28 Rules Group

Commentary on Rule XIV Part IV of V, Section II

R&I (312-319)

(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

 

Prior to considering that word, I would like to point out that these five words have a clear reference to each of the five initiations;

 

1.            These injunctions are encapsulations or essentializations of that for which each initiation stands. If we really grasp the meaning of these words we have an infallible hint regarding the nature of the initiation.

2.            It may be that they can also be applied to still higher initiations, with the series ending in the seventh initiation of “Resurrection”.

 

 they give the initiate the keynote to the work which he must carry forward between the various initiatory processes.

 

3.            If these keynotes are sounding, the candidate for a particular initiation has true guidance in its achievement.

4.            Note that the initiations are more “processes” than events.

5.            Following each of the five initiations, the word or injunction must be applied. The initiation, itself, stands but for the beginning of the process which will see the word applied. Think this through

    1. How is the injunction “Know” applied after the first initiation
    2. How is the injunction “Express” applied after the second initiation
    3. How is the injunction “Reveal” applied after the third initiation
    4. How is the injunction “Destroy” applied after the fourth initiation, or does the meaning of this word climax at the fourth degree?
    5. How is the injunction “Resurrect” applied after the fifth initiation or does the meaning of this word climax at the fourth degree?
    6. All this will require careful thought.

 

The work indicated has nothing whatever to do with the training and the discipline to which he will (needless to say) subject his personality;

 

6.            This disciplining is simply assumed. It is not that one can say, “I have moved beyond the need for disciplining the personality”. As long as the personality exists, discipline is required. After the fourth initiation this is no longer an issue as the personality as a collection of lunar vehicles no longer exists, so what is there to discipline?

7.            The phrase “needless to say” tells much about the attitude of the Master to the process of disciplining the personality.

 

 they are related instead to the work which he has to render.

 

8.            Initiates are great workers. Much of their training as a human being, per se, has been successfully accomplished.

9.            At this point of development, attention is given to the work and not to preparing the personality instrument for that work. Again, the preparation is assumed in the case of the true initiate.

 

  This work concerns what I might call certain essential realities connected with the purpose of Shamballa and with his ability to react or respond to the will of the Monad.

 

10.         Clearly, this is work of a very high order.

11.         The initiate’s work lies beyond the province of the soul, per se. It is connected with the truly higher nature of the human being.

12.         The work concerns the registration of Divine Purpose and the ability to respond to the Divine Will. We remember in this context, “Registrants of the Purpose” and “Custodians of the Plan”.

 

 As you know, this ability [to respond to the will of the Monad] does not become an established fact and functioning realisation until after the third initiation;

 

13.         Before the third initiation this ability may be somewhat sensed and may be in process of cultivation, but the necessary realizations concerning this ability occur only sporadically and the probationary initiate cannot depend upon them.

14.         It is not enough simply to realize. One must be able to function in a new way as a result of the realization. Thus, the realization becomes functional.

 

nevertheless, the preparatory sensitivity (if I may use this word is this connection) is slowly developing and paralleling the two other activities—Destroy and Resurrect—to which he is pledged:

 

15.         The advancing initiate (even a probationary initiate of the first and second degrees) is pledged to move forward in his understanding of the destruction and resurrection which lies before him.

16.         We are all developing a “preparatory sensitivity”. It precedes the stage of “functioning realization”.

17.         The sequence is:

    1. Preparatory sensitivity
    2. Successful impression due to sensitive reception
    3. Realization

 

1. The disciplining of his lower nature so that the unfolding initiate-consciousness may find no hindrances and obstacles.

 

18.         Hindrances are found precisely here—upon the lower eighteen subplanes and the vehicles which are composed of these substances.

19.         It is obvious that undisciplined personality vehicles act as hindrances to the expression of Divine Purpose, Divine Plan, Divine Will and the expressions of these three through the soul.

20.         Some have inspiring glimpses of reality as seen from the initiate consciousness, but cannot sustain such perception because of the hindrances and obstacles here discussed.

 

2. Service to the Plan, under hierarchical impression.

 

21.         This is true service and not a humanly conceived imitation of service, often for incorrect motives.

 

3. The development of monadic sensitivity.

 

22.         This is, essentially, sensitivity to the Will of the Planetary Logos and then to the Divine Purpose of that Logos.

23.         We have a threefold process:

    1. Disciplining of the third aspect of divinity
    2. Service under the Plan through the exercise of the second aspect of divinity
    3. Sensitivity to the will of the Monad—the ability to respond to the first aspect of divinity.

 

It might be of interest at this point if, in view of this third development—responsiveness to pure will—we considered these five words in relation to the five initiations with which you are all so theoretically familiar.

 

24.         DK points out that we are only “theoretically” familiar with these initiations. True familiarity is another thing entirely and is based upon direct experience with particular initiatory processes. Our task, we well know, is to transform theory into practice.

25.         The Path of Initiation is one of increasing responsiveness to “pure will”.

26.         We must now prepare for a fuller understanding of the five words given in this Rule. We are certainly not seeking merely an understanding of the obvious implications.

27.         All the words, we realize, are being interpreted in relation to the initiate consciousness. They are words intended to bring monadic life into full consciousness and expression.

 

The word Know, in relation to the initiate-consciousness, concerns the certainty of the initiate, and his profound conviction of the fact of the Christ in the heart(s)

 

28.         This certainty, of course, arises from having faced the Christ in the “Chamber of Initiation”.

 

 it is at the same time coupled with a reaction which emanates from the sacrifice petals in the egoic lotus—those petals which are composed of the will quality of the Monad and relate the soul to the emanating Monad.

 

29.         Chart VIII (TCF 817) should be studied to learn the sources of the energies which influence the sacrifice petals of the egoic lotus. We will find that the atmic permanent atom of the spiritual triad is to be considered a source as is the Monad.

30.         It is important to realize that the sacrifice petals of the egoic lotus are conduits for the “will quality of the Monad”. In other words, monadic energy is reaching the personality via the sacrifice petals.

31.         Not only are the sacrifice petals conduits. Those petals are actually “composed of the will quality of the Monad”. This bears pondering.

