28 Rules Group
Commentary on Rule XIV Part I of V
R&I (285-292)
(All Highlighting, Bolding and
Underlining—MDR)
Please read this Commentary with your
book open or with reference to an electronic copy of the text. This will
facilitate an appreciation of continuity.
RULE
FOURTEEN
In
this final rule for disciples and initiates, a great summation is embodied.
1.
The summation for Rule XIV for Disciples and
Initiates is extremely brief, just as is the summation for the last of the
Rules for Applicants.
2.
The brevity only adds to the profundity-
I would here point out again (as I have so
frequently in the past) that the obvious meaning—no matter how elevated—is not
that with which we shall deal.
3.
This is the ongoing challenge to students
throughout these more advanced Rules.
It is the significance behind the meaning
which is ever the concern of the initiate mind.
4.
DK is writing for the “initiate mind”. These
Rules are to be interpreted in the light of the spiritual triad—the realm of
“significance”. This task naturally demands a functional antahkarana.
Students would do well to remember the
following sequence of words, embodying ideas:
Symbol, Meaning, Significance, Light, regarding light as the
emanating creative energy—the organiser of the symbol, the revealer of the
meaning, the potency of the significance.
5.
Light is the final term in this sequence of four.
It is really an amazing sequence and reminds us of the ancient aphorism that “a
word to the wise is sufficient”.
6.
In this sequence, light is not only the final
term, it is also the central term, like the “point within the triangle”.
7.
Usually one would associate light with the World
of Meaning and we would say that the symbol reveals light (which in one sense
is true).
8.
But here it seems that light is associated the
Shamballa—with what has been called “unfettered enlightenment”.
9.
The following planar associations can be made:
10.
Light is not only accessed by a symbol. Rather,
light becomes an organizing potency. This is a third aspect function. When,
along the antahkarana, the higher light is contacted, it out-pictures itself in
symbol.
11.
Further, let us think of the antahkarana process.
When the creative imagination is brought into play and the bridge is imagined,
it is the light of the intuition which organizes the product of the imagination
so that can truly be in contact with the reflect the intuition. Imagination has
contacted something more than itself and the images produced are mysteriously
altered.
12.
When the light of the soul descends (and even
more so, the higher light), it reveals meaning, or relationship within
context. This is a second aspect function of light—the Light of Love.
13.
When the higher light is contacted (even more the
“Highest Light” through the Monad) it empowers the sense of willed-direction
revealed within the World of Significance. The direction of the Will of God is
revealed and things are shown in relation to that Will and its direction and
not only in relation to the context in which they are embraced. This is a
expression of the highest aspect of light—the “Light of Life”.
14.
We can see that each of the three divine
aspects—light, love and power—contains within itself a threefold expression.
15.
So much, we see, can be contained in a
significant series of terms.
We
have studied the rules and have penetrated deeply into the world of
significances.
16.
We have thus penetrated could we but realize it.
17.
These advanced Rules are meant to be revelatory
of the spiritual triad.
18.
In fact, DK is suggesting that all of the Rules
are to be interpreted from the perspective of significance technically
understood.
Most of you have not, however, passed beyond
the stage of groping in the world of [Page 286] meaning.
19.
That we grope means that we do not yet see.
And in what manner do we no yet see? We do not yet see with the “wisdom
eye”—the ‘eye of synthesis’ which is confirmed in its opening at the third
initiation and which admits consciously into the realm of the spiritual triad.
The reason for this is that you have not yet
taken the third initiation.
20.
True vision of significances would come at this
point.
21.
The revelation of significance leads us onward
according to the Divine Will.
I would ask you also to bear in mind
that the world of symbols is that of the personal life, of the phenomenal world
as that phrase covers the three worlds of human evolution; the world of meaning
is the world in which the soul lives and moves with intention and
understanding; the world of significance is the world of the Spiritual Triad,
which only confers its freedom fully after the third initiation.
22.
Here DK gives the meaning of the first three
terms in a full yet concise manner.
23.
The entire world of the personality is a symbolic
outpicturing of higher patterns of meaning and significance.
24.
The soul lives in a world of appreciated
relationships. This type of consciousness prevails in the World of the Soul.
25.
In the World of Significance (the world of the
“Spiritual Triad”) destined objectives (destined for our planet by our
Planetary Logos are revealed.) The potency of intended directionality is added
to the revelation of meaning.
26.
We might say that in the World of Significance,
the Light of Shamballa lights the way for the higher will of man. The man can
intuit and can think in such a way as to be responsive to monadic will which is
an aspect of the Will of the Planetary Logos. As this Highest Light pours in,
the direction in which the man’s spiritual will should be applied (and it is a
direction significant of the Will which directs our planet) is revealed,
confirmed and strengthened.
27.
The World of Light is not discussed. The power
aspect of light is fully realized on the monadic plane. We know how much the
factor of light is to be associated with the second aspect of divinity. The
monadic plane is the second of the cosmic physical subplanes.
The
words dealt with in this Rule XIV are apparently so simple that they can be
easily understood. I will attempt to
show you that their real meaning is deep and esoteric to what you call the nth
degree.
28.
We are shown that the Tibetan intends to lead us
ever more deeply into the possibility for esoteric realization.
29.
On a number of occasions, when the Tibetan uses
the word “esoteric”, He indicates the Spirit/Monad.
Rule
XIV.
For
Applicants: Listen. Touch.
See. Apply. Know.
For
Disciples and Initiates: Know. Express.
Reveal. Destroy. Resurrect.
30.
These are all words for deep meditation.
31.
