PART VII
commentary by Michael D. RobbinsStage IV. The Chela on the Thread.
With these preliminary remarks, let us pass on to another of the Stages on the Path of Discipleship. The fourth stage is described as follows:
"The stage wherein the disciple is taught how (in emergencies) to attract the Master's attention. This has the peculiar name of the Chela on the Thread."
It is interesting that this stage (involving a more conscious link between the accepted disciple and the Master) is the fourth stage—the number four relating to the planet Mercury, the antahkarana and to all links.
We note again that there is a technique for contacting that Master; that the technique is “taught” to the disciple (inwardly); and that the technique can only be used in emergencies.
The “emergencies”, we remember, are not personal emergencies, but only those which relate to the execution of the work in relation to the Divine Plan.
The whole question of psychic sensitivity of the higher kind is involved at this stage. I have taught in my writings most clearly and definitely the undesirability of the lower psychic experiences. This has been done as the need to warn aspirants anent this matter is great. The difficulty is enhanced by the fact that lower psychics are not easily reached and warned as they are ever determined that their clairvoyant and clairaudient powers are indicative of the advanced type of high spiritual unfoldment. Their minds are closed to all warnings and they function often behind a barrier of smug self-satisfaction. They forget that the aboriginal races and animals are all psychic and register that which the more mental types fail to record. The rank and file of the people are inherently astral in their activities, their interpretations of phenomena and their attitudes and focus. It is necessary, then, to enforce the warnings and awaken the average psychic to the undesirability of his astral life.
In dealing with the State for Chela on the Thread, DK tells us we are entering a consideration of psychic sensitivity of a higher kind.
When we hear this, we understand that the ajna center must necessarily be involved and not the solar plexus—the center used by the average psychic.
The Master re-emphasizes the undesirability of the “lower psychic experience”. He considers the involvement in lower psychism to be a dangerous practice and issues, again, a warning.
In these days of increasing openness to subtle levels (caused by many factors including the recent world wars), the astral plane is increasingly open to human penetration (and increasingly intrusive in human consciousness). Many people think that any kind of sensitivity to phenomena indicates spiritual development. They do not discriminate between lower and higher sensitivities.
DK places His finger squarely on the problem when He points to the “smug self-satisfaction” which characterizes the average psychic whose mind is closed to the undesirability of his pursuits. To take clairvoyance and clairaudience as indications of high spiritual unfoldment is the prevailing attitude amongst a majority of so-called spiritual people.
Master Morya tells us that when we want to encourage human beings to desist from certain forms of undesirable behavior, we should compare their behavior to that of animals. A justifiable pride in one’s humanity may then rise to the surface and help the person turn away from undesirable (and lower) practices.
Master DK does the same thing when He reminds us that the aboriginal races and animals are psychic, and register psychic phenomena which modern mental man fails to record. This should give us pause to reflect. Not all sensitivities are desirable, and we are, in fact, gaining much by having the door to such sensitivities at least temporarily closed. Higher initiates and Masters are able to employ the full range of sensitivity without compromising the ‘altitude’ of Their consciousness.
The astralism of average people opens them to the psychic realm. Their attitudes, focus and interpretation of phenomena are very largely astral.
The Master seeks to elevate the consciousness of His chelas. He cannot sanction their reversion to ancient habits of astrality. The disciple BSW was dropped from the Tibetan’s groups particularly because of such a reversion.
Such is the glamor of the times, however, that that which is valueless is seen as valuable; the reverse is also true.
Disciples, however, put no aspect of the divine manifestation outside their range of experience. They know that psychism in its lowest phases is a part of the divine expression and is of an essentially higher nature than the purely physical processes of living in the body. A disciple cannot say that now because he is a disciple, he will not be subject to this, that or the other experience. He has to be prepared for all experiences [page 742] and to face the fact that eventually all disciples have to become psychics, both higher and lower, as was the Christ. The only safeguard for which he works is to prevent the lower powers demonstrating until the higher psychic faculties are functioning; then the lower are controlled and operated (if I might so express it) from the level of the higher consciousness. There is, to the mind of the disciple, only life and form and he is learning to handle the life processes through the medium of the form so as to produce a divine manifestation.
Now DK offers counterbalancing remarks. He seeks to avoid the emergence of a separative, judgmental attitude in the consciousness of His chelas, for there are many who are immediately inclined to dismiss as useless anything that comes from the astral plane.
So, the picture is put into proportion. Even lower psychism, we are told, is inherently higher than merely physical bodily processes.
If disciples are seeking to achieve a unified consciousness (without barriers) they cannot afford to put any aspect of the divine manifestation outsider the range of their experience. They must learn to contact any level at will, while not becoming beguiled by lower phenomena.
DK states that the greatest of all human psychics, the Christ, was both a higher and lower psychic. However, He knew how to interpret all phenomena, and to understand the real nature of all impressions coming from the astral (and other) planes.
The day will come when all sensitive people can safely register all astral phenomena, however the higher psychic powers (soul and triadal powers) will have been established in them, and the lower powers will be controlled and interpreted from a higher point of view. Such higher psychics will not allow the focus of their consciousness to ‘descend’ entirely to the lower planes and there become ensnared. They can register the impacts of lower planes and deal with those impacts, but they preserve a ‘high altitude’ in consciousness while so doing.
During the period of preparation for the third initiation and following that initiation (when the ajna center has become activated in a new way and higher psychic powers are being rapidly developed) some of the lower psychic powers can be reclaimed as needed for purposes of service. Such an initiate will certainly not mistake that which the lower psychic powers may reveal as reality.
DK offers a final synthetic perspective. The advanced disciple/initiate sees the divine process as the interplay between life and form. The whole is seen as one even though the various phenomena within that whole may be wisely graded according to truth value.
The later stages of spiritual development are synthetic in nature, and much that was wisely left behind as obstructive may be reclaimed and used in a new way—without the danger of succumbing.
The world today is entering a phase of extreme sensitivity. Disciples must train themselves to help. The shift of the consciousness of ordinary and mediocre individuals will be on to levels of conscious astralism and the veil between the seen and the unseen will rapidly disappear. How can disciples be of service in that difficult period if they have no experience in the distinction and interpretation which must exist between aspects of phenomena? How can they rescue and safeguard others if they fear to enter into realms of life where the lower psychism rules? I am not asking you to cultivate psychic powers, but I do ask you to hold yourselves in guarded readiness to see and hear on all levels of service, and to know what you see and hear, interpreting it correctly, unblinded by prejudice and fear. The Path of Discipleship is not an easy one but its compensations are adequate. Psychic sensitivity is involved in the understanding of this phase of discipleship.
