at the third three-quarters atomic matter, and so on to the completion. Since buddhi is the unifying principle (or the welder of all), at the fifth initiation the adept lets the lower vehicles go, and stands in his buddhic sheath. He creates thence his body of manifestation.

Each initiation gives more control on the rays, if one may so express it, although this does not adequately convey the idea. Words so often mislead. At the fifth initiation, when the adept stands Master in the three worlds, He controls more or less (according to His line of development) the five rays that are specially manifesting at the time He takes the initiation. At the sixth initiation, if He takes the higher degree, He gains power on another ray, and at the seventh initiation He wields power on all the rays. The sixth initiation marks the point of attainment of the Christ, and brings the synthetic ray of the system under His control.

One great fact to be borne in mind is, that the initiations of the planet or of the solar system are but the preparatory initiations of admission into the greater Lodge on Sirius.

A Master, therefore, is one who has taken the seventh planetary initiation, the fifth solar initiation, and the first Sirian or cosmic initiation. At-one-ment, the result of initiation. A point that we need to grasp is that each successive initiation brings about a more complete unification of the personality and the Ego, and on higher levels still, with the Monad.

At-one-ment on all levels—emotional, intuitional, spiritual and Divine—consists in conscious, continuous functioning. In all cases it is preceded by a burning, through the medium of the inner fire, and by the destruction, through sacrifice, of all that separates. The approach to unity is through destruction of the lower, and of all that forms a barrier. Take, in illustration, the web that separates the etheric body and the emotional. When that web has been burned away by the inner fire the communication between the bodies of the personality becomes continuous and complete, and the three lower vehicles function as one.

In the destruction of the causal body at the time of the fourth initiation (called symbolically “the Crucifixion”) you have a process analogous to the burning of the web that leads to the unification of the bodies of the personality. The disintegration that is a part of the arhat initiation leads to unity between the Ego and the Monad, expressing itself in the Triad. It is the perfect at-one-ment.

The whole process is therefore for the purpose of making man consciously one:— First: With himself, and those in incarnation with him. Second: With his higher Self, and thus with all selves.

Third: With his Spirit, or “Father in Heaven,” and thus with all Monads. Fourth: With the Logos, the Three in One and the One in Three. Man becomes a conscious human being through the instrumentality of the Lords of the Flame, through Their enduring sacrifice.

3. The Work Of The Hierarchy Though the subject of the occult Hierarchy of the planet is of such a profoundly momentous interest to the average man, yet its real significance will never be understood until men realise three things in connection with it. First, that the entire Hierarchy of spiritual beings represents a synthesis of forces or of energies, which forces or energies are consciously manipulated for the furtherance of planetary evolution. This will become more apparent as we proceed. Secondly, that these forces, demonstrating in our planetary scheme through those great Personalities Who compose the Hierarchy, link it and all that it contains with the greater Hierarchy which we call Solar. Our Hierarchy is a miniature replica of the greater synthesis of those selfconscious Entities who manipulate, control, and demonstrate through the sun and the seven sacred planets, as well as the other planets, greater and smaller, of which our solar system is composed. Thirdly, that this Hierarchy of forces has four pre-eminent lines of work:

In the vegetable kingdom, to this faculty of discrimination is added that of response to sensation, and the rudimentary condition of the second aspect of divinity is to be seen, just as in the mineral kingdom a similar rudimentary reflection of the third aspect of activity is making itself felt.

In the fifth kingdom, the consciousness to be developed is that of the group, and this shows itself in the full flowering of the love-wisdom faculty. Man but repeats on a higher turn of the spiral, the work of the three lower kingdoms, for in the human kingdom he shows forth the third aspect of active intelligence.

He enters into a still higher consciousness than that of the group, and becomes God-conscious. The great will or purpose of the Logos becomes his.

Each planetary scheme, ours amongst the others, is a centre in the body Logoic, and is expressing some form of energy or force. Each centre expresses its particular type of force, demonstrated in a triple manner, producing thus universally the three aspects in manifestation.

This cannot be as yet, for this knowledge is of a dangerous kind, and at present the race as a whole is not group conscious, and therefore cannot be trusted to work, think, plan, and act for the group. Man is as yet too selfish, but there is no cause for discouragement in this fact; group consciousness is already somewhat more than a vision, whilst brotherhood, and the recognition of its obligations, is beginning to permeate the consciousness of men everywhere.

