123-129
[Page 290]
[123] NEW TEACHINGS,
[124] THE NEW WORLD RELIGION,
[125] OBEDIENCE,
[126] OCCULT BLINDNESS,
[127] OCCULTISTS AND MYSTICS,
[128] THE OLD COMMENTARY,
[129] OVERPOPULATION
[123]
NEW TEACHINGS
What are some of these newer truths for which I am responsible as transmitting agent to the world of occult students? Let me briefly state them in the order of their relative importance:
1. The Teaching on Shamballa. Little has ever been given on this subject. Only the name was known. This teaching includes:
a. Information as to the nature of the will aspect.
b. Indications as to the underlying purposes of Sanat Kumara.
c. Directions as to the building of the antahkarana, which is the first step towards achieving monadic consciousness, and thus the first step towards the Way of the Higher Evolution.
2. The Teaching on the New Discipleship. This has been revolutionary where the old schools of occultism are concerned. The teaching includes:
a. A presentation of the new attitude of the Masters to Their disciples, due to the rapid unfoldment of the mind principle, and the growth of the principle of "free will". This changed technique negates the old attitudes, such as that portrayed in the Theosophical literature, and it was a recognition of the difficulties of correcting the wrong impression given, which prompted H.P.B. in one of her communications to the Esoteric Section of her day, to regret ever having mentioned Their names. That earlier presentation was useful, but has now served its purpose. Unless the schools based on the old methods, change their techniques and their approach to the truth, they will disappear.
b. Information as to the constitution of the Hierarchy, and of the various Ashrams of which it is composed. I have presented the Hierarchy as the Ashram of Sanat Kumara, in its sevenfold form, thus linking will and love.
c. A presentation of the newer type of meditations, with its emphasis upon visualisation, and the use of the creative imagination; I have presented a system of meditation, which has eliminated the attention paid hitherto to personal problems, and the intense earlier focus on the relation of the disciple and the Master. The keynote of group fusion and of service, underlies the newer form of meditation, and not this powerful emphasis upon the personal relation of the disciple to the Master, and the achievement of the individual aspirant. This was degenerating into a form of spiritual selfishness and separateness.
3. The Teaching of the Seven Rays, The fact of the seven rays was well [Page 291] known to the heads of the Theosophical Society, was mentioned very abstractly and vaguely in The Secret Doctrine, and formed in an elementary form some of the teaching given in the Esoteric Section; the names of the rays were given, and some information as to their qualities, and the Masters on the rays was imparted, but not much else. I have given out much information upon the subject, and have endeavoured to show the importance of this teaching, from the psychological angle, because the new psychology is in the making. If esoteric teaching is eventually to be public in its presentation, it will be given out along the lines of psychology, because esoteric teaching in its fullest and deepest sense concerns the consciousness aspect of man and God.
4. The Teaching on the New Astrology. This teaching too has gone out to a few hundred students before its publication in book form. This new astrology has been hitherto ignored by those astrologers who have read it and (with the exception of four astrologers who have deeply appreciated it, but who wish I would be more explicit) see little in it. I have given enough, could the open-minded astrologer but realise, to establish the coming astrology on a firm basis; the accuracy of what I have given, will in the course of time be ascertained, when astrologers who are dealing with the horoscopes of advanced people and disciples, will use the esoteric planets as given by me, and not the orthodox planets as usually used. The accuracy of their deductions will necessarily depend upon their own point of development, and also upon their ability to recognise an advanced person, a disciple, or an initiate when they meet him, and undertake to cast his horoscope. If they are themselves advanced disciples, they may have a tendency to set too rigid a standard for those seeking astrological deduction, and thus fail to recognise a disciple; if they are not advanced, they may regard people as advanced who are far from being even true aspirants. In either case then the horoscope may prove inaccurate. It is of no use to use the esoteric planets in relation to the average man.
5. Information about the New Group of World Servers and their work. This information includes:
a. The recognition of this group as intermediate between the Hierarchy and Humanity.
b. The nature of their work, as it influences the human soul, and as it seeks, through the instrumentality of the men and women of goodwill, to determine the period in which we live.
c. The Triangle work, which embodies two phases of their work, i.e., the forming of the network of light as the channel of communication [Page 292] between the Hierarchy and Humanity, and the forming simultaneously of the network of goodwill, which is the objective expression of the subjective influence of the light. Ponder on this statement.
