The Rays and the Initiations

by Alice A Bailey

  This training in decision is given by forcing the Master to make basic decisions within His Ashram affecting world work and involving all within the Ashram. It is given by His admission to the conclave of the Masters, meeting every seven years. At that conclave They make decisions which concern all forms of life in all the kingdoms in the three worlds and their evolutionary progress; it is put to the test in group form when the entire Hierarchy meets at Its centennial conference and—at that time—decides what form of crisis, on what level of consciousness, and involving what group of lives, must be implemented and presented to humanity, though the other kingdoms of nature will be necessarily implicated. The reason for this is that the meeting of such a planned crisis will hasten certain realisations. Forget not that humanity grows through the presentation of moments of crisis. These moments of crisis, based on past karma, conditioned by the point in evolution already achieved, and on the presence in the three worlds of certain appropriate ray forces, are brought to the point of precipitation by united decision in the conclave of the Masters.

  These decisions do not affect man's free will, for the Hierarchy does nothing to condition man's approach to the crisis and, occultly speaking, Their “attitude is deliberately turned to other things” during the period of man's decision; thus the potency of Their thinking does not affect the human mind. Once the precipitation of the crisis is complete, and humanity has begun to take action of some kind, then the full attention of the Masters, working through Their Ashrams, is committed to the giving of full assistance to all those who are seeking to guide humanity along correct lines—a relative few among the countless millions of the ignorant.

  While these centennial conclaves are being held at the close of the first twenty-five years of every century, the Lord of the World with the Members of His Council watch the process of decision in order to see how far the will of the [394] Hierarchy conforms to that aspect of the divine will which should be expressed in the three worlds as the result of Their decision. They watch also Those particular Masters Who should in a short time be ready for the sixth initiation, in order to see how much of that divine will They register and what is the nature and quality of Their use of it. By recording that quality, the Council at Shamballa is able to determine with great accuracy which of the seven Paths a certain Initiate will choose. In this manner They become aware of how many senior disciples will be needed to take over the headship of an Ashram, with a consequent admittance of many disciples to the initiation next in order for them. At the same time, aspirants on the periphery of an Ashram are enabled to move forward into full ashramic participation.

  All this should give you some idea of the synthesis which expresses itself through the three planetary centres: Shamballa, the Hierarchy and Humanity. These are responsible for the conditioning of the other planetary centres and the consequent demonstration of divine intention. The basic purpose of Sanat Kumara is to bring about right relations in every field of His manifested life. The encouraging factor is today that the activity of humanity itself is, for the first time, concerned with the entire subject of right human relations and how to bring it about. I would have you reflect on this, for it means that, again for the first time, humanity is consciously responding to the will and intention of Shamballa, even though without realising the esoteric implications. This is of far greater importance than you can imagine, for it signifies a new relationship of a spiritual nature and deeply spiritual results.

  The preparation of the Masters for this sixth initiation is exceedingly strenuous. They find it as difficult to achieve Their goal as does the average disciple as he looks ahead at the initiation which immediately confronts him. They have to master the technique of handling the most potent energy and influence in the world, that of the intelligence. They have to penetrate into the mystery of electricity and implement [395] its expression in the creative process under the directive of Shamballa; They have to learn to work with electric fire in the same way as—much earlier—They worked with fire by friction as personalities, and with solar fire as disciples and lesser initiates. In this way, They become familiarised with what is meant by the words the “Central Spiritual Sun,” just as They were familiar with the appearance of the physical Sun when members of the human family, and with the “Heart of the Sun” as Members of the Hierarchy. Again you can see the same unfolding synthesis—a synthesis which originates in that focal point of attractive dynamic energy, known to us as the Sun and its planets.

  Thus within His Ashram the Master learns “occultly to decide” and to condition the creative centre for which He is responsible. He has to do this with the Ashram, surrounded by all those who are in training and who are the agents of His will. Through them He must act, and they thereby limit necessarily the vision to which He reacts, and step down the rate and quality of the energy of which He is the focal point. This energy constitutes the animating life of the Ashram as well as the force which the disciples and initiates must use in their work in the world, this of course in cooperation with the energy which each disciple within himself “occultly generates” and for which he—in his lesser degree—is responsible.

  More anent this subject will be given when we study specifically the nine initiations wherein another synthesis, interlocking with the synthesis of the Will, will appear.

  The seven Paths confronting the Master

  It will be apparent to you now that the Master confronts two crises:

  1. The crisis of the will, as it demonstrates in unalterable decision.

  2. The crisis of the new step which will probably “cast Him adrift upon the shore of some distant sphere wherein His will must be expressed in love.” These ambiguous words of the Old Commentary mean that [396] His decision will (with one exception) take Him away from all that He has hitherto known.