We must accept the implications regarding the extreme sensitivity to be found in today’s world. It has only increased since the time of this writing some seventy years ago (2005).
A disciple is one who helps and serves, and service is needed in relation to astral phenomena and their intrusion into human consciousness.
DK is promising us an astrally sensitive world, in which even “mediocre individuals” (average human beings who have not cultivated themselves spiritually) will enter the world of conscious astralism. This will present a great challenge, for the need for intelligent, understanding, compassionate interpreters will be great.
Disciples will become those interpreters; therefore they cannot fear astralism, or remain inept (through lack of exposure) at distinguishing the nature and source of various kinds of astral phenomena.
We see that DK warns the disciple of extensive involvement with the astral plane, but, at the same time, warns against separating oneself from the astral plane. There is a middle path for the disciple to follow; he is to know the dangerous delusions of the astral plane, and yet be familiar enough with them, to offer wise interpretive guidance to those who are ensnared in such delusions.
The accepted disciple is naturally becoming increasingly sensitive on all the levels of his personality. This sensitivity only increases as years and lives of work in relation to the Master elapse.
The advice given to all of us who may be more mature disciples, is to hold ourselves in “guarded readiness to see and hear on all levels of service…” Note how the astral plane is referenced not as an area of experience but as an area of service. The true disciple is not interested in astral phenomena as experiences. He views that entire world as an area wherein to assist those who are captivated by their interest in such experiences. The attitude of the mature disciple is detached in this regard.
When a disciple is presented with astral phenomena, his response may be conditioned by prejudice and fear. Either attitude will inhibit or distort real vision and understanding. One must fearlessly observe without succumbing to premature and dismissive judgment, otherwise one will never know what is really happening. A delicate balance is required of the disciple who would serve in relation to this powerfully delusive sphere of planetary life.
DK inserts one of those short memorable statements which should be part of every disciple’s memory bank: “The Path of Discipleship is not an easy one, but its compensations are adequate”. This is, I think, a somewhat dry understatement—deliberately dry. The dryness arrests our attention.
One of the areas of difficulty for the increasingly sensitive disciple is precisely his relationship to the astral plane and to the phenomena of that plane.
We might ask why DK launches into such a discussion at this point in His description of the Six Stages. It is precisely because “psychic sensitivity is involved in the understanding of this particular phase of discipleship”.
In your thoughts as you endeavour very briefly to study this stage, there must exist a correlation between the chela, the Ashram in which he is working and the Master. This correlation and the growth of this triangular relationship is always brought about through a realisation of tension. There has been much given to students upon the theme of the thread, the sutratma and the antahkarana. This thread leads from the Hierarchy and a point of tension in that Hierarchy (such as the Master at the centre of any Ashram) to distant places, to many planes and into many hearts. This thread enables the disciple (if he has been permitted to learn how to use it) to return instantaneously to his centre of work and to reach at any desired moment the "Master of his life." This triangular relation might be depicted thus:
DK enters into an explanation which may contain important technical hints about the stage of “Chela on the Thread”. A triangular relationship between chela, the Ashram and the Master is emphasized. Actually, in the diagram below, examination will reveal that there are four possible triangles.
The “thread”, as here explained, seems to be a combination of the sutratma and the antahkarana. In another way, it has its own distinct life and being.
The thread has a hierarchical origin. A Master is a “point of tension” within the Hierarchy. From that point of tension the thread goes forth “to distant places, to many planes and into many hearts”.
The implications suggest that from the Master, many threads (which are, in a way, but one thread) go forth all over the world, and lead to any of the three planes in the lower worlds, and, as well, anchor in many hearts. This may well be an anatomical hint, for disciples have long speculated where the thread from the Master may be anchored. At the top of the head, in the ajna, in the heart, or in all three? Presumably, ashramic workers who do not presently have a physical body may also be “on the thread”, since the thread may terminate on the astral plane or on the mental. Whether it extends to ‘places’ on the higher mental plane must be researched.
There is a suggestion that the thread exists whether or not the disciple knows how to use it. Perhaps this thread is put forth as a channel of magnetic rapport at the moment when the pledged disciple (who is a chela in the Light) becomes an “accepted disciple”, technically understood. It would make sense that this would be the case.
At a certain stage in his development, the disciple is permitted to learn how to use the thread. This is interesting as it appears to be a phased process. The disciple at first is not simply permitted to use the thread at will; instead he permitted to begin learning how to use the thread, and it may take a while.
If, as hinted, the thread terminates (at least partially) in the disciple’s heart, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the meditative practice of building the image of the “Master in the Heart” is an early preparation to the ability to recognize and use the thread.
The practice of such building begins, of course, long before the disciple has reached the stage of Chela on the Thread, and long before he could possibly be permitted to utilize the thread in emergencies, but, still, a foundation, it would seem, is prepared.
Along the thread, the disciple returns, instantaneously, “to his centre of work” and reaches, “at any desired moment the Master of his life”.
From his own heart, it takes him to the heart of the Ashram (the Master).
It would seem that the “heart” must decide whether any situation in which the thread could potentially be used is a real spiritual “emergency”. The decision is probably not reasoned and rational, in the normal sense, but arrived at intuitively.
Another possibility is suggested to the accepted disciple in process of becoming a chela on the thread: the Ashram is to be held within the heart and not only with the head.
There are technicalities regarding contact with the Master and His Ashram and these must be arrived at by each individual without instruction that is too explicit.
We are later told that the anchorage of the thread occurs in the head, but the heart, it would seem, is necessarily important in the process.
[page 743]
The Master
*
The Soul * * The Ashram
*
The Disciple
The diagram given here is very interesting and may tell us more than DK has, thus far, discussed. On a level with the Ashram is “the Soul”, which is not so much the Solar Angel, as much as it is man as a higher Ego—uniting in his higher consciousness the partial presence of the Solar Angel. The Solar Angel “puts down” what might be called a ‘thread of presence’ into the causal body, and this presence unites itself to the consciousness of the disciple (which is really a highly attenuated thread of consciousness or awareness from the monad).