32.         It may be inferred that it is the energy of the Monad which in some way underlies the structure of the egoic lotus. If we can say that sacrifice petals are composed of the will quality of the Monad then why can we not say that the love petals are compose of the love quality of the Monad and the knowledge petals of the knowledge quality of that same Monad.

33.         So to “Know” in the initiate sense is

    1. To have a profound conviction of the presence of the Christ in the heart
    2. To have a certain reaction to the energies emanating from the sacrifice petals of the egoic lotus and, thus, from the Monad (via the spiritual triad).

34.         It is clear, then, that this knowing concerns both love and will

 

  The first faint tremor of the [Page 313] impact of monadic "destiny" (I know not how else to express this concept) makes itself felt, but is registered only by the soul of the initiate and on the level of soul consciousness; it is never registered by the man on the physical plane who is taking the first initiation;

 

35.         We are speaking of inner events which occur at the time of the first initiation—the “Birth of the Christ in the Heart”.

36.         At that first degree, the Monad is indeed felt, but only on soul levels upon the higher mental plane. Yet, “monadic destiny” begins to impel the lower process.

37.         Thus, the initiate as the Ego on the higher mental plane, registers the incipient influence of the Monad and is directed towards a certain destiny which awaits the Monad. This is “monadic destiny”.

 

his brain cannot respond to this high vibration.

 

38.         By the time the third initiation is taken, his brain can respond to the monadic vibration.

 

  Theoretically, and as a result of the teaching of the Ageless Wisdom, the spiritual man (in incarnation) has known that he is essentially the indwelling Christ, and the attainment of the Christ consciousness has been and will be his goal;

 

39.         We are speaking her of the attainment of a small degree of the possible fulness of Christ Consciousness.

40.         From a broader perspective, however, this goal does not stop at the third initiation. The Christ is an initiate of the seventh degree (in process) and the road to the fulness of His type of consciousness is long.

41.         Further, we can say that there is no conceivable end to the development of the Christ Consciousness. There is, after all, a “Cosmic Christ”.

42.         Yet for practical purposes we are speaking of the attainment of soul consciousness, calling it “Christ consciousness”.

 

 the knowledge here referred to concerns something higher still—the Self-identification of the soul on its own plane and the Self-recognition which relates that Self to the enveloping whole, the Monad.

 

43.         In this type of identification, the man knows himself to be the Ego on its own plane and more still—to be that which envelopes the soul—the Monad.

44.         Note how DK speaks of the Monad as if it is “the enveloping whole”.

45.         We note that the term “Self” (as here used) is not equivalent to the Monad, for the Self is to be related to the Monad—“the enveloping whole”.

46.         DK is developing His notion of the use of the word “Know”.

    1. First to know oneself as the inner Christ—the Christ Principle
    2. Secondly, to know oneself as the soul on its own plane
    3. Thirdly, to know oneself as the Self, not only related to the Monad, but as the Monad itself—as the wholeness.

 

 If I might word it symbolically, I would say that the soul, the Christ (after the first initiation), knows that the inevitable processes of Christ-expression on Earth have been started and that the attainment of "the full-grown man in Christ" cannot be arrested.

 

47.         DK tells us of the type of knowing which follows the first initiation.

48.         The soul on its own plane has known that this expression on Earth was divinely intended from the moment of individualization. After the first initiation, that soul or Ego may be assured that the process will go forward without arrest.

49.         As the process progresses, the soul-in-incarnation (the extension of the soul or Christ) comes to know this as well. This happens because the soul-in-incarnation comes into increasing identification with the soul on its own plane.

 

 The centre of interest which has hitherto been directed to bringing this about now shifts and the soul on its own plane (not in the reflection of its consciousness on Earth) becomes determined to "go to the Father" or to demonstrate the highest aspect of divinity, the will aspect.

 

50.         This is a fascinating thought. DK is telling us that it is not the soul-in-incarnation who is determined to “go to the Father” but the “soul on its own plane”. We see, then, something of the high state of consciousness of the “Prodigal Son” who is usually portrayed in very human terms.

51.         When we speak of the soul on its own plane we are speaking of the individual as the Ego.

52.         Perhaps by the time of this arising, the soul-in-incarnation is identified as the soul on its own plane. It would seem that the period of the third initiation would have to be in sight.

53.         And yet there are earlier arisings or reversals which reveal a more human portrait of the Prodigal Son. That which occurs within the consciousness of the soul on its own plane (the Ego on the higher mental plane) also occurs at an earlier stage for the soul-in-incarnation. We could call this strictly human reorientation towards the soul (and not the Monad) the first reversal of the wheel and it occurs when the fifth petal is in process of unfoldment.

 

There are in the Gospel story four recorded moments in the life of the Christ wherein this process of development within His consciousness, this monadic centralisation (I know not what other word to use, for we have not yet developed the terminology of the monad, the will aspect)

 

54.         This is a fascinating thought and an incentive to us regarding our ability to capture the highest realizations in revelatory language.

55.         How shall we define “monadic centralisation”? Shall we call it the ‘centralisation of the consciousness which the all-pervading awareness of the Monad’?

56.         In speaking of the “monadic centralisation” in the life of the Christ, let us make sure that it is, indeed, the Christ and not the Master Jesus. This is briefly discussed below.

57.         Taking the Tibetan’s statement at face value, however, we are to look for the unfoldment of monadic consciousness in the life of the “Christ”.

 

begins to demonstrate and can be traced in a definitely unfolding process.  In the past I have incidentally referred to these points, but I would like to gather all four of them together here for your illumination.

 

58.         We are being told that “monadic centralisation” and the emergence of the will aspect is a definitely unfolding process.

 

1. His statement to His parents in the Temple, "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?"  I would have you note that:

 

a. He was twelve years old at the time, and therefore the work upon which He had been occupied as a soul was finished, for twelve is the number of completed [Page 314] labour.

 

59.         Twelve is a number related both to the soul (with its twelve petals) and to the Monad, ruled by the sign of salvation, Pisces, the twelfth sign.

 

  The symbolism of His twelve years is now replaced by that of the twelve Apostles.

