Wesak Festival Talk

AGENTS OF REVELATION

Good evening friends and welcome. This evening, our meeting prepares us for the peak time of the spiritual calendar – the Festival of Wesak – the greatest opportunity of the year for spiritual illumination. These full moon meetings are the foundation of a new approach to the divine, each sign revealing an aspect of the nature of light. The light of Wesak is conveyed through Taurus and it provides a supreme illumination – its esoteric ruler, Vulcan, revealing that which was once deeply hidden. Vulcan is often spoken of as standing for the Sun and in Taurus, it reveals and transmits energy from the esoteric heart of the Sun. For this reason, the ancient Vedic mantram, the Gayatri, seems a particularly appropriate way of beginning our work together. So let us pause for a few moments of reflection and then say this mantram out loud in one united act of group invocation:

O Thou Who givest sustenance to the universe.
From Whom all things proceed.
To Whom all things return.
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.
OM

The Wesak festival is the great festival of the Buddha and so we join in celebration with all the followers of Buddhism around the world as well as the many thousands of people of goodwill, meditators and servers of the race who consciously use this opportunity to align themselves with the energies that pour into the planet at the time of the Taurus full moon. Legend says that at this time each year, that the Buddha makes a brief appearance in a remote Himalayan valley, to bless the world and transmit through his brother, the Christ, renewed spiritual life.

The Buddha and the Christ are two of the greatest of many Avatars who have all played their part in the revelations which have propelled human consciousness forward at critical points in its evolution. They are perfect representatives of Love-Wisdom, and their work together as agents of revelation has brought increasing levels of Light, Love and Purpose into human consciousness down the ages. At the time of the Wesak festival, the Buddha and the Christ form a Triangle of energy with the Lord of the World through which a powerful subjective message is transmitted into human consciousness that the heart of the solar system is one of unalterable compassion.

The spiritual potency of this revelation is such that it has to be stepped down if mankind is to bear the pressure of its impact and this has led to an intermediary arising from within the heart of humanity itself – a subjective group of enlightened thinkers who are united in their intention to serve and reveal. Referred to in the Alice Bailey teachings as the new group of world servers, this group is responsible for stimulating the growth of goodwill and compassion being expressed by so many throughout the world today. Members of this group are working either consciously or unconsciously with specific energies released by the Lord of the World, the Buddha and the Christ. The group isformed of world servers from all backgrounds, religions and philosophies, and is made up of those who are responsive in varying degrees to the higher influences that are pouring down into humanity at this time. Collectively, they act as an organ of vision and upon them the illuminating rays of Taurus constantly shine, opening the eye of light in those who are ready to use its revelations for the greater good. The group is symbolised by Taurus, the bull, rushing forward towards divinity and leaving a trail of light in its wake to illumine the way forward for those who follow.

Collectively, this group of servers is, like their elder brothers, the Buddha and the Christ, an “agent of revelation” – a group avatar – and all who serve and love their fellowmen as souls are part of this group, working to overcome the evil that obstructs the light of revelation. Andthrough the lens of the world media, we see that there is clearly still much work to be done to awaken people to a more enlightened, illumined way of living. It should be borne in mind however, that some of the seemingly darker episodes occurring on the international stage are an over-stimulated response to the increasing inflow of spiritual energies at this time. Good ever draws evil to the surface to be expunged and there is currently an uprising of all that lies unredeemed in the collective subconscious in an aggravated response to the incoming divine energy from the centre of planetary Love, the Spiritual Hierarchy, and the centre of planetary Purpose, Shamballa.

It is also helpful to remember that just as there is a divine Presence in each person, group or nation, so too is there a shadow presence – the combined forces of all that are not under the controlled expression of the soul within. At an advanced point of evolution, this menagerie of dark materialistic forces coalesces into an integrated and formidable opponent to the soul. Sometimes referred to as the Dweller on the Threshold, it inserts itself between a person, group or nation, and its source of spiritual light. To the superficial onlooker this may seem catastrophic, but deeper observation may reveal a spiritual process working out as an opportunity to recognize these things for the spiritual obstacles that they really are. One way or another, they must be overcome as the pain of conflict will persist until the right choice is made and the light finally emerges triumphant.