The fourth thing that men need to know and to realise as a basic fact is that this Hierarchy is composed of those Who have triumphed over matter, and Who have achieved the goal by the very self-same steps that individuals tread today. These spiritual personalities, these adepts and Masters, have wrestled and fought for victory and mastery upon the physical plane, and struggled with the miasmas, the fogs, the dangers, the troubles, the sorrows and pains of everyday living. They have trodden every step of the path of suffering, have undergone every experience, have surmounted every difficulty, and have won out. These Elder Brothers of…

Their apprehension of the freedom that comes through the sacrifice of the form by the medium of the purificatory fires, suffices to give Them a firm hand, an ability to persist even when the form may seem to have undergone a sufficiency of suffering, and a love that triumphs over all setbacks, for it is founded on patience and experience. These Elder Brothers of humanity are characterised by a love which endures, and which acts ever for the good of the group; by a knowledge which has been gained through a millennia of lives, in which They have worked Their way from the bottom of life and of evolution well nigh to the top; by an experience which is based on time itself and a multiplicity of personality reactions and interactions; by a courage which is the result of…

This final fact is the basis of that aphorism which states that all true occultists are distinguished by the characteristics of knowledge, dynamic will, courage, and silence. “To know, to will, to dare, and to be silent.” Knowing the plan so well, and having clear, illuminated vision, They can bend Their will unflinchingly and unswervingly to the great work of creation by the power of sound. This leads…

The Sun of Righteousness will then arise with healing in His wings, and the peace which passeth understanding…

If by our search we find that all these statements are but visionary dreams, and profit not at all, leading us only into darkness, time will nevertheless not have been lost, for we shall have ascertained where not to look. If by our search, on the other hand, corroboration comes little by little, and the light shines ever more clearly, let us persist until that day dawns when the light which shineth in darkness will have illuminated the heart and brain, and the seeker will awaken to the realisation

4. The Founding Of The Hierarchy Its appearance on the planet.

It is not sought, in this book, to deal with the steps which led to the founding of the Hierarchy on the planet,

This can be studied in other occult books in the occident, and in the sacred Scriptures of the East. Suffice it for our purpose to say that in the middle of the Lemurian epoch, approximately eighteen million years ago, occurred a great event which signified, among other things, the following developments:—The Planetary Logos of our earth scheme, one of the Seven Spirits before the throne, took physical incarnation, and, under the form of Sanat Kumara, the Ancient of Days, and the Lord of the World, came down to this dense physical planet and has remained with us ever since. Owing to the extreme purity of His nature, and the fact that He is (from the human standpoint) relatively sinless, and hence incapable of response to aught on the dense physical plane, He was unable to take a dense physical body such as ours, and has to function in His etheric body.

In Him we live and move and have our being, and none of us can pass beyond the radius of His aura. He is the Great Sacrifice, Who left the glory of the high places and for the sake of the evolving sons of men took upon Himself a physical form and was made in the likeness of man.

In both cases the intermediate state of consciousness has been superseded, that of the Ego or higher self, and that which we see and know is the direct self-created manifestation of pure spirit itself.

Their places have gradually been filled by the sons of men as they qualify, though this includes very few, until lately, from our immediate earth humanity.

Hence in illustration it might he said that the coming into incarnation of Sanat Kumara was analogous to the firm grip of self-conscious control that the Ego of a human being takes upon his vehicles when the necessary stage in evolution has been achieved.

The decision of the Planetary Logos to take a physical vehicle produced an extraordinary stimulation in the evolutionary process, and by His incarnation, and the methods of force distribution He employed, He brought about in a brief cycle of time what would otherwise have been inconceivably slow. The germ of mind in animal man was stimulated. The fourfold lower man, The physical body in its dual capacity, etheric and dense, Vitality, life force, or prana, The astral or emotional body, The incipient germ of mind.

was co-ordinated and stimulated, and became a fit receptacle for the coming in of the self-conscious entities, those spiritual triads (the reflection of spiritual will, intuition, or wisdom, and higher mind) who had for long ages been waiting for just such a fitting.

The central home of this Hierarchy is at Shamballa, a centre in the Gobi desert, called in the ancient books the “White Island.” It exists in etheric matter, and when the race of men on earth have developed etheric vision its location will be recognised and its reality admitted.

but the location of Shamballa will be one of the latest etheric sacred spots to be revealed as it exists in the matter of the second ether.

For ages after its immediate founding, the work was slow and discouraging.