 

60.         The twelve Apostles represented His Teaching to the world.

61.         As a number related so directly to the heart, the number twelve will always be important in relation to the life of the Christ.

62.         As mentioned above, must ask whether we are speaking of Jesus or the Christ. Did the first tangible cooperation of the Lord Maitreya with the initiate Jesus occur at the time of the Baptism when Jesus was thirty years old (this is the usual esoteric presentation), or had it begun much earlier—when Jesus was twelve years of age?

63.         The Tibetan does use the word “Christ” even though speaking of an event which occurred when the individual called Jesus was twelve years old.

64.         Perhaps the interplay between the Great Teacher and His disciple, Jesus, was progressive and dated from an early age. Perhaps the Lord Maitreya was in close affiliation with the initiate Jesus for a very long time before Their public ministry began.

 

b. He was in the Temple of Solomon, ever a symbol of the causal body of the soul, and He was therefore speaking on soul levels and not as the spiritual man on Earth.

 

65.         Such was the elevation of that Being Who spoke through a twelve year old form, whether that Being was the initiate Jesus or the Christ overshadowing Jesus, or the Christ in possession of the form of Jesus.

66.         We must note the important distinction:

    1. One can speak as a soul on and from soul levels.
    2. One can speak as the spiritual man on Earth (the awakened soul-in-incarnation).
    3. From what level of identification do we speak and how do we know?

 

c. He was serving as a member of the Hierarchy, for He was found by His parents teaching the priests, the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

 

67.         All members of the Hierarchy no matter what their ray are necessarily Teachers to human beings.

68.         (We must remember, however, that two thousand years ago the Christ was not just a “member” of the Spiritual Hierarchy but the Head of that Hierarchy. Was the one who was serving “as a member of the Hierarchy” the initiate, Jesus?

69.         The authority of the fully developed soul was manifest to the astonishment of those He taught.

70.         IT could be said that Jesus (since He had been the high priest Joshua at which time he had taken the third initiation), had recovered his previous knowledge and authority and was sharing it with those who knew far less. Yet the word “Christ” is used.

 

d. He spoke as an expression of the substance aspect (He spoke to His mother) and also as a soul (He spoke to His father), but He was controlled by neither;

 

71.         To demonstrate His independence of the control of both these aspects He said: “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”

 

 He now functioned as the monad, above and beyond yet inclusive of both.

 

72.         The Christ’s identification as the Monad was clear. To an extent, even the initiate Jesus (as the former third-degree initiate Joshua) could have been increasingly identified with the Monad.

73.         Usually (in the Hebrew tradition) the advanced individual who has reached the age of twelve is being prepared to “become a man” (by passing through the Bar Mitzvah) and, thus, to achieve some degree of independence from his strictly lunar nature.

74.         In this case (the case of Christ-Jesus) reaching the age of twelve signaled independence from even the soul aspect, strictly speaking.

75.         We can question whether any third degree initiate (such as Jesus was) could really function as the Monad. It seems that this type of functioning could only be true of the Christ.

 

2. His statement to His disciples, "I must go up to Jerusalem," after which we read that He steadfastly set His face to go there.

 

76.         In relation to point two we are certain that we are speaking of the Christ using the body of the initiate, Jesus.

77.         One should review in this context the very important section in Esoteric Astrology (563-568) in which the role of the zodiacal signs in the life of the Christ is discussed. When He set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem, He was under the influence of Sagittarius.

 

  This was an intimation that He had now a new objective.

 

78.         Something of the fulness of this new objective was revealed in the Garden of Gethsemene when the Christ acquiesced to the Father’ Will, agreeing to fulfill the role of World Saviour for some 5000 years.

 

 The only place of complete "peace" (the meaning of the word Jerusalem) is Shamballa;

 

79.         This is a statement of paramount importance and relates Shamballa to the sign Libra.

80.         In the search today for peace in the Middle East, and in the central role of the city Jerusalem in discussions concerning achieving that peace, we can see a very dim reflection of the Shamballic association.

 

the Hierarchy is not a centre of peace in the true meaning of the term, which has no relation to emotion but to the cessation of the type of activity with which we are familiar in the world of manifestation;

 

81.         Another statement of unusual significance! Many people interpret peace as relating to the emotional body. One of its meanings does, indeed, relate to the tranquilization of the emotions but this would not be “the true meaning of the term”.

82.         In the world of manifestation we are familiar with activity based upon the third aspect of divinity, the Activity Aspect. It is this type of activity which ceases in a condition of true peace.

 

 the Hierarchy is a very vortex of activity and of energies coming from Shamballa and from Humanity. 

 

83.         DK is speaking of the Hierarchy as a meeting ground of two types of energies—the energies of Humanity and the energies of Shamballa. This meeting, we judge, produces a vortex of energies which eventually unites the lowest with the highest.

84.         The contrasting of the following ideas may bring an important illumination:

    1. The intense activity of Hierarchy
    2. The peacefulness of Shamballa

 

From the standpoint of true esotericism, Shamballa is a place of "serene determination and of poised, quiescent will" as the Old Commentary expresses it.

 

85.         In this definition we find an expression of will devoid of resistance—thus the presence of serenity, of poise and quiescence. We are often accustomed to contemplating the expression of will amidst turbulent conditions.

86.         In this definition we again notice the influence of the sign Libra, which is particularly the sign of poised quiescence.

 

3. The exclamation of the Christ, "Father, not my will, but Thine be done," indicated His monadic and realised "destiny."

 

87.         This exclamation occurred in the Garden of Gethsemene.

88.         We have read of the touch of monadic destiny which occurred faintly as early as the first initiation (though confined to soul levels). Now we read of its full realization presumably at the sixth initiation of the Christ.

 

  The meaning of these words is not as is so oft stated by Christian theologians and thinkers, a statement of acceptance of pain and of an unpleasant future.  It is an exclamation evoked by the realisation of monadic awareness and the focussing of the life aspect within the Whole.

