The Rays and the Initiations

by Alice A Bailey

  The number 24 is of deep interest, expressing as it does the double 12—the greater and the lesser zodiac. Just as the number 6 expresses space, so the number 24 expresses time, and is the key to the great cycle of manifestation. It is the clue to all cyclic appearance or incarnation. Its two figures define the method of evolution; 2 equals the quality of love-wisdom, working under the Law of Attraction and drawing man from one point of attainment to another; whilst 4 indicates the technique of conflict and the achieving of harmony through that conflict; 4 is also the number of the human hierarchy, and 2 is the number of the spiritual hierarchy. Technically speaking, until the third initiation, the initiate is “occupied with the relationship of the 2 and the 4; these, when placed side by side, connote relation; and when placed the one above the other, the initiate passes from the 4 into the 2.” Needless to say, there is much more to say anent these figures, but the above will suffice to show the satisfactory nature of esoteric numerology—not numerology as understood today.

  I would have you note that the sounds which compose the word “Shamballa” are predominantly along the line of will or power or of first ray energy. Of the nine letters, six are on the first ray line of force. 1.1.1.3.3.1.—spirit and matter, will and intelligence. Two of them are along the second line of force, 4 and 2. The number 8 inaugurates ever a new cycle, following after the number 7, which is that of a relative perfection. It is the number of the Christ-consciousness; just as 7 is the number of man, 8 is the [81] number of the Hierarchy, and 9 is the number of initiation or of Shamballa. Forget not that, from the angle of the Hierarchy, the third initiation is regarded as the first major initiation.

  These preliminary remarks are intended to convey much esoteric information to those who realise that number gives the clue to the form and purpose of the life which the form veils. At the third major initiation, the third planetary initiation (which is in fact the first solar initiation), the liberated disciple for the first time—alone and unaided—invokes the highest spiritual centre on our planet, Shamballa. This he does because, for the first time, consciously and with understanding, he registers the life aspect (which has brought his soul into action through the medium of form) and vibrates to the Monad. That registration enables him to contact “the bright centre, lying far ahead,” to blend his individual will with the divine will, and to cooperate with the purpose aspect of manifestation. He has learnt to function through form; he has become aware, as a soul, of the divine form in its many aspects and differentiations; he now starts off upon the way of the higher unfoldment, of which the first step is contact with Shamballa, involving the fusion of his self-will and his spiritual will with the Will of God.

  At the third initiation he stands before the One Initiator, the Lord of the World, and “sees His star shine forth” and hears the sound which—to quote the Old Commentary:

  “...pours forth from that central point of power where substance and the outer life have met together, where spirit utters loud the cry which drew the form to meet the highest need; where energy comes forth and blends with force and (in the blending) music had its start within the sphere of blending and of being thus created.

  “Man only hears the distant sound and knows it not for what it is. The disciple hears the sound and sees its form. The one who stands for the third time upon the mountain top hears a clear note and [82] knows it as his own, as ours, as yours, and yet the note which none have sounded forth.”

  4. When the demand and the response are lost in one great Sound, move outward from the desert, leave the seas behind and know that God is Fire.

  This means more than its obvious significance. Superficially it can mean that when the initiate hears the Sound, he leaves behind the desert life of physical incarnation, the emotional life of the astral plane, seething and unstable as the sea, and functions on the plane of mind, of which the symbol is fire. That is the most elementary and obvious meaning, and as this section of A Treatise on the Seven Rays is written for those with initiate understanding, the obvious interpretation will not prove satisfactory. The meaning must be broader and deeper. The words “outward from the desert” have application for the entire life of the incarnated Monad in the three worlds of human endeavour and enterprise. “Leaving the sea behind” has reference to the withdrawal of the initiate from all sensuous experience because, as I have pointed out, the state of consciousness or awareness is superseded when the higher initiations are taken and their place is filled by a state of being for which we have no word but the unsatisfactory one of identification. This state of being is something very different to consciousness as you understand it. The phrase therefore means (if such a misleading form of words can be justifiably used) that the initiate leaves consciousness itself behind and the five worlds of life expression are transcended; at the third initiation the initiate grasps what is meant when the One in Whom we live and move and have our being (note that expression) is referred to as Fire. I elaborated this theme in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire—a book which evades understanding by all except those with initiate consciousness. Fire is the sumtotal of that which destroys form, produces complete purity in that which is not itself, generates the warmth which lies behind all growth, and is vitality itself.

  [83] This initiate realisation is all brought about by the sudden appreciation or apprehension of sound, by the awakening of the inner ear to the significance of the Voice, just as the disciple in the earlier stage awakened to the significance of vision. That is why, at the third initiation, the initiate sees the star and hears the sound. At the first two initiations, he sees the light and hears the Word; but this is something different and is the higher correspondence to the earlier experience. It will be obvious that I can say no more upon this subject.