Man as a soul is, in a sense, already in the Ashram. Man the disciple is hovering on the periphery of the Ashram. Eventually, when the disciple merges completely with the soul aspect, only a triangle remains and not a diamond.
It is interesting to consider the direct link between the Master and the Disciple and to realize that the Soul and the Ashram are somewhat to the side of this vertical line, though the disciple’s connection to these two centers is also direct in its own way, though more angular.
An extension of this idea lies behind much that I have taught anent the Wesak Festival and should be in your minds when you prepare to participate in it.
Shamballa
*
The Buddha* * The Christ
*
The Hierarchy
*
Humanity
Interesting correspondences arise between these two diagrams.
Shamballa is the correspondence to the Master
The Buddha finds His place where the Soul is placed in the lesser diagram. The Buddha is, in a sense, a facilitative Agent Who is not part and parcel of the Hierarchy as is the Christ. Likewise, the Solar Angel (represented, in part, by the Soul in the lesser diagram) is facilitative of the Ashram, but not part and parcel of it.
The Christ finds His place where the Ashram is positioned
The Hierarchy takes the place of the Disciple
This diagram is more complex than the earlier one, and includes five terms instead of four.
The greater diagram should be considered as an extension of the lesser.
Both of these diagrams reveal how various “threads” may connect one center of spirituality to another.
The Disciple, in the lesser diagram, can be related, really, to a combination of Hierarchy and Humanity. It would be technically correct to say that the disciple actually stands midway between the two.
The greater diagram pictures a somewhat second ray alignment, as neither the Manu or the Master R. (Mahachohan) is included.
The diagram above is recommended to the minds of disciples as they prepare for the Wesak Festival. We see that, in the diagram, the Buddha and the Christ are considered equal, for they are “on the level” with each other.
The entire subject of the chela on the thread and the techniques involved in this state of consciousness are all related to the capacity of the human being, under soul control, to be magnetic and to "emit the vibratory call which can penetrate to the ear of the One Who holds the thread." This is quoted from a very ancient manuscript in the Archives of the Hierarchy, dealing with this stage of discipleship. I am for the first time making this information available in a brief and necessarily veiled and inadequate form to the disciples, assembling this cycle at the call of the Hierarchy. Only those who are at this stage of discipleship will really comprehend what I say and profit by the hints.
The stage of “Chela on the Thread” is related to the magnetism of the human being. The magnetic disciple passing through this stage of discipleship can “emit the vibratory call which can penetrate to the ear of the One Who holds the thread.”
There are hints veiled in this ancient form of words.
The call is vibratory rather than vocal.
If the call is to be sent forth, it can only be done by a human being in whom the soul is in control. Soul control and domination reach a preliminary consummation at the third degree.
The thread is obviously not held in the ‘hand’ of the Master, but the thread is capable of being manipulated by the Master.
Where is the “ear” of the Master? Is it in the Master’s head? Is it in the Master’s heart? For the word “ear” is found in “heart”, and the heart can surely hear. Or is there a connection to the Master’s heart in the head?
Then, too, it is necessary to realize that the Master can hold many “on the thread” without the benefit of a physical body, and so the termination (origin) of the thread (on the Master’s side) may be an ‘abstract location’.
The hint is given that the ability to assemble at the call of the Hierarchy is related to the thread. The thread (once activated with respect to the disciple) is not a “one way street”, and the call of the Master and of the Hierarchy can ‘descend’ via that thread. Assembly is a state of vigilance, of alert responsiveness. An inner group assembles by assuming the necessary point of tension.
This fourth stage is only possible to a disciple who has been an accepted disciple for more than one life and who has demonstrated his ability to work with selflessness and pertinacity. The requirements can be stated as follows:
When does the stage of Chela on the Thread become possible? The disciple must have been an accepted disciple for more than one life; two then, at a minimum? The present life of accepted discipleship may, perhaps, be one of the two.
We remember that—
Several lives are necessary for the stage of Little Chelaship
A minimum of two lives for the stage of Chela in the Light
That accepted disciples can be so for a number of lives.
“I seek today to emphasise to you the need to recognise and re-interpret your inner life pattern, or, in other words, the inner programme which your soul undertook to follow when you first set your foot upon the Path of Accepted Discipleship. This you did two or three lives ago” (DINA I 307, in instructions to DLR—Ray Formula: 15—567. DLR was a trusted disciple.)
“Some have been on this Path of Accepted Discipleship (technically understood) for many lives. Some are venturing for the first time—consciously and with deliberate effort—to tread the Way to God. All are mystics, learning to be occultists.” (DINA I Introduction, AAB)The period somewhat after the first initiation and including the second initiation is the stage of Accepted Discipleship.
The inference is that the stage of Chela on the Thread occurs closer to the third initiation and beyond it.
We now enter a section in which the requirements for those who would be chelas on the thread are clearly set forth.
1. The disciple has succeeded in decentralising himself and is no longer the point of dramatic interest on his own little stage. He is no longer preoccupied with his feeling [page 744] nature and the excessive self-interest, evidenced by so many, no longer controls his thoughts and aspiration.
Through the phase of accepted discipleship, the disciple has worked at the necessary task of decentralization. He reached the point of success. Revelation has come, in the stages of Alignment, Crisis, Light, Revelation, and Integration. The Divine Plan is somewhat revealed, and the lesser revelation of the liabilities of his personal nature has subsided into the background. He is no longer so interested in himself personally, but treats his personal nature as an instrument for soul service.
The suggestion here is that he has become mentally polarized, which occurs midway between the second and third initiations. Thus, preoccupation with the feeling nature has subsided. This is another way of saying that the second initiation has been passed.
It is not reasonable to consider that a disciple could be chela on the thread before the second initiation. More than one life has to have been spent in the stage of accepted discipleship (which, we remember) occur most often somewhere between the first and second initiation. At the very least, the first initiation must be passed. There is only one extremely rare instance in which accepted discipleship was reached before the first initiation was taken (and the circumstances surrounding this acceptance were highly unusual).
The second initiation is that initiation before which and during which bridge-building is occurring (i.e., the building of the antahkarana). Mercury is active in the antahkarana process; before there is some success in this process, the thread by which the accepted disciple is connected to the Master will not be activated in the new way required in the stage of Chela on the Thread.