 

89.         Only an Initiate of vast realization could pronounce those words with full meaning: “Father, not my will, but Thine be done.” At that time there dawned upon His consciousness an immense realization concerning the destiny of our planet and its humanity—though perhaps not the ultimate realization as it exists in the consciousness of the Planetary Logos. He was given a measure of understanding of the Purpose of the Father, of the reason for which the Father was manifesting through the planet Earth.

 

  The soul, in this statement, is renounced, and the monad, as a point of centralisation, is definitely and finally recognised.

 

90.         In other words, that limitation upon consciousness which soul (as we usually understand the term) represents was renounced.

91.         From one perspective soul (as consciousness) can never be renounced (for all great Logoi have consciousness or soul of a cosmic kind), but that limitation of consciousness which soul upon triadal levels represents—that was renounced.

92.         The statement represented a huge expansion of consciousness.

93.         Let us ponder on the words: “the monad as a point of centralisation”. Do we have the faintest living experience of what it means to be centralized within the Monad?

 

 Students would do well to bear in mind that the Christ never underwent the Crucifixion subsequent to this episode, but [Page 315] that it was the Master Jesus Who was crucified.

 

94.         Here we have what most Christians would consider a radical (and also heretical) statement.

 

  The Crucifixion lay behind Him in the experience of the Christ.

 

95.         Perhaps it was experienced as the Lord Krishna some three thousand years before.

 

 The episode of renunciation was a high point in the life of the World Saviour, but was no part of the experience of the Master Jesus.

 

96.         Even though the fourth initiation is often called “the Great Renunciation”, the renunciation through which the Christ was passing was far greater. He was renouncing the inherent limitations of His soul will (His Will as a spiritual triad or true Ego) for the far greater powers inherent in the Father’s Will.

 

4. The final words of the Christ to His apostles, gathered together in the upper chamber (in the Hierarchy, symbolically) were, "Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the age," or cycle.

 

97.         These words were spoken following what we understand as the “Resurrection”.

98.         The Christ’s apostles have here been elevated to hierarchical status (at least symbolically). The Christ, we are told,  demonstrated through His work with His disciples, the gathering of an outer Ashram (or group affiliated with the inner Ashram) and His expression through that outer Ashram.

99.         To remain until the “end of the age” was, we may suppose, an aspect of the monadic destiny which the Christ realized in Gethsemene and which He began immediately to enact. That “age”, it seems, was not only the Age of Pisces but included the Age of Aquarius. Was it at the time of His realization of monadic destiny that the Christ knew He would fulfill the function of World Saviour for two consecutive precessional ages—a period of some 5000 years? So it would seem.

 

  Here He was speaking as Head of the Hierarchy,

 

100.      This He had been since the transition of the Buddha some five hundred years before.

 

which constitutes His Ashram,

 

101.      We note that the Hierarchy is considered not only the Ashram of Sanat Kumara but also the Ashram of the Christ.

 

and also speaking as the Monad and expressing His divine Will to pervade or inform the world continuously and endlessly with His overshadowing consciousness;

 

102.      Christ is surely a Monad upon the second ray.

103.      We learn here of the vast scope of the Christ’s service to both humanity and the Earth—He pervades and informs the world continuously.

104.      The consciousness of the Christ, therefore, is a great pervading, informing presence always accessible to those who are qualified and approach rightly.

105.      We see that it is possible to speak “as the Monad”.

106.      Further, the One Who is Head of the Hierarchy necessarily speaks as the Monad.

107.      In this statement the Christ demonstrated His ability to see thousands of years into the future.

 

 He expressed universality and the ceaseless continuity and contact which is the characteristic of monadic life—of life itself.

 

108.      Here we have one of the great definitions of “monadic life”—“universality and…ceaseless continuity and contact”. While the Monad is in one sense remote, it is also immediately present.

109.      We see no fluctuation in this type of contact. It is characterized by “ceaseless continuity”. It is utterly and consistently present.

 

 It was also a tremendous affirmation, sent forth on the energy of the will, and making all things new and all things possible.

 

110.      This is an extraordinary statement. It is as if this statement by the Christ inaugurated an entirely new dispensation for humanity and the planet.

111.      We can understand it as a huge ‘gift of life’—of “Life more Abundant”.

112.      It is as if this statement released humanity from an ancient bondage from which it could not release itself.

 

If you will carefully study these four statements

 

113.      We have been given four moments of “monadic centralisation”.

 

 you will see what is the knowledge referred to in this command given in Rule XIV to the initiate at the first initiation, the command to Know.

 

114.      The knowledge is not at all soul knowledge but is monadic knowledge.

115.      The initiate must begin to know what the Monad knows (or what He, as the Monad, knows).

116.      We can see that the injunction does not pertain only to the first initiation. In its wider meaning, such knowledge cannot even begin until the third initiation has been taken.

117.      In all simplicity, the injunction is give to know oneself as the Monad, and of course, to begin to act accordingly.

 

 It is the order to reorient the soul to the monad and not an order to reorient the personality to the soul, as is so oft believed.

 

118.      The Word “Know” is an order, a command, an injunction. Consciousness is to be reoriented towards the Monad. This assumes that the one to be reoriented is already conscious as an Ego on the higher mental plane. One is to know the nature of monadic life.

119.      We can see how far this Rule is in advance of the usual soul culture.

120.      If the word “Know” is given at the first initiation, its full meaning can only be appreciated on soul levels by the higher Ego and not within the physical brain of the new initiate. Even at the first degree there is a reorientation by the Ego on its own plane towards the Monad, but of this the personality is unaware.

 

The word Express, in its deepest meaning and when given at the second initiation, does not mean the necessity to express the nature of the soul.

 

121.      We are gathering the impression that all these injunctions are monadic in nature.

 

 It means (behind all other possible meanings)

 

122.      And there must be a number of these…

 

 the command to express the will nature of the monad

 

123.      The relation between desire and will begins to be fathomed at the second degree.

 

and to "feel after" and embody the Purpose which lies behind the Plan, as a result of the developed sensitivity.

 

124.      It is the idealism of the incarnated Spirit which “feels after” the Divine Purpose. Idealism (representing a high expression of the sense of smell) finds its way back to the monadic plane—the sixth plane (counting from below), just as idealism is an expression of the sixth ray.