6. The Attempt to Form an Exoteric Branch of the Inner Ashrams. This is evidenced in the work I have done with a special group of aspirants and accepted disciples, whose instructions, emanating from my Ashram, have been embodied in the book Discipleship in the New Age (Vols. I and II).
7. Teaching upon the New World Religion, with its emphasis upon the three major Full Moon periods (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, falling usually in April, May and June respectively) and the nine (occasionally ten) minor Full Moons each year. This leads to a consequent relation being established between the work of the Christ and of the Buddha, in the minds of spiritually inclined people everywhere, with the result of a great broadening of the human aspiration. This work is as yet embryonic, but it should receive increasing attention. Eventually it will demonstrate as the main linking unit between the East and the West, particularly if Shri Krishna is shown to be an earlier incarnation of the Lord of Love, the Christ. Thereby three major world religions - the Christian, the Hindu, and the Buddhist - will be intimately related, whilst the Mahommedan faith will be found to be linked to the Christian faith because it embodies the work of the Master Jesus as He overshadowed one of His senior disciples, a very advanced initiate, Mahomet.
A close study of all the above will indicate to you the lines along which I would like to see the work expand in future years. I would ask for a careful study of these words, for I regard this as an important instruction, and one which could be regarded as the skeleton outline of the work I wish to see done. It will involve an intensification of the work of the advanced section in the Arcane School, a greater emphasis upon the Full Moon meetings, a careful organisation of the Triangle work, and the Goodwill work as an added effort, to aid the work of the New Group of World Servers, plus an attempt to recognise the members of the New Group whenever and wherever contacted. This will not be at all an easy task, my brothers, if you look only for those who think and work your way, or who recognise the Hierarchy as you recognise it, or if you exclude those who labour in relation to religious and other fields in a manner different to yours.
... In the foregoing pages I gave you certain broad principles, and outlined a new aspect of the work which I had undertaken to do for humanity - under instruction from the Hierarchy. The teaching I gave there is very abstruse; little of it can as yet be of real service to the majority of aspirants, [Page 293] but a wide and general idea can take form, and provide the immovable background for later teaching. I would have you remember that the teaching which I have given out, has been intermediate in nature, just as that given by H.P.B., under my instruction, was preparatory. The teaching planned by the Hierarchy to precede and condition the New Age, the Aquarian Age, falls into three categories:
1. Preparatory, given 1875 - 1890..................................................................... written down by H.P.B.
2. Intermediate, given 1919 - 1949.................................................................... written down by A.A.B.
3. Revelatory, emerging after 1975............................................................... to be given on a worldwidescale via the radio.
In the next century, and early in the century, an initiate will appear, and will carry on this teaching. It will be under the same "impression", for my task is not yet completed, and this series of bridging treatises, between the material knowledge of man and the science of the initiates, has still another phase to run. The remainder of this century, as I told you elsewhere (Destiny of Nations, page 106), must be dedicated to rebuilding the shrine of man's living, to reconstructing the form of humanity's life, to reconstituting the new civilisation upon the foundations of the old, and to the reorganising of the structures of world thought, world politics, plus the redistribution of the world's resources in conformity to divine purpose. Then and only then will it be possible to carry the revelation further. (18 - 251/5).
[124]
THE NEW WORLD RELIGION
(1) The Spiritual Hierarchy has been steadily drawing nearer to humanity as men have become more conscious of divinity, and more fitted for contact with the divine.
Another great Approach of divinity and another spiritual revelation are now possible. A new revelation is hovering over mankind, and the One Who will bring it and implement it is drawing steadily nearer to us. What this great approach will bring to mankind, we do not yet know. It will surely bring us as definite results as did all the earlier revelations, and the missions of Those Who came in response to humanity's earlier demands. The World War has purified mankind. A new heaven and a new earth are on their way. What does the orthodox theologian and churchman mean when he uses the words "a new heaven"? May these words not signify something entirely new, and a new conception as to the world of spiritual realities? May not the Coming One bring us a new revelation as to the [Page 294] very nature of God Himself? Do we yet know all that can be known about God? If so, God is very limited. May it not be possible that our present ideas of God, as the Universal Mind, as Love, and as Will, may be enriched by some new idea or quality for which we have as yet no name or word, and of which we have no slightest understanding? (8 - 148/9).