The thoughts and aspirations of a chela on the thread are directed towards the execution of the Divine Plan, and not towards his own advancement. This is possible because of what has been called the “death of the emotional nature”, meaning that desire is rapidly being transmuted into love.
Decentralization and an increasingly mental focus are thus some initial watchwords for this stage.
2. The disciple can now work with impersonality, no matter how his own personal nature may be reacting. This means that his own feelings, thoughts, likes, dislikes and desires are no longer the controlling factors; he is conditioned in his daily activities and relationships only by those intentions and activities which are for the good of the group. He will not sacrifice any individual to the group good until after due effort to help that individual understand and demonstrate right relationship; but he will not hesitate to take firm action as need and opportunity arise.
The quest for impersonality is now achieved to a significant extent.
Reactions within the personal nature, so preoccupying for some, no long preoccupy the attention.
There may be feelings, thoughts, likes, dislikes and desires (astrally based, for the most part) but the chela on the thread is so controlled by soul purpose and ashramic purpose that these earlier distractions are no longer allowed to distract.
Will (and action resulting from such will) will condition his daily activities; intention is directed towards the good of the group. Saturn has done its work as has Mercury; the life can be lived far more impersonally than heretofore.
We see DK describing the strengthening of will which occurs at this fourth stage. The chela on the thread is impersonal with respect to himself, and also with regard for others. When others deviate from the proper standard, he will do all he can to help them understand and to demonstrate right relationship, but if firm action is required (in line with purpose) then no strictly personal consideration will prevent him from taking that action.
Thus far, we see that decentralization and impersonality are established facts in the life of the chela on the thread. They were not established facts in the life of the little chela or the chela in the light, and were only being strenuously learned in the life of the disciple admitted to the stage of Accepted Discipleship.
3. The disciple has developed a sense of proportion as to the work and the relative value of his contribution to the Master's work and the Ashram life. He is engrossed in the task and the opportunity and not with the Master and with his individual position in the Master's thoughts. Most disciples in the early stages of their novitiate never forget that they are disciples. This is what the Master Morya has called the "smug recollection of the self-engrossed mind." It is a form of veiled pride which beginners find it difficult to avoid. Never for a minute do they forget the fact of their discipleship and the fact of the Master, no matter how active their service; yet—if they were truly working from a point of tension—they would forget His very existence in the work to be done for their fellowmen.
To decentralization and impersonality are added a “sense of proportion as to the work and the relative value of his contribution to the Master’s work and the Ashram’s life”. The chela on the thread is not the victim of glamorous distortion. Saturn and Mercury have taught him to see with a realistic eye. He does not wish to flatter himself or others with vain imaginings.
The work comes first, even before thought of the Master (as an individual), and certainly before his consideration of his own rank and status within the Ashram or in the Master’s thoughts. What is required, is that the disciple learn to take his eyes off his personal self.
What is the early stage of a novitiate? Can we say that the stages of Little Chelaship (a quite unconscious stage) and that of Chela in the Light are the early stages? An accepted disciple is learning to be decentralized and spontaneously self-forgetful. A true chela on the thread will drop from the forefront of his mind the constant recollection that he is a disciple.
Master Morya’s summation captures the attitude so frequently found: the “smug recollection of the self-engrossed mind”!
Such disciples (beginners for the most part) cannot lose themselves in service. Their interest in themselves is still far too strong, and follows them throughout all acts of service. Thus, the service is still somewhat self-centered and incompletely given.
DK closes this section with a powerful statement suggesting that if such disciples were truly working from a sufficient point of tension they would forget the very existence of the Master in the work done for their fellowmen.
As we look out upon the world stage, we can see disciples of this kind (disciples who may not even know they are disciples and who do not care—so absorbed are they in the necessity of the work to be done for their fellow human beings).
To enter this stage of rightly tense absorption in service is a great step towards real participation in the Ashram. Before that time, the disciple is still hampered by selfishness, however subtle. Perhaps selfishness is not fully overcome until the Great Renunciation of the fourth initiation, but by the time a disciple is a chela on the thread (assuring contact with the Master at will) egoistic preoccupation and the usual forms of spiritual selfishness have been largely defeated.
4. The chela on the thread has reached a point where the higher correspondence to the so-called "split personality" is to be found, or (to word it otherwise) where that state of consciousness, of which the split personality is the shadow and the distortion, makes its appearance. The disciple is conscious simultaneously of two states of awareness or two points of concentrated activity:
All lower states have their higher correspondences. The “split-personality” is one such.
From what is here said, not only the Techniques of Fusion have their applicability to the chela on the thread, but that form of approach which we call the Technique of Duality.
a. The point of spiritual tension wherein he is focussed and which he endeavours to preserve inviolate and constant.
The higher part of the “split” is the “point of spiritual tension”. This necessarily occurs on the fourth subplane of the mental plane, but that point of tension which is focussed in and around the mental unit is in very close touch with both the soul and spiritual triad. The disciple is beginning to be ‘causally conscious’ and somewhat triadally aware. Increasingly, he is functioning as a soul.
The focus in the very highest part of the concrete mind must remain constant and inviolate; the higher contacts (which are also sustained to the degree possible) are made possible through the intensity of the point of tension.
[page 745]
b. The focussed sphere of activity in the three worlds, through the medium of which he carries out his work and service as a disciple.
The lower part of the focus is the sphere of activity in the three worlds where the chela on the thread focusses his service.
The sense of two centers—one higher (one soul infused and triadally inspired—i.e., the soul-infused mind), one lower—is distinct.
These two related points are not in reality two separated activities, except as they emerge in the consciousness of the disciple upon the physical plane and express his objective and his subjective life. They are incident to his having to work in time and space and through the medium of a physical brain. The second point of focus should be in reality an externalisation of the inner point of tension. In these words, you have the key to the true science of discipleship, to the developing relation of the human centre and the hierarchical. It concerns also the work of the Buddha and the Christ, as They represent the point of tension at Shamballa and in the Hierarchy.
In the brain consciousness the two points seem divided. The subjective and objective life are represented by the two, and if the brain were differently constructed, the representation would be less dualistic.
So the sense of division is really something of an illusion.