One point for meditative focus is the apparent
overlap between series, pivoting on the word “Know”.
32.
The series for Applicants ends with knowledge of
the World of the Soul. The series for the Initiate begins there.
The
following relationships should be noted, for the first is the seed of the
other.
APPLICANTS INITIATES
Listen....Know
Touch....Express
See......Reveal
Apply....Destroy
Know.....Resurrect
33.
We see how the higher terms correlate with the
lower.
34.
We also see the relationship of these lower terms
to the first three senses, though we could not convincingly go so far as to say
that the final two of these terms for applicants correlated with the sense of
taste and smell.
35.
Also, we must remember that the true Ego or soul
is the spiritual triad.
36.
We can eventually interpret even the five words
for applicants in a triadal manner, but this is the not the way in which they
must be interpreted initially.
37.
For instance, in elevating the meanings of the
five terms for applicants, we could proceed as follows:
38.
Through inner hearing we come to know the
soul-as-Triad. This occurs in relation to the buddhic plane, though first we
must hear the “Voice of the Soul”.
39.
Through the refined sense of touch we learn to express
the soul-as-Triad, though first we must touch and be touched by the soul.
40.
Through the extension of the sense of sight we
are able to reveal the soul-as-Triad. A higher type of realization
attuned to the atmic plane is ours, though first we must learn to ‘see’ the
soul in three forms of expression—as Angel, as lotus, as wheel.
41.
We eventually learn to apply the higher
will to destroy the “shroud of the soul” (the causal body). Initially, though,
application involves the intelligent application to the three worlds of that
which is known by the personality or of that which the personality knows of the
soul.
42.
Finally one learns to know the spiritual
triad intimately and also becomes intuitively intimate with the post-triadal
world of the Monad, though at first, and obviously so, one must know the soul
on the higher mental plane.
43.
These are simply a few faltering attempts to
convey that which the higher terms could signify when related to the original
five terms and understood to include the elevated expressions of these lower
five.
44.
DK will undertake the explanation of these terms
according to the hierarchical perspective.
You
will note that the applicant eventually arrives at knowledge and begins to
know;
45.
This knowing is of that which the World of the
Soul (on the higher mental plane) reveals.
46.
The final knowing of the applicant is not a
knowing of the spiritual triad.
the
disciple or the initiate starts with knowing,
47.
DK is obviously not speaking of the probationary
disciple, but of the disciple who is passing through the probationary
initiations. It would seem that such a disciple must have taken at least the
second initiation at which time the building and utilization (with
effectiveness) of the antahkarana is a confirmed part of the program of
spiritual development.
and
through his ability to express esoterically that which he knows is
able to reveal the light,
48.
DK has given us an excellent little summary of
the manner in which the disciples or initiate is to demonstrate the five higher
terms or, really, injunctions or commands.
49.
When DK uses the term “esoteric” or
“esoterically”, so often He is speaking in terms of the spiritual triad or even
the Monad.
and by that light to destroy all illusion,
glamour and maya;
50.
It ´will be the light of the intuition (clearly a
triadal form of light) which brings illusion, glamor and maya to an end.
he brings about resurrection upon the physical
plane—a resurrection from the death which physical plane life inevitably
confers.
51.
This type of resurrection suggests the taking of
the fourth initiation. It is a rising out of physical plane life and a
transcendence of the need to return to it through the usual process of
incarnation—i.e., physical birth.
52.
There is also a higher type of resurrection
associated with the seventh initiation and the logoic plane. Of this type of
resurrection we can know practically nothing and what we ‘know’ will be only
theoretical.
The
five words as given to the applicant are indeed relatively simple.
53.
Though even here the simplicity can be
misleading…
Most aspirants understand their meaning [Page
287] to a certain extent.
54.
Here DK will interpret the five words to
applicants in terms of the soul.
They know that the listening mentioned has
naught to do with the sense of physical hearing, and that the touch to be
developed has reference to sensitivity and not the sensory perception of the
physical vehicle.
55.
The words do not refer to the utilization of the
outer senses in the normal manner. The outer senses can, however, assist in the
process of “spiritual reading” by means of which the world of phenomena can be
interpreted in the light of the soul.
56.
We note that the applicant to initiation must
always be sensitive, which suggests a certain refinement of the astral body.
They know likewise that the sight to be
cultivated is the power to see the beauty underlying form, to recognise the
subjective divinity and to register also the love conveyed through the medium
of symbols.
57.
This is a wonderful sentence. We are definitely
speaking of “spiritual reading”, which suggest the first of the soul siddhis
activate on the higher mental plane, “spiritual discernment”. It is a seeing of
that which is spiritual in all things.
58.
“Spiritual reading” (“spiritual discernment”) is a second ray type of vision, for the second
ray is the “Ray of Beauty in Relationship”, the “Ray of the Divine Pattern”.
59.
Divinity is a term relating to the Spirit, and
students are also to cultivate their sense of inner ‘sight’ in that direction.
60.
How beautiful, as well, to consider that love is
“conveyed through the medium of symbols”. Symbols reveal the beauty of the
Divine Pattern formulated through pure reason, which is another term for
love as expressed through the buddhic plane.
61.
When we look upon the world of symbols (the three
lower worlds), we must realize that this world is a presentation of the love
existing on the “plane of harmony”, the buddhic plane. Symbols reveal the purely
reasonable love (purely reasonable in the occult sense) which underlies the
World of Archetypes—found especially upon the monadic plane but reflected on
the buddhic plane. In these worlds, all things exist together in loving harmony.
62.