Certain of its members were called away to higher work elsewhere in the solar system, and this brought in, through necessity, a number of highly evolved units of the human family. In order to enable others to take Their place, the lesser members of the Hierarchy were all moved up a step, leaving vacancies among the minor posts.

2. To open another door, and permit members of the human family who were willing to undergo the necessary discipline and to make the required stupendous effort, to enter the fifth or spiritual kingdom.

3. It was also decided to make the line of demarcation between the two forces of matter and spirit clearly defined; the inherent duality of all manifestation was emphasised, with the aim in view of teaching men how to liberate themselves from the limitations of the fourth, or human kingdom, and thus pass on into the fifth, or spiritual. The problem of good or evil, light or darkness, right or wrong, was enunciated solely for the benefit of humanity, and to enable men to cast off the fetters which imprisoned spirit, and thus achieve spiritual freedom.

Man has to learn through experience and pain the fact of the duality of all existence. Having thus learnt, he chooses that which concerns the fully conscious spirit aspect of divinity, and learns to centre himself in that aspect.

On every side in that World War two groups were to be found, those who fought for an ideal as they saw it, for the highest that they knew, and those who fought for material and selfish advantage. In the struggle of these influential idealists or materialists many were swept in who fought blindly and ignorantly, being thus overwhelmed with racial karma and disaster.

Many of them have passed through the human stage long ages ago, and work now in the ranks of the great evolution parallel to the human, and which is called the deva evolution.

The devas who co-operate with the Hierarchical effort, concern themselves, therefore, with the form aspect, whilst the other members of the Hierarchy are occupied with the development of consciousness within the form.

05. The Three Departments Of The Hierarchy

By the energy which flowed through Them, and by Their profound wisdom and experience, They stimulated earth’s evolutions and brought the purposes of the Planetary Logos so much the nearer to completion.

Through the power of their will, the strength of their meditations, the wisdom of their plans, and the scientific knowledge of energy which is theirs, they direct those force currents, and control those form-building agencies which produce all that is seen and unseen, movable and immovable in the sphere of creation within the three worlds. This, coupled to their vast experience, is what fits them to be the agents for the distribution of the energy of the Planetary Logos.

These four are connected with:— The distribution of karma, or human destiny, as it affects individuals, and through the individuals, the groups. The care and tabulation of the akashic records. They are concerned with the Halls of Records, or with the “keeping of the book,” as it is called in the Christian Bible; They are known in the Christian world as the recording angels. The participation in solar councils. They alone have the right during the world cycle to pass beyond the periphery of the planetary scheme, and participate in the councils of the Solar Logos. Thus They are literally planetary mediators, representing our Planetary Logos and all that concerns Him in the greater scheme of which He is but a part.

With all these groups we have little concern, for they are contacted only by initiates of the third initiation, and by those of even more exalted rank.

being presided over by one of Those Whom we call the three Great Lords.

The plans are prepared for ages ahead, centres of energy are formed thousands of years before they will be required, and in the wise fore-knowledge of these Divine Men nothing is left to sudden eventuation, but all moves in ordered cycles and under rule and law, though within karmic limitations.

He works by the means of a dynamic meditation, conducted within the head centre, and produces His results through His perfect realisation of that which has to be accomplished, through a power to visualise that which must be done to bring about accomplishment, and through a capacity to transmit creative and destructive energy to those who are His assistants. And all this is brought about through the power of the enunciated sound.

He can be found by those who know the way, dwelling in the Himalayas, and working in close co-operation with His two great Brothers, the Manu and the Mahachohan. Daily He pours out His blessing on the world, and daily He stands under the great pine in His garden at the sunset hour with hands uplifted in blessing over all those who truly and earnestly seek to aspire. To Him all seekers are known, and, though they may remain unaware of Him, the light which He pours forth stimulates their desire, fosters the spark of struggling life and spurs on the aspirant until the momentous day dawns when they stand face to face with the One Who by being “lifted up” (occultly understood) is drawing all men unto Himself as the Initiator of the sacred mysteries.

His work concerns itself with the fostering and strengthening of that relation between spirit and matter, life and form, the self and the not-self, which results in what we call civilisation. He manipulates the forces of nature, and is largely the emanating source of electrical energy as we know it.

06. The Lodge Of Masters

Throughout the world, disciples of these Masters have come into incarnation at this time with the sole intent of participating in the activities and occupations and truth dissemination of the various churches, sciences, and philosophies, and thus producing within the organisation itself an expansion, a widening, and a disintegration where necessary, which might otherwise be impossible.