  It is essential, however, that some knowledge begin to reach the public anent the highest spiritual centre to which (as the Gospel story intimates) Christ Himself was attentive. Frequently we read in the New Testament that “the Father spoke to Him,” that “He heard a voice,” and that the seal of affirmation (as it is occultly called) was given to Him. Only the Father, the planetary Logos, the Lord of the World, enunciates the final affirmative sound. This has no reference—when it occurs—to the earlier initiations, but only to the final ones. There are five obvious crises of initiation which concern the Master Jesus as step by step He took or re-enacted the five initiations. But lying behind this obvious and practical teaching, lies an undercurrent or thread of higher revelation. This is concerned with the realisations of the overshadowing Christ as He registered the Voice which is heard at the third, fifth, sixth and seventh initiations. The Gospel story gives us the five Initiations of the Master Jesus, beginning with the first and ending with the fifth. But it also gives the initiations of the Christ, starting from the second and ending with the seventh. The latter is left incomplete, and the Voice is not recorded, because at the Resurrection and Ascension we are not told of the hearing of the affirmative sound. That will be heard when the Christ completes His work at the time of the Second Coming. Then the great seventh initiation, which is a dual one (love-wisdom in full manifestation motivated by power and will), will be consummated, and the Buddha and the Christ will together pass before the Lord of the [84] World, together see the glory of the Lord, and together pass to higher service of a nature and calibre unknown to us.

  In this connection it is wise to remember that three great energies are focussed in Shamballa, the seat of fire:

  1. The Energy of Purification: This is the power, innate in the manifested universe, which gradually and steadily adapts the substance aspect to the spiritual by a process which we call purification, where humanity is concerned. It involves the elimination of all that hinders the nature of divinity from full expression, and this again from inherent or latent capacity. This necessitates the leaving behind, stage after stage, cycle after cycle, life after life, and plane after plane, of every tendency in the form nature which veils or hides the glory of God. It is essentially the energy which sub
stitutes good for evil. Human thinking has debased this concept so that purification is related mainly to physical phenomena and physical plane life and to a selfish idealism which is largely based on the thought of the sanitary care of substance. An enforced celibacy and a rigid vegetarianism are familiar instances of this, and these physical disciplines have been put in the place of emotional loveliness, mental clarity, intuitional illumination, and the thoughts of the aspirant become focussed downwards into matter and not outwards and upwards into light.

  2. The Energy of Destruction: This is a destruction which removes the forms which are imprisoning the inner spiritual life, and hiding the inner soul light. This energy is therefore one of the major aspects of the purificatory nature of the divine Life, and that is the reason why I have put purification ahead of destruction. It is the destroying aspect of life itself, just as there is a destructive agency in matter itself. Two things must be borne in mind in connection with the destroyer aspect of Deity and with those responsible for its appearance:

  a. The destructive activity is set in motion through the will of Those Who constitute the Council at Shamballa and Who are instrumental in bringing the forms in all the subhuman kingdoms into line with the [85] evolving purpose. Under cyclic law, this destructive energy comes into play and destroys the forms of life which prevent divine expression.

  b. It is also brought into activity through the determinations of humanity itself which—under the Law of Karma—makes man the master of his own destiny, leading him to initiate those causes which are responsible for the cyclic events and consequences in human affairs.

  There is naturally a close connection between the first Ray of Will or Power, the energies concentrated at Shamballa and the Law of Karma, particularly in its planetary potency and in relation to advanced humanity. It will be apparent, therefore, that the more rapidly the individual aspirant approaches the third initiation, the more rapidly and directly will the individual’s karma be worked out. Monadic relation, as it becomes established, lets loose the destructive aspect of the basic energy, and all hindrances are destroyed with expedition. This is true also of humanity as a whole. Two factors have, subjectively and spiritually, precipitated this world crisis: The growth and development of the human family and (as you have been told) the inflow of the Shamballa force at this particular time, both as a result of Karmic law and the planned decision of the Great Council.

  3. The Energy of Organisation: This is the energy which set in motion the activity of the great Ray Lives and started the motivation and impulse of that which produced manifestation. Thus were the seven ray qualities brought into expression. The relation of spirit and matter produced this ordered process which again, cyclically and under law, creates the manifested world as a field for soul development and as an area wherein divine purpose is wrought out through the medium of the plan. Again I call your attention to the distinction existing between purpose and plan. This is the aspect, emanating from Shamballa, and inherent also in form (as are the other two), which eventually relates the human will, through the right use of the mind, to the organised planning of his separate and individual life in the [86] three worlds, and which eventually relates and reorients that will to the Will of God.