And so we see a lot of soul-searching going on at this time, often expressing itself in the fierce inner conflict occurring in the lives of many as they turn to face psychological darkness and so discover the light that shines beyond it. These moments of recognising the unredeemed aspects of the personal nature constitute those “lesser revelations" that precede the path of illumination. At a certain point on the spiritual path the impulse from Vulcan exhumes all the dross within the psyche and the courageous facing of this realization permits the great cleansing and purification necessary for intense individualism to eventually give way to a more group oriented, enlightened way of being.

Central to this cleansing is a detachment process based on a growing ability to see through the illusion of form life and to understand how the human soul is imprisoned in matter – not by any external agency, but by self-generated desire for the things of the earth. The Buddha conveyed to us the light of reason that reveals the nature of this self-imprisonment and consequent suffering, as well as the path of desirelessness and non-attachment that leads out of it. The forms of the three lower planes are symbols of an inner reality, and in order to contact that reality, the mistake of regarding these symbols as the reality themselves has to be overcome. This is no easy accomplishment because down the ages the force of human desire for these forms has generated a light of enchantment around them which distorts and deceives and to which we give the name of glamour. The Buddha taught how, through the practice of desirelessness and detachment, the light of reason can shine through this glamour revealing the way out of this infatuated state.

The forces of human desire have created so much glamour that it has become a fog that swirls around the wandering aspirant distorting all that is seen and contacted, preventing any clear perception of life and the surrounding conditions as they essentially are. And every emotional response and yielding to the world of glamour only serves to strengthen its grip of enticement adding to the layers of distortion in the aura of the disciple blocking the light from higher realms that would illumine the Way. In order to render the astral body free of desire and to begin the detachment process, the rational mind has to be brought in to play. Through a shift of polarization into the mental body a rationalizing philosophy can begin to pierce glamour and reveal the way out. This is just the beginning though – this use of the mind reveals the noble eightfold path of the Buddha – the razor edged path of the middle way where right balance between the planes of matter and the planes of spirit is assumed through the practice of righteousness. In The Gospel of Buddha, by Paul Carus, we read:

"Rationality is a two-edged sword and serves the purpose of love equally as well as the purpose of hatred. Rationality is the platform on which the truth standeth. No truth is attainable without reason. Nevertheless, in mere rationality there is no room for truth, though it be the instrument that masters the things of the world. The throne of truth is righteousness, and love and justice and goodwill are its ornaments. Righteousness is the place in which truth dwells and here in the souls of mankind aspiring after the realisation of righteousness, there is ample space for a rich and ever richer revelation of the truth. This is the gospel of the Blessed One."

Righteousness is a term that conveys great power and meaning when meditated upon – its etymology is ‘rightwise’ from Old English, and breaking it down into the two words, ‘right’ and ‘wise’ reveals an interesting combination of forces. ‘Right’ itself has many meanings of course, such as ‘morally correct’, ‘good’, ‘to move in a straight line’ etc., and the word ‘wise’ has evolved from the meaning ‘to see’, ‘way of proceeding’, ‘to know the way’. So righteousness incorporates the idea of expanded vision and spiritual direction, and it is a natural restorative of peace, harmony and completeness. Its energy dispels the complexity of everyday relationships and revitalises them with simple, dynamic principles. Our work at these full moon festivals is first and foremost this aspiration towards righteousness as the seed of a new religious impulse that is qualified by a dynamic harmlessness that excludes no-one and is inclusive of all faiths as outer garments providing a form of ceremonial ritual from which the approach to divinity can be made.

All the great Sons of God are called ‘suns of righteousness’, and as the Aquarian Age unfolds with its emphasis on group consciousness, the opportunity of following Their lead is afforded to spiritual groups that seek truth only in order to love more fully. The magnitude of truth revealed increases as the ability to express righteousness grows. Our understanding and grasp of inner realities depends on our will to express its underlying elements that Paul Carus identified in “The Gospel of the Buddha” as – love, justice and goodwill.