So, in this injunction, we are asked to see with
the eyes of the higher consciousness—beginning at first with the consciousness
of the veiled soul upon the higher mental plane, and moving gradually into the
consciousness of the spiritual triad and then, of the, Monad. The aspirant, per
se, is not asked to see with these higher extensions of consciousness, but the
initiate is.
The application of soul energy to the
affairs of daily life and the establishing of those conditions which permit of
soul knowledge are the elementary lessons of the aspirant. With these I need not deal, except in so far
as they give the clue to the significance of the five words as
given to the initiated disciple.
63.
This is very straightforward. Through meditation
one learns what the soul intends. Will these intentions remain theoretical
only? Or will they be applied in practical service? This is the crux of the
problem of every aspirant and probationer. In the section of text under
consideration, the focus is upon only the “elementary” lessons of the aspirant;
more advanced lessons are not considered.
64.
We should note that DK is pointing not so much to
the “meaning” of the five words given to the “initiated disciple” but to their
“significance”. This again affirms that these five words are to be understood
in the light of the spiritual triad.
65.
Note as well that the five terms in the higher
series is given to the “initiated disciple”. What is the meaning of that
term “initiated disciple”?
66.
Minimally, it suggests the second initiation. At
that point one is a true disciple, almost certainly “accepted” in the technical
sense of the term, but one is not yet the true initiate—a state of
consciousness and of mind which begins a the third initiation.
67.
Yet, from a higher perspective, those who have
taken the third initiation are still disciples, as are even the members
of the Spiritual Hierarchy. And, we must remember that the last seven of the
fourteen higher Rules are only really to be understood by the initiate
consciousness.
68.
So, perhaps we must conclude that the real significance
of this higher series of five terms will only be understood by the initiate of
the third degree and that, in this context, the “initiated disciple” is one who
has taken the third degree.
Let
us take each of these five words and seek to ascertain their significance.
69.
Again, He repeats this word “significance” which
means that we will be looking at thee words from a very high perspective.
But first of all, I would like to point out
that here we are concerned with monadic signatures,
70.
This is an interesting and very occult term. It
hearkens back to the medieval doctrine of “signatures”—which are often
curiously rendered line-diagrams (very much like a person’s signature). They
were sometimes called “sigils” and were thought to invoke and embody the energy
or presence of a higher or lower E/entity.
71.
We might say we are dealing with concretized
expressions revelatory of the identity of the Monad.
72.
DK is trying to reveal the nature of our subject.
He is trying to reveal something of that monadic nature and monadic presence
which lies behind the use of the five higher injunctions.
with that which synthesises significances,
73.
Amazingly occult. Significances are realized
within the spiritual triad. Yet it is the Monad, as the "point within the
triangle", which synthesizes significances realized within the Triad.
74.
Really, Rule XIV is a very synthetic, monadically
inspired Rule.
and with that which contributes vital
significance to the initiated life.
75.
Vital significance is living
significance. The initiate living the initiated life is vitalized by the
spiritual triad which is an expression of the Monad.
76.
The initiate experiences a living, vibrant
directionality reaching him via the spiritual triad but impulsed, ultimately,
by the Spirit or Monad itself.
77.
When significances, as revealed within the
triadal sphere, are impressed upon the consciousness of the initiate, he
becomes charged with life and with the will to apply those significances to the
world of the soul-infused personality and, even more, to the world of the group
and to the world of humanity.
78.
The initiate is driven by the living will
of the Monad expressed as significance through the Triad.
79.
Suffice it to say that the impress of the Monad
substands all we study in this Rule.
I would have you, as you read my words, retreat
within yourselves and seek to think, feel and perceive at your
highest possible level of consciousness.
80.
For us, if we have somewhat built and are using
the antahkarana, the place of “retreat” will be the subplanes of the seven
systemic planes through which the spiritual triad expresses—presumably the
lower subplanes rather than the higher.
The effort to do this will bear much fruit and
bring rich reward to you. You will
not grasp the full intention of these words, but your sense of awareness will
begin to react to triadal impression.
81.
Something higher will begin to dawn upon us even
if we cannot register the full significance of what is dawning.
I know not how else to word this, limited as
I am by the necessity of language.
82.
When we reach the point of realizing that
language, as ordinarily used, is a limitation upon esoteric communication, that
in itself is an indication of esoteric progress.
You may not register anything consciously, for
the brain of the average disciple is as yet insensitive to monadic vibration.
83.
The average disciple has not yet taken the third
degree when this type of sensitivity is awakened.
84.
Let us be clear—this type of study is intended to
facilitate monadic impression of the brain. This higher Rule is synthetic and
intends to bring “Heaven to Earth”.
Even if the disciple is capable of some
responsiveness, there are not the needed words in which to express the
sensed idea or to clothe the concept.
85.
A subtle esoterically-‘poetic’ approach is,
therefore, needed.
It is therefore impossible to put the divine
ideas into their ideal form and them bring them down into the world of meaning,
and from thence into the world of symbols.
86.
These ideas originate within the World of the
Monad (the World of Being) and live within the World of Significance. They do
not usually live within the World of the Soul or the World of the
Personality—the worlds of meaning and personality respectively.
87.
Remember that idealism exists with the World of
the Soul and also with the World of the Triad (the faculty of idealism being
found on the third subplane of the buddhic plane). And the Monad too, on the
sixth plane counting from below, is the Great Idealist.
What I say will therefore have more
significance towards the close of this century,
88.
We have been there and beyond. Are we
sufficiently aware?
when
men will have recovered from the chaos and cruelty of war,
89.
