The Rays and the Initiations

by Alice A Bailey

  The true disciple does not need vegetarianism or any of the physical disciplines, for the reason that none of the fleshly appetites have any control over him. His problem lies elsewhere, and it is a waste of his time and energy to keep his eye focussed on “doing the right things physically,” because he does them automatically and his spiritual habits offset all the lower physical tendencies; automatically these developed habits enable him to surmount the appeal of those desires which work out in the fulfillment of lower desire. No one is accepted into the circle of the Ashram (which is the technical name given to the status of those who are on the eve of initiation or who are being prepared for initiation) whose physical appetites are in any danger [127] of controlling him. This is a statement of fact. This applies particularly and specifically to those preparing for the first initiation. Those preparing for the second initiation have to demonstrate their freedom from the slavery of ideas, from a fanatical reaction to any truth or spiritual leader, and from the control of their aspiration which—through the intensity of its application—would sacrifice time, people and life itself to the call of the Initiator—or rather, to be correct, to what they believe to be His call.

  I would point out that the third initiation is approached from a level tableland of experience and of consciousness, and not from the heights of aspiration, or from fanatical sacrifice, or from the standpoint of a devotion which handicaps the service of the devotee and of the Master he seeks to serve. He knows, as a candidate for initiation, that:

  1. Life is one and naught can ever take or touch that life.

  His sense of proportion as to form becomes adjusted. He is forward-looking towards the soul, and not backward-looking towards the form nature. Some very sincere devotees and promising applicants are so preoccupied with form and its disciplining that they have no real time to give to soul expansion. They are so interested in their reactions to their self-imposed discipline or to their capacity to conform or their failure to accept the discipline, that the spiritual truths—seeking entrance into their hearts—fail to make such an entrance. Temperance in all things, the wise use of all sustaining forms and self-forgetfulness are the hallmark of the disciple, but not of the beginner. Many disciples today who should be functioning in the Hall of Wisdom are still fanatically working in the Hall of Knowledge and are still so earnest over the physical disciplines that the disciplines of the soul are ignored. I would ask you to reflect on this. Applicants have to learn the significance of the words of Rule VI for disciples, “the lesser rules are rules in time and space and cannot hold the group.”

  I wonder if you can grasp the type of consciousness which distinguishes the Hierarchy, even if you are only able [128] to do so imaginatively and theoretically. They “onward move in life.” They work in the realm of life energy; the form seems to Them something which They have definitely left behind, and the consciousness of appeal or rejection of the form nature and hold is to Them only a memory of a distant battle ground where the victory then won has been forgotten and the gains of victory are so far behind that they lie well below the threshold of consciousness. Broadly and generally speaking, workers in the ranks of the Hierarchy (I did not say “with the Hierarchy”) are divided into two main groups: those who are working with the unfoldment of the initiate consciousness in the disciples of the world, and those of a more advanced degree who are working with the life aspect and its expression in the lives of the world initiates. Working disciples (who are working in cooperation with the Hierarchy) are also working in two major divisions: Those who are dealing with applicants and are seeking to see the imposition of the physical disciplines, and with the impartation of certain minor values so that beginners may grasp the point that they have reached. There are those also who are working to substitute understanding and service for physical discipline and the earlier, inevitable, selfish ends.

  Let me repeat: the physical disciplines are of value in the beginning stage and impart a sense of proportion and an awareness of defects and of limitations. These have their place in time and space, and that is all. Once the world of the soul is entered, the disciple uses all forms wisely, with understanding of their purpose and with freedom from excess; he is not preoccupied with them or fundamentally interested in them. His eyes are off himself and are fixed on the world of true values. He has no sense of self-interest, because a group awareness is rapidly superseding his individual consciousness. The words:

  2. Let the group know the vivid, flaming, drenching life that floods the fourth when the fifth is known

  are of prime importance to those who would and can profit [129] by what I am seeking to convey, as I interpret—as far as may be—these Rules. The knowing of the fifth kingdom in nature through the medium of the consciousness of the fourth and the sacrifice of the fourth kingdom to the fifth, of the human being to the soul and of humanity to the kingdom of God, is the parallel (on a higher turn of the spiral) of the sacrifice of the third kingdom, the animal kingdom, to the fourth, the human kingdom. Thus it proceeds down the scale—sacrifice always of the lower to the higher.

  It therefore behooves the individual disciple to decide whether he is an applicant, and consequently to be controlled by the “rules in time and space,” or a candidate for initiation who knows that life is one and that the form is of no material significance, except as a field of experience for the soul.