DK informs us, however, that “the second point of focus (in the three lower worlds) should be in reality an externalization of the inner point of tension”. Thus, there is intended to be a continuity between the sustained point of inner tension (assuring soul presence and growing triadal awareness) and its outworking in the lower three worlds.
These are apparently very important words because they give the key “to the true science of discipleship”, and to the developing relationship between the human centre and the hierarchical. On a more exalted level, the Buddha and the Christ (working as a unit) are the focus for the point of tension represented by Shamballa.
We can see the necessity for proper alignment, and for the ability to transfer that which is gained at the point of tension directly and without distortion into the lower three worlds, so that the external focus becomes, in fact, an externalisation of the inner point of tension.
True discipleship is achieved through an integration between the inner and outer. When this integration is incomplete or distorted, one cannot hope to be a chela on the thread. Chelas on the thread bring through faithfully, that which is known and sensed at their inner point of tension.
Most disciples are not working from a point of spiritual tension, but from a point of personality focus—a step forward indeed from that of the average unthinking person but one to which they cling unduly long. As long as a man is focussed in his personality, the point of spiritual tension will evade him. He will be driven by personality aspiration and not by ashramic force and this focus in form will lead to trouble both to the individual aspirant and to his group. Spiritual tension, as a result of complete dedication of the personality to the service of humanity, stimulates and empowers but does not evoke the lower life of the personal self.
Earlier DK spoke of tension and extension. The term “extension” is equivalent to what is here called “personality focus”. The ‘extense’ or extended disciple is focussed in the personality or in various parts of the personality.
We are told that the stage of personality focus represents progress over mass consciousness, but there is a tendency to remain in it entirely too long—especially given the grave needs of humanity at present. The word used is “cling”, and it suggests the sign Cancer, the Moon and the presence, in general, fear as related to the mass consciousness.
A strong incentive for the abandonment of personality focus is given. No disciple focussed in the personality can achieve a “point of spiritual tension”—no matter how great his personality efforts.
An important distinction is here given: the distinction between personality aspiration and ashramic force. What is the difference between the two?
Again the term “aspirant” is used when connected to the one centered in his personality. If this is the case, the term “aspirant” represents a continuation of personality focus (even in the presence of aspiration for something higher); the term disciple represents a position midway between personality and soul identification; and the term “initiate” represents identification with and as the soul.
Personality aspiration is worked up from below. Ashramic force descends from above and has nothing to do with the personalities of the members of the Ashram. Those personalities are simply instrumental to the execution of ashramic Plan and Purpose. In a way, ashramic force is no respecter of persons. Personality aspiration, however, seeks for the gratification of the personality—even when that gratification is considered “spiritual”.
Personality aspiration is essentially separative (no matter how well-meaning) and it is for this reason that it will lead to trouble for the “individual aspirant and to his group”.
Ashramic force is unitive in its intent and it driven by the unified energies of the Master and His Ashram. There is no way to advance oneself into the Ashram. The whole idea is contradictory. Only those can enter the Ashram who are deep into the process of advancing the Plan (especially according to the methods that a particular Ashram is using to cooperate with the Plan).
If we had wondered how to increase the point of tension to the necessary pitch, the answer is “complete dedication of the personality to the service of humanity”. Many occult exercises could be conceived to promote the intensity of the point of tension, but this simple expedient (arising from a heart awake to humanity’s suffering and deep needs) is by far the most effective.
There is always a problem with overstimulation when dealing with approach to higher spiritual sources and to the Hierarchy itself. Here we are informed that “spiritual tension…stimulates and empowers but does not evoke the lower life of the personality”. True spiritual tension, therefore, does not lead to the overstimulation of the personality vehicles. It empowers the vehicles with a higher energy without agitating the lunar energies which they ordinarily represent.
These are the requirements which the disciple must meet before he is taught to reach the Master at will and when an emergency arises.
Reaching the Master (even in an emergency) is not an easy task and it is not permitted to the unprepared.
There is a definite teaching involved, and the mode of communication is surely subtle.
Let every disciple review his life, and determine for himself whether he is nearing the fulfillment of these requirements, or whether, perhaps, he has fulfilled them.
Decentralization, impersonality, proportion, dual focus and correct spiritual tension—these are the requirements summarized in brief, with many additional requirements included within the principal ones.
We note that the chela on the thread can reach the Master “at will”. This means that the spiritual will must be have been developed to a degree through sacrifice. Certainly, it is not desire that prompts the chela to call for a response from the Master. The call arises from the realization of the needs of the Plan according to Purpose (as much as the chela can grasp it). The one who is surrendering to the demands of the Plan is demonstrating that he is willing to do what needs be done; the Divine Will is, in small measure, being developed within him.
Thus the will which sounds the call is not the personal will at all, but a Plan-guided will which is impersonal.
I would like here to call your attention to the attitude of the Master at this stage of His chela's progress. As the name implies, the disciple at this point is permitted to call the attention of the Master; this is permissible only when the chela can be trusted to use the privilege solely for purposes of group service and never for himself or his own benefiting. This signifies that the disciple is capable of handling his life and problems himself and is not likely, therefore, to intrude his personal crises into the life of the Ashram. It implies also a chela of such devotion and essential basic selflessness that the Ashram needs no protection from his vibratory activity; he [page 746] never exacts from the Master any of the potency which rebuffs, as it is esoterically called. The Master knows that if a call comes from the chela on the thread, it will not be a waste of His time to respond, because the call will always be launched on behalf of group need and for the establishing of group purpose.
From the outset, the Tibetan instructed us that He would be examining these stages of discipleship from the perspective of the Master and the Ashram, and not so much from the perspective of the aspiring disciple.
Note the word, “call”. Does it suggest an appeal in words or a voiceless appeal from the heart (remembering that “heart” is “soul”)? Experience will tell.
The entire stage is based upon a developed selflessness. No self-centered incentive will ever prompt a chela on the thread to send forth the call. It would be instantly rebuffed.
Other requirements for the chela on the thread emerge with these thoughts. A chela on the thread cannot be the victim of normal dependencies. He does not depend upon Master as one may depend upon a parent or a guardian. He is a mature disciple and can handle “his life and problems himself”. It is highly unlikely that such a chela (by error) would “intrude his personal crises into the life of the Ashram”. The factor of inhibition would be upon him should he even think of doing so.