(2) On the fact of God, and of man's relation to the divine, on the fact of immortality and of the continuity of divine revelation, and upon the fact of the constant emergence of Messengers from the divine centre, the new world religion will be based. To these facts must be added man's assured, instinctive knowledge of the existence of the Path of God, and of his ability to tread it, when the evolutionary process has brought him to the point of a fresh orientation to divinity, and to the acceptance of the Fact of God Transcendent and of God Immanent within every form of life. . . .
The great theme of the new world religion will be recognition of the many divine approaches and the continuity of revelation which each of them conveyed. (8 - 150).
(3) The establishing of a certain uniformity in the world religious rituals, will aid men everywhere to strengthen each other's work, and enhance powerfully the thought currents directed to the waiting spiritual Lives. At present, the Christian religion has its great festivals, the Buddhist keeps his different set of spiritual events, and the Hindu has still another list of holy days. In the future world, when organised, all men of spiritual inclination and intention everywhere, will keep the same holy days. This will bring about a pooling of spiritual resources, and a united spiritual effort, plus a simultaneous spiritual invocation. The potency of this will be apparent. (8 - 154).
(4) Churchmen need to remember that the human spirit is greater than all the churches, and greater than their teaching. In the long run, that human spirit will defeat them and proceed triumphantly into the Kingdom of God, leaving them far behind, unless they enter as a humble part of the mass of men. Nothing under heaven can arrest the progress of the human soul on its long pilgrimage from darkness to light, from the unreal to the real, from death to immortality, and from ignorance to wisdom. (8 - 159).
(5) The day is dawning when all religions will be regarded as emanating from one great spiritual source; all will be seen as unitedly providing the one root out of which the universal world religion will inevitably emerge. Then there will be neither Christian nor heathen, neither Jew nor Gentile, but simply one great body of believers, gathered out of all the current religions. They will accept the same truths, not as theological concepts, [Page 295] but as essential to spiritual living; they will stand together on the same platform of brotherhood and of human relations; they will recognise divine sonship and will seek unitedly to co-operate with the divine Plan as it is revealed to them by the spiritual leaders of the race, and as it indicates to them the next step to be taken on the Path of Approach to God. Such a world religion is no idle dream, but something which is definitely forming today. (7 - 140).
(6) Humanity is recognising the need for a more vital approach to God and one more intelligently presented; men are tired of doctrinal and dogmatic differences and quarrels; the study of Comparative Religion has demonstrated that the foundational truths in every faith are identical. Because of this universality, they evoke recognition and response from all men everywhere. The only factor in reality which militates against the spiritual unity of all men everywhere, is the existent clerical organisations and their militant attitude to religion and to faiths other than their own.
In spite of all this, the structure of the New World Religion is being raised by the dissenting groups within the institutional churches, by the many world groups who present the concept of God immanent, even when they do so with selfish motive and with an unwholesome emphasis upon the powers of the indwelling divinity to provide perfect health, plenty of money, serene business success, and unbroken popularity!
The New World Religion is also being brought into expression through the work of the esoteric groups throughout the world, because of their particular emphasis upon the fact of the spiritual Hierarchy, upon the office and the work of the Christ, and upon the techniques of meditation whereby soul-awareness (or the Christ consciousness) can be achieved. Prayer has expanded into meditation; desire has been lifted into mental aspiration. This is supplanted by a sense of unity and by the recognition of God immanent. This leads eventually to at-one-ment with God transcendent. (7 - 156/7)
(7) The keynote of the New World Religion is Divine Approach. "Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you" is the injunction, emanating in new and clear tones from the Hierarchy today. The great theme of the New World Religion will be the unifying of the great divine Approaches; the task ahead of the churches isto prepare humanity, through organised and spiritual movements, for the fifth imminent Approach; the method employed will be the scientific and intelligent use of Invocation and Evocation, and the recognition of its stupendous potency; the objective of the coming Approach, of the preparatory work and of the Invocation, is revelation - [Page 296] a revelation which has ever been cyclically given and which today isready for man's acceptance. (7 - 158).