  These three energies are faintly symbolised for us in the life of Christ when overshadowing the Master Jesus, two thousand years ago.

  The purificatory aspect of the monadic force is indicated at the Baptism episode; secondly, the destroyer aspect can be seen expressing itself at the time of the Crucifixion, when it rent the veil of the Temple from the top to the bottom. The episode which indicates the energy of organisation and the relation of the spiritual will of the Christ to the purpose and the will of the Father appears when He said, in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not my will but Thine be done.” This final episode is closely related to the consciously expressed will of the Christ Child when He realised in the Temple that He must be about His Father’s business and that His will was to do the will and fulfill the purpose of the Father, the Monad and the One of Whom the Monad is the expression.

  It is these three energies which have precipitated the world crisis, and it is helpful for us to recognise the factual nature of the Shamballa forces as they play upon our planetary life and work out human destiny. The great energy of purification is regenerating humanity, and of this the widespread fires which have been such an outstanding characteristic of this war (1914-1945) are the outward and visible sign. Much evil is being burnt out through the revelation of the appalling character of that evil, and through this, unity is being produced. Mankind has looked upon evil in every land and known it to be wrought by men. Men have seen, and that sight will never be forgotten, and the horror thus engendered will aid in stiffening the will of humanity to betterment. The energy of destruction has its side of beauty when the spiritual values are grasped. That which has so grossly imprisoned the human spirit is disappearing; the rocky grave of humanity is breaking open and releasing men to a life of resurrection. Forget not that in the interim between the tomb experience and the appearance in living [87] form to His disciples, the Master Jesus went down into hell (figuratively speaking), carrying release for those to be found there. There will be an interim between the darkness of the war with the evil history of the past, and the appearance of a living civilisation and culture based on the spiritual values and intelligently developing the divine purpose. The stage is now being set for this.

  The Crucifixion and the tomb experience lead eventually to resurrection and to life. The destruction is appalling, but it is only the destruction of the form side of manifestation in this particular cycle, and (a point which I would beg you not to forget) it is the destruction of much planetary evil, focussed for aeons in humanity as a whole and brought to the surface and precipitated into violent activity by a group of evil men whose destiny it was. This destiny was the result of their own deliberate choice, and of prolonged cycles of purely material selfishness.

  I would ask all aspirants and disciples to ponder upon the destructive purpose of God—a purpose which is motivated by love, guided by a balanced judgment as to form, and which cherishes and fosters the life and its resultant spiritual values.

  There is an inherent destructive energy in matter itself and an energy of very great potency; it is with this energy that the Axis Powers are working. The destructive energy, emanating from “the bright centre,” Shamballa, is something very different, and I would ask you to remember this. The destroying power of spirit is not the same as that of matter. A human being destroys his own form again and again through the evil which he does and by the material focus of his desires; the following of a life of vice will breed disease, as is well known.

  The disciple can also destroy his form nature through selfless service and devotion to a cause. In both cases the form is destroyed, but the motivating impulse is different and the energy of destruction comes from different sources. The death of a Master Jesus or of a Father Damien, and [88] the death of a Hitler or of a murderer, are not the result of the same essential energies.

  When the din of battle and the smoke and fire of bombing and the cruel effects on human bodies have faded into the past, it will be apparent to the understanding aspirant that much evil has been destroyed in all fields of human activity—in the field of theological religion, in the field of politics, and in the field of selfish economic competition. It will be for humanity then to precipitate and stabilise the appearing good, and this they will learn to do through the utilisation of the third Shamballa energy—the energy of organisation. The new world will be built upon the ruins of the old. The new structure will rise. Men of goodwill everywhere, under the guidance of the New Group of World Servers, will organise themselves into battalions of life, and their first major task must be the development of right human relations, through the education of the masses. This means the paralleling development of an enlightened public opinion, which is (speaking esoterically) right response to the sound which conveys the will of Go
d to the ears of the attentive. Then humanity will indeed move outward from the desert, leave the seas behind, and know that God is Fire.

  RULE FOUR

  At the time of the June Full Moon, each year, the love of God, the spiritual essence of solar fire, reaches its highest point of expression. This it achieves through the instrumentality of the Hierarchy, that great group of souls which has ever been the custodian of the principle of light, of enlightened love, and which always—down the ages—focusses its attention upon the race of men when the spiritual influence is at its height. This it does through one of the great Sons of God. The Full Moon of June of 1943 saw this outpouring of divine love reach its highest expression for all time, and at the point of attainment which is, for that particular Son of God, His highest also. Such is the Law. When an embodied Christ in time and space reaches [89] His goal of achievement, recognition of this comes to Him at the time of the June Full Moon, for in that sign of Gemini the complete victory of life over form, and of spirit over matter, is consummated and celebrated.