D.K. on the English Masters
The Master R.— and one of the English Masters are concerning Themselves with the gradual founding of the fourth branch of the school, with the assistance of the Master Hilarion. -LOM 305
Think not that only the religious devotee or mystic, or the man imbued with what we call higher teaching, is the exponent of the powers attained by meditation. All great capitalists, and the supreme heads of finance, or organised business, are the exponents of similar powers. They are personifications of one-pointed adherence to one line of thought, and their evolution parallels that of the mystic and the occultist. I seek most strongly to emphasise this fact. They are the ones who meditate along the line of the Mahachohan, or the Lord of Civilisation or Culture. Supreme concentrated attention to the matter in hand makes them what they are, and in many respects they attain greater results than many a student of meditation. All they need to do is to transmute the motive underlying their work, and their achievement will then outrun that of other students. They will approach a point of synthesis, and the Probationary Path will then be trodden. -LOM 251
IHS: Little can be given out anent the two English Masters. Neither of them takes pupils in the same sense that the Master K. H. or the Master M. take pupils. One of Them, who resides in Great Britain, has in hand the definite guidance of the Anglo-Saxon race, and He works upon the plans for its future development and evolution. He is behind the Labour movement throughout the world, [Page 60] transmuting and directing, and the present rising tide of democracy has His directing hand upon it. Out of the democratic unrest, out of the present turmoil and chaos, will arise the future world condition which will have for its keynote co-operation and not competition, distribution, and not centralisation.
TWM: ... the Master of the English race,—not the Master who occupies Himself with the Labour Movement or the betterment of social conditions. 79
EOH: We come now to the preparatory work being done by the Master Who started what is called by you "the labour movement." This is regarded by the Hierarchy as one of the most successful attempts in all history to awaken the masses of men (in the brackets called middle class and lower class) to general betterment, and thus set up a momentum which would, occultly speaking, "swing them into light."
Along with the development of the labour movement, mass education came into being, with the result that—from the angle of developed intelligence—the entire level of conscious awareness was universally raised. There is still much illiteracy, but the average citizen in all the western democracies and in the Soviet Union is as well educated as the intellectual man in the Middle Ages. You have, in this activity, an outstanding instance of how the Masters work, for (to the average onlooker) the labour movement arose from within the masses and the working classes; it was a spontaneous development, based upon the thinking and the teaching of a mere handful of men who were regarded primarily as agitators and trouble makers; they were in reality a group of disciples (many of them unconscious of their esoteric status) who were cooperating with the Law of Evolution and also with the hierarchical Plan. They were not particularly advanced disciples, but they were affiliated with some Ashram (according to their ray), and were therefore subject to impression. Had they been advanced disciples or initiates, their work would have been futile, for their presentation of the Plan would not have been adapted to the level of the intelligence of the then totally uneducated masses composing labour.
This Master works primarily with the intelligentsia, and He is therefore a third ray Master—upon the Ray of Active Intelligence. His Ashram is occupied with the problems [Page 665] of industry, and the goal of all the thinking, all the planning and all the work of impressing receptive minds is directed towards spiritualising the concepts of the labour party in every country, and of industrialists, thus turning them towards the goal of right sharing, as a major step towards right human relations. This Master therefore cooperates with the Master R.—Who is the Head of the third ray Ashram, and Who is also one of the Triangle of Forces which controls the greater Ashram of the Hierarchy Itself. The Ashram of this Master (Who has always withheld His name from public knowledge) is a lesser Ashram within the major third ray Ashram, just as my Ashram lies within the ring-pass-not of the Ashram of the Master K.H. This Master is necessarily an Englishman, for the industrial revolution started nearly one hundred years ago in England, and the potency of the work done is related to its mass effect and to the results achieved in every land by labour and its methods. All the great labour organisations, national and international, are loosely knit together subjectively, because in each group this Master has His disciples who are working constantly to hold the movement in line with the divine Plan. It is well to bear in mind that all great movements on earth demonstrate both good and evil; the evil has to be subdued and dissipated, or relegated to its right proportional place, before that which is good and in line with hierarchical planning can find true expression. What is true of the individual is true also of groups. Before the soul can express itself through the medium of the personality, that personality has to be subdued, controlled, purified and dedicated to service. It is this controlling, subduing process which is going on now, and it is vociferously fought by the selfish and ambitious elements.