Other requirements: “devotion” and “essential basic selflessness”. The sacrifice petals of the egoic lotus are surely open, if not entirely, then to a very great extent. This would depend upon whether one could be “on the thread” before the third initiation at which time the sacrifice petals are completely open.
Note that the quality of devotion is considered valuable and necessary. There cannot be a selfish chela on the thread. Selfishness must be worked out of the system during the stage of accepted discipleship. It is because of his essential selflessness that the mature accepted disciple is trusted to be “on the thread”.
If there is sufficient devotion and selflessness, the Ashram will not have to guard itself from the disciple, and the Master will not have to protect the Ashram with what is here called the “potency which rebuffs”. We can certainly see that ambition, whether latent or conscious, will never propel a disciple into this stage of intimacy with the Master and the Ashram.
The Master, Whom we learn, must respond to the call of the chela on the thread, has confidence that His response will not be a waste of time. The call will be sent for reasons of “group need and for the establishing of group purpose”. The Ashram, too, works according to the Law of Economy, and waste of time is strictly forbidden.
We note the use of the word “launched” with respect to the call that goes forth along the thread. Perhaps it holds a hint as to the method by which the call is propelled.
If we look at the planets Mars, Venus and Mercury, we can understand them as progressive in relation to the stages of discipleship thus far covered. The Martian phase of aspiration characterizes the stage of Little Chelaship. The chela in the Light is still affected by Mars but is growing into the light of Venus, within which the accepted disciple begins to merge. Mercury (representing beginning of direction which comes from the Master during the stage of Accepted Discipleship) is also part of the mix during this third stage, and becomes even stronger when the fourth stage is reached, necessitating the use of both the antahkarana and the thread (in as much as they can be considered distinct).
No matter what the Master is doing or what His preoccupation, He must respond to that call, for it is the endowed right of the trusted disciple to send it out when emergency demands it. You might ask how the chela knows that he can "get through" to the Master, using here a colloquialism. I can assure you that a complete inhibition rests upon him when the call may not be sounded—an inhibition, arising on his side of the relationship and not imposed by the Master—and he neither wants nor attempts to sound the call when there is a question in his mind. It is a matter of clear intuitive perception, the recognition of an unimpeded channel and an act of spiritual will. It is in reality a process of invocation and evocation. This whole concept of the chela on the thread lies behind the distorted teaching about the prerogatives and privileges of the priesthood and the relation of the Pope, for instance, to God or of the "elect" to the Deity. This latent and unfulfilled ideal is that of the chela on the thread and the Master and His Ashram, interpreted by the ecclesiastical consciousness as the Church. When the coming world religion is built around the work and the activity of the world disciples and knowers, then we shall see these symbols, called the "rights and prerogatives of the priesthood," correctly interpreted and truly expressed. The same symbolic inferences are also to be seen in the Brahmin caste in India.
One gathers the sense of the very real responsibility which rests upon the chela on the thread who sounds a call in an emergency, for the Master must respond, no matter what may be His preoccupation.
It is the “endowed right” of such a chela to sound the call, and that right necessitates the Master’s immediate response. All proceeds according to Law.
Technicalities are discussed. How does a chela know when he may sound such a call? Can he always “get through”? Should the time of the proposed sounding be impermissible, an intuitively impulsed inhibition will rest upon the chela. The inhibition has to do with the conditions of the established line of communication. The Master does not, from His part, inhibit the disciple’s sounding.
Three factors are brought to our attention relative to the possibility of sounding:
Clear intuitive perception (again suggesting that the antahkarana is built to a significant degree and that the spiritual triad has thus been contacted. This would necessitate the achievement of at least the second degree and probably, beyond, for after the third degree real intuitive development begins in earnest).
Recognition of an unimpeded channel.
And an act of spiritual will.
If the intuitive perception seems to falter and an unimpeded channel is not recognized (i.e., if there doubt due to prevailing conditions), the spiritual will, will not be asserted and the call will not be sounded.
It may be that in this sounding, certain visualizations are facilitative. Visualization also facilitates access to the intuition.
The Ashrams are found, for the most part, upon the buddhic plane, and so the disciple must have reached that stage of development where buddhic access is possible. This again, suggests the relative completion of the antahkarana and its functionality.
We see that the Ageless Wisdom has penetrated the thought of the Church (and of other religious traditions), though often in a distorted manner. The prerogatives and privileges of the priesthood (as the Catholic Church understands them), and the rights of the highest Indian Caste, the Brahmins, can be understood as related to the idea of the thread which connects such presumably ‘elevated’ individuals to a divine source (called often, “God”).
In the New World Religion, the real priests will emerge and they will be real be cause they will have achieved a true inner communion with the divine aspects within their nature, and also with the Spiritual Hierarchy of the planet.
The priesthood will be a meritocracy, and no human being will be able to award merit or spiritual status to another. Merit (and, thus, authentic spiritual status) will arise through achieved inner development which demands recognition because of its obvious value to humanity and the world.
Hierarchy within the human family will be proven through the clear recognition of spiritual attainment and will not be falsely structured for reasons originating in the personality.
This responsive relationship and interplay is only attained after a long cycle of the outer relation of the accepted disciple upon the periphery and finally within the Ashram. It does not come about as the result of any effort to fit oneself for this position of power and of influence in service. It is simply the silent and almost unconsciously achieved result of that self-effacement and self-forgetfulness which distinguishes the accepted disciple; he is decentralised and engrossed in the fulfilment of the divine Plan to the best of his ability. It is the reward, if I might so express it, of the worker who knows what [page 747] he has come into incarnation to do and who is endeavouring with dedication to do it. The driving urge of his life is the need of humanity and his expanding awareness of the immediate next step that man must take.
DK speaks of a “long cycle of the outer relation of the accepted disciple upon the periphery and finally within the Ashram”. This cycle may be presumed to last a number of lives, for the newly accepted disciple must work his way from the periphery of the Ashram into the Ashram proper.
We have already seen specifically that a few lives may be spent in the stage of Accepted Discipleship, and AAB herself uses the word, “many”.
DK is alerting His readers that ambition will not serve to make of an accepted disciple a chela on the thread. The accepted disciple cannot seek to position himself as a chela on the thread. To attempt to do so would simply mean that the emphasis of the disciple’s consciousness was still upon himself as a personality rather than the work.