Yet war within our kingdom has persisted. Has our
consciousness recovered?
and when the new and higher spiritual
influences are being steadily poured out.
90.
This has happened and is happening.
I write, my brothers, for the future.
91.
These Rules, I suspect, will have utility throughout
the Aquarian Age. If the Gospel Narrative in the Christian Bible (written down
by those who still had much to achieve in their spiritual development) endured
for two thousand years, there is no reason to think that stanzas taken from the
Inner Archives will not similarly endure. Stories from the Old Testament, also
not written by high initiates, have lasted even longer.
[Page
288]
1.
Know.
What
is the difference between the knowing of the aspirant and the knowledge of the
initiated disciple? It is the difference
which exists between two differing fields and areas of perception.
92.
We are really only somewhat familiar with one
of these fields of perception—the field of the true psyche (or soul) as it
interpenetrates the world of the person.
93.
Of course we are even more familiar with the
human psyche within the personality. This is not the true psyche.
94.
With the world of the spiritual triad as it
interpenetrates the World of the Ego on the higher mental plane, we have far
less familiarity.
The aspirant is told first of all to
"know thyself"; he is then told to know the relation of form
and soul, and the area covered by his knowledge is that of the three worlds,
plus the level upon the mental plane on which his soul is focussed.
95.
DK says this succinctly. As aspirants, we are to
know the lunar vehicles (four of them, which includes the personality) and then
to understand the relationship between these vehicles and the soul or Ego on
the higher mental plane.
96.
Knowledge is contact and the apprehension of that
which contact revealed.
97.
To acquire knowledge one must be capable of
actually contacting the sphere of vibration or field to be known. One must also
be capable of registering that which the field of knowledge reveals.
98.
We note that DK reasserts that there is more than
one level of the mental plane on which our soul may be focussed. As far as we
know, it will be either the third or the second subplane. For an individual who
is focussed primarily in the personality, it will be the third subplane.
The initiated disciple knows the relation of
the periphery to the centre, of the One to the many, and of unity to diversity.
99.
The initiated disciple dwells in unitive
consciousness. It is the consciousness revealed by the true Ego, both on
its own plane, and also as it works through the causal body during the later
stages of evolution.
100.
The stage of consciousness here described reaches
a kind of culmination at Mastership at which time one becomes in consciousness
both the point at the center and the ring-pass-not which defines the circle
or, better, the sphere of consciousness.
101.
If we think of the meanings of the signs Leo and
Aquarius, we shall see that these meanings are descriptive of the state of
consciousness of the high initiate.
The applicant is concerned with
triplicity: himself as the knower, his
field of knowledge, and that which is the agent of knowing, the mind.
102.
“Learn that the Thinker and his thought and that
which is the means of thought are diverse in their nature, yet one in ultimate
reality”. (TWM 473)
The initiated disciple is beyond registering
triplicity and is occupied with the duality of manifestation,
103.
Thus he works with the “Technique of Duality” as
hinted in EP II.
3. The Technique of Duality is applied upon the Path of
Initiation. (EP II 379)
with life-energy as it affects or is related
to matter-force, with spirit and substance.
104.
The initiated disciple is involved with the
process of eliminating the soul on the higher mental plane as a central factor.
He is gradually moving towards that state of identification which will transcend
the state of unitive harmonious consciousness realized on the higher mental
plane.
The knowledge of the initiate has naught to
do with consciousness as the mind recognises that factor in the
evolutionary process;
105.
It is inferred that there is a way to recognize
consciousness in a manner other than the manner in which the mind recognizes
it. Consciousness in its purest form substands the entire Universal Process.
his knowledge is
related to the faculty of the intuition and to that divine perception which sees
all things as within itself.
106.
Here is another marvelous definition of intuition
and, perhaps, to a state of inclusive perception which transcends what is usually
understood by the term “intuition”. It
reveals the deeply ‘inclusive interiority’ of intuitive perception and of
post-intuitive states—perhaps monadic states.
107.
Long pondering on this sentence will reveal much
and will stimulate the intuition as here described.
Perhaps
the simplest way to express the knowledge of the initiate is to say that it is direct
awareness of God,
108.
Let us call this ‘straight knowledge of
Divinity”.
thus
putting it into mystical terms;
109.
Within the true initiate of the occult mysteries,
the mystic is alive and well.
the knowledge of the aspirant is related to
that aspect of divinity which we call the soul in form.
110.
Not even the soul on its own plane—the higher
mental plane.
111.
Of course the causal body is also a form
and the true soul is the Ego released from the causal body and functioning as the
spiritual triad.
112.
The aspirant cannot be expected to have full
knowledge of the soul or Ego within the causal body.
Putting this in still another way,
113.
And notice, one must do this to attempt to reach
the many types of minds…
I might point out that the aspirant is
concerned with the knowledge of soul and matter, whilst the initiate is
concerned with soul and spirit.
114.
The soul is the shared factor in both
types of knowledge. The soul is Janus looking in two directions—towards
personality-matter and towards spirit and spiritual soul.
If
I say to you, my brothers, that the knowledge of the initiate is concerned with
that which is produced by SOUND and not by the A.U.M. or the O.M., I shall have
linked up these comments with much else given previously in the analysis of
these fourteen rules.
115.
Perhaps we recognize this. The SOUND is of the Spirit;
the O.M is of the soul. The A.U.M., as understood within these pages, is of the
personality.
116.
The initiate and his group “onward move within
the Sound”. (Rule X for Dis and Initiates.)
117.
Yet, what really, do these assertions mean
to us?
