MaKaRa hosts the Collected Works of Michael D. Robbins

Dear Fellow Students,

There has been much discussion concerning Rules VII and this is not the place to repeat what has been said. We can approach the matter practically and somewhat directively to see whether we can more quickly arrive at a method of making these Rules both real and practical—to ourselves.

Synthesis of Rules Seven

Rule VII for Applicants:

Let the disciple turn his attention to the enunciating of those sounds which echo in the halls where walks the Master.

1.                 The emission of sound through speech and thought is so continuous, spontaneous, and so often unplanned that the utmost vigilance is required to control speech at its source.

2.                 It is as if the ajna center must watch over the throat center, the eye over the ear, while the heart supervises them both.

3.                 Thought and speech must not ‘run the man’. Instead, the real individual must sit in a supervisory position and choose his thoughts and words.

4.                 This choosing occurs under the somewhat ‘delaying’ influence of Saturn in its role of ‘super-visor’.

5.                 The whole process, as we are instructed, requires an ‘act of attention’. In many ways, the disciple becomes proficient at attentive living. The sheer continuity of the ‘life disciplic’ warrants close consideration. Through rightly directed attention we have the opportunity to sustain the “quality of life”—or not.

6.                 This approach to living is, in essence, unusual. With most developed people everything happens rapidly in the world of thought and speech.

7.                 If even one day could be lived wisely choosing thoughts and words, an entirely new respect for the difficulty of the process would result. Maybe a day is too long a span for an initial attempt. Perhaps even an hour would be revealing.

8.                 In what “halls” do we walk? Are our habitual ‘haunts’ the “halls of maya”? If so, how do we know?

9.                 To the acoustician, every “hall” has its unique quality of reverberation (or, shall we say, “timbre”). Certain halls magnify or amplify certain sounds. In our familiar “halls”, which vibrations or sounds are enhanced, reinforced? And, in general, is it the ‘sound of the good’ which is reinforced or far lesser sounds?

Let him not sound those lesser notes which awaken vibration within the halls of maya.

10.             The would-be-initiate stands always in judgment—of himself. This is not a morbid, deprecatory supervision, but an honest assessment for which much psychological energy is required.

11.             If we walk in the “halls of maya”, we shall find ourselves surrounded by lesser reinforcements. When (in such halls) we think the unreal, it will be augmented.

12.             Should we penetrate the halls where walks the Master, the unreal will wither as soon as it is thought or enunciated.

13.             We can try the experiment. State an unreality and watch what happens to it within our consciousness. We will recognize its hollowness; it will gain no sustainment from the ‘vibratory hall’ in which we habitually live—if we are disciples.

14.             On the other hand, let us repeat a great truth and see what happens. Does the heart, for instance, swell such a truth? Or perhaps the crown or ajna center?

15.             Every mental statement or spoken word will call forth a resonance from certain centers. Are we aware of which centers or chakras may be ‘entrained’ by that which we think and say?

16.             Summary: The quality of what we think and say is always resounding. That quality will either prolong our captivation within the “Halls of Maya” or work for our release into worlds of meaning, cause and significance.

17.             Let each of us attend with caution to what we think and say!

Rule VII for Disciples and Initiates:

Let the group life emit the word of invocation and thus evoke response within those distant Ashrams where move the Chohans of the race of men.

18.             Does a coherent note emerge from any group of which we may be a member? And if such a note does emerge, does it emerge from the group “life”?

19.             It can be safely said that there may be many ‘emitting’ aspects of a group, but the group life is rarely the preeminent factor. Of course, this depends on what we mean by “life”? Do we mean the monadic life of the group or something less? Strictly speaking, “life” pertains to the spirit or monad.

20.             When, however, speaking less strictly and more practically of the “group life”, we may, reasonably, be talking about a lesser meaning of the term “life”—i.e., simply of the effect of the totality of group processes, the summation of a group’s characteristic energies and forces.

21.             When this totality sums to a “word of invocation” the group has, indeed, reached a real point of advancement. The culture of the group has ascended significantly over the individual desires and intentions of its members.