  We now come to the most important part of this particular rule; it conveys the key to the immediate goal for those who have attained a certain measure of understanding. The words of importance are:

  3. Let then the group—merged in the fifth—be nourished by the sixth and seventh.

  In other words: “Then let the group—which is identified with the soul—find its sustenance and vitality by the inflow of the intuition and of the spiritual will, emanating from the Spiritual Triad.” There are, of course, other meanings, but this is the most practical for disciples. A larger but similar concept lies in the realisation that the human family, the fourth kingdom in nature, is absorbed by the fifth or by the kingdom of God and (when this is the case) can become increasingly en rapport with the sixth and seventh kingdoms. To these kingdoms no names have as yet been given, because the possibility of their existence is only now just beginning faintly to penetrate into the consciousness of the disciple and the initiate. The sixth kingdom is that of the “overshadowing Triads”—that aggregation of liberated Lives of which the higher initiates in the Hierarchy [130] are a part; They are to that spiritual group what the New Group of World Servers is to Humanity. I know not how else to express this truth to you.

  The seventh kingdom in nature is that of the Lives Who participate in full capacity of understanding with the group of Beings Who are the nucleus of the Council at Shamballa. Around the Lord of the World this group pivots; Their consciousness and state of being is only dimly understood by the most advanced Members of the Hierarchy, and the relation of these Lives to the Lord of the World is similar, and yet fundamentally different, to the relation of the Members of the Hierarchy to the three Great Lords—the Christ, the Manu and the Mahachohan. Through these three Lords pours the energy which streams from Shamballa, transmitting the purpose and motivating the plan of Sanat Kumara—His Life Plan. What you call “the Plan” is the response of the Hierarchy to the inflaming purposeful will of the Lord of the World. Through Sanat Kumara, the Ancient of Days (as He is called in the Bible), flows the unknown energy of which the three divine Aspects are the expression. He is the Custodian of the will of the Great White Lodge on Sirius, and the burden of this “cosmic intention” is shared by the Buddhas of Activity and those Members of the Great Council Who are of so elevated a consciousness and vibration that only once a year (through Their emissary, the Buddha) is it safe for Them to contact the Hierarchy.

  I am seeking only to point to a wider horizon than that usually registered by disciples and I use these broad analogies to expand your point of view. By so doing I can convey to the enlightened person a sense of syn
thesis, of purposeful planning and of planetary integrity. This great spiritual structure of Being, of Life and of Direction is something that the disciples and initiates of the world need—at this time—in their effort to stand steady under the pressure of world events, and in their determination to cooperate unwaveringly with the moves and plans made by the world Directors, that “Society of illumined and organised [131] Minds” which is known under the name of the Hierarchy. It is illumination and consequent organisation which is needed profoundly at this time.

  You will see, therefore, the significance of the teaching now being given out anent the building of the antahkarana. It is only through this bridge, this thread, that the disciple can mount on to that stage of the ladder of evolution which will lead him out of the three worlds, which will bring the personality into rapport with the Spiritual Triad, and which will finally lead the Members of the Hierarchy (when Their term of service is completed) on to the Path of the Higher Evolution. The antahkarana is built by aspirants and disciples and initiates of the seven ray types, and is therefore a sevenfold woven thread; it constitutes the first stage of the Path of the Higher Evolution. It is to that Path what experience in the mineral kingdom of the Life of God is to that same Life when it reaches the fourth or human kingdom. You can see, therefore, how significant is the coming Science of Comparison; not yet has this science of comparative analysis been turned into a definitely recognised line of approach to truth. The Law of Analogy is the key which unlocks the understanding.

  Something of the quality and the revelatory power of the intuition is known by all disciples; it constitutes at times (from its very rarity) a major “spiritual excitement.” It produces effects and stimulation; it indicates future receptivity to dimly sensed truths and is allied—if you could but realise it—with the entire phenomena of prevision. A registration of some aspect of intuitional understanding is an event of major importance in the life of the disciple who is beginning to tread the Path to the Hierarchy. It provides testimony, which he can recognise, of the existence of knowledges, wisdom and significances of which the intelligentsia of humanity are not yet aware; it guarantees to him the unfolding possibility of his own higher nature, a realisation of his divine connections and the possibility of his ultimate highest spiritual attainment; it steadily supersedes soul knowledge, and the energy pouring in to his consciousness [132] from the Spiritual Triad—particularly the energy of the sixth and seventh spheres of activity—is the specific and particular energy which finally brings about the destruction of the causal body, the annihilation of the Temple of Solomon, and the liberation of the Life.