[125]
OBEDIENCE
(1) There is no obligation to obey. We seek to train intelligent servers of the race, and these are developed by self-initiated effort, freedom in action and discrimination in method, and not by unquestioning obedience, negative acquiescence, and blind following. Let this not be forgotten. If any command may ever emanate from the subjective band of teachers of whom I am a humble member, let it be to follow the dictates of your own soul and the promptings of your higher self. (4 - 103/4).
(2) In the training of the occidental student, blind unquestioning obedience is never asked. Suggestions are made as to method and as to a technique which has proved effective for thousands of years and with many disciples. Some rules as to breathing, as to helpful process, and as to practical living on the physical plane will be imparted, but in the training of the new type of disciple during the coming age, it is the will of the watching Gurus and Rishis that they be left freer than has heretofore been the case. This may mean a slightly slower development at the beginning but will result, it is hoped, in a more rapid unfoldment during the later stages upon the Path of Initiation.
Therefore, students are urged to go forward during their period of training with courage and with joy, knowing that they are members of a band of disciples, knowing that they are not alone, but that the strength of the band is theirs, the knowledge of the band is theirs too as they develop the capacity to apprehend it, - and knowing also that the love and wisdom and understanding of the watching Elder Brothers are back of every aspiring Son of God e'en though apparently (and wisely) he is left to wrestle through to the light in the strength of his own omnipotent soul. (4 - 152/3)
(3) There is no such thing as occult obedience as usually taught by the occult schools. In the olden days in the East, the Master exacted from His disciple that implicit obedience which actually made the Master responsible and placed upon His shoulders the destiny or the karma of the disciple. That condition no longer holds good. ...In the coming New Age, the Master is responsible for the offering of opportunity, and for the right enunciation of the truth, but for no more than that. (5 - 5).
(4) The obedience required is obedience to the Plan. It is not obedience [Page 297] to the Master. . . . The obedience demanded is that of the personality to the soul, as soul knowledge, soul light, and soul control become increasingly potent in the mind and brain reactions of the disciple. (5 - 686/7). See also: (6 - 264, -549).
[126]
OCCULT BLINDNESS
(1) Blindness is a prelude to initiation of no matter what degree. It is only at the last and highest initiation that the "tendency to blindness" comes to a complete end. In the early stages of evolution, blindness is natural, innate, unavoidable, and impenetrable. For ages man walks in the dark. Then comes the stage wherein this normal blindness is a protection, but has also entered a phase wherein it can be overcome. Technically speaking, the blindness to which I have referred is something different. From the moment when a human being catches the first, faint glimpse of the "something or other", and sees himself in juxtaposition to that dimly sensed, distant reality, the blindness with which I have dealt is something imposed by the soul upon the hastening aspirant, so that the lessons of conscious experience, of discipleship, and later of initiation, may be correctly assimilated and expressed; by its means, the hurrying seeker is defended from making too rapid and superficial progress. It is depth and a profound "rootedness" (if I may coin such a word) for which the inner Teacher, and later the Master looks, and "occult blindness", its need, its wise handling and its final elimination, are part of the curriculum imposed upon the candidate. (18 - 197).
(2) Occult blindness is spiritually induced, and "blacks out" the glory and the promised attainment and reward. The disciple is thrown back upon himself. All he can see is his problem, his tiny field of experience, and his - to him - feeble and limited equipment. . . . The beauty of the immediate, the glory of the present opportunity, and the need to focus upon the task and service of the moment, are the rewards of moving forward into the apparently impenetrable darkness. (18 - 198).
(3) Thus the veils serve their purpose; blindness nurtures and protects, provided it is innate and natural, soul-imposed or spiritually engendered. If it is wilfully self-induced, if it provides an alibi for grasped knowledge, if it is assumed in order to avoid responsibility, then sin enters in and difficulty ensues. From this may all of you be protected. (18 - 200).