The "listening" of the aspirant has
now been transformed into the effectual recognition of that which the Sound
has created.
118.
Each of the seven monadic sphere is a creative
center with its own geometrizing sound, creatively impulsive in relation to the
five lower worlds.
I refer not here to the creation of the
phenomenal world, or to the world of meaning which is essentially the
Plan or the pattern underlying that phenomenal world,
119.
The Monad’s influence upon these three lower
worlds and upon the higher mental plane is mediated by the spiritual triad.
120.
Note the excellent definition of the World of
Meaning. Through spiritual discernment we detect or discern this pattern and
Plan. The “blueprints” which the Great Architect ‘has in Mind’ are revealed to
us.
but to the intention or [Page
289] the Purpose Which motivated the creative Sound;
121.
The true Sound reveals Divine Purpose.
122.
The true Sound creates the Worlds of the Triad,
but it is Divine Purpose which impels and guides the sounding of the Sound.
I am dealing with the
impulsive energy which gives significance to activity and to
the life-force which the Sound centralises at Shamballa.
123.
The “impulsive energy” is centralized in Shamballa.
Activity has no significance unless it is directed by Shamballic Will working
through the spiritual triad.
124.
These are amazing words. The Sound centralizes
the life-force at or in Shamballa.
125.
Apparently the life-force is also in need of the
impartation of significance. From the structure of the sentence, we are to
understand that it is the “impulsive energy” which imparts this significance
also to the life-force which the Sound has centralized at Shamballa.
126.
Shamballic purpose, intention, impulsive energy
lie behind the Sound. These three are as one, and impart significance to
activity and to the life force which the Sound centralizes at Shamballa.
127.
Long and deep pondering are needed. We can see
how the use of the abstract mind is necessitated and also the application of
the intuition where possible.
It
is not the fault of humanity that it is only now possible for the significance
of the divine purpose to emerge more clearly in the consciousness of the
initiated disciple.
128.
It is only now that we are coming to the period
in the history of humanity and the planet when divine purpose may be somewhat
appreciated by the initiated disciple.
129.
The Shamballa Impacts of the last two centuries
have made this possible.
It is a question of timing and of movement in
space; it concerns the relation of the Hierarchy, working with the Plan, to Shamballa,
130.
This possible revelation at this time of Divine
Purpose is controlled by much greater movements and cycles.
the recipient (by
means of the Sound) of the creative energy which it is the divine intention to
expend in producing a perfect expression of the divine Idea.
131.
Here we have some of the profoundest statements
describing the esoteric relationship between Shamballa and Hierarchy.
132.
Only now is the relationship between Shamballa
and Hierarchy sufficiently adjusted for this registration of purpose to occur.
133.
Notice the function of Shamballa expressed in
terms of Sound, creative energy and divine intention. Note the tremendous
idealism (or ‘idea-in-substance ) which Shamballa is meant to express.
134.
There is operative in this process something
higher than Shamballa for Shamballa is a “recipient” via the Sound of a certain
“creative energy” which it is the divine intention (presumably of the Planetary
Logos) to expend through Shamballa.
135.
There is a Sound produced in Shamballa and there
are even greater SOUNDS produced by the Planetary Logos and Solar Logos. If
Shamballa receives “by means of the Sound” that which is to be expressed, it is
obvious that this “Sound” originates within points of tension higher and
greater than those within Shamballa.
136.
This “divine Idea” must emanate from the
Planetary Logos or even from the Solar Logos, and Shamballa (a center directly
representative of the Planetary Logos and in contact with the Solar Logos) is
meant to express this Idea.
137.
No wonder DK told us to retreat deeply within
ourselves to seek deeper understanding of what He was about to say.
138.
It seems that the Tibetan has never approached
more abstractly than He is in this chapter.
It is to the knowledge of this relationship
and of its effects that the first word of Rule XIV refers.
139.
When the initiated disciple seeks to understand
the meaning of the term “Know”, he is reaching towards Shamballa and attempting
to understand Shamballic-Hierarchical interaction.
140.
He is also reaching towards the Divine Purpose
which is known by the Planetary Logos and even more deeply by the Solar Logos.
It
was the dawning of this significance upon the consciousness of
the Christ—a consciousness enlightened, purified and divinely focussed—that forced
Him to cry out: "Father, not my
will but Thine be done."
141.
The Christ had realized Shamballic Purpose as it
was meant to impress the Hierarchy of which He was the Head.
142.
The Christ as a Master of the Wisdom surely
had achieved high levels of triadal consciousness but as He was not yet an
Initiate of the sixth degree (which He rapidly became), He had not the complete
monadic consciousness (presumably of His monadic Ray—the second).
143.
It was this dawning monadic consciousness which
revealed to Him the Divine Purpose which He had to take on as His own.
He received a vision of the emerging divine
intention for humanity
144.
Even though the word “intention” is used, that
what is meant is an aspect of the greater Divine Purpose.
and (through humanity) for the planet as a
whole.
145.
The Christ registered not only the destiny of
humanity but the destiny of our planet (perhaps, the entire planetary scheme
but perhaps only the “divine intention” for our planetary chain and especially
its fourth globe).
In the hierarchical stage of development which
Christ had attained and which made Him the Head of the Hierarchy and the Master
of all the Masters,
146.
For He was a fifth degree initiate and the Great
Teacher then even as He is now…
His consciousness was entirely at one with the
Plan;
147.
The Plan, we remember, expresses the pattern
underlying the phenomenal worlds.
148.
There is also a sense in which the Plan has a
triadal origin from the plane of atma. A Master of the Wisdom focusses within
atma.
its application to life in the three worlds,
and its goal of establishing the
149.