It is the work of the disciple to ascertain the best method for bringing about the desired results, and to formulate the plans whereby a certain percentage of success will be possible. Then he launches his scheme, founds his society or organisation, and disseminates the necessary teaching.

for handing on the work to those best fitted, and for clothing the teaching in a presentable garb.

To Him is given the work very largely of stimulating the love manifestation which is latent in the hearts of all men, and of awakening in the consciousness of the race the perception of the great fundamental fact of brotherhood.

reached a point where molecules of the seventh sub-plane of the buddhic plane can be discerned in the aura of the Ego. When this is so They can go ahead with confidence in the work of instruction, knowing that certain imparted facts will be understood.

(b) Instruction is being given at this time to a special group of people who have come into incarnation at this critical period of the world’s history. They have come in, all at the same time, throughout the world, to do the work of linking up the two planes, the physical and astral, via the etheric.

We are all graded, therefore, if it may be so expressed, according to the magnitude of the light, according to the rate of vibration, according to the purity of the tone and the clarity of the colour.

A freedom from care. Here bear in mind that care is based on the personal, and is the result of lack of dispassion and a too ready response to the vibrations of the lower worlds.

He has also to study the Kama-manasic body (desire-mind body). This is of very real interest, for it is, in many ways, the most important body in the solar system, where the human being in the three worlds is concerned. In the next system the mental vehicle of the self-conscious units will hold an analogous place, as the physical did in the previous solar system.

One of the greatest instruments for practical development lying in the hands of small and great, is the instrument of SPEECH. He who guards his words, and who only speaks with altruistic purpose, in order to carry the energy of Love through the medium of the tongue, is one who is mastering rapidly the initial steps to be taken in preparation for initiation. Speech is the most occult manifestation in existence; it is the means of creation and the vehicle for force.

The disciple must learn to be silent in the face of that which is evil. He must learn to be silent before the sufferings of the world, wasting no time in idle plaints and sorrowful demonstration, but lifting up the burden of the world; working, and wasting no energy in talk.

Ones, with a pure love which requires nothing back; with an impersonal love that rejoices where there is response, but looks not for it, and loves steadily, quietly, and deeply through all apparent divergences, knowing that when each has found his own way home, he will find that home to be the place of at-one-ment.

Be prepared for loneliness. It is the law. As a man dissociates himself from all that concerns his physical, astral and mental bodies, and centres himself in the Ego, it produces a temporary separation. This must be endured and passed, leading to a closer link at a later period with all associated with the disciple through the karma of past lives, through group work, and through the activity of the disciple (carried on almost unconsciously at first) in gathering together those through whom later he will work.

Cultivate happiness, knowing that depression, an over-morbid investigation of motive, and undue sensitiveness to the criticism of others leads to a condition wherein a disciple is almost useless. Happiness is based on confidence in the God within, a just appreciation of time, and a forgetfulness of self.

Suffering comes as the lower self rebels. Control that lower self, eliminate desire, and all is joy. Have patience. Endurance is one of the characteristics of the Ego. The Ego persists, knowing itself immortal. The personality becomes discouraged, knowing that time is short.

Have patience. Endurance is one of the characteristics of the Ego. The Ego persists, knowing itself immortal. The personality becomes discouraged, knowing that time is short.

Herein lies much of clarification, and herein may be found that on which the disciple may rest when the vision is clouded, the vibration lower than perhaps it should be, and the judgment fogged by the miasmas arising from circumstances on the physical plane. With many, much arises in the astral body that is based on old vibration and has no foundation in fact, and the battleground is so to control the astral situation

that out of present anxieties and worries may grow confidence and peace, and out of violent action and interaction there may be elaborated tranquility.

because the divine Knower holds the reins of government, and permits no disturbance from the lower self; where bliss itself is reached that is based, not on circumstances in the three worlds, but on that inner realisation of existence apart from the not-self, an existence that persists when time and space and all that is contained therein, are not; that is known when all the illusions of the lower planes are experienced, passed through, transmuted and transcended; that endures when the little world of human endeavour has dissipated and gone, being seen as naught; and that is based on the knowledge that I AM THAT.

As the aspirant progresses he not only balances the pairs of opposites, but is having the secret of his brother’s heart revealed to him. He becomes an acknowledged force in the world and is recognised as one who can be depended upon to serve.