125.      Thus far, we understand that the injunction “Express” calls for two things:

    1. The expression of the will nature of the Monad
    2. The necessity to “feel after” and embody the Divine Purpose. The factor of embodiment is not to be overlooked.

126.      We find that sensitivity to the Monad is being developed at the second degree. The plane of the Monad is, we realize, correlated with the astral plane. From different perspectives, they are both the sixth plane.

 

 Obedience to the Plan brings revelation of the hidden Purpose,

 

127.      How shall we grasp the “hidden Purpose”? The method is here given—“obedience to the Plan”.

128.      This is another way of saying that “those who do the Will of God shall know”.

129.      We find that the concept of “obedience” is related to the second initiation and, one may suppose, to the sixth ray.

130.      Will we find that “occult obedience” is particularly emphasized at the second degree and in relation to the injunction “Express”?

 

 and this is a phrasing of the great objective which impulses the Hierarchy itself.

 

131.      For the Hierarchy, itself, is attempting to fathom the Divine Purpose. It has by no means done so entirely.

132.      And, Hierarchy must obey the Will of Shamballa.

 

 As the initiate learns cooperation with the Plan and demonstrates this in his life of service, then within himself and paralleling this activity to which he is dedicated as a personality and soul, there is also an awakening realisation of the Father aspect, of the nature of the will,

 

133.      So the initiate must first cooperate with the Plan and demonstrate this cooperation in service. To this cooperation and expression he is dedicated as both personality and soul.

134.      When this cooperation and service demonstration are in full tide, there comes an awakening realization of the Father aspect. This awakening cannot happen unless the initiate is fully engaged in the understanding and expression of the Divine Plan. Before he can express as a Monad, he must understand and express both as a soul and as a personality.

135.      The gradual revelation of the Divine Will arises through occult obedience.

 

 of the existence and factual nature of [Page 316] Shamballa and of the universality and the livingness of whatever is meant by the word "Being."

 

136.      Let us tabulate the nature of this “awakening realisation”. When the initiate is fully cooperative with and expressive of the Divine Plan, there comes-

    1. An awakening realisation of the “Father aspect”
    2. An awakening realisation of the Divine Will
    3. An awakening realisation of the factual nature of Shamballa
    4. An awakening realisation of the livingness of “Being”.

137.      These realisations are, symbolically, the ‘adding of darkness to light’.

138.      From one perspective, “Darkness” is Shamballa and “Light” is Hierarchy.

 

 He knows and is beginning to express that pure Being as pure will in activity.

 

139.      We can say that this expression begins to occur at the second initiation, but at the higher correspondence to the second (i.e., the fourth) the expression is far more unobstructed and effective.

 

When the third initiation is taken the initiate becomes aware, not only of the significance of the command to Know

 

140.      I.e., to know as the Monad would know…

 

 and of his innate ability to Express the will nature of the monad in carrying out the Purpose of Shamballa,

 

141.      I.e., to express as the Monad would express…

142.      We note a very important idea—the will nature of the Monad carries out the Purpose of Shamballa. The Monad is directly related to and expressive of Shamballa. We might almost consider the Monad, in its own nature, as a ‘resident’ of Shamballa.

 

 but that (through his fused personality-soul) he is now in a position to "make revelation" to the Hierarchy that he is en rapport with the monadic source from which he originally came.

 

143.      Here we have been given one of the significances of the injunction, “Reveal”.

144.      Only the fused personality-soul can truly be en rapport with the monadic source.

145.      We note that the revelation to be made is a revelation to Hierarchy and not (in this context, at least) to humanity.

146.      Apparently, to know the Monad and to express the Monad are somewhat lesser stages than to be “en rapport with” the Monad (a state characteristic of the third initiation, and, perhaps, on a higher turn of the spiral, characteristic of the fifth initiation).

147.      We must pause to focus on the words “the monadic source from which he originally came”. Are we speaking only the Monad, per se, or of that which is the source of the Monad? Are we speaking of our Planetary Logos or of a Planetary Logos as a “monadic source”?

148.      Certainly we can justifiably consider the Monad as the source from which the soul-in-incarnation came, but it may also be necessary to consider the origin of the Monad and the Planetary Logos which that Monad represents—at first the Planetary Logos of the Earth-scheme.

 

 He can now obey the command to Reveal, because the Transfiguration is consummated.

 

149.      What does the Transfiguration Initiation reveal that the initiate can now reveal? What new realization does the revelation upon the mountain top confer?

150.      The consciousness of the initiate is no longer form-bound in the same sense as heretofore.

 

 He is not now revealing the soul only, but all the three aspects now meet in him and he can reveal the life aspect as will and not only the soul aspect as love or the matter aspect as intelligence.

 

151.      A triple revelation is now in process.

    1. He reveals the life aspect as will. This is, for him, new.
    2. He reveals the soul aspect as love
    3. He reveals the matter aspect as intelligence

 

  This is, as you know the first major initiation from the angle of the greater Lodge on Sirius, because it is the first initiation in which all the three aspects meet in the initiate.

 

152.      This is interesting because usually the fifth initiation is considered the first initiation in relation to the Sirian system of initiations.

153.      We might say that at the third initiation the transfigured initiate becomes a true disciple from the Sirian perspective.

 

 The first two initiations—oft regarded by humanity as major initiations—are in reality minor initiations from the Sirian point of view,

 

154.      And also, one would think, from the point of view of the Solar Logos

 

 because the relation of the man "under discipline and in training" is only a tendency;

 

155.      Until the third initiation is passed, this spiritual tendency is not firmly established as a reliable pattern of thought, feeling and behavior.

 

 there is only a developing recognition of the Father and a slowly growing response to the monad, plus an unfolding sensitivity to the impact of the will aspect.

 

156.      In fact, during the period of probationary initiations (the first and second degrees) the Father aspect is coming into recognition; there is a growing response to the Monad and there is an unfolding sensitivity to the will aspect. It is not as if the probationary initiate is entirely incognizant of the Father and the Monad.