22.             It may also, however, be instructive to think literal about the term “group life”, and, thus, focus on the spirit or monadic nature of the group. There may, after all, come a time when the highest aspect of a group—its life aspect—calls forth to Shamballa (within the precincts of which) all live!

23.             This is far too much to be expected of those who are just beginning to use these Rules. We will need a more practical suggestion of the meaning of “group life” (as suggested above) if this seventh Rule is to have initial, practical value for us.

24.             Thus, for us, it will be the group soul that will be emitting the “word of invocation”. In time the group spirit will inspire the group soul, and eventually (when the group is truly an Ashram), the group “life” will be the major emitting factor, because the group will be composed of those who have taken the third degree and know something of monadic “life”.

25.             Moving on to the next consideration, I wonder how many of us have, as it were, ‘taken the measure of a Master’. Do we have even a slightly realistic idea of the true spiritual radiation of a Master? Or is the experience (whether inward or outward) of a Master’s presence an entirely theoretical matter?

26.             The Great Ones of Whom we read are very real, and it must become our task to improve our capacity to appreciate Their reality.

27.             Thus, we must clarify the image of the Master, just as we must clarify the Image of the Christ.

28.             This can be done by eliminating those illusions of mind which are “ready to hand”—seeing through them, as it were, and also by an ever deepening attunement with the presence of the Master.

29.             This attunement can be achieved in many ways. Some will prefer to use images; others will attune with an immaterial essence; some will attune with the known purpose of the Master as they have come to understand that purpose. One of the Masters has said, in effect, “Whoever works for the common good is with Us”.

30.             If the detected presence of the Master is, perhaps, a remote or infrequent experience, how much more so must be our experience of a Chohan?

31.             May we say that the experience of either the Master or the Chohan is best approached through an intensifying of group life?

32.             In one way (de-materializing the image of the Master), we might say that a Master is group consciousness, and a Chohan is an ever wider and deeper form of group consciousness. A Master is certainly not an exalted personality. The essence of a Master is realized being (for a Masters is an “initiate into the mysteries of being” (DINA I 7) (if DK’s important hint is understood), and the consciousness of a Master is only approached by those who experientially, have begun to pervade their group.

33.             Our experience of the true nature of a Chohan is even more abstract and formless.

34.             Such great beings are more than they seem to be. With a colloquial ring (and yet, arcanely), we might state that they are more than themselves. This must be pondered. Each Hierarch is the pinnacle of a hierarchy and pervades with His identity many lesser identities. Each Hierarch can be found within the identities He pervades.

35.             Finding the Hierarch within the many beings He includes is a perceptual art. It can be practiced. It is a bit like finding the presence of the group in all group members. If we stop to think about this process, we shall find it to be subtle.

They are no longer men as are the Masters….

36.             Advanced members of humanity are just beginning to learn how to be more than human; this learning is humanity’s next task, on its way to changing kingdoms from the fourth to the fifth.

37.             So we must question ourselves: “Do we know what man really is?” Have we any idea of what it means to be more than man.

38.             The Master is a fulfilled man; the Chohan is man transcended.

39.             Man is characterized by division, by a contrasting dualism of energy. That which is “more than man” has transcended the dualism to which man is subjected. A transcended dualism is different from a fulfilled dualism. Certain lower energies which still comprise the being of a Master are no longer part of the energy system of a Chohan.

40.             To compare a Chohan to as Master is a little like comparing a Solar Logos to a Planetary Logos. The analogy is far from exact, but is suggestive.

41.             As we study occultism, it is important for us to measure the nature and status of man. Man, both high and low, must be known to us. To understand even a little of that which lies beyond man, we must grow into an understanding of the nature of man and his destined fulfillment.

42.             In doing this we will also come to an appreciation of our own status—as members of the Family of Man.

But having passed beyond that lesser stage have linked themselves to the Great Council in the highest secret place.

43.             To understand this calls for quite a perceptual leap, for we hardly even know what it is to link ourselves to Hierarchy.

44.             And as a practical matter, we should gather some perception of what it means to link ourselves to the Great Ashram of Sanat Kumara (i.e., the Hierarchy).

45.             Upon that perception we can build the perception of the more exalted linking here discussed.

46.             We read much of Shamballa in the Tibetan’s Teaching, but, really, true knowledge of Shamballa is beyond us. Yet, it would be a waste of the Tibetan’s time to offer concepts which were entirely unapproachable.