This he does—at this stage—through the pen in literature, through the spoken word in lecturing and teaching, through music, painting and art. He reaches the hearts of men in some way or another, and becomes a helper and server of his race. Two more characteristics of this stage might here be mentioned:—

The aspirant has an appreciation of the occult value of money in service. He seeks nothing for himself, save that which may equip him for the work to be done, and he looks upon money and that which money can purchase as something which is to be used for others and as a means to bring about the fruition of the Master’s plans as he senses those plans.

Only he who desires naught for himself can be a recipient of financial bounty, and a dispenser of the riches of the universe.

This fact is used by Those Who work on the inner side to bring about certain desired ends. This it is also which often causes the temporary downfall of advanced souls. They cannot stand the force pouring into them, or upon them, and through the temporary over-stimulation of their centres and vehicles they go to pieces.

Each step up is ever through the sacrifice of all that the heart holds dear on one plane or another, and always must this sacrifice be voluntary.

The first two initiations. At the first initiation, the control of the Ego over the physical body must have reached a high degree of attainment. “The sins of the flesh,” as the Christian phraseology has it, must be dominated; gluttony, drink, and licentiousness must no longer hold sway. The physical elemental will no longer find its demand obeyed; the control must be complete and the lure departed. A general attitude of obedience to the Ego must have been achieved, and the willingness to obey must be very strong.

A recognition of the gravity of the error, a wise acceptance of the facts in the case, a refraining from unbrotherly criticism, and a pouring out of love upon the sinning brother:—all this, coupled with such action as will make clear to the onlooking general public that such sins and infringements of the law are not condoned.

He has laid all, even his perfected personality, upon the altar of sacrifice, and stands bereft of all. All is renounced, friends, money, reputation, character, standing in the world, family, and even life itself. The final initiations. After the fourth initiation not much remains to be done. The domination of the sixth sub-plane goes forward with rapidity, and the matter of the higher sub-planes of the buddhic is co-ordinated.

He becomes adept in the significance of colour and sound, can wield the law in the three worlds, and can contact his Monad with more freedom than the majority of the human race can contact their Egos.

Through the Planetary Logos at the final great initiation flows the power of the Solar Logos, and He it is Who reveals to the initiate that the Absolute is consciousness in its fullest expression, though at the stage of human existence the Absolute must be regarded as unconsciousness.

Students must get rid of the idea that if they are “very good and altruistic” suddenly some day they will stand before the Great Lord. They are putting effect before cause. Goodness and altruism grow out of realisation and service,

becomes increasingly sensitive to the joys and pains and sorrows of those he daily contacts; he feels them to be his joys and pains and sorrows, and yet he is not incapacitated thereby.

10. The Universality Of Initiation

The seasons of initiation. The Egos in incarnation on any planet will—according to ray type—be easily stimulated or not as the case may be, according to astrological conditions, and this will produce shorter or more protracted periods of development prior to or between each initiation. The electrical phenomena produced on the higher planes, as more and more the human units esoterically “blaze forth.” It must be remembered that the entire solar system, with all that is included therein, is expressing itself in terms of light, and that the process of initiation might therefore be regarded as one in which the different points of light (or human sparks) are stimulated, their radiance and temperature increased, and the sphere of influence of each light extended in radius.

First and foremost is the energy or force emanating from the sun Sirius. If it might be so expressed, the energy of thought, or mind force, in its totality, reaches the solar system from a distant cosmic centre via Sirius. Sirius acts as the transmitter, or the focalising centre, whence emanate those influences which produce self-consciousness in man. During initiation, by means of the Rod of Initiation (acting as a subsidiary transmitter and as a powerful magnet) this energy is momentarily intensified, and applied to the centres of the initiate with terrific force; were it not that the Hierophant and the two sponsors of the initiate pass it primarily through their bodies, it would be more than he could stand. This increase of mind energy results in an expansion and an apprehension of the truth as it is, and is lasting in its effects. It is felt primarily in the throat centre, the great organ of creation through sound.

Another type of energy reaches man from the Pleiades, passing through the Venusian scheme to us, just as the Sirian energy passes through the Saturnian. It has a definite effect upon the causal body, and serves to stimulate the heart centre.

The consummation of all for this solar system will be when the Logos takes His fifth initiation. When all the sons of men attain the fifth initiation, He achieves. This is a great mystery and incomprehensible to us.