DK is speaking of very practical aspects of the
Plan—the Plan as it is meant to transform the three lower worlds.
150.
He is calling attention to the Plan as it
affected the expression of humanity in those worlds, and not so much to the
destiny of Humanity as a whole and of the planet as a whole. These latter two
belong more to the domain of Divine Purpose and of “divine intention” (as DK
mentions above).
were now for Him simply the fulfilling of the
law, and to that fulfillment His entire life was and had been geared.
151.
DK is telling us how the Christ had lived His
life until that fateful moment in the
The Plan, its goal, its techniques and
methods, its laws and their application, its phenomenal effects, the hindrances
to be met, the energy (that of love) to be employed, and the close and growing
relation and interplay between the Hierarchy and Humanity, between the heart
centre of the planetary Logos and the creative centre, were known to Him and
fully understood.
152.
This is an amazing section of text. It embodies
all that Christ understood until the experience in the Garden.
153.
In executing the Plan it is principally the
energy of love which is to be utilized. Intelligent application is
assumed.
154.
The Christ was overseeing the increasingly closer
relationship between Hierarchy and Humanity, but the logoically-intended
relationship of the central Center both to Hierarchy and humanity was not yet
fully understood.
At the highest point of this consummated
knowledge, and at the moment of His complete surrender to the necessary
sacrifice of His life to the fulfilling of the Plan, suddenly a great
expansion of consciousness took place.
155.
Master DK is not speaking in a manner easily
understood.
156.
One could think He was speaking of the Master
Jesus, for He speaks in terms of “the necessary sacrifice of His life”.
157.
Yes, the life in the body was deliberately
sacrificed by the Master Jesus, but what was the “life” which the Christ was
called upon to sacrifice, when He had long before outgrown the need for
incarnation as a human being, and when the body He was using to express His
teachings (i.e., the body of the Master Jesus) was not even His own?
158.
May we suggest that the “life” to be sacrificed
represented the full commitment of His spiritual life-energies for a five
thousand year period of Piscean and Aquarian redemption and salvation?
159.
What the Christ had to surrender were His own
ideas and plans for the redemption of the human race (excellent though they
were) and instead, adopt the vision and intention of One Greater than Himself.
[Page 290] The significance, the
intention, the purpose of it all, and the extent of the divine Idea as it
existed in the mind of the "Father," dawned on His soul (not on His
mind, but on His soul).
160.
Christ was given a clear sense of the intended
direction for humanity and the planet.
161.
The “Father” certainly has a “mind”—something
which it is so easy for students of spirituality to forget when they are
striving after the development of the intuition.
162.
The Christ was given a Shamballic realization of
that which the “Father” intended. The realization dawned upon His triadal
consciousness, upon his higher soul—the Ego focussed on triadal levels. Thus,
it was a completely impersonal realization.
163.
With regard to this dawning, is could not have
been the soul within the causal body, because the Christ as the Head of the
Spiritual Hierarchy had no causal body.
He saw still further into the significance of
divinity
164.
Note how two words, “significance” and “divinity”
are put together in such a way that the triadal and monadic worlds are fused,
for “significance” is of the World of the Triad and “divinity” of the World of
the Monad.
than had ever seemed possible;
165.
Possible to Him, is the inference…
the world of meaning and the world of
phenomena faded out and—esoterically speaking—He lost His All.
166.
The World of the Soul and the world of the
personality, were blotted out.
167.
This experience recalls the process indicated in
Rule IX 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.
(R&I22)
168.
The “All” which the Christ “lost” may be
considered all that with which He had previously identified Himself.
169.
The terms “esoterically speaking” are important.
Words are given which have deeply esoteric meanings. If interpreted in the
normal sense, they will mislead.
These are words necessarily meaningless to
you.
170.
We can assume that DK really means this. We have
no experience in these higher worlds and thus, no way of relating occurrences
within them to occurrences within our own worlds.
For the time being, neither the energy of the
creative mind nor the energy of love was left to Him.
171.
Of course, they were to be later retrieved, but
He was so impressed by the Divine Will and Purpose, that these two lower
aspects momentarily faded into insignificance.
A new type of energy became available—the
energy of life itself, imbued with purpose and actuated by intention.
172.
“Life”, “purpose”, “intention”—in that order.
Life underlies even purpose.
173.
We could question whether the term “life” should
be related to the first aspect of divinity, as it is really something
substanding all aspects of divinity. Yet, it often it.
174.
Note the word “actuated” in relation to
“intention”. Intention is purpose (implemented by will) on the way to becoming actual.
Intention deals with specificities in worlds lower than those from which the
intention originates.
175.
This was surely an Initiation. Initiation is ever
that process or event in which a new realm of divine experience is penetrated
and new energies from such a realm are made available.
176.
Of the actually “ceremony” or “inner event” of
the sixth initiation we can know nothing.
For the first time, the relation of the Will,
which had hitherto expressed itself in His life through love and the creative
work of inaugurating the new dispensation and the launching for all time of the
177.
The Will of God (Sanat Kumara as expressive of
the Planetary Logos) became clear to Him.
178.
This was not to be Will-through-Creative Intelligence
or Will-through-Love, but God’s living Will—a Will fitting within the
context of God’s vast Purpose—a living Will expressive of Divine Purpose which
it was God’s intention (the Planetary Logos’ intention) to see expressed
within the phenomenal worlds.
At that point He passed through the
179.