The real requirements are long, hard work, “self-effacement”, “self-forgetfulness” and decentralization. When he is thoroughly “engrossed in the fulfillment of the divine Plan to the best of his ability” he may silently enter this stage of even greater usefulness.
The Tibetan deglamorizes the whole process. The reward comes to the worker who knows what he has to do and does it, motivated by his awareness of the needs of humanity and his understanding of humanity’s next step forward. A disciple who has his eyes upon the little self, its place power and position, is simply unfit for this stage of responsiveness.
The major tasks of the Master when a disciple first enters His Ashram is to make him think along the lines of decentralisation. This involves the shift of the disciple's consciousness from himself to the work to be done and, incidentally, the answering of the questions:
DK focusses now on the importance of decentralization—something that individual human beings and humanity as a whole resist so strenuously. The conceptual fight to remove the Earth from the center of the universe (the “Copernican Revolution”) is a glaring example.
A number of questions are posed to earnest disciples. They all bear on the achievement of decentralization, and we should answer them before the bar of our soul.
1. Do you, in reality, know what your life task is?
It takes a degree of psychological and spiritual maturity to know what one’s life task (one’s incarnational purpose) really is.
The personality, alone, does not know the task. Only communion with the soul will reveal to the disciple the nature of this task. The average individual may determine upon a task without the benefit soul contact; even so, the soul will be influential.
2. Have you tried to carry this out in your current life processes?
The average disciple will say, “yes”, knowing that he could always do better.
The question of priorities faces everyone. We can engage in “a little discipleship as convenient” (in the words of Foster Bailey), or, at the other extreme, we can give everything we have to the service of humanity in cooperation with Hierarchy.
No one can determine for us the extent to which we are trying to carry out our life task. It can be said, however, that we will not be sorry (especially later) if we “give it our all”.
3. Is your main objective the building of character and the development of purity? If this is so, do you not think that you should be on the Path of Probation and not deluding yourself with the idea that you are on the Path of Discipleship?
Even disciples, for the most part, have much to do in this regard, and they must constantly attend to improving their character and increasing their purity—for purity is one of the three main energies emanating from Shamballa.
However improving character and purity are not the main objective for accepted disciples. The Divine Plan is foremost in their minds. As they give all they can to manifest their share of the Plan, the tasks of character building and a finer purity of life will make headway. These lesser but essential requirements will be met as part of meeting the greater requirements of service to the Plan and humanity.
The distinction in this question relates to the Path of Probation and the Path of Discipleship. The Path of Probation may be understood as referring to the first two stages of discipleship (Little Chelaship and Chela in the Light—especially the latter). The Path of Discipleship, per se, is really the Path of Accepted Discipleship. As we have been studying, the requirements for the accepted disciple and for the chela on the thread are far more strenuous than for those upon the Probationary Path.
4. Are you preoccupied with human need or are you engrossed with your own position as a disciple, with your own spiritual problems, and with the delusion of the terrific difficulties in your personal life?
This question is an attempt to put things in proportion. Human need is foremost in the minds of the Masters, and disciples must learn the same attitude. The response depends upon one’s sense of values.
However, many disciples are engrossed with:
Their own position as disciples
Their own spiritual problems
The delusion of the terrific difficulties of their personal life.
If we study these three engrossments, we shall see that they are all based on self-centeredness, a sense of values which is still largely personal, and an unrealistic perspective without adequate sense of proportion.
When the consciousness is focussed on humanity’s need, these lesser considerations are seen for what they are and drop away. In fact, they are often solved when the attention is rightly focussed on the problems of humanity.
As long as you believe that your life is one of all engrossing interest and also one of exceeding hard places, you are only in the very early stages of accepted discipleship and have not yet cast off ancient habits of thought. These questions have eventually to be answered before the student has what I might call "the full freedom of the Ashram."
Master DK was writing to a number of those who either knew they were accepted disciples or who were very shortly to be informed—as a group. His purpose was to challenge an excessive interest in self so prevalent among myopic disciples—even accepted disciples.
Self-centeredness is the ancient way of the personality and its vehicles. We have long been habituated to this way of thought. It must be transcended before we can become true ashramic workers.
We learn that the newly accepted disciple (still wrestling with difficulties incident to self-centeredness) does not have “the full freedom of the Ashram”. Only if these questions can be answered correctly and in a selfless, self-forgetful and self-effacing manner can this full freedom be granted. A still separative individual cannot enter a state of consciousness based upon unity in the service of the Divine Plan.
The Ashram, you must remember, is externalised only in so far as it provides a point of spiritual tension. From that Ashram, disciples go out to work in the world. The outer group, working in the world, or the exoteric Ashram, is externalised by reflecting the radiance of the inner Ashram and by establishing a magnetic field of spiritual power. This is done just in so far as the members of the Ashram who are found on its outer periphery relate themselves to the inner Ashram and therefore react to the note and quality of the inner group, gathered around the Master.
DK asks us to think of the externalization of an Ashram in a new way. The Ashram must become (with respect to the three lower worlds) a present and effective point of spiritual tension.
Disciples who are members of the Ashram participate in that point of tension, hold it and emerge into the three worlds (those of them that are in incarnation) as representatives of that point of tension.
The outer group or exoteric Ashram must:
Reflect the radiance of the inner Ashram
Establish a magnetic field of spiritual power
Outer workers, such as many disciples may hope to be, must see to their alignment with the inner Ashram, and be faithful in their expression of the “note and quality of the inner group, gathered around the Master”.
When the members of the outer group and the outer group as a whole are able to hold themselves at a point of spiritual tension which approximates, vibratorily, the point of tension which the Ashram is, then the externalization process through that group is well under way.
An Ashram is not a group of people seeking spiritual realisation. It is a centre of group activity, swept by energies which [page 748] (when given full and proper sway) enable the group to carry out the Master's plan and meet human need. You may wonder perhaps why I so constantly emphasise this need. I do it because that need is the main and urgent principle of invocation; it can and will evoke hierarchical response and thus put two centres—that of Humanity and the Hierarchy—en rapport. This is a group correspondence to the invocation of the soul by the personality and its subsequent evocation upon the plane of every day living, thus leading to a consequent fusion. An Ashram or Master's group is, therefore, a centre of invocation and when the individual disciple becomes a chela on the thread, it is as the reward of selfless service—carried forward at any personal cost. Then the Ashram can be a centre of unique world potency.