(4) The progressing disciple does not move into new fields or areas [Page 298] of awareness, like a steady marching forward from one plane to another. What must be grasped is that all that IS is ever present. What we are concerned with is the constant awakening to that which eternally IS, and to what is ever present in the environment, but of which the subject is unaware, owing to short-sightedness. . . . The Kingdom of God is present on Earth today, and for ever has been, but only a few, relatively speaking, are aware of its signs and manifestations, (11 - 53).
[127]
OCCULTISTS AND MYSTICS
(1) The path of knowledge is that of the occultist and the sage; that of love is that of the mystic and the saint. The head or the heart approach is not dependent on the ray, for both ways must be known; the mystic must become the occultist; the white occultist has been the saintly mystic. True knowledge is intelligent love, for it is the blending of the intellect and the devotion. Unity is sensed in the heart; its intelligent application to life has to be worked out through knowledge. (4 - 120).
(2) The past has seen much application of the heart way, . . . and in this incarnation the mental unfoldment is of prime importance. (4 - 121).
(3) The mystic is not necessarily an occultist, but the occultist embraces the mystic. Mysticism is but one step on the path of occultism.
By finding the kingdom of God within himself, and by the study of the laws of his own being, the mystic becomes proficient in the laws which govern the universe, of which he is a part. The occultist recognises the kingdom of God in nature or the system, and regards himself as a small part of that greater whole, and therefore, governed by the same laws.
... To make it more simple for general comprehension: after initiation, the mystic is merged in the occultist, for he has become a student of occult law; he has to work with matter, with its manipulation and uses, and he has to master and control all lower forms of manifestation, and learn the rules whereby the building devas work. Before initiation the mystic path might be expressed by the term, Probationary Path. Before the occultist can manipulate wisely the matter of the solar system, he must have mastered the laws that govern the microcosm, and even though he is naturally on the occult path, yet he will still have to find the God within his own being, before he can safely venture on the path of occult law.
The mystic seeks to work from the emotional to the intuitional, and thence to the Monad or Spirit. The occultist works from the physical to [Page 299] the mental, and thence to the atma or Spirit. One works along the line of love; the other along the line of will. The mystic fails in the purpose of his being - that of love demonstrated in activity - unless he co-ordinates the whole through the use of intelligent will. Therefore, he has to become the occultist.
The occultist similarly fails, and becomes only a selfish exponent of power, working through the intelligence, unless he finds a purpose for that will and knowledge, by an animating love, which will give to him sufficient motive for all that he attempts. (2 - 147/9).
(4) (The mystic) concentrates on abstractions, on attributes more than on aspects, and on the life side more than the concrete. He aspires, he burns, he harmonises, he loves and he works through devotion. He meditates by attempting to eliminate the concrete mind altogether, and aspires to leap from the plane of the emotions, to that of the intuition.
He has the faults of his type - dreamy, visionary, impractical, emotional, and lacking that quality of mind that we call discrimination. He is intuitive, prone to martyrdom and self-sacrifice. (2 - 150).
(5) The mystic eliminates or endeavours to transcend mind in his process of finding the Self. The occultist, through his intelligent interest in the forms which veil the Self, and by the employment of the principle of mind on both its levels, arrives at the same point. He recognises the sheaths that veil. He applies himself to the study of the laws that govern the manifested solar system. He concentrates on the objective, and in his earlier years may at times overlook the value of the subjective. He arrives eventually at the central life by the elimination, through conscious knowledge and control, of sheath after sheath. He meditates upon form, until form is lost sight of, and the creator of the form becomes all in all. (2 - 151).
(6) The keynotes of the occult life have been (and rightly) the notes of knowledge, of the mental approach to the problem of divinity, the recognition of divine immanence, and of the fact that "as He is so are we". There is, however, no sense of duality. The goal is the achievement of such an approved and appreciated identification, that man becomes what he is - a God and, eventually, God in manifestation. This is not the same thing as the mystical union.
And yet, the whole theme is mystical and innately subjective. The time must come when the mystic will appreciate, and follow the way of the head, and not only the way of the heart. He will learn to realise that he must lose his sense of the Beloved, in the knowledge that he and the beloved are one, and that the vision must and will disappear as he transcends it (note [Page 300] that phrase) in the greatest processes of identification through initiation.