This renunciation is not the renunciation as
experienced at the fourth initiation. It is higher. It is a renunciation of the
Brahmic aspect, from the perspective of the planetary Life. It is the
renunciation of the conditioning of the five lower planes.
180.
Meanwhile, Master Jesus was passing through a
renunciation of His own—the deliberate renunciation attachment to incarnated
life and of further need for such incarnated life.
A
hint lies here. This
181.
The experience in the
182.
There was a great moment of choice. The
sixth initiation is closely associated with Libra (as the determining of the
cosmic Paths to be trodden by the Master indicates). One can ‘see’ the Christ
choosing, according to the Will of God, five thousand years of “Earth service”.
183.
One can see how the deepest possible of
attunement with-and-as the Monad is required if one is to make this choice.
184.
As a precedent and Great Example for all
humanity, the Christ correctly made the choice of all choices with the inner
surrender expressed in the words, “Not my will, Father, but thine be done”.
It was this event and spiritual crisis in the
life of the Christ (taking place as He overshadowed His disciple, Jesus) which
enabled Jesus on His own level of spiritual development to take the fourth
initiation, that of the Crucifixion or the Great Renunciation.
185.
Both the Christ and Jesus were in the
186.
How this overshadowing process worked we cannot
know in detail, but the interplay of the two related consciousnesses must have
been considerable.
The numbers four and six are closely
connected,
187.
When one numbers the third ray as the first
Brahmic aspect and continues counting downward, one finds the four and the six
aligned.
and the lesser renunciation (great only from
the human point of view)
188.
This puts things in proportion, does it not?
makes
the higher renunciation possible eventually, and vice versa.
189.
Only He who has passed through the renunciation
necessitated at the fourth initiation can find Himself prepared to make the
greater renunciation at the sixth initiation.
190.
Conversely, the events transpiring during the
sixth initiation, make the taking of the fourth initiation a possibility for
the third degree initiate associated with his exalted Guru Who is passing
through the sixth initiation.
Running
through many parts of the Gospel story are two paralleling histories;
191.
These are the history of the Christ and history
of the Master Jesus.
the
lesser world of discipleship profits by the achievements of those who take the
higher initiations,
192.
If we rise, we cannot help but lift those
associated with us. The reverse is also true.
and thus is demonstrated the close unity which
forever exists within the Hierarchy and—focussing through the Christ—the
synthesis which is beginning to be formed between the Hierarchy and Shamballa.
193.
DK is speaking more of the synthesis existing
between Hierarchy and Shamballa than of the growing fusion between Hierarchy
and Humanity.
194.
In His individualized nature, the Christ
demonstrated the union of Shamballa (the Will of the “Father”) and Hierarchy
(Christ’s intimate knowledge of the Plan and its best modes of implementation).
This is taking place in this era for the first
time in human history.
195.
The experience of the Christ was the forerunner
of this possibility, only now emerging in humanity.
The recognition of this emerging synthesis
between Will and Love produced a definite effect in [Page 291] the
consciousness of the Christ and led Him to know much that had hitherto been
concealed from Him.
196.
What do we learn? That fusion brings revelation.
That the union of the highest principles opens doors hitherto closed. Thus we
are encouraged to achieve the necessary alignments between the higher aspects
of our nature, knowing that doors of perception and realization will open as a
result.
These
are deep mysteries. Their value to
the disciple in training lies in the recognised and considered relationships.
197.
The Tibetan has pointed towards so much that He
cannot fully disclose, but the hints given are sufficient to help us (alone and
more particularly in group formation) to penetrate into spiritual realms
awaiting and inviting penetration
These
rules are—as you know—the rules controlling group life;
198.
Why wonder how esoteric groups in the New Age
will function. The outline has been clearly given. There is no need to piece
together possibilities from the substance of vague impression. A Master of the
Wisdom has spoken and has given us what we need to consider. Why not recognize
the gift and accept it, and do what is required in relation to it?
they constitute the key to the laws
under which all planetary groups work.
199.
Thus is confirmed the amazing value of that which
has been imparted.
The hierarchical life, through its major
aspect of Love, was a familiar area of consciousness and well-known to the
Masters and to the Master of Them all, the Christ.
200.
For there were Masters in those days even as
there are now.
201.
The Members of the Hierarchy with which we are
now most familiar may not have been Masters then, but surely there were Masters
of the Wisdom directed by the Christ.
But a further "knowing" lay ahead
of even this "perfected Son of God";
202.
The Christ was perfected according to human
standards. The Master of the Wisdom is still a human being. A Chohan (which the
Christ was about to become) is no longer a human being. “They are no longer men
as are the Masters.”
the nature and the mind of that great Being,
embodied in the Lord of the World at Shamballa, was now revealed to Him.
203.
Whose mind was revealed to the Christ? The mind
of Sanat Kumara or the mind of Him of Whom Sanat Kumara is an embodiment (i.e.,
the Planetary Logos)?
204.
In a way, the Christ (the most rapidly developing
of all the Sons of Men) was on the verge of taking the seventh initiation, at
which time the Will of the Planetary Logos would also make its impression.
205.
Yet, to know something of the mind of Sanat
Kumara was to know some small portion of the mind of the Planetary Logos,
Himself.
It
is this living realisation of Being and of identification with the
planetary Logos upon the cosmic mental plane which constituted the
unfolding awareness of the Christ upon the Way of the Higher Evolution.
206.
Here it is, stated exactly. It was the Planetary
Logos with which the Christ was coming into identification.
207.
The Christ had entered the Way of Higher
Evolution. He was in process of realizing the Being of our Planetary Logos
(achieved via His “Father in Heaven”, Sanat Kumara). He was in process of
identifying with the “One in Whom we live and move and have our being”.