  Then that which in time and space has been termed the soul can “onward move in life.” Evolution as we now understand it ceases; yet evolutionary unfoldment proceeds along new lines which are based upon the past but which produce very different results to those sensed even by the advanced disciple in his highest moments. A new life-expression appears which moves onward freed from all form yet subject still to limitations “within the circle of influence of the greater Life,” but not limited by life within the many forms which progress, surrounded by that circle, that divine ring-pass-not. There is still the broad confining sweep of the purpose and the life-intent of the planetary Logos, but within that periphery and sphere of activity the Triads move with perfect freedom. Their onward push towards the higher states of Being is carried out in conformity with the life urge of the One in Whom they live and move and have their being. You will note, therefore, that these words in reality cover or deal with life processes and not with form building or the experience in forms, as usually understood.

  A consideration of these at present inaccessible truths may serve to inspire your minds, evoke your intuition and give you vision and increased spiritual perception.

  RULE SEVEN

  The Rule which is our theme for consideration at this time is one of deep significance and esoteric interest; it is concerned with the life of Shamballa and with the purposes of the Great Council. This rule is also one of rare beauty and extraordinary implications, and it offers me the opportunity to enlarge upon a subject little known or understood by any esotericist in the average esoteric group. The [133] reason for this is that it is only as the new cycle draws closer—as it is drawing today—that the new and fuller teaching, the greatly extended horizon and the tremendously enhanced perception of the spiritual observer and worker become possible and apparent. Much, very much, has been given out during the past one hundred years anent the Masters, and (as we are considering the subject of initiation and of preparation for that great transitional experience) it is necessary to understand somewhat the nature of Those with Whom the disciple has to associate, and the kind of world and of consciousness in which They live and move and have Their being. The fact of the Hierarchy is to many thinkers an established fact; the hypothesis that there may be a Hierarchy is a widespread recognition. Information concerning its grades, its modes of working and its objectives are now common property; much has been accepted and much proved by those who believe this teaching.

  Before proceeding to a discussion of Rule VII, however, I would like to spend a moment studying some of the effects of this steadily growing fund of knowledge. It has become the possession of the many and not only of the rare and discreet esotericist and occult student; this teaching has now seeped down into the consciousness of the masses and is there producing curiosity, relief and hope, speculation and cynical laughter, conscious spiritual effort or sustained ridicule—according to the type of mind, the sensitivity to truth or the crass credulity of the recipient. But the knowledge, belief and hope in the existence of a planetary Hierarchy has today leavened the entire mass of human thinking in a far wider and deeper manner than perhaps the most optimistic suspect; herein lies the hope of the world, and here is to be found also a fertile field for spiritual work during the coming decades. For this all disciples must prepare.

  The rules whereby the Hierarchy may be reached are already well known to the aspirants of the world; they must become equally well known to the average person; the objectives of the hierarchical work must be emphasised and [134] the nature of the divine Plan unfolded so that purpose and goal may be presented to humanity; the synthesis of the chain of hierarchical Existences—from the smallest atom of matter up to and including the Lord of Life Himself—must be unfolded; the essential and spiritual interdependence of all and the interrelation of every unit of divine life must be proved. This will eventually lead to that established unity of effort which will express itself in the merging of the fourth and the fifth kingdoms in nature, and to the establishment of that brotherhood which will constitute the germ or the seed of the coming manifestation of the Hierarchy as the Heart of God (directly related to the Heart of the Sun) in physical expression. This is necessarily an ambiguous phrase; but is as close an expression, in words, of hierarchical purpose as I find it possible to make.

  The entire field of the world—meaning by that phrase all the kingdoms in nature in united inner and outer relationship—will be the medium of recognised spiritual experience and also the field of expression of certain divine qualities and aspects which have hitherto been in quiescent abeyance. What these qualities are, what divine aspects are awaiting precipitation, and which divine purposes are latent in that field of waiting expectancy, I cannot yet reveal or even indicate. The times are not yet ripe.

  A great upheaval in all the kingdoms in nature has characterised this day and generation; a stupendous destruction of all forms of divine life and in every kingdom has been the outstanding note of this upheaval. Our modern civilisation has received a death blow from which it will never recover, but which will be recognised some day as the “blow of release” and as the signal for that which is better, new and more suitable for the evolving spirit, to make its appearance. Great and penetrating energies and their evoked forces have met in a conflict which has, figuratively speaking, elevated the mineral kingdom into the skies and which has brought down fire from he
aven. I am talking to you factually and not just symbolically. The bodies of men, women and children, as well as of animals, have been [135] destroyed; the forms of the vegetable kingdom and the potencies of the mineral kingdom have been disintegrated, distributed and devastated. The coherent life of all the planetary forms has been temporarily rendered incoherent. As an ancient prophecy has put it: “No true united Sound goes out from form to form, from life to life. Only a cry of pain, a demand for restitution and an invocation for relief from agony, despair and fruitless effort goes out from here to There.”