 

  But in the third initiation these developments are sufficiently present to merit the phrase, "revelation of the glory," and the Transfiguration initiation takes place.

 

157.      The “glory” is that of the Father—the “Supernal Light”. The tendencies towards the recognition of the Father and of the will (the Divine Will) are, at the third degree, well-established in the consciousness of the initiate. Then, the Transfiguration initiation can take place. The Father and the Divine Will have (to a sufficient degree) become established realities in consciousness.

158.      We can see that this degree is closely related to the fifth which is called by the related name, “Revelation”.

159.      In this final Rule we are learning of the initiate’s approach to the Father, the Divine Will and the Monad. We are learning that the five injunctions are injunctions to live the monadic life—the life of one who knows the Monad, who expresses the Monad and who can reveal the nature of the Monad.

 

At the fourth initiation the destroying aspect of the will can begin to make its presence felt;

 

160.      Notice the word “begin” because, apparently, the destroying aspect of the will continues to make is presence felt in later initiations.

161.      Every initiatic penetration of a great veil is an act of destruction. The Christ penetrated a great veil at the sixth initiation and the initiate of the ninth degree penetrates a still greater veil.

 

 the soul body, the causal body, the Temple of the Lord, is destroyed by an act of the will

 

162.      From whence does this destroying will emanate? Can we say that it is the will of the Monad?

163.      We must remember that it is the second aspect of the will which is responsible for the destruction.

 

What, therefore, brings about the destruction of the soul body?  The destroying agent is the second aspect of the Will.  The third or lowest aspect of the Will, working through the mind or the manasic principle, was the sustaining factor in the long cycle of personality development; it was the principle of intelligent synthesis, holding the life principle intact and individualised through the long series of successive incarnations. (R&I 216)

 

and because even the soul is recognised as a limitation by that which is neither the body nor the soul,

 

164.      The Monad recognizes that form of consciousness customarily called “soul consciousness” as a limitation.

165.      Since we have not achieved full soul consciousness (achieved at the fourth degree) the ability to recognize the soul as a limitation lies far ahead of us.

 

but that which stands greater than either.

 

166.      I.e., the Monad.

 

 The awareness of the perfected man is now focussed in that of the monad.

 

167.      This is an interesting sentence because it tells of two kinds of awareness:

    1. The awareness of the perfected man
    2. The awareness of the Monad

168.      The monadic awareness persists constantly (on its own level) and within that pervasive and consistent awareness the perfected man focusses his awareness.

169.      This is a repetition on a higher turn of the spiral of that process in which the aspirant focuses his consciousness in the ongoing meditative consciousness of the soul on its own plane.

170.      In both cases, the higher type of awareness or consciousness is ongoing. The lower type of awareness must merge and blend with the ongoing higher awareness.

171.      In both cases we might call the process the entering of a continuous higher consciousness by a discontinuous lower consciousness.

 

  The road to Jerusalem has been trodden.

 

172.      Jerusalem is Shamballa.

 

 This is a symbolical way of saying that the antahkarana has been constructed and [Page 317] the Way to the Higher Evolution—which confronts the higher initiates—has now opened up.

 

173.      The Way of Higher Evolution is, these days, trodden following the sixth degree. The Way “to” that higher Path opens at the fourth degree though it cannot actually be trodden until the sixth degree.

174.      We are being told that the full construction of the antahkarana is achieved by the fourth degree. (The idea of full construction, however, is relative.)

175.      From another perspective, the construction of the antahkarana is an ongoing process. The antahkarana (broadly conceived) is the instrument of ‘universal return’ and will not disappear until the ‘Universal Day-Be-With-Us’.

 

The three aspects of the will, as focussed in the Spiritual Triad, are now in full expression.

 

176.      Not before the fourth degree does this occur.

177.      One might wonder whether the full expression of atma can possibly be achieved at the fourth degree? Would not the fifth degree be required?

 

 The initiate is animated by Purpose,

 

178.      He is no longer animated merely by the Divine Plan.

179.      To be “animated” by Purpose is to be ‘moved’ by Purpose. Hitherto the soul on the higher mental plane has been the ‘Animator’. Now the Spirit ‘animates’ the soul-infused personality and the Ego on its own plane.

180.      In fact, the Spirit becomes increasingly the ‘Animator’ of the spiritual triad which is the true Ego.

 

 but faces still greater evolutionary developments;

 

181.      Developments relating to the fifth degree and beyond…

 

of these I do not need to speak, as they concern divine aspects as yet unknown and unregistered by man. 

 

182.      We usually think of three major divine aspects and four lesser ones (attributes), yet DK constantly hints at the existence of divine aspects of which we have no notion.

183.      Ten is a more perfect number than seven (a number of relative perfection). Could the unrevealed aspects relate to the higher and synthesizing three?

 

The reason for this complete ignorance is that the vehicles of any man below the third initiation contain too much "impure matter" to record the impact of these divine qualities.

 

184.      The important thing to register here is that impure matter prevents the registration in consciousness of certain higher, Spirit-related energies.

185.      Thus, purification of the material sheaths is a necessity inseparable from the expansion of consciousness. The process of purification is probably applicable to all planes on the cosmic physical plane.

 

 Only the "created body" (the mayavirupa) of an initiate of the fourth initiation can begin to register these divine impacts;

 

186.      This is interesting, as the ability to create a Mayavirupa is usually associated with the fifth degree.

187.      We are being told that the mayavirupa consists of very pure matter. We can say that the process through which the mayavirupa is created mobilizes and configures atomic matter in the lower three worlds. Atomic matter is the purest type of matter.

188.      DK seems to be telling us that no matter to be found in the normal personality vehicles of even a high initiate is of sufficient refinement to register the very high divine impacts of which we are speaking.

189.      We may remember that the vehicles of the Arhat are said to be composed entirely of atomic matter. This thought must be carefully analyzed as there is no atomic matter in the dense physical vehicle and, also, the usual mental body contains no atomic matter. Only a mental vehicle focussed entirely on the highest subplane of the mental plane can consist entirely of atomic mental matter.

 

 it is therefore waste of our time to consider even the possibility of their existence.