  The majority of the Masters then enter into realms wherein They are needed “to impart, strengthen and enlighten that which is already fused, already strong and already full of light, but which needs that which He brings in order to express the all-encompassing whole.”

  I have to leave you with these words as food for reflection as there is little further that I may say upon this point. In any case and for all deciding groups of Masters, the work with the Hierarchy is over, except for the few Who choose Path I. Part of the mistake which the Buddha made was connected with this subject of decision. He loved humanity so much that He felt He could not and did not choose the Path which He was in reality ordained to follow; He chose instead the Path of Earth Service—which was not His Path at all. This He knows and will in due time pass on to His rightful Path. This little incident will demonstrate the complete freedom of choice which distinguishes the sixth initiation.

  The seven Paths are, as you know from your study of Initiation, Human and Solar the following:

  1. The Path of Earth Service.

  2. The Path of Magnetic Work.

  3. The Path of Training for Planetary Logoi.

  4. The Path to Sirius.

  5. The Ray Path.

  6. The Path on which our Logos is found.

  7. The Path of Absolute Sonship.

  In that first book which I wrote for the world, I gave a simple definition of the exoteric significance of these Paths—so simple as to convey but little. I wrote then for the general public. I will now endeavour to convey some of the deeper meanings, writing as I do for advanced disciples and for initiates who—reading between the lines and understanding the symbolism involved—will comprehend according to their point in evolution. [397]

  As we approach the subject of the seven Paths, I would point out that the only basic point which can be presented to you is that of relationship. All these seven Paths lead to some objective which is thereby put in touch with our planetary life; these objectives—with the life and conditions they represent—present to the Master a vision of possibility. This vision is adequate to the task of drawing Him forth from the hierarchical Ashram, except in one case where vacancies in Shamballa need to b
e filled. The progressive experience of the greater Lives Who work in the Council Chamber of Sanat Kumara form no part of our studies. Many of these supreme Workers, as you have read in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, found Their way to our planet from our sister planet, Venus, thereby in Their turn establishing relationship. Remember also that all the seven rays are the subrays of the great cosmic Ray of Love-Wisdom, which is ever expressive of relationship, implemented under the Law of Attraction; it is this form of esoteric attraction which draws the Master forth from His Ashram, conditions His decision and eventually leads to His passing through the door which opens on to other spheres and planes of activity.

  Let us now consider—very briefly and necessarily inadequately—these seven Paths, taking them one by one:

  1. The Path of Earth Service

  This is the only Path which the Lord of the World regards as within the field of His spiritual interference. He reserves the right to retain in the service of the Hierarchy, and consequently of Humanity and the subsidiary evolutions, Those Masters Whom He regards at any one time as essential to the work to be done. This He does by asking Them to record Their decision when taking the sixth initiation, but to postpone moving on to one or other of the Paths until He gives the word. This word He has lately given in the case of the Buddha, Who has expiated His most understandable mistake and will now move forward—in His own good time—on to the Path which will lead Him to His rightful field of expression. In due time also, though [398] not for some time, the Christ will move forward “to the place which calls Him,” and the Master K.H. will assume the role of World Teacher. All these moves present their unique problems; they produce vacancies in the ranks of the Hierarchy which must be filled; they lead constantly to the inflow of new and powerful energies, for it must be recognised that these energies reach us along Paths leading to our planet as well as away from it. The invocative note of our united evolution at stated times and cycles sounds out and reaches Those Who are waiting for spiritual opportunity and service. They then follow the Path to our planet. From other spheres and planes They emerge along the lines of Their destiny and intention; we then call Them Avatars or Great Enlighteners or Planetary Saviours or Spiritual Regents; They act at the request of Sanat Kumara, given on higher cosmic levels.

  It is nevertheless a statement of fact that in due time even Those Who choose the Path of Earth Service and remain in hierarchical work are eventually given the right to follow Their decision and pass to extra-planetary service. The Hierarchy, as we have seen, gives the needed training for that wider service, and the theme of what I might call the educational process to which the Masters submit is the unfoldment of the consciousness of the relationships which lie beyond the aura of our planet; this is, in reality, a higher and most abstruse branch of the Science of Impression, which disciples upon their lower level have to master. This aspect of impression is, however, concerned with the formless worlds, whereas all the impressions to which the disciple has to learn to react emanate from and within the cosmic physical plane, of which all our seven planes are an integral part; our highest spiritual world is a part of the substantial world. The Masters, therefore, are working at a conscious receptivity or sensitivity to the cosmic astral plane, the source of the spirit or energy of love. There is a fundamental connection between the Hierarchy (the source of expression of love on Earth) and the cosmic astral plane, and it is towards this objective that the Masters work Who choose the Path [399] of Earth Service. The major ray of our solar system is that of love-wisdom, and there is no better field on which to master the preliminary stages of that divine unfoldment and receive the needed development and education than on the Earth.