47.             So the challenge is presented to us; how shall we develop some notion of the “Great Council in the highest secret place”?

48.             Imagination can be most useful. However, there is an aspect of the imagination which is, as it were, ‘imagistic’, and there is an aspect of the imagination which transcends image. Do we know what it is like to ‘feel’ beyond image until we touch a higher reality?

49.             There is an art to pondering that of which we have no tangible image or conception. For instance, by repeating to ourselves the words “Secret Council”, or “highest secret place”, something of its reality may come through to us—without an image. Later, perhaps, a symbolic image may follow.

50.             That which is offered here is not impractical, even to people at our general stage of evolution. It may be reasonably thought that when an accepted disciple has neared the second initiation, he can begin to relate, in some measure, to the Ashram of a Chohan.

51.             Numerologically, this works out, for the second initiation involves the sixth ray and the sixth plane whereas the sixth initiation (that of the Chohan (involves the second plane—and to a degree, the second ray).

52.             The general advice would be to attempt to reach beyond ourselves (meditatively and contemplatively) in order to at least ‘touch’ something of the high states described in this Rule.

Let the group sound a dual chord,

53.             It must be evident that this chord is the chord of spirit-soul rather than that of soul-personality.

54.             The group is far more capable of sounding this dual chord than is the individual, but it will be yet awhile before many groups (as presently constituted) will fulfill the requirements. We might say that a group which does fulfill these requirements is an Ashramic group.

Reverberating the halls where move the Masters

55.             Due to the dual sounding, the group in question has demanded the attention of the Master.

56.             The Halls where He (the Master) moves, can be considered the ‘halls of the Ashram’. Such a group is becoming an acknowledged presence within the Ashram.

57.             The chord could not reverberate within those Ashramic halls unless its sound was resonant with the sounds ‘acoustically’ reinforced within those halls. There are many chords which would not reverberate within such halls.

But finding pause and prolongation within those radiant halls where move the Lights which carry out the Will of God.

58.             We have to contrast the words “pause and prolongation” with “reverberation”.

59.             In a way the “radiant halls” have ‘captured’ the sound of the dual chord which reverberates within the Master’s halls. In this pause there is, as it were, a moment of ‘suspense’.

60.             What, then, will happen to this dual chord within those higher halls? The chord will be prolonged. It will be sustained by a superior energy. May we say that the dual chord will change its relation to time—that the perception of eternity or of the “eternal now” will enter into the consciousness of those who sound this chord?

61.             What is the relation of the dual chord to the realization of pure being? We might say that the higher note of the dual chord relates directly to pure being and the lower note to the principle of relationship. Let us ponder this.

62.             If we attend to the possible sounding of this chord within our nature (or group nature), can we sense time and timelessness, unified relativity and synthesis?

63.             Perhaps the note of pure being is ever the same; the ‘interval’ of the exact nature of the dual sounding would then depend upon the nature of the note of the soul (which in this case, is really the note of the triad). We do remember that the “spiritual triad” is the true soul of man.

64.             These are very subtle matters; any experience of them will depend upon an inner experimentation.

65.             Throughout the greater Rule VII we are being related to a Shamballic context and to the life aspect. We are achieving some small link to the Great Council, in anticipation of that day when we shall link in truth and reality (and in group formation) to the Great Council.

66.             Not only is the scope of our consideration being extended, but our possible experiential scope is being extended.

67.             We are being asked to live with “Shamballa in mind”—an attitude which, I suspect, is rather rare among disciples who have not yet achieved the third degree (and even among those who have).

68.             As we approach an understanding of these Rules many inner experiments are called for. We are extending ourselves; we are stretching into unknown areas. We do not know what we shall find. If we thought we did know, we would certainly be incorrect; we would be covering the future with the past (a thing commonly done).

69.             In this incarnation we are given our first opportunity to study and apply the fourteen greater Rules. This will surely not be our last opportunity. I suspect that a number of centuries during the Age of Aquarius will be required of presently forming groups if they are rightly and fully to apply that which is now given and which, naturally, eludes their grasp.