The Buddha is known to have said "All things are made of one essence, yet things are different according to the forms which they assume under different impressions. As they form themselves so they act, and as they act so they are". We can see from this that it is wrong impressions that distort thinking and therefore behavior. Diversity in unity is to be cherished but diversity through separative, desire filled thought is the great menace of humanity. Where there is an alignment with truth, the rich diversity of forms can be appreciated for what they are but prevented from generating glamour because the observer remains above them, in contact with the one essence from which they descended. In this connection the Tibetan wrote:

“The mode of handling world affairs, states of consciousness and conditions in the three worlds is one in which the disciple and initiate work from above downwards. The method is in reality a repetition of the involutionary arc in which—like the Creator, from a vantage point of exterior direction—energy, force and forces are directed into the world of phenomena and produce definite effects upon the substance of the three planes. This is a point which should be most carefully remembered… When this technique is correctly followed, it brings the intuition into play and the world of meaning (lying behind the world of phenomena) stands revealed, thereby dispelling illusion. Truth, as it is, is seen and known. Forms in the outer world of phenomena (outer from the angle of the soul and therefore encompassing the three worlds of our familiar daily living) are seen to be but symbols of an inward and spiritual Reality.”

The Wesak Festival is a festival of light that presents an opportunity to pierce the glamours of the world and polarize the consciousness on higher levels of the mental plane in the light of the soul. There is no greater service than to reorient the consciousness into the higher mind through disciplined living and meditation for we have been asked to deal drastically with our emotional nature as an act of service to the greater whole. There are no easy short cuts to this process for habits of desire are ancient and deep seated.

For our encouragement, it is certain that, one by one, group by group, the detachment process will yield results through the practice of desirelessness until the whole of humanity will eventually overcome its collective Dweller on the Threshold and stand free in time and space to realise its glorious destiny as a receiving and transmitting station between the higher and lower kingdoms of nature. It is this human state – as the distributing agent for divine energies – that forms a true missing link in the evolution of life on earth rather than some creature between the ape and the human state. And this idea of humanity being a conscious link between the higher and lower kingdoms may not be as far away as we might first think, as millions of people are currently searching for greater meaning in life and displaying greater responsibility for the welfare of the planet.

The energies released at the time of the Wesak festival give us the opportunity to capitalize on this trend in human affairs and further stimulate its unfoldment. It is a time when humanity’s consciousness can be impressed to some degree with a sense of divine purpose through the planetary alignment that takes place with the Will of God. To create this alignment, the work of both the Christ and the Buddha are needed to preserve contact with the Lord of the World enabling him to create five points of energy, symbolising the five-pointed star of Humanity. It’s a powerful image to hold in the mind’s eye – a star whose points consist of the Lord of the World, the Buddha, the Christ, the Manu and the Lord of Civilization.

Making use of this magnetic, geometrical relationship, the Buddha sounds a great mantram ensuring that he becomes the “absorbing agent” of the Will of God. He is then described as using the magnetic power of the Love of God to attract this force to Himself and hold it steady, prior to redirecting it. The Christ then – on behalf of the Hierarchy – becomes the "receiving Agent" of this potent energy, and the seven groups of Masters Who work with the human and sub-human kingdoms will (in response to His demand) become the "directing Agents" for the sevenfold expression of this force. This divine will of God is held in solution to some degree until the next full moon – that of Gemini – where, under the guidance of Christ, it is released into human consciousness.

Through such activity, the divine plan is starting to manifest on earth and the fact of the kingdom of souls is being revealed even if humanity doesn’t as yet recognise it as such. At the time of the Wesak full moon, esoteric groups work as part of the Hierarchy, magnetically drawing together humanity and Shamballa into a closer and more dynamic alignment. This is the inspirational and challenging work before us tonight – to link up with all around the world who are forming one united group agent of revelation, to draw humanity together as one human family. The keynote of Taurus that will integrate us as one working group is: I see and when the eye is opened all is light.

Wesak Festival In Taurus –

New York – May 13, 2014

Christine Morgan