The Ashram is not a group of “people” (especially, people who are simply seekers). No one enters the Ashram unless his quest, his seeking has been relatively successful and is no longer his principal motive.
Rather an Ashram is an assembly of souls merged into a group and swept by the kind of energy which will enable the group to “carry out the Master’s plan and meet human need”.
The Ashram is a selfless organism mobilized for world service under the will of the Master at the center.
Only those who are soul-identified (having transcended merely personal identification) can find themselves numbered among the members of an Ashram.
DK emphasizes response to human need extensively. He tells us that human need is the “main and urgent principal of invocation”. This means that when a disciple is responding fully to human need he will necessarily be evoking all the higher energies which his energy system can handle. He will be working to full capacity. Hierarchy will, according to law, respond.
Eventually, when a great number of human beings are focussed on the meeting of human need, Hierarchy will be significantly evoked and these two major planetary centers, Hierarchy and humanity will be drawn more closely together.
Invocation by of the lower of the higher, leads to a response by the higher which, in turn, further evokes the invoking agent. Hierarchical response evokes a higher quality of human response.
A new way of understanding an Ashram or a Master’s group is as a “center of invocation”. The Master’s group invokes the Ashram of which it is a representative. The Ashram invokes the Greater Ashram of Sanat Kumara (the Spiritual Hierarchy of our planet of which the Christ is the Head), and that Ashram invokes Shamballa.
Every point of tension is a center of invocation.
How did a chela on the thread earn the right for this particular kind of communication? “It is the reward of selfless service—carried forward at any personal cost.”
Chelas on the thread employ a peculiar technique, according to their ray; they work always through the head centre. By means of this centre, they sound out the call (an inaudible call, from the physical plane angle) which (vibrating along the thread) reaches the Master. These techniques are, however, taught directly to the disciple by the Master when He recognises His chela's right to the privilege. I cannot give these techniques direct to you. When you are "on the thread," you will inevitably have the information given to you.
Earlier we learned that a line of contact going out from the Master reached the hearts of many. The Master is, indeed, present in the heart of the advanced disciple.
Here more technicalities are given. There is a technique by which the chela may contact the Master and it varies according to ray. This suggests that different notes, colors, mantrams or visualizations are used depending on the ray type.
The main sounding of the call occurs through the head center. This probably means the highest head center, but the possible involvement of the ajna center and other esoteric head centers should not be discounted.
The call is inaudible from the perspective of the physical plane, and it vibrates along the thread which is connected to the head center.
The techniques involved are not for exoteric discussion and are taught directly to the disciple by the Master when the time is right. A chela will not be taught the technique appropriate to his ray until he has a right to the privilege of being taught.
The teaching of how to use the thread descends along the thread to the chela who is on the thread. The initiate is initiate before he is initiated, and the chela on the thread is on the thread before he is taught how to use the thread.
This thread is not the antahkarana but a linking thread of living light. This the Master projects as the disciple's service evokes a response from Him. This evocation, however, increases its potency as the disciple builds the antahkarana between the personality and the Spiritual Triad. The chela on the thread eventually has the life thread (one aspect of the antahkarana) connected with this ashramic thread and hence the establishment of monadic control of the individual which (in its group form) signifies the control of the Hierarchy by Shamballa. The lesser and the greater relationship must ever be borne in mind.
An important distinction is given: the thread emanating from the Master and anchoring itself in the qualified chela is not the antahkarana, nor is it the sutratma, per se, but it is certainly related to both these other threads.
DK calls the thread a “linking thread of living light”.
We see that while the thread emanates from the Master, the antahkarana is built largely from ‘below’ (though under the stimulation of that which lies above).
When the disciple’s service is of a sufficient quality and intensity, the Master will project the thread towards the disciples. This projection (from above) can be related to the disciple’s projection of the antahkarana from below.
It becomes clear that the Master’s projection of the thread occurs before the chela is aware of it or is taught how to use it.
The vitalization of the thread by the Master increases in potency as the disciple builds the antahkarana. The increasingly soul-infused disciple is reaching upwards and the Master is reaching out towards him.
Another important technicality is shared. The thread which reaches the chela on the thread is called an “ashramic thread”. At a certain stage the ashramic thread becomes interwoven with the life thread (sutratma), and this interweaving facilitates monadic control.
We have stated here the interesting point that the “life thread” (often called the sutratma) is one aspect of the antahkarana. The antahkarana, too, is a line of living light, and hence, the appropriateness of the “life thread” as one of its constituents.
The stage of monadic control is significant at the time that the accepted disciple can become a chela on the thread, for the third initiation is very closer or passed, and the monad is making its presence felt in a conscious way.
When the group aspects of monadic control are understood, the groups involved are Hierarchy and Shamballa. Monadic control signifies the control by Shamballa of Hierarchy.
To the average aspirant, the implications of this stage of discipleship are valuable from the angle of emphasising what has not been achieved. The implications are, therefore, negative. This is frequently desirable where accepted disciples are concerned whose attitude should be positive and intelligent. [page 749] The Law of Positive and Negative Relationships underlies all these stages. That which is higher is, at first, always negative to that which is lower; then interim changes take place which make the higher positive to the lower and lead, therefore, to the steady ascending of the Way of Life and the Ladder of Spiritual Ascent.
As we read about the stage of Chela on the Thread, most of us will realize what we have yet to achieve. The best way to achieve it is through complete investment in selfless service.
Disciples must always have something towards which to strive, and thus it helps for us to learn as much as we can about this stage of mutual responsiveness between disciple and Master.
Those who know that they are in the stage of accepted discipleship are thus given the incentive to intensify their efforts to selflessly serve.
DK says, interestingly, that “the Law of Positive and Negative Relationships underlies all these stages”. All stages deal with the approach of the disciple to the heart of the Ashram—the positive pole.
Our task through all these stages is to render the Master (originally the negative pole because of our unresponsiveness to Him) the positive pole. Then will reliable communication be established between the disciple and both the Ashram and the Master. The reciprocal will also be true. Then will a vital and living link exist between the solar and lunar poles, facilitating the expression of the Divine Plan.
Every disciple who, through fulfilling the many requirements, becomes a chela on the thread, brings the day of the Externalization of the Hierarchy that much closer.