208.
We might say that the Christ was having not only
a monadic revelation but a logoic inspiration—that His realization was impulsed
from the logoic plane as well. This makes sense as He was soon to take the
initial stages of the seventh initiation, which centers the high initiate on
the logoic plane.
Therefore, experience, perception and
Being are the keynotes of:
209.
DK reveals keywords for various stages of
development for members of the Fourth Creative Hierarchy
1.
The Path of Evolution.
210.
The keynote here is “experience”.
2.
The mode of unfoldment upon the Path.
211.
The keynote here is “perception”.
3.
The state of divine focus upon the Way.
212.
The keynote here is “Being”.
In
other words, you have the states of Individualisation, of Initiation, and of
Identification.
213.
We are given a mnemonic—Individualization,
Initiation and Identification.
214.
The signs of the zodiac involved are
Leo—Capricorn—Pisces.
215.
Or if we choose to be more complete: Cancer/Leo;
Capricorn/Aquarius; Pisces.
The
relation between the listening of the aspirant and the knowledge of the
initiated disciple has been expressed for us in a certain ancient writing as
follows:
216.
This, after all, is that upon which DK’s
foregoing interpretation has been focussed.
"Dimly
the one who seeks hears the faint whisper of the life of God;
217.
This represents the initial influence of the
Voice of the Silence which is the Voice of the Soul.
he
sees the breathing of that whisper which disturbs the waters of his Spatial
life.
218.
It is still a faint voice, a whisper.
219.
He notices a new rhythm, a new rhythmic breath
which is a cyclic impulsion and withdrawal of energy conducted by the soul.
220.
He lives in the world of time and space and he
has previously established certain conditioning rhythms. Now these are to be
reconditioned by new rhythms.
The whisper penetrates.
221.
He not only detects the voice but allows it ‘in’
and attends to it. The whisper can now become spiritually influential.
It then becomes the Sound of many waters
222.
Many astral desires and their sounds coalesce
into one Sound emanating from the soul.
223.
The listener must not become confused by the
lesser sound of many waters, but must hearken to the Synthetic Sound which
unites into one those many lesser sounds.
and
the Word of many voices.
224.
It takes a while for the sound of many waters to
become the ‘soul Sound’ and for the ‘words spoken by many inner and outer
voices’ to become the “Word of may voices”, the Word which synthesizes the many
voices.
225.
The Voice of the Soul is not easily detected,
understood and obeyed.
Great is the confusion but still the listening
must go on.
226.
One cannot allow oneself become distracted or
preoccupied by diversity. One has heard the whisper of the soul and seen the
rhythm of the spiritual breath. One must persist until that whisper becomes a
clear spiritual voice which is immediately obeyed, and the breath the new and
spiritual rhythm of all life processes.
Listening
is the seed of obedience, O Chela on the Path.
227.
To listen, to hearken, is to obey Saturn, the
‘God of Obedience’.
228.
To listen properly invites the application of
spiritual will in one’s life.
More
loudly comes the voice;
229.
The Voice of the Silence asserts itself more
strongly. It was and remains the “still, small Voice” but now it is taking
control.
then suddenly the voices dim and listening now
gives place to knowing
230.
It is the inner clamor which prevents us from
known as the soul knows.
231.
Noise prevents the registration of soul
knowledge.
—the
[Page 292] knowledge of that which lies behind the outer form, the perception
of that which must be done. Order is
seen. The pattern clear emerges.
232.
One knows the soul and with that knowledge come
soul directives impelling the personality life in certain spiritual directions.
233.
The world of the soul is a world of ordered
beauty.
234.
The second ray is archetypally the ray of all
souls and that ray is the “Ray of the Divine Pattern”. Yes, the “pattern clear
emerged”.
Knowing is the seed of conscious doing, O Chela on
the Path.
235.
This is a somewhat Socratic statement: “To know
the good is to do the good”:
236.
Doing ever occurs. We always do, and that
doing is often mayavic because there is no focussed consciousness attending the
doing.
237.
So the quality of our action in the three worlds
changes when we are soul-conscious. Our doing reflects the soul-consciousness
we have achieved.
Listening
and knowledge also fade away and that which they produce can then be seen.
238.
This is to say that the worlds of the soul and
personality fade away. Listening, touching, seeing and applying, even knowing
in the lower sense—all these fade away.
Being emerges and union with the One.
239.
The third initiation is taken. Unity emerges.
Oneness is no longer theorized but appreciated in actuality.
Identity is known—
240.
There are many levels of identity. The level here
indicated is that which lies above and beyond what we usually call the soul.
not
on this plane but on that higher sphere where move and speak the greater Sons
of Life.
241.
We are speaking of life in the triadal worlds. It
is within these worlds that the Arhat and Masters move and speak—the Chohans as
well.
242.
Notice that these planes together are called a
“higher sphere”. All planes are spherical and the relationship of planes to
each other are as spheres within spheres.
Being alone is left. The work is done."
243.
“God IS. The Lord for aye stands firm. Being
exists alone. Naught else is.” (DINA II 284)
244.
The Tibetan has taken us through a wide range of
possible knowing—from the knowing of the aspirant, to the knowing of the
disciple, to the knowing of the initiate focussed in the soul, to the knowing
of the high initiate and even Master in the triad and to the knowing of the
Master and Chohan within the Monad.
245.
Do we see how deeply we must probe the meaning of
these five higher injunctions if we are to find the meaning which
initiated-disciples are meant to find?