 

190.      DK draws a ring-pass-not separating speculations which (for us) are useful and those which are useless.

191.      In other places, however, He does discuss developments which seem to lie even beyond those He now refuses to discuss.

 

 Even I, a Master, and therefore an initiate of a relatively high degree, am only faintly sensing them,

 

192.      This puts the whole matter in proportion, does it not?

 

 and that because I am learning to obey the fifth word which we will briefly, very briefly, now consider.

 

193.      DK is a Master and yet He is only learning to obey the word related to the fifth degree. Apparently the taking of an initiation represents only a beginning point in relation to the full development of powers and qualities related to that initiation.

194.      We may infer that resurrection is not just something which happens to a high initiate. We may infer that the injunction, “Resurrect” is a command to that initiate to perform a certain spiritual act.

 

5. Resurrect.

 

One of the greatest of all distortions, and one of the most misleading of the theological teachings, has been the interpretation put upon the word "resurrection" in the Christian approach.

 

195.      DK challenges the foundations of modern Christian theology.

 

 This resurrection has been applied in many cases to the resurrection of the body;

 

196.      This distortion is the result of a grossly materialized consciousness.

 

 it is also applied to the fact (the selfishly motivated wish) of immortality;

 

197.      Those who seek such an ‘immortality’ are closely identified with the body and with the personality as a whole.

 

 it is applied also to the physical resurrection of the Christ after he supposedly died upon the Cross.

 

198.      The interest, apparently, is in phenomena and in the ‘guarantee’ of immortality which the phenomenon of resurrection gives to the selfishly motivated, personality-identified consciousness.

199.      The Christ, we know, did not die upon the Cross. The Master Jesus sacrificed His life for the sake a most necessary divine enactment.

 

  Resurrection teaches essentially the "lifting up" of matter into heaven;

 

200.      Here we have the “assumption of the Virgin”, the purification and etherealization of the third aspect of divinity—the matter aspect.

 

 it does not teach the eternal persistence of the physical body of a man, as many Fundamentalists today suppose,

 

201.      Actually this would be a ghastly proposition freezing the development of consciousness.

 

 looking for the reappearance of the discarded physical body;

 

202.      Such is the level of identification with the material vehicle that this gross distortion is believed by millions. Obviously the atavistic consciousness which hopes for such a resurrection must be refined.

 

 it does teach the "livingness of Life" and the state of "unalterable Being."

 

203.      Here the true nature of resurrection is defined. Resurrection relates directly to the nature of the “life aspect” and not at all to the endless perpetuation of any lower form.

 

 This unalterable Being constitutes the nature of the Monad,

 

204.      The essential nature of the Monad is “unalterable Being”. The monadic vehicle is, nevertheless, a form and is not meant to be unalterable. The essential nature of the Monad must be discriminated from the vehicle through which that Monad expresses.

205.      Notice the word “unalterable”. Pure Being changes not.

 

and it is to this condition of awareness

 

206.      I.e., awareness of “unalterable Being” and identification as unalterable Being…

 

 that Christ attained when He functioned as a World Saviour and thereby guaranteed,

 

207.      Christ as a “World Saviour” had attained the condition of awareness we are describing as “unalterable Being”.

 

by the force of His achievement as a personality-soul,

 

208.      Although the Christ attained monadic awareness, it was as a personality-soul that He achieved, setting an example of the manner in which we must achieve.

 

 the same point of attainment for us,

 

209.      We are to forcefully achieve just as the Christ did. His achievement made our impending achievement easier.

 

 for we are equally and essentially sons of the Father or expressions of the Monad,

 

210.      The Ego is a “son of the Father”. The Ego on the higher mental plane is an expression of the Monad.

211.      In a sense, even the Monad is also a “Son of the Father” (a cell within one of the chakras of the Planetary Logos).

 

 [Page 318] the One.

 

212.      We must not think of the Monad as ‘granular’ and ‘particulate’- The Monad is, indeed, the “One”. In All there is but One MONAD.

213.      We are all expressions of the One and are, in fact, the One.

 

It does not, however, signify the resurrection of some personality in a particular vehicle used in a particular incarnation.

 

214.      The personality is a transiency. Form must ever keep pace with the Divine Purpose emerging through the Divine Plan. To resurrect a personality (and sustain that personality in perpetuity) would be to resurrect and sustain the past and would be distinctly evil.

 

The whole concept of resurrection is the new and most important revelation which is coming to humanity, and which will lay the basis for the new world religion.

 

215.      Here is a most important statement. Revelation concerning resurrection will lay the basis for the new world religion. It becomes apparent that this is a religion to be based upon more than merely the soul aspect. It is to be based upon the life aspect—upon the livingness of the Spirit.

216.      Obviously our concepts of resurrection will have to be drastically altered.

 

In the immediate past, the keynote of the Christian religion has been death,

 

217.      Christianity is, after all, a Scorpionic religion and Scorpio is the sign of death.

 

symbolised for us in the death of the Christ, and much distorted for us by St. Paul in his effort to blend the new religion which Christ gave us with the old blood religion of the Jews.

 

218.      We see how even a great soul can be responsible for distortions of the Divine Plan.

219.      St. Paul, apparently, intended to create a bridge between Judaism and the religion given by the Christ, but his attempt to put new wine into old bottles tainted the new wine.

220.      It is hard to relinquish that which is old and bad but to which we have become accustomed.

 

 In the coming cycle, this distorted teaching on death will assume its rightful place and be known as the disciplining urge to relinquishment and to the ending by death of the hold by matter over the soul;

 

221.      DK is telling us that the emphasis upon death does have some use as a method of release:

    1. Death can be understood at the “disciplining urge to relinquishment”
    2. Death can be used to end the “hold by matter over the soul”.

222.      While death can be utilized to prepare the way for entry (or re-entry) into Life, death is not that Life. The emphasis in the future will be upon Life.

 

 the great goal of all religious teaching will be the resurrection of the spirit in man, and eventually in all forms of life, from the lowest point in evolution to the highest monadic experience. 

 

223.      The true goal of all religious teaching is given. This goal relates to the Spirit in man and its liberation from the trammels of matter.