The occultist, in his turn, must learn to include the mystical experience in full understanding consciousness as a recapitulatory exercise, before he transcends it and passes on to a synthesis and an inclusiveness, to which the mystical approach is but the beginning, and of which the mystic remains unaware.
The mystic is too apt to feel that the occultist over-estimates the way of knowledge, and repeats glibly that the mind is the slayer of the real, and that the intellect can give him nothing. The occultist is equally apt to despise the mystical way, and to regard the mystical method as "living far behind him". But both must learn to tread the way of wisdom. The mystic must, and will inevitably, become the occultist, and this whether he likes the process or not. He cannot escape it in the long run, but the occultist is not a true one, until he recovers the mystical experience, and translates it into terms of synthesis. Note the structure of the words I have used in this last paragraph, for it will serve to elucidate my theme. I use therefore the words "mystic and mystical" in this section of the treatise to describe the intelligent, highly mental man, and his process upon the Path of Disciple-ship. (15 - 543/4).
(7) It is occult students for whom search is now being made, and not mystics; it is for clear-thinking men and women that the call has gone forth, and not for the fanatic or for the person who sees nothing but the ideal, and who is unable to work successfully with situations and things as they are, and who cannot, therefore, apply the necessary and unavoidable compromise. (13 - 654).
(8) The first initiation might be regarded as the goal and the reward of the mystical experience; it is fundamentally not an occult experience in the true sense of the term, for it is seldom accurately realised, or consciously prepared for, as is the case with the later initiations, and this is why the first two initiations are not considered major initiations. . . . The mystical Way leads to the first initiation. Having achieved its purpose, it is then renounced, and the "lighted Way" of occultism is then followed, leading to the lighted areas of the higher states of consciousness.
Thus both ways are seen to be essential; the mystical way is for the majority at this time, and an increasingly large number of mystics will emerge out of the modern masses of men; paralleling this, the occult way is attracting more and more of the world intelligentsia. Its experience is not basically religious, as the orthodox churchman understands the word. The way of science is as deeply needed by mankind, as is the way of reli-[Page 301] gion, for "God" is found equally on both ways. The scientific way leads the aspirant into the world of energies and forces, which is the true world of occult endeavour, revealing the Universal Mind and the workings of that great Intelligence which created the manifested universe. The "new man" who has come to birth at the first initiation, must and will tread the occult or scientific way, which inevitably leads him out of the world of mysticism into the scientific and assured perception of God as life and energy. (18 - 666).
[128]
THE OLD COMMENTARY
I felt it might be of interest to students to know this much about this ancient text book of the Adepts.
. . . The Old Commentary . . . has no assignable date. Should I endeavour to tell you its age, I have no means of proving the truth of my words. . . . I have sought in the above few phrases to give the gist of what is expressed in the Commentary, through the means of a few symbols and a cryptic text. These old Scriptures are not read in the way modern students read books, they are seen, touched and realised. The meaning is disclosed in a flash. Let me illustrate: The words "the One enunciates the word which drowns the triple sound" are depicted by a shaft of light ending in a symbolic word in gold superimposed over three symbols in black, rose and green. Thus are the secrets guarded with care. (4 - 76).
[129]
OVERPOPULATION
The success of modern medicine is today so great, that millions of people are kept alive - if not cured - who in earlier days, and with less scientific aptitude, would normally have died. In this developed skill and knowledge, and in this aptitude in the care of the physical mechanism, is today to be found a major world problem - the problem of overpopulation of the planet, leading to the herd life of humanity and the consequent economic problem - to mention only one of the incidental difficulties of this success. This "unnatural" preservation of life is the cause of much suffering, and is a fruitful source of war, being contrary to the karmic intent of the planetary Logos.
With this vast problem, I cannot here deal. I can only indicate it. It will be solved when the fear of death disappears, and when humanity learns [Page 302] the significance of time and the meaning of the cycles. It will be simplified when true astrological findings become possible, when man knows the hour of his departure from this outer plane, and masters the technique of "withdrawal", and the methods of abstracting himself consciously from the prison of the body. But much research has to take place first. (17 - 278/9).