Nevertheless, the work of this Master is outstandingly successful in preparing the intellectual principle of the masses for eventual right recognition of the Christ. A right sense of values is being developed, and in the right direction of this potent labour group in every land lies the foundation of the new civilisation.
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The Ashram of this Master is therefore occupied with worldwide economic problems, and also with a direct attack upon the basic materialism to be found in the modern world. The problems of barter and exchange, the significance of money, the value of gold (a basic symbol of the third Ray of Active Intelligence), the production of right attitudes towards material living, and the entire process of right distribution are among the many problems dealt with in this Ashram; the work done is enormous and of great importance in preparing men's mind for the return of the Christ and for the New Age which He will inaugurate. Capitalists and labour leaders, financial experts and thinking workers, and members of all the differing ideologies which are prevalent in the world today are to be found actively working within this Ashram. Many of them are what the orthodox religious man or the hide-bound occult student would regard as non-spiritual, yet all of them are in reality deeply spiritual in the correct sense, but they care not for labels, for schools of thought nor for academic, esoteric teaching. They exemplify within themselves a livingness which is the hallmark of discipleship.
The time has come when the first and major principle governing true esotericism must be grasped as conditioning all hierarchical workers: Right Motive.
The time has come when the quality of ashramic work is recognised, first of all, as being: Selfless Service.
The time has come when men everywhere must realise that entry into a Master's Ashram is dependent upon Intelligence, plus right motive and service.
When these three factors are present in any human being, the Masters know that good material is presented to Them for training. Today the world is full of such men and women, and in them lies the dominant hope of the future.
One more point I would like to discuss. Through the work of this Master and His Ashram the "sealing of the door where evil dwells" will come about, because it is essentially this group which (if I dare so express it) is coping [Page 667] with raw materialism and the false values which it engenders. The door has to be sealed by a vast mass of coordinated human forces, and not by one or two enlightened men. This fact must be grasped by you. The energy of love-wisdom, the energy of the second ray, can and will bring in the Kingdom of God; the energy of the divine will can and will galvanise with its dynamic potency the entire human family to the point where a group transition will take place from the fourth into the fifth kingdom. It is nevertheless this third ray energy, as wielded in the Ashram of this English Master, under the direction of the Mahachohan, the Lord of Civilisation, which will force a right attitude toward materialism, which will bring about a balance between the material values and the spiritual, and which will eventually thrust back into futility the Forces of Evil which have for so long distracted the world of men. I am choosing my words with care.
You will note, therefore, how the three divine aspects are united in one great movement to bring in the Kingdom of God, and that the first step towards this longed-for consummation is the appearance of the Masters upon the physical plane, and then, somewhat later, the reappearance of the Christ.
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EOH: The work of the seventh group, which is in the field of science, is closely allied to that of the seventh ray and is one with a most practical physical purpose. It is strictly magical in its technique, and this technique is intended to produce a synthesis between the three aspects of divinity upon the physical plane, or between life, the solar energies and the lunar forces. This involves a difficult task and much understanding; the work to be done is not easy to comprehend. It will be carried forward by first ray workers, assisted by seventh ray aspirants, but using fifth ray methods. They will thus combine, in their personnel, the work of the destroyer of outgrown forms, the findings of the scientists who penetrated behind the outer form to its motivating energy, and the practical work of the magician who—under the law—creates the new forms, as expressions of the inflowing life.
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This group of disciples will make a close study of the problem of evil, and they will bring about a better understanding of the purpose existing in matter or substance, and the inflowing enlightened and different purpose of the soul aspect. That is why (in my earlier discussion of the subject) I linked the results of religion and of science together; religion is concerned with the awakening to conscious purpose of the soul in man or form, whilst science is concerned with the activity of the outer form as it lives its own life, yet slowly becomes subservient to that purpose and to soul impress. This is the thought contained in the words "scientific service" as used by me. The work of this group is therefore a triple one:1. They will take the most advanced inferences of the workers in the field of science, and will then formulate the new hypotheses upon which the next immediate steps forward in any particular scientific field will be founded.