224.      Spirit is entombed in matter and must be lifted out of matter, thus uplifting and redeeming matter as well.

225.      Spirit, entombed in all dimensions of matter, must be resurrected.

226.      The “highest monadic experience” represents, for man, the completed liberation of Spirit from the trammels of matter. Of course, further liberations lie ahead for man as he becomes more than man—i.e., as man-the-Monad ventures onward.

 

The emphasis in the future will be upon the "livingness of the Christ nature"—the proof of which will be the Risen Christ—and upon the use of the will invoking this "living display."

 

227.      The Christ will reappear and thus demonstrate that He has indeed “risen”.

228.      He will express in full livingness the Christ Nature—that of solar and cosmic Love.

229.      The future emphasis will be twofold:

    1. Upon the living Christ nature
    2. Upon a new use of the will to produce “living display”.

230.      We note that the emphasis will not be upon the intelligence aspect, per se.

231.      In “living display” the Spirit shines forth through the matter in all forms.

 

  The glory and the radiance of the Transfiguration initiation will eventually be relegated to its destined place,

 

232.      It is a relative glory and just the beginning of that which will manifest as an intensifying “display of life”.’

233.      The word “relegated” suggests that the Transfiguration and its relative glory will be surpassed.

 

and what is meant by the "display of life" will dimly be sensed in its unimaginable beauty.

 

234.      We will sense into the World of Ultimate Causes on the logoic plane (ultimate with respect to the cosmic physical plane). The unimaginable beauty of the archetypal world will be revealed.

235.      All this is in store for humanity through the efforts of the Christ and, behind Him and supporting Him, the Lord of the World.

236.      That this archetypal beauty is “unimaginable” reveals that our imagination cannot yet reach to the higher levels of the cosmic ethers. Simply because something is unimaginable by man does not mean it does not exist.

 

The line or the path or the Way of Resurrection is the "Radiant Way" to which we have given the cumbersome name of the Antahkarana;

 

237.      We see that the antahkarana must necessarily extend far beyond the Monad, for the Way of Higher Evolution is itself a greater “Radiant Way”.

238.      DK, must, perforce use certain names because they are already part of the language of the Ageless Wisdom. Here, he finds the term “Antahkarana” cumbersome. Elsewhere He has found the term “Isolated Unity” inadequate.

 

 this Way leads straight and directly from one great planetary centre to another—from Humanity to the Hierarchy and from the Hierarchy to Shamballa.

 

239.      From this description it is apparent that the antahkarana leads directly into Shamballa, linking the three main planetary centers.

 

  This is the Way of Resurrection.

 

240.      The antahkarana itself is the Way of Resurrection.

 

  It is a Way which is composed of the light of intelligent substance, of the radiant attractive substance of love, and the karmic way which is infused by the essence of inflexible will.

 

241.      We see that the antahkarana is really threefold:

    1. It is a lighted way. This is the customary description
    2. It is also composed of “the attractive substance of love”.
    3. It is also infused by the “essence of inflexible will”.

242.      Note the adjective “inflexible” used to describe will. There is much to be learned by considering the inflexibility of will.

243.      We are given an important occult hint when it is said that the antahkarana is the “karmic way”. We see that karma and “inflexible will” are intimately related. From a planetary perspective, it is the Will of the Planetary Logos which determines the edicts of karma. When this Will is violated, there are necessitated karmic adjustments.

244.      We are being told that Karma descends from the Spirit/Monad and one of the ways of its descent is the antahkarana. This descent occurs at a time that the human being can be conscious of the nature of the descending karma (for that antahkarana is only built by the conscious disciple). It can be presumed that the Law of Karma can also be effectively applied via the sutratma of life thread before the antahkarana is built.

245.      The soul/Ego is a center of karmic direction and imposition, but the soul/Ego is actually the agent of the Monad.

 

 Forget not that karma is essentially the conditioned will of the planetary Logos as He orders all things toward the ultimate goal of life itself through the process of livingness, of loving understanding, and of intelligent activity.

 

246.      There is an imposed divine order. If that order is violated, it is karmic adjustment which brings the violator again into line with the intended order.

247.      We note that the will of the Planetary Logos is a “conditioned will”. It is a conditioning will because is imposes itself on all lesser lives within the Planetary Logoic ring-pass-not. It is a conditioned will because it is executing karmic directives from greater Planetary Logoi, from the Solar Logos and even, we may suppose, from the Logos of Sirius.

248.      We understand that through the agency of karma the ultimate goal of the Planetary Logos is achieved. The Law of Karma ensures that necessitous guidelines are followed—eventually.

 

Therefore, the order to resurrect, as understood by the [Page 319] initiate, concerns solely the application of the will nature and the aspect of Shamballa to the impulsing of hierarchical attraction and activity.

 

249.      We are to understand the “order to resurrect” as applicable to great planetary centers—in this case, to Shamballa and to Hierarchy. The order or injunction comes from Shamballa and impulses “hierarchical attraction and activity”. Through this attraction and activity, the soul achieves its freedom from the lower forms. More importantly, humanity as a whole eventually achieves its freedom from the lower forms which imprison it.

250.      Really, “Resurrect” is a planetary injunction.

 

  It does not concern the individual life of the upward-moving aspirant or disciple, no matter what his degree, except incidentally and because major divine macrocosmic impulses must have lesser microcosmic effects.

 

251.      The Tibetan insists that we see and understand in larger terms. If Hierarchy responds to Shamballa in the way indicated, then the resurrection of individual initiates will occur, but it is not to individuals, per se, that the order is directed.

252.      In other words, macrocosmic resurrection will evoke microcosmic resurrection.

 

 All these stupendous words with which we have been dealing relate to the cooperation of the initiate with the Will of Shamballa, and therefore, my brothers, are only dim hints to you.

 

253.      DK has lifted our consideration of “these stupendous words” entirely out of the context of the individual aspirant, disciple or initiate. He has shared with us their macrocosmic meaning.

254.      We are to remember that these words are Shamballic words and if obeyed properly bring the Will of Shamballa/Monad into the life of the microcosm.