11. The Participants In The Mysteries

The physical centres, such as the pineal gland and the pituitary body, will begin to develop rapidly, and he will become conscious of the awakening of the “siddhis,” or powers of the soul, in the higher connotation of the words. He will be aware of the process of conscious control, and of the self-initiated manipulations of the above powers. He will realise the methods of egoic contact and the right direction of force.

The nervous system, through which the emotional body or astral nature works, will become highly sensitised, yet strong withal. The brain will become ever more rapidly an acute transmitter of the inner impulses.

The initiate finally becomes aware increasingly of the growth of that inner recollection, or “occult memory,” which concerns the work of the Hierarchy and primarily his share in the general plan. When the initiate, who occultly recalls, in his waking consciousness, a ceremonial fact, finds all these manifestations of increased growth and conscious realisation in himself, then the truth of his inner assurance is proven and substantiated to him.

man may be able better to work off certain karma and to carry out certain work for the Lodge if he is free from occult occupation and mystic introspection during the period of any one earth life. There

The Path of Discipleship is a difficult one to tread, and the Path of Initiation harder still; an initiate is but a battle-scarred warrior, the victor in many a hard-won fight; he speaks not of his achievements, for he is too busy with the great work in hand; he makes no reference to himself or to all that he has accomplished, save to deprecate the littleness of what has been done.

He is one who, in spite of all this great achievement, is seldom understood by his own generation. He is frequently the butt of men’s tongues, and frequently all that he does is misinterpreted; he lays his all—time, money, influence, reputation, and all that the world considers worth while—upon the altar of altruistic service, and frequently offers his life as a final gift, only to find that those whom he has served throw his gift back to him, scorn his renunciation, and label him with unsavory names.

he has generated will in due course of time bring to fulfilment the plan; he knows also that his name and effort are noted in the archives of the Lodge, and that the “Silent Watcher” over the affairs of men has taken notice.

This conference took place at Shamballa. This is mentioned to show the close scrutiny given to everything concerning the affairs of men by the various Planetary Existences. It is literally true, in an occult sense, that “not a sparrow falleth” without its fall being noticed.

Owing to the unity of consciousness of those who are free from the three lower planes, what transpires in one department is known in the others.

On the path of inner, or subjective development, the sequence is the same. Hearing—response to the voice of conscience, as it guides, directs, and controls. This covers the period of strictly normal evolution. Touch—response to control or vibration, and the recognition of that which lies outside of the separated human unit on the physical plane. This covers the period of gradual spiritual unfoldment, the Paths of Probation and of Discipleship right up to the door of initiation.

He becomes aware that this radiant Life, Who is identified with himself, is not only intelligence in action but also is love-wisdom in origin. He merges his consciousness with this Life, and becomes one with it so that on the physical plane, through the medium of that personal self, that Life is seen as intelligent love expressing itself.

The great solar Angel, Who embodies the real man and is

his expression on the plane of higher mind, is literally his divine ancestor, the “Watcher” Who, through long cycles of incarnation, has poured Himself out in sacrifice in order that man might BE.

This fiery sphere is linked likewise with many others belonging to the same group and ray, and thus it is a literal fact in demonstration that on the higher planes we are all one. One life pulsates and circulates through all, via the fiery strands. This is part of the revelation which comes to a man who stands in the “Presence” with his eyes occultly opened.

This Lotus is a thing of rare beauty, pulsating with life and radiant with all the colours of the rainbow, and at the first three initiations the three circles are revealed in order, until at the fourth initiation the initiate stands before a still greater revelation, and learns the secret of that which lies within the central bud. In this connection the third initiation differs somewhat from the other two, inasmuch as through the power of a still more exalted Hierophant than the Bodhisattva, the electrical fire of pure Spirit, latent in the heart of the Lotus, is first contacted.

In all these words, “solar angel,” “sphere of fire,” and “lotus,” lies hid some aspect of the central mystery of human life, but it will only he apparent to those who have eves to see.

At the fourth. initiation, the initiate is brought into the Presence of that aspect of Himself which is called “His Father in Heaven.” He is brought face to face with his own Monad, that pure spiritual essence on the highest plane but one, which is to his Ego or higher self, what that Ego is to the personality or lower self.