  On the Earth, the Masters have overcome glamour and illusion, and for Them no astral plane exists. Now ahead of Them, and owing to Their freedom from these “bewilderments,” will come the opportunity to enter into the Heart of God, the centre of pure love, and from that centre to tread the way of love. All these seven Paths lead either to the cosmic astral plane or to the cosmic mental plane, according to the decision made at the sixth initiation. Upon the cosmic astral plane there is no glamour, but instead a great vortex of energy—the energy of pure love—under the domination of the Law of Attraction. It might be stated that:

  Path 1. The Path of Earth Service leads to the cosmic astral plane.

  Path 2. The Path of Magnetic Work leads to the cosmic astral plane.

  Path 3. The Path for Training for Planetary Logoi leads to the higher levels of the cosmic mental plane.

  Path 4. The Path to Sirius leads to the cosmic astral plane.

  Path 5. The Ray Path leads to the cosmic mental plane.

  Path 6. The Path the Logos Himself is on leads to the cosmic buddhic plane.

  Path 7. The Path of Absolute Sonship leads to the cosmic mental plane.

  Three Paths, therefore, lead to the realm of loving attractive energy; one Path leads to its higher correspondence, the cosmic level of pure reason; three lead to the realm of divine Mind. Four of the Paths relate the advancing Master to the Heart of the Great Life Who functions through this solar system, and three to His Mind nature. All of them lead the initiate eventually to the Central Spiritual Sun. [400] All Who work in Shamballa find Their way to this supreme centre by the three most arduous ways, whilst the remainder reach the same goal via the way of love.

  The unfoldment of the will has much to do with Their decision. It must not be thought that Those Masters Who are on the first, third and fifth rays, for instance, follow the Path numerically the same; such is not the case; nor that Those Who are predominantly on the second line of energy find the cosmic astral plane Their goal. Such again is not the case. Their response and decision is based on a realisation of cosmic need—a need of which you can know nothing, any more than it is possible for you to comprehend the nature of cosmic evil.

  As to the detail of the work of Those Who choose—until released—to stay on Earth and work in or with the Hierarchy, is there more that I can tell you? You know much anent this subject for I have given much—far more than has ever been given before. I have not dealt with the work of the Hierarchy in relation to evolutions other than the human, for two reasons:

  Your unfoldment is still such that you do not and cannot yet include or register the consciousness or nature of the subhuman kingdoms.

  The work done by the Hierarchy in those kingdoms is largely carried forward via humanity and modern scientific development.

  There are many Masters Who do not work with the human kingdom at all, but are fully occupied with carrying out the divine Will in other kingdoms. With this work we have, at present, no concern. When any one takes the sixth initiation and makes his decision to follow the Path of Earth Service (either temporarily at the request of Sanat Kumara, or until the end of the world cycle), he will find himself faced with a secondary decision as to which of the four kingdoms will profitably provide the field of his sacrifice and service. We will now consider: [401]

  2. The Path of Magnetic Work

  In referring to this Path, I have stated that Those Who find Their way on to this Path work with fohat, or with the essential energy of our solar system which differentiates into seven major types of energy. Our planet with its ruling Lord is an integral part of the life expression of a still greater Entity, the solar Logos, and it is with the astral energy incident to His cosmic nature that the Master has to work. He learns to direct the currents of this essential energy, and because of His past relation to the Earth, He is part of the directing agency for astral energy within the planetary ring-pass-not. I also said that many Masters Who leave reached liberation upon the fifth ray find Their way to this Path, thus proving the statement that it is not the ray which determines decision. These fifth ray Masters (among many others, of course) will be working in a great second ray vortex of energy.

  It must be pointed out that, in its original state, this pure astral energy, directed under law into our planetary life, is free from all that is at present associat
ed with the astral plane: glamour and delusion, emotional fog and poisonous deceiving phenomena. These well-known aspects of the astral plane are all the creation of humanity down the ages and present, therefore, an increasingly difficult problem to all aspirants. The tormenting turmoil and chaos of the astral plane are due largely to three factors:

  The force of the constantly developing glamour as self-centered and undeveloped human beings create it.

  The force of those aspirants and disciples who are seeking to combat this in their own lives and in the lives of others.

  The inflow of pure solar astral energy under cyclic law and the direction of the Master working on the second Path.

  These three factors create great trouble; during the past crisis of the world war (1914-1945) it reached most serious proportions. The hierarchical crisis to which I have earlier [402] referred was involved, and many Masters from the various Ashrams made a decision to work on this second Path in order to bring order out of chaos by pouring into the planetary astral plane pure astral energy, untainted by glamour and revelatory of pure love. They were experts in timing and in energy manipulation.

  You will also note how three types of astral energy are therefore related: