The Rays and the Initiations

by Alice A Bailey

  Remember that the evil to which I refer here is not necessarily the foul and vile things about which people speak with bated breath. These are largely curable and the processes of incarnation eventually purify them. The true nature of cosmic evil finds its major expression in wrong thinking, false values and the supreme evil of materialistic selfishness and the sense of isolated separativeness. These (to speak again in symbols) are the weights which keep the door of evil open and which precipitated upon the world the horrors of war, with all its attendant disasters.

  [754] The realisation of what was happening did more temporarily to unify the world and heal the cleavages among nations than any other thing. The nations of the world allied themselves with the Forces of Light to a very large extent, and little by little, cosmic evil was forced back and the door which “conceals the place of endless death and hides the countenances of the Lords of wicked pride and hateful lust” was partially closed, but not entirely shut; its final closing and sealing is not yet accomplished.

  There are certain areas of evil in the world today through which these forces of darkness can reach humanity. What they are and where they are I do not intend to say. I would point out, however, that Palestine should no longer be called the Holy Land; its sacred places are only the passing relics of three dead and gone religions. The spirit has gone out of the old faiths and the true spiritual light is transferring itself into a new form which will manifest on earth eventually as the new world religion. To this form all that is true and right and good in the old forms will contribute, for the forces of right will withdraw that good, and incorporate it in the new form. Judaism is old, obsolete and separative and has no true message for the spiritually-minded which cannot be better given by the newer faiths; the Moslem faith has served its purpose and all true Moslems await the coming of the Imam Mahdi who will lead them to light and to spiritual victory; the Christian faith also has served its purpose; its Founder seeks to bring a new Gospel and a new message that will enlighten all men everywhere. Therefore, Jerusalem stands for nothing of importance today, except for that which has passed away and should pass away. The “Holy Land” is no longer holy, but is desecrated by selfish interests, and by a basically separative and conquering nation.

  The task ahead of humanity is to close the door upon this worst and yet secondary evil and shut it in its own place. There is enough for humanity to do in transmuting planetary evil without undertaking to battle with that which the Masters Themselves can only keep at bay, but [755] cannot conquer. The handling of this type of evil and its dissipation, and therefore the release of our planet from its danger, is the destined task of Those Who work and live in “the centre where the Will of God is known,” at Shamballa; it is not the task of the Hierarchy or of humanity. Remember this, but remember also that what man has loosed he can aid to imprison; this he can do by fostering right human relations, by spreading the news of the approach of the spiritual Hierarchy, and by preparing for the reappearance of the Christ. Forget not also, the Christ is a Member of the Great Council at Shamballa and brings the highest spiritual energy with Him. Humanity can also cease treading the path to the “door where evil dwells” and can remove itself and seek the Path which leads to light and to the Door of Initiation.

  5. The Use of the Great Invocation

  Some time ago I gave out to the world—under instruction from the Christ—an Invocation that is destined to become of major usefulness in bringing about certain great events. These are:

  1. An outpouring of love and light upon mankind, from Shamballa.

  2. An invocatory appeal to the Christ, the Head of the Hierarchy, to reappear.

  3. The establishing on earth of the divine Plan, to be accomplished willingly by humanity itself.

  Incidentally, these three events are relatively near and will be brought about by a conscious working out of the immediate phase of the plan, which it is the divine intention to bring about to a certain extent, before the reappearance of the Christ. The establishing of right human relations is the immediate task and is that phase of the Plan of Love and Light to which humanity can most easily respond and for which they are already evidencing a sense of responsibility.

  Little attention has been paid to the factor of invocation as expressed by the people of the world; yet down the [756] ages the invocative cry of humanity has risen to the Hierarchy and brought response. Some day a scientific study will be made of the great world prayers, spiritual statements and invocative appeals and their relation to world events; this relationship will become illuminatingly apparent and the result will be a closer linking of earth and the spiritual centres of love and life. This has not yet been done. Let me illustrate: The spiritual statement by Shri Krishna, to be found in the Lord's Song, the Bhagavad Gita, was an announcement, preparatory to the coming of the Christ. In that Song He says:

  “Whenever there is a withering of the Law and an uprising of lawlessness on all sides, then I manifest Myself. For the salvation of the righteous and the destruction of such as do evil, for the firm establishing of the Law, I come to birth in age after age.”

  In the lawless and wicked period of the Roman Empire, the Christ came.

  Another instance of a notable and most ancient invocation is to be found in the Gayatri where the people invoke the Sun of Righteousness in the words: “Unveil to us the face of the true spiritual Sun, hidden by a disk of golden light, that we may know the truth and do our whole duty, as we journey to Thy sacred Feet.”

  To this we should also add the Four Noble Truths, as enunciated by the Buddha and which are so well known to all of us, summarising as they do the causes and the sources of all the troubles which concern humanity. There are many translations of these truths to which I have referred; they all convey the same longing and appeal and they are all essentially correct as to meaning. During the Jewish dispensation, there was given a statement as to human conduct in the words of the Ten Commandments; upon these, human law has been based and upon them the laws governing the relationships of people in the West have been founded. It has eventuated in a somewhat narrow conception of Deity; these Commandments are didactic and [757] present the negative angle. Then Christ came and gave to us the fundamental law of the universe, the law of love; He also gave us the Lord's Prayer with its emphasis upon the Fatherhood of God, the coming of the Kingdom and right human relations.

  Now the Great Invocation, as used by the Hierarchy itself, has been given out to the world. So reactionary is human thinking that the claim made by me that it is one of the greatest of the world's prayers and is on a par with the other voiced expressions of spiritual desire and intention will evoke criticism. That is of no importance. Only a few—a very few—in the early days of Christianity employed the Lord's Prayer, because it needed recording, expression in understandable terms, and adequate translation before its widespread use became possible. That effort took centuries to accomplish. Today, we have all the facilities for rapid distribution and these have all been employed on behalf of the Great Invocation.

  The uniqueness connected with the Invocation consists in the fact that it is, in reality, a great method of integration. It links the Father, the Christ and humanity in one great relationship. Christ emphasised ever the Fatherhood of God and substituted it in place of the cruel, jealous tribal Jehovah of the nation to which He had gone for a physical vehicle. Christ was a Jew. In the 17th chapter of St. John's Gospel (which is another of the major spiritual statements of the world) Christ emphasised the relation of the Christ consciousness to the consciousness of Deity itself. He linked the concept of the Monad to the fully developed soul-infused personality, and the underlying unity existing between all beings in all forms and the Father. The possibility which He there expressed still remains distant, except in connection with the spiritual Hierarchy; it is good, however, to remember that They have achieved a goal towards which all true disciples and initiates are working. The Great Invocation relates the will of the Father (or of Shamballa), the love of t
he Hierarchy, and the service of Humanity into one great Triangle of [758] Energies; this triangle will have two major results: the “sealing of the door where evil dwells,” and the working out through the Power of God, let loose on earth through the Invocation, of the Plan of Love and Light.

  This is no idle dream. From the angle of the human consciousness, the vehicle of Light is, first of all, the great educational systems of the world, with their capacity for improvement and for the extension of science along the lines of the betterment of mankind, and not for its destruction as is so oft the case today; to this must be coupled the steady changing or conversion of scientific attainment, by the enlightenment which wisdom brings; this has in the past safeguarded human aspiration and human progress into light. In the light which enlightenment brings we shall eventually see Light, and the day will come when thousands of the sons of men and countless groups will be able to say with Hermes and with Christ: “I am (or we are) the light of the world.”

  We are told by the Christ that men “love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.” Nevertheless, one of the great emerging beauties of the present time is that light is being thrown into every dark place, and there is nothing hidden which shall not be revealed.

  When we invoke the Mind of God and say: “Let light stream forth into the minds of men, let light descend on Earth,” we are voicing one of the great needs of humanity and—if invocation and prayer mean anything at all—the answer is certain and sure. When we find present in all people at all times, in every age and in every situation, the urge to voice an appeal to the unseen spiritual Centre, there is a fixed surety that such a Centre exists. Invocation is as old as the hills or as old as humanity itself; therefore no other argument for its usefulness or its potency is required.

  The usual invocative appeal has hitherto been selfish in its nature and temporary in its formulation. Men have prayed for themselves; they have invoked divine help for those they love; they have given a material interpretation to their basic needs. The invocation, lately given to us by [759] the Hierarchy, is a world prayer; it has no personal appeal or temporal invocative urge; it expresses humanity's need and pierces through all the difficulties, doubts and questionings—straight to the Mind and the Heart of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being—the One Who will stay with us until the end of time itself and “until the last weary pilgrim has found his way home.”

  But the Invocation is not vague or nebulous. It voices the basic needs of mankind today—the need for light and love, for understanding of the divine will and for the end of evil. It says triumphantly: “Let light descend on earth; may Christ return to earth; let purpose guide the little wills of men; let the Plan seal the door where evil dwells.” It then sums it all up in the clarion words: “Let light and love and power restore the Plan on Earth.” Always the emphasis is laid upon the place of appearance and of manifestation: the Earth.

  Already this Invocation is doing much to change world affairs—far more than may appear to your eyes. Much remains to be done. I would ask all students, all men of goodwill and all who are participating in the work of the Triangles and helping to build the network of light and goodwill, to do all that is possible to spread the use of the Invocation. The year 1952 will be a year of spiritual crisis and a year when it should prove possible to close more tightly the door where evil dwells.

  The Invocation has been sent out by the combined Ashrams of the Masters and by the entire Hierarchy; it is used by its Members with constancy, exactitude and power. It will serve to integrate the two great centres: the Hierarchy and Humanity, and to relate them both in a new and dynamic manner to the “centre where the Will of God is known.”

  I ask you, therefore, during the coming years to prepare to use and distribute the Invocation and make it a major endeavour. I would have you call all the people in every country in the world (whom you are in a position to reach) to a united voicing of the Invocation on the same day [760] in every land (World Invocation Day was launched in June 1952, and is held annually on the day of the June (Gemini) Full Moon). I would ask you to collect all that I have said or written anent the Invocation and then prepare a brief manual as to its use and purpose, putting a copy in the hands of all those who are willing to use it. A comprehension of its origin, meaning and potency will render it far more effective. The year 1952 should see a major turning point in the thinking of humanity, in human goals and human affairs. For implementing this I would ask you to work.

  Here you have a short resume of the five most important spiritual results of the present century. The war itself has cleared the way for them. They are a natural and normal outcome of the war and have arisen (with the exception of the Great Invocation) out of the masses of the people and from their thinking; it was also their unvoiced demand and the appeal of their suffering hearts which brought the Invocation to them.

  The two other spiritual events which I listed lie, as you know, still in the future. They are the closer approach of the members of the spiritual Hierarchy to our humanity; and the reappearance of the Christ. With these two points I will not deal. I have dealt with the last stupendous event in the book by that name; and in the book, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, I have dealt exhaustively with the emergence of the Hierarchy on to the physical plane.

  I am anxious to have you concentrate on the work which is preparatory to these two “emergences”; seek to make the five spiritual events which are already within your working knowledge a definite part of your own spiritual endeavour.

  Let humanity constitute your field of service, and may it be said of you that you knew the spiritual facts and were a dynamic part of these spiritual events; may it not be said of you that you knew these things and did nothing about them and failed to exert yourself. Let not time slip by as you work.

  STANZAS FOR DISCIPLES

  THE PATH [761]

  Seek not, O twice-blessed One, to attain the spiritual essence before the mind absorbs. Not thus is wisdom sought. Only he who has the mind in leash, and sees the world as in a mirror can be safely trusted with the inner sense. Only he who knows the five senses to be but illusion, and that naught remains save the two ahead, can be admitted into the secret of the Cruciform transposed.

  The path that is trodden by the Server is the path of fire that passes through his heart and leads to the head. It is not on the path of pleasure, nor on the path of pain that liberation may be taken or that wisdom comes. It is by the transcendence of the two, by the blending of pain with pleasure, that the goal is reached, that goal that lies ahead, like a point of light seen in the darkness of a winter's night. That point of light may call to mind the tiny candle in some attic drear, but—as the path that leads to that light is trodden through the blending of the pair of opposites—that pin point cold and flickering grows with steady radiance till the warm light of some blazing lamp comes to the mind of the wanderer by the way.

  Pass on, O Pilgrim, with steady perseverance. No candle light is there nor earth lamp fed with oil. Ever the radiance grows till the path ends within a blaze of glory, and the wanderer through the night becomes the child of the sun, and enters within the portals of that radiant orb.

  THE CUP OF KARMA [762]

  There is a cup held to the lips of those who drink, by four great Lords of Karma. The draught within that cup must all be drained, down to the nethermost drop, e'er it is possible to fill the cup with a purer, sweeter one. The seven Lords of cosmic Love await the hour of filling.

  The cup is naught. The draught within distils forth drop by drop. It will not all be drained until the final hour wherein the Pilgrim takes the cup. He lifts it from the hand of those Who, bending, hold it to his lips. Until that day the cup is held, and in inner blind dismay the Pilgrim drinks. After that hour he lifts his head he sees the light beyond; he takes the cup and, with a radiant joy, drains to the very dregs.

  The contents of the cup are changed; the bitter now becomes the sweet; the fiery essence then is lost in
cool, life-giving streams. The fire absorbed within has burned and scarred and seared. The draught now taken soothes the burns; it heals the scars and permeates the whole.

  The Four bend down and see the work. They release the cup of Karma. The tender Lords of Cosmic Love then mix another draught, and—when the cup is empty seen (emptied by conscious will)—they pour within that which is needed now for broader, larger living. Until the cup has once been used, filled, drained, and seen as naught, it cannot safely hold within that which is later given.

  But when to utter emptiness the Pilgrim drains the cup then to the world in torment now he turns. With cup in hand (drained once, filled again, and refused to selfish need) he tends the need of struggling men who tread the way with him. The draught of love, of sacred fire, of cool, health-giving stream he lifts not towards himself but holds it forth to others. Upon the road of weary man he becomes a Lord of Power—power gained through work accomplished, power reached through conscious will. Through the cup of Karma drained he gains the right to serve.

  Look on, O Pilgrim, to the goal. See shining far ahead [763] the glory that envelops and the light that naught can dim. Seize on the cup and swiftly drain, delay not for the pain. The empty cup, the steady hand, the firm and strong endeavour lead to a moment's agony and thence to radiant life.

  THE LISTENING PILGRIM

  Listen, O Pilgrim, to the chanting of the Word by the great Deva Lords. Hush all earth vibration, still the restless strivings of lower mind, and with ear intent hark to the sounds that rise to the throne of the Logos. Only the pure in heart can hear, only the gentle can respond.

  The stormy sounds of all earth struggle, the shrill vibration of the watery sphere, the crashing note marking the place of thought, dims the sound and shuts out the tone. He who is silent, quiet and calm within, who sees all by means of light divine and is not led by light reflected within the threefold spheres, is he who will shortly hear. From out the environing ether will strike a note upon his ear unlike the tones that sound within the world terrestrial.