The immortality of the soul and the reality of the unseen worlds is for him proven and ascertained. Whereas, before initiation, this belief was based on brief and fleeting vision and strong inner convictions (the result of logical reasoning and of a gradually developing intuition) now it is based on sight and on a recognition past all disproving, of his own immortal nature. He realises the meaning and source of energy, and can begin to wield power with scientific accuracy and direction. He knows now whence he draws it, and has had a glimpse of the resources of energy which are available. Before, he knew that that energy existed, and used it blindly and sometimes unwisely; now he sees it under the direction of the “open mind,” and can co-operate intelligently with the forces of nature.

When the adept of the fifth initiation can work in line with the plans of the three Logoi involved, co-operating with Them with ever greater ability, as time elapses, he becomes ready for the sixth Initiation, which admits him to still higher conclaves. He becomes a participant in solar and not merely planetary purposes. At this sixth Initiation the most marvelous vision of the entire series is his. He sees the solar system as a unit, and gets a brief revealing which opens to his amazed understanding the fundamental purpose of the solar Logos; for the first time he sees the plans as a whole in all their ramifications. At the seventh Initiation his vision penetrates beyond the solar ring-pass-not, and he sees that which he has long realised as a basic theoretical fact, that our solar Logos is involved in the plans and purposes of a still greater Existence, and that the solar system is but one of many centres of force through which a cosmic Entity vastly greater than our own solar Logos is expressing Himself.

will tend ever more fully to swing the initiate into the line of self-abnegating service, and which will make of him one who works towards synthesis, towards harmony, and towards a basic unity.

The Rod of Initiation known as the “Flaming Diamond,” is used by Sanat Kumara, the One Initiator.

The initiate will find, when he returns from the ceremony, and takes up his work in the world, that the stimulation received will bring about in his bodies a period of great activity, and also of strife. This strife, persisted in to the point of victory, will result in his taking out of his body undesirable matter, and building in new and better material; he will find that his powers for service are enormously increased, and his nervous energy intensified, so that he can draw upon reserves of force in service hitherto unsuspected. He will find, also, that the response of the physical brain to the voice of the higher Self, and its receptivity to the higher and subtler impressions, is greatly furthered. Eventually, through the work accomplished, he will succeed in eliminating all matter of a subatomic character, and will then build bodies of substance of the highest subplane on each plane; he will become aware that all his energies can be consciously and constructively controlled, that he knows the real meaning of continuity of consciousness, and can function simultaneously on the three planes with full inner realisation.

First, the student should bear in mind the interesting significance of the fact that he, on the physical plane, is a functioning personality, with known and realised characteristics, and yet withal, that he is a subjective Life, who uses that personality as a medium of expression, and who—through the agency of the physical, emotional, and mental bodies which comprise the threefold lower man—makes his contacts with the physical plane and thus develops.

This brings about the opening of the central bud, the revelation of the jewel, the withdrawal of that jewel from the casket which has so long shielded it, and its transference to “the crown,” as it is occultly called, meaning its return to the Monad whence it came.

The fire at the base of the spine is definitely directed to whichever centre is the object of special attention. This varies according to ray, or the specialised work of the initiate.

When the One Initiator applies the Rod of His power, the downflow is from the Monad, and though the throat and heart intensify vibration as a response, the main direction of the force is to the seven head centres, and finally (at liberation) to the radiant head centre above, synthesising the lesser seven head centres. The centres, at initiation, receive a fresh access of vibratory capacity and of power, and this results in the exoteric life as:— 1. A sensitiveness and refinement of the vehicles which may result at first in much suffering to the initiate, but which produce a capacity to respond, that far outweighs the incidental pain.

2. A development of psychic faculty that again may lead to temporary distress, but which eventually causes a recognition of the one self in all selves, which is the goal of endeavour. S. A burning away of the etheric web, through the gradual arousing of kundalini and its correct geometrical progression, and a resultant continuity of consciousness that enables the initiate consciously to utilise time as a factor on the planes of evolution. 4. A gradual grasp of the law of vibration as an aspect of the basic law of building, the law of attraction, is brought about, and the initiate learns consciously to build, to manipulate thought matter for the perfecting of the plans of the Logos, to work in mental essence, and to apply the law on mental levels, and thereby affect the physical plane. Motion originates cosmically on cosmic levels, and in the microcosm the same will be seen. There is an occult hint here that, pondered on, will reveal much.

3. The Hierophant transmits higher manasic energy to the initiate, so that he is enabled consciously to know and recognise the plan for his group centre, through the immensely increased stimulation. This force descends from the manasic permanent atom via the antahkarana, and is directed to whichever centre the Hierophant—under the law—sees should be stimulated.

After each initiation the lotus is more unfolded, and light from the centre begins to blaze forth—a light or fire which ultimately burns through the three enshrining petals, and permits the full inner glory to be seen, and the electric fire of spirit to be manifested.

The Words of Power, or the permutations of the AUM, exist in every possible tone, sub-tone, and quarter-tone, and upon these shades of sound the work of creation and its sustentation is built up. A multiplicity of sounds exists within each greater sound and affects different groups.

2. Three Words committed by the Solar Logos to each of the three Logoi as follows:— The sacred sound A to Shiva, He Who embodies the spirit or will aspect. It is the Word through which God the Father works. The sound U to Vishnu, God the Son. He is the form-builder and provides the body which the spirit must occupy, thereby making divine incarnation possible. A is the life sound, U is the form sound. The sound M to Brahma, Who, in His work of Energy-provider, links in active intelligence, spirit and form, or the self and not-self.

He must likewise develop group activity, and learn to work in a co-ordinated manner with other units.

The point must here be emphasised that the major initiations, or the initiations of manas, are those taken on the mental plane and in the causal body.

The matter is complicated for occult students, owing to certain mysterious factors about which they can naturally know nothing, and which must remain to them, as yet, utterly incomprehensible. These factors are founded in the individuality of the Heavenly Man Himself, and involve such mysteries as His particular karma, the aim He may have in view for any particular cycle, and the turning of the attention of the cosmic ego of a Heavenly Man to His reflection, the evolving Heavenly Man of a solar system.

accustomed himself to pass lesser tests every day of his life; tests then come to be regarded as normal, and are considered, when encountered, as part of the usual fabric of his life. When this attitude of mind is attained and held, there exists no surprise or possible defeat.

All in this system works under the great law of attraction, and therefore, according to our vibration, according to our colour and tone, will depend, in all probability, our choice.

They wield the elemental formative energy, manipulating matter of every density and vibration.

This rule might be summed up in the trite instruction to each disciple that he be strictly vegetarian. The lower nature becomes clogged and heavy, and the inner blaze cannot shine forth when meat is included in the diet. This is a drastic rule for applicants, and may not be violated. Aspirants can choose to eat meat or not as they prefer, but at a certain stage upon the path it is essential that all meat eating of every kind be stopped, and the strictest attention must be paid to diet. A disciple must confine himself to vegetables, grains, fruits and nuts.

It must, of course, here be recognised that no hard or fast rules can ever be laid down, except the initial one that for all applicants for initiation meat, fish, and fermented liquors of all kinds, as well as the use of tobacco, are absolutely forbidden.

In the perfect man upon the physical plane, all the centres are under complete control, and their energy is legitimately used; the spiritual will of the divine inner God is the main factor, and there will be a unity of effort shown on all the planes through all the centres for the greatest good o£ the greatest number. This point has been touched upon because so many students go astray upon these matters, and cultivate either an attitude of mind which results in the complete atrophying of the entire normal physical nature, or indulge in an orgy of license under the specious plea of “stimulating the centres,” and thus furthering astral development. The true initiate should be known by his wise and sanctified normality, by his steady conformity to that which is best for the group as emphasised by the group laws of the land, by his control and his refraining Non, excess of any kind, and by the example he sets to his environing associates of spiritual living and moral rectitude, coupled with the discipline of his life.

On the surface, the expression “the eye which looks out from between the two” seems to signify the third eye, which clairvoyants utilise, but the meaning is very much deeper than that, and lies hidden in the following facts: That the inner vision is that which all self-conscious beings, from a Logos to a man, are in process of developing.

placed twixt the lower and the higher. Upon those arms the hands are nailed,—the hands that grasp and hold, ministering to the lower needs, trained thus through many aeons.

Adi. The First; the primeval; the atomic plane of the solar system; the highest of the seven planes.

Bodhisattva. Literally, he whose consciousness has become intelligence, or buddhi. Those who need but one more incarnation to become perfect buddhas.

Monad. The One. The threefold spirit on its own plane. In occultism it often means the unified triad—Atma, Buddhi, Manas; Spiritual Will, Intuition and Higher mind,—or the immortal part of man which reincarnates in the lower kingdoms and gradually progresses through them to man and thence to the final goal. Nirmanakaya. Those perfected beings who renounce Nirvana (the highest state of spiritual bliss) and choose a life of self-sacrifice, becoming members of that invisible host which ever protects humanity within karmic limits.