2. They will avail themselves of the sensitive reactions which the new spiritual Approaches (as taught by the world religion of the time) will have made possible and—utilising the inferences thus made available in connection with the inner world of spirit—will outline the nature of the incoming forces which will determine and motivate the culture of the time.
3. Taking the substance or material, and the spiritual inferences and the scientific hypotheses, they will formulate those forms of service on the physical plane which will precipitate with rapidity the Plan for the immediate present. They will release through this blend of scientific knowledge and intuitive idealism, those energies which will further human interests, relate the subhuman to the human through a right interplay of forces, and thus clear the way of those intellectual impediments which will (and always have) blocked man's approach to the superhuman world.I doubt that it will be possible to do much in connection with the forming of this group, and this for several reasons. [Page 58] The first is that such a group cannot be formed until a certain scientific discovery has been made of such moment that our present scientific inhibition in recognising the fact of the soul as a creative factor, will disappear. This discovery will be part of the acknowledged "facts of science" by the year 1975. Secondly, A.A.B. has not the necessary scientific knowledge to do more than grasp the broader outlines of the intended work, and then only primarily from the angle of the more mystical and philosophical approaches. Nor, my brothers, have I. It will take a fifth or seventh ray initiate to deal with this matter, and though I could invoke the assistance of such a brother, it does not seem to me a profitable expenditure of force at this time. The sigh of relief from A.A.B. as she grasps the fact that there is one less group to tackle on my and your behalf would almost warrant my making this a major reason!
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DNA I: The seventh group is that of the Scientific Servers. They will reveal the essential spirituality of all scientific work which is motivated by love of humanity and its welfare, which relates science and religion and brings to light the glory of God through the medium of His tangible world and His works. They have a most interesting function but one which will not become evident for a long time—not until the building forces of the universe are better understood. This will be co-incident with the development of etheric vision. This group will act as a channel of communication or intermediary between the energies which constitute the forces which construct the forms and fabricate the outer garment of Deity and the human spirits. You will note here, consequently, the possibility that this group's main initial work will be concerned with the problem of reincarnation. That problem deals with the taking of an outer garment or form under the Law of Rebirth.
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LOM: ...these different occult schools will be practically ray schools, and will have for their personnel teachers on some one ray or its complementary ray, with pupils on the same ray or complementary ray. For instance, if the school is a second ray school—such as the one in Ireland is purposed to be—teachers and pupils on the second, fourth and sixth rays will be found in it. At least one fifth ray teacher will be found in every school of occultism. If a first ray school, the personnel and pupils will be first, third and seventh ray, with again a fifth ray teacher among the others. 318
1. The Road is trodden in the full light of day, thrown upon the Path by Those Who know and lead. Naught [page 584] can then be hidden, and at each turn upon that Road a man must face himself.
2. Upon the Road the hidden stands revealed. Each sees and knows the villainy of each. And yet there is, with that great revelation, no turning back, no spurning of each other, no shakiness upon the Road. The Road goes forward into day.
3. Upon that Road one wanders not alone. There is no rush, no hurry. And yet there is no time to lose. Each pilgrim, knowing this, presses his footsteps forward, and finds himself surrounded by his fellowmen. Some move ahead; he follows after. Some move behind; he sets the pace. He travels not alone.
4. Three things the Pilgrim must avoid. The wearing of a hood, a veil which hides his face from others; the carrying of a water pot which only holds enough for his own wants; the shouldering of a staff without a crook to hold.
5. Each Pilgrim on the Road must carry with him what he needs: a pot of fire, to warm his fellowmen; a lamp, to cast its rays upon his heart and show his fellowmen the nature of his hidden life; a purse of gold, which he scatters not upon the Road, but shares with others; a sealed vase, wherein he carries all his aspiration to cast before the feet of Him Who waits to greet him at the gate—a sealed vase.
6. The Pilgrim, as he walks upon the Road, must have the open ear, the giving hand, the silent tongue, the chastened heart, the golden voice, the rapid foot, and the open eye which sees the light. He knows he travels not alone. -DNA I
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Exoteric and Esoteric
Schools of Meditation: Some Seed Thoughts
I. Seed thought: prolonged, intense concentration = meditation |
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DN: "Spain has a sixth ray ego and a seventh ray personality — thus reversing the forces which are expressing themselves [Page 62] through the Russian spirit. Spain, too, acts as a link in world adjustment but this time the link is between Europe and Africa, and in this capacity Spain has earlier served. It will be apparent to you also how inevitable has been the relationship between Spain and Russia and how the ideology of the latter country has influenced the national government. It will also be apparent why the battleground of the two great ideologies — the Fascist and the Communistic — has been found inevitably in Spain. The triumph of the Fascist part has been equally inevitable from the start because of the egoic relation existing between Spain and Italy and also to the proximity of the two countries which has enabled the telepathic impress of Fascist idealism to be easily impressed upon the prepared and sensitive Spanish consciousness. As to the fanaticism, the natural cruelty, the fervent idealism, the arrogant pride and the religious and mystical quality of the Spanish character, they are obviously of sixth ray origin and are highly crystallised. The intense individualism of the people can be noted also as a definite part of their seventh ray personality equipment. Their spiritual motto: "I disperse the clouds," is indicative of the magical work for which Spain will eventually be responsible and sooner than is perhaps anticipated, thus balancing in that highly intelligent and individualistic country the field of scientific magic and the magical work of the Church of the future. This is a prophecy which lies at present too far ahead to be capable of verification, either in this generation or the next, but it is rooted in national characteristics and the law of probability."
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D.K. on the Ways of the Mystic and the Occultist
As we train disciples, we seek to develop in the occultist mystical awareness and, in the mystic, practical occult knowledge. Your vision can be on high levels, and that is where you, as a soul, must consciously walk. That vision must, however, be brought down to a lower level of consciousness. DINA I, 556
LOM: It might be of value to us if we first differentiated with care between the two types. I would begin by a statement of fact. The mystic is not necessarily an occultist, but the occultist embraces the mystic. Mysticism is but one step on the path of occultism. In this solar system—the system of love in activity—the path of least resistance for the majority is that of the mystic, or the path of love and devotion. In the next solar system the path of least resistance will be that which we now understand as the occult path. The mystic path will have been trodden. Wherein lies the difference between these two types? The mystic deals with the evolving life; the occultist deals with the form.
The mystic deals with the God within; the occultist with God in outer manifestation.
The mystic works from the centre to the periphery; the occultist reverses the process.
The mystic mounts by aspiration and intensest devotion to the God within or to the Master Whom he recognises; the occultist attains by the recognition of the law in operation and by the wielding of the law which binds matter and conforms it to the needs of the indwelling life. In this manner the occultist arrives at those Intelligences Who work with the law, till he attains the fundamental Intelligence Himself. [Page 148]The mystic works through the Rays of Love, Harmony and Devotion, or by the path of the second, the fourth and the sixth rays. The occultist works through the Rays of Power, Activity, and Ceremonial Law, or the first, the third and the seventh. Both meet and blend through the development of mind, or through the fifth Ray of Concrete Knowledge (a fragment of cosmic intelligence), and on this fifth ray the mystic is resolved into the occultist and works then with all the rays.
By finding the kingdom of God within himself and by the study of the laws of his own being, the mystic becomes proficient in the laws which govern the universe of which he is a part. The occultist recognises the kingdom of God in nature or the system and regards himself as a small part of that greater whole, and therefore governed by the same laws.
The mystic works as a general rule under the department of the World Teacher, or the Christ, and the occultist more frequently under that of the Manu, or Ruler, but when both types have passed through the four minor rays in the department of the Lord of Civilisation, then a completion of their development may be seen, and the mystic becomes the occultist and the occultist includes the characteristics of the mystic. To make it more simple for general comprehension:—after initiation the mystic is merged in the occultist for he has become a student of occult law; he has to work with matter, with its manipulation and uses, and he has to master and control all lower forms of manifestation, and learn the rules whereby the building devas work. Before initiation the mystic path might be expressed by the term, Probationary Path. Before the occultist can manipulate wisely the matter of the solar system he must have mastered the laws that govern the microcosm, and even though he is naturally [Page 149] on the occult path yet he will still have to find the God within his own being before he can safely venture on the path of occult law.
The mystic seeks to work from the emotional to the intuitional, and thence to the Monad, or Spirit. The occultist works from the physical to the mental, and thence to the atma or Spirit. One works along the line of love; the other along the line of will. The mystic fails in the purpose of his being—that of love demonstrated in activity—unless he co-ordinates the whole through the use of intelligent will. Therefore he has to become the occultist.
The occultist similarly fails and becomes only a selfish exponent of power working through intelligence, unless he finds a purpose for that will and knowledge by an animating love which will give to him sufficient motive for all that he attempts.
I have attempted to make clear to you the distinction between these two groups, as the importance of the matter is great when studying meditation. The form used by the two types is entirely different and when seen clairvoyantly is very interesting.
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... the need to turn the mystic into the occultist, and to train the modern aspirant in right motive, mind control and brotherly love, all of which must and will express themselves through harmlessness. TSR I, 359
The mystic is too apt to feel that the occultist over-estimates the way of knowledge and repeats glibly that the mind is the slayer of the real and that the intellect can give him nothing. The occultist is equally apt to despise the mystical way and to regard the mystical method as "lying far behind him". But both must learn to tread the way of wisdom. The mystic must and will inevitably become the occultist and this whether he likes the process or not. He cannot escape it in the long run, but the occultist is not a true one until he recovers the mystical experience and translates it into terms of synthesis. TSR II, 544
TWM: ... a disciple of any of the Masters will have his peculiar equipment, and his individual assets and deficiencies. He can nevertheless [Page 120] rest assured that, until the path of Knowledge has been added to the path of Love, he can never take the major initiations, for these are undergone on the higher levels of the mental plane. Until the path of light is united to the path of life the great transition from the fourth into the fifth kingdom cannot be taken. Certain expansions of consciousness are possible; initiations on the astral and lower mental planes can be taken; some of the vision can be seen, the sense of the Presence can be felt; the Beloved can be reached by love, and the bliss and the joy of this contact can carry with it its abiding joy, but that clear perception which comes from the experience undergone on the Mount of Illumination is a different thing to the joy experienced on the Mount of Blessing. The Heart leads in the one, the Head leads in the other.
To answer categorically: The path of knowledge is that of the occultist and the sage; that of love is that of the mystic and the saint. The head or the heart approach is not dependent upon the ray, for both ways must be known; the mystic must become the occultist; the white occultist has been the saintly mystic. True knowledge is intelligent love, for it is the blending of the intellect and the devotion. Unity is sensed in the heart; its intelligent application to life has to be worked out through knowledge.
It is of prime value to recognize the tendency of the life purpose, and to know whether the head or the heart method is the objective of any specific life. A fine spiritual discrimination is needed here however, lest the glamour of illusion tempt to the path of inertia. Ponder these words with care, and see that the question is based on a true foundation and does not grow out of an inferiority complex, the consideration of a brother's enterprise and a consequent jealous tendency, or upon a placid complacency which negates activity.[Page 121]As a general rule for the average aspirant to discipleship, it may be safely assumed that the past has seen much application of the heart way, and that in this incarnation the mental unfoldment is of prime importance.
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DINA II, 429: The prime objective set before every Master of or in an Ashram is to see the purposes of Sanat Kumara working out successfully through the medium of hierarchical endeavour. Their work lies with the advanced thinkers in the human family who are capable of grasping the Plan and of penetrating to the periphery of hierarchical influence. The Masters seek disciples among the world intelligentsia, but They do not seek for them among those who constitutionally join occult groups and the ranks of the glamoured devotees who seek association with some Master. They seek for them among those who intelligently love their fellowmen and who are free from spiritual ambition and self-seeking. They never look for them among those who love the idea of being the sought and the beloved of the Masters. A man may have no practical knowledge of academic initiatory teaching but—if he loves his fellowmen and is dedicated to their service and can use his mind on their behalf—he is probably nearer to initiation than the devotees of the occult schools